A busy weekend

Norie and Leia came Friday evening with the promise we would put the Halloween cookie cutters to use.

We spent some fun quality time together, and even though we got a bit behind the day, there were plenty of fancy painted cookies to go around.

At Christmas last year, less than a year ago, Leia was hardly able to part with any of the cookies we made. BUT, this time she was not only ready to share, she picked out some of the favorites for me to share with the choir on Sunday and her "Jiji" to take to his Homeless Ministry meeting. When I set them out on the counter Sunday morning, there were many phone-cameras recording the results ... and I think some even made it to facebook.

As I have been going through "saved stuff" I pulled out the costume box and things that had not seen the light of day for decades, got a good workout. Clowns, Indians, witches, magicians, pioneers, ... I can't even remember what all these were used for.

Leia found one dress at the very bottom of the trunk that matched one I had made for the doll she loves to play with.

This could have been made for her mom or aunt back when there was a big celebration in New Jersey for the Bi-centennial.

There is still a bit of that fabric hanging around the stash box and Leia was able to find some scraps in the quilt I have been working on.

Friday evening, I managed to sew the last few blocks together and now I can sing a rainbow.

I wanted to take a picture to show my Grandson, Ben, but it was raining all day Saturday so no chance.

Sunday I took it to church and put it out on the floor of the fellowship hall for a picture.

It still needs a border and it is already too big for my tiny futon.
I have been thinking that it will make a good "Big Boy" quilt for my Grandson, Ben. He had requested purple and lime-green but though I have been collecting fabric for over a year, I still am far from having enough ... and much is on the pink and flowered side of purple, not too boyish.  I thought if I could add a purple batik border, it might be something he would enjoy. Of course, I can use it and really love how it is turning out and I didn't want to make Ben change his idea of what he wanted. After seeing the picture, He said yes, he liked it!

I stopped at Yuzawaya fabric department on my way home Sunday but they had no batiks at all and very little purple.

Friday I will be going to the Yokohama quilt show and perhaps there I will be able to find something good at one of the shops there.

If you could see Ben's sunny smiling face, you would know a rainbow is perfect for him.
You can't have a rainbow without sun and that smile lights up my world.

I was glad I added the sashing when I began putting these blocks together. It made the whole process a lot easier.It should be easy to quilt in the ditch ... maybe over the winter, keeping my lap warm.

A five or six inch border should hold it all together. I wonder if it needs a narrow white inner border as well... hmmm.

Meanwhile I am quilting a small runner for the "geta bako" (shoe cabinet) in our entryway. I had been quilting the pieced blocks on the diagonal and the more I did, the less I liked the results. Yesterday I un-did all those quilting stitches and began quilting in the ditch. Much better!

I hope you all had a happy Halloween too. Wish I could share some cookies with my blogging friends.