A busy week

Only a tiny bit of quilting got done in the past week. The quilt for Baby Phoebe is getting larger and I am wishing I had added the birds and leaves to the tree before making it so big.

I ended up using the border fabric left over from Ben's "big boy" quilt and I think it works fine to tie all those I-Spy blocks together.

The tree is framed by fabrics representing spring, summer, fall, and winter, and my plan is to add plum and cherry blossoms on the left, followed by green leaves, followed by autumn colored leaves, and ending with bare branches.

I have been appliqueing birds on the branches before adding the leaves but find it hard to work in the center because of the wide borders. I am wondering if it might be easier to add the leaves while doing the quilting.

The day Phoebe was born, her mom was planning to meet in Portland with my elder daughter to see an Eastern Bluebird, a rather rare visitor to that area. Instead, her trip was to the hospital for an early delivery. This past weekend, the two, plus little Phoebe, went to see the bird as it was still around. After hearing that, I sewed two bluebirds on the spring branches.

The quilt I showed from the Tokyo Dome show, made by Ueno-san, used some of this same bird print fabric. I have to admit, her machine applique was much better than I have been able to do by hand.

Last night I laid out tenugui to piece for the backing. I had only eleven of the twelve zodiac animals. The monkey is missing. There used to be a place in Ginza that sold those tenugui but that is a long way to go for just one towel and I don't even know if they are still in business.



A  week ago, I attended the Far East Council's Executive Board meeting. It was hosted at the U.S. Ambassador's residence, a beautiful and historic building.

After the meetings, we were treated to a tour of the surrounding rooms, and this picture of those board members who attended in person was taken at the site of the meeting between MacArthur and the Emperor Hirohito in 1945.

The black and white photograph of that meeting is seen on the table to the left of our group.

According to the booklet we were given of the history of that residence, MacArthur and the Emperor sat and talked for 40 minutes by the fireplace.


Though I often attend these meetings on line, it was well worth the trip into town and back.

When handed the booklet with the history and pictures, I commented as to how much my daughter, an architect, would enjoy having it, and the tour guide gave me a second copy.

I was pleased to learn that in a city where old buildings with great history are being torn down to be replaced with towering blocks, this house is being carefully restored down to every detail.



Friday to Sunday I attended the Women's Conference. It was held in Tochigi at the Asian Rural Institute, instead of the usual Amagi Sanso on the Izu peninsula. It was the first time to go there since the renovation after the earthquake and though I took my camera ... not once did it come out of my bag.
I was happy to enjoy quality time with my friend Tanya and my friend Ester, whose daughter baby-sat Nikko, and see other friends I almost never see but once a year.
I did a quilt basics workshop, and luckily had help from Tanya. The time was way too short and I notice over the years women have little experience with basic stitching. I could sew better seams at the age of three than many of those women.
If I do a workshop next year, I think some basic sashiko with a limited number of stitches would be best to try.

Another busy week is in process now. Not much time to spare, though I may have a chance on Friday to meet some new local quilters.