A bit of sun and a bit of progress

Taking advantage of some rainy days, three borders have now been added to the feed sack quilt.

Once it is ready for quilting, I plan to add a bit of embroidery to the border.

I am considering a one-inch outer border made from strips of leftover feedsack fabrics. Not quite sure if it is needed or the fabrics would be strong enough for the wear edges get.

I have also been thinking of centers for the flowers in the borders. I had thought of vintage buttons but they might get caught on things once it is on a bed.
Then I thought of making small yoyos. They were rather popular back in the days of feed sacks.



The flowers and butterflies and vines are now pinned in place on the last border.  This can be rather addictive but I will have to take a break to finish a whittling project that needs to be in the mail within a few weeks.

Cool fall days have replaced the sauna of summer ... a sudden swing from t-shirts to a down jacket.
A few more layers above the quilt on my bed ...

The last Sunday in October, I met with my scouts at the entry tori gate to the Meiji shrine.

The plan was to cover the requirements for rank advancement in the area of "Duty to God".

Luckily my assistant had printed out the requirements for different ranks so we were able to run through them all.

The requirements are written for BSA members assuming everyone has access to materials in their own language and belong to a church. My group, being from  all different countries is not likely to find a book  in their school library to read about the pilgrims.

We had to learn a song and a prayer ... fine for those with church traditions.
My goal in choosing the Meiji shrine was the long meditative walk through beautiful nature.
There were lots of tourists and worshipers too. We could talk about respect for religions other than our own and how both Shinto traditions and Buddhist traditions and holidays are part of the local culture.

We observed at least three wedding processions.


We saw children dressed in Kimono to celebrate an early "Shichi-go-san"... the 7, 5, 3, age celebration for children...

Another procession coming through the gate...

                               
                                      A display of chrysanthemums.

                                 Another display of bonsai and mini garden layouts....

                                            Cases of Japanese sake, donated to the shrine ...

And, across from the sake,  a display of casks of wine donated by winemakers.  I guess there will be plenty to serve all those wedding guests.

It was a very long walk to the inner area and back and the kids still had plenty of energy at the end. I was glad to sign off their books after covering their remarks. (and glad to get a seat part of the way home). With so many days of rain, we were lucky to have a dry day for the outing.

Then rain set in again until Saturday when we had a weed-a-thon. Three bags of weeds now waiting for tomorrow's trash collection and multiple service hours for our unit...

Somewhere in between I fit in a birthday with a big multiple skype with my kids. I think I needed a bigger screen to get everyone in view. What a joy!

The cookie fairy showed up and put in a day of hard work ... and a few got left for me to share with friends.

And, if I needed to feel even more loved,


... look at all the flowers that joined the party...

Not much room left for meals on that table...

Well, time to wind my clock and get back to the tasks at hand.