Complete and gifted

 With a rather heavy schedule and school beginning soon, I was anxious to get this I-Spy quilt finished and into the hands of the new youth ministry person before the end of the month, when classes resume. I was lucky to have enough thinsulate for batting, making it fine for simple pin basting.

I laid the flimsy out face down on the floor, put the batting on top, then the backing, and smoothed it all out making sure the edges were even. Then I just pinned it around the edges and flipped it over to check. I made sure the top was smooth, then put safety pins, spaced out in the top. The quilting was mostly in-the-ditch, with some inner quilting in the 4 inch squares. I used my hoop and it went very quickly. A simple linked-hearts pattern fit nicely in the border.

Saturday, I had to pick up my car from the inspection place, so while going through town, I picked up some bias tape to match the blue border sashing and all the little blue dots in that orange print. My last task was to back-stitch the doubled binding on and then turn it to the back and add a label. I may have been a bit later than usual going to bed, but could rest well having finished.

In the morning I went to the park to get document the finish with a photo. It was quite cloudy, so not looking so colorful, but at least I did not have to deal with wind or shadows messing up the results.

I had to get to church early because of an early discussion with a group reading Shusaku Endo's "Silence".  Then it was time for the service and I could pass the quilt to the new owner at the following coffee hour. Next thing I need to do us get a print made for my paper diary.

The log cabin awaits basting and a small labyrinth quilt is the next on the list, as well as a stewardship banner for later next month. I sewed signature leaves on to the anniversary banner and will have to check out my stash for a strip to add a hanging sleeve. There are still areas where people can sign, but maybe those signatures can be added when it is hanging.

The weather is still hot and humid, though the morning was a bit cooler than yesterday. Since I missed last week's weeding in the park because of rain, I got a huge bag of weeds on today's outing.  I left a few piles of weeds for the "gardeners" to collect rather than start another bag. Saturday it will go to the corner to be collected.

Another flimsy flapping on the fence

 I was finally able, with my daughter's help, to buy enough thinsulate for my log cabin quilt. It is now laid out on the apartment floor waiting for basting. What is holding it off is the summer heat and humidity. The electricity is off in that unused space and each day is so very hot.

Meanwhile, I had Vacation Bible School for the first week of August, and since the program activities were about nature, and written for children living in the states, they had to be tweaked to fit Tokyo. Leaves, bugs, birds, and animals and stuff for nature crafts had to be rounded up.

The days began with an early rush hour ride in the crammed sardine can subway, Only the youngest, fastest, and most aggressive got the senior sitting. I felt like a minnow swimming upstream in a typhoon! Ayway, I survived and hopefully the kids enjoyed the week. Then, the next week I was playing catch-up and getting ready for my Friday Cub Scout meeting

As it turned out, I heard from one parent that the cub had a fever and would not be coming, but I went early, set up the room with chairs and table for activity, and waited. Half an hour into the meeting time no one had come, so I slowly began folding the chairs and taking them back to the storage area. I got the room back to empty shortly before our usual closing time, and hauled my roller bag of materials back to the train station. The good thing is, I have something all ready to go for another meeting later on. It was gusting and rainy with the edge of a typhoon passing through, so I am not surprised that parents hesitated to drag their kids out in the storm.

  After the VBS week, I decided to make an I-Spy quilt for the new children's ministry director to use while the kids are gathering or waiting for parents to pick them up. 

I had a tin of 4inch blocks already cut and plenty of small solids to use in sashing, so this did not take much time.

Next will be to face the heat and get both this and the log cabin flimsy basted so the quilting can begin. I have a labyrinth wall hanging on my to-do list at the request of my Boston Daughter. I might be more motivated if it wasn't so difficult (bordering on impossible) to mail things larger than a small letter to the states! 

The end of the week, my car will go for it's three-year inspection. I get to sit on the room and wait some hours, but it is air conditioned and would be a good time to work on quilting. That alone will be my motivation to stagger up to the apartment floor and get to some basting. Hopefully the day will remain cloudy.