Tokyo Dome spin-off

In one of Tanya's earlier posts, she introduced Fumiko Nakayama with some lovely pictures.

Nakayama-sensei is known for her Mola-style quilting.

Though from, I believe, Kyoto, her classes are taught around Japan and I met some of her deshi from both Kobe and Tokyo.

Several "Sensei" had special booths to show off their work and meet up with quilters curious about learning more.

 This was the quilt made by Nakayama-sensei in the exhibit set aside for teachers.

Title, "Flower the Macrocosm"


This is not a small wall quilt but quite large and full of colorful detail.

It has already been mentioned that the wallpaper in this section and the lighting with shadows did not set off the quilts to their best.

This quilt missed the shadow problem but the wallpaper hardly does much to set it off. Still, a lovely colorful piece of work!


In her booth, Sensei had several copies of books she had written on Mola and some demonstration pieces.
There was also a shop selling her things in the area where all the shops were located...
Among them fabrics and kits with instructions...
Not cheap!

Her demonstration piece showed the layers basted and then cut and needle turned.


As Tanya has mentioned, the three of us decided on a challenge of trying Mola and making something using that technique.



We had gone by the shop and looked over the kits, then decided to go it alone.

Now, do I think I can figure out how to do something like this?

I thought I might have a magazine or two with Mola designs for inspiration but I am yet to find them on my shelf and anything I could locate was all in Japanese.

Guess I really am on my own.

Well, I drew up a plan and traced it onto a piece of navy scrap fabric.
Then I made a sandwich like the one I had seen and basted it together.

Well, this is what I came up with...

On Tuesday afternoon, a day before the closing, I went back to the Tokyo Dome to see if I could get a few pictures without waiting for the crowds to move.

I stopped off at Nakayama-sansei's booth to ask her how to turn that yellow into borders, showing the red underneath.

Kindly, she did nor say, "you stupid fool, you are doing this all wrong!"
but she pulled out fabric and scissors and thread, giving me a one-on-one demonstration of putting the under fabric on first and turning that, then putting the top fabric in place and turning the top fabric, leaving a nice neat frame in each space.

She did not tell me to go and buy something from her shop and read the instructions but patiently showed me how I should have done it.

I have to admit I am quite impressed with the lesson I got and the patient friendly way it was delivered.

But, now I have a piece of yellow sun and I do not want to take it out and start over so....

Last night, after a busy day at school, with the cold wind rattling the windows,
I curled up on the sofa and attacked the problem head-on the "wrong" way.


With the navy stitches already in place, there isn't much room to turn the yellow under ... but there really isn't a very wide strip of yellow to begin with. The yellow rays are only about 3/8 of an inch in width.

I think I will have a bit of fun along with the frustration.

Meanwhile, the table runner for the conference speaker is now in the hands of it's new owner.

I finished off the spare pieces for a runner, now on my coffee table.

(being motivated to remove the Christmas/New Years one still in that spot).

As I was  thinking of my Mola and the Christmas present for Norie yet to begin and a whittling project I wanted to start this month ...

along comes the news that a member of our church choir is expecting a baby in MARCH!

Not a lot of time ... and I need to make a baby quilt for all the choir to sign.

Last night ... among other things ... I dug into my kid-friendly prints and pulled out a pile of pre-cut blocks.
Today I laid them out on the dog hair covered carpet and played around with possible arrangements for an I-Spy quilt ... (no time to gather alphabet  prints .. though mola letters might give me more experience.

Tonight I will present my plan to the choir president.

Here's to all my friends who use those things called "Patterns"!
My quilting seems to be just like my life... a bit backward, and definitely "Plan as you go".

Almost done

I might say this is all done but I noticed a few of the white stitches came all the way through when I was adding the hanging sleeve, so I will take those out and try again.


Though navy blue seems like an easy color to match, I ended up using a bit lighter blue for the binding rather than have something that was not quite there.
I think this dark blue doesn't distract much from the pattern.

I ended up turning the bias twice to make it narrower and kind of rounded. I think it will wear better that way and I like the narrow look.

The Women's Conference is still two weeks away but now the pressure is off.

Next week will be the quilt show at the Tokyo Dome. Everyone is checking their calendars to find the best time to go.

I have two quilt groups going at different times, one member of my old group is giving a presentation on the 20th and the group is meeting up afterwards for lunch.
I am looking forward to meeting friends I don't see quite so often and I think my other group is going the following Monday when I will be working. My "partnership block" will be in quilt number 61 and Tanya's and Queenie's will both be in number 1. This year the blocks are smaller but it seems there are just as many quilts as usual. Those will be on the list to see, and the show itself is big enough to gobble up the hours. I just bought a new chip for my camera so I hope to get some good pictures to share. I may end up making a second trip later in the show.

Then the following weekend  will be the Women's Conference so this week I plan to make up "kits" for the "Quilting 101" class I will be teaching. Meantime, I am quilting on a table runner of the same design as this for my own coffee table

Wednesday past,  was the first anniversary of Paul's passing and we held a small family memorial by Skype. Norie and Paul's sister came here and we sat together in a row on the sofa for the visit. (I think it was a first for Obachan and she was happy to be part of the clan) With time zones for Boston, Colorado, Oregon, and Tokyo, it is amazing we could pull it off. But then, when those kids come up with a plan ... there is no stopping them! It was a good two hour visit and we are hoping to do it again in the future.

So ... that is it for this week. It's back to school on Monday and the schedule picks up. I have to admit though, it was nice having down time for quilting and getting rid of my cold. Who knows what new germs the kids will bring back from their holiday travels.

A second runner

This is what happens when making lots of pieces of blocks so that you can pick and choose.
On the first runner, the goal ... other than to look good and balanced ... was to use 60 blocks without repeating any of the fabrics.

That runner is now waiting for the border and quilting. I added to what was left over and made this piece for my coffee table. Well, it is not together yet but laid out on the dog hair. This is a good project for train rides and meetings so may get done by the time the Christmas runner makes it's showing.

I really don't care about repeats and there are a few blocks left over even yet. Maybe the top of the trash bin will get a matching one ... or the genkan ... We shall see. I still have plenty of scraps.

It is amazing how quickly time flies ... especially when a holiday is tossed into the equation. Every day seems to want to grab a share of attention ... whether with an earthquake or snow or work or choral presentation or three meals out with friends. Even so, I count all as blessings and will give great thanks for each and every one.

What are they thinking?

Or, ARE they thinking?

My walk to the train station takes me down a quiet street lined with magnolias.

All winter I watch the buds swell and wait for the first ones to open as spring rolls in.

Today, as I walked the street there was a large truck with a platform arm in back. Two men were sitting on the curb smoking.

Well, later in the day, walking that same route I found out what they were there for. TREE TRIMMING!

The Japanese people are very polite and careful not to say anything that might offend someone, but I can't help thinking it a good thing that my Japanese skill is so poor because they would surly have gotten a piece of my mind.

Surly those who make their living trimming trees, know that there are trees that set their buds during the summer.

Why, then, do they cut off all those branches with the buds in the fall?

These were not the only trees hit either. The dogwoods got a close trimming too. And off in the park I heard the sound of chain saws ... probably the plums got a hit as well.



I wonder if the tree guys are so eager to make a buck that they don't even care if they are spoiling the tree's beauty. Surely they could just as well trim the trees in the spring after the blooms are finished.
It has been a rather sad rainy fall with much of the leaves being blasted off the trees before even having a chance to change color. Now it looks as though spring will be lacking it's usual color too.

The runner for the Women's Conference speaker is now assembled ... all 60 blocks ... after making changes here and there from my earlier plan.

I think I am satisfied so far and will begin looking through my stash for a dark border.
I am thinking of something in maybe navy or dark purple, and then quilting in words with white thread.

I have yet to check out something for the back.

The latest earthquake didn't have much effect on the Tokyo area. One person I talked to living in a tall building had things fall. There was some interruption of train schedules and I heard Tsunami warnings had been called off before noon.

On my one day to sleep in, I did not appreciate the 6am shake-up. More after-shocks are predicted but I hope they wait until day-light hours.

Playing with blocks

I feel like I have arrived at my second childhood ... playing with blocks.
I have finished sewing 121 blocks so far.

Today I went through the piles of dark on light and light on dark and pulled out any blocks that use the same fabric so I will have 60 blocks, all with different fabrics.

Then I started laying them all out on the floor and moving them around, substituting spare blocks, and trying to find a balance with color placement and light and dark.

I am thinking of a dark color for the border that will show up the stitching of words, so I tried to keep darker blocks toward the middle. I may end up re-arranging a few of these but have begun sewing the blocks into groups of four.  I am happy with the way all the corner points match up and the way the seams look when ironed.

I will add a few more blocks to the left-overs and make a runner for my own coffee table. With mine, I do not care about repeats. I will also use some old clothing scraps with memories attached.

Somehow, half a month has flown by without any reports from family activities.

Some of these are due to lack of photos. On the 29th of October, Leia and I held our regular fall cookie factory
and in the evening, we went to a neighbourhood Indian restaurant for dinner which was to be a small birthday celebration.

SMALL, it was NOT. That was the reason it ended up in a place with more seating than my dining room table.
It included my local family, SIL, Kids on loan and close friends.
Norie made the cake and brought it along and fun and fellowship prevailed.

Next morning was Sunday and I was out early for choir practice  ... before anyone other than Nikko was up and about.

During the service, I happened to notice in the back of the bulletin that flowers for the fellowship hall had been donated by my children in celebration of my birthday. I was surprised that some mention at all had been made of a birthday but other than that, didn't think much about it.

After the service, I went up to the choir room to put away my music and hang my robe.

I was a little surprised to find no one up in the room. Leia came behind me and took my hand to go down to the fellowship hall for coffee hour.

What a shock! When I entered the room, the choir sang a birthday song they had made up specially for me. There were two  long rows of tables filled with food and the one behind me had 8 cakes, each containing ten candles.

I started at one end of the table blowing and Leia helped from the other end and a big room full of people enjoyed these refreshments provided by friends with lots of scheming and plotting. Someone brought me a plate with eight pieces of cake.

I won't need to eat dessert for the rest of November.

Every one of those cakes was different and delicious.
Note, I had to sit to eat them all.
Oh yes, and someone brought me a cup of coffee fixed to just the color I like.

They know me so well!

There were not only church friends but some others from the scouting world had also shown up.

And, here are the beautiful flowers my children donated.
And behind me is the chief plotter... president of the choir.

I left the flowers in the lobby for others to enjoy the rest of the week. They were an amazing selection of color and variety.

A few friends have sent me wonderful pictures of the celebration but I just can not put them in any spot where I can share them ...



Monday morning, my real birthday, (yes, I am an old bat born on Halloween) I left home at 4:am for rice patrol as usual. Shibuya, where I deliver the onigiri, was crammed with young people in costume and noisy celebration. Many of the homeless were having trouble finding a quiet place to rest but Nikko and I made the delivery and I returned to grab my school bag and head out to work.

Thus, my actual birthday turned out to be a quiet Monday of work. No one even knew it was my birthday or exclaimed about my age ... which at that point was only four days older than the last time they saw me.  Since at 50, I began counting down rather than up, I have enjoyed a year at 21 and am now back to my second childhood.

Maybe I could blame my lack of computer skills on my youth ... but probably that won't work because all the youngsters I know have much better knowledge than I. Doesn't it make sense that I am back to playing with blocks?

mathematical musings

It is a long time until the end of January but I have been working on ideas for a gift for the Women's Conference speaker. (not that I don't have other things making demands on my time ... ) I really am enjoying the possibilities of this block and thought since it is the 60th anniversary of the WOCON, maybe something with the number 60 might be appropriate. 

I was thinking of 30 blocks, each with two different fabrics and a total of 60 fabrics. Well, I am no mathematician but there is no way I can think of to use this block and use only 30 of the smaller ones.

Well then, how about making a runner out of  60 blocks? That would work a bit better, though it might be a bit harder to make sure all the fabrics used are different.

My plan is to add a solid border, quilted with a bible verse or something else. That would mean adding maybe one and a half to two inches to the size all around.

I was wondering what the usual size of a table runner might be so finally I dug out my quilt magazines and spent a few hours going through them looking at published quilted runners.

If I eliminate everything smaller than either of my ideas, of the 16inch width there was 16x28, 16x40, and 16x44.  There were none with a width of 22 inches but one 23-1/2x84"and many larger, plus "table toppers" up to 39" square.

My own coffee table is 21x44 so it would be possible to make a runner to fit by making the border a bit narrower. I did not record the size of all the past runners I have made but some using Japanese panels with an added border range from 25x48, 22x46, and 22x34, so I guess either of the two would be a useful size.  Maybe the 60 block one to represent the 60 years. I still have plenty of time to assemble more blocks so that all the fabrics will be different.

Going through those magazines was fun too. I pulled out an article in a 2014 Quiltmaker about "Quilting Buddies" and quilting together. It was only two pages but there were quotes from quite a few quilters about the impact of their quilting groups and friends. 

Thinking about the quilting groups that have entered my revolving door world ... here today and gone tomorrow, my first reaction was envy and a touch of sadness. But then, I thought of my blogging family and realized I am not the only one who works alone and I do have a go-to group when I need help or ideas or encouragement to carry on.

Thanks for being there ... For support ... for someone to bounce my ideas off of ... for taking the time from your busy life to read my ramblings and sometimes leave a comment.

Having fun

The choir retreat more than met expectations.

We got in lots of quality practice time and ...
the part I like best ...

time for fun and fellowship.

On our regular schedule we only have time to interact with our own sections before we have to go and sing.

At the retreat we take Saturday night to enjoy a sip of wine and snacks and lots of fun getting to know each other better.

My weather app on my cell phone predicted rain but as usual, it lied. We had lovely weather, cool and not too humid.

The YMCA where we stayed is being re-built and there was a new reception center and mess hall but other aspects of the place had not changed much.

Like many forested hills in Japan, the area is surrounded by a mixed forest of Hinoki (a false-cypress) and Sugi (Cryptomeria japonica).
Both are called "cedar" ... white cedar and red cedar but as in many places, things called "cedar" are no relation to a true cedar.

I suppose the air-born pollen causes lots of suffering in the spring but here the air was so fresh and welcoming.

No snow yet on Mt. Fuji.

Clouds moved in to decorate the scene but not enough to hide the subject.

This picture was taken from the window in the small chapel (behind me in the first picture).

With a view like that, who needs stained glass?

During the ride down and back ...

Plus while listening to other parts work over their section,

Plus sitting around and sipping wine and jawing,

I got most of the blocks I had pre-cut sewn together.

Well, they are only three inches square finished so not as big as this seems to be.

I am wondering if I put this into a table runner and maybe added a border ... maybe with a bible quote quilted in, if it would be the kind of gift the speaker could use and enjoy.

It is pretty loud and scrappy and though I could use something like this ... I don't know what would be fitting as a gift.

I don't even know what would be a suitable size for a finished runner.

I do have one more pattern I am considering trying and there are some interesting ways those blocks can be arranged.

This bush was outside our practice room. I had to take a picture so I could look it up.

Cotoneaster horizontalis, or Rockspray cotoneaster. The leaves are tiny, round, and evergreen.

We have pyracantha in our park that is crammed with berries too. The rainy summer seems to have made lots of plants very happy. (though, according to my book, this bush does well in arid spots too.)

And, upon my return, I was greeted by this "Hototogisu" or toad lilies along my garden path.

Some of these had been devoured by caterpillars and were festooned with hanging chrysalises.
I am thinking of finding a bug cage to put them in so I can figure out what the butterfly and caterpillar looks like before another year rolls around.

Nikko returned happily from the "dog club" late Sunday evening. She didn't say much but the kennel guy praised her highly enough. (Probably hoping to get her back again ... but I remember a dog from my childhood that no kennel wanted to take so it may not be all talk and bluster.)

Well, so much for the weekend. Now it is back to the real world. It is suddenly chilly and after a week and a half of pre-school runny noses, mine also has become drippy. I need to figure out a layer system that won't be too hot but will save me from the un-expected air conditioned room or the sudden call to an outdoor activity.

Take-along work

This weekend will be our annual "Choir Retreat".  Twice a year the choir presents a musical sermon, once at the beginning of Advent and again during the Lenten season.  Each fall the choir gathers at a retreat in Gotemba in the foothills of Mt. Fuji to polish our delivery of the chosen piece.

This year we are working on John Rutter's "Magnificat". We have sung this several times in the past so, to some long-time choir members, it is a familiar piece ... something like re-visiting an old friend.
Of course ours is the church of the revolving door and the choir has some new members to whom this is a new challenge. Even for the old hands, we need to coordinate and balance our presentation.

Therefore it will be three days  ... well, for some two or even one day of work ... but also fun and fellowship. For those staying overnight there will be wine and laughter.

This time I will ride with friends instead of driving so I had two things to prepare. First was easy. Just to pack up food to go with Nikko on her trip to the "Athletic Dog Club" where she will be heading tomorrow morning. Second was to pull out some scraps to sew together.

I should be working on my daughter, Norie's, poncho but I have yet to figure out how to make one that will meet her desired idea and my skills.

I have also been tasked with a gift for the Women's Conference speaker. The theme is something like weaving together our stories and those of women in the bible. I have several ideas for blocks that seem to weave fabrics together. I have not seen any panel I might use so thought this block might be interesting to try. I may have to coordinate my scraps a bit better but by the end of the trip I will know if I want to continue in this mode. I like that block so whatever happens, they will be put to use.

The weather is cooling off a bit and fall is working it's way in.

Goldenrod is blooming in the local weed patch.
I have been told this plant has invaded from North America by way of used railroad ties.

It is not as invasive here as many other weeds and in small amounts it is colorful and brings  back memories of times past.

It also lasts longer than other autumn flowers that are here and gone in a week.

 In the park the Beauty berries are bowing down
along the pathway.

I have a small bush in my garden but should probably move it to a planter so it can be moved into a sunnier location.

That bush carries memories of a dear friend and needs
better exposure.

The local persimmons have begun to ripen.

Depending on the variety, they are ready to eat at different times. I have already had some from a friend's garden.

The ones two houses down are ripe and being attacked by birds. Three or four were squished on the street and impossible to sweep up.

Another tree in the area has fruit so high up, only the birds will be able to access them.

Some varieties hang on until all the leaves have fallen and make a striking picture on the otherwise bare branches against the bright blue sky.

Hopefully the foot hills of Fuji will have beauty to share. Since I will be missing a Cub Scout Camping event that got moved to this weekend, I am hoping the weather will cooperate as well for my cub families who are going there.