Friendship

When I was just a little kid, I learned a song that has somehow stuck in my head. It goes like this ...

It is my joy in life to find, at every turning of the road...
The strong arm of a comrade kind, to help me onward with my load.
And since I have no gold to give, and love alone must make amends,
My only prayer is, while I live, God make me worthy of my friends.

A stupid, left-handed, failure as a kid, my one great success has been picking out friends.

The load is sometimes frustrating ... like the blog comments not coming to my in-box ...
   But my left-handed quilting friend waved her magic wand in my direction and it was all fixed.
   Thank you Kitty!

Sometimes it is just too much to do at once ... scout stuff or onigiri delivery while I am away at camp... There, too, friends stepped up to lend a hand ... even at 5:am in the poring rain or in a rain-filled camp.

Then there are financial worries ... taxes and bills and things going bump in the night ...
but in addition to my wonderful kids (like picking friends, I did a good job picking kids too)
friends have stepped up to even the road.

And, sometimes it is just conversation with my quilting friends that fills the often quiet hours that sprang up when Paul died.

Today I celebrated such a day.
Our group used to be an active one  that met several times a month in the homes of members.

The International Quilters were from all over, many accompanying their spouses  on temporary postings to Tokyo and offering their spacious quarters for the group to meet.

Over the years, all but a few have left and others have aged out due to health issues. Today was special to welcome back a long-time member we had not seen for years. We played "catch up" over a lunch and coffee (and a piece of rhubarb pie provided by our hostess, Suzanne standing beside me) What fun to turn back the clock and get caught up.

My friend, Kuraishi-sensei, in front on the right, is having a quilt show in the fall. She has asked me to contribute my "Lucy Boston" quilts. Yesterday I finished sewing a sleeve on the big quilt and took it to the park for a photo-op, as it was made before the digital camera days.

Oh my, I took a step ladder to hang it on the fence but had to hang it sideways because there was no part of the fence tall enough. Seen here flapping in the wind, I began to worry that it would be way too big for my friend's show and gave her a call.
Today she assured me that the Garden Gallery that will host the show has very high ceilings and size will be no problem.

In addition, she would also like to display my first attempt at this pattern.

I had to explain my quilt titles ... this one being "Star Crossed" ... as in star-crossed lover ... when you meet a pattern and fate has it that you pull out your notebook and sketch it down because it calls to you to try it ....

And then "Double Crossed" .... because you are doomed to make it again. (after swearing that all those little set-in seams were never again)

So, thin is a day I walk home from the bus, with the little song circling over and over in my head.

God had indeed blessed me with the best of friends and now will hear my plea to be made worthy.


Thank you, my many blogging friends who add so much to my days in kind comments (I can now see) and inspiration that keeps me motivated.

Double Crossed meets Bloggers Quilt Festival

A while back I posted a picture of "Star Crossed", a small quilt I made after viewing a similar quilt made by Lucy Boston and displayed in a Tokyo department store.

I had been so taken by the pattern that I made a sketch of the idea and came home to figure out how to make a pattern so I could try it myself.

That quilt was limited to red, white, and blue. As with all hexagon patterns, all seams were just 2cm and turn, no straight sewing, and a lot of work. I was happy with the results and called that quilt "Star Crossed" because I was destined to make it. At that time I said, "never again"!

Well, you may know how these things work because the possibilities of making one with other colors kept calling me and in 2002 I began cutting and piecing blocks.

The striped fabric is a soft weave used in the little squares and the border. I had only enough for the side edges and since they were not the same, I appliqued a Hawaiian-style edge and finished the corners with blocks.

The size is 88.5" x 106.5" and, being too big to carry along to quilt meetings, took a long time to quilt with other projects forcing themselves into the schedule. It was finished in April 2006 in time to cover the bed during a visit from my American cousin. Twice captured by this pattern, I named the quilt "Double Crossed".

You can see many inspiring quilts at the Bloggers Quilt Festival. http://amyscreativeside.com/2011/10/28/bloggers-quilt-festival-fall-2011/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+amyscreativeside+%28Amy%27s+Creative+Side%29

Star Crossed goes to the festival

Years ago, when I was performing regularly with the Tokyo Piping Society, a small group was asked to play outside a Tokyo department store to draw attention to a "Festival U.K. '98 "that was being held inside. When we had a break, I went inside to see what the "Fair" was all about. Along with British goods there was also a small quilt show and one quilt by Lucy Boston caught my eye. It was all done in lozenge-shaped hexagons and, I think, called "Stars and Crosses". The interesting thing was the variety of patterns that could be made with just one shape. I took out my notebook and made a sketch of the general design before going out for another piping session.

As time went on, that sketch in my notebook kept calling my attention and I decided to try that pattern out. I had begun assembling a selection of red, white, and blue fabric for another quilt I had in mind so decided to limit the color to that just to try out the design.

This pattern was particularly good with striped fabrics and somewhat fussy to do so I only made 20 blocks as a test. I swore at the time this would be my last adventure with hexagons but that was not necessarily the case. I named it "Star Crossed" because I was doomed from the time I first saw it. Later I made a full sized quilt of the same design and named that one "Double Crossed".


The backing was made from Japanese Tenugui, printed cotton towels. These four are of Japanese Children's games. When I showed the quilt to the elderly man who made the towels, he was delighted to sign his name on the lower towel. Since them I have acquired a set of 17 of these towels and am thinking I may again use them for a quilt back.

With Blogger down and my computer having it's dying spasms, I am a bit late to post for the Bloggers' Quilt Festival. I will give it a try but the computer guru came in and re-arranged everything and I'm not too sure I can link in or add the button. The quilts are great and I could spend the whole day looking at other's posts.

(LATER) I have spent a frustrating two hours trying to figure out how to get that button added but nothing has worked so far. You can check them out by clicking on Amys Creative Side on the right side of my blog.