Finally!

At last the final stitches were put in and the label was sewn in place. The last lap was to the big PO, and after nearly seven months, Phoebe will be getting her quilt.

Granted, it is a single bed size so it can be used a bit longer than a baby bed coverlet. I am also glad the rain stopped long enough to take it to the park for a photo shoot.

I hope I have learned my lesson about trying to add things to the center of a large quilt.

The tree with seasonal borders was originally made for a group event that never kicked off. I decided to add seasonal flowers and leaves to the tree, and since my DIL, Zia, is an avid birder, lots of birds found their way to the tree.

Unfortunately, I added the I-Spy borders early on and it was just too hard to work on the center without stuff getting caught up in the stitching.

I decided to quilt the border and bind the quilt to  get rid of all the stuff around the edges, thinking that might make things easier to add to the center.

Well, it did help some but not enough. I had a nice print of ducks on water that I was thinking of putting as a pond on the right side of the tree, but after adding the flying Phoebe, I gave up as it would have been just too troublesome and time consuming.


Instead, I just cut a small template and traced a karakusa design to fill in any of the larger un-quilted spaces. I put in the final stitches last night and added the label to the back before noon. Grabbing a quickie picture before heading off to the PO. Hopefully, it will make it without being returned as Kai's Big-boy quilt did.

The feed sack blocks are ready to be arranged and pieced together but have been laid aside while I assemble some floral blocks similar to the black and white quilt. I also need to get going on another I-spy for my boss's expected baby. The piecing goes pretty fast while travelling on the train but the larger work can take much time and needs to be done at home as it is soon too big to work on as carry-along.

Friday I will set all aside to meet friends and enjoy the Yokohama quilt show. Hopefully the names of the quilters will be readable in English so I can share a few with my blogging friends.

It's in the hoop!

Today it is cold and dark. I finished piecing the backing for the baby quilt and laid it out on the cold apartment floor.  Then I laid out and pieced the batting using thinsulate #80. I finished adding the remaining birds to the tree, went over the seams with the iron, and laid it out on top.

Though I prefer thread basting, the apartment has the power turned off, and being rather cold and dark, and seeing how nicely the quilt lay on the batting, I decided to use my pin collection to get the job done.

I have not added all the leaves, but I think it will be a lot easier than the flowers and birds, especially now that it is layered, it is easier to get those wide borders out of the way.

I will first just quilt in the ditch.

Then I will have to figure out how to quilt the larger areas and the borders.

So ... the quilt for little Phoebe is growing almost as fast as she is.
for now, it is off in the rain to choir practice. Hopefully the rain will finish before the nature hike on Saturday.

Blooming time

This plum tree, planted to celebrate the birth of my first daughter in the mid-sixties, has usually begun to bloom around the time of her birthday.

The last few years it has been a bit late.
Well, maybe I, too , am slowing down as I get older.

Only about a week late, the first blossoms began to open last Friday. There are many more today, and I expect the next sunny day the tree will be showing off its full potential.

After adding a few bluebirds to Phoebe's tree to celebrate the day of her birth, it was time to add a few plum blossoms to celebrate her aunt.

I picked a flower to bring in and match the fabric.
Note one real flower on an upper branch, posing.


I do not plan to remove the borders, but it sure would have been easier to do all this fussy applique without getting that extra material caught in my needle.

As long as I am starting with the spring side of the tree, I decided to add a few cherry blossoms.



I still have a number of birds to add, but for today I think I will lay out and piece the backing.

In the past, I have sometimes added applique to quilts after basting the sandwich and found it less likely to get the the needle caught in strange places.

Tomorrow I will be meeting with my small quilt group so may make a bit more progress during the week.

If I can add the rest of the birds, I may add some of the leaves as I quilt. I often plan as I go, but this is the very least planned of any quilt I have ever worked on.


Last Friday I joined a small quilt group making a quilt for their school much like the Gala quilts we used to make for the American School. The quilts they make are more what I might call "art quilts" for hanging. All the work is in silk. It was fun working with a group and making new friends. I do not have every Friday free, but am planning to go back and help again.
Like many of the international schools in Tokyo, people come and go frequently, so the groups and amount of experience continuously change. At least that school has made cards of each of the quilts over the years and the history lives on. Often new administrations at these schools tend to get rid of the past and put in their own choice of teachers and agenda. As with overseas scouting, any history is in the heads of the longest active member... One never knows if things will evolve or one will be put out to pasture.

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.

Back to work

Last year the Women's Conference theme was the seasons of our lives. I put together this tree surrounded by strips of fabric representing fall, winter, spring, and summer, thinking it might be fun to have members add leaves. As can be seen, it was not a popular free-time activity.

Though it was suggested I bring it back this year and make another try, I decided to re-purpose the tree and make an I-Spy quilt for my new granddaughter. Daughter of two naturalists (and one an avid birder) I have selected kid-friendly prints that are nature related. Well, there are lots of animals.

I am now working on the last three rows of blocks. Then I will add birds to the tree and maybe a few animals or flying critters? Maybe a variety of leaves? Then a bit of borders to tie it all together.
The prints are all 4"x4" with 1" sashing and small 1' cornerstones. 

Phoebe's big brother is a good talker and I think he can play I-Spy to teach his baby sister new words.

This was his baby quilt.

And I heard that his first word was "owl".

I still have work to do on the piecing, but the blocks are measured, cut, and arranged in baggies for take-along work so should go fairly quickly.

Appliquéing critters in the center will be a bit of a challenge. I have some good bird prints and am thinking of cutting them more simply and hanging them in the tree like ornaments instead of trying to sew around tiny feathers and beaks.

I have yet to search my stash for a border. I wonder if there is any left of that bamboo print on Ryden's quilt border. Also maybe a narrow sashing of the same dark green that borders the tree block.

Nothing like planning step-by-step!

I hope all my blogging friends are off to a fine new year.