HELP!!!

Yesterday, travelling from town, the bus and trains were jammed. The St. Paddy's Day parade had brought a cast of thousands to the area near the bus stop and there was no place to sit. Sit = handwork. Stand = read.

I have been reading Marie Bostwick's, "A Single Thread" as part of the Quilter's Book Club and these were the words I read."Since our great-great-grandmothers' time, quilters have created community. Quilting is about getting together and helping each other, sharing life, cheering one another on through good times and bad". Was that a message written for me?

As you may know, the people of Tohoku have been having a rough time. The after-effects of the earthquake and tsunami have left communities broken and disconnected. My Tokyo church has reached out to three churches in the disaster area and groups of volunteers have made trips up to Tohoku to do all kinds of service.
Now, I have been asked to do a quilting class for the women there. I am not looking for more things to fill my already overflowing schedule so have been resisting. I was not sure what end result would be expected or how and what to teach in just a few days. My language skills are really bare-bone and help will come from a non-quilter who is making arrangements.

Tuesday, the Gala quilt group got together and I ran my concerns past those wonderful women. Quilters are full of ideas and encouragement ... so I began to say "yes" to the proposal. The minute I gave a hint of yes, the person making the arrangements went to the left-overs of the flea market and picked out some clothing that could be gleaned for fabric. I told her that might be a good "Plan B".
I heard from the quilting friends that fabric shops in the States sometimes donate things to a good cause and thought Japanese shops  may not have been asked to help out yet. I made a list of fabric stores in the Tokyo area, supplies we might want,  and will get my husband to make some calls.

Now comes the part where I think my blogging friends might be some help....

As you may recall, in January I taught a class at the Women's Conference. The class was only an hour long. I had made up a variety of about 20 kits from my stash so what we did was very basic, Sew the triangles to the corners, mark the solid center for a quilt design, baste, quilt center and in the ditch, and turn the backing to the front for binding. There is an option to applique in the center area.

For me, this might take a little over an hour but no one was able to finish in that time. I did this also with my girls class who know how to sew, and they could not finish even in two sessions running over time. Of course, the outreach team asking me to go, is thinking of not only teaching but providing the women with a way to earn a bit of money. A similar program that donated yarn and brought knit articles to Tokyo to sell was quite successful. This is one of the concerns that caused me to drag my feet.

The Gala women suggested that things like baby quilts might take less time and be popular. Yes, but that would take more than a day of lessons and I have to start somewhere. I need something that will teach the basic skills and can be completed while I am there to help. I thought if there are people who catch on quickly, they could make more of these squares and join them to make something larger, I have taught a quilt-as-you-go class but it is divided into nine weekly lessons with lots of homework.

Another thought is place mats or table runners with an appliqued origami crane and sashiko-stitched quilting might be a good item.  Our church has an "Ah Sew" group that might be convince to cut out fabric to make kits.
I have never been to a class or workshop so I don't have much of a vision as to how things are done in other places. If any of you out there have ideas I could use, your knowledge and advice will be greatly appreciated.

Needed... a project that will teach the basic skills. (The contact in Tohoku said we could limit it to those who know how to sew but I think that is too narrow and that non sewers may never had a chance to learn so the opportunity should be for all. Besides, this should also be about building community.)
.....a project that can be finished in about five hours or less.
.... a project that can be expanded upon to make something larger.

Meanwhile, I am now about half way down the third edge of the + and X quilt and I have nine wonderful ideas for my followers quilt. I love reading through that list and thinking of those friends. If you haven't left me an idea that could represent you. please do. Nine blocks is a good start but I want to wrap myself in my friends and I am much bigger than Nikko.

All my Friends are Stars

Yesterday, Nikko and I walked to the park with my quilt and a step ladder and digital camera. thinking of taking a picture of my friendship quilt ... well, that is what I was thinking of ... Nikko? she was probably thinking about meeting cats and little yappy dogs and watching out for scary kids kicking balls.

The park fence was too narrow in the sunny spot and had too many tree shadows in the other places so we walked another block to the fence around the tanks at the apartment buildings.

When I first began my quilt diary, I trimmed all the pictures from prints made from negatives. I have made many quilts with no pictures at all, let alone digital ones, and many pictures I did have were lost when my last computer died. It's a good thing I didn't wait until today, because no quilt could ever hang in the blasting winds we are getting now.

This is the finished friendship quilt. There are five other blocks made by quilt group friends who are still in Tokyo but have left the group. There was some small problem about size of the finished blocks but putting a black sashing on each one solved that.  For the border, I put the feature fabric as part of a half-square triangle and hunted down bits of color that the other quilters had featured.

For the center and inner star points, I used the fabric I had used in my own basket block, changing the star point fabric in several places.

I drafted a large scalloped pattern for quilting the setting fabric.

The backing is all feature fabric and I turned it to the front for binding.

Since 1998, when I finished it, this quilt has spent most of its life on the guestroom bed.  It is 82 inches (208 cm.) square.


I love the idea of a friendship quilt. When my #4 daughter was working at the American School, we made several friendship quilts for teachers that were having babies. Each teacher contributed a patch or a hand-print ... depending on what we were making ... and my daughter and I put them all together,
I hope they provided good memories for those new mothers.

Now that I have reached my 300th post, I am thinking of friendship in terms of my blogging friends. In just a few years I have made friends throughout the blog world that I think about often.. It warms my heart to read their comments and I love getting to know them through their blog posts.

I was thinking it would be fun to make a "follower's" quilt. If I made a block to represent you, what would it be? Well, Irene's might have hexies ... beautiful fussy-cut hexies ... or a cute house. Maybe Tanya's would have cats or Janet's, snowflakes, or Cynthia's, sashiko stitches. And there would be a few with embroidery stitching and a touch of indigo dying... Oh wouldn't that be fun! Mine sure would be an Ohio star.

How about it? What could I make to represent you? Favorite colors? Favorite seasons? Favorite topics? Favorite block designs?
I am going to keep notes in my blog journal with your suggestions.

Now back to the + and x quilt. Almost finished quilting the second side. Woo Hoo, I'm on a quilting roll!!

"White Day"

White day came a bit early. This is the day that those guys who got chocolate from the girls on Valentine's day, will receive return gifts. After rice delivery in cold and blustery early-morning Shibuya, I went back up to my nook to finish off my sleep. I recall at one point hearing the doorbell ring but since Paul was still up, I went back to sleep.
When I returned to the land of the active participants, what should I find sitting on my laptop, but a beautifully wrapped package with a lovely note saying, "Happy reading and quilting!!! Paul". Inside was my eagerly awaited book for my Quilter's Book Club. My husband said it was his "White Day" present to me in return for not buying him chocolate. Ah, so much better than having him pick out a piece of underwear, no matter how beautiful. I guess I should stop snickering over this "tradition".

"a single thread" by Marie Bostwick

Do you love to read and quilt? I'll bet it would never be too late to join the fun ... and it is fun to share reading and quilting and comments with friends whether you have met them in person or not.

Check out the The Starwood Quilter to learn more.

While I am at it, I thought I might show you two more blocks from my friendship quilt.

These were made by two members of our International Quilters group who have returned to the States.

The upper block was made by my friend Tina. It is a "California" block as she returned from Japan to San Jose, California. She has returned a few times since then and we will always be friends. Her three boys were in my Scout group and she was a leader. Since returning to California, she has been awarded the "Silver Beaver" (a National award for work at the Council level) and conducted "Woodbadge" (an advanced leadership training course) as staff and course director. One summer she brought her troop to Japan for an exchange. On another visit, she brought five fat quarters to each member of our group. We challenged the members to add one fabric of their own and make some kind of quilted object. That was a fun challenge too.

The Lower block is "Delectable Mountains". It was made by "Cindy" who returned to Oregon after leaving Tokyo. Her notation on the signature block is that the pattern "from an old quilt which was made as a symbol of the survival of the "Lost Wagon Train" of 1853, on the Oregon Trail. My great, great grandparents arrived in Oregon with this wagon train". 

Isn't that just too cool for words! I knew Lucinda from the American School where both she and her husband worked. It figures that an educator would come up with something so meaningful. 

For certain, I will never forget these two friends (or where they come from) no matter how many years pass. The remainder of the quilt group shared these stories at our reunion just past.

The cold wind seems to have past while I was writing this and the sun is out. Time to go hang the laundry.

Have a great day and cherish your friends!

The Gala quilt is done!

Today the binding and the hanging sleeve were added and the quilt is now hanging in the stairway at the Early Learning Center. This picture was taken at the foot of the stairway at the ELC.

The quilt is not easy to photograph in the stairwell, but the lighting shows the fish and quilting off to the best advantage.

Goldie

Peachie

and Spot.

Well, they don't really have names ... and if they did, they should have something a whole lot classier.

Tomorrow morning, the arriving children and their parents will have a surprise where a painting usually hangs. Saturday will be the Gala. Yes, we finished in time! Next week there will be no quilting day but our group will meet to celebrate.

This is our tenth year of quilt making. My husband would like to make a set of all ten quilts on note cards and has begun asking around for printers.

I have no idea how cards would sell but I sure wouldn't mind having a few sets. Each quilt is a reminder of friends made, ideas shared, problems solved and goals met.

Today I had a call from Kuraishi-sensei. This is the block she made for my friendship quilt.

Tomorrow she will come to the meeting with our former member.

Afterwards, she has invited me to a quilt show.

It is going to be a great day!!!

Asayama-san made this Ohio Star block. She is our best member for keeping in touch with those who have moved away. I'm so happy I will see her tomorrow too.

I'm sure Haeno-san will be there too because she is the member who was first to call and tell me about the meeting.

This block called "Nocturne", is the one she made.








Five other members of the group that made blocks for this quilt are still in the area but have not attended for at least a year or more. One member is living in San Jose, California and has returned several times. Another was living in Oregon and some of our group visited her one year for the "Sisters" show.

I have joined the Book Quilt Club and finished the first reading of The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas. One thing I liked about the story was that even when members of the quilt group had issues with the others, they counted friendship and loyalty to the group stronger than little irritations.  No member was quitting because of something someone said without thinking how it might sound to others ... or some other silly reason that needed to be forgiven and forgotten. I wish I could make a gift of that book to five friends.

My blue runner is almost ready to bind and I am sketching a plan for a baby quilt for my coming grandson.
My book club block for February will soon be underway. My + and x blocks are moving ever so slowly. 14 more blocks left to quilt on the first border. While wishing it would go faster, I am enjoying re-visiting all those fabric scraps. Now in the hoop, a block from my son's stash, Fabric from a quilt my daughters and I made for a friend's first baby, two bits from daughter's dresses, several more scraps from grandbaby quilts, batik from my daughter's quilt finished last year and Paul's "big boy" quilt. only a few scraps have never appeared in one of my former quilts. Plenty to do, plenty to enjoy. I hope you are enjoying your days too.

Waiting in the wings.

It's all over but the shouting ... or, in this case, adding the binding and the sleeve. I don't know what kind of a picture I will get next Tuesday after the last stitch is put in so Nikko and I went off with the carp, to the park for a photo shoot. I'm sure the orange silky-looking binding will be the frosting on the cake but I am quite satisfied with what our group has managed to do in such a short tiime.

My oval hoops have returned to their hanging spot and my big round hoop is embracing the last two rows of the + and X quilt ... that I may complete the quilting before the weather warms up. A few more stitches are needed in the blue table runner, then the binding. Tonight't train ride may get that finished.

So.... a new project is waiting in the wings. There is a baby quilt to make ... and a birthday gift ... but...
The thing that really excites me right now has to do with three things I love, quilting, reading, and friendship!

The last post, I shared a picture of the friendship quilt block made by my friend, Linda.  Here is another block from that quilt. The flower basket was made by me. The feature fabric got some fussy-cutting and the color I pulled out was brown and gold.

Along beside the block is friendship in the form of a book. Even though I am the world's slowest reader, I love to read. When Susan came up with the idea of a Quilters' Book Club, I really wanted to take part even though I was not sure I could get the books. While I was still plotting as to how to find the first book here in Japan, friend, June, sends me an e-mail saying she has an extra copy she can send me.

Last night, on my way up to bed, I checked the postbox and found her book waiting for me. I was so excited I could hardly get to sleep. (in fact, I fell asleep with the light on and my head on the book. Now I will be dreaming of the blocks to make for each book. I may make more than one block per book. The only thing I know for sure is that this quilt will not be made for the guestroom bed. It will be made for my semi-single futon on the greenhouse floor! Quilting, Reading, and Friendship! (And the comfort of a finished quilt ... no matter how long it takes or how many interruptions life tosses in).

All My Friends are Stars

    The January 1996 issue of "Lady's Circle Patchwork Quilts", featured a challenge quilt made by friends,
When I showed the article to our International Quilt Circle, everyone thought it would be a fun challenge.

I gave one meter of the above fabric to each member who wanted to participate. She was to add her own fabric, picking up a color from the feature fabric, and make 12 blocks, 10 x 10 inches. A date was set for the exchange and then each member would arrange those 12 blocks into a quilt.

This was a fun project for me and the resulting quilt is most often on the bed in the loft, well used and loved.

My quilt group has under-gone many changes. Of course many members have left Japan. Some have quit for reasons unknown, and only a small core remains. The biggest joy is when we hear from a former member who will return for a visit.

Next week will be one of those joyous gatherings! I am as excited as a school girl! Linda Franlkin will be here and what remains of our group will gather to celebrate an old friendship.

Here is the block made by Linda. After my quilt was finished, I got a package of signature blocks. Some of out group put these blocks into the front or backing of their quilts. I wish I had thought of that. I still have these blocks and am now thinking of how I might use them in a pillow or something to go with this quilt.
The size is big enough for a five inch square. They are a variety of colors and prints.

Since the quilt is a star, perhaps turning each block into the center of a star block using similar colors to what was used in each block??? The interesting thing is, when I selected the feature fabric, I picked a print with basic colors that would not be hard to match up. It seems each quilter picked up a different fabric and the blocks are quite different.

A picture of the finished quilt was shown in "Quilt Presents Sampler Quilts #13" c.1999.

Friendship quilts

In recent posts by friends, I have seen a number of "Friendship" quilts. Then I was reminded that this week's "Themed contest" on Quilting Gallery, is friendship quilts. I thought it a good time to visit the park with this quilt to get a digital picture. This is the non-blurry camera's interpretation.

A number of years ago when my group was bigger, I gave one meter of the feature fabric to each member with the request to make 12 blocks in their design of choice using that fabric and any other of their choice. 

We then passed one block to each member of the group, keeping one for ourselves. I think every member put together a quilt and all were so different in setting and choice of fabrics.  I wanted mine large enough for the guestroom bed and I think every guest to my house has slept under this one. I call it "All My Friends are Stars". (my block was the flower basket).

A few days before my summer trip, I received a pattern in the post for a friendship block to be made for my friend, Georgia. I wanted to make something using Japanese yukata fabrics and found some with butterflies.

I knew that, as a missionary, my friend would understand that choice as a symbol for "hidden" Christians.

As a small "aside", when I first came to Japan 50 years ago, there were young people all over wearing large flashy crosses. They had no particular meaning other than as a fashion statement. From then on, I found a tiny gold butterfly and have worn it replacing a silver Celtic cross that I had worn many years.  It reminds me that I will not be so much defined by what I wear but what I do.

(I don't know why pictures that appear upright in my files, post rotated. I notice others have this problem too. Move left or right, change the size, add properties, but don't rotate. Hmmm)

Anyway, my friend had flown and took with her many more blocks from friends who will miss her too. Will she have a friendship quilt one of these days? I hope so.

And after one week, quilting has begun on the baby quilt. I put together tenugui for the backing, one with a friendly dragon for a dragon-year baby, and some with fall leaves on red and orange. The good thing about small projects is the speed that they go together. Yesterday I had a long bus ride and added the borders.

I went to a lovely quit show and wish I could show you the fantastic Japanese quilts, scenes of Japan and Fuji and Japanese children's songs all so cleverly done. NO PICTURES ALLOWED! I have to keep all that inspiration to myself!

Tomorrow the Bible quilt group meets. AND also from Friday you can go to the Quilting Gallery and check out the friendship quilts and vote.

Scouting is a World of Friends

Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and the early start to the "rainy season", That is what the weekend held. Because of cancellations of activities after the earthquake, everything got tossed into the pot and the former Cub Scout Family Camping was stretched to include American and Japanese Boy Scouts as well as Girl Scouts. Friday night I set up the craft area and spent the hours until bedtime preparing for ten craft sessions. The craft planned for the cubs was not suitable for Girl Scouts and the older Scouts so there was a hurried cutting of leather for those participants to make wrist bands.

Stations were set up with stamps for letters and numbers as well as decorative stamps, snap-setting station, dying and finishing stations. I went to my sleeping bag thinking all was ready. Alas, during the night came the soft pitter patter of rain. Well, rain is fine for the big guys but Cubs and siblings and Moms and Dads... not too great.

In the morning I got the final count and schedule for the day. We raised the flags in a light mist and set off to the craft area. (or what had been planned as the craft area) I must say there are very few buildings where one can get out of the rain and suddenly there was some kind of a tent building activity squeezed into the craft room as well. Now imagine groups of 15 to 20 kids hammering away on leather and Scout leaders shouting out orders on tent building. Add to that parents yakking and others joining the melee to get in a dry place. Nikko checked out the situation and opted for the space under the finishing table where there would be no hammering. One lucky factor was that I got the world's greatest assistant, a fellow teacher of all age levels, crafty as the day is long and fluent in Japanese. It was a long day but we survived. Well, the patch they issued said "Family Camp Survivoree". No picture but that was truer than fiction.



After dinner we gathered in the light rain to enjoy the campfire. Leading the opening song didn't do a whole lot for my voice but there was still a bit left at the end for the quilt presentation. At the start I told about my friendship quilt and collecting the signatures of friends at various Scouting events, the Scouts from over 60 countries and all of the States. Although I have many signatures from top Scouters, the signature I told them about was one of my former Cubs and Scouts who had signed his name, the date, and "Friends Forever". Nearly 20 years have passed but we are still friends and "Forever" is a long time.

I quoted part of the poem that begins, "I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you". and asked them to think about the friends that bring out the best in them. I also asked them to think about what kind of a friend they were to others




At the end I brought out the wedding quilt as a celebration of friendship and presented it to the couple who had worked so hard and long to put on that event, whom I had known through Scouting long before they even knew each other, and were unselfish in their love and devotion to the welfare of others.
When I left in the evening they were still reading and commenting on the messages written on the leaves. I gave them a sign-pen so they could add more signatures to the blank leaves. I feel very happy I could make the presentation and grateful to those of you who sent words of encouragement.

The pictures here are details of the Scout Friendship quilt. The reverse side has neckerchiefs from many of the events where I collected signatures.

The center has the World Crest with the words, Scouting is a world of friends, quilted around.

I embroidered a few Scout emblems from different countries. The USA and Japan were the most complicated and in order to get the details I had to use only one strand of embroidery thread.

Well, the rainy season that usually begins in mid June got off to an early start and below is the reason why!!! Honestly, why would someone select a design for a T-shirt for Cub camp with thunder clouds and lightening?? It sure looks to me like someone was tempting fate! "Extreme Cub Camps"?? The edge of a typhoon? Maybe we were luckier than we deserved.

Sunday morning, off to choir, but after shouting above the noise all day and leading songs I had very little voice left .