Two items to check off the list.

Sunday, after the first service, the choir presented the signed quilt to the new father-to-be.

Nick is a fellow tenor and his baby is expected this week. He was playing I-Spy before the quilt was unfolded. I'm sure the quilt will be enjoyed.

Choir members signed the hand prints and added their good wishes.



Without returning home, I went to the Tokyo American Club, the sponsors of our Cub pack, to await the arrival of the awesome adult leaders coming to set up for our pinewood derby.

With a new track and all aspects unfamiliar to everyone, we somehow managed to pull off the event.

My car was used to test the track and the first two runs it flew off the track. Luckily, most of the bumps in the tracks could be adjusted and at the end, volunteering parents moved in to hold down the offending segments.
I couldn't help thinking of the "old days" when we had a wooden track. Somewhere along the line we were able to add a finish gate to make judging more accurate. The new tracks have had problems with where tracks are joined, needing greater technical skills and time to set up. Sometimes "new" is not all that much better.

Some of the technical details did not like the computer we were using and so not all went smoothly but the crew was able to make do.

My little car ran in the open competition.

This section of the race was designed to give adults and siblings a chance to make a car and join in the fun.

This year, there were only three entries and other than my Shooting Star, the other two were made by scout sisters.

One of the girls made a very nice decoration on the block as it came from the box. As it turned out, after adding the wheels, the car was way overweight.

Though one of the fathers tried to cut off some wood on the underside, we just didn't have the tools. I decided to let the rules be bent so the car could run as is.

Not surprisingly, that car came in first in the open but it wasn't that much faster than my star.
I recalled sitting on the sidelines of all the scout events my brothers took part in under my dad's leadership and cheered along with those sisters at the results.

Here is the picture one of the mothers sent.



Do they look happy?

I think nearly every scout went home with some kind of award for their hard work, thanks to the time and efforts of all those parents.


And.... I might add ... they stayed to clean up and put things away. The room was cleaner than when we arrived (including the graphite corner) and we finished before the scheduled ending time.


Monday was a holiday ... the vernal equinox ... but the homeless got their onigiei with a bit of help from a friend who joined me at the pick-up spot. Our school had a regular day ... except I did notice a few more fathers coming for pick-up after school. Next week will be our "spring break" and if I was looking forward to some spare time, my calendar is filling up those blank spaces.
We shall see how much gets checked off the next list .........

Meeting challenges and expectations

Long ago, when I first began cub scouting with my first son, I only had 16 years of girl scout experience to compare it with.

Suddenly it was a new ball game with parents involved. The first time my son made a pinewood derby car he was a third grader and could make the car himself with only a little support.

When the day of the race came, he was there early and had his car weighed, measured and checked in. As we were sitting waiting for the race to begin, there was one cub watching the door. Suddenly he jumped up and ran to the person entering saying, "Dad! Dad! Have you got the car?" The father answered, "Yes, I've got the car." "Can I see it?" asked the kid. "Yes, but don't touch it", replied the father.  Well, so much for kid-made cars, I thought to myself. Actually, my son's car did not turn out in the design he had first planned but somewhere along the way he noticed it looked more like a shoe so he had added two rows of small nails and laces. We knew nothing about the fine tuning of weight and wheel work and the car was not very fast but my son did feel he was a winner because he had managed to take that block of wood and make it into a car. I did notice that the cars that won were pretty high-tech for elementary school age kids.

A few years later, I became the cubmaster and made a few changes in the race. We began what was called "rough-cut days". We assembled saws and gouges and tools and provided help when the kids came with their drawings. We also opened a category for siblings and parents and leaders.

I told the parents to let their kid make his own car.
We helped with the weights and wheel tuning.

I told those parents half joking, "I'm the one to beat!" Thus began a long line of "cars". If you are interested in seeing past car designs, you can go to my awhittlescouting.blogspot.com and click on the label for 2012 and 2013.

After so many years of coming up with car designs, the expectations have become higher and higher and the challenge of doing something new, more and more difficult.

This year I toyed with the idea of making a bobcat.
It is the first rank a cub has to earn and I thought that might give the idea of coming in first.

Well, I googled some pictures of bobcats and none that I could find gave me any inspiration ... and I was running out of time as the race is tonight!

Well, "Owl win", says the owl, so I went with plan B. The only paint I needed was for eyes, feet and beak. I used a wood burner to add the feathers and markings. The wings are added from Magnolia wood and I just added acrylic varnish to help him shine. Several times parents have mentioned they were looking forward to seeing what I will make. Expectations for them, challenges for me!

In the quilting world, I have dug out a few pieces of fabric (all gifted by a friend as I never buy large amounts of fabric unless I have a purpose to use it.)

The center numbers will have a one inch strip of the yellow on each side and the finished quilt will have one inch of yellow around the entire border.

On the right is some tenugui fabric, on the left, a pastel stripe. That looks a bit pale but I intend to applique a vine and colored leaves over the strip. The leaves will match the numbers in fabric so will need to show up against the background.

Here are a few more I auditioned.
On the left is a pale pink stripe of hearts that I used on another baby quilt made in the fall.

on the right upper side is a pale olive batik-looking print and below a rather pale blue batik.

I will have to think this over a while. The baby will be a girl so the two left-side prints might be nice with pink.

The blue kind of matches the appliqued cat print but might it be saved for a boy quilt later on?

I wanted the quilt to be the same size as the sister's quilt so the side strips will be only 7 inches. I could cut the pastel strip to feature the blue.
Checking back, I see I used the tenugui fabric on the backing of the sister's quilt. Hmm, another challenge? Didn't I hear somewhere that facing regular small challenges is good for the brain?

Keeping busy

Not much quilting done.

One could look at the picture on the last post and imagine three or four new rows.  A member of the Friday group suggested an idea for the border that I will explore.

I finished reading this month's Quilter's Book Club book and I am still  thinking about what to make for the block. My next month's book is somewhere between here and the States.

Friday evening my cookie chef came to try a new challenge, Batik Easter eggs.

There is a round-headed pin in the chopstick, dip it into melted wax, and draw on the egg. Then the egg goes into the lightest dye before getting more wax and a second dye. (yellow - orange - red, or yellow - green - blue, maybe purple at the end)

It takes a bit of experience to get into the rhythm with dipping and drawing on the egg.

When we finished the dying, we poked a small hole in each end and blew out the raw egg.

The finished eggs are pretty and will keep for following year decorations.

It has been many years since we did this activity and I couldn't find the tools I had used in the past with a variety of sizes of all metal ball-headed pins. The ones that come in clothing are too thick to use in quilting but great for this project. Now I have one more year to look for the missing tools.

Saturday was the homeless meal served at our church and Leia was in charge of handing out the bananas.

The first activity was separating them from the bunches.


She was able to get this task done in record time.
Here she is waiting for her first customer.

There were three sittings and between each one, she set the tables with chopsticks.

Her mom, my #3 daughter Norie, is passing out the dishes of salad.


I am in the kitchen, washing dishes.

When we got back home, Norie took the egg whites left from Friday's project and made an angel food cake to celebrate her dad's birthday earlier in the week.

The yolks went into pancakes and french toast.

Sunday I rolled out early as the choir was singing in three services.

After church I had to hot foot it to the American Club where my cub pack was holding their pinewood derby.

The American club is out sponsoring organization and a very busy facility. We could not book a large room or get a better time but fun was had by all.

The cars are speeding down the track and my car is in the lead.

Here is this years high flyer.

I was surprised how fast it flew.

The dogwoods are beginning to open.

These have a slight pink hue.

The white ones are still opening and there are a few dark pink ones too.

This is the first year for this cactus to bloom.

It is pretending to be an Easter cactus but no one would be fooled by that giant bloom.

I have been watching the bud get bigger and bigger up in my greenhouse/bedroom and finally brought it downstairs for the family to enjoy.

I have noticed buds forming on several other cacti.

I think they are all as glad to see spring as I am.

I hope you all had a very happy Easter.

Follower's block 6

Sitting next to my computer, on the top of my thread stand, is this charming card made by "Queenie".

Note the eyes ... watching me make the next "followers block" and you can imagine why it has taken me so long.

Queenie is a master of needlework. You can check out her blog and see for yourself .

Queenie lives in the area and I have been fortunate to meet her in person twice. She is also a friend of Lis of Piece'n Peace, who I also met a year ago. How interesting that two out of those blocks have more of a connection than just comments on a post.

After struggling for several weeks, I have come to the conclusion I will never be satisfied with whatever I come up with.

I wanted something with sparkle but finding cotton  was a challenge and I didn't think sequins and beads would work on a bed cover.
I wanted something with a Japanese touch but was not so happy with the center piece once it was in place.
I thought the spool fabric had meaning but the color is not so stunning.
I added Queenie's initials but that print, although a good size, is too light in color. Then I spent a number of fruitless hours searching for a piece of blue fabric printed with little flags, When it turned up, there was no flag of Sweden.

Ah well, when all you have is lemons ... make lemonade! So I added a bit of flawed stitchery. If you want the real thing, you will have to visit Queenie. She is a great person to get to know. She is a font of knowledge  and generous in sharing it with others.
Though the block is not so hot, it will be enough to remind me of the warmth and sparkle of this friend.

AND... for those of you who wonder about my caterpillar pinewood derby car, It hit a snag in the track twice and flipped. The second flip broke out the wheel, which went sailing across the room. My competitors were quite happy to see it eliminated. It made the District races one car shorter, and it has been added to the inventory of "cars from the past" on my Scouting blog.
Many of my former cars have been on exhibit at the National Jamboree the last few Jambos, but this year there will be no Boys' Life Whittlers at the new site. I will be curious to see what the future will bring as the site gets further developed.

The + and X block quilt has only a tiny bit more to go before adding the binding. Now as I work, I will be thinking of the next block of my blogging friends.

Another block done

Well, block #5 is mostly done. I am still thinking of what to use for the setting star points.

Marlene suggested the Arkansas traveler block and I found about seven different ones by that name, but I found this in several books and thought it might work..  I think the green leaf print as representing the trees surrounding her lake, blue for the water with the mist rising. I know Marlene loves embroidery and red work. Well, I sure could use a bit more practice. For thread I just used regular sewing thread because this in only a four inch block.
Marlene has been my blogging friend for as long as I have had my blog. Each of her comments is a blessing.
Marlene is a great example to us all, not only talking her faith but walking the talk, serving others through mission work and putting other's needs first.
How interesting it was to be sewing these little pieces together in church, while waiting for choir practice and the Good Friday service to begin. It seems there is more than stitching that connects us and I am ever blessed by her friendship.

And, if this tiny bit of embroidery was a challenge, I am going to have to practice a bit more, because the next person on my list is the "Queen" of stitchery.
 Eeek! What have I gotten myself into???

Meanwhile, Tomorrow will be a super-busy day. There are three services to sing and I'm sure they will run overtime. Then my Cub Pack is running their Pinewood derby ... the only afternoon we could book at the American Club ... and that will be followed by Easter dinner back at home with family (and extended family).

My car is almost done but still needs to add a bit of weight. I wish that were as simple as feeding it!

I was thinking of adding nylon fish line hairs to his back but probably that would be more effort than it is worth.

The block of wood was chipped at the axle slots when it came out of the box and it did not do well when I added the feet in that location. I'm rather glad that a little cub did not get that block of wood to deal with.
I remember the days when I used to look forward to the weekends to recover and re-group after a busy week. Now I am beginning to look forward to mid-week when I can recover from the busy weekends!

A very Happy Easter to you all!

Good things to report.

Friday was another cold rainy day but the Bible quilt class made up for that. The women were just wonderful and put up with my lousy Japanese.
Oh wish I had remembered my camera. We talked about choosing fabrics to go with the feature fabric and selected prints for two blocks, The Garden of Eden and Children of Israel. Then we took out those templates and the women traced and cut the pieces. We laid them out and with everyone' s help, the first block was finished.

While they were working I laid out the feature fabric and cut the two long borders. It was so nice to have space to lay it out and measure four or five times before cutting.

We finished up with a yummy cake our hostess had made. Then I set off to the bus stop in the wind and rain for home where I changed into my Scout uniform and picked up the second set of bags to run off to my pack meeting.

Well, I wasn't exactly running, those bags were very heavy, all kinds of tools and lead fishing weights and a small stove. We donated our pack time to adjusting the weight on each car and explaining how the derby would work Saturday so they would know what to expect. I was pleased with all they accomplished. I got a ride from one parent most of the way home so I didn't have to juggle the heavy bags and an umbrella on the return trip.

After a quakey night with wind howling and rain beating on the roof, I got up early to lug all my stuff to the car. I had one more heavy bag added to the collection so my husband and Nikko came to the car to help me. (The car is parked some distance away). Imagine my dismay to find that one of the doors had not been shut all the way and the battery was dead.) By then it was snowing big blobby wet drops into the standing water from the previous three days. The traffic was moving at a snail's pace and there was no way I could get someone with a jumper cable at that time of day.

I went back to the house and discarded as much as I could to make the load manageable and set off by train. Paul and Nikko came with me to help carry the stuff to the station. If I had arrived at that time by car, there would not have been a place to park but I had plenty of time to help get things set up. Of course, the first thing I did was to get a big paper cut on my thumb. (Now two thumbs out because I burned the other one the night before). Until the race began, I was in the pit with the graphite and wheel tuning department, a very messy job)!

My car was entered in the open competition and I stood at the end of the track calling,"Here kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty"! Well, that lucky cat must have been better rested than I because she came in first in each heat and won with the all-over best time. My boys had a good showing as well with my new Tiger cub taking all-over fastest and going home with a big trophy and an even bigger smile.

Last year, our Pack race was scheduled for March 11 and the earthquake cancelled that out. Another pack was scheduled two days later which also had to be cancelled. To make it to the district race, we decided to combine efforts. It worked so well we decided to do it again. We invited a Japanese Scout Pack to join as well and it was a lot of fun. We had also combined our rough-cut days giving boys two opportunities to take advantage of the power tools and adult help. The Boy Scouts were holding a merit badge day at the same location and I got a ride back to the train station. The rain has let up a bit.

Tomorrow will be another early rising for some special music at two services. The piece is a-capella and we will stand in a mixed group rather than with parts. I'm so lucky to be one of the two tenors selected as the piece is so beautiful.

Sometime before 3:30 Monday morning, I hope I can get the car battery back up. Next time I lock the door I will have to check the dashboard lights to make certain all the doors are completely shut! Last time this happened it was because the car had been borrowed and that person didn't know there might be an issue. This time I should have known better! Lesson learned.

Next projects

First, I need some take-along work. My #1 Daughter asked me to make something for her daughter's school fund-raiser. Hunting through my fabric, I found this panel with rabbits. I probably bought it several years ago to make a table runner for the rabbit year. Well that year is now gone and it won't be back for 12 more years. I may not even make it another 12 years myself so may as well use it now.

Wednesday's train ride and long District committee meeting provided time to piece a border out of yukata fabrics. Today it is basted and I began to quilt the waves on the trip to and from choir. It may seem strange to see rabbits jumping over the waves. In Japan, when you look at the face of the moon, it is not a face but a rabbit pounding mochi. In the fall during the harvest moon, it is not uncommon to see pictures of rabbits and moons and on the East coast the full moon is rising above the waves. The rabbits just come with it.
I will probably quilt a wave design in the background like I did the dragon unless I can think of something simpler.
The other project I had to get done is my pinewood derby. Each kid gets a block of wood and four wheels to make a car. Tomorrow is my pack meeting and Saturday we will race the cars. I make a car every year and challenge the dads. That way, they will let their kid make his own car and if they want to compete ... I'm the guy to beat!

This poor cat was a hurry-up job and looks like it. I tried to make a maneki nekko, a beckoning cat, ushering in good luck. (the gold piece says "fuku" or good fortune). The block of wood size and shape, and placement of the wheels determines the shape and size of the design. I had to whittle it out yesterday and get it painted today. I really needed another day to get it sanded better and the pen I used for the thin black lines was not as waterproof as it claimed because it ran all over the place when I put on the acrylic varnish. I had to re-paint the white and use a brush to re-paint the lines. Because of the rough texture it was not so neat.

Every year the kids look forward and guess what I will make for my car. I am certain they will not be as critical as I am.

Tomorrow begins my class on Bible quilts. It will be a quilt-as-you-go class with everyone participating to make a quilt . I think it will be for their Church bazaar. I had hoped to have more time to do prep work but it looks as though they will learn to trace patterns and cut for themselves. Maybe that is not so bad to learn from the very start. I bought the focus fabric and a bit if coordinated prints and solids. Two other members will bring some from their stash so it is probably a good thing we will begin everything tomorrow with the whole group. At least they will be entertained by my crummy but serviceable Japanese. I will report the results if they are not too embarrassing.

Now, before I am off to bed, I shall make two piles. One of everything I need for the quilting and one for the pack meeting that follows. Hopefully I grab the right one when I go out. The ladies might have fun with a pinewood derby but the Cubs probably wouldn't care a whole lot for quilting!

Quake+3weeks

Three weeks ago my bag was packed with things needed for the running of Pack 51's Pinewood Derby that evening. Even before I had a chance to clean up the resulting mess from the quake, news came that trains had been stopped and the event had been cancelled. The following day's Scouting event at St. Mary's School, including Pack 15's Derby, was also soon cancelled but we were told not to worry as we could run our Derby's during the District event on April 2nd. Well, the Japan District staff has fled to Okinawa and all the District events are cancelled or left up in the air. My car has yet to run. So, too, are the cars made by the Cubs in my unit. Our Pack held a rough-cut day in which those with tools brought them to help the boys make basic cuts on their cars. Our Pack does this to help and encourage the boys to make their own cars. We also include an open competition for parents and siblings (and leaders). I tell the dads to make their own cars and race against me... and IF they beat me I'm sure to hear about it for years. Well, the last time I saw my Cubs they were holding some great cars and I was so looking forward to seeing the finished results. My own little car is in derby limbo wondering how fast it might be.

With much more free time I have been working steadily on the wedding quilt ... well now anniversary quilt?... for my friend. Plodding slowly around the border, there is not really much to show. I decided instead to share another piece of my quilting heritage. This quilt pictured here was made by my mother. She also made quilts for each of her grandchildren for their second birthday but this quilt was made specially for me. When my mother told me she wanted to make me a quilt I was allowed to pick the design and the fabric. The design I chose was "Storm at Sea", even as a kid it was one of my favorites. The color??? , blues and greens have always been my favorites so why the heck did I go for pink! I remember as if it were yesterday going to the store and picking out those pink fabrics somehow thinking something like that would make me feel more feminine than the skinny homely kid I saw in the mirror, dressed in hand-me-downs from my bigger and less skinny cousins. The quilt was a very long time in the making, begun in the 50s and probably was quilted by some church group in the early 60s. The blocks are 8 inches and the size is 80 x 87 inches. I might add that it is much used and loved.

With four daughters it is not likely the quilt story will end here and both my sisters are quilters. At age four I began to sew for my dolls so it is never too early to catch the bug. Could the last picture be part of the next generation of quilters? Leia gives it a try just before her third birthday. With this kind of help I might have a picture to post in another week.