Runner is up and running

The rabbit runner took a trip outside to catch a bit of sun on my neighbor's gate. After I remove the dog hairs, it will be ready to hop off to Oregon . I have a wee bit of time and am thinking of making a few mug rugs or a doll quilt to send along. The rabbit in the moon helps to fill the puffy area without distracting too much. I use a light thinsulate batting and even with little quilting, it is unlikely to shift. I also added a sleeve along the top of the backing just in case someone might want to use it as other than a table runner. The dark binding helps keep those yukata fabrics organized a bit better. The work on the batik quilt is moving along slowly. I wish I could say that is because of all my tiny even stitches. All the 8-inch blocks are quilted. It seems that one 16-inch block shouldn't take any longer than four of the smaller ones but those seem to be taking three times longer. The little flowers on the border are more fun and I sometimes take a break and work on one or two of those. Maybe I should be quilting small flowers into the big blocks!

Speaking of flowers, the plum tree is finally in bloom. Only five weeks late!

Perhaps Spring is actually on its way.

And the Sweet Daphne we planter for our #3 daughter, (another February birthday) seems to just have been deferring to the "elder" sister's tree. Standing between these two flowering plants, you can shut your eyes and smell that spring is coming.

This picture really doesn't do any justice to these darling little flowers. I need to go out and get a picture when the sun is in the right place. When my orchid flower finished I took it back to my greenhouse/bedroom and today noticed a few more buds developing. The Bella palm is also full of buds and one Christmas cactus is in bloom.

All the buds I see are like promises just waiting to be fulfilled. May your promises, too, burst in glad and joyous bloom, along tomorrow's way!

Runner is hopping along

Cold, gusty, miserable weather has given me a good excuse to work on the batik quilt. At last all the 8" blocks are quilted and I am beginning the 16" ones. Nothing worth a picture... but I got some good advice from my blogging friends as how to quilt those bigger blocks. (Pictures require a certain amount of light coming through the window or a trip into the gusty outdoors).

The runner going to my Grandaughter's school fund-raiser has reaped the benefit of train rides and meetings (and a very cold, rainy, Order of the Arrow weekend. Well, I had to do something while I was drying off and warming up)! The background is now full of waves. The only things left to do are the borders, which will get some geometric design, and the moon, which is a bit large of a space to go without something quilted.

As I have mentioned, when the moon is observed in full here in Japan, one does not see a face but a rabbit pounding mochi. My husband, who has a printer attached to his computer, was kind enough to find me some pictures of that rabbit and I am thinking I will quilt it into this moon with

tan thread.

Now the sun has made an appearance so I am off to hang up the laundry before it hides it's face again. (It has been very shy this past week).

Oh yes, as for the auction quilt, it brought a hefty one million yen! At around 77 yen to the dollar that seems like a pretty good sum even to someone like me that is challenged with numbers higher than ten (well, twenty if it is summer and I can count my toes).

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!