Last of the crests

The last three crests are done. My stubborn determination has paid off. These three are fuji or wisteria, fuji cho or a wisteria butterfly, and tomoe or a triple swirl. The swirl was quite easy to quilt. It is part of the Fukuda crest and I appliqued it twice on quilts in 1992 but found it a whole lot more friendly to quilt.

The wisteria was easier than I thought it would be. I had some issue with the butterfly. As a person who tends to straighten pictures on the wall or bulletin board, I was about to make the butterfly straighten up and fly right. When I went back to the source material, I found the tip was intended. It took more than a little strength to leave it that way. Now I am wondering how many people will complain that it is crooked.

Tomorrow I can take the work to school so the hands can get an early start on Tuesday. My next task will be all those triangles around the outer edge. I think we put bamboo leaves the last time we had triangles to fill. I am sure I did not save any pattern so that may end up as my Monday evening work drafting some patterns to choose from.

Certainly I have discovered that setting goals for myself works better than alowing others to set them for me. I have noticed that when I fall short, the most likely reason is that I didn't want it badly enough. Outside pressure and expectations are more likely to turn me off. My stubborn and contrary side is peaking through.

six more done - three to go!

Some of these were easy to do but some were just plain fussy. Here are spatter dock with leaves and tendrils, Pines with snow ring,

wave - coin, waves,

Chinese bellflower, and cherry
Of the three left to do, one is quite easy, three whirls. The other two will have to be completely re-drawn. I think one is a wisteria and the other a wisteria butterfly.

I am beginning to hit my stride. Though I usually quilt about 8 to 9 stitches to the inch, that is not only impossible with this batting but would make the rest of the work to be done by our team look out of sinc. About 5 stitches to the inch is probably a better size and that is what I have been trying to attain although it is a bit harder in the fussy areas. Luckily the group will not use a hoop and will be stitching in-the-ditch for the most part. By the time we reach the border, everyone should be in stride.

I am hoping to finish the remaining blocks by Sunday night so I can take the quilt to school on Monday when I go to teach. That way, I can rest my fingers for Tuesday's meeting and can take a later (meaning less crowded) train.

There is a bit of a joke in finishing because everyone knows what a stubborn hard-headed type I am. When someone says I can't do something I work to prove them wrong. I had not thought about that until the end came in sight but one of the group said,"I'll bet you can never get those blocks quilted in a week", and laughed saying I just might get it done to prove her wrong.

Four more done

Plum, cherry, crane, and palonia are quilted in.
nine more blocks left to go!

This seems to be taking forever...

My fingers want to stop but I keep thinking how good it will feel to have this part completed.

Quilting begun

So, here is what is going into the rest of those blue squares. Each will have a different crest design. Some are fairly easy and a few are quite detailed making the quilting a bit difficult to do

These crests are intersecting cloves, maple leaf, rabbit in the moon, chrysanthemum , cloves of Japanese ginger, and ginkgo leaves. I am still fumbling a bit with stitch length because it is difficult to quilt through the rather thick batting and catch enough of the backing.

Some of the remaining crests are pretty fussy and a few will have to be redrawn.

My hope is to meet the expectations of the group and move the project to a point where we will not face panic at the eleventh hour.

Tuesday progress

Today we basted the quilt. We had to lay it out on the floor because the school multipurpose room was not available. I did not take pictures of six or seven mothers on their knees in an apartment kitchen getting that sandwich together.
I'm sure anyone who has done that task can figure out what it looked like.

Now the quilt has followed me home and I will work on the crests in the plain blue blocks and maybe finish the quilting on the middle blocks that will be more difficult to reach when we meet next week around a table.

The batting is thinsulate which is easy to quilt but a bit thicker than I might like. I wish I had not started in the middle as I am finding it hard to adjust the stitch size so that the design will show well. I do not think my usual sized stitches will go through with enough regularity. If we have enough time at the end, I may do some of this over.

Our master piecer joined the borders so perfectly. I am in awe! ( and ironed all the seams.) Kendra, you are a wizard! So ... off we go ... five weeks ... is that right?

ASIJ quilt progress

Today we finished sewing the top together and decided the borders.

This is the time of year I start looking at what we have done and counting backwards from the finish date. I have not yet hit the panic button. Next week we plan to baste and will begin to quilt. Each of the dark blue squares will have a crest quilted in white. (my homework) The little kimono blocks will be quilted in group sessions (in the ditch)and the border will have a simple quilt design as yet to be decided but most likely with white in the diagonal white squares.

We have had very good turnouts of willing hands. Some are new and a few are "old timers" having helped with one or more quilts in the past. Gambaremasho!

one thing one week challenge

I hardly need a challenge to get things done but when Amy amyscreativeside.com posted her one week challenge, I figured it would be reasonable to finish the last blocks for this batik "round and round" quilt and lay them all out in a space bigger than I have at home. I was handed this kit by a quilting friend over the summer so I would have something to travel with and thought by adding my own stash I could make it large enough for my daughter's bed. This is not the final layout. I will allow my daughter to decide that in March. So...what was the hurry? We climb the mountain because it's there.

Refreshed and moving on to the next project

This weekend was theWomen's Conference in the lovely hills of Izu Southwest of Tokyo. This yearly conference was started many years ago by missionary wives from all denominations all over Japan for a bit of relaxation, renewal and inspiration. Though not a missionary, I have been a hanger-on to these conferences over the years and as the years rolled by, many have retired and left Japan and many more non-missionaries have joined. This year the planning committee had movers and shakers from our sub-group which has almost become the majority.

The theme this year was Health and Healing Mind Body and Spirit. There were too many workshops to choose from and friends to do them with. The new banner as well as it's companion banner and the banner made a few years ago were all hung.

Although I did not go into a lot of detail about this year's banner, it had it's beginning years ago in a friendship forged at this conference. Carol Sack, a missionary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America since 1982 is involved in the field of Pastoral Harp through a project called Lyra Precaria. She and her colleagues offer prayerful presence through harp and voice, mainly to persons who might be ill or dying. For many years she has been asking (suggesting/nagging) me to make a banner of David. When I began to think of making a banner for this conference, I came across the printed Psalm fabric and thinking nothing could be better for healing than the Psalms, (and perhaps God was doing a bit of nagging as well) came up with the banner I have been working on the past few months.

Needless to say, the women, but more so, Carol were very pleased. Now Carol is doing classes and lectures all over Japan and was very happy to take over custody of that banner and it's companion. It seemed that was a better solution for everyone than having one more banner rolled up on a shelf most of the year. It will get used and enjoyed by many and if I ever have need of it, I know where it is. She has a class on the Psalms this week so the banner will not have to be stored at all. If it comes back to the conference, I do not have to bring it.

Of course there was take-along-work. I took a challenge to complete the blocks for the batik quilt and finished the last one this morning so I could lay them all out on the floor where there was a big space and no dog hair. There seems to be one orphan block left over. I have decided to finish this quilt for my Yonbanme. (fourth daughter) Just before leaving for the conference I learned she will be visiting in March so I did not spend a lot of time arranging the blocks. She will do a much better job of it than I ever would.

Now refreshed in mind, body and spirit, I have returned to finish the on-going projects and find more take-along work.

It's in the mail

From my earliest years I loved dolls. I got a teddy bear for my first Christmas and from then on, almost every photo of me includes one doll or another. I learned to sew at a very early age because my dolls needed changes of clothes, coats, hats, sweaters, bedding, you name it - I made it. My dolls were my world.

Now I have dear granddaughters that love dolls even from an early age. When I was told Naomi could use a doll quilt for her birthday, what more could I do? I think this quilt even has fabric from her own baby quilt. I see also bits from Uncle and Aunt's quilts. There was a bit of pink left from the Hawaiian Wedding quilt to even make a pillow. It will be happier in a doll bed than on the ironing board. So...Happy Birthday Sweetheart. I wish I could have put myself into that envelope!

Flattered by Feature

Today the ASIJ quilt is featured on Quilt Inspiration - .If you have never visited this site and are looking for ideas or inspiration, you should take a peek. I could spend lots of quilting time brousing on the past features.

All kinds of HAPPY

Little did I know when my son set up a "blog" what I was in for other than simply letting my kids see what I had made. At that time, he pulled up a couple of quilt blogs already in existence and posted them along the side of my page. Where did he get those names? Was it only an accident or does God really work that way in our lives.

Some were like shops promoting themselves or long arm quilters looking for work but the first ones I read were Taniwa and Stitchin By The Lake. It was some time later I figured out what it meant to become a "follower". That may sound dumb to you but most of my friends my age don't even have a computer.

Now I am part of a virtual quilting group and that makes me happy but if you have not read either of these blogs, I will attempt at the end to add a link because you must see that they are about much more than quilting and have connected up those loose ends that seem to fill our lives. The first picture brings the happiness off those friendships. The Lovely pile of goodies sitting by my plant and coffee cup were sent by Marlene. The cozy hot pad she made with her own hands and is almost too dear to use. The other mini quilt on the table was made by Tanya. It has the kanji (characters) for my name. Fuku brings fortune and happiness and Ta or Da is a paddy field. She then selected a Psalm to print around the words. And such a perfect one it is! I am still blown away by the friendship of these two women who went to such lengths to make me happy.

Next you will see that the Psalm banner is DONE. I finished yesterday but it was much too windy to take a picture. Don't zoom in to closely because you will see a lot of threads and dog hair but when I returned from school today the weather was just fine for getting that picture and I grabbed the ladder, the banner, and the dog and raced to the park. As I was hanging it I saw the generous amount of dog hair covering every area.

Lest you think the dog must be bald by now ... here is my assistant, Nikko, guarding the work from the little kids with the frisbee. (Or maybe thinking she'd like to play with the frisbee too.)

And here is one more reason to rejoice. Today the little kimono blocks were complete and we began to arrange them on the floor. The dark blue blocks in between will be quilted with family crests. Today we copied them to the blue and then arranged everything into rows for assembling.

These last pictures are arranging and pinning.

Since there were only a few left to mark, we decided to get that part of the process done so we can get it all together and start on the quilting.
To mark the crests on the dark fabric, we centered the paper copies where they were to go. Then we went over the lines in the paper with a ballpoint pen. After picking up the paper, there was a line depression where the pen had drawn and we went over it a second time with a white chalk pencil. The Japanese sewers often mark fabric with a "hera"which is similar in that it leaves a light line in the fabric. This is quite useful but requires good lighting and may be difficult to see on figured fabric.

We had a good turnout for the work and you can see the happiness on the faces of the remaining three that we were able to get this much done.

So, now you see the blessings the day has brought. Thank you for being my virtual quilt group. Thank you to Marlene http://stitchinbythelake.blogspot.com/

and Tanya http://tttl1998.blogspot.com/ (check them out now, if you haven't already) And smile for the joy that quilting brings and the friendships that blogging brings too.

New year's wishes in picture form

I am beginning to realize, since I began this blog, that my little picture notebook I had been using as a diary all these years is missing a large number of small quilted items. Probably I did not consider these things to be "quilts" as they didn't go onto beds.

Here is a little hanging I made years ago. I can't remember when it was made but I do remember the little blocks were in a set to be embroidered. The center block contains rather stylized characters for New year's greetings with parts of the characters made of pine, plum, and bamboo, an auspicious combination representing evergreen, constancy, straight nature Other blocks in order contain a dog (a common gift for children wishing a healthy growth of children, loyalty and intelligence), A top (a traditional New Years toy representing non-stopping motion),A mallet of good fortune, a fan with pine (evergreen opening up), a traditional new years decoration that stands outside the gate, a gourd sake bottle (celebration) A kite and a battledore both traditional new years games.

In this small hanging about 18 inches square with its many hidden meanings, one could truly say, "a picture is worth a thousand words". If you find this strange, the food that is eaten in the traditional New Years meal is even more full of double and tripple meanings.

A wish fulfilled

For many years I have been wishing for an oval hoop but had not seen one for sale in years. When daughter Marie asked me what I wanted for Christmas, the first thing that came to my mind was an oval hoop, never thinking she might find one. Today the postman rang the bell with a big box in his arms, the hoop had arrived. (actually that was not all there was in the box and there were TWO hoops!)

So, why did I want the oval hoop? With a round hoop I can get the same length of work space but it also puts that area farther away to the center of the hoop. Also I had to keep moving the hoop as I worked. With this I could fit the whole space I was working on into the hoop at once. I was worried about the harp strings because I used metalic thread and didn't want the hoop to break it by accident. Now hands and harp can be outlined in embroidery without moving the hoop or endangering the strings. I am SO HAPPY!

Thank you my Dear Marie!

Not-too-slow progress

This is the progress so far on the banner. The outer border was pieced from scraps today and sewed in place.
The total size is 90 x 46 inches so next I will have to find something I can piece for the backing. I already know I have nothing that size and I have no money to spend on such.

I am hoping to get that and the basting done tomorrow. I have half a day of Scout activities but a long train ride there and back that I might use to piece the back. Since it is a national holiday the trains will not be as crowded as usual and maybe I can sit. An hour or so each way might get a lot done. Finding room to baste might be more of a problem.


I have posted more details on the Slow Poke Quilters blog site. I think you can get there by clicking the logo on my blog. I wish I had just a bit more computer skill but that is coming along slower than my quilting.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback.
I think once I get this together with the black embroidery and quilting it will work not only for the Conference but as a companion to last year's banner.

A Crafty Christmas

This post is, in part, for my youngest son who has begun to create things with his own children. Having been the youngest in line with many of these projects, he was trying to remember how we went about it and all the stuff we made.

I come from a generation that, when we wanted something, figured out how to make it ourselves.
I remember seeing beautiful manger scenes and wishing to own one. Having no money for other than a cheap plastic one, the whole family set about creating our own DIY set.

The figures are made from bottles covered in paper mache and decorated with string, beads, lace or ribbon etc. Covered with gesso and painted with acrylic.

You can probably recognize the woostershire bottle shepherd, pill bottle angel, toilet paper roll animals and egg carton sheep or crib. They have become battered and worn over the years but are fun to set out each year and remember those years when Mom and six kids made one heck of a mess while stirring the creative pot.

When I first came to Japan I expected this to be a place where one could buy beautiful Christmas decorations. I was, therefore, very much surprised to find the lovely made-in-Japan things sold in the states were only export items and could not be found anywhere on the domestic market.

For a few years we made decorations from egg cartons. Glued together and decorated with string and beads, painted with gesso and gold paint and antiqued with ink. It is possible to get quite a variety using different parts of the carton.

Lest you think I am the crafty person in my family, these decorations have been added each year from my sister's greetings. Coming flat inthe envelope with instructions as needed, they are truly works of art.

Plan "C" or "D" or ?

The sheep continue to gather at David's feet and some are heading for the hillside. (Thank you Marlene, they were right where you sent me.)

Now, for the border blocks... It was very difficult to draft a 12 inch block using the printed Psalm fabric. It seems I will have to set the print at an angle to the left and right of the picture.

These will be separated by a two-inch black sashing. My thinking is to use scraps of the fabric used in the picture. (Greens, brown, rust, gold, blue and light color of sheep)

In the first two blocks I put the light colors forming a cross but now I am thinking this is a very strong shape. I do not plan to take these two out and do them over but am wondering if the other blocks might look better with darker colors above and below the print blocks. I was hoping to get more of a star effect but this is as close as I could come.

I could introduce other colors just to be used in the border or pull some left-overs from the companion banner. This is not a commisioned job and I do not want to spend any money, my time is enough, but I would like to make it worthy of display at the retreat.

Do I sound like I am asking for advice AGAIN? Well, yes, it is true my virtual quilt circle!

Contest anyone?

I put my table runner into the Quilting Bloggers weekly theme contest.
I know for a fact that all you guys have gorgeous runners because I have seen them!
So... why did I bother? Actually I doubt I will get even one vote unless I vote for myself but I really wanted to see how hard it was to enter something.
Since it is so easy that I could figure it out, why don't you blogging buddies put yours there???
If not, go vote for mine, Ha, Ha!! (at least it is an original and no money was spent on fabric!)
I've already won ... one free runner :>) http://quiltinggallery.com

Lost sheep

Anyone seen some sheep? David is now on duty with nothing to do. The strings on the harp will get put in during quilting.

I looked at Google images for pictures of sheep but none I could find were in positions I wanted. Some need to be gathered at his feet and some will be milling around on the hillside behind. This is very much make-it-up-as-you-go.

I can't help thinking how much easier this might be if I had some kind of fusable web and could just arrange and iron it all together and then take out a machine and stitch some fancy stitches at all the joinings.

As it is, I want to make it a bit of stained glass but I think sewing bias over all these seems might be a little too much. Another Idea I have is to embroider around the patches with black thread. Any ideas out there?

Hard work has begun

In March 2004, a group of mothers joined efforts to create a quilt for the silent auction at The American School in Japan's spring "Gala".
That quilt and others can be found in the postings for each year.

This is more a group of willing hands than a group of quilters but each year we have been able to make a beautiful quilt that none of us could have completed in that time...if ever...on our own. It has also been one of the hottest items of the silent auction.

This year we have decided on a replay (with some changes) of our first quilt. Choosing a Japanese theme and using Japanese fabrics creates a lovely reminder for a family's years lived in Japan.

Last week we cut and marked the pieces for these kimono/yukata blocks. Saturday at the school's festival we began working on the piecing and along with today's few hours of work
have made a good bit of progress.

These blocks will be set on point with a dark blue block between in a checkerboard fashion. The blue blocks will be quilted with Kamon or Japanese family crests. Of the 36 blocks needed to make a queen-sized bed cover, you can see that we are pretty far along. Probably next week we will begin marking the crest designs before assembling the top.

The mothers, who have now learned how to sew the patches together, will also help in the assembly and quilting.

Although I hardly need another project to keep myself busy, I enjoy this process greatly. The volunteers are all of my daughters' generation and with my own daughters being so far away, these women fill a great gap. With some I know their children through substitute teaching or Scouting. Each year we welcome new-comers to life in Tokyo and say farewell to others. We learn what's up at school and where to buy needed or missed items in this city. We hear of their travels and our lives expand as well. In the process we create a one-of-a-kind piece that will bring joy to some lucky bidder. What could be more fun than that?

a run to a runner

You Bloggers and your ideas, now you've done it!

First I had to get rid of my valentine runner in October by making something for the fall. Now I need something for the holidays!

While I was picking out prints for the Advent calendar a few weeks ago, I pulled out a few three inch squares to make a runner for the coffee table.

Since this is all left-over stuff I pieced the batting out of scraps I had on hand and they were all a bit puffier than I would have liked, requiring a bit more quilting (so the coffee cups won't tip over). Actually, this is one big mug rug since I can't seem to get my husband to use a coaster or a saucer.

I tried quilting the tree shapes with some glittery thread. That required larger stitches than I am used to doing which was a challenge. I was hoping taking the picture outside would show those sparkles but anyway you can see my tiny garden bed and the last of the lantana.

Am I doomed to make another runner after the holidays?

Help on a new project

Last year I made a banner for the Womens' Conference at Amagi Sanso. The theme was "stories" so I made a hanging banner using Bible blocks with a stained glass picture in the center. The title of each block is quilted into the sashing below the block and the reverse side of each block has the quote from the Bible to go with it. It brings to mind a favorite hymn from my childhood, "I love to tell the story."

This coming year's theme is "Healing".

One of the people attending from year to year is a woman who plays her harp for hospice patients and for the past few years she has asked me to make a hanging of David and his harp.

With that in mind, I pulled out some fabric of the Psalms that I had
aquired many years ago and a plan is beginning to form. I think it would be nice to make this banner as a pair to the last one. I want to put a picture of David and his harp surrounded by sheep in the center pannel. Then I want to include the print fabric in some kind of a block around the inner border.

Now I am looking for ideas. The fabric text is a strip 3x9 inches. There are ten of these so I will need ten 12 inch blocks. The label is 2x18 inches so I would make a 26x12 block for that and a matching block for the top section. I'm thinking some kind of star might be nice. Since I do everything by hand, I want something that isn't too fussy. I have a little over six weeks for this project. At this point, I am open for ideas. The script can be either straight across or at an angle .

There has got to be a block pattern out there somewhere. that would meet the need.