Quake + 4 weeks and whooooo's counting?

Tomorrow it is my turn to be hostess to my quilting circle.
That means a lot of serious cleaning ... the yellow dust that blew in from China this week and mega-tons of fall-out from the dog.
So I begin in one area of the house, the front door "genkan" where guests leave their shoes, the slipper rack, the mirror on the coat closet, the wooden stairs that show every particle of dust, and next to that, the lavatory.

This is what took the biggest hit during the first few quakes. What is amazing is that so few of these owls that flew off the shelves were broken. Luckily they fly better than cats.

Last Saturday I counselled eight Boy Scouts in the "Collections" Merit Badge. That is one of my happiest Scouting jobs. I love to see and hear about what teenage boys collect and when it comes to collecting, I am an EXPERT!

I mentioned eight weeks ago my cat collection, how these things tend to multiply when people start to see them in shops and think you need one more... well, that collection is up on the third floor and so has stopped growing rapidly.

On the other hand, one well-placed owl in the powder room is just asking for trouble.
Every guest comes out of there saying, "I see you collect owls."

So, today the owls must all come down to be dusted. There are pottery owls. There are owls that are containers. There are carved wooden owls, Basketry owls, lacquer owls, seed decorated owls, horn owls, cloisonne owls, time-keeping owls, and piggy bank owls.

These owls are bells and whistles. Two of their number didn't survive a fall into the sink.

A printer friend gave me some type cases made to hold lead print. The little owls thought they made fine roosts.

In fact, these owls
are quite happy roosting anywhere or just hanging out on the door or the walls as decorations, pictures, kites, towel holders, and even the TP holder I made last year.

I used to have a seat cover that I quilted but when we moved here, the shape of the seat lid was too wide. That one I gave to my daughter who happily put it on her toilet lid. I wonder if owls will begin to multiply at her house as well.

Lest you think you have seen all of my owls, remember, this is only one room and there is hardly anywhere in this rabbit hutch that you would be un-watched by at least one owl. From the time I was a little kid camping out in our woods in the summer, I have had a special relationship with owls. They are my guardians, messengers, and spirit helpers.

This quilted owl used to hang in our entryway to greet guests. Now I have a carved wooden owl there and this one hangs on the slanted ceiling under the roof where I sleep.

Now, I'd better get back to dusting and cleaning and make a pie for tomorrow's meeting.

Golden Week 2011

This week brings a whole string of holidays beginning with the former Emperor's birthday on the 29th of April and ending on the 5th of May, Children's Day. (The former Boy's Day). When my children were young, the third day of the third month was the Doll Festival and celebrated by girls with an elaborate display of court dolls and special foods. The fifth day of the fifth day was "Boys Day". The display for that day is a miniature set of armor or a helmet, swords. bows and arrows, and banners.

From a tall pole carp streamers are flown representing the father and sons. Well, for whatever reason you can imagine, the day was declared to be "Children's Day" as the years passed but the displays have not changed even though some of those carp streamers are now representing daughters.

Using a tenugui carp, I made this table runner many years ago. In those days I had a large table seating 16 people so this runner is now running off both ends of my coffee table. The round applique is a wheel with feathers that turns in the wind at the top of the pole.

The printed panel is for boys day and shows Kintaro riding on a bear. I had two panels that were similar and used one of them on the back of my grandson Ben"s quilt. This one is very bold and I shall never use it but if anyone out there would like to have it, just let me know. The size is 33"x43". cotton made by Kanebo

While I am at it, I found these cat panels that were hiding in that same box and would like a new home as well. There are three of the first panel with pink, red and yellow floral borders

and one of the second panel with a green floral border. The individual cat pictures are about 15in. square with the frame and the whole panel of four is about 34"x 44". They might make a cute bag but I have more bags than storage space. The selvage says "designed in the U.S.A. for Erlanger"

And why do I have these if I am not planning to use them? Don't even ask! But if I can find someone who wants them for free... I may have some more stuff to pass along.

And now, blooming just in time for this season is my Iris. Actually, it is my Sister-in-law's iris. Some years ago she planted the bulb in the garden and it came up as a surprise two years ago, one lone flower in the middle of a gardenia bush. Last year it bloomed again and I was thinking I might move it to a better spot when this year it sent up three flowers. Now I am thinking it seems to like it where it is and I'd better leave well enough alone. These Iris open pale yellow and white but as the days go on the yellow becomes more intense and the centers turn lavender. For those who make seasonal Ikebana arrangements, the iris is used on boys day as the leaves are shaped like swords.

Happy Golden Week to all!

Wedding quilt finished at last

Exactly one year and ten months to the day, the wedding quilt is finally finished. The plan was conceived when I was asked by my friend to be the matron of honor at her wedding. I have known both the bride and groom since before they knew each other. The got to know each other well at a Leader Training week called "Wood badge" where I served on Staff. They were both in the "Bear" patrol.

You may have noticed the bear paw blocks around the outer border so now you know the reason. As a side note, every scrap of green in the border has appeared in another quilt beginning with my first. It was fun to be reminded of those as I worked on the blocks piecing and quilting.

Before the wedding I drew leaf shapes on assorted green fabric. These were put in a zip-lock along with a sign marker and that plus a clipboard covered in sandpaper were passed to my husband and Nikko (yes, the dog was invited too) and their duty was to get signatures of all the guests. Those leaves were appliqued on the vine in the inner border.

The Lone Star is a typical motif of Native American celebratory quilts. All three of us are members of the Order of the Arrow, an honor society within the BSA which is based on Indian lore and theme. The groom particularly loves Kokopelli so I gave him a triangle of paper and asked him to draw one to fit the shape. It is quilted into the triangles formed by the stars.


The four square segments are quilted with the BSA logo,

The SAJ (Scout Association of Japan) logo, The groom's family crest of two crossed feathers, and the character for long life.

The reverse side of the quilt is made up of Japanese tenugui, a dyed cotton towel. These are often made to commemorate events or places and an art form in themselves. They are dyed similar to batik so are reversible and the cotton is soft yet strong.

Among these are many Kabuki theme towels as the bride has done the English earphone guide for Kabuki for many years. There is even one of the Kabuki-za, the building which is now being torn down and rebuilt. Some other towels are auspicious for celebratory occasions like cranes or shochikubai (pine, plum, and bamboo) and there is one from the BSN (Boy Scouts of Nippon which changed to Scout Association of Japan when girls were added to packs and troops.

My plan for this quilt was to have both the front and the back without any definite top or bottom. The size is seven feet four inches square and can be rotated for even wear as I know it will be used and cherished for many years. If you think the colors strange for a wedding quilt, when I asked my friend what colors she liked, she said her husband loves warm fall colors.I hope she does too but it shows what kind of friend she is.

So here is a picture from "The wedding of the bears". Note the bride and groom decoration in front.

And here is the matron of honor, in my comfortable native regalia, standing with my assistant outside my front garden bed at the end of a very happy day.

Note that the bride asked that my bouquet be something "wild" or "natural".

There is a poem that goes:

"It is my joy in life to find, At every turning of the road, The strong arm of a comrade, kind, To help me onward with my load. But since I have no gold to give, and love alone must make amends, the only prayer is, while I live, God make me worthy of my friends."
I pray, too, this quilt will be found worthy of this friendship.

Six weeks after the quake ... the new normal

One can not sing in a church choir and not know Easter is coming. That thought reminded me of Easters long past when the kids and I made batik eggs and I remembered a dish my daughter made in High School that we displayed those eggs in. I have few places to store such stuff and over the years things as delicate as eggs are easily broken but I was able to locate the dish and a few hardy eggs to set the mood.

I have yet to figure out how to arrange pictures and words on this blog other than last in means on top.

I wanted to show some quilting progress. The wedding quilt will soon be done. The binding is on and the outer border is finished. I was not happy with the spaces around the applique leaves. I quilted in extra leaves to fill some of the spaces but not all the empty places were big enough to hold a leaf so I decided to add tendrils in those spaces that look a bit too puffy. I think I an liking this inner border better now. One side down, four to go.

Yesterday I spent most of the day in my "garden".

I know this might not count as a garden for most but this is what I have squeezed between two three story buildings.

As you can see, even a one meter garden can look like a jungle, perhaps more so because of the lack of space. Somewhere beyond that greenery is my garden door. The bars on the right are for hanging laundry. The yellow thing is a guide wire for the electric pole outside the gate. (the city decides who gets those. I may get the whole pole next quake. There was another clock-stopper last night).

I got out the folding ladder, shears and saw and filled two garbage bags with trimmings.

The kerria is just too pretty to whack off. I brought a cutting here from my last house.

I tied it behind the wire and will trim it a bit after the flowers are finished.

The rest of the garden is hanging on the walls. A hardy cyclamen usually blooms all winter but was not too happy with this years weather and has saved the major blooming for spring. An early orchid also had a difficult winter and I was afraid it had given up but after all, it blooms too.

Primroses usually also bloom throughout the winter but only one made it through. This one is making up for lost time.

The forget-me-nots were given me by my number one son many years ago. I dug them up and moved them to my last home and when I moved back to where I am now, I dug them up again and put them in the hanging pot. During last summer when I was away doing Scouting things, they were not watered and I came home to find a pot of brown leaves too far gone to revive. Luckily they had seeded themselves because in the fall they began to put up sprouts. Even surviving snow piled high they are making me smile.

Quilt group meets at last.

Friday, April 15, our quilt group was finally able to meet. It had been quite a while since the group had last met (since before the quake). Since I am a "Senior Citizen" I carry a "Silver Pass". With that pass I can ride certain trains and city buses for free. One becomes a "senior" upon reaching seventy and from then on, there is a concerted effort to keep aged drivers off the streets. When the government brings up statistics of traffic accidents involving us old folks, they also include accidents where the old person was the victim. Since Japan's population is aging anyway and old people can't dodge cars as quickly (thus "involved") I feel we are getting a bad rap. The last three accidents I was involved with were all caused by drivers under the age of 30 ... two talking on a cell phone at the time ... and one I was sitting in my car that was parked! At any rate, the pass is a good way to save money. I never used to take buses because the base fee is 200 yen and that is rather high. Now I am always looking at maps and schedules trying to figure out the cheapest way to get somewhere. Brain, legs, and patience are being exercised and I am taking in the sights hitherto unknown.

Friday as I walked to the meeting from the bus by a new route, I was met by the remains of the very short cherry blossom season. I couldn't help remembering my kids sweeping these petals into big piles and tossing them into the air.

Along the street I found these flowers in full bloom. In Japanese they are called "Tokiwa mansaku". Mansaku is the name of witch hazel. There are a number of varieties of witch hazel in Japan, usually yellow, and all early bloomers. Most belong to the family, Hamamelis. These are of the Loropetalum family. We used to have a row of them at the last place we rented. They grow rapidly and need lots of trimming. I kept them well trimmed and enjoyed the blooms but when I walked by that house recently I noticed all those bushes have been removed. I guess the new renters do not like gardening.

It was fun to join the group after over a months time. We take our lunch but the hostess of the day provides us with a dessert. This time we also had some delicious soup. The member is working on a quilt for her new granddaughter and one of the members helped her with the basting.

My own big quilt is coming along and I hope to finish up and take a picture in a week or two. Since Friday my computer has been having connectivity issues and I have not been able to post or enjoy the work of others.(or even answer letters and comments). I have no idea how long this connection might last so I hasten to try the publish button before everything disappear into wherever those words go.

All shook up but moving on

Inch by inch is the ultimate scrap quilt. Back in 2002 I was saving any scrap down to one inch triangles. These bits went with me to meetings, train, and bus rides in a zip-lock baggie and served as a take-along work for quite a while. There was no real plan other than to use up bits and pieces from other projects. The final result covers the back of my old sofa where it looks better than it does hanging on the fence. Last week it made a trip to the pre-school class for a game of I-spy. Today when I took it to the park to take a digital photo, it was suddenly surrounded by kids looking for cats and bears, hearts and stars, and showing off their English. Finally we had one day of sun and warm weather. I had been waiting for this chance to give Nikko a bath. I need to rub her down outside until she is dry. The reason you can see behind me. That is NOT snow, but dog hair. The bag by my stool is full of hair and she has plenty left over. After a couple of hours of rubbing she got a walk to the park and I had to clean up the neighborhood. Some escaped in the wind and is probably half way to Oregon as I write. Amid the occasional quakes, the morning brought two Brown-eared Bulbuls to my wall. Usually they come alone and chase others away from the food but today they sat glaring into my window from the top of the empty cup as I uncovered the canary and seemed to be saying,"How about us? Where is our breakfast?" Today I saw bugs flying in the park and expect these visits to end soon. One violet (which is actually a weed) has managed to make it to a hanging flower pot outside my front door. Having done better than the original owner of the pot, it seemed to say,"You wouldn't dare pull me out" and it is correct. Spring is the season of "Hana-mi" or flower-viewing. Monday I lunched with the pre-school kids under the cherry trees with pale pink petals drifting down. This annual rite is a symbol of Japanese culture, helping to throw off the winter blues and reset one's mental and emotional attitudes. With the tragedies of the past month, people are wondering if it is right to celebrate or if those flower-viewing parties should be banned all together. This might just be a good time to reconsider the brevity of life and reassess the beauty of each passing moment. The sorrow and anguish and anxiety people feel will not vanish just by looking at pretty blossoms but returning to these customs gives us a much needed break.


Quilting Gallery's Weekly Theme contest this week is "scrappy". I'm sure there will be some good posts to enjoy. Not being much of a computer wizard, you can get there by clicking on the Quilting gallery logo as I just can't get the weekly theme button posted.

Still shaking ..or..quake + 4 weeks

Slowly slowly slowly the quilting continues.

This old wall clock hangs in the corner of my living room and counts down the hours with a clanging chime. A few decades older than I am, it has felt many quakes over the years and usually carries on it's business without complaint only asking to be wound every 7 to 10 days. The past weeks it has been busy at it's hidden agenda, to judge the extent of each quake and after-shock. "Is that a quake I feel? Couldn't be very bad, the clock is still ticking." Well, it was on the job last night ... maybe a bit behind in the time but so am I . (might have something to do with age)


At the time I had been listening to a couple of feral cats loudly fighting? courting? serenading? the neighborhood. Their audience temporarily distracted by the noisy shaking of buildings, they stopped. Interestingly, less than a minute after the quake ended, they resumed their yowling as if nothing had happened.

I thought how like Japan these cats are. The trains stop. The TV programing switches to warning mode. Power goes off. People stop what they are doing ... and check the clock... then slowly things return to normal (or the NEW normal) and life goes on. Like much of life you have no control over anything except how you react to the situation. Today my dog lies in the entryway, the very place she was terrified to be twice in four weeks, and life goes on as usual.

I Spy quilt ... I Spy Spring

This morning as I ran out the door, I grabbed my old quilt from the sofa and chucked it in my pack. The whole quilt can be seen with my 2002 quilts but I have no digital photos as yet. I guess it might be a good idea to take a few as the fabric is beginning to fade in spots.

To control the scrap department, I take left-over scraps and cut them into squares depending on how much is left, four and a half, three and a half, two and a half, and one and a half inch. Anything smaller than that I throw away. These squares go into a tin sorted by size and get used in projects that come along. If the scrap has some cute picture I often fussy-cut it. The piles in the tin are in baggies by color and wait there patiently for a need to arise. The sofa quilt protects (or hides) the very worn places on our old sofa and was assembled without much thought when the tin got too full.

This morning I was off to school and thought the kids might have fun learning a new game. I was right. We spread the quilt on the floor and the kids sat around the edge. When I said, "I Spy a cat.", all the kids began looking for a square with a cat. When they found one, they put their finger on the square and called "I spy a cat". The first to call got to call the next picture. The children really had fun hunting objects and playing a new game with new rules. The teacher asked me to leave the quilt at school for the rest of the week. She is also a quilter and helped with the auction quilt during rest time when she could get away.

Although we are one week into April, the weather is still cold. Today was the first hint of spring weather but you can see the cherry trees are still in a tentative mood. The two trees on the roof-top playground were holding off and even those on the south side of the road were waiting a bit longer to show their true glory. Along the street the pansies and primroses smiled up at passers-by and the ornamental kale stretched upward after a winter of huddling in its cabbage-like ball.

Next week the petting zoo will come for the children to enjoy so today out came all the animal books and puzzles. As I watched them being assembled on the floor I couldn't help thinking this one might make a cute quilt. Too bad I really don't need another project at the moment.

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.

Quake + 14 days

After writing the title I began to wonder how long we in Japan will be counting from March 11. Monday morning at 3:30 AM when I drove into town to deliver rice to Shibuya's homeless, I noticed that, except for intersections, all the street lights on Kannana, a main drag, had been turned off. All gas stations were closed and all the 24 hour restaurants were closed. Also many of those "24hr stores" were closed or operating with limited lighting. Walking around the station I found the lighting limited or off all together. Those homeless who meet me had no trouble finding me as they know me by my big white dog. After 17 years I could probably deliver with my eyes shut. Interestingly, the streets were crowded with young people celebrating their graduation ... out all night as is common in Shibuya.

Thursday night was my first venture by train into town since the quake. It is our regular choir practice night and since I am part of a small group doing some special music on Sunday I felt I needed to be there to practice. It would be hard to explain to someone who does not sing, the pure joy of joining one's voice to others in such beautiful music as Shubert's Mass in G or the Miserere from Gregorio Allegri written to the glory of God. I am probably the most grateful of all realizing that many choirs do not accept a woman tenor and for me alto would not be an option.

Travel by train is not as convenient as we are accustomed to. Arriving at the station, the escalators are turned off and lighting is cut to the bare minimum. The train schedules are running on a curtailed schedule but crowding was about as normal, probably because people are not staying out as late due to closed restaurants or long walks. Omotesando, one of the biggest shopping streets and the location of our church was dark with many shops shut early and every other street light turned off. Even the church entry was dark. Yes, there are the hoarders like the man loading six six-packs of 2l. bottles of water into the trunk of his car but for the most part the public is cooperating to save what power they can. When I was a kid, my dad went through the house turning off lights as he went. I have to chuckle as I find myself now doing the same thing.

For this week I took the challenge from Amy's Creative Side One Week One Thing Challenge :: Link Up 7, to assemble the blocks on the batik quilt before all the pins fall out. With more down time I have got it together already but when I spread it out on the park fence I find I am not so happy with the arrangement. I want to add a border as the total size could be a bit larger than the present 80 inches square. That might mean buying fabric as most of my stash is pieces smaller than one meter.

Meanwhile, the magnolias are blooming and some of the camellias look unreal with such a blanket of flowers. It may be cold today but spring is around the corner and music is playing in my brain.

One week after the quake

It has been one week since the earthquake changed the lives of everyone in Japan.
Today was to be my quilt group meeting but at the last minute it was cancelled. It seems so many things have been cancelled or postponed this past week that without my regular schedule it is hard to even tell what day it is. What had been looking like a very tight schedule suddenly loosened up and gave a bit of breathing room.


Today was the day we decided to arrange the quilt blocks for Kimie's quilt. Our neighbor rice store owner graciously offered the use of her large tatami room to lay out the blocks. She even took out a set of toy blocks for my granddaughter to play with while we worked.

The original plan was one large block and four small blocks in a checkerboard fashion. I made extra small blocks from my stash so the quilt could be made bigger for a full size bed and I may frame the blocks with an outer border.

Before we could finish the plan we had to run off leaving the quilt blocks spread out on the floor as we were meeting my husband's sister for lunch. By the time we returned, it was nap time for the little one. She was tucked in bed but someone needed to stay home. The only way to finish was to take a picture of what we had begun, pick it all up and bring it home and play with it some more on the living room floor.

By the time we had it the way we liked it and began to pin it together the baby was awake and on the run. As I was putting in the last few pins another daughter arrived with her daughter. The two little ones needed that space for play. Poor Nikko was told "Off!" and dutifully obeyed but after all, that small space between the sofa and Papa's chair is her favorite spot and with children running around in the rest of the space she reclaimed it for a nap, reminding me that there are any number of blogs out there with cats lying around on quilts in progress.

Only a day and a half remain of Kimie's visit. It will be so sad to take her back to the airport and although she arrived on a fairly empty plane, I fear going back to the states will be a challenge
with the hoards of people leaving. One more day I can cluck with two chicks and two chicklets under my wings.

I do see some quilting time on the horizon. The Pack meeting was cancelled. The pinewood derby was cancelled. the spring camporee was cancelled. OA was cancelled. The district Committee meeting has been cancelled. Internet connections have been spotty at best. Choir practice was cancelled. Even our pack trip to the disaster center has been cancelled. I feel sorry for the kids if all they have left to do is sit at home and watch the gloomy news on the TV. Then again we had a bright sunny day. The Sweet Daphne is perfuming the air. The Magnolias are beginning to open. It is cold but the wind is blowing steadily in the "right" direction and I am blessed with wonderful neighbors, family, and friends.


All around me are stories of the kindness of strangers rising to meet the challenges of the day, setting aside their own trials to help another in need. I'm glad these deeds are being told to balance the drama being run over and over on the TV.

Even Nikko is counting her blessings. She has gotten her piece of the floor back.