Herding cats - part 3

Sunday, after all the cats were joined in pairs, I played with the group to find an arrangement where each cat would stand out. The black and white cat might have had a better partner but I am not going to change that pair.

After all the cats were joined, I basted around the outer edges and now the cats are ready to be appliqued on a background.
Today I pulled out some fabrics I might use on the background. I had been thinking of putting these cats on a quilt and I found this printed hexie fabric. It might be OK but the white and yellow cats are a bit hidden

Then I tried a pink quilt print but I don't like that as well.

Maybe the cats need to get off the quilt and go outside. The color of this daisy print is a prettier green than this picture shows... definitely a possibility.

Here they are on a purple print. Hmmm, not so great.

Last of all, I let the cats back inside and told them to stay off the quilts. here they are on the floor.

This might be a good choice. I will take the no-go prints back to the box and hold the yellow quilt, the daisy field, and the wooden floor out for consideration.

A quilt group friend used this pattern and solved some of the problems by alternating print and solid fabrics in the cat pairs. Certainly a solid background would be easier to use but have less interest. More color can be added with the embroidery and the balls.

The Kerria (or yamabuki, as it is called) is now in bloom on our garden path. The tall building to the South blocks sun for all but early morning so we get to enjoy this flower a bit later than other plants in the neighborhood.

I love this hardy bush. I started it from a cutting at my last house. (A good move because I noticed on my last trip through that area that the house owner had ripped out all the lovely shrubs. They take frequent pruning to keep under control and I have noticed the new renter does not care for any of the plants. I suppose they asked for the gardener to come and do the work and the home owner balked and had the bushes removed. The gardeners had come less and less over the years we lived there). I miss that lovely sunny garden. I miss the insulated house. I miss a parking space on the property. I miss the big kitchen and a real guest room. BUT... this morning after making the rounds with rice balls for the homeless, I am thankful for what I DO have and the happy yellow blooms are a good reminder of how suddenly things might change.

Basking in the glow

Friday, what a great day! Certainly being the 13th was not unlucky for me.
The Bible quilt class worked on the second two blocks. The Garden of Eden and Children of Israel blocks are done. Too bad I didn't get out my camera before the David and Goliath block was packed up for homework but you can see Jacob's Ladder going up into the starry sky.

Since this will be a quilt-as-you-go project, the backing needed to be a busy non-directional print. Our hostess found the perfect fabric for that. I think I will mark and cut a few more blocks so we can move a bit faster now that the class has had the experience of doing those tasks.

That was the activity for the first half of the day. I came home and threw my stuff together for my Cub Scout pack meeting. Then, it was off on the train, back into town. Thanks to Lis, I got no patchwork done. She brought me three wonderful quilt magazines which I needed to devour as quickly as possible.

And, here is how the pack meeting went...
We had one new Cub just joining "Tigers" so we began with the flag ceremony and the Cub Scout promise and the Law of the Pack.
The Cub Scout follows Akela. Who is "Akela"? The leader? your parent? the teacher? I wonder why I kept hearing a father calling "wait, wait" at the obstacle course less than a week ago?
The Cub Scout helps the pack go. Yep, thanks, guys, for coming to all our activities.(and to parents for bringing them ... because I know it isn't easy when we all live so far apart and there are younger siblings to think of).
The Pack helps the Cub Scout grow. This is not about getting bigger or older, that will happen without Scouting. These boys are growing in all kinds of ways. In the past two weeks we have gone to disaster and safety training and used physical skills on an obstacle course, and tonight we will learn a new skill because sewing is not just for girls.
The Cub Scout gives good will. One Cub guessed it was to "be" good, but I suggested ways they could "do" good.
We ended with the Cub Scout "sign", two fingers raised = listen up!
Then I explained the project and how we would proceed.

I had cut red felt into pieces that would make a vest. All the boys needed to do, was sew the shoulder seams and hammer eyelets for the ties. The Cubs are beginning to get patches and a patch vest is available for sale, but it is such a simple thing to make. The felt was washable and colorfast and the boy will have something that will remind him of his capability. (as a child, I was more often reminded of my failures so I put high importance on this kind of activity)

Note ... mothers are assisting and giving support but NOT doing the sewing FOR the Cubs.

Hammering in the eyelets... And what was even more rewarding, when there was need for quiet, all I had to do was raise two fingers! I wish I had lined up the boys in their new vests for a picture. The new Cub was the first to finish and he did everything himself. I couldn't have been prouder of "my" boys.

By the closing circle, my assistant had checked all the books. We passed our beads and patches and advancements, then passed "the squeeze" around the circle of boys and parents and siblings and leaders, shouted "DO YOUR BEST"and went out into the real world where the rain had begun.

Today is my husband's birthday but he is off to the opening ceremony for this year's Asian Rural Institute class and won't return until bedtime, Lis is off on her adventure, it is too cold and wet to shampoo the dog ... no matter how badly she needs it... so... guess it is time for some quilting.

Tessellating cats #2 and blogging friends

Pairing cats
Each cat is cut out leaving a quarter-inch seam allowance. Once I decide an arrangement, I put the cats together in pairs. First I pin the darker of the pair to the pencil lines on the lighter cat.
Since darker cats are marked with a white chalk pencil, the lines will disappear as I applique and the pencil lines on the lighter cat will be covered. This also prevents a certain amount of shadowing.
I have some very short basting pins which I have used on the first pair.
Even with short pins, the thread often gets tangled in those pins. I prefer to baste the two cats together. Not only does it avoid tangles but for carry-along work, I do not have to deal with pins that might fall out or need to be put in the pin-cushion during sewing.
After all the pairs are sewed, I will repeat this step combining four cats.

And now, for friends...
After about a year and a half of blogging, something I didn't expect has begun to happen. Every now and then you might comment on a blog. Then you might get a reply and before you know it there is a conversation going between bloggers. Sometimes you may see a comment on another blog that just clicks and when you check that person's blog, you find someone who seems to be thinking in much the same way as you. Like the stitches that hold fabric together, this communication begins to link you to others, and just seeing their name in your in-box makes you smile. There are people out there that I wish I might meet in person.

How wonderful it was, then, that the opportunity arose. I could hardly contain my excitement!
It was an adventure to a new (for me) part of town, an exhibit by Amy Katoh of her collection of vintage indigo fabrics and then some strolling and shopping and snacking for the rest of the day.
But, more than the activity, was the friendship that turned out to be as wonderful, if not more so, than anticipated.

Lis, you made my day and I am still smiling when I look at your picture. I wish we had asked someone to take a picture of the two of us together... maybe sitting out under those cherry blossoms.

Finally the tulip bulbs I got for my birthday have begun to bloom

The grape Hyacinth popped up in the planter among the geraniums.

And the magnolias on the south side of the street, it the shade of the apartment building, have opened. Imagine looking out of your balcony and seeing these big flowers!

Two warm days and my down jacket is off to the cleaners, then into the store-room. Rain is forecast for the next few days but I am smiling.

Herding cats - part 1

A number of people have asked me about the tessellating cat pattern. The inspiration for this quilt was my white cat, Pearl. (Actually she was a princess disguised as a cat). She had a small kink in the tip of her tail so this is how I drew her on squared paper. The pattern is very easy to draw and consists of squares and half-square triangles. The size of the square will determine the finished size. I have made my squares 3/4".

The next step is to cut a pattern. You could cut it from cardboard or any other thing but if I am going to use it for many cats or over many years, I like to use a piece of plastic. (this is from a file folder)

On my templates I like something to keep them from slipping when I draw the lines. I put some double-stick tape on the back of a piece of sandpaper. Then I cut strips and fasten them to the back of the template.

One other advantage of having sandpaper on the back, is that you will not mistakenly cut some of the cats facing the wrong way.

Another advantage of the clear plastic is that you can audition the print and mark it to the best advantage.

Here is the cat marked out on fabric. I use a white Karisma pencil for dark fabrics and regular pencil or disappearing ink for light fabrics. Since cats are appliqued together, they need to be marked on the top of the fabric.

You can make as many cats as you wish but here are some points to consider. With each row of cats, the margin moves over the width of one square. That means the side margins are not even. I did not figure this in the first time I used this pattern and after putting five rows of eight cats, I solved the problem by putting cats sideways at the two wide corners. Next point is that each cat abuts with as many as six other cats so it is a bit tricky to find the right placement that shows up each cat.

Here is a sample lay-out. I have done this with as many as 42 cats and as few as 4. 8 will make a nice square quilt of about 38"x38" with a border. Part 2 will follow later. I am greatly anticipating meeting tomorrow with my blogging friend, Lis, of "Piece'nPeace", who has arrived in Tokyo.

Today is windy with sputters of rain from time to time. This is how the street looks ... well, maybe it is a bit pinker than this. The funny part is, there is not one cherry tree in sight. These flower petals came from a tree across from the park two blocks away!

Take-along-work

Six one-hour train rides equals progress. With the runners in the post, it is back to other take-along work. The signature piano-key border for the Women's Conference hanging had been waiting since the end of January to be completed. The lettering and about half the blocks are quilted in the ditch. The water will get some sashiko stitching in blue, then the border will be quilted and it will be turned into a hanging. My idea is to make a second hanging for next year's Conference that will be a pair to this one and use this after it is completed to advertise for next year, hopefully making the rounds to assorted churches in the area.
In addition, I am back to the x and + blocks. These make it about 172 blocks total. I wish I could see a larger dent in my stash as a result.

Saturday's outing to the Life Safety Learning Center was fun for the kids. They learned how to put out fires using an extinguisher, Saw a movie about what to do in case of an earthquake and tsunami, got all shook-up in a simulator, and crawled through a smoke-filled maze.

The funniest part was the "rain room" where they got to experience a typhoon. Dressed to the nines in rain gear and boots they got blasted with water and wind. Two brave adults gave it a try too. Me? I didn't want to get my camera wet. (my excuse and I'm sticking to it).

The Moms had their cameras at the window as the fake storm kicked in.

The funniest part was that exactly the same weather was going on outside. Every single scout lost his cap at one point or other on the way from the train station and I have never seen so many dead umbrellas within just a few blocks! The trains were stopped because of high wind, causing delay at the meeting point.

Today we are having a second, bigger helping of the same weather. School was called off to get the buses off the highway and home before the blast set in. The view from my window looks about the same as Saturday's view, minus the scouts. Strange time of year for a typhoon.

The magnolia trees on the North side of the street leading to the train station are in bloom but the petals will probably be scattered by tomorrow.

Luckily, the trees on the South side are in the shade and still in bud so there will be something left to enjoy.

The camellias were very late to open and I saw many flower heads rolling down the street even before the storm got going.

And ... Happily tucked inside my little green-house/bedroom, my tiny orchid has two more little flowers and a few more buds coming out. The hummingbird is something I carved out of wood and the wooden flower was carved by a friend at the BSA Jamboree. I thought of painting that bird but since there are no real hummingbirds in Japan, I had no good model. Now I am thinking that the wood is better and he can be any breed he feels like at the time.

One more for the road

The bunnies will now have company on their trip to Oregon. Looking through the scrap box, I came across a few pieces large enough to cut four cats and a printed stripe that would make a nice border. The total size is
18"x 23.5", which could make a small table mat.
I had selected a pretty floral print for the background but the tan cat seemed to be hiding. Maybe that tan floral cat should have been what I changed because his orange eyes don't show so well on the print. The pink floral is on the reverse side.

The Thinsulate batting is also left-over scraps and I could just use safety pins to hold everything in place while I quilted without a hoop, making the whole thing in three days. I am usually a baste and baste again person but on this one, the only basting I did was for sewing the cats together.

My husband looked over these runners and said he wished we could keep them. He seldom pays any attention as to what I am making but had an interest in the rabbits because he was responsible for pulling out reference material for the rabbit in the moon.

Today is the last day in March and it certainly is NOT going out like a lamb! The wind is whistling and rattling the windows. I am off with my Cub Pack to the Tokyo Life Safety Learning Center. We have been instructed to bring a towel for the "rain room" and a handkerchief for the smoke filled maze. I have not been to this particular center but I'm pretty sure we will have an earthquake room and fire extinguisher practice and practice making emergency calls. Maybe some basic first aid too. By the end of the afternoon we will have met many requirements in the handbooks of every age group and be a little more PREPARED.

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).

A finish and a new beginning

Well, Here it is, all finished with binding and a hanging sleeve (and two strong women to hold it high)! Yesterday the teem of tireless quilters met to put on the finishing touches.

Although I had trouble warming up to the quilt design, there was no issue with the quilters. What a wonderful group of mothers they are and what a joy to work with! I will miss that part of the activity more than the quilt.

Note, the final step in the project ... removing pet hair!
If I can figure out the links, you can see more of this quilt on Cynthia's bloghttp://aquilterbynight.blogspot.com and Tokyo Jinja http://tokyojinja.com/2012/03/13/the-asij-quilt-summer-breezes-furin-in-the-rock-garden/.



And, as for the new beginning, the plum tree has finally begun to bloom. This flower opened a little on the 11th and now a few more flowers are beginning to peep out. This is the first time that I know of in 47 years it has failed to open on February 15, the birthday of the daughter it celebrates.

My husband, looking at that rather un-impressive bloom, exclaimed we should have planted a more showy variety, maybe a light pink with double petals. Well, I told him, this one is not just for show, but produces plums (actually apricots) that are used in plum wine.

I think there is a bit of a lesson here. I have told the kids, "It isn't so much what you say, but what you do that counts". Actions speak louder than words. In this case, just looking good is fine but doing good is even better.

Could it be that the waiting has made that delicate flower even more precious?

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!

it's all over but the shouting

All that is left to do on the auction quilt is to put on the binding and hanging sleeve. My goal this past week was to finish the inside quilting and get the borders sorted out and marked. As I was working (and I am a rather fast quilter) I saw that unless I did more work on the borders than just mark them, we would need more than one day to finish.

This is a big quilt and even with ten people sitting around the edge working, we would not be likely to finish. Meanwhile, my week is so crammed with stuff that I didn't want to even THINK about the possibility of one more days work.

Sunday I came home directly from a late choir practice and worked until after midnight. I had to get up at 3:30 am Monday for rice delivery and returned home about quarter to six. Instead of going back to bed as I often do, I parked myself at the hoop and worked straight through the day, only stopping for a quick dinner in the evening. It was about 12:30 am when I finally felt the remaining work was down to the realm of possibility. Then I packed it up and hit the sack.

I had worked sections, leaving areas between so that everyone would not be working in each others laps. We had a good mix of leftys and rightys so we could pretty well all work together. The first quilter to finish her area went around with a damp cloth removing whatever marking lines remained and removing basting threads. That had been one of my concerns so I was happy to see her doing a very careful check.
I wanted to see the total result and get a picture. Lighting was not great and the binding is yet to be added but you can get a fairly good idea of the results. At the end of the afternoon when we folded the quilt to travel to the next stage for binding, I was pleased to look over the backing and see that, although many hands had done the work, there was not a glaring difference between the stitching in rows done by different people.

Usually when doing a group project I like to choose a non-directional busy print to hide any irregularities. Thus, I was a bit concerned at how visible both front and back the quilting lines would be. I am, therefore, very pleased ... not only with the completion going according to the schedule ... but that many of my worries were for nothing.

NEXT WEEK ... turn the binding, add the sleeve, and remove pet hair! It will get hung in the Early Learning Center until the Gala. (Hopefully no earthquake this year). Tonight I will go to bed early ... or at least on time!

Hina Matsuri

A quick break from quilting ... for Hina Matsuri. This year I brought out the doll case with an assortment of prince and princess dolls. When the kids were young and space was not an issue, we set up an entire tiered display of all the court dolls and their trappings. With only one canine daughter in residence, and considerations of time and space, this small display seemed to fit the occasion a bit better.
Guarded by the dragon runner is the case with an assortment of doll pairs, lacquer, fabric, folded paper, and even piled stones with painted faces and clothing. In front of the vase are two carved Ainu dolls and bobble-headed ojiisan and obaasan.(I have days like that myself).

The traditional peach blossoms are barely any farther opened than those plums outside in the cold. It seems even the local flower shops couldn't coax those flowers out and farther than the weather man.

My A1 chef of a husband began preparing chirashi-zushi the night before
and made enough for me to take to a meeting in the evening. It was a bit sad with family so far away but #2 son called and in the background was the sound of a music box playing the tune of the Hina Matsuri song and the words came to my mind.

My son told us he had gone to his daughter's school and taken the main Hina dolls and explained the customs and read a story to the children. Imagine that! Little kids in far off Washington D.C. learning about Japanese customs. When I was his daughter's age we were tossing stones in a big dirt pile in someones yard saying, "Bombs over Tokyo"! I had no idea what that was all about. The Ozawa Art Gardens had the most beautiful flowers and bonsai trees and everyone was so supportive as Mr. Ozawa kept a low profile and let his wife run the shop so he wouldn't be whisked off to some detention camp. My best friend left her china dolls at my house because she was afraid that her father would smash them along with other dishes and things that said,"made in Japan" on the back.

My husband had similar play but tells stories of kindness between his own father and POWs. I think we both grew up in families where people were valued and relationships were more important than governments.

So... Happy Hina Matsuri little canine daughter. I'll bet Papa slipped you a taste of the leftover sushi. That face is just too hard to resist.

One small finish

Well, it still is the dragon year so this table runner may be a bit tardy but won't look completely out of place. This was a good use for the printed panel and the border makes it big enough to cover a large part of the coffee table. The outer border is what was trimmed from the auction quilt backing.
I was a bit miffed when I went to buy bias for the edge. I took the piece with me to find the best color. The problem is, the fabric store has very poor lighting and no outside windows. I wanted the light blue to match the printed part but when I got home in the natural light, the match was not really as good as I thought. It would be nice if stores that sell fabric has something like an Ott light in a corner of the store where one could take fabric to make matches.
This project has been riding the trains and sitting in meetings for about six weeks. Soon I will begin another panel print runner to donate to my Granddaughter's School fund-raising effort.

The little orchid came down from the third floor to be enjoyed and is now sitting on the hanging tissue box.

Just one tiny flower but considering how cold the greenhouse has been this winter, I would say it is way better than I expected.

Today my quilt group met. I have been working hard on the auction quilt and three of the four rows are quilted. I thought of staying home and working . It was a very cold, rainy, dreary day and in the time it takes to travel there and back, a lot could be accomplished.

My second daughter called in the morning and in, our conversation, urged me to go. I'm glad I did because my very good friend was there. Just seeing her made up for the cold and rain and any time missed on work.

Our hostess for the day brought out this handy little gadget. Well, no moving parts so that might be the wrong term. She had picked it up at the Tokyo Dome show. It seemed like a handy little item and would probably not be difficult to make. The spindle holding the pin cushion is attached with a screw from the bottom.

I could use a handy stand like that but didn't swipe it as she has written her name around the bottom ... plus the date she bought it. It holds six spools of thread but I seldom need so many colors at once. I might add a scissors holder and something to put thread ends in.

And when might I find the time? Don't ask!

Back to the task at hand!!!!