My May read is now a block

The May read for the Quilter's Book Club was "These is My Words" ... the Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine. 1881 - 1901.

Written by Nancy E. Turner.

When I was a kid, I hated history. To me it was nothing more than memorizing dates and spelling strange and impossible names of people and places.

I do remember the 4th grade teacher reading us "Johnny Tremain" which, though I hated the teacher, loved the story and could hardly wait for the next chapter. I was ever so careful not to do anything that might cause me to be sent to the cloak-room during that time of day. It took many years for me to realize that the stories I loved were history made real.

This book is a dose of history that takes you there. Our book for this month is continuation of the story. Mine is somewhere in the post and I am very much looking forward to it.

I made a couple of drawings of possible blocks but in the end, I decided on this block I found in Jinny Beyer's The Quilter's Album of Blocks and Borders, picked partly because the name was "The House that Jack Built". I had thought of something with a log cabin feeling and though it is rather more simple than other blocks, I was able to use my feature fabrics and add the heart fabric at the center. This is my 16th twelve-inch block and as soon as I find enough space, I want to lay them all out and see how they look together.

If you like the challenge of thinking up a quilt block each month to go with a good read, you should check out Susan's blog. (Even if you don't care to make a block, the suggestions to read are outstanding).

I have had another challenge over the past week through a request coming from someone who found a picture on one of my old posts. If he agrees, I would love to share the story here.

My cacti have been putting on a wonderful show.

Some of them are blooming for the very first time and some are regulars.

These only last a few days but there are buds coming up for later enjoyment.

My step tansu has flowers on every level.




The big red flower was a first bloom.

The white flowers are the second group to open and last a long time. The tall cacti on the left of that one has a halo of tiny red flowers earlier at the end of winter and the spiky cacti on the right is in full bloom now with a promise of more buds to open.

The Easter cactus missed Easter but I am happy it survived the heavy snows of the past winter ...


As it lives all year round out on top of the air conditioning unit on the balcony.

The prickly pear next to it had a rough time and I don't know if it will bloom this year. Usually it blooms nearer the end of the month.

Last fall, I admired a beautiful shrubby plant with white flowers and variegated leaves in a neighborhood garden. This past week, that neighbor called to me as I was passing on my way to the station saying there was a pot of that plant waiting for me to take home and enjoy.

Sure enough, as I returned home later in the day, the pot was sitting just outside their gate in a plastic bag. I am thinking of making a table runner for that couple. I have no idea what their home is like but they must have a table for eating and may even have a geta box in their genkan. I am wondering what size runner would be useful. If anyone has a suggestion, please share with me. I am thinking of something bigger than a place mat but not so big that it might not fit the table. I suppose a small quilt for on a sofa would work but I don't even know if they have a sofa or if their home is more traditional Japanese style.

I think it will be fun to come up with a thank you gift.  That is one aspect of quilting I really enjoy.

The flowers are happy

Last night it began to rain and it is still

raining today. My plants are all happy for a good drink.
The small pond that used to gather in front of my gate is now gathering to the south and north ends of the street. We can actually walk 15 to 20 paces before we start wading.

I am glad to get the rain over with because Cub Camp begins Friday night. While Boy Scouts can camp in the rain, managing a group of cubs who come with parents and siblings ... and trying to convince them that scouting is fun ... is a whole new ballgame.

Meanwhile, I am preparing a craft to teach the cubs on Saturday. The camp has a Harry Potter theme so I will have the classes making owl neckerchief slides.

That involves cutting about 150 slices of wood for the body. I will let the kids cut the eye pieces and the bamboo ring for the back.

Yesterday I managed to cut about 20 slices so I have a long way to go. I have to do the task outside and sure do wish I had a friend with a band saw. I remember doing this in years past once I arrived at camp, now I am feeling my age and wondering if I can find a few boy scouts once I get there to help out ... but I really don't want to risk being un-prepared.

When I returned from camp last week, I found the little + quilt on the trash-bin counter was covered with stains.  Some were coffee but the others looked like some kind of jam that was dried in black blobs. I washed it three times but the stains all remain. What is rather amazing is that there is a 4' x 11' ceramic plate on that 7' x 11' space so not a whole lot of area for making spills. I used to have a natural keyake wood tray on that counter but it disappeared during last summer's trip. I can only surmise it got pushed off into the top trash bin.

Well, not that I just love that + pattern but while I was on a roll, I made a new little topper which I will save for when guests come. Maybe the little bin to the left  would like a runner too. Actually, that is a narrow unit of stacked drawers with pet things (inside and on top)... sticky rollers, bird seed, dog treats, Nikko's clothing (to be used to protect visitors from dog hair when they come inside) and some spare toys that won't fit in Nikko's toy box.

  This one got a dark binding. Maybe it won't show the spills as much.

Anyway, I will save this one for another day.

I found a pattern I'd really like to use for Ben's big-boy quilt but am still trying to come up with enough purple and lime-green fabric. I really don't want to begin something until I can see it through. I just don't have room to house UFOs.

Meantime. I am trying to find a good block for the latest book club read.

This is what is enjoying today's rain.


These flowers are growing along the wall  outside the rice store lady's garden.

The red ones are the same as I have along my wall.

Each time I walk along the street on my way to the corner and the train station, I pull the weeds among the bulbs. Once the red flowers are finished there will be plenty of seeds. I collect them and have a few places to put them in other weedy neighborhood spots.

Among the red flowers are these purple ones with three petals.

In our last house, we had some coming up here and there in the lawn. I have no idea what they are. Even my Japanese plant books don't have pictures of these two plants.

Both grow from tiny bulbs.

The purple one is a very short bloomer. I tried to get a picture on Sunday on my way to church but they had not begin to open at 8:am when I walked past.

By three in the afternoon, this is all that you can see, the petals having rolled down to the center. By the next day, it is an invisible green stub that will end up a seed pod.

The leaves of both plants look like the "dragon's beard" grass that is popular in Japanese gardens.
I think the little flowers are a pretty addition to any weedy strip.

And this is what is blooming in my little bedroom/greenhouse.


I think that flower pot cup could stand a washing but I hesitate to disturb the cactus.

I think these are so pretty.


They bloom a long time and look like twinkling stars.

I see more flower buds coming on a number of cacti. The white one that has already bloomed a few weeks ago is getting new buds.

The Easter cactus is about ready to burst into bloom too. (a bit late, but it survived out in the cold and snow this past winter).

Well, blogging break should be over and camp prep resumed. I was hoping the rain would finish by now so I don't have to add sawdust to the dog hair that is already taking over the house. Sigh!

Blogging buddies

As my four hundredth post nears, I can't help looking back over the years since my son turned my paper diary into a blog. I still keep my paper diary much as before, printing out a picture of each finish to paste on the page and writing in details like date and size and title or purpose. Sometimes I have added a snip of fabric that was used. That poor book as undergone countless repairs as it was never intended as a photo album. At one point in the not-to-distant future, I will need to find a second edition.

One thing that has changed is building a relationship with so many wonderful blogging buddies. It isn't just answering comments, but the exchange that goes back and forth between the posts. There are kindred spirits out there. A few I have been lucky enough to meet in person. Many more are never far from my thoughts.

This brings me to one of my longest friends,
Irene in Texas. Long ago we both belonged to the "Slowpokes". (and that will explain a lot about this post).

More than a year ago ... yes I am slow so these are not yet UFOs...I began to make blocks to represent each of my blogging friends. I call them "followers blocks"but they are really little reminders of my special friends.

It was a whole year ago that I received a note from my friend Irene, sending me these darling little hexie flowers. I was to use one on her block.  Now, I have been teasing her weekly for the past four years or so because on her "One Flower Wednesday" posts, she more often than not, shows more than one flower. Of course, with flowers this small and precisely constructed,  you would have to make more than one a week to get anything the size of a quilt.

Well, at first I was thinking in terms of a cute pink house. If you have visited her blog you would know why. That house is not just sitting there but is decorated differently for each season. Then, when the flowers arrived I began hunting up fabric with a number print. Finally, I found a pack of four cuts of numbered fabric. It isn't exactly what I had in mind and the #1 is a bit hard to find, but one year is enough for a slowpoke to make just one eight-inch block.

So ... one more block added to my little collection.

Thank you Irene for all these years of friendship and taking my ribbing. Maybe one of these days .....
we might meet in person.



Maybe the pink wasn't the best choice because the letters rather hide the outline of the triangles against the background.


Another interesting blogging aspect is the way my friends out there solve mysteries.

Growing up in Northern Ohio, I am pretty familiar with plants that grow in that zone but often find things growing in my own garden that I have no idea what they are or how they got there.

Last post I put up a picture of these mystery flowers in the hanging pot on my gate.

It is a mystery no more. Jean from All Points of the Compass knew what it was. Rhodohypoxis baurii , is native to South Africa.

I found out more information on line and even some advice as when to re-pot them. Thanks Jean.

Here is another mystery bloomer.

This has been planted from seed and has a small bulb.
There are multiple flowers on one stem and have begun blooming last week.

The rice store garden wall has a strip of them blooming in the three or four inch strip of dirt at the base of the wall.

They also grow in the dirt strip at the base of my wall (the one that was saved by the road-pavers) .

Finding information in English on the plants in Japan is not easy. Often I find a picture and the Japanese name and if the Latin name is included, I can learn more.

Years ago, I wrote a handbook for the Scouts to use for identifying plants, as it is part of the advancement trail and very little in English  can be found. Even in the "Park for Nature Study"(part of the National Institute for Nature and Science) plant names are only posted in Japanese. A few of my Troop's Scouts have done Eagle projects of putting labels on trees and plants in city parks in not only Japanese but with Latin as well as English common names. Since I grew up learning the Latin names of local plants, I find it fun to see how those familiar ones relate to their cousins in other parts of the world.

The above flower also comes in a white version.

These are such pretty blooms and thrive on neglect.

Who could ask for more. I'm glad they didn't get covered with asphalt.

 And, speaking of something thriving on neglect, these hen and chicks toss out flowers with gay abandon.

A few broken off runners found a new home in a vacant pot and seem to be celebrating.

So, my blogging friends,  though I may seem to be neglecting you, I hope you are thriving too, and send you this virtual bouquet of mystery flowers in celebration.

A finish at last

At last the runner is finished.

I will call this one "Thinking of Irene, the Hilacha Queen" I will probably be wearing those little threads (along with the dog hair) for months to come!

Nearly every one of these fabrics has been used in some other quilt. My grand kids could probably play "I Spy" with it.... something from the very first quilt down to the most recent one ... and I wasn't even trying to fit them all in either.

Of course, it's companion on the trash bin/counter is now in need of a washing. (Ah, life in the Fukuda household!)

Now I will have to think of something else for a take-along project. My #2 Grandson needs a "big boy quilt". Even if it fits his bunk, he is closing in on his teen years and probably outgrown that alphabet quilt I made so many years ago.

The trouble is, his color choice is purple and lime green. The quilt I made for his brother was blues and greens and I didn't even ask his preference. I was able to go to my stash and make blocks using lots of scrap fabric, only buying something for the borders. BUT ... purple? Not so many pieces and most are floral prints. Of course, I can't imagine my dear Ben complaining about a quilt I have made him but still.... Then, there is the lime green. I have two bins of greens but very few fall into the lime category.

When I was at the quilt show, I looked through the cut fabrics for sale with Ben in mind but didn't even come home with one new piece. Even the + runner has only a few purple blocks and no lime green.

Another little cacti has bloomed. I thought I might miss it all together because I was away at a Scouting event, but it has lasted a few days. The white one is still in full bloom since the last post but the yellow one beside it only lasted two days.

I noticed buds on another two getting ready to open before long.

These little flowers are in a hanging pot on my gate. They are only a few inches high and come from bulbs but I have no idea what thy are.

Some are dark pink, some light , and some variegated.

They probably need to be re-potted when they are finished blooming.

A neighbor has an entire fence crawling with this rose. It only blooms once in the spring and then is finished. I grew up with roses lasting all summer and I can't imagine my father giving  that much space to something with such a limited blooming period.

I notice the roses that are doing best here are growing on tall bushes.

Another house between my home and the train station has four or five very tall bushes that even kept their flowers through the winter. Those are not climbers but they are now in full bloom. I have tried growing roses several times but have had not much luck and suspect the soil is too acid for them to do well. Miniature roses in planters do have some luck and I may give them another try one of these days.

The small flower shop near my home has a wide selection of blooming plants that would make any garden happy. If only I had a garden space with sun I might be spending more than I can afford.
Meanwhile, cacti in my roof greenhouse will keep me happy.

The sun is smiling.

Remember when you were a kid and you put that sun up in the corner of your picture, wearing a smiley face with rays shooting out? (Of course when the teacher gave you a D minus minus minus there was no smiley face even though it looked like the sun).

Golden week has begun in Japan and in spite of a few rainy nights, we are enjoying lovely sunny days ... smiley face and all.

The morning started out very early with a trip into town to the American Embassy to get our family signatures notarized. You might think that was an easy thing ... but you need an appointment several weeks ahead. Then you need lots of identification to prove who you are. Fine ... I have a passport and so does my husband but... I have not always used my "real" name, which is "Julia", or my husband his real name which is "Ryusuke". I have gone by Julie since I entered school and hated to be called Jul-yuh. Paul's Christian name is not on his passport or birth certificate but it was used as "R. Paul Fukuda " in the business world, being a whole lot easier for non-Japanese to figure out how to pronounce. It took a whole lot of talking with assorted Embassy personnel before we could get the business taken care of. I guess I should tell my grand kids to use their real names on all documents. Even my social security cards... before and after marriage had "Julie" on them. Of course the Embassy told us those are not identity cards ... they did look at a picture identity card to the Tokyo American Club, however. 5,150 yen later we were happily out of there!

Last night I put the final border on my + runner somewhere between choir practice and home.

Here is the flimsy hanging on the fence in the park. Then I came home and basted the sandwich ready for quilting. I thought I might do some applique in the empty border spaces but the more I look at it, the more I think quilting will be enough. It is happily in a hoop awaiting the first stitches.

My cacti seem to be enjoying the sunny days. The little red flowers are still opening and last quite a while but the larger ones are only good for a few days at the most.

If they bloom on a camping weekend, I miss them and will have to wait another year.

One Golden Week I was attending a Scouting event in the states so I put all the cacti with buds on a tray and brought them down to the coffee table, leaving my husband with my camera and instructions to snap a picture.

Actually, he took a beautiful shot that was used as wallpaper on my old lap top until it died.

American Dogwoods, Cornus florida, have become quite popular on Tokyo, even as street trees. I think it is a good idea because they offer plenty of shade in the summer after the blooms are gone, they don't grow so huge so as to need extensive pruning and thus don't interfere with the power lines, and the seeds are pretty in the late summer and attract birds. And leaves turn red in the fall.

Lately I have noticed what seem to be hybrids with pink-tinged white bracts, dark pink bracts, and recently these cute tiny flowers with the bracts remaining connected in the center.  The street to the station has several of this variety.

There is also another young dogwood that bloomed for the first time this year. It was a first for me because the flowers had multiple bracts overlapping each other.

This picture doesn't really do it justice but you can notice the multiple bracts. Some of those flowers had eight and some had twelve or even sixteen.

The center flower was not yet visible. I will have to keep an eye on this tree.

The school where I sometimes teach has a "Dove Tree", or sometimes called a handkerchief tree with just two long hanging bracts, a native to Western China.
There would be no problem filling a May basket with flowers today.

I hope your day is a smiling one too.

My quilt is getting bigger

This week I finished reading our book for April.

My final task was to come up with a block to represent that book.

Sometimes finding a good block is more challenging than finishing the reading.

Our first book in February last year was the Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas.
At that time, I dug out from my stash, a piece of paisley fabric and decided to use a little bit in each of the blocks for the Quilters Book Club. That fabric will tie the blocks together and represent this group of reading quilters.

Since the amount is not so large and getting smaller each month, I wanted to make blocks that pulled out the colors from the paisley as well as added a bit more variety of color to the quilt I will make.

I have several books of quilt block designs and it is a good thing because many of them are two or three color blocks. A number of months I have given up and drafted my own pattern. I did find two patterns that might have worked for this month but the book's ending gave me another idea.

In the story, the Friday night quilters at the quilt shop make a quilt for Ivy, each one making a block to represent their home. Ivy's house block is placed in the middle, a white house with blue windows, a red door, a stone fireplace and a garden are a few of the points described by her little daughter as the "smiling" house.

In each corner were the other houses of the four members "like mismatched sentries on a guard points on a compass, fixed and immovable." Well, I wasn't going to try making four more houses but last year when we read the first of the "Cobbled Court Quilts " series,"A Single Thread", I had made a block of four spools, one representing each character, with the threads joining in the center.
I decided to use the spool colors representing those women in each corner and the paisley as compass points.

This is my 15th block. If I make a quilt to snuggle under while reading, I may have to change from reading on the train to reading in bed!

Check out Susan's Blog if you like to read . You may discover a new author and an enjoyable read and even make a few new friends in the process.

Keeping busy

Not much quilting done.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The first activity was separating them from the bunches.


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

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

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


I am in the kitchen, washing dishes.

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

The yolks went into pancakes and french toast.

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

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

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

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

Here is this years high flyer.

I was surprised how fast it flew.

The dogwoods are beginning to open.

These have a slight pink hue.

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

This is the first year for this cactus to bloom.

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

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

I have noticed buds forming on several other cacti.

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

I hope you all had a very happy Easter.

Mystery solved

My last post included a mystery flower that came up among some Hostas I saved from the bulldozer in my neighbor's garden.

Today, a call from my #3 daughter gave me the answer, in Japanese "Nirin-sou". I ran out to check her information with the actual flower. Yes, there were two flowers rising above each group of leaves, though one in each pair had finished.

A trip up to my bookcase brought me the rest of the information. Anemone flaccida or Flaccid Anemone. There are several species of anemone in Japan, all spring blooming and sharing a habitat in and along the edge of forests.

No wonder Norie could identify this as her area is surrounded by this habitat.

There is very little information on Japanese plants in English, but a while back I purchased a small field guide on Wild Flowers of Japan by Ran Levy.
For a few years he had a weekly article in the Japan Times (newspaper), the "flower of the week".
I clipped those articles and kept them in a small pocket album among my nature books. When his book came out in 1995, I quickly snatched one up.

As long as I had my book out, I checked out another picture I had grabbed outside my Monday English class.

The picture wasn't so good but the battery on my camera died so there was no second chance.

Sure enough, these were also in his book. Genge (Chinese Milk Vetch) also called Renge or Renge-sou is another early spring to summer bloomer.  The pink color didn't show up so well in this picture.

And one other thing still growing is my + piece.

I have decided to stop at 44 rows and add four inch borders. It will make a runner for my coffee table to match the one topping my trash bin.

I can't imagine making a whole bed-size quilt of this pattern but I wanted to try it out and this will fit the bill. Tomorrow's sewing group will get me a bit closer to the finish.

The weekend will be a busy one. I have a date to make batik eggs with my granddaughter. (she would like to have another cookie factory but I hope I can convince her the eggs will be just as much fun).  The choir will sing three services Sunday, and from there I will be off to my pack's pinewood derby. (It was the only date we could get a room big enough to set up the track and accommodate our group).  My car is all ready to fly. I guess I should carry along a charged battery. I'm sure this weekend will bring more than one photo opportunity.

Happy Easter!

piecing, flowers, and POWER

Friday was the meeting of a sewing group I have recently joined. The women are very friendly and doing a variety of different crafts. They are generous in sharing their knowledge and passions with others in the group. I only wish I had a bit of room to host the meeting, though I'm not certain the group would enjoy traipsing out into the boonies for a meeting.

I took along another try at the + blocks.

Though I really do not like the fact that I have to get all the blocks lined up to begin with, I rather like the scrappy look.

(And, I still had cut pieces that needed to be used).

I went out to the meeting wearing a black T-shirt and black jeans, and within minutes I was covered with colorful little threads.

(and I thought white dog hair was bad)!

I have a coffee jar full of these colorful little threads. In the spring I put them in the tree with a clip so the birds can use them for nesting material, but all these one inch pieces are contributing thread faster than any bird can use.

I am thinking of naming this little quilt "Irene". Not for my granddaughter, but for my blogging friend in Texas whose blog is named "Hilachas", because I always think of her when I am picking thread from my clothing and table and floor.

I don't think this will end up as a very large piece but might make a colorful runner for a table. Once the arrangement is decided and the rows are pinned in order, it does make a great take-along project (If I don't wear black).  The available space for laying pieces out is really too small to see more than eight rows at a time but maybe a design wall would make better arrangement of color or blocks stand out from their neighbors better. Anyway, I shall see where this takes me.

We have had a few warmer and sunnier days and I am enjoying the discovery of flowers among the planters.

When my neighbor's house and garden were torn down, I raced out in the rain to rescue some things from her garden.

She had a varied collection of Hostas. My brother.s wife has such beautiful Hostas in her garden and I have always admired them.  I dug up a small clump from each little patch, not really knowing what I was getting but wanting to save them from the bulldozer.

I had no place to put them but the rice-store-lady has some in planters, so I knew they would be OK there until I found them a better place. I just stuck those planters under the bushes and was happy a few days ago to see leaves coming up from the soil. Today I noticed I got more than Hostas. I don't know what this plant is but it has dainty white flowers and lacy leaves. I wonder if I dare separate it to a pot of its own.

My hanging pots along the wall are happily decorated with petunias.

Two of the hanging pots in the garden have volunteer violets.

I don't know how these violets got here. The pots are on the north side of the wall and get little sun except what is reflected from our windows (which isn't much because of the three-story house a foot away from the wall on the other side.

The Keria is kind of leggy in this poorly lit space but never discouraged from showing off its pretty yellow blossoms.

Do I really need two pots of violets?

I wonder if they are pot-hopping and will take over another pot by next spring.

I just don't have the heart to pull them out.

Nikko and I walked up the street to take a picture of the peach tree in bloom. It was so beautiful when we walked past it yesterday but I didn't have my camera along.


I was shocked to see that tree had been severely pruned.

Now, why couldn't they wait until it was finished blooming?

We walked past the cherry trees too. The very gusty weather this past week has pretty well finished them off. As it happened, what was left was not going to make much of a picture. In fact, there were so many electric wires ... even behind the peach ... that it wouldn't be much of a scene.

Last night on the way home from my scout meeting, there was a beautiful cherry blooming in front of the night-lit Tokyo Tower, very pretty but crossed every which way by power lines.
I began thinking it might be fun to see how many lines I could get in just one picture.

This is just outside my front gate! (not much more than a narrow path).


Maybe I could turn the best shot into a quilt design.

Isn't there something called an "Electric Quilt"?

Well, enjoy the blue sky while it lasts ... even divided into segments by all those dark lines.

A special treat

Earlier in the week, I received a call from Yasuko Kuraishi, one of my long time quilting friends. She is a quilt "sensei" or teacher who is well connected in the quilting world, both in the U.S. and Japan. She told me of a quilt exhibit that was in my own neighborhood and, as we were having a meeting of our little group, suggested that before going home, we stop and take in the exhibit.

The exhibit was the work of Keiko Minato, another quilting "Sensei". (seen on the right)

The quilt behind us was exhibited at the Tokyo Dome show and it was a real treat to see these works up close and talk with Minato-sensei about the process.

We both share a fondness for kasuri and  the way she used it in her quilts is quite unique.

Several of these large quilts on display featured kanji but the lettering was not appliqued on or printed on. The entire quilts were made of small squares, a little over an inch in size. Minato-san had selected small bits of kasuri with varying tones and fussy-cut them to put darks and lights and shading in the proper place to create the design.

Notice the piecing in the border.


each of these designs is made up of squares.

All are made the same way, by cutting out square bits of kasuri.

What an amazing variety of blocks she was able to come up with!

I don't suppose the pieces were as easy as sewing regular squares together either, because in order to get the variety of patterns, the pieces were cut in a way that many were bias edges on all sides.

The gallery was set up in a most attractive way and there were not only quilts but lovely fashion pieces and bags for sale.

The exhibit itself was a treat but it was even more special to talk with such a creative artist ... even in my rather miserable excuse for Japanese... and share her enthusiasm for the process.

The walk from the gallery back to my home was only about 15 minutes.

Along the way there were daffodils in bloom.

Thunder was rumbling in the distance, but I had to try and get a picture.

How about these ...

Hiding among the dead grass.

And here is what waited outside my gate.


These are volunteers among my geraniums.

They seem to be taking over several pots but I can hardly pull them out, now, can I?

By this time it had begun to spit hail from the rumbling clouds. It is only four days into April and those showers are running true to the saying.

On the other hand, The March lion is still roaring and the May flowers are beginning to show something new every day. And, lucky me, Kuraishi-sensei brought me tickets to another quilt show ... next month at Mitsukoshi Department store. I hope you all had a great day too.

Making use of a test piece

Well, I discovered a lot of things on this test piece.


1. It has to be all arranged before beginning to sew it together.

2. once it is arranged, the layout has to be organized by rows and secured (probably with pins) to keep the pieces all in order.

3. Sewing the little sections is easy if one doesn't mind getting the thread tangled in the pins or losing pins into the carpet... train floor ... carrying bag ... other.

4. Ironing those pieced can be a challenge. I don't know how machine piecers manage to get all the seams going the same way. As it is, because of the combination of long and short segments. the seams all ended up going this way and that.

5. Because of the seam directions not being consistant, quilting in the ditch was not going to work. I used some quarter inch tape inside the seams to quilt along.

I think a point to note in the future is to sew on the binding before doing the final quilting at the edges. The partial  + pieces would have been better quilted a quarter inch in from the edge.

I have a  small box of these cut pieces so I will try it again. Putting odd scraps together is a bit challenging so  this might be better with more solid fabrics to alternate. I do not plan to make anything large ... can you imagine the number of pins it would take for a bed cover?!! Maybe a table runner or a small bag is more reasonable. I'm sure glad I started small.

Seven and a half by eleven and a half is just right for the top of my trash bin.

I fill my coffee cup to about an inch from the top. Then I set it on top of the bin, open the fridge door with my right hand, take the milk carton from the upper door, pour milk to the top of the cup, put the carton back ... all without moving a step ... and sip the coffee just a bit so I can carry it three or four paces to the living room without spilling any.

When I left for the states last summer, there was a beautiful natural wood tray on this spot. It was made of Keyake (Zelkova) wood, just the right size with low edges.

When I returned a few weeks later, it was gone and has never showed up. All I can surmise is that it went into the trash bin one collection day. My husband didn't even realize it was gone ... or there in the first place, and Nikko wasn't talking. I also made a blue and white mug rug for this spot so now I have a replacement when one goes to the wash. Altogether, I would say the design test was helpful and useful too.

Do you test designs before beginning a project? I'm glad I did this time!