Blocks and birds

The weekend found me doing more piecing of the Alabama Beauty block. I guess I'm making a few more of these... I don't know how many or for what reason. I just like to see the different color combinations possible and the curves.

I also finally got around to making the June block for the Tisket a Tasket BOM. These have caught up with me and I really should get ahead of this project again since I'm not going to be around for much of the month of July and August. I think my bird needs a ribbon or something according to the pattern but I'm in a hurry today and can't go looking for ribbon.

And speaking of birds, we found a swallow sitting on top of my mother-in-law's electric meter at her apartment. She (the swallow) must have eggs that she is sitting on because she watched us ever so closely but wasn't leaving her nest.

Leaving a mark

Yesterday Tetsu and I went out to lunch at a friend's Thai restaurant. I love Thai curry and the exotic flavors and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. For dessert the chef served some of his homemade melon sherbet and it came adorned with this beautiful display of carved melon and carrots! He said he does fruit and vegetable carving as a hobby and it takes him about an hour to carve one melon. His carving will last for three days before it gets made into sherbet and he carves another one. He said he had carved 5 this week for a party the day before.

Different hobbies for different people. It made me wonder if I'd be willing to put in 5 hours on patchwork or quilting if I knew that in three days it was going to be made into pillow stuffing or something. Probably not. I like the idea of my quilts lasting for a few years or a generation and that maybe someone down the line is going to say,

"Wow, look at all the work that went into this."

or

"Interesting color combinations this person used."

or even

"I bet I can do better than that... Maybe I'll give it a try!"

Which probably means I ought to be putting more labels on things. But then again I don't really care to be remembered by name as much as just leaving a mark... Does that make sense?

Well, the melon sherbet is remembered in my tummy (yum!) and the chef's melon is leaving its mark on my blog (whether he knows it or not). The chef offered to teach me vegetable carving if I'd care to learn but I think I'll stick with patchwork.

Quilting, hand or machine?

I am quilting.

Both hand and machine! The hand quilting on the Feathered Star has finally moved from the center onto the border. I thought I'd never get here! And since the border is so white I decided to change from white thread and bring a little color to the border. (Well, not color, more definition?)

I think I'm in the last days of quilting this because as soon as it gets hot this quilt is going back in the cupboard. How much can I get done before summer arrives in Japan? At least the end is in sight. Maybe I will get this finished this year.

And for machine quilting I put the first quarter of the Patches and Pinwheels quilt under the needle. What to do, what to do? I'm still too chicken to try an overall pattern... I get lost too easily in big spaces. I guess you could say that these are petals in the triangles and the gradation thread makes a pretty addition. Size wise, breaking the quilt into quarters was a good idea. So far this is very manageable in the machine.

I hope I don't get waylaid before I get to the other three sections.

White Out?

When I was 11 or 12 I decided I wanted to go to Japanese school and learn Japanese. 40 plus years ago, there was a small Saturday morning Japanese school where first generation Japanese immigrants enrolled their Japanese-American children. I knew one girl who went to this Japanese school and I thought it sounded most exotic. Learning to write intricate scribbles, participating in the makeshift Japanese festivals, eating unusual foods with chopsticks. On the walls of the building were photos of kimono-clad Japanese girls with American names like Shirley Matsumoto or Helen Fujitani and they boasted of being the Japanese-American representatives in local beauty pageants. I begged my mother to let me go to Japanese school!

My mother couldn't figure out what the attraction was. She knew next to nothing about Japan, couldn't speak Japanese, couldn't manage chopsticks. As far as she knew, there was no reason for me to take an interest in Japan. What on earth was I going to do with my knowledge even if I DID learn to write a few hieroglyphics? But she relented and I was enrolled in Japanese school.

Japanese school turned out to be a lot less fun than I thought it was going to be. I was put in the kindergarten class and set to work practicing the most rudimentary Japanese symbols in endless boxes of calligraphy drill books. The little kids laughed at how lopsided my writing was and given the fact that I didn't know the vocabulary to match the symbols my interest waned quickly. I quit Japanese school after a couple months.

I tried to master the Japanese language again in college and took four years of Japanese language. Again the notebooks and scribbling but I never got much better. The professor assigned a daily journal but I became discouraged when I'd show my journal to my Japanese room mate and she'd ask

"And WHAT were you trying to write?"

So I concentrated on Japanese conversation with only satisfactory results. I still couldn't speak Japanese when I came to Japan.

Not being able to write Japanese has been a trial. There was the time when Tetsu was hospitalized but I couldn't fill out forms. There were the years when I'd have to ask the kids to read me school papers and when a reply was needed to write a sample for me to copy.

I tried. I swore I'd study right along with Takumi when he went to 1st grade. I'd master this language yet! ...I was left by the wayside. That's okay. I'll have more time when Leiya goes to 1st grade. Nope. ...Leiya, will you write this for me?

When teaching adult English students I'd tell them that it was important to keep an English journal. What was needed was perseverance and consistency. But I rarely applied these principals to my own Japanese lacking.

BUT!!! As of April I have been required to keep a daily crosswalk guard log. I am FORCED to write Japanese. DAILY!!! I can just hear the kindergarten children laughing at me again. The characters are lopsided and crooked. The grammar may be wrong (if I started worrying about that I'd get all hung up again)and the Japanese is too informal.



Right now my best friend is this little correction tape gadget. It sits on the desk right along with my logging sheets and pen. Cleaner than the White Out brush type, I can press a bit of this tape over my goofs and go on writing. In the two and a half months that I have been logging I have yet to make it a day without using this gizmo so my Japanese still isn't very good.

At least I'm persevering!

Practicing

Yesterday Mrs. Ochiai came over (and braved the cats... She does not like cats.) and practiced machine quilting. After months of procrastinating she decided to GET THIS QUILT FINISHED and she called me on Monday to say that she was ready to start quilting and wanted to come over on Thursday.

"All the applique pieces are fused down. All I have to do it buttonhole stitch them."

WHAT? That's ALL she has to do? That is quite a lot of work. I honestly didn't think that she would be here yesterday.

"Mrs. Ochiai is NOT going to be able to applique all that down in three days."

She did! She said she spent three intense days doing nothing but buttonhole stitch! See, if we put our minds to something we can get it done! I don't know how long this project has been on Mrs. Ochiai's shelf.





For all that though, when I set her down with a practice sandwich to work on some stitches she decided that she needed to do a lot more practicing before she puts her quilt under the needle. This is really the first time for her to use a quilting foot and to try and maneuver a quilt in different directions. (She cheated on her Happy Village quilting and turned the quilt at each corner...)

"Don't practice too long. Practicing is just another way of procrastinating. If you start quilting a quilt you will get all the practice you need."

I need to follow my own advice.

Isaiah 11:5-7

As you all know, I am an animal lover. I love cats and dogs but my heart goes out to all animals.

I probably go overboard trying to give my cats and dog pleasant lives (at the expense of humans!) and I spend time trying to figure out what this or that cat is thinking when it sprays the furniture or what frustrations Choco must have if she is digging up the yard. As someone pointed out, one can hardly figure out people psychology why worry about animal psychology? True... true... But I do.

Here is Toi HANGING on the front door handle. Even though I try to provide a comfortable atmosphere for my cats, Toi especially has his quirks and does not like Velvet and Cleo. A big bully, that's what Toi is! So in order to keep Velvet happy and because Toi's frustrations are beginning to extend to the other cats, I have been letting him out regularly every morning. He plays in the forest for an hour or two and always comes back. He seems very happy and the other cats are very happy that he is not around. Problem solved. I have kept peace in the animal kingdom.

WRONG! Last week Toi brought home a mole. Watch Tanya freak out!

"BAD CAT!!! DON'T CATCH MOLES!!! POOR MOLE!"

My cat is a murderer. Tetsu removed the mole for me.

Yesterday Toi brought home a quail.

"NO, NO, NO!!! LET THE QUAIL GO!!!!"

I ran to the yard and Toi took the opportunity to bring the quail (dead) into the house and upstairs. I was screaming and stamping and the other cats were flying. Finally I got the poor quail away from Toi and laid it to rest in the forest.

Why am I such a wimp? I feel very bad for the quail. Because of my dumb cat, it lost its life. Somebody tell me I'm obsessing too much. This is what cats do. This is how the world works. This is normal. I decided that I won't let Toi out anymore. Velvet and the other cats will have to put up with him. But he escaped this morning when I came back from crosswalk duty. Right now he is out ravaging the forest creatures.

The wolf will romp with the lamb, the leopard will sleep with the kid. Calf and lion will eat from the same trough and a little child will lead them. Cow and bear will graze the same pasture, their calves and cubs will grow up together, and the lion eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will crawl over the rattlesnake dens, the toddler stick his hand down the hole of a serpent. Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill on my holy mountain. The whole earth will be brimming with knowing God-Alive, a living knowledge of God ocean-deep, ocean-wide.

Isaiah 11:5-7

The Message

I wish...

Elaine's HST border

I have put the border on ONE of the four pieces of my Pinwheels and Patches quilt. I loved the way Elaine did hers on her Split Nine Patch (definitely go see how she did it!) and so I've blatantly copied her idea. But remember, copying is the highest form of flattery and I've let her know how innovative I think her ideas are (and she has so many good ones!)

I like the way the points of Elaine's quilt goes into the border but I never would attempt trying to piece all that in... But Elaine came up with a way of inserting and appliqueing the points down later and I just HAD to try it!

Well, I like Elaine's color scheme better than mine. The light side of my points get lost in the border... but still this is a great technique to remember and I can see doing this for circles and other pieces that one might want to bring into a border but piecing is a pain. (I wish I'd known this technique when I was making the Wheel of Mystery last year. I pieced those circles into the border and I must have done it 4 or 5 times before I got it somewhat right...)

Today is Wednesday so I'm not going to get to the other three parts of my quilt but I'd better not let them set too long or I'll forget how to do this!

Weekend progress

The weekend was fairly productive though I never got to the borders for my Patches and Pinwheels quilt... Why is it with all the fabric in my stash there is not what I think is the "perfect" fabric? Well, I'm going to stick with imperfect and not go out looking for more fabric. It is too scary to think of all the money I might spend! (And all the additions that I will buy but will not be the "perfect" fabric for future projects...and I'll go out and buy more. A never ending cycle.)

I worked on another Alabama Beauty block... Now why am I doing this? I decided that I couldn't ask my friends to make this. But it is a challenge and so I put together another. I think I've figured out how to lay the seams so that things lock together better. Even so, the center seam doesn't fit exactly yet. I'll have to make ANOTHER one to see if I can match the center better! (I can find all sorts of excuses to do things.)

And I got fed up with the clutter in my laundry room and asked Tetsu to bring me a board so that I could prop up a shelf. Instead my handy carpenter went to work out in the yard and built me another Tetsu original! As he points out, all his furniture looks about the same... Big, heavy, rough, and crooked but it serves the purpose and at least our home is coordinated!

Thank you Tetsu!

Cat treats

June and I have been having conversations about cat treats. It never occurred to me that cat treats might be different in different countries. I don't particularly like pet stores so I never go into the pet stores when I'm in the States. I guess my mother's cat never got any treats because I don't remember buying any.

Cats in Japan eat fish. There are kibble like things too I guess but my cats go google-eyed over small dried sardines. Small dried sardines are not only consumed by cats. Japanese use dried sardines (niboshi) when they make soup. Throw a few niboshi into the pot and simmer. The niboshi can be removed and disposed of (or if you have a cat, handed to him who is waiting patiently by your feet) or eaten yourself if you want a bit of extra calcium in your diet. (Or like me... buy instant fish broth and you don't have any left over sardines. My cats aren't happy about that.)

I do buy my cats their own dried sardines though and every day when I leave the house I give two or three to the cats who congregate in the entryway waiting for their treat. I have some students who know where the cat treats are and the CATS know when these students are coming and so they wait at the appointed time for their treats. (The cats get the day and the times right. They don't bother coming to the entryway for the students who don't give them treats.)

Anyway, at the store I found tuna flakes, sardines and crab flakes, half dried fish sticks... Very Japanese looking cat food (I bet the insides are the same). Anyway, a whole arsenal of cat treats for June's kitty. I hope Shizuku-chan doesn't overeat...

Patches and Pinwheels sectioned

I've put my patches and pinwheels into 4 major sections. (I know this looks the same as yesterday. Those are four sections there.) Hopefully today I can make some decisions about the borders.

I know I want to put a border on much like Elaine does but I need to go back and see how she does it... And do I want to machine quilt this now and then add the border, or put the border on now (making my sections bigger still) and then join the borders all the way around later..? Did you get that?

Chip makes a pretty addition to my quilt. Adds a little variety doesn't she.

Patches and Pinwheels

I got to the sewing machine a bit this week. Sometimes I go in my sewing room and think,

"You've got projects up on the wall and in the drawers, you DO NOT want to start something new."

That's true.

Other times I go in the sewing room and think,

"You have WAY TOO MUCH fabric in here! Unless you do something with it you are just being a glutton!"

That's true too.

I have bins of strips so I started sewing those together and slicing them every which way. I think I'm making one of Bonnie's Patches and Pinwheels quilts. And this time I'm going to Quilt-As-You-Go. Many blogger friends sent links and advice about my production of quilt tops with no way to quilt them and QAYG seems like it is a technique I should master.

My blocks are made. These are just laid out on the floor right now. Next I'll put them together into blocks of 5 by 6. And finally I'll try machine quilting those (I have no idea how yet) before putting the blocks together. I suppose I could do it block by block but that seemed like a lot of handwork later on stitching up the back. Sewing into strips might even be a better use of batting... but anyway I'm doing it in chunks this time. Gives me a good reason to make more tops and try different QAYG methods.

I'm still hand quilting. Still making another Alabama Beauty block and a couple spool blocks. Still appliqueing a BOM. I've got my hands full. Tetsu can't understand why I just don't finish one thing before beginning another.

Boo

I don't believe in ghosts. Wait a minute... If it is Biblical then I'll consider it and I suppose spirits are mentioned in the Bible but as long as Jesus is with me I'm not wasting my time worrying about them.

When I was a child I liked reading ghost stories (especially in front of a lit fireplace) but I don't think I ever really believed they were out to "get" me. However MANY of my Japanese friends, from all walks of life and all ages, will worry about evil spirits and curses etc. In a normal, intelligent conversation colleagues or friends will mention the "things that go bump in the night" and how it is proof that the spirits are waiting to catch someone unexpectedly. It is hard to join in the conversations without pooh-poohing my friends' beliefs but I'd prefer not to listen to their half/fears-half/joking.

The sounds made in an empty room are accounted to ghosts. The string of divorces in our neighborhood is blamed on evil spirits. The sickness in a family is caused by the tree spirits getting angry at a felled tree. There are auras and unexplained falling pictures and orbs of light reflected in photos. People wear amulets and throw salt around and TV programs regularly feature mediums and fortune tellers. Weddings and celebrations are planned around lucky days in the calendar. I remember when I was pregnant, a doctor told me I should have some treatment on a certain day because the calendar guaranteed it was fortuitous. THIS is medical advice?! Sometimes it is difficult to tell what is cultural and what is superstition.

I'm rather happy I'm hidden in the shadow of His wings and don't have to worry about ghosts. There are enough things that confuse me already.

Happy Birthday and miscellaneous news

Dilemma. I need to answer comments. My e-mail box is piling up. I need to go visiting blogs. My blog friends will think I've forgotten them. I need to get some sewing done. There hasn't been an interesting quilt picture on my blog in ages. I WANT to write today's post. Let's face it... I like writing.

Do you think blogging is taking over my life? No... No... I guess I'm still getting things done... just not on my planned schedule.

Miscellaneous.

Today my son is 25. Happy Birthday Takumi! I asked him what he wants for his birthday. He said he wanted a coral. A WHAT? What he'd really like is a Nudibranch. That sounds slightly improper to me... A Nudy what?! A Nudibranch. For his aquarium. Ah.. I didn't know he had an aquarium. I didn't know he was even interested in aquariums or Nudibranches or whatever. A complete new side of my son. Oh well. I'm not going to be able to send him coral or Nudibranches from Japan so he'll just have to wait until I get to the States... Maybe someday I can show you what a Nudibranch looks like (think yesterday's caterpillar only in the water.)

Sigh... Though no one really cares (not even in Japan), Japan's prime minister has changed again. Mr. Hatoyama stepped down yesterday. Japanese prime ministers seem to change every few months. Mr. Hatoyama lasted 9 months. I think I heard that in 20 years there have been 14 prime ministers... It's hard to keep up with Japanese politics.

On a happier note. My friend Miku-chan visited with her baby this week! Miku-chan made her first quilt for her baby in March and so Mei-chan (the baby) came visiting wrapped in the sweet hand made quilt. So cuddly!

I have been sewing slightly. I made an Alabama Beauty block hoping that I could get my friends to each make me one for our block exchange but it is WAY too difficult (and no one will piece by machine) so I've "scrapped" that idea.

Instead I'm thinking about spool blocks though I'm not sure how I'll arrange them when they get back to me. I don't think I want a regular spool quilt but these are fun and easy to make.

Found

I found my camera after a couple more hours searching. I found it here. Obviously I've taken the camera out of the camera case to take this picture... I don't recall bringing it into the laundry/bedroom.

But I guess it gives me a chance to show an old, Bargello quilt. No label again. I made it back when the kids were in elementary school and for awhile it got hung on a wall. Later I made another larger, more complicated Bargello quilt and this one got put away. A few years ago it got relegated to a back room and is used to hide old videos on a shelf...

I read somewhere that one should take a picture of your e-mail address and keep it IN your camera so that in case it is lost and some nice honest person should find it, they will probably look at the pictures at some point and will come across the e-mail address. It seems like a good idea but rather slim and doesn't help when the camera owner loses the camera in the laundry/bedroom but anyway I've taken my picture and will leave it in the camera.

And HERE is the caterpillar!

Lost

I cannot find my camera. It hasn't been missing long... Where could it be? I know that the last picture I took was of a caterpillar on Sunday. It is Tuesday morning now. Nothing going on to take pictures of yesterday and so this morning I was going to hook up my camera to the computer to post the caterpillar picture. But no camera.

It is supposed to be hanging over the computer. Not here. It often resides in my purse. Nope. Did I take it out of my purse after the caterpillar photo? Yes... I'm pretty sure I did. I think I even took in on my morning walk yesterday hoping to take other caterpillar pictures. But I couldn't find any caterpillar's. So.... Did I leave it in my sweatshirt pocket and wash the sweatshirt? No residue of it in the washing machine nor in the closet.

Hmmm. Did the cats take it? They get blamed for a lot around here and I KNOW they steal socks and pincushions. I've looked under tables, chairs and the sofa. No camera. Did I carry it to the sewing room? Can't see anything in there to really know so I've cleared the desk and ironing board thinking it might have gotten lost under some scraps. Nope.

In the car? Did I take it to crosswalk duty? Not there now! Heaven forbid, did I leave it in the car and it got stolen at the supermarket? I don't think so. I don't think I took it out of my purse. I'm pretty sure I locked the car (my new car locks by the remote control button. I find that such a fun toy!) Not IN my crosswalk uniform. I've patted all the pockets.

I didn't go to the pool yesterday and we can't take pictures there anyway. I don't see it in the kitchen but I'm not willing to clean the refrigerator just to make sure... I'm not that out of it yet... I've vacuumed. I've straightened and put away. I've hung out laundry and various articles of clothing that I found lying around. No camera. The house looks pretty good.

My camera lives in a bright orange case. It shouldn't be that hard to spot. I will start panicking tomorrow.

You missed out on a caterpillar.