YUCK!

I keep talking about how hot and humid it is in Japan and I'm always happy to see that Julie in Tokyo backs me up. I don't want to just be complaining!

During the summer my family in Southern California will occasionally say,

"Oh, isn't it humid today."

and I'll say,

"You don't know what humid is! Southern California is the desert! Humid is when you go for a walk and can't breathe. Humid is when bread gets moldy in a day. Humid is when the walls turn green!"

Every summer I come back to Japanese humidity and start wiping things down. The walls, the cupboards, ALL the dishes, any shoes in the shoe cupboard, belts, light switches. I'm claiming that the humidity has caused our rice cooker and my digital dictionary to short out. (I don't know if that's really true but they sat here unused for the month and wouldn't work when I got back.)

Mold must grow anywhere but it is most obvious on any wooden or leather surface. And I guess it grows wherever someone has touched something. I tossed a whole closet full of stuff in the garbage last weekend, including nylon sports bags because the handles and pockets were fuzzy! I also grossed out when I was looking through my sewing drawers and found bamboo knitting needles in the same furry state! Those all went in the garbage too!

Yesterday my children's English class had some coloring to do in the workbooks. I brought out the colored pencils.

"Sensei! What is that all over the pencils? I'm not touching those!"

Mold!!! Yuck!!! I got out the alcohol wipes, gave each pencil a scrub, and they were usable again...

Humidity makes mold grow in the darnedest places! YUCK!!!

Quilting variety

I've been quilting which, when I consider how hot and humid it is in Japan right now, seems like a very foolish past time. But I have things that need to get done so I keep an electric fan pointed at me and quilt. I spice up my life by either quilting upstairs... on the sewing machine, or downstairs... with my quilting hoop. I guess that shows that I'm leading a pretty quiet life these days.

Upstairs I have my Hopscotch Butterscotch Quilt from Bonnie Hunter's Adventures with Leaders & Enders book. I enlarged it a bit to make a bed cover for the local Ronald MacDonald House. As usual, the quilting is giving me headaches. I was too much in a hurry to draw simple quilting lines so I threw the quilt on the machine and started making flowers. So far so good. BUT, I should have stitched-in-the ditch first and quilted in the flowers afterwards. Once all my flowers were in I started using a walking foot to stitch-in-the-ditch along the lattice, but that didn't work at all. I don't have much luck with a quilting foot. It seems that the top and bottom pull more and I get folds and wrinkles. I spent one day ripping out all the walking foot work and went back to the free-motion quilting foot.

The free motion foot allows me to direct the quilt freely along the line and I get very few wrinkles, but the stitch gets jagged as I start and stop. And the stitch length isn't very even. A perfect job this isn't, but it is the best I can do. Hopefully I can get the binding on this weekend.

My downstairs project is the Tessellating Cats quilt. Again I was in a hurry to start quilting this and didn't mark any lines before basting. WRONG move! The cats got quilted quickly but I really wanted them to stick out so I've been quilting a grid on the background yellow. (I'm putting in lines as I go.) I don't know if I like the grid or not. Often times a grid just makes it look like I went out and bought pre-quilted fabric! And after all this work! I could have mixed hand and machine quilting and gone for stippling but I wanted to be a purist and keep this project all hand quilted. I'm paying for the decision in the amount of time I'm putting in.

I sure wish it would cool off. (I know... I said that yesterday too.)

This and that

Japan is still hot and muggy. The elementary children have their Sports Day this coming Saturday and so everyday they come to school carrying frozen plastic bottles of water to drink while they are out on the playground practicing their events. Sports Day is one of the biggest events in Japan... I enjoyed it when my children were in kindergarten, it was a duty when they went to elementary school, I disliked having to go when they were in jr. high and I still avoid the community Sports Day events. Call me a spoiled sport. I've never been too much into exercise and games.

This morning the poor school principal admitted to being exhausted with all the practices going on in the heat. And he was at the school over the weekend cutting grass and weeds in the adjoining empty lots so that parents' cars will have a place to park on the big day. He said that he also had to attend PTA meetings in the evening all last week for parents' Sports Day support committees. I assured him that since I'm being paid to be the crosswalk guard in front of the school that he really didn't need to feel obligated to stand out there with me from 7:30 every morning. It seems to me that being a school principal in Japan is a more time consuming job than being one in the States.

*******

We got a call early Friday morning from Tetsu's mother's neighbor alerting us to the fact that Tetsu's mother was feeling poorly and needed Tetsu to come. Tetsu rushed over and took his mother to the hospital and after a few hours of waiting (and Mother's blood pressure going higher and higher because she was so annoyed) and a few hours of IV, finally she was admitted to the hospital. Nothing really wrong, but she is 88 and it is very hot and she lives alone and gets upset easily.

I went to the hospital Friday evening but Tetsu's mother was in grand spirits and feeling very happy about being in such a nice cool place with very good food and friendly nurses. Since then we've gone daily and since she isn't getting any treatment, the hospital says she's ready to go home. BUT Tetsu's mother says going home on the fourth day of being hospitalized is bad luck (Japanese dislike the number four) so she is planning to stay in the hospital until tomorrow... the fifth day.

Japan would sure welcome some cool weather!

A day's drive

Yesterday, Tetsu and I went out with our new car and our new GPS and enjoyed the day. The new car is great! The new GPS... well, I'm not sure it solved the problem of getting lost but we got lost LESS than usual.

First stop at 7:00 for breakfast. At a Beef Bowl place that has a breakfast menu. How would you like to join us for rice, pickles, grilled salmon, miso soup and a dish of simmered beef? (Except for the meat, this is a pretty traditional Japanese breakfast.)

Thus fortified, off we went with the GPS directing us to roads we had no intention of using. But we made it to Nasu, the resort area where we sometimes visit. Nasu is in a lovely mountain area trying to retain it's natural look while drawing tourists to its many hot springs, Bed and Breakfast places, shops and places of interest. 7/Eleven and other chain restaurants and convenience stores are there but they try to tame down their neon lights and blend into the scenery (not very well). I thought the 7/Eleven sign, usually in orange and green, was interesting all in "Woody Brown".

Tetsu had four places picked out for us to explore yesterday. NOW we want the GPS to direct us! Unfortunately Tetsu had gotten the name of the first place wrong so we bypassed the first GPS directed area and went looking for the second.

The second area we wanted to go to was a newly built nature park complete with guides and nature trails traversing the mountains. Unfortunately it was so newly built that our GPS didn't have it registered or something. Anyway, the park never showed up on the screen so we were left with asking people on the streets...

On the way to the park, we stumbled on to the third place we wanted to go anyway, so Tetsu got to cross that one off his list. The area we were in was famous for it's sulfur hot springs and sure enough the air had a distinct rotten egg smell to it that is not unpleasant when you know it is due to the sulfur and not to something you've left too long in the refrigerator. The ground was dry and rocky but in the distance there seemed to be pink "flowers blooming". WRONG! Those aren't flowers!

A whole multitude of stone statues all adorned with crocheted bibs and frilly hats! The newer attire was still a bright red but the older attire had faded to different shades of pink. Interesting! I could only wonder what women's group spends years and years crocheting outfits for the stone statues in such abundance.

(Actually, stone statues often have sewn bibs or capes but I assumed one devoted person would yearly make a new outfit. I've never seen so many fancily dressed stone statues at one time!)

I don't know why there were coins on the statues' heads. Maybe a fairground like attraction like

"Throw a coin and if it lands on a head you win a prize."

The prize being good luck? It was interesting to see how the sulfur air had tarnished and eroded the older coins...

Not using our GPS we stumbled upon the first destination Tetsu had sought and he could cross that off his list too. This was a suspension bridge that led to more trails. Tetsu does not like heights so we got off of the bridge as soon as possible.

We found the nature park without any help from the GPS either and did a bit of hiking. My knee works just like I never had any problems, praise the Lord!

And the last place Tetsu wanted to go to was a hot spring that has a 1300 year history. Here again, the air had the sulfur smell and even the river was hot and white and murky. Tetsu and I parted at the entrance and went into the men/women's sections accordingly.

Hot, dark, pungent aroma. This isn't like any hot spring I've ever been to before! Women sitting around the 5 or 6 different wooden baths with towels on their heads. Occasionally someone would lower themselves into one of the tubs. With no one to ask about bathing procedures I fumbled with the darkly stained hand written Japanese signs in the shadows.

"Do not lie down as noxious gases may have settled"

"Bathe before getting into the tubs" (That's a normal sign.)

"Do not use soap or shampoo when bathing" (Well, that's conflicting instruction!)

"Soak in tub for 2 or 3 minutes, then rest outside of tub for 5 minutes. Repeat as needed. Too much soaking may result in health issues" (And this is supposed to be good for you?"

I pretended to bathe (without soap or shampoo) and chose a white steaming pool to lower myself into. "

Wow! Hot! Okay, I'm done!" but since I'd barely got there I again pretended like I knew what I was doing and gave myself 10 minutes to sit around the tub before I could get dressed and leave without looking like a complete hot spring amateur!

When Tetsu met me back outside 30 minutes later he was in seventh heaven.

"That was absolutely the best hot spring I have ever been to! You really can FEEL like that hot water is steaming a person back to health."

(Sometimes I don't understand my husband even when I understand the words he's saying.)

"Have you ever been in such hot water before? The sign said that one of the tubs was 48 degrees!" (That's 118 in Fahrenheit! I'm glad I missed that sign.)

"All the men made sounds of approval every time someone went into the hottest tub. It was like a masculine initiation or something! Who was going to try next? Who was going to able to stay in the longest? I could hear my heart pounding!"

(Tetsu, are you crazy? That's not a health treatment! That's a way to work yourself into a heart attack!)

If we lived any closer Tetsu would want to go everyday. I enjoy the foot bath more... thank you anyway. Who ever heard of having to have instructions for taking a bath!

Basting with Mrs. Ochiai

I'm not getting much done anywhere. Yesterday Mrs. Ochiai came visiting. You should hear her "talk" to my cats.

"Stay away from me! You are looking at me! If you come any closer I'm going to have to kick you away! Just sit there quietly and pretend I'm not here. Stop rubbing up against my bag! What is so interesting about my bag?! Can't you understand that I don't like cats?!"

For some reason the cats LOVE having Mrs. Ochiai visit and they weave in and out of her legs (she has been known to climb up on the sofa) and they jump up on the table causing her to scream and race to another room. I finally put the cat barrier up in the dining room closing Mrs. Ochiai IN and the cats OUT!

The purpose of Mrs. Ochiai's visit was for me to show her my new way of basting... On the dining room table with long boards holding the quilt. Mrs. Ochiai loves new techniques, tools and ideas. She is willing to try anything once and she was very impressed with board basting. No getting down on the floor! No relying on a basting party! Easy on the back and knees and goes quickly! I think I've got a convert to board basting! In about an hour Mrs. Ochiai had her Wicked quilt basted while I entertained cats in the other room and tried to mark my own quilt. (I'm having trouble with that one... Stupid me is trying to mark a background grid AFTER the center part has mostly been quilted. Way too fluffy.)

Here is a picture Mrs. Ochiai took of me showing her the basics of board basting. I really look like a quilting teacher don't I?!

Mrs. Ochiai is a good friend to keep coming back for more cat punishment.

Granola and yogurt

Oh dear... Nothing going on around here today. I need to make granola this afternoon.

I have made granola for the past 5 or 6 years. And about two years ago Tetsu started eating it with me in the mornings (he used to call it horse food. Now he loves it!) There is an odd wholesale place not far from us and I can get raisins, coconut, sesame seeds and a variety of nuts for a good price (at least compared to what I buy at the supermarket). I have to buy in bulk so my bill always makes me gasp but I do realize that I save money by buying at the wholesale warehouse.

But they do not sell oatmeal. I have asked numerous times if they sell oatmeal yet and you would think they might get the hint that they have a potential customer (but I guess one customer isn't too enticing) but nope... Go buy your oatmeal at the grocery store. And grocery store oatmeal comes in small expensive packages.

I finally figured out that I can buy oatmeal through Japan's Amazon and that is what I've been doing for the last year. It works. I still end up paying about $18 for this 10 lb container of oatmeal but again, it is a better price than at the grocery store. (This is my oatmeal still wrapped in shipping plastic.)

I saw this same package at Sam's Club this summer when I went shopping with Marcy. And I THINK the price was about $6! Could that be right? Oh, how I wanted to buy Sam's Club's oatmeal! But I sure wasn't going to waste my precious luggage allotment on oatmeal!

Let's see... What else goes in my granola? Bran flakes (from the supermarket), okara (a soy byproduct from tofu), banana chips, oil and honey sometimes dried cranberries (I brought back a bag from Sam's Club.) I bake my granola up in my tiny oven for about an hour and voila! I have two weeks supply of granola.

I also make my own yogurt on a weekly basis. Someone gave me Caspian yogurt starter years ago and with the addition of milk and left to sit on the counter (no heating!) in a few hours I have yogurt! Tetsu and I have been very careful not to let the yogurt starter die.

Doesn't the above post make me sound homebodyish and organic? Granola and yogurt are about the only things I can make. The kitchen and I are not friends.

Handbag ornament

This is my handbag this year. I found it at a recycle shop last Christmas. It has lots of pockets and though it looks smaller than a tote bag purse, it really holds a lot. And everything doesn't get cluttered at the bottom... it is more of a vertical purse so things tend to stay in one place.

My purse is not what I'm showing you though... Look at the cute ornament that Kaoru-san gave me yesterday. She found someone making leather animal ornaments while she was on vacation and she had one made for each of her friends in English class. A kitty! And even personalized! It makes me smile when I look down and see it hanging on my bag.

Thank you Kaoru-san!

Cat report

How about a cat report?

6 cats. All are healthy and lived through the summer in Tetsu's care. (Tetsu was not thrilled with how he spent his summer caring for cats.) Toi and Patora lived the whole month in the cat house. This means that they are almost outdoor cats but they don't have free range. Toi is very content being out there with his pal Patora. Patora is not happy being out there and she does not like Toi much either. Neither cat seems so miss the human contact. We brought both cats in during the typhoon (since the wind blows rain into the cat house) but that was a disaster.

The reason it was a disaster was because Toi took one look at Cleo and attacked leaving Cleo shaken and mentally disturbed. Poor kitty! I thought he had been hurt because he cowered and wouldn't let me near him, wouldn't eat, and shrieked and climbed up my arm when I tried to pick him up. But after two days Cleo was back to being loving again. It was just the shock of having Toi back in the house. So Toi will have to stay in the cat house. I don't know what we are going to do when it gets cold.

Velvet is very happy with no Toi around either and he sleeps where he wants and is very cuddly.

Chip rarely leaves my lap or my side. She doesn't like the other cats much but she has to put up with them (because they want to share a lap.)

Mi is the darling of the house! She loves being talked to, being petted, playing with cat toys, being carted around by English children, sleeping on Tetsu's stomach. She finds cute places to sit and wait for a human to come by. (In this clean litter box... "Mom! You forgot the sand!")

Mi loves English classes and will sit smack in the middle of the table or on some child's book (which they are so flattered about) and will purr away.

Unfortunately I've got three or four children who are allergic to cats... Yes, and they still come to English! I warn the parents when a child starts English.

"I've got lots of cats. Does your child have allergies?"

I've even called parents and told them their child really seems miserable with red scratchy eyes but every parent has assured me that the allergies are minor. Some parents send their children with eye drops... And I try to vacuum before every class... but still, with a cat sitting right on the table...

"For heaven's sake! Don't pet it! Your eyes are already red!"

But despite the allergies the English children seem to like Mi watching over them...

"Love is being chosen by a cat."

To swim or not to swim...

Tetsu announced that he is going on a diet. Again. And I know I'd better join him. We just eat too much! And we like to eat out too. Okay, let's cut out sweets, eat more vegetables and brown rice, stop eating out so much... Uh-oh. We haven't been going to the pool (but we do take Choco for a long walk in the mornings.)



For two years Tetsu and I have faithfully gone to the pool. And I didn't even like swimming! But it seemed like it was one of the things we "should" do. But it also meant that when either of us didn't go then we'd feel guilty about it. Actually I was the only one feeling guilty and frowning about when Tetsu missed too many days so I guess it is my fault that going to the pool wasn't such an enjoyable past time. And then there were all the friends that we were involved in doing things with and some boundaries were overstepped making Tetsu feel uncomfortable.



Our yearly pass has expired so we are debating about whether to become members again. Tetsu actually likes just coming home and eating dinner together and lounging around watching TV together. Potato Couch Syndrome! I enjoy the extra two hours nightly sitting in front of the TV quilting. So are we going to cop out and go for sedentary life or are we going to try to stay active and be "fun" people...? While we were going we had convinced ourselves that we were doing good things for our bodies. But you know, with all that lap swimming I never lost a pound in two years. It was very frustrating!



We are still talking this out. Is it more important to try to stay healthy by going to the pool regularly or is it more important to spend quiet evenings together instead of chatting with all the other people in the pool until 9:00 pm and then squeezing in dinner afterwards?



Tetsu is veering towards no pool. Rats. I just bought a new swim suit in the States. But the way I look right now I'm sort of glad I don't have to wear it in front of anyone.



A vicious circle!!!

An extension table

On Friday I did some machine quilting, but by the end of the day I really had a headache. I think the problem is that I wrestle with the quilt so much (and try to put in too many hours) that I get all tensed up. Oh, if only I had a sewing machine extension table! All my quilting woes would fly out the window! At least that's my excuse.



Yesterday Japan was in the midst of a typhoon and so our plans to go out for a drive were thwarted.



"Tetsu, I'd really like a quilting extension table. Can you make me one?"



I had researched this a bit. When I went to the Long Beach Quilt Festival I had considered purchasing one (but I didn't remember my sewing machine's number). Back in Japan I had considered trying to make my own "table" using Styrofoam. I looked at ready made table tops and wondered if they could be jigsaw cut to my sewing machine. Brenda Lou had offered to check into purchasing and shipping for me. But here I have a wonky carpenter (it's the wonky that scares me) right in my own house and surely he would be willing to make something for me if I promised him a good dinner.



Dodging the rain, Tetsu and I went to a home improvement center and spent HOURS considering the possibilities... and all afternoon Tetsu worked on a table for me.



Tetsu doesn't work with much else than a rusty hand saw, a hand screwdriver and my Omnigrid sewing ruler, so he screwed boards together and hand sawed the sewing machine shape to fit in an inset. (And has the blisters to show for his work!)



The table my sewing machine usually sits on is a bit lower than the drawer area next to it, so Tetsu cut different length "legs". The new table now bumps up against my cutting table making a huge extension for behind the quilt.



I'd say that this is one of Tetsu's more successful projects! I'm contemplating putting a plastic sheet over the board area to make for better slippage... but my trial sewing last night proves that that might be unnecessary. The quilt moves around easily! And now I can use the Quilt Halo that I bought at Sharon Schamber's booth too. (It didn't work with my original slanted sewing machine bed.) My sewing machine quilting extension table is just wonderful!!!



No more excuses for lack of quilting control! What should I cook for Tetsu's "good" dinner tonight?

Anne of Green Gable's Redwork

Thank you for reading through that LONG post yesterday. 2011 will always remain in my mind as The Year of Mrs. Furui's Quilt. By the way, the last patchwork picture of the party was made by Mrs. Ochiai. She is our photo wizard around here. For the previous blog post, she put together the collage of all the bazaar quilts and some of the pictures she had to work with were taken of quilts draped across railings and being held up by people! To get flat pictures of all the quilts is due to her skill with Photo Shop Elements.



So Thursday was our birthday party day and we didn't ever get to any patchwork. Still, before Mrs. Furui knew that the day was going to be different, she showed a couple of us the red work quilt she and a group of hospital volunteers have been working on.



Years and years ago (like 15 or more) Mrs. Okutomi sent Mrs. Furui an Anne of Green Gables red work kit. Mrs. Furui kept it intact for all these years and when she started volunteering at a local hospital she decided to head a group and make things for the hallways and hospital walls. She pulled out the red work kit and asked her new friends (none of them had done stitchery before) to embroider blocks. A few of her old friends (me!) got involved with a block or two too, and then she needed to decide what to do next.



The pink/red fabric bought after the earthquake got made into stars and the backing (Anne of Green Gables backing!) was sent by Lorraine's daughter-in-law. The quilting was hand-done by Mrs. Furui of course. An absolutely beautiful quilt! I think it will be put up in the pediatric's ward this week.

Mrs. Furui!

At the end of last year, Mrs. Harada pulled me aside and whispered,



"Mrs. Furui is going to turn 60 next summer. I think we should make a quilt for her. Would you help me arrange something?"



Nice idea, but Mrs. Harada lives a few hours away. And WHAT kind of quilt could we make for a woman who makes exquisite quilts herself?! (But who is so generous she only has two or three of her own. Mrs. Furui gives away all her quilts.)



Mrs. Harada promised to lead the workforce if I would think up a quilt we could make Mrs. Furui.



For the past couple of years, every time our group made a new bazaar quilt I would think that we really should have made one extra block to save as a remembering block. By now we would have had 17 blocks and the beginning of a bazaar history quilt. But we didn't do that and anyway, the only people who have participated in all the bazaar quilts are Mrs. Furui and me...



Well, that's an idea. How about making Mrs. Furui a quilt with all the blocks from 17 years of our bazaar quilts? But that first block was nearly 20 years ago! And all those ideas and blocks came from my books and Mrs. Furui's books, library books and magazines and in recent years from the Internet and other quilter's blogs. It would be IMPOSSIBLE to get all those patterns again!



Still, one Thursday at Mrs. Furui's house I was thumbing through her bookshelf and found one of the original patterns. Ah, and here's another one. And I have one in a book on MY bookshelf. That makes three. Mrs. Furui probably still has last year's bazaar quilt pattern...



Mrs. Furui, do you have the pattern from that quilt we made last year? Or even before that?"



"I think so. Let me check."



And Mrs. Furui pulled a box out of her closet.



"Is it this one you want? Here are the cardboard templates and the pattern." (And the left over fabric!)



"Yes, that's the one! Can I borrow your pattern? I might want to teach this pattern to the two ladies who come to my house for patchwork. (True, I teach two ladies, fib that I wanted to use the pattern with them.)



"Mrs. Furui. What all do you have in that box?"



"Oh, these are all the patterns from our bazaar quilts. I saved all of the templates too and they are all in here in separate Ziploc bags."



GASP! A treasure chest right in front of me! Mrs. Ochiai's eyes and mine met in a glimmer of clandestine delight.



"If you're not going to use those for awhile may I just borrow the whole box and let my students look at the patterns themselves? It might give them some inspiration."



YES! And I have just saved myself hours of detective work!



So work began on a composite bazaar quilt for Mrs. Furui. I took the box of templates and patterns home, made a list of the ladies we would ask to help, divided the patterns according to difficulty and made little kits to dole out. Some patterns needed background fabric which I cut up and included. Some patterns used button hole applique, I included paper. Some ladies don't really have fabric themselves (the kindergarten principal) so I added some of my own scraps. In the end I had 17 packets to go out.



Mrs. Yamaguchi's house was designated the new hub of all this activity (she lives a few blocks from Mrs. Furui.) A few of the ladies needed instruction and patchwork classes were held at Mrs. Yamaguchi's with Mrs. Harada coming the long way in to teach. Lorraine was approached about participating from afar and she just happened to be planning a trip to Japan anyway.



And then we had the earthquake. (Lorraine worked on her block at my house while we experienced aftershocks.) And then we spent a couple of weeks housebound. And when things calmed down a bit I invited Mrs. Furui to accompany me on a trip to a fabric shop where we splurged and began feeling like life would go back to normal.



At the fabric shop Mrs. Furui was specifically looking for some pink/red fabric for an Anne of Green Gables quilt she was making. (I'll show you that tomorrow.) And she found some! But actually Mrs. Furui is not much of a pink/red fabric type of person. She likes blues and light grays. So her eyes REALLY went to same fabric in blue/gray.



"Oh, I like this color better. But I need the pink/red to show off the red work we are doing. I guess I'll buy the pink/red."



Ah hah! You know who snatched that bolt of blue/gray fabric right then and there! And though I had no idea of how much we were going to need (none of our blocks were back yet) I decided to buy all the remaining fabric on the bolt...



"I think I can use this fabric in one of my projects too, I'll just go ahead and buy it just in case."



Mrs. Furui pondered whether she'd like some of the blue/gray in her stash.



"Sorry, Mrs. Furui, I really think I need all of it. If there is any left over I'll give you some scraps."



And I got ALL the fabric!



Finally sometime in May the blocks were all back. Mrs. Ochiai and I scheduled a day to put the quilt together.



"Aaggh!!! It's Mrs. Furui who always does our computing and making a layout plan for our quilts! Why can't we do this?!"



We made so many mistakes and re-cut so many times that I was beginning to worry about having enough fabric! And the blue/gray was a one-way pattern so that took a lot of measuring and computing. And for awhile Mrs. Ochiai was working with a centimeter ruler while I was working with an inch ruler and if that doesn't confuse the situation, nothing will! We finally had a flimsy!



On another Thursday the plan was to meet as usual and then have people fade away and go over to Mrs. Yamaguchi's house to sandwich the quilt. Hopefully Mrs. Furui wouldn't notice that her friends were all extra busy that day and had to leave early. Let me say clearly, Mrs. Ochiai and I are great fibbers, but sweet Mrs. Harada is a terrible liar and we all cringed when she explained why she had to leave early.



"I need to stop at 7/Eleven." WHAT!?



And before we all faded away we realized the backing needed to be sewn... On Mrs. Furui's sewing machine in her dining room. With Mrs. Furui a few steps away in another room conducting a basting party... I pleaded knee problems (this was even before my knee surgery) and stayed in the dining room sewing the backing while the other ladies guarded the door and prevented Mrs. Furui from making a sudden entrance. Actually, for the past 6 months, every time Mrs. Furui stepped out of the room to help someone with finding a book or a pattern or extra fabric, the rest of us would buzz with updates on the quilt's progress!



Over the summer the quilt was quilted and bound. A label was made. And yesterday was the big day for the party. Mrs. Furui didn't suspect a thing.



Mrs. Harada arrived at Mrs. Furui's first all dressed up for a "special day." I got there next and chatted about my summer. Mrs. Sato and Mrs. Takami came next...



"My, you're early!"



Mrs. Yamaguchi, Mrs. Takahira, Mrs. Takagishi, Mariko-sensei (the kindergarten principal).



"Mariko-sensei? What are you doing here? What's going on?"



We couldn't keep it a secret any longer. People started pulling out food for our pot luck party.



"We're holding a birthday party for you Mrs. Furui! Smile!" And the cameras started flashing.



Mrs. Ochiai got there just in time as did Mrs. Okutumi who made it for the quilt presentation!



We are so proud of ourselves! Proud of our quilt, proud of our ability to keep a secret. And we are so pleased and proud to be considered friends of Mrs. Furui! Our inspiration, our mentor, the person we all run to when we need help, advice, or sympathy... even outside the realm of patchwork.



Thank you Furui-san! We love you lots and lots and lots!

Patchwork group

A little of my patchwork group's history today.



Although I dabbled in patchwork on my own for a few years after coming to Japan, it was only after Takumi joined kindergarten that a group of us mothers started a patchwork group. Our children were three years old... Mrs. Furui had just come back from Germany. Mrs Okutomi had her twins in the kindergarten too. The three of us decided to use a patchwork book that I had and try translating it into Japanese. It started out as an English class!



But it soon became apparent that we were all more interested in the patchwork than the English and every week after we'd dropped our children off at the kindergarten we'd gather to do patchwork. A few other mothers joined us and there were 6 or 7 of us gathering weekly.



I think it was I who had the bright idea that we could raffle off a quilt as a fund raising effort for the kindergarten bazaar using machine piecing (from the book we had been trying to translate) and Mrs. Furui and Mrs. Okutomi and I tried teaching a class on machine piecing open to any kindergarten mother. We chose a basket block (oh how naive we were!) and enthusiastic mothers either came to the class or wanted the print-out so that they could participate in the first bazaar quilt.



Well, lots of different sized blocks came back. Our headaches began. And the quilting was even worse! Knots all over the back of the quilt, a huge difference in the quality of stitching. But we went ahead and raffled off the quilt being extremely embarrassed about the finished product. NEVER AGAIN!!! What a disaster!



A couple of years went by and the patchwork members shifted and changed. Babies were born (Leiya and Mrs. Furui's Yu-kun) Mrs. Okutomi moved away, I moved to Nikko but still came for patchwork Thursdays now at Mrs. Furui's house. Mrs. Ochiai joined and Mrs. Harada, and we could see how we'd gotten better and could also control the quality of our work by limiting participation to regular members (no fees). We decided to try another kindergarten bazaar raffle quilt.



The second quilt was such a success that our group has now made a bazaar raffle quilt every year for the past 16 years. Other ladies come and go... Mrs. Yamaguchi is a regular now, as is Mrs. Takagishi. A few ladies regularly make blocks for us or do quilting but since they work they don't come to the patchwork days. Mrs. Harada moved away, but she still makes the long trip to attend once a month (once a month became more feasible than weekly). Mrs. Okutomi moved closer and she attends when she can. Lorraine became an honorary member a few years ago and she participates from Australia!





Mrs. Furui and I are the original two (and Mrs. Okutomi who was away for a few years). Nearly 20 years of meeting together and sewing for ourselves, for volunteer projects and for the kindergarten.



(From left: Lorraine, me, Mrs. Harada, Mrs. Furui, Mrs. Yamaguchi, Mrs. Takagishi, Mrs. Okutomi, Mrs. Ochiai, Lorraine's daughter-in-law Mariko-san.)



And I have more to this story tomorrow...