My Quilt Diary

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.

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!

I had an interesting break from my sewing today. In the early afternoon the doorbell rang and when I went to answer, there stood the owner of the local flower shop with a piece of paper in her hand.

On the paper, written in phonetic Japanese was the word "porikonamu".

The week before Christmas I had taken a little flower to the shop to see if anyone could identify it. I know I had seen it sold in one of the local shops. I took it to two shops in the neighbourhood but both said that it was a weed and their shop had never sold it.

At our former home, a neighbor along our street had this flower bordering their drive and I had been given a cutting for my own yard. When we moved back to our own house, I brought some cuttings and planted them along the edge of the wall. Our "street" had been no more than a dirt path for many years. Our "garden" is really a set-back until the time all the homes are rebuilt and the city can get enough of each property to make a real road large enough for a car to fit. The path is lightly paved but with no drains so becomes a shallow pond each time it rains. The flowers not only soften the wall but soak up the water after a rain.


Although they are considered by some to be a weed, they are low growing and very easy to control. They don't mind the hot summers and die back after a few nights of frost.

Guessing at the name from the Japanese, I was able to find the flower with a few clicks of the computer. (I had looked in all my flower books and nature study books with no luck).