My Quilt Diary

When most of the church family knows you can make things, beware!

Last Monday a request came ... one family is leaving and will be at church next week for a sayonara blessing... could I make them a gift to thank them for their service.

Well, if I do make something, it will have to be finished by this Monday morning so I can leave it off when I go to pick up food items for the homeless mission.  Oh, I hate deadlines! Going to the end of the wire is just not my thing ... so I put down all I had been working on and hunted up some fabric that might work.


This family has been active in leading a program called "Saturday Night Out" or "SNO"

The first Saturday evening of each month, people gathered for fun and games, a nice meal, and while the kids had some entertainment, the adults had a video in a bible topic and a discussion.

I think  I attended every gathering from the beginning and enjoyed  the variety of food, the games, and getting to know members I don't often see when I am engaged in choir activities.

I picked out some night sky and stars for the border. The SNO letters got some red embroidery to help them stand out and the little letters cut from an alphabet print  got a gold outline on the family name and red on the rest.
The pink heart says "LOVE" in quilting and the long green says "and THANKS", with TUC in the left corner square.

I figured they could use this as a wall hanging or a table runner or toss it over the back of a chair.
Anyway, the expectations have been met and I didn't have to stay up past midnight to finish. I am wondering if, when we start back to gathering, this activity will be continued by someone else. This morning it was left in the postbox at the church.

Last Friday was my virtual Cub Pack meeting, We started with a game using a pencil, a meter of string, a paper clip, a scout cap, and a bottle with a narrow neck. The game was to put the pencil on one end of the string and clip the string to the cap brim, then stand and try to put the pencil into the bottle without using hands. Fastest and most successful was the only girl and it was fun to cheer them on.  As usual there was a lot of coaching once a system was discovered. When it comes to teamwork, my group is stronger then with competition.
Plans were made for a junk art challenge and a game that will meet advancement requirements. for the next meeting.
Another expectation checked off the list.

In less than an hour, I will be out the door and on my way to the train station.
The sky is bright blue and the sun is just getting up.
The wind is playing among the leaves in the maple outside my window.

I am smiling ... because ... at ten I will meet my friend, Carin, and we will "do" the Yokohama quilt show together. Being pretty much a loner, group viewing has often been rather frustrating to me ... keeping up with the group, adjusting to group schedules, and the like but there is one thing about viewing a show with Queenie, both of us see so much more! Our pace is much the same (and she is easy to find in a crowd).

My Friday sewing group will be there too and we will be meeting with Ueno-san who we met last year. It is going to be a fun day and I hope I will have a few pictures to flash on a post.

This is what will be waiting when I return.

I finished the little genkan runner.

Even my husband noticed the change.
This is our small entryway. To the right is the front door, a floor space for taking off shoes, an umbrella stand below the post box, and a small coat cupboard.

The space under the runner is a "geta bako" or cupboard for storing shoes (so there is space to get in the door).

For a very tiny space, I am happy we could plan this area for the best use. The space to my back has stairs going up and the area underneath is also storage space.

The window has levers and can be left open even in the rain. My #4 daughter made the hanging owl planter
and a few other owls keep watch ...helped by a few other critters. The horse will move to make way for a sheep next January.

This is the scrappy runner.

I started to quilt it on the diagonal through the centers of the blocks. Half way I decided I didn't like it and it stalled to a UFO pile. Finally, when the rainbow quilt was assembled, I needed another take-along project. I decided to take out all the quilting and start over.

Now the pieced blocks are in-the-ditch ... much better. I began to quilt tulips into the three-inch blocks but some were a waste of time because they didn't even show. Then I noticed the fall runner on my coffee table has three inch blocks and only every-other one is quilted with a leaf design, So,,, I decided to leave some of those blocks in-quilted, bind the edges, and say "Done"!

So ... now I'm off! Three guesses what will be in the next post... and the first two don't count!

Norie and Leia came Friday evening with the promise we would put the Halloween cookie cutters to use.

We spent some fun quality time together, and even though we got a bit behind the day, there were plenty of fancy painted cookies to go around.

At Christmas last year, less than a year ago, Leia was hardly able to part with any of the cookies we made. BUT, this time she was not only ready to share, she picked out some of the favorites for me to share with the choir on Sunday and her "Jiji" to take to his Homeless Ministry meeting. When I set them out on the counter Sunday morning, there were many phone-cameras recording the results ... and I think some even made it to facebook.

As I have been going through "saved stuff" I pulled out the costume box and things that had not seen the light of day for decades, got a good workout. Clowns, Indians, witches, magicians, pioneers, ... I can't even remember what all these were used for.

Leia found one dress at the very bottom of the trunk that matched one I had made for the doll she loves to play with.

This could have been made for her mom or aunt back when there was a big celebration in New Jersey for the Bi-centennial.

There is still a bit of that fabric hanging around the stash box and Leia was able to find some scraps in the quilt I have been working on.

Friday evening, I managed to sew the last few blocks together and now I can sing a rainbow.

I wanted to take a picture to show my Grandson, Ben, but it was raining all day Saturday so no chance.

Sunday I took it to church and put it out on the floor of the fellowship hall for a picture.

It still needs a border and it is already too big for my tiny futon.
I have been thinking that it will make a good "Big Boy" quilt for my Grandson, Ben. He had requested purple and lime-green but though I have been collecting fabric for over a year, I still am far from having enough ... and much is on the pink and flowered side of purple, not too boyish.  I thought if I could add a purple batik border, it might be something he would enjoy. Of course, I can use it and really love how it is turning out and I didn't want to make Ben change his idea of what he wanted. After seeing the picture, He said yes, he liked it!

I stopped at Yuzawaya fabric department on my way home Sunday but they had no batiks at all and very little purple.

Friday I will be going to the Yokohama quilt show and perhaps there I will be able to find something good at one of the shops there.

If you could see Ben's sunny smiling face, you would know a rainbow is perfect for him.
You can't have a rainbow without sun and that smile lights up my world.

I was glad I added the sashing when I began putting these blocks together. It made the whole process a lot easier.It should be easy to quilt in the ditch ... maybe over the winter, keeping my lap warm.

A five or six inch border should hold it all together. I wonder if it needs a narrow white inner border as well... hmmm.

Meanwhile I am quilting a small runner for the "geta bako" (shoe cabinet) in our entryway. I had been quilting the pieced blocks on the diagonal and the more I did, the less I liked the results. Yesterday I un-did all those quilting stitches and began quilting in the ditch. Much better!

I hope you all had a happy Halloween too. Wish I could share some cookies with my blogging friends.

At the start of 2012 I chose "Priorities" as my focus word.

I have to admit it was a good choice and helped me through many decisions I had to make as to use of time and talents and resources.

Those who really know me, know how I hate doing anything at the last minute. I can do "plan A","plan B", and even plans C, and D, but all need to have some end in sight.

I guess that is one of the reasons I really have no UFOs. I do have something like my blue runner waiting in the wings and I do have some ideas in my sketchbook to try out. (actually quite a few things I would like to try after seeing them on other blogs)

The Woman's Conference is the last weekend in January so the gift for the speaker is finished.

The kanji reading top to bottom, right to left, is Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. I sorted through my fabric bits to find two inch blocks that represent those seasons. The outlines of the kanji are quilted with glittery thread. (I always say, when that spool is gone, I am not getting more ... it is so hard to use)!

The lettering is quilted in light blue. Those letters are just 2cm. high and I had to split the verse to fit it all in without too much crowding.

Can you read it? I didn't want it too bright.








I will add a sleeve in case the speaker wishes to use it as a wall hanging. Since our house is short of wall space, I tend to make table runners rather than hangings.


The finished size is just over 22 x 34 inches if I count the binding.

When I took it out in the sun for a photo, I saw there is a lot of dog hair yet to be removed.


And while I am finishing up the year, I am enjoying the lovely songs of our newest family member.

"Piper" is a pied canary and was a Christmas gift from my husband.

My daughter thought it a rather poor name as the pied piper lured away the children in the tale. Well, he also lured the rats and I am a rat-year person and I probably would have followed along with the children.
Then, since I play the bagpipes, I am a piper too.

What a wonderful way to end and begin a year with song!
Warmest wishes to you all in the coming year.