Interior decorating

Yesterday a few blogger visitors asked about the quilt that was behind me in the picture with Chip. I've shown that before but I guess since visitors to my house see it every time they come over at this time of year I can show it on my blog again.

This is a Hawaiian quilt that I finished back in 2006 but it took me four years to make it just because there were so many stops and starts and other projects getting done. I couldn't find the perfect fabric, I didn't really like doing applique, I got very carried away with the quilting. The completed quilt I just love and it gives the room a summery feel.

Just a few weeks ago I started a friend on her own Hawaiian applique block and I realized I'd forgotten that this is fairly advanced needlework (my friend hasn't had too much experience yet.) She may hate me by the time she's finished or the block may get laid away for years like mine did, but it does turn out nicely when all finished and displayed. I hope she sticks with it. (GO KAORU-SAN!)

A few days ago I had some friends come to my house who were first time visitors. I get a little uptight when people first visit me because I have to first find out if they have cat allergies, then find out if they are basically animal lovers or not. If not then my preparation gets detailed. Make sure all the floors and tables are vacuumed and wiped down, the cat boxes are pristine clean and that the house has some nice aromas wafting... Cookies and coffee, or aroma oils. Make sure Choco has had a walk (and is outside!) so that maybe she'll refrain from barking. Even with all this some people are startled by the cats that come and sit in the entryway welcoming people and crawl out from under a chair or sofa. Choco still barks when she hears someone drive in the driveway and I don't know why one of the cats will decide to spring to an unsuspecting visitor's lap when it won't come and sit on mine no matter how much I call it?

Some of the visitors to my house make comments about the quilts up on my wall but as with last week, I'm not sure if I should take their comments as compliments or not.

"Wow, your house is just like an exhibition hall. You could hold a quilt show."

I wonder if this means that my house doesn't have a warm-lived in feel, if to outsiders it looks like I'm just showing off the quilts I make and maybe they feel sorry for my husband who has to live with all the blankets on the walls. I have to admit, I have a lot of quilts displayed.

Let's see... There are two on the entryway walls. One on the living room wall (the Hawaiian). One on the piano. One hiding the dust on the bookshelf. One on the door. Ah, another one hiding more junk in another bookshelf. Yep, and there's a quilt rack holding a good six quilts. There's one quilt on Choco's cage and one on Chip's cage trying to hide the fact that they are cages. There's another on the footstool hiding cat scratches. If you go upstairs there are more along the stairway wall and more in the bedrooms. And of course more in the drawers... I have a lot of quilts and it does seem a shame to just put them away somewhere to be forgotten so they get rotated now and then. Quilting is part of my decor and I'd rather have them around than blank walls and overflowing bookshelves... but for some people it may be a little too much.

How about you? Do you display your quilts in your home and if so how many are out and about for people to enjoy right now?

I guess you could call my interior decorating style "Cats and Quilts (with a dog for accent)".

Muffler

More rain in the afternoon and evenings. All of us stay cozy in the house but nobody gets much exercise.

So...I'm quilting the bazaar quilt. And Chip is helping. She likes to climb up on my shoulder and watch awhile before diving in to catch the thread or just falling asleep. I don't need a muffler at this time of year and probably when it gets cold she'll be too big to sit on my shoulder but I'm flattered to be chosen as an acceptable kitten perch.

Clouds and rain

For the past week we've had rain almost everyday and in the evenings and at night the lightning and thunder have shaken our teeth! I don't mind thunder and lightning but Cleo cowers under the sofa and when the house starts shaking the other cats go running too.

My part of Japan certainly isn't lacking in water! In fact there has been flooding in the next city over and every day the news lets us know when we can expect the next deluge. In June we are in the rainy season and it rains everyday. In August we have lightning storms. Next month it will be typhoons.

Yesterday evening I took Choco for a walk and noticed the beautiful clouds billowing over the hills. Southern California doesn't often get these nimbuses but they are often seen in Japan during this season. I ran back and got the camera but within half an hour the sky had turned dark and the rains had started again. The night was filled with flashes and crashes but at least my neighborhood is none the worse this morning. The rice fields were overflowing onto the roads and into the stream but the temperature has cooled off a bit.

Quilting interference

I'm quietly quilting the bazaar quilt but I've run into a "couple" of problems.

As Tetsu says, cats and kittens sure fit right in with quilts. The minute I sit down to quilt Chip decides that it is a great place to play or take a nap. Play means tangle yourself up in the thread and see if you can catch the needle. Extra points if you can bite the thread in two before getting put back on the floor. Velvet agrees wholeheartedly with quilt and cat decor and between the two of them I am not getting much quilting done. I can't bear to move these two when they claim my quilt as their place of rest!

Radio Exercises

This morning Tetsu and I were just coming back from an early morning walk with Choco when we came across a group of parents and children gathered around a tape recorder.

Oh good! Radio Exercises! I had just been wondering if this custom has gone completely out of style and was thrilled to see that it is alive and well. I raced home to get my camera and joined the group for 5 minutes of health and community unity.

At 6:45 the group had assembled and the father in charge turned on the tape recorder and we all started swinging our arms and bending our knees in rhythm to the music. From the youngest child to the elderly grandpa to even little ol' foreigner me, we all knew what to do! That's how ingrained Radio Exercise is in Japanese culture. The music begins and like Pavlov's dogs we all start our synchronized movements!

Radio Exercise was introduced to Japanese citizens not long after the radio itself became public but it didn't become a national custom until after WW II. To bolster the Japanese morale and bring unity to the people after the war, the Japanese government introduced Radio Exercise as part of their education and health reconstruction program although the US Occupation banned it for a time as being too militaristic.

When I first came to Japan, you could often hear Radio Exercises music wafting from neighbors' houses and people would be standing in front of their houses waving their arms oblivious to anyone else around them. When taping became popular the Radio Exercises were brought into the companies and schools and before work or classes began everyone would line up and do the 5 minute routine together. It is very simple, very non-strenuous, just loosen up the joints a bit, and recently the routine has been adapted so that even the elderly and people confined to wheelchairs can do a similar form of stretching and waving.

When my kids became school age, the school and neighborhood collaborated during summer vacation. The schools gave out little cards while the community leaders arranged for someone to daily lead the children in the exercises every morning. After the exercises the children would get their cards stamped to prove they had joined in the activities and it was a point of pride to see if you could get perfect attendance. My kids were always quite sad that they only got a few stamps on their cards because we were usually in the States during Radio Exercise month.

This morning's neighborhood children finished their exercises and gathered around the mother who stamped all their cards for them. It seems that nowadays the program is only encouraged during this last week of summer vacation and for the past two days it has rained, so today was the first day for any of the kids to have a chance to get their cards stamped. Still, for them to get up by 6:45 at all is pretty good I think!

Well, no one gets very much exercise but Radio Exercise is a custom of Japanese summer!

I got a good laugh over this rough English translation of part of the Radio Exercise routine!

I grow the back enough and make good exercise posture. (We all need to grow our backs!)
［1］ I put up an arm on from the front and stretch myself.
［2］ I bring down an arm from the side.
I repeat these two times of movement.
I clench the hand lightly. (Yeah, that might be misunderstood as militaristic...)
When I put up an arm, I put it up to come beside an ear. (You hang onto that arm... wouldn't want to lose it...)
I put up an arm slowly while absorbing breath. (and absorb all that other stuff in the atmosphere too.)
I do not put up the heel. (Nor the shin nor the elbow nor any other body parts.)
I bring down an arm from the side while vomiting breath. (Let's hope that's all you vomit!)

Bazaar Quilt

Japan has been rainy this past week and we've been relieved from the heat somewhat. Nice for quilting that's for sure! Yes, I am quilting. In the evenings when Tetsu and I were watching the Olympics, I've been quilting the bazaar quilt that my friends and I pieced. Our quilt was making the rounds during the months of June and July and it came to my house this week. I think I'll keep it another week and see how much more I can do. All stitch-in-the-ditch so it is easy non-thinking quilting. This means my Wonky Word Love quilt has been relegated to a corner again but the bazaar quilt needs to be finished by the beginning of October so this takes priority.

And in honor of Chip's christening I made Chocolate Chip cookies yesterday. Too bad she can't enjoy them. Well, the rest of us will!

Chip!

Introducing Chip.


We're thinking of chocolate chips here, not potato chips. Since we have the dog Choco, we hope that by naming the kitty Chip, the two will eventually get along together. And no, please don't even suggest that there might be a Dale in the future...

The first picture was taken the day after she came to us, and the next picture is of Chip settled happily on one of my quilts. I woke her up from a nap.

I found a cage at the recycle shop and Chip is living in there when Choco is out and about the house and then Choco goes into a similar larger cage when we let Chip out of her place of refuge. Sort of like the changing of the guards (and remember I'm locking the front door whenever Choco is out too.) Both cages have quilts over them and I wrap them both in color and love each night.

Velvet and Cleo have accepted Chip's presence but Patora is still not happy. Chip finds the world very exciting and everything is a toy. I admire the way this small animal adapts to its surroundings. No hanging on to loneliness or bitterness or wondering why life is going one way or another. Just jump in and and explore. Lessons to be learned everywhere for both me and Chip.

Woven quilt finished!

Goodness, this poor kitty still hasn't got an official name. That's because we decide on one, tell the kids, use it for the day and say "Aww, that's not right." Why am I always thinking something perfect is just around the corner if I just wait long enough... The picture isn't great but can you see the kitten playing there under my quilt hoop? Makes quilting difficult but she seems very happy.

I finished my Woven background quilt. The weaving was easy, the fusing was easy. Choosing the applique pattern took some time but I finally came across a June 1997 Better Homes and Gardens American Patchwork and Quilting magazine and found the watering can pattern and fused flower directions. With all the fusing in the weaving I thought it was appropriate. There were more variations of flowers in the magazine but I stuck with the one type of flower.

Made flowers one day and fused a couple to the background along with the watering can and leaves. Then got on the sewing machine and quilted. With all that fusing in there the quilt was quite stiff which I'm not sure made it easier or more difficult to quilt but anyway a different feel. I decided I wanted more "fun" than just a zig-zag stitch up and down the curved lines so I started doing squiggles and circles with some variegated thread. My control isn't very good and the stitch size would jump from tiny to long. I really should take a class someday. Still with all the crossing and movement one can't tell too much and it did add some character to the background. I hope it will hold down the edges (that was the purpose in the first place!)


Next tacked the flowers onto the quilt "artistically" and sewed them down with a button in the middle. Raided my button box! I don't know why I had so many red and pink buttons. The tacked on flowers are double sided and they push away from the quilt a bit making it somewhat dimensional.

All in all a fun project that brightens up a corner. If I do this again I'd like to try some dyed background that is more subtle and mysterious like Liz's. She's working on her applique now and I'll give you an update when she gets done. It has been a nice to have a faraway mentor and friend and get to see what Liz can do with the same ideas.

Oh, a couple people wanted to link to Blurb for blog book making so I'm posting it again. It is kind of embarrassing to have my own book in my hands (I haven't even shown it to Tetsu!) but it makes me smile to riffle through it.

Various news

Okay, bit of this and that again.

More animal problems. Choco bit one of my English students. No real damage and she didn't break the skin. The boy's grandmother is my friend and knows Choco so she doesn't hold it against us. There was NO English that day and I'd let Choco inside thinking that we had a free afternoon. The little boy forgot and he came scampering into the house as he usually does (I tell the kids to come on in because I can't be answering the front door each time one arrives.) Choco was sleeping near the sofa and they met head on. The boy was scared, the dog panicked and attacked. Furniture was upturned. I came running out of the other room yelling and rescued the boy and dragged Choco to her cage. The bite did not break the skin but there were teeth marks. The little boy didn't cry but was really scared. I took him home and apologized profusely. I hauled Choco to her kennel outside and left her there for the night with no dinner. I went back yesterday to make sure that the little boy was really all right and apologize again. He was fine yesterday and there weren't any marks left (except in his heart?). I promised him and his family that from now on whenever I let Choco into the house that I will lock the front door. I know I have a dog that doesn't like strangers and I've tried to be very careful to make sure she is either outside or in her cage when the English students are here. I guess I need to be even more careful.

On the good news side of my life my blog book arrived! It is not very big so cost wise it doesn't look like much. If I were buying a book this size, 30 pages, I might pay $10. It cost $30 to make (plus international shipping) but this it is made of heavy paper and the pictures came out very clear. I set the pages with a soft pink flower theme and "handwriting" font so it has a cozy feel. Yes, to have an physical account of one's blog I think it is worth the cost. I think I figure if I make a book 400 pages that the cost will be about $80 so my trial attempt wasn't particularly a thrifty way to go. I should have had more pages in it for the cost. (It is not a dollar per page). So I will be working on making a book of the 2007 blog and we'll see where that leads. No immediate plans to order that though just spend time some making it.

And this week I had a chance to visit with a young foreign student from Germany here going to a high school in the next city over. Seena, is only 16 and will be in Japan all together for a year. I really admire her for coming to a country where no one knows any German and even the English that may be used is a second language for both parties. Also amazed that she's only been studying English for 5 years and yet she is so fluent! Japanese will study English for years and years and not be able to carry on a steady conversation. I ought to go get some German English language curriculum. Someone taught Seena well!


And here is our kitten helping me machine quilt. Getting closer to a name but I want to try it out on my kids before I announce it here. Velvet, our oldest cat has accepted the little one but our Cleo and Patora are still wary. Hey you guys, you all started out the same way in our house!

Woven Backgrounds

I'm back. Thank you for your comments. I really needed that confirming that I've done the right thing and that this is a blessing and not the beginning of an onslaught. I decided to make a conscious effort to get back into the world. Took Choco for a walk, visited with friends. I am enjoying the kitten but still contemplating names. I've given all your suggestions to Tetsu but he doesn't seem to want to play the name game and is leaving it to me.

Hey, the two days of self imposed confinement meant that I sewed. Well, fused. I'm still in the fusing stage. The woven background was a lot of fun to make and very easy. BUT it doesn't really lend itself to traditional quilting nor combining with other types of blocks. It seems to be in a class itself and for people who do applique it makes a very interesting background. Oh dear, I'm hoping Liz won't mind if I post a couple of pictures here.

In July, Liz (Artfilstitch) sent me the book called Woven Quilts. Actually, Liz sent me a whole box of fabric back in June and I had a chance to talk with her for about an hour while I was in the States. Anyway, Liz and I decided to try making a woven quilt simultaneously and see what we could come up with. We decided to do the easiest project in the book and picked out colors and shared our choices by e-mail. I chose the orange and yellow, Liz picked out some lovely blue and green dyed fabric. Then we both stepped in.

When I was done making my background I could only say that I'd certainly never made anything like this before and it was quite beyond my creative sense. My background seemed much more whimsical than the example in the book and Liz said she wasn't quite sure what to do with hers either. I loved her colors and wished I'd gone for more of the variegated feel too. However neither of our backgrounds seemed to go with the rest of the book pattern so from here we've diverged. I'm working on some fun flowers and Liz is working on an intricate fish applique.

My fused flowers are just sitting on there right now and I think Liz is doing her applique this week. I need to sew down the edges of the woven fabrics before attaching the flowers so I will be at the sewing machine today zig-zagging or free-hand stitching.

Summer vacation is almost over so I'd like to get this up on the wall as proof of some productivity this past month! Off to the sewing room I go. Think I'll introduce the kitten to my favorite room.