Stained glass and quilt exhibition

Yesterday morning, Tetsu took me off on a surprise date to the culture center in the next town... To see a quilt and stained glass exhibition! Just beautiful! And very inspiring!

I took lots of pictures which are self explanatory... I did ask one of the ladies standing around which had been made first, the quilts or the stained glass. She informed me that there is a group that does stained glass work and then they lent the stained glass patterns to a quilting group that specializes in stained glass quilting. And for the first time the two groups collaborated to have a stained glass quilt show.

I hope you'll enjoy the pictures!


































Now... Who wants to make a stained glass quilt?

Dinner

Last night Tetsu text messaged me saying that he would be late (as usual).　And I e-mailed him back saying that I was in the midst of a battle with ingredients in the kitchen. Battle it was!

The first problem has been that since spring is upon us, many friends are giving me the fruits of their fields or forests. I don't want to seem ungrateful (but I guess I am) but a lot of the stuff given to me I don't know what to do with. Let's see... on our morning walk the leek farmers gave me a HUGE bundle of leeks (nira) that I've been slowing going through... How many leeks does one use in stir fry dishes or decorating noodles? Not a lot. My leeks are beginning to get pungent meaning I have to use them up soon. What to do?

And then a couple of days ago a pool friend called us and asked us to stop over because he had some bamboo shoots for us. Bamboo shoots are about the size of a boot by the way. Three shoots and we could hardly lug them to the car! (Our friend has a bamboo grove). The other problem with bamboo shoots is that I don't own a pot large enough to cook them in. They need to be peeled and then simmered with rice husks, then cooled in the pot and THEN flavored and cooked. This is a lot of work!!!

Our pool friend also gave us tree sprouts that he had collected in his forest. Two large bags full of two different types of trees. Each sprout about a foot long! Now what am I supposed to do with those? "Make tempura" was the suggestion but how much tempura do two people eat?

Our pool friend is very generous. He also gave us a bag of green onion shallots, "eat them raw with bean paste" and spicy radishes, "try miso soup" and Japanese pepper sprouts (these will knock your sinuses out!)

So I had all these vegetables in my kitchen and I needed to get them used up. And then my neighbor came to the door carrying two HUGE trout that HER neighbor had given to her from a husband's fishing trip.

Tetsu and I are not particularly fish eaters. I like fish but don't know how to cook it. Tetsu doesn't much like fish except for sashimi. But these fish gave up their lives to be eaten so I guess we'd better eat them.

Oh my gosh! These things are big! And slimy! And I've got to clean them?!

"I can do all things through Him who strengthens me..."

(I actually thought this when I picked up my knife and laid the first fish on the cutting board.)

Hack, hack, saw, saw, stab, stab, ask for more strength.

I congratulated myself on getting fish heads off and entrails out. I KNOW Tetsu could never do this! Lord, I have come a long way to be able to wrestle with two fish as long as my forearm...

Of course, cooking is the next problem. Flop that fish tail right over edge of the frying pan and cook well. (I can think of nothing more disgusting than half cooked trout.)

By the time I sat down to a dinner of fried trout, bamboo shoots cooked three different ways, tempura, miso soup, leek omelet and rice, it was after 9:00 and I was too exhausted to consider how anything tasted.

I ate half of a trout and gave the other half to the cats. They thought it a wonderful meal.

And this morning I see evidence that Tetsu poked at his trout a bit. He complimented me about my fish cleaning. As suspected, he said he wouldn't have done it! The cats will probably get another trout meal tonight.

I'd really appreciate a fancy french dinner at a restaurant myself... No fish please.

Shiisa

I have never been to Japan's southernmost island, Okinawa. Early in our marriage, Tetsu was invited to his Okinawan college friend's wedding and we considered going together. But Tetsu was out of work, we had a new baby, it didn't seem like a time to be vacationing. And besides, Tetsu and all his old college buddies would be together and he would have more fun without being encumbered by a foreign wife and new baby. Tetsu went alone (and had a great time) and I consoled myself that I'd get another chance someday...

That chance has never come. We've never again had any great desire to visit Okinawa and if I have any extra time (and money!) I chose to visit the States and my family. I have a feeling I'll never get to Okinawa.

Sometimes I see Okinawa scenery on the TV and have admired the Shiisa, lion-dogs that sit on the roofs of the houses warding off evil. They perch up there watching the world and guarding the inhabitants of the houses. Not that I WANT a Shiisa... just that the house looks Okinawan with a Shiisa sitting up there.


The other day when coming back from an errand I found Toi up on the corner of our roof... looking like a miniature dog-lion. Well, he's got the lion-part right... Toi is our only cat that can get out on the roof and he watches the world and "guards" the inhabitants of OUR house.










I may never get to Okinawa but I occasionally have a Shiisa.

(Shiisa picture from the Internet.)

Hodge-podge quilt

Today is Boy's Day when carp kites are flying in the fields and from windows. They are quite expensive so we've never had real carp kites and have to make do with this little wall hanging that I made last year (or the year before?) I had another one that we used for years but it is with Leiya now.

Leiya. Did you put out your carp wall hanging?

*******

So, what have I been doing already this morning? I'm making a hodge-podge quilt of different shaped blocks. I have most of the blocks ready to put together but for the life of me I can't figure out how to do it! I feel dense. I'm sure it shouldn't be too different from wonky block building or even the theory behind paper piecing but no matter how I draw it out I get two small blocks that are going to have to be inset. Can anybody else figure out what I'm doing wrong? I don't want a traditional setting of rows with lattice in between... I'd like the blocks to be sort of scattered...

Each block needs to be surrounded by background fabric and I don't want to cut the background up too much...

Also, because my background fabric is a bit dear (meaning I can't buy anymore... and I've probably got JUST enough) I don't want to experiment too much before cutting.

This is probably the same way people make orphan block quilts... Which I've never done either...

HELP!

Wicked Easy BRIGHT quilt

Yeah! a second donation quilt done. Thank you Jane for all the pretty, bright fabrics!

This is called the Wicked Easy Quilt pattern but there no longer seems to be a link for it. I've had the PDF file saved for a couple years and have made it numerous times usually as a crib quilt version with 6 fabrics but this time with 12 fabrics.






The quilting was done free hand on my domestic machine and I had planned to just make the big flowers in the largest blocks. But they were easy enough that I ended up wanting to do more and get a little variety so there are some quarter flowers in there and some smaller flowers sharing smaller squares too.

I will send this on to Quilt Tsushin (though I want to show my patchwork group first).

I have a question. Am I supposed to add a label to donation/comfort quilts? And if I am, what information is supposed to be on there? Name, date, place made? message? Or is this better left unlabeled since it might end up as a raffle quilt anyway. What do you think?

Cat escape

I am beginning to doubt the number of brain cells in my head. Yesterday Tetsu and I came back from our morning walk with Choco and dang-it-all, if three cats weren't gone again! The window was open!

How can that be? I close that window! I LOCK that window! How did it get open again? I've blamed cat escape twice on earthquake tremors claiming that the shaking of the house unlocks the window but there were no major tremors last night.

"Tetsu, do you think I'm having some senior moment?"

"Um... Honestly? Yep. I don't think that aftershocks unlock the windows. I think you forget to lock it." (He's just been humoring me when I've explained that the aftershocks are to blame.)

But three cats were gone so out we went looking for them.

Mi returns right away at the sound of our voices. So does Cleo. It's Vel who chooses to ignore us. Maybe I'd better start thinking of Vel as an OUTDOOR cat. Tetsu gave up and went back in the house to make coffee. I continued to call for Vel.

"Vel! Here kitty-kitty-kitty-kitty-kitty-kitty-kitty~~~~!"

(Tetsu calls this my Tarzan call. He can't do it.)

And double dang-it-all, if a cat didn't poke its head from the forest. A different cat! I came stamping back into the house.

"I call for Vel and I get extra cats!!!!! They don't even speak English and they come to me!!!!"

(Actually that cat wasn't interested in coming to me, he just wanted to see Tarzan.) Oh well, Vel will be in for a surprise when he meets up with another cat in the forest.

But about half an hour later Vel came slinking back into the yard and I flung the door open, scooped him up and gave him lots of hugs and kisses and baby talk.

"Good Kitty! You came home. Do you want a treat?"

I opened up a can of cat food for him. (My cats usually only get dry food.) Of course all the other cats smelled the canned food.

"Food! Treats! Mom! Mom! Me too!"

"No. This is for Vel. He was lost but came back."

Tetsu whispered in a cat voice,

"Why is it Vel get treats when he is the one who was ignoring you, Mom? Some of us didn't even try to escape and the rest of us came back right when you called. Why is it that Vel is the only one that gets special canned cat food?"

Sort of like the Prodigal Son and Dad's fatted calf feast...

Okay. So ALL of you can have canned cat food. Let's split three cans between the six of you.

(Can you hear cheers from 5 cats?)

Vel is back in his sewing room very contented and with a full tummy.

Prayer quilt thoughts

Okay... I have been thinking about prayer quilts. Last week I made one and my friend Kaoru-san bound it and on Sunday the church members prayed over it and tied the strings. This week the pastor will deliver the quilt to the recipient.

According to the rules of the Prayer and Square organization (to which I am a member), I asked the quilt recipient if I could make a prayer quilt for her. Also according to the rules, I involved the church members in the tying and praying. We have made enough quilts that most everyone understands that each knot represents a prayer. And the third rule of the organization is that no payment may be taken for the quilt. Which seems obvious but more often than not the Japanese custom of returning a gift when given one prevails and inevitably the person or the family will bring in a box of sweets later on to say thank you for the quilt. I can't get that custom to stop.

I can hardly count the number of prayer quilts I have made, but only one has been for a non-Christian. The year before last I made one for Yumetaro-san who passed away last autumn. Of course I asked him if he would accept one and he was pleased that I would pray for him. I didn't get more people involved though. Only Tetsu and I prayed and tied the quilt (but a couple of you blog friends asked me to include your prayers too.)

Despite the fact that we always ask (we, meaning my pastor and I), I have known one person who was upset to get a prayer quilt. In that case, though the husband was ill, the wife was approached and she was grateful to hear that the church would like to present her husband (also a church member) with a prayer quilt. But when he received it he was upset at the church and his wife because he took it to mean that we thought he was a lost case. He has never gotten over that and has not returned to our church. Sigh.

And NOW I hear that the prayer quilt I made last June for Marcy (my sister-in-law), has gotten lost in the shuffle of things and Marcy is upset.

Actually I made the quilt for Marcy's mother, Maxine, after asking Marcy if she would like one. But before it was completed Maxine passed away and I was left with a quilt top... So I decided to give it to Marcy and she was thrilled to get it. But it was still left un-tied (un-prayed over except for the prayers I'd made while making the top). Marcy and I decided to ask the church where they are members, to say prayers over it for Marcy and her family.

That's where I messed up. I mean, I took the quilt to the pastor's office. I talked with the pastor and explained what a prayer quilt was. She (woman pastor) thought this was a wonderful idea and accepted the quilt and said she would ask the elders to pray over it and tie it for me. This conversation took place as we were making preparations for Marcy's mother's funeral. We all prayed together and a few ties were put into the quilt. There was a label on the back (rats, I didn't take a picture of that so I don't remember what I wrote... Something about prayers for Maxine's family.)

And that's where I left it. I came back to Japan. Summer vacation came along. Marcy didn't get back to church to ask about the quilt. I've wondered if it ever got back to the family but found that it hadn't. And finally, when Marcy went for the quilt she found that it was gone! Someone else named Maxine had died so someone in the church thought it was for THAT family (see how prayed over that was... no one knows who they are praying for!) so the quilt was given to them. And when someone realized that it was the wrong family and went to retrieve the quilt, they found that it had been SOLD somewhere and was gone. So I guess prayers for whoever the other Maxine had been weren't too valued either. Or at least not the quilt.

Marcy is upset, mostly at the church. But I shouldn't have passed the quilt on to others to explain and make sure prayers were made and then get the quilt returned. It was MY responsibility. Prayers and Squares is a great ministry but it can get boggled if the person responsible doesn't follow through. And I didn't.

I will make Marcy another prayer quilt. In memory of Maxine. In love for Marcy. And I will pray over it.

Marcy. Don't be mad at the church.