Some history

Today is the kindergarten bazaar day, the day my patchwork group has been working towards for the past year. Our quilt will be raffled off today and hopefully the winner will be thrilled to go home with a colorful quilt in their arms. So I thought I'd give you a little history.

I first came to quilting when I won a beautiful quilt at a raffle in college. I thought the colors and little pieces so wonderful and I loved the idea that mothers at the college had spent months making it for their raffle.

Years and years later I was starting to make my own quilts, and when Takumi reached kindergarten age I made friends with a couple other ladies who had an interest in English and patchwork. I was asked to teach them English and we decided that we'd use a book I'd recently found, and do the patchwork as we translated the book. We used Mary Ellen Hopkin's book "The It's Okay If You Sit On MY Quilt Book" and it was revolutionary (to us in Japan) to think that quilts could be made on the sewing machine. Up until then all patchwork was done by hand and there were no books or teachers talking about machine piecing or roller cutters etc.

My friends and I got pretty good with machine piecing quilts and one day I came up with the bright idea that we could hold a machine piecing class at the kindergarten, ask participants to make a specific block and then we'd all make a quilt and raffle it off at the bazaar. DISASTER!

Lots of people showed an interest and so my friends and I held a couple of classes and gave everyone the basics of how to make triangles en mass, and then machine piece everything. We had chosen to make a quilt of many colorful baskets all set on point. Of course we gave out measurements. Of course we taught a quick applique class on how to applique the basket handle. Of course we explained the importance of a 1/4 inch seam. And everyone went home with homework. What came back to us? Lots and lots of different sized baskets! The triangles were in an assortment of sizes, the handles were placed in all different diameters of curves and the stitching could hardly be called hidden applique. Something had gone very wrong but we couldn't insult anyone and say

"We're not using your block. It is too poorly constructed." or "Sorry, you'll have to make this over again, it's not the right size."

So my friends and I squeezed and pulled and SOMEHOW got all the blocks into one quilt flimsy. (I think Mrs. Furui re-did a few of the applique handles.) Not great but passable.

The next part of our plan was to make the sandwich and ask everyone who had made a block to participate in the quilting. We drew the quilting lines on the center offset blocks, wrote out specific instructions for quilting and passed the quilt around with a quilting hoop, thread, needle and thimble. HAH! We were so STUPID! No one can just be handed a bedsize quilt in a quilting hoop and a thimble and start quilting! But that is what we expected and you can guess what came back to us!

The instructions had either gotten lost or everyone decided to ignore them, but the whole back side of the quilt was covered in knots! No one had hidden the knots in the quilt! The back side felt like it had the Chicken Pox or something! The quilt stitches were of a variety of sizes, some large enough to poke your finger through! Many of the stitches never made it to the back side of the quilt (some did) so there were parts where the back was puffing out, part where it was quilted to the front. In the time it took for the quilt to make its rounds, the quilting lines had faded away to almost nothing so parts were left unquilted, and some people had become creative and quilted where they thought a stitch or two was needed. The whole quilt puckered in some places and was wrinkled in others. Mrs. Furui spent days trying to hide the knots but often the original quilter hadn't backstitched so the thread and the seams began to unravel. Oh my goodness! What a quilt!

We went ahead and raffled the quilt (I still remember the name of the poor person who "won" it) since that had been the whole point from the beginning and it was the main event of the bazaar but really it was such a disaster that my quilting friends and I were embarrassed and swore we'd never do it again!

And we didn't... for maybe three years. After continuing our own little quilting group we grew a little wiser and decided to try a bazaar quilt again but this time limit the quilt making to experienced quilters and to anyone who wanted to come "weekly" to our quilting group and get some lessons. (We could also monitor the work a little better and make suggestions without hurting peoples' feelings.) And from that time onward for the past 12 years, our little group has spent each year making a quilt to be raffled at the bazaar.

And for all that there isn't even a picture of that disaster quilt but the rest of the bazaar quilts have been pretty well documented.

The quilt here with my friends was the 2006 bazaar quilt. The lovely quilt with the hearts was a take-off from Quilting Bebbs quilt that I found on her blog and that we made for the 2007 bazaar. This year's quilt was inspired by Colleen from Musings from my Soul...

Today is raffle day and I'm happy to say that we have wonderful quilt that we are very proud to show and we are certain that the winner will be very happy to take home a quilt made of love and many years of experience!

Sewing a little...(very little)

In case anyone forgets that this really started out as a quilt blog, here is an update on my quilting. (So sad...)

Yes, I am forever quilting, very slowly, the Wonky quilt. I am beginning to understand when some of you bloggers talk about your monster in the living room. This moves from one corner to my armchair and back with not more than 15 minutes done every week or so. It certainly isn't going to get done in the near future at this pace. I'm going to have to make a concerted effort to work on this. There are a lot of white spaces that I'm not sure what to do with and since I skip over them this quilt is going to start puckering if I'm not careful (and so far I'm not being careful). Then there is the colorful piano key border... Do I really want to stitch in the ditch around all those keys? I have a feeling I'll put the binding on first and then worry about quilting the border (or not) later.

The other day I found a simple tutorial for a scissors case on Mamaspark's blog. I was getting caught up on reading blogs (no time, dinner wasn't cooked, the house was a mess) and here was this very simple tutorial. So what does any normal crafty person do when they find a quick project? They let everything stand, hope their husband will be late (he usually is) and sit down at the sewing machine. 30 minutes later I had a scissor holder. Go try it out. It is easy and cute and would make a great quicky gift.

And look what my friend gave me the other day! A bag full of treasure! Mrs. Komatsu's sister (whom I've never met) USED TO do patchwork but she has moved on to other things nowadays (I doubt if I'll ever say that for myself) and so she passed along some of her patchwork fabric to give to me! I am all the more richer! So interesting to see all the fabrics and to discover some that I have used in the past myself. We must have the same interests or else those were especially popular fabrics at the time. What fun I will have with these scraps (when I find the time!) Thank you Mrs. Komatsu! And thank you Mrs. Komatsu's sister!

Well, I need to get back to my quilting... and my blog reading... and my house cleaning... and my dinner making...

Purple

The autumn leaves are beginning to change to yellow and gold and the fields are going back to brown. The persimmons in the trees are becoming a vibrant orange and the sky in the evening is a pallet of changing colors.

I am struck by the different colors of purple when I walk around the neighborhood and I love the accent that is added to the normally warm colors of fall. Just a few pictures of the purple flora in my area.

Isn't this a fantastic Morning Glory? It stretched all around the corner of this little bicycle shop and my photo doesn't do it justice. The shop owner was lovingly watering the roots when I stopped my car at the corner and asked if I could take pictures.

"And the hanging for the gate of the court was needle-work, of blue, and purple, and scarlet..."

Exodus 38:18

Prayers and Squares need again

I'm off on the run again today. I needed to get another Prayer and Square flimsy to the tying stage and so I did that for part of the weekend. I really am not getting much sewing done especially on my own things. That Wonky quilt is gathering dust beside my sewing chair...

I took the Prayer and Square quilt to the church and after the service we all tied the strings and prayed for the man who will receive it. I keep making the exact same quilt (Around the World) only in different color combinations. I ought to branch out on something else that is as easy to make but the Prayer and Square organization's motto is "It's not the quilt, it's the prayers" so even though there is nothing fancy about this it is a wonderful way to connect to people who are ailing. I was taking these pictures through the glass from the Sunday School room so there is an odd reflection but you get the idea. You can see that our church is really small. I think weekly it averages about 20 people and the stained glass windows were made by one of our members.


I probably need to make a couple more Prayer and Square flimsies so it looks like I will be away from my own projects for awhile longer...

Fragrances

Recently in the breeze is a lovely sweet aroma which is recognizable as Kinmokusei. I checked in the dictionary and could only come up with Sweet-Olive as the name of this lovely tree that is found all over Japan. The blossoms are very tiny but what a perfume they exude! Whenever I catch a whiff of Kinmokusei I am automatically transported to memories of.... Japanese public toilets! WHAT?!

I feel sorry for this poor tree with the beautiful name and the lovely fragrance but I bet a lot of Japanese associate it with bathroom deodorizer. During this season, many parks and highway public toilets will have a sprig set on the counter in a sake glass or there might even be a Kinmokusei tree planted nearby the bathroom area. Even beyond this season, the deodorizing people must have found that they could make some pretty powerful stuff with this fragrance and the typical toilet deodorizer has always been Kinmokusei .

With the influx of animals in my house the other day I went to the local furnishing store and perused the shelves in the room deodorizer section. Lots of choices nowadays and many are the same as what you can find on shelves in the States. There were a few though that seemed indigenous to Japan. How about Charcoal deodorizer? Or maybe some Green Tea deodorizer? Of course there is the Cherry Blossom deodorizer, Citron deodorizer and even some Water Lily deodorizer.

I came home with some special stuff aimed at removing animal odors (plug into the outlet type) and some pet deodorizer for spraying around the room in case of sudden visitors, not to mention a pretty little container of Kinmokusei deodorizer just because it is the season.

Sports Day

Yesterday Mrs. Furui and I went to the kindergarten to watch the Sports Day activities for about an hour. Sports Day is a big thing all over Japan and all kindergartens, elementary schools, Jr. high schools, and communities have Sports Day. For the kindergarten and elementary school especially, there is a lot of preparation and practice time before the big day. The children and teachers prepare dances and the parents get involved with making costumes etc. Basically though, there are lots of relays and obstacle course games and tug-o-wars etc.

The kindergarten where I teach English is fairly small but the yard was packed with parents and grandparents and siblings sitting on picnic blankets around the tiny area. There were lots of older kids around too, graduates of the kindergarten who have been invited to come and help during the day and their jobs were to carry equipment and draw lines etc. A photographer was present and a video photographer with various cameras set up here and there (later he will edit the day's videos and the parents have the option of purchasing the video or CD for a nominal fee. The kindergarten policy is that parents shouldn't watch their kids through a viewfinder so private video taking is discouraged.)

Mrs. Furui and I didn't really stay very long but it was fun to see the children putting out their all and all at various events. Reminded us of the days when our kids were doing the same things at this kindergarten and now these littlest ones could very likely be our grandchildren. We are getting to be that age now! Shock!

Here are a few pictures of the children participating in a few events.

I think this is the 5 year old class that is showing parents how they've learned to jump rope. Some of them can really race around the little track! Look at the cute T-shirts that they have painted themselves.

This is the little 3 year-old class and the kids inch along the balance bar and then crawl under a net (the teacher in the background is holding it down) then they climb up on a box and jump off onto a mat.

This little girl is climbing over a wall (board) and it looks like she knows what she's doing. The younger children learn to climb over the wall that is placed on the ground but the more agile kids are very proud at how high a wall they can get over.

I thought I did pretty good taking this picture. The kids climb up to the top of the ladder, stand at the top and then jump off onto a mat. It takes a lot of courage to stand up there on that little platform and I was watching the kids practice last week and there were a few tears and a couple of them got stuck up there. It didn't look like anyone had any problems on this day though.

I know, all these things look so dangerous to me too and I don't think you'd find too many kindergartens in the States that would promote these types of activities but this kindergarten has done the same things for years. At least 18! That's how long it has been since Takumi jumped off the ladder when he attended! I see they are still using the same board that he climbed over when he was 3! Aww! Wasn't he a cutie?

Locked-in

A little review on Japanese bathtub rooms (and a previous picture and link if you're interested).

In Japan the bathtub and the toilet and sink areas are different rooms. The bathtub room (for lack of a better word) is actually a whole room which is just a big shower. People wash up outside of the tub in this room and shower right there and the water goes down a drain that is in the floor. Our bathtub room has a window and is tiled but many (especially in apartments) are complete fiberglass units with no window. In any case, one undresses in the separate sink area and then goes into the bathtub room. Usually towels are in the sink room because the bathtub room gets completely wet.

So much for the background to my story.

Yesterday morning when I was taking a shower I noticed that the glass door stuck when I was leaving the room. I mentioned to Tetsu that he needed to check the door and maybe fix it (he's fixed it once before.) Tetsu took a shower after me and yep, the door stuck a bit when he was getting out too. Tetsu got dressed and then got out his screwdriver and proceeded to take the door latch and handle apart. I started the washing machine (in the same sink room) and then went back to watching morning TV.

I little bit later I hear some muted yelling.

"TANI!!! TANI!!! HELP!!"

Tetsu had locked himself in the bathtub room! With the door handle in pieces on the floor. He wasn't too happy that I hadn't responded right away but what with the TV and the washing machine...

From my side, I jammed the handle piece back into the knob hole and the two of us banged and jiggled (a little bit of swearing from Tetsu's side?). Tetsu was giving me directions and I was oiling the jammed latch and poking haphazardly with the screwdriver.

"COME AROUND TO THE YARD AND HAND ME THE SCREWDRIVER THROUGH THE WINDOW!"

The bathtub room window is slatted but when I got to the window from the yard Tetsu had already pulled off the screen and was trying to figure out how to get some of the slats out. I didn't really think this was such a great idea because there are a lot of slats and Tetsu isn't a small Japanese.

"Tetsu, maybe I'd better call a neighbor, or a plumber... Or a handyman..." (at 7:30 in the morning...)

Tetsu began thinking about breaking the glass in the door with the shampoo bottle because his pride didn't want the neighbors involved in this embarrassing situation but before we got that desperate the door suddenly popped open and Tetsu was set free. Altogether Tetsu spent about 30 minutes locked in the bathtub room.

Afterwards we thought about all the things that could have happened that didn't. Usually Tetsu has gone to work by the time I take a morning shower. Can't you just picture me wet and naked locked in the bathtub room even the towels on the other side of the broken door? Our bathroom faces the forest and though people walk by the front of the house, if one is in the shower room you can't see or hear them or vice versa. I suppose if I'd been locked-in I could have screamed and someone might have gotten curious about the cries of help echoing from the forest but it probably would have taken awhile. Even if someone did figure it out and a handyman was called, there I still would have been standing in all my glory... And even in this fall season, being naked and cold would have been pretty miserable. Of course waiting for my husband to come home from work some 15 hours later wouldn't have been fun either. In the winter it might have been down right dangerous.

Right now the latch and handle have been disabled so that there isn't a repeat performance. Public baths sound pretty good to me right now...