Goals for 2007

Put Christmas decorations away today and the house looks back to normal again. Tetsu spent a couple of hours out in the yard too.
Ok. About goals for 2007.

1. Hand quilt the Autumn Blossom quilt
2. Machine piece and machine quilt the Star of David quilt
3. Hand piece one feathered star block a month
4. Machine piece one Prayer and Square quilt top a month

The above are all in some sort of limbo as being half made or cut etc.

1. Machine piece Tonya's word quilt with batks
2. Machine piece a Gratitude quilt of one of Judy's hour a month quilts
3. Of course, head the Bazaar Quilt for this year's kindergarten bazaar. (I've got to get some ideas going for that.)

Ok. That's a short list. I'm sure I'll add to it as I go along. How do I put a list in the sidebar?

Houdini

I think we're going to have to rename Choco to "Houdini". After yesterday morning's chase I put her in the kennel and then went to Kanseki to buy a HARNESS. I figured that would keep her at home. I was surprised to see how tight the harness was on her and even contemplated buying a larger one. Tight or not, I put it on her and went about my afternoon. An hour or so later she is dragging the harness around and she is only attached by the chain collar that I'd also connected her lead to. "How did you get out of the harness?!" I put it on her again and a few minutes later I found she had gotten one leg free. I tightened the harness even more and felt sorry for her.

This morning I was explaining the escapades to Tetsu and after our walk put her back in the harness plus the chain collar and we went in to breakfast. When Tetsu was leaving for work.... NO CHOCO!! She'd slipped her harness again and this time had gotten out of the choke chain collar too. Off Tetsu and I went looking for her, he in the car, me running through the forest again. He found her first and tricked her into getting into the car. From there, back she went into the kennel. A little later I took her to Yabe-sensei feeling very foolish. Why ask a vet what you can do about a dog that escapes from its collar and harness? Not much advice he could give me except to build her a fenced in enclosure. She's in the house for now...

I spent about an hour on the Star of David quilt and got most of the star done and some of the log cabin diamonds. I will try to work on it an hour a day and see how much I can do. Besides the fact that I get mixed up on what colors I planned to use where, it is going pretty well.

And here is a picture of the bag that Marlene gave me this summer with all our pictures in it.

Tomorrow I will sit down and think about my goals for next year.

Catching Choco

Well, extra exercise today although thankfully not for any great length of time. Choco slipped her collar again and one of the neighbors noticed her in the forest. Off I went with collar and leash in hand running through the forest calling her. I finally spotter her racing down the road from the rabbit farm. Oh gosh! I'd better go check and see if she did any harm there! She was back near the neighborhood when I finally caught up with her but she wasn't about to come to me when I called her! Off she raced down the street so I got the car and started looking for her in the neighborhood. After two times around I finally found her and she warily came and got in the car after circling it a few times. What a morning! I am definitely going to go buy a harness for her today!

As for handwork, I finally finished the dumb socks I was working on. What a long project and I really didn't have such a great time doing it. I don't think I'll try socks again for awhile. I'm not even too happy with them and numerous times I was considering throwing the project in the garbage. I don't like to half finish things though, so even though it was a waste of time, I spent hours on them yesterday and they are done! Will I ever wear them? Who knows.

Day with the Yamadas

Had a great day with Marlene and family despite the rain and my having to make two trips over there. I went at lunchtime and chatted, hurried back home only to realize that I'd left my coat. She's going back to Tokyo so I knew I had to get that coat that day but I had to teach and then had to go to the dentist. Around 5:30 I called but she wasn't in and finally around 6:30 I contacted her and said I was coming back over. She invited me to stay for dinner so there I was again. Great time talking with Erika and Eugene too and even had a little time to chat with Kohei after he came back. Too bad Tetsu wasn't able to come over too. No cooking for me yesterday!

Christmas present

Look at the great blanket that Marcy sent me for Christmas! It's enough to make me want to give up quilting! It's so warm and soft and of course the print sent me into ecstasy! I absolutely love it! I'm going to have to get Marcy to teach me how she makes it when I see her next summer. Happy me!!!

From Tetsu I got a lovely new Patchwork book. A man who knows my heart! Now maybe since Christmas is over I'll get the present of time to do some of the handwork I want to do!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas...

Christmas Day and I feel a bit of a Scrooge. The Eve service went ok except that I bombed out completely. I couldn't hold a tune worth a penny and made a complete fool of myself. I suppose God wanted to remind me that I have no talent whatsoever and whenever I do sing and manage to sing well it is all because of Him. I would prefer to forget last nights horrid performance.

We had cold store chicken for dinner since I didn't cook dinner. I'm not sure why. I had time, it was just that we lazed around the house all afternoon not doing a thing. Tetsu watching stupid TV. Me reading a good buy depressing book. I never thought about dinner. In the back of my mind I had thought we might go out for late ramen after the service, but it was cold chicken straight from the pack.

Tetsu started watching TV after the skimpy meal and by 10:30 I just went to bed. No opening Christmas presents which there were only a few anyway. I knitted Tetsu a sweater but he's seen it and it's been hanging on the door for a month. Besides that I only bought him trunks and socks so there was nothing for him to get excited about anyway and nothing that I felt good about giving him. He had wanted to go buy me shoes somewhere but it was too much bother to go out looking and it would have irritated him if I'd looked and then didn't decide on something. I'd rather shop myself. So much for Christmas....

Who would've thought it!

What a surprise last night to find that my two jr. high third year boys wanted to try their hand at sewing! I had put away all the decoration materials that I had used the two classes before (interestingly, the 4th grade girls found the project very boring and narry a peep out of all four of them practically the whole hour) and when the boys came I hesitantly asked if they wanted to go ahead with regular English study or if they wanted to sew. They opted for sewing so out came the materials again and did they go to town! Much more creative than any of my other classes and they really seemed to have a good time! Not too many mishaps (it took a couple of tries before they got the hang of holding onto the thread as well as the needle) and they seemed quite proud of themselves. "Maybe I'll hang this from my book bag. No one will believe I made it myself." Felt good about the evening and while they sewed I read them a book we had been reading together and did the translation myself instead of asking them to do it. Well, sort of an English evening. I gave sewing instructions in English.

Socks are not going well.

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to show. Still running around. Still have lots of plans in my head but not many get done. I wonder if I should figure out how to make a list along side of this blog so I can mark things off as they get started etc. I found a neat Star of David quilt on Calico Cats blog so I've printed it out but I don't know if or when I'll get it started.
Yesterday evening I spent about an hour trying to put a heel into a sock that I was working on. I put it in three times only to find a miscount so I'd rip out and start over. Do it again, the same miscount so rip again. Do it a third time and the same thing so I gave up. I wonder what I'm doing wrong. I was trying to watch TV at the same time so maybe I just got confused. Should I be so brazen as to suggest that the directions are off? I'll try it again today when I can concentrate a bit.

More Decorations

Christmas decoration making has been going well, but I don't have any more pictures since basically the little hearts all turn out the same. But the kids have been doing a great job of sewing sequins and beads and generally making their hear unique. As a surprise, I offered two ladies classes the choice of studying or making the ornament and they chose the ornament! So... I gave them free rein and they all sewed to their hearts' content. Yesterday I had to cut more felt because I hadn't expected the ladies to be so enthusiastic. Tomorrow I have 8 kids to provide materials for and then I think I am done with Christmas decoration making this year.
As for myself. I'm trying to make leg warmers. The yarn is leftover stuff that isn't a bit interesting. I could have been more inspiring and bought myself some fun yarn but I need to use this up anyway and who knows if the things are going to be wearable. Anyway, no pictures of that project just because it is boring. Maybe if and when I finish.

Decorations going well.

Hey! My Christmas decoration class went reall well! The 3rd graders didn't really understand how to weave the hearts so that was pretty much a bunch of private work but they did a great job of sewing beads on. I had cut out all the felt pieces and just had ribbon and beads and needle and thread ready for them. Only Yasuaki was interested in doing it in Christmas colors but they all turned out well. Did it again last night with Shiori-chan my high school student who played along but I'm not sure she enjoyed herself. Oh well, give her a taste of Christmas tradition.

Christmas party

Christmas party at church was fun. I wrapped up the coasters I had made that morning and that was my gift exchange. I don't know if the person who got them will ever use them or even thinks they were so great but I am glad I got them done.

Kaoru-san gave me the cutest little mobile yesterday and I've hung it from the dining room light though maybe the cats are going to find it and play with it there. I can't get a good picture of it because of all the stuff on the walls but you get an idea. I think Kaoru-san said that she sent the same thing to Leiya.

Went to the Yano-san's Obaachan's wake last night with Tetsu. As wakes go it was quite nice though I don't like all the chanting and gonging done by the buddhist priest. (It's not my funeral so I guess they can do what they want...) Obaachan was 87 so except for Kyoko-san not too many people were sad.

Today I've got to get the Christmas decoration preparation done for the 4:00 class. That may be a disaster since they can't even cut on lines (At third grade!). Little felt hearts are the plan for today with them sewing beads for decorations. This may be a woeful blog tomorrow!

Grief and Customs

No quilting or sewing or anything though I think I had wanted to make some more coasters tonight. That may not happen. Last night Yano-san called to say her mother had died so I went over to pay my condolences. Mrs. Yano has had her mother at home for the past two months and was "force" feeding her just to keep her alive. Obaachan hasn't really been in this world for a year now. Things were going along well and the whole reason Obaachan came home was so she could die surrounded by her family. Still... Kyoko-san was very upset and wishing she could have done more. Obaachan was laid out on the floor in the room where she had had her hospital bed and there was an altar behind her and a smaller altar for burning insense. The family was having some argument about how there should be a mountain of rice dumplings on the altar instead of the measly 6 that the funeral people brought. They determined it didn't really matter. They also didn't like the plywood altar the funeral people had brought but what can they do about it now. Another argument about the flower rings will be displayed and whose name should be printed. All these things that I don't understand even though I've lived here 30 years.

Coasters

Ok, a few things to show. I finished Takumi's name quilt with binding and everything and hopefully will send it today or tomorrow. Yeah!

On to the cherry omochi or whatever they're called. Japanese are so clever. These are little marshmallows with some cherry jam inside and then they are covered in a pink mochi covering. With some little plastic stems they look just like cherries that we find in Japan! Quite tasty but it was opening the box and finding lots of them that made me say outloud "Kawaii!!" ("How cute!")

And then my latest project of 10 minutes ago. I found a nice little tutorial on the computer about how to make these so I whipped them up to take along when I meet Kaneko-san and Heidi today. The first one I messed up grandly and had to rip it out three times but I figured it out and they were very easy. In case you can't tell they are coasters, two in each package.

Time!

Yeah, I made some time for myself today so I really need to put it to good use. One thing is to put a couple pictures on the blog. One of Patora trying to look Christmasy. Another of the muffler maybe made for Takumi (I found the darning needle in the bottom of the yarn basket). Another picture of a "muffler" I made from scraps of batik material. I had bought a very nice Japanese version for Bessie and though I debated about whether I could make it from memory I decided that Bessie would want Japanese fabric anyway (of which I have none) and so bought it for her. Then I proceeded to measure and cut and made my own version. I had put batting in which makes it stiffer than the original. I'll try again and maybe make it a bit narrower too. I love the batik prints though. OK. Off to do something constructive!

No needle

What do I have to say today? Not too much. I couldn't find my darning needle yesterday so I never finished the edge to the muffler. That is only a 5 minute conclusion to that project but no needle anywhere. I never got to the name quilt either though I've been carrying it around for the past few days.

I spent the evening "helping" Takumi with an essay question by chat and computer but I doubt that I gave him any ideas. We got to the point that we weren't even sure what the question meant. It seems he had written it down from some friend but it seemed like a strange question to me and suggested that the real question might be... That threw him for a loop and we never did figure it out.

Off to the kindergarten today for a last (hopefully) rehersal for the Christmas program on Saturday.

The cats are still playing with my pin cushions. I found two needles on the floor this morning. Maybe that's why my darning needle is missing. It might have gotten taken on one of their play times.

Plans

I'm not doing well with blogging. I guess I figure my life is pretty boring if I don't post pictures and I only get pictures taken of my minimal quilting or knitting. Well, December is a busy month. I'll have to settle down one of these days but maybe not until after the weekend. Oh no. I've got children's ornaments to craft and teach so it will be close to Christmas before I can just quilt again. Maybe I'll get some of the kids so inspired that they'll make some great ornaments this year. (We're making woven hearts and sewing some beads. Can they do it?) Back later.

Finally sewing

Well, I finally had a sewing day yesterday and got one of my goals done. I finished prayer quilt number 5 but it is going in the closet until a time when it can be given. When I say finished, I mean the top. I haven't put it together with backing and batting and of course it hasn't been tied or the binding put on. It can not quite be called into service instantaneously but I don't think I want to have it at that stage in my closet. It is done for now..!

In the evening I pulled out the name quilt for Takumi but there is no way it will get to the States before Christmas so it's been relegated to low on the priority list. Same for the muffler. Same for whatever I was planning to make for Kiana and Colin. I'll have to use the internet for them.

Here is one of my pincushions that I rescued again from the cats. I liked some of the bloggers' chicken pincushion and made myself one for the sewing machine.

Sewing again

Ok. I'm back. I had a terrible week and have had trouble getting back to normal. The major difficulty has been resolved and I guess I'd better not even mention the cause. Surfice to say I didn't do any hand work at all and wasn't even here for a lot of the time!

Yesterday I got back to the sewing machine and started another prayer quilt, this time in green. I wasn't working very fast so I only got a quarter of it done. I'll try to finish up today. I haven't worked on Takumi's name quilt or the muffler. I haven't got any pictures. I have a hundred things to do today, one of which is clean the car and rid it of dog fur. That will take a couple of hours I'm sure so who knows if I'll ever get back to my sewing chair...

In a funk

Nothing to show and I'm in a bad mood anyway today. (The whole weekend!) I will not go into details. Anyway, I briefly sewed on Saturday and decided to do Takumi's name quilt. That isn't finished yet but I've started the quilting. I also started the muffler and that isn't anywhere done yet either. Ah, well. Maybe if I get some sewing time in today my mood will change (but the problem is no where near being resolved.)

Missing pin cushions

No pictures today. I muddled around in the evening not inspired to work on the Autumn Blossom quilt, not willing to go upstairs to the cold (and messy) sewing room. I only had about an hour anyway (it was after 8:00) so.... I pulled out the knitting needles and started a muffler! I don't know if I plan well or not. I have the materials at my fingertips but after all my contemplation about goals I hadn't really planned to do the scarf. I was just something to keep my hands busy for an hour. Now I have to finish it.

My cats (who know which one) are giving me a headache that could be dangerous. I wake up in the mornings and either find that my pin cushion is not where I'd put it the night before (usually next to my chair) or there is a pin cushion (the chair one or the one from the sewing room) which is lying in the middle of some room. Some cat has been using it as a toy! That is annoying in itself, but I suspect that I'm missing some pins and needles too. I'm almost positive that I'd had a threaded needle in it the night before but there isn't one there now... I may have to figure out a way to tack these things down...

December goals

I finished! I put all the bindings on and am now done with that project. Yeah me! I have no idea what they are... Placemats, but they're too bumpy. Wall hangiings, I suppose though not too interesting. Oh well...

Since today is December 1st I thought I'd better get down some December goals. Tetsu's Christmas present is done, Leiya's is done. Takumi I'm not sure about. I have yarn but does he really need a muffler in Southern California? No. I started a name quilt for him. I have the "Takumi" part done. Do I want to hurry and do that this week?

I've put a goal of one prayer quilt top a month and of course that is a job that can be done at any time. There is no one in particular that I need to make one for but I'd like to have a stock of prayer tops so I think I'll make one in green this month. That's a one day job.

I can always go back to my feathered star blocks which have been put on hold for the last month. Furui-san won't be happy to hear that I've started again since she hasn't got even one done and we wanted to do them together.

Of course I have the quilting to do for the Autumn Blossom Quilt but that is an ongoing project that can be done in the evenings.

I have left over yarn and I've been inspired to make socks but do I want to start something completely out of my regular scope?

I still want to do Judy's gratitude quilt but I can't decide on a color scheme and at any rate don't have 3 meters of fabric. Do I want to buy more fabric?

I'd like to try the Wonky Houses quilt but I need to make a stock of 2" squares and strips. Maybe that should be put on hold for awhile.

Of course I could stop piecing for awhile and just cut up fabric. I'd like to reduce my scrap box to 31/2 in" and 2" strips and squares.

I want to do another wonky letter quilt this time that says something but I don't know what I want to say and that would mean buying fabric again.

I have all those fat quarters of batiks that I love but don't have a plan for yet. More time on the internet?

I could knit a scrap sweater for myself from left-over yarn. That's another long project that isn't really necessary.

Hmmm.... All these options and that's only half putting my mind to it. I guess I should rule out buying fabric for awhile. I need to work with what I have. Batiks. Scraps. Quilt in progress. That means go back to the Autumn Blossom in the evenings. Do Takumi's name quilt and who knows or cares when it gets done. Put aside a day next week; Tuesday afternoon or Thursday afternoon; to do the Prayer Quilt. Cut up scraps and who knows I may get myself a pile of 2" squares... Hmm none of these goals have a completion date. I guess that's ok too.

And as a reward for completeing my name quilts, go ahead and order fabric from Thosands of Bolts and get 3 meters of something for Judy's gratitude quilt. (And since to get the most for my money buy 3 different fabrics for a Wonky Letter Quilt.)

Sounds good to me!

The end in sight

Let's see, what do I have to say? Not much. I was running around madly most of yesterday and probably only got 10 minutes consecutive done on my name quilts. Too bad! I had wanted them finished by November 30 and here in Japan it is already December 1st! Two more to go and they only take about 20 minutes a piece to get the bindings on so I can see the end. Noah's is great. in bright colors and very easy to read. Caleb's is bright but the pattern in the name makes it a little difficult. Elijah's is too light and you really have to "read" it. Oh well... I guess I've learned something. Leiya's is too dark and not at all colorful. I wonder if I can put a lighter binding on it. That may clash though so I'll have to think about that after I post this. Anyway, for all the reasons above I don't have a picture. But never fear! I plan to finish all of them today and take a joint picture today!

Nothing to show for today's progress

I got quite a lot of quilting done yesterday and have now finished quilting three name quilts. I'm working on Noah's now. Of course I still have binding to attached when I finish quilting so the end isn't in sight yet but I'm plugging away. Today was a busy day so though I took my quilting with me into Utsunomiya I didn't get more than three or four stitches put into it. Maybe tonight after English. Did I mention that my fingers are sore from all this quilting. Tonya doesn't use a hoop but that means the index and middle fingers of my left hand gets pricked a lot and so they are sore. The right hand's index finger is sore too from pulling the needle (but I do use a thimble on the right hand. I have trouble with a thimble on the left hand when I'm not using a hoop. I don't know why.)

Anyway, I don't have anything to show so maybe I'll put up a picture of this year's bazaar quilt since I started blogging after the bazaar. I'm in charge of deciding next year's bazaar quilt so I spend a lot of time looking around the internet for possible patterns...

Quilting!

Ok. I quilted for most of the morning and some of the afternoon. I'm still working on the name quilts and I'm following the advice of Tonya who does the wonky quilts and do the work for FUN not so that it's perfect. I didn't draw quilt lines, I don't use a hoop. I just randomly do the fans over any inch of fabric that I come to and it's working out better than I thought. I debated about skipping a lunch date with friends and just continue quilting all day but I decided that would be anti-social so I took my quilting to the restaurant and it was a good thing I did. The rest of the group (they came together) was 40 minutes late! I got a lot of quilting done just waiting for them! Here are a couple of pictures though they don't look much more different from when they were in the flimsy stage. Oops. Caleb's is done too but I guess I forgot to take a picture of it. Maybe tomorrow.

Mistake!!!!

Can you believe that when I was posting a picture of the 4 finished name quilts I'd made the day before, I that I noticed that one of the letters was backward! I can't believe it! I didn't think anything about it when I was sewing it or admiring it or even taking the picture. But I posted the thing and thought... "Something is strange. The "H" is backwards!!!!" And I'm supposed to be an English teacher. Now what...? I could leave it and say "Well, it is my mischievious nature coming out." But I'd for the rest of my life know that I goofed. I went back and forth in my mind "It doesn't have to be perfect. It's Ok. as it is." But in the end I took it out and resewed it. It only took my 15 minutes so it wasn't the disaster I thought it was going to be and I'm glad I noticed the blooper. I'll repost the mistake pictures (haven't taken new ones yet) but it has been repaired and once I get the things quilted I'll take an after picture.

Friends and Prayers

Well, my plan for yesterday was sidetracked by a visit to Narumi-san. That should be expected. We always talk a lot longer than I expect to. With Kamiyama-san there too of course the chatting time is tripled! I went to pray with them but ended up spending two hours chatting. Not necessarily bad... We discuss the problems of the world, our faith, Narumi-san's illness, friends and family that we want to come to know Jesus, etc. but as I say, it makes for a long time of fellowship. Narumi-san is expecting more tests, but her cancer has returned in her lymph glands. Some question about her ovaries too so our prayers were focused and emotional again.

I had given up on getting anything done on my projects, but decided I could put in at least 15 minutes (Yeah Flylady thinking!) Actually I must have sewed for nearly an hour and got the borders on Caleb's name quilt. I had quite a problem with deciding and making a fish for his block and I don't know if anyone else but me can see the fish, but it is there. None of these things are finished of course. I still have to figure out how they are going to be quilted. By hand? On machine? Anyway, today's goal is to "finish" Noah's and then I'll worry about quilting.

A few pictures

I've got cleaning and quilting to do but here I am again on the computer. Oh well, here are a couple of pictures I took yesterday of my latest Autumn Quilt and Lemi enjoying it. My quilts have more cat fur on them than batting in them! I also bought some "American" fabric today for Noah's name quilt though I could have bought it for less on the internet. Too lazy to wait for it to be sent I guess. That was what I had planned to work on today. Tomorrow?

Nothing getting done

Ok. I'm on the run so I can't put any pictures in today. I've invited Leiya to see my blog, so if you get here Leiya, welcome. I try to write about my progress on various projects every day. Yesterday I quilted for a few "minutes" but instead of sewing I went to the library and took them some of my old books. Today is a busy day again, so no project work?... Boo hoo...

Three things done!

Well, I had a profitable weekend thanks to the fact that Tetsu went out "playing" (pachinko). I spent Sunday afternoon up in my sewing room and worked on the name quilts. I finished Leiya's and Elijah's. I started over completely on Elijah's since the opinions of Kaoru-san and Shiozaki-san were that it was very Halloweeny. Ok. I got away from the Halloween colors, but I should have gone for darker lettering. I'm really having trouble choosing colors for these things. Well, it is done and not perfect but I've stopped striving for perfect. I also finished Tetsu's sweater! Yeah! One Christmas present out of the way!

Friends.

I'm behind a bit but here are a couple pictures of what I did Friday. Kaoru-san and Shiozaki-san came over and Kaoru-san pieced while Shiozaki-san machine pieced. I continued on my sweater. The last one is of Kaoru-san's Storm at Sea quilt. She was hoping for more of a "wave" effect but this is how it is turning out... I'm not sure if I'm responsible since I steered her to various fabrics. The colors though are pretty!

Looking forward to today

Nothing to tell anyone about. Knitting more. Working on ribbing. I hope to get things put together this weekend.
But today! I have friends coming over with their patchwork so I promise to get some pictures of that. I might even pull out my Autumn Blossom that is ready and waiting to be quilted. I'll ask opinions on those name quilts that are staring at me in my sewing room.

No decisions

What have I been doing recently? Yesterday, I spent more time on the sweater ribbing. The front and back is done so maybe I can do the sleeves today. I really can't see this sweater taking shape yet although all the pieces are there and just need to be put together. Nothing quilty but I need to clean the sewing room since Kaoru-san and Shiozaki-san are coming over to quilt for the day. I've got to think of something for the kids in America but if the quilt project is out then what am I going to do...

Frustrations

Dear me... I worked on another name quilt for one of the Dennis kids but I don't think I chose the colors very well. So far I'm not doing very well. One half done for Leiya that has no zing and I don't know what it is. One up on the board for Takumi that is in the same colors as Leiya's so I know where that is going but it won't be interesting. One for Elijah in orange which I thought was great until I combined with black lettering and that made it Halloween and they HATE Halloween. I tried to remedy that with a few random stripes of red but now you can hardly read the name and I realize I should have used a lighter color for the lettering. I don't have enough of either fabric for making a background so I'm stuck again. Do I really want to continue with the other boys' and then Keion's kids? I had such big plans but I've become bogged down and don't know if I should continue or give it up as an interesting learning experience....

One finished, one on the way.

Let's see. I played around during the day, but in the evening spent some time knitting. Here's a picture of the finished muffler.
After that project I worked on the ribbing for Tetsu's sweater. It doesn't look like much of anything yet. The back and the sleeves are knitted but I still need to put the ribbing on them. This is a raglan sweater (I think that's what it's called) so the front looks small. I think it supposed to have a strange block at the shouders extending from the sleeves.

Sunday afternoon

Well, got quite a lot done yesterday. Finished Leiya's muffler. It is definitely long! I think she'll like it.
Next project was the letters quilt which I didn't have any idea what I wanted to do anyway and though I got the words together to make "Leiya's place" it doesn't really do anything. Not really a placemat (about that size) could become a pillow I suppose...It needs more color but do I want to do anymore? I made up the words for "Takumi's place" too but that isn't in one piece yet. I practiced making wonky hearts which was a bit more difficult than I had expected but I suppose if I practiced a bit I might get it right. Do I want to continue this for the Dennis's and Kiana and Colin? Not sure... I think I'll work on Tetsu's sweater today.

Saturday afternoon

Spent the whole day knitting and doing patchwork! My kind of day! It was rainy and cold with a little thunder in lightning so I brought Choco in and she spent the whole day inside too. Worked all day on the muffler which is very nice. Decided it needed the extra length so I started on the second skeins. Guess I continue until I use up all my yarn.

Patchwork was a dilemma. Did I really want to go upstairs to the cold room and fiddle around on the sewing machine? I wanted to try making patchwork words with Tonya's tutorial but had no idea if I was just going to ruin perfectly good fabric. Actually it came out better than I expected though my color choice could have been better...
Now that I can do it, what do I want to say?

Scarf for Leiya

Had a successful day of knitting. First I went to Hamaya to check out Noro Kureyon yarn there. I decided that though I liked the yarn that I bought through internet, the colors didn't go together as well as I'd hoped and so I wanted a different colorscheme. Hamaya has the yarn so I checked out the colors and found some I liked. I bought 4 skeins again and though Hamaya's price is 100 yen more than the internet, with the shipping etc, the internet price came out more... Anyway, I bought the yarn and then tore out what I'd already knitted the night before. I was over at Ochiai-san's house yesterday and I knitted while we talked. Did some knitting after I got home and this is the result. Pretty nice huh? I'll probably need to knit two more skeins of this since I'm getting to the end of thr skeins and it's not long enough. I knitted in the "mistake ribbing" and widened the stitch count from 23 to 29. I hope Leiya will be pleased.

Knitting and Quilting

I'm in a hurry as usual so this will be short. We got Narumi-san's quilt tied yesterday with many prayers and a few tears. About 6 of us all together. There is a good reception to the idea or prayer quilts and Mrs. Kamiyama wants to make one for her mother too. When projects are out of my hands I wonder if they are really being prayed over and people are following the ministry's "guidelines" but it is in God's hands not mine and any type of prayer and thinking of the recipient can only be good so I'll stop wondering about it.

Yarn for Leiya's muffler came last night and I started knitting right away. It is beautiful but maybe not colorful enough. I may take it out and see if I can find a skein in a red color ot combine with what I have. I think I saw this brand at Hamaya though it is probably much more expensive. Ah well. Of course if I buy 4 more skeins to go with the 4 skeins I've already bought then this might become expensive...

Projects

Unbelieveable! Yestereday evening I didn't have anything to do! (In the way of handwork.) I finished sewing the batting for my Autumn Blossom; I put together the backing (which was a little too small so I had to add another panel (thank you Lord that I had used the same backing earlier this year on another quilt and had enough left over to piece for this quilt's backing). I didn't have the elastic thread for Tetsu's sweater ribbing (will buy that today) so I couldn't do more on the sweater, and the yarn I've ordered for Leiya's muffler hasn't come yet. So...... I started drawing piecing lines for another feathered star block though that is officially on hold since I have so many other things running through my head (and Furui-san hasn't even started hers.) Oh and the letters quilt I want to do with Tonya's (blogger) tutorial needs to be done on the sewing machine so I haven't started thinking about that yet.

Narumi-san's quilt

Finished Narumi's quilt and put the label on. Got it pre-tied too and even called everybody to have them gather at Narumi's house Wednesday after 2:00. We'll pray and tie it the best we can and ask anyone who can't come to pray and tie over the original ties. I don't think I should leave the quilt with all the safety pins in it! Anybody getting tired of seeing this pattern? This is the 4th quilt I've made with this pattern but it is great for a Prayer Quilt and I can do it fairly quickly . I think I'll continue in this vein a few more times before I branch out into other patterns.

Weekend goals

Yesterday's try at posting a picture flopped when the computer crashed. I don't know if I'll have any better luck today.

I spent yesterday evening marking lines on my Autumn Blossom Quilt. Moving along just fine there. I was on the floor in the living room right in front of the heater since I was cold but that was giving me a headache. I went to bed feeling tired. I should be having a good time, not wearing myself down! But anyway it is going to be a nice quilt. It should be ready for basting this Thursday. All I have to do is sew up the backing and the batting which may be a bigger job than I think it will be.

Tetsu's sweater is in pieces but I need to buy some elastic thread for the ribbing. The big news is that I ordered more yarn online. At least I think I did since I'm never quite sure what I'm doing when I'm online. Anyway, I pushed the buttons.

I will put the ties on the Prayer Quilt and then that one is ready too. (Oh, I forgot I need to make a card and sew on a label.) That needs to be ready by Wednesday and I think I can make that goal. If I get all my goals met then I may even try my hand at the Wonky Letters! Go me!

Projects

Yeah. I got the binding on the Prayer Quilt for Narumi-san. Now I need to put the ties on and then sew on the label. Still don't know if I'm going to take it to her house and have people come and pray for her there or take it to Kamiyama-san's house and do it there. Also have to call Narumi and ask what specific prayers she wants.
My next project is to get the quilt lines on my Autumn Blossom quilt. That will be basted on Thursday so I have a couple of days to do that but since Tetsu is home today and tomorrow I probably won't get to it until Monday afternoon.
Also got a request from Leiya to make her a scarf which of course I will love doing, so I need to check out yarn. Hamaya? Internet again? Have to think this one out.

Quilting

It seems like I'm always in a rush. I've got English in about half an hour. I have Bible study after that at church. THEN finally back to quilting. I did manage a few rows of knitting yesterday and a whole hour of progress on the Prayer Quilt. That one is my main job today. Tomorrow Tetsu has the day off so we'll be doing something and I think he said he had Saturday and Sunday off too so I probably won't get anything done on any of my projects.

In a Hurry

I've got to get off this computer and get myself made up into a witch for the Halloween party at the kindergarten. Baked close to 150 cookies last night (did not cook dinner) and I need to take those and my guitar and English things (oh no! I haven't made them yet!) and things Furui-san wanted. I'd better get going. My goals for November have been written down and I guess I'll have to strike the Quilt for an Hour project for this month. Maybe I can keep it aside for another month when I don't have other things to do (HA!)

How much quilting am I going to get done?

I get so inspired to make new things but realisticly, do I have enough time to do it all? I want to try Judy's Hour Quilting project, but that would mean that I have to go out and buy more fabric. Do I want to spend a lot of money again? I need to do one Prayer Quilt by next Wednesday and that could get done right away, but I still have to think about Christmas presents and I had in my mind some name quilts for Leiya, Takumi and any other kids involved (lots). Of course I haven't even figured out how to do that so who knows if that project will ever get under way. I need to finish Tetsu's sweater but the Prayer Quilt looms first. Then there is the fabric I found on the website that I think I have to have but of course have no place to use it. Just like it. More money to spend that I don't have... Oh my gosh! I forgot the Autumn Quilt that I will have basted next week so it will be ready for quilting! That will take months to do even if I put full time work into it! What's a girl to do?

Time with a friend

Spent hours talking today about nothing in particular. Ochiai-san showed me more tips on the computer but I forget everything so quickly. I'm going to try this Blogging again though it didn't work once before. Let's see about this time. I've got to get ready for English kids so I'll stop now.