Happy Fields

I can finally show you a picture of my Happiness quilt... That's not really the name but I guess the recipient can name it herself.

Remember when I bought my dish that said Happiness on January 2nd? And how I said that I couldn't really see the character at first sight? Well, Julie commented that she spotted the character easily.

"I saw that "fuku" right away. Add a paddy field and I could quilt my name on everything... "

Well, you said it Julie. Yeah, I can make a "fuku" block (happiness). And a "ta", paddy field block is sure a lot easier than the fuku part. So there we have a "fukuda" block. Happy Field. Which is Julie's last name....

Now what am I going to do with a block that belongs to Julie? There's nothing else to do but make a quilt and send it to her. (I'm not changing MY name!)

Julie has been a blog visitor for a few months and she is a "senpai" (senior) to me as a foreign wife living in Japan. Let's see. She also loves the Lord and does quilting. (Go see a fantastic quilt she is working on for her church). So Julie and I have a lot in common though we've never met. She knows people I know. She has been to places I have been. She makes comments on my blog and mostly reconfirms my observations on Japanese life.

So I made a Happy Fields quilt and found an appropriate Bible verse to stamp around the border. Now what to do about quilting. I decided that the quilt is small enough (the fuku block is about 15 inches square) that hand quilting wouldn't be a big job... Just stitch in the ditch and I was done in a day.

By the way, a couple people asked me about the stamps. These are FOAM stamps (not rubber) and I found them at JoAnne's (but someone said you can get them at Michael's too) in the children's craft section. The alphabet is attached to a plastic sheet that is all connected and was hanging on the wall. There were two or three fonts that one could chose from and I'm thinking I'd like to pick up another set the next time I'm in the States. I realized after I was almost finished stamping that I only had the ALPHABET, no numbers, which caused me to tear my hair when I wanted to stamp Psalm 128:2! The 1 is an I. The 2 is a Z rounded off by hand. The 8 is an E right side up and upside down together. That's the breadth of my creativity.

I'm HAPPY the Happy Fields quilt is where it belongs... in the Fukuda home!