Knitting in progress

I've got a basically free day so I need to do some house cleaning. My timer is set for 20 minutes on this computer and then I am off!

This morning I blocked the pieces of the vest that I've been knitting. This doesn't look interesting (not too colorful is it?) but Leiya wanted natural. My friend Mrs. Ide who has formally studied knitting once told me that the most important step in knitting (or crochet) is blocking the pieces before putting them together. Hey, I've spent years not blocking anything but Mrs. Ide claims it makes a world of difference so I've recently been taking the extra step of pinning down the pieces and steam pressing. Since this is cotton yarn I hope the vest will hold it's shape better... After these pieces are connected I'll put a single stitch crochet trim around the edges... Will that hold it? (I changed the pattern from pullover to button down... But I don't think Leiya wants buttons...)

And Thursday I helped three of my students make cell phone bags. A few months ago BrendaLou had sent me some patterns and so these went together easily. I had picked out some fabric that I wasn't really planning to use but the three girls dived into my stash drawers and came up with the cute kitty fabric.

"But this is Christmas fabric! It's March!"

No matter. Two of the girls wanted kitty Christmas cell phone bags. I wonder what their parents thought...

Okay. Off to clean! Hey, blogging only took me 10 minutes today!

GROSS!! but mine

While putting some of the things that Marlene gave me from cleaning out her cupboards, I came across some

Absolutely no one wants nor needs but cannot be thrown away stuff in a drawer.

Okay gang. I don't want to gross you out but I guess I've got to show this to explain it. What do you think this is?

I know... it looks like a piece of dried up snot. Not too far off there folks!

I've got three of them.

And for some reason two of them came in boxes and the last one came wrapped in a piece of gauze.

One is our first daughter's. One is Takumi's. And the one without the box is Leiya's.

Each was given to me a few days after our children were born.

When I got the first one I about dropped it and was grossed out. The second time (Takumi's) I looked forward to getting it. And when Leiya came along I was disappointed that I didn't get a box...

On the back of the first box is just MY name and the date.

On the back of Takumi's box is all sorts of pertinent information like how much he weighed, how long he was, what time he was born etc. etc.

And Leiya's is just sitting in its gauze looking like... a piece of snot... No information whatsoever and the only person in the world that can recognize it is me.

These are my children's umbilical cords! Or at least the part that falls off the baby's tummy a few days after birth. The nurses give them to new mothers when they leave the hospitals and Japanese mothers treasure them as proof of the bond between them and their child. Supposedly someday I'm supposed to pass this on to my children's partners in life... I don't think any partner is seriously going to be thrilled to receive this... Not like a diamond or a new car or something....

So I have these unnecessary gross looking pieces of... me and baby. But am I going to throw them out? Not yet. Back in the drawer they go.

Machine applique

Yesterday I did some applique. I used to say that I didn't like applique. And then I did some needle turn and found that I enjoyed it after all. Today I have a headache. I guess that tells you that I didn't enjoy the process so much yesterday.

Mrs. Furui loaned me a beautiful book with applique patterns and instructions on how to do three techniques of applique; fusible applique, hand applique and machine applique. I had a general idea of how to do fusible applique. The instructions in the book about hand applique were different from needle turn but I figured it might be similar. Machine applique is new to me so I opted for that technique.

HAH! Never again! Now I'm not sure where I went wrong but just getting all the little pieces ironed on to and around each paper piece took hours and I burned fingers in the process. The points didn't hold onto the freezer paper and so on the advice of the book I used glue stick. Well, Japanese glue stick may be stickier than American glue stick.

Once my pieces were made (take a break, Tanya. Go walk the dog for an hour!) I ironed them onto the background. Hmm. The freezer paper doesn't hold. Use more glue. Zig-zagging around all the pieces with nylon thread actually worked out very well! I wish I'd used this when I was making my stained glass quilt last year.

By evening I had the block nicely appliqued. Finished right? Nope. All those freezer paper pieces are under there and needed to be taken out. The book said

"With very sharp scissors make a gentle cut in the background fabric under the applique pieces and carefully remove the freezer paper."

As if it is that simple!!! Why is it when the freezer paper wasn't sticking to the pieces and backing, it now is permanently adhered to the fabric edges? And the points with the glue stick? That left paper residue all over the back and pulling the points tore the fabric! Headaches, headaches, headaches.

Note to myself. Never, never, never use Japanese glue stick on fabric. My burned fingers were now having their fingernails torn out trying to get at the paper under those edges. And I thought removing paper from paper piecing blocks was hard! Those weren't cemented in like these!

But the block is done. Too many hours devoted to this to admit.

Any advice for future projects? Does someone have a fail proof method for applique?

Some sewing

I guess I never got around to showing Thursday's work at Mrs. Furui's for the bazaar quilt. It still isn't at flimsy stage but we were able to put the inner blocks together and next month we should be able to get the corners on... I hope...

Though we started making this quilt way back in May of last year, we aren't much farther along than some years when we start in April of the bazaar year... And we are still asking "Who is going to quilt this?"

And Miku-san came over on Friday to put the finishing stitches into her baby quilt. I sewed the binding on for her and she turned it and hand sewed the edges. Grandma-to-be made a label for the back. And Mi kept us company.

Cleaning and moving

Nothing beautiful to show you today.

Yesterday I went to my good friend, Marlene's house, to help her clean and pack. Marlene is leaving for Hong Kong next week and she had to pack up her home of 20 years ALL BY HERSELF! (Her husband is already in Hong Kong.)

As if packing weren't enough, there is all the paper work that needs to be done when moving. Change of addresses, telephones, car registration, Alien registration (we're foreigners here right) insurance forms, realtor papers, bank accounts, electricians, plumbers, recycle shop papers, the list is endless... And Marlene doesn't read nor write Japanese any better than I do.

Uh-hum. I sometimes use my blog to send a "nudge" to friends' family members and today I'm addressing this to Marlene's husband.

You need to go out and buy Marlene a piece of pretty jewelry because she has done a mountain of work these past couple months IN JAPANESE and she deserves a rousing hooray from her family. I sure couldn't have done it!!!!

Anyway, Marlene and I spent nearly 12 hours going around the rooms throughout the house and putting things in throw away, give away and put away piles. Unfortunately quite a lot of the give away pile came home with ME and now I get to figure out where to put away. At any rate, between the two of us, a neighbor and another foreigner friend we've got that house looking pretty well cleared up.

(Garbage in the throw away pile)

(My take home pile)

Marlene is still here three more days and she plans to wax floors, wash windows, pack a closet, do errands, go to three more farewell parties and bake cookies for the neighbors. I don't know. I'd probably skip the waxing and washing and baking... Hope she doesn't wear herself ragged.

Relax Marlene! Have a good time in Hong Kong. I actually had a fun day cleaning with you yesterday. Next time let's do my house. Do I have to move?

Surprise!

I got a surprise package from Shasta yesterday!!!

In my three and a half years of blogging I have met only two blog friends face to face and one of them is Shasta. We figured out that she lived not too far from where Leiya's homestay family was living and two years ago when Tetsu and I went to Leiya's graduation Shasta drove out of her way to come and meet us for breakfast. (So Shasta, you are the ONLY blog friend who has ever met Tetsu!)

Since then Shasta and I visit each other's blogs and share our love of patchwork and quilting. Shasta has been a homestay mother to a couple of Japanese students and her daughter has visited Japan so we seem to find things to chat about.

Shasta's package was bursting with goodies! Some family pictures in a slideshow that just tickled me and it was so much fun to see her beautiful daughter. The fabric that Shasta included made me laugh out loud! SOOOO MEEEE! Look at this packet of matching fabrics! Oh, my cat friends are going to be so jealous! I will have to come up with the perfect project for these kitty fabrics!

Shasta had talked about the curtain rings that she uses to hold some of her smaller quilts and I'd commented that I would keep my eyes open for them someday when I'm in the States. Well, I can cross that off my list because Shasta included those in her package too along with some Fons and Porter pins that I'd admired before and a quilter's magazine!

Thank you Shasta!!! I have pinned your card to my wall and with think of you when I use the pins!

Kindergarten graduation

Yesterday I attended the Mifumi Kindergarten graduation which was a very formal and teary event.

20 years ago when my kids were in kindergarten, fathers rarely attended kindergarten functions. Child raising was the mothers' duty and fathers posed a daunting and domineering presence but did very little hands on care (except for bathing with children... For some reason that has always been the father's job.) At yesterday's ceremonies there were as many fathers there as mothers and everyone had their cameras and handkerchiefs out!

When my children were little I think Tetsu felt he HAD to attend these kindergarten and school ceremonies because he had this American wife who had different ideas about how both parents should participate in their children's activities. He went grudgingly and slightly embarrassed to the kindergarten and elementary ceremonies but he chickened out at Japanese Jr. high and high school graduation.

Kindergartens are private and so the 30 graduating children will be going off to different elementary schools around the city. I know they are proud to call themselves Mifumi graduates and if they are anything like my own children, will remember their kindergarten years with much fondness.