I am what I am

There is a Japanese phrase that I like a lot "Okagesamade". It means

"I am what I am because of you."

Japanese will use it when speaking about accomplishments or results or small successes in life.

I am what I am because of you.

Sometimes I think I should put this as my header for this blog. I am a quilter because of other bloggers that I have visited and who visit me. True, I have quilted a lot longer than I've blogged but because of Anne and Colleen I've made bazaar quilts. Because of Tonya I've relaxed about piecing and discovered the world of wonky. Because of Bonnie I have boxes of Leaders and Enders. Because of Elaine my machine quilting has developed.

Hmm... I could start naming all my blog friends here... Julia, Shasta, Allie, Annie, Brenda Lou and "Joe" all have inspired me, encouraged me, given to me, taught me. And and I am what I am not just in quilting. My thoughts flitter to what Mrs. Goodneedle, Nancy, Callie and Meggie write about. My prayers are for Rae Ann, June and Pat.

I am what I am because of you. Thank you.

Kitty quilts (and some houses)

Yesterday I was "teaching" patchwork. I have no idea how one teaches patchwork. It seems like if you give a person a needle, thread, fabric and a pattern and then tell them to sew the pieces together in a certain order, then the teaching part is done and what is left is the doing part. This theory may be the reason why I am not usually a patchwork teacher.

Two of my long time friends decided that they wanted to do some patchwork. Actually, Mrs. Nakazawa really wanted to do patchwork and Rumi-san came along for the ride. Rumi-san admires patchwork but she isn't particularly nuts about it like Mrs. Nazakawa may turn out to be. Mrs. Nakazawa said that she has done some simple patchwork before and had made a couple schoolhouse quilts ...

Excuse me? That's no beginning patchwork! Mrs. Nakazawa doesn't need a patchwork teacher, she just needs inspiration!!

Mrs. Nakazawa first visited me a couple months ago and saw my cat quilt on the wall. Mrs. Nakazawa is the person whose shoulder I cry on when cat woes overwhelm me. She is the cat lady of her neighborhood! Anyway, she saw my cat quilt and decided she wanted to make one of the blocks. And Rumi-san said she'd be willing to try the block too. I "taught" them how to make templates and how to piece and sent them both home with instructions to make one block.

Rumi-san followed directions and made one block and even got it quilted and framed yesterday. Yeah! Rumi-san! She went home with a stiff neck from doing the quilting.

Mrs. Nakazawa went wild and made lots and lots and lots of kitty blocks! Yesterday I helped her put a border on it, and showed her how to use a quilting hoop. Her homework is to quilt it and then she plans to put eyes and whiskers on some of the kitty shapes.

Cleo thoroughly approves!

Monster in the livingroom

The weather is crazy in Japan this week. Snow on Saturday, sunny and cool on Monday and Tuesday. Like summer on Wednesday and then yesterday a freezing rain. Can you believe that though I had a free day to go up into the sewing room (cold up there) I opted to stay down in the warm living room and quilt for hours.

Sigh. Sometimes I read blogs where the bloggers write about the Monster in the Living room. I had never heard that term before. But I guess I've got my own monster here and it looks like it will be around quite awhile longer. So WHEN did I start my feathered star quilt? (Sometime at the end of 2006. I'm so embarrassed!) And WHEN did I start quilting it? (About this time last year.) It has sat on the edge of my chair now for months and months sometimes getting a token stitch in after weeks of neglect, sometimes getting quite a serious quilting session like yesterday. I've finished stitch-in-the-ditch quilting and the motif work in the star blocks. Now to start on the sashing. My finger is sore today!

The trouble with a monster in the living room is that it takes up space and in a Japanese living room that's quite a percentage of living space. The other problem is that it has sat here so long that it is filthy!!! The cats climb in and under the quilting hoop leaving cat fur everywhere. The quilt drags on the floor as I turn the hoop and can be considered a satisfactory dry mop! Choco steps on whatever is dragging on the floor and leaves muddy footprints here and there! And don't forget the time Vel peed on it because it was so much a part of the room!

I hate to think what shape this quilt is going to be in when it finally gets done. (Give me another year.) My monster is going to have scales and warts and be puffing fumes!

Unreliable

Choco is a very unreliable dog. She has lived with us for over 4 years yet she hasn't really calmed down all that much. True, she no longer tries to eat cats. Chip (our smallest kitty) is a lot more strong willed than Choco and will come up to Choco and bat her in the nose. This leads to scrambling away from Choco and a lot of barking. The other cats keep their distance.

With strays you always wonder what kind of life they led before they joined your family. Were they loved (I guess not if they got dumped in the forest). Did they go through a period of hardship before finding their way to your home?

Some of Choco's background we know about.

She was adopted from the local zoo and lived the first 6 months of her life in a young woman's bedroom. Choco was never trained and the rest of the family didn't like her. As Choco got bigger the young woman's father banned the dog from the house and since Choco barked so much she was tied to a post in an empty lot.

When I found Choco she had been missing from her home a week. The young woman had contacted the animal shelter looking for her and so we assumed Choco was wanted. But when the owner came to pick her up, the young woman burst into tears and said that her father had told her to leave the dog in the mountains somewhere. Would I take her instead? The young woman said there was no leash, no dog bowl, no dog house that Choco could claim as her own. We changed Choco's name just so that she would forget her old life completely.

Choco hates children. Just the sound of their voices will send her cowering and barking. She hates white pick-up trucks so I think her former owner had a pick-up truck or maybe the disapproving father had one. Choco hates water and the sound of Tetsu watering the yard with the hose will make her start trembling and she will try to hide. I have a feeling she's been sprayed with a hose every time she barked in her empty lot.

Yesterday morning I walked by the window dressed in my crosswalk guard uniform. Choco became completely undone and she lunged and pulled and could not be consoled. I talked to her from the window... She should recognize my voice at least if not my figure, but though she was happy when Tetsu came to the window, she was beyond reasoning with me. Dumb dog. I wonder what connections she makes with uniforms...

And then in the afternoon I found her sitting out in front of our house after breaking her leather collar. Granted the collar was old but it was probably all that morning craziness that caused the leather to snap later in the day (and Choco's constant pulling and barking at passersby.) I am SO glad she didn't go after anyone though maybe she is all bark and little bite. We've yet to have a serious incident but there have been some close calls. She really is unreliable but I love her anyway. I don't know why. She doesn't seem to like me when I'm wearing my uniform...

(Post script: Thank you, Kristine. I smudged my telephone number after you mentioned it... It never occurred to me.)

Who gets the newspaper first?

Toi: "What? A newspaper is an important part of every morning? Let me try it. Yes, it does make a satisfyingly crinkly sound."

Patora: "It's pretty comfortable facing this way too."

Toi and Patora got to the newspaper before Tetsu.

Day's outing

Tetsu and I went out for a picnic at a far away park because there were some flying carp being displayed for children to touch. It was a quick stop for us because once taking a couple pictures and eating our convenience store lunch boxes we were ready to go home.

I suppose someday we will join the throngs of grandparents chasing after their grandchildren and pushing strollers but both Tetsu and I felt a little out of place.

Message to Takumi and Leiya. We are not in any hurry!

And Tetsu wants me make note that we managed to get to the park and back without getting lost once!

I'm a world traveler!

This weekend I made numerous stops in Egypt, France, New York, Germany etc. etc. Around the world in two hours!

On Friday, Lorraine and I had a free afternoon and so I decided to take her to a theme park not too far from me which I have really enjoyed. It is somewhat educational and sort of fun to see different architectural structures of the world. Not some place that I would go to alone, but if someone is here from out of town it seems like a nice place to visit.

Let's see. We visited Paris and the Eiffel tower.

Then made a quick stop at the Vatican.

Saw a beautiful castle in Germany.

And said hello to the Sphinx in Egypt.

Hey, I think I could climb a pyramid this size!

Lorraine made a jaunt up to the Great Wall of China.

And visited one of the famous temples of Japan. (She'd visited this one in person too.)

And while in Japan we visited one of the castles.

A quick stop at the Colosseum.

And we paid our respects to the Twin Towers in New York.

There was lots more to see and though it was a cold day Lorraine and I wandered around taking pictures for a couple of hours.

We marveled at the billions of tiny people placed in city scenes and scenic areas. It was amazing to see all the well manicured "grounds" at each of the world's architectures all trimmed back like miniature bonsai.

Some workers had their blueprints out and were putting some final touches on Japan's Tokyo Sky Tree that will grace the Tokyo skyline from 2012.

Well, I may never get to all these places for real but I can let my imagination take me anywhere!