Be*mused

Year of the Draggin'...er, Dragon

2012 ~ Year of the Dragon

All year I had my January Japan trip penciled in as the usual 'girls' visit'...a 10 day or so stay with Molly during the Quilt Festival, a few special outings together and then several of her work days to wander on my own. That all changed in November, when K&H, who now live in Shanghai, decided to come to Japan during their Chinese New Year holiday week. Molly's fiancé, working on assignment in Beijing, also had the holiday week off. At this point, M wasn't about to be left out. It turned into quite the family affair, M & I spending the first few nights with Molly at her cute, little Tokyo place. Then, upon the China contingent's arrival, a move for all of us to a larger apartment which we rented for 5 nights...sort of a delayed holiday, since none of us were together for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Must have shot this during the 5.0 earthquake we experienced one evening.

We've never done anything like this before. Happily, Molly was able to do some internet legwork for us and we booked a wonderful, convenient place close to a major train station on her side of the city. We had the top floor apartment...what a view at night! Of course, I was surreptitiously checking it out as a possible place to stay with friends once Molly eventually leaves Tokyo. (Thumbs up!)

Nothing tastier than a traditional Japanese birthday cake.

Among the six of us, we were going from morning to night...sometimes together, often pairing off in different permutations to meet later as a group for dinner. And what kept me busy? Showing M around Tokyo, visiting Molly's workplace, trekking out to Nezu to a museum dedicated to one of my favorite illustrators, Takehisa Yumeji, celebrating my birthday (my first with both kids since K was in high school) and many late nights of Settlers of Catan marathons. We brought a 5-6 player extension pack with us...yes, we are all addicted. There were a few noteworthy outings which I'll save for another post and, of course, the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival...which I'll start to cover next time. The quilts, the people, the fabric...the experience.

By Fumiko Nakayama

I have started the Flickr album of the 2012 Tokyo show. I know you're anxious to see the quilts but ask that you please bear with me as I get my photos posted over the next week or two. I necessarily crop and color-correct my shots, due mostly to the uneven lighting at the show. Then once the photos are set to upload, have to hunt down each quilt in one of two show catalogs for identification info. A bit time intensive!

Slow Mo

I got back last evening and am moving in definite slow motion today.  It was, perhaps, my most busy trip to Japan yet and toward the end, I developed a terrible cold from which I'm suffering the effects this morning.  It's snowing out and I'm still in PJs, which may just end up being an all-day situation ~ the snow and the PJs.

Although the suitcases aren't yet unpacked, I couldn't wait to upload my photos and am happy that I'll have lots to share over the next few weeks.  As in previous years, I'll put up another Flickr album from the Tokyo Quilt Festival and will post a link here once I get that started.

Until then, here are a few teaser shots from the show...detail shots from some of the exhibited quilts.  I was lucky enough to again be able to visit on two days and am anxious to share my experiences and observations.

Back in a few days!

Washing blues

I've made no secret here that I'm almost fanatic about pre-washing my fabric before using it in my quilts. No matter the color or lack of intensity, 'Be prepared' is the motto of this longtime scout. I'd prefer a little work now to avoid surprises later. Until this time, through all of our moves, the appliances came with the house so in August, I found myself shopping for a new washer-dryer set. I never pay attention to things like what's new in appliances until confronted with replacing something, so imagine my surprise when I couldn't find any like I'd had...only these new high effieciency models.

Now, I'm all for progress, but if given the choice, would really just prefer to use what I'm used to. When I asked about the availabilty of any non-HE model, the slaesman replied, 'Oh, you mean the granny-style?'. Hrumpff. I'll bet that's in the sales training. In the end, due mostly to space considerations, I came home with the new models, which I did learn to like, flashing lights/beeping alerts and all. Until November, when I wanted to pre-wash some new fabric.

As you can see from the diagram under the hood, these washers use much less water and it's normal for the contents to not be totally covered by it during the cycle. Well gosh, how's my new fabric supposed to slosh around and shed all of those loose dye molecules if it's all jammed together with just a bit of water?

Some pieces of Malka's new line...waiting for a dunk.

I thought about this for a while and Googled around, deciding that if I continued my original practice to first soak my fabric in a sink, I'd not only be able to identify any possible offenders pre-washing machine, but now it would all weigh more...wet...which would trick the machine into sensing a bigger load and subsequently add more water! It seems to have worked well on the small bit of fabric I have washed since the summer. Really, I moved so much yardage (tonnage?) when we moved, it seriously discouraged much further accumulation  (That effect does wear off, however, over time...)

Which brings me to yesterday's adventure. Do you remember that last March, Molly returned to the states for a week while things settled down in Tokyo after the earthquake?  She had grabbed a few things she wouldn't want to lose if things got bad again while she was away and then left some of those items with me, for safekeeping, for a while. Including her quilt.

I decided to pull it out and wash it up for her, since my machine is so much bigger than her Japanese mini-version. And to ensure a good, sloshy rinse, I decided to follow my fabric washing routine and put it in the utility sink for a pre-wash soaking.

Gahhh!  You can imagine my horror when I returned to transfer the quilt to the machine. What the #@*! was this?!!  There it sat in this murky, inky mess. Oh well...in for a penny, in for a pound...I decided to move forward and hope for the best.

Luckily, I had some Color Catchers on the shelf, so I emptied a full box in with the quilt.

I set the machine on 'Bulky', pressed start and held my breath...for about 45 minutes.

When the machine stopped, I was somewhat dismayed (though relieved) to find the now-dark blue Color Catchers, but at quick glance, the quilt looked ok. I decided on another rinse and threw 5 more Color Catchers in.  They emerged pure white.  BIG sigh of relief!

Ta-da!  I'm not sure what the lesson is here, if there even is one. I'm *pretty sure* that I prewashed the backing and border fabric when I made the quilt, though I remember rushing to get it finished for a Christmas mailing deadline that first year Molly was living in Japan. Did I skip the pre-wash because the print looked so safe?  If so, lesson learned, again.  All's well that ends well.

Today I'm putting the quilt in a suitcase to bring to Molly, because it's that time of year again...Tokyo Quilt Festival!  I plan to be at the show on Friday (20th) and Monday (23rd), so if you see me there, please, do say hello!  I'll be the one with the camera and the big bag of fabric.  *wink*

Cruising

This is more like it. I'm busy this week but things are finally falling into place here. I think 2012 is going to be stellar! (Attitude is probably 50%, right?) 2011 wasn't bad, but I constantly felt like things were out of control. Like waves rolling in, as I put one situation behind, another came and knocked my feet from under me. Now we're in the home where we plan to stay, in an area we're long familiar with. And just that makes such a difference.

I've already gotten one lollypop block completed, which thrills me for several reasons. I'm finally using many of the delicious Japanese fabrics I've collected over the last few years. And this quilt is destined for a specific place in our house, which will be one big step in settling in and making this seem more like home!

Because of its intended location, I've made some changes. The KM pattern makes 18" blocks, but I've reduced the block size to 15". Since the designs are symmetrical, it's been very easy to user the scanner to change the block quarters from 9" to 7.5". I'm resizing a few at a time...here's the block I intend to start later today. I'm only making 9 blocks and am focusing on the ones that have smaller pieces, though I haven't definitely decided on on the final selection.

Despite a long list of things to do the last couple of weeks, I'm happy to have had some success in reinstating some old 'good habits' and have been trying to decide on some do-able new ones to work on. I say 'some'...I feel I have a lot of areas to address. I've been dipping into these two blogs for the nudges I seem to need ...Zen Habits, an old favorite, and The Nest Effect, a new discovery. Though Zen Habits is quieter and more thought-provoking, The Nest Effect definitely has some good, applicable ideas for action. Both worthy of consideration if you're in need of a nudge, too!.

In the meantime, I've gotten a great start on shedding those holiday pounds (I mean the ones I've put on since Memorial Day!), diet and exercise-wise. I seem to have purged my sugar cravings and have been working out on a regular schedule. I had a good haircut yesterday, somewhat correcting an unfortunate situation totally brought on by me (the worst kind) before Thanksgiving as I urged my hairdresser, against her better judgement, to 'take more off the back'. I have my energy back. A good thing.

This afternoon, it's back to my list of things that need attention this week. Brushing up on things once learned but now somewhat fuzzy. Like my last haircut.

Slow and steady

Yawn

I woke up early this morning (5:00!) and decided to have my Morning Joe in the sewing room. In a 'grab a needle and try something immediately' moment the other day, I started appliqueing at my worktable, as opposed to my usual handwork habit...sitting in my comfy chair in the evening...and it's been a revelation. Technically, I'm finding it easier, sitting at a table, to stitch pieces down nice and flat and I've been much more productive. I almost never plop myself down in the family room during the day, but I'm always in and out of the sewing room. I've adapted a quilting habit to my applique...that of always leaving my work with a needle freshly threaded and the next piece in place...and it's definitely resulted in lots of progress on my new project.

When I decided to applique that first piece on the background fabric at the worktable, instead of running downstairs to raid my hand-sewing basket, I grabbed this random packet from a box of extra needles I keep by the sewing machine. I have no idea when or where I picked them up...at a show?..as a giveaway?...but they are my new favorite. John James Gold'nGlide Applique needles. Fabulous!

This photo's for those of you who seem to think that my workspace is always pristine. Choosing fabrics that will work on a red background is a real job so I've been playing with lots of options until I've found prints, patterns and values that work. I've spent a whole lot more time this week cutting and pondering than stitching.

My plan was to use colors that I loved so much from these blocks, so I put them back up on the board for reference. It's a lot easier to pick three or four fabrics for a pieced block than all the pieces needed for just one of Kim McLean's lollypop trees. I'm trying to remind myself that adjacent blocks will help even out the mix. What a challenge!

I'm still kicking around creative plans for the new year. How about this Building Houses from Scraps sew-along I stumbled onto last week? A house block a day, for a year. I don't think you can officially *join* at this point, but the PDF for the paper-pieced house block is only available until January 16th, so I wanted to mention it for those of you who might be interested. How about a house a week? Jeanneke, the host, has certainly put a lot of effort into this project (multilingual!). It's entertaining just to follow along.

Holiday hangover

Like so many of you, I usually take the week after Christmas to make a clean sweep, both literally and figuratively, and then return with a January 1 post to set the table for the new year. I'm putting that post off a little longer because I don't feel like my new year has really started yet. Hopefully I'll tie up some loose ends this week and have something to say again in a few days.

But I really don't want to wait any longer to wish you all a Happy New Year!