Facing challenges

I am always impressed by my many blogging friends who love to join in to all kinds of challenges.

There are block swaps and all kinds of group challenges involving the creation of blocks or even whole quilts. I browse these posts with a great deal of awe.

Sometimes it is all I can do to manage the assorted challenges that life tosses my way ...
without looking for more.

Continuing challenge #1 is the tucks in the basted backing of Ben's rainbow quilt. I have now quilted most of the center. I started with the center two blocks and have been going around those two, increasing one row at a time. So far I am satisfied that the quilting on the back is coming out relatively square. As I near the borders, I have reached the places where there are tucks in the basted back.

Yesterday I began the outer row and so far I have been able to remove all the basting and smooth out the tucks in the hoop as I go. This challenge is one block at a time. It means a lot more stopping and starting than I like (I usually work with a very long piece of thread so I don't have to stop and start so often). This way I work the rows leading to the border and then do the cross rows one-by-one.

The nice thing is that now I am nearing the edge, there is less quilt to sit under. Seeing the progress encourages me to keep going and dreaming of the day Ben can take the baby quilt off his bed and have a big-boy quilt to replace it.

Yesterday I added another challenge to the equation.  I had a date set up with one of my best friends who came to Japan for the up-coming World Scout Jamboree.

He will be off to the site tomorrow and had brought me a huge shopping bag of fabric that his mother was cutting from her stash.

Of course this is not the first "gift" she has sent.
Last time I needed to drive my car to pick up the many boxes he brought. (In fact, this may be her way of getting me to live to 200 just to use it all).

I figured one large shopping bag could be put into my roller bag and I could tale the train for free with only a short walk to the meeting spot.

Rushing around to get things organized so I could get out the door in a timely fashion, I kicked something. I can't even remember what it was ... a chair leg ... a corner of the furniture ... the door frame ... but when I finally stopped long enough to look, my little toe was sticking straight out at 45degrees from my foot. Oh, that does not look good. I tried pushing it back so I could put on some shoes. Nope, not going to work. Well I was pressed for time but I hopped on my bike and pedaled
off to the local clinic.

So much for my schedule. x-rays did not look good and it took several sets of x-rays and a lot of pulling and twisting before the toe was back on the right direction. Then a partial cast and all kinds of instructions about not walking and elevating my foot etc. etc. I barely had time left when I got home to change my clothes and grab my roller bag and rush out to the train station, calling my friend to say I might be a wee bit late. Actually the 15 minute walk didn't take so much longer so I was still in time.

One thing though, Those "Silver Seats" which are reserved for the elderly, physically handicapped, pregnant women, etc mean NOTHING to the average rider. They may line up while waiting for the train to arrive, but once the doors open ... it is everyone for himself ... the fastest and pushiest get any free seats. The rest are squashed in and you are lucky to end up with your body relatively above your feet or with a grip within reach. Crutches, walking sticks, casts on feet, mean nothing

When my kids were young and paying half fare, I told them I never wanted to see them sitting as long as there was someone older standing. Travelling with them yet today I notice they hardly ever sit. However, when the seat was offered to a mother with little kids, she would put the kid on the seat and remain standing. Japan has raised several generations of kids who still feel entitled to sit. Since they are all sleeping or texting or reading cartoon magazines or playing games in their i-pads, they conveniently can not notice anyone standing. Well, the train ride was only 29 minutes each way so not too bad.

Sunday I attended with our choir, a memorial service for a long-time member who had recently passed away.

At the end, those in the congregation followed the Japanese tradition of putting flowers on the table in front of the picture of the deceased.

The florist had provided  large white chrysanthemums all in a uniform size. They must have been imported because this is hardly the time of year for chrysanthemums. As we were leaving after the fellowship hour at the end, we were offered flowers to take home. Those Japanese members of the group would never take them home so the foreigners were pressed with big bunches. Well, why not?
Mine went into the entry-way where I can enjoy them coming and going and considering the heat, they have lasted quite well.

The final challenge is the silkworms.

There are still 12 cocoons that have not hatched. I rather doubt that they will as some are way too unfinished or have signs that the efforts to get out didn't work. (dark spots indicate the liquid emitted to dissolve the silk at the opening did not work.

Note the wimpy wings on this little lady.
The eggs are a bit smaller than poppy seeds.

I will put them in a zip=lock baggy and stick them at the back of the vegetable drawer until next summer. It might pe a bit of a challenge to get things right to raise another generation.

Enjoy all your challenges ... the most frustrating one of mine is not doing vacation bible school games with my foot in a cast, it is facing the continuing problem of being no-reply on many of my long-tram favorite blogs.

more silkworm trivia

Yesterday I had an early start to my day.

I left before 7:am for a pre-school who had expressed some interest in interviewing me for a job. Though the interview was around noon, I wanted to have a look at the school and see how the classes were run. Luckily I was able to spend time during the morning in a class with kids and teachers. Two to four year olds have a lot of energy but they are fun to be with and the morning flew by.

I was able to get a more complete tour of the school after the interview. The building used to be apartments and my son-in-law was the architect who converted the space into class rooms and activity areas. Though space was small compared to other schools in the area, the space they did have was very efficiently used and well organized. The director held my SIL in high regard. I think it will be an interesting place to work on a part-time basis,

When I returned home in the afternoon, two of the silkworms had hatched out and were sitting on the side of their apartments. This morning, 14 more crept out of their cocoons. I had never in the past paid much attention to the schedule but it took from four to five weeks for caterpillar to cocoon and a little over two weeks for hatching to begin.

This morning, before I even came downstairs, the first two pairs had formed. These moths look well developed but are unable to fly.

More often they have stubby wings like the one in this picture


So far, there are only two pairs.
Those  others are sitting around waiting for a partner to hatch out.

Just like the caterpillars that patiently sit and wait for leaves to drop on their heads, the moths patiently sit and await a mate.

Though it is getting very hot and humid for sitting under a hoop, I have completed quilting 31 blocks.

Checking the back, I have not yet arrived at the problem areas but so far, what I had considered a possible problem of crooked quilt lines on the back side, seem to be not as expected. If this might be used as a reversible quilt, I worried about how the quilting would line up.

So far, so good.

We are enjoying another very hot sunny day but a typhoon is moving in from the south-east and should make changes by tonight. (hopefully with enough warning to run and shut windows).

Back to normal

Well, here is the picture I couldn't share yesterday.

Today my screen returned to its former configuration and I decided to give my camera another try.

It was nice and quiet basting here on the floor. No one came into the room to see what was going on.

If I do this again though, I will bring a needle threader. The lighting was not all that good and each time I put in a new thread I wasted a lot of time.

Today I decided to try in-the-ditch quilting. My concern was how it would look on the back if the top was not straight.

I began with my large hoop and quilted the two blocks in the center.

I plan to work my way out and think I can correct the wrinkles in the backing, as they are all around the edges ... by just removing the basting once it is in the hoop.

The stitching seems to be straight enough in lining up with the back blocks.

That is a big relief because I really find in-the-ditch quilting the easiest way to go.


It is getting warm and quite muggy so I don't think much will get done during the summer but it is nice having it all set to go when the spirit moves.

Meanwhile, I have begun working on my partnership block for the Tokyo Dome show.
There is a deadline for when it must reach NHK by the 31st of August. It won't take me that long but I hate waiting until the last minute. In that regard, I am my father's daughter.

And here are the cocoons.

Out of 50 eggs that came in the mail, 44 made it to this stage.
Two chose not to use an apartment  but spun in the corners. Some of these may still be spinning, making the cocoons stronger. For a while you can see them moving inside when the light comes through.

During summer, our church goes from two to one service, starting earlier than usual. That means choir practice will begin at 8:45 ... an early rise for me ... and I am not the only member living out in the boonies so I shouldn't complain. We will follow the service with a choir picnic. I hope the weather will cooperate but last prediction I heard was rain. My plants are very happy though, and the agapanthus  is blooming in two planters.