My First Stack and Whack!!

When I found this beautiful Asian print depicting Mount Fuji and cranes, I knew it would make an awesome Stack & Whack quilt!! Can YOU find the mountain and cranes in the stars on the quilt??

Sensai Barbie helped me to get the fabric laid out and showed me how to make the fabric match perfectly...





Isn't it amazing that every one of those hexagons came from the very same piece of fabric??? I'm going to use the original fabric as either a wide border or the quilt backing...

If you've never made a Stack & Whack before, I'd suggest that you add this technique to your repertoire!

A Good Use for Scraps!!

I really love making quilts out of the scraps in my stash!! So when I saw a log cabin quilt design called "Mixed Greens" in the Jan/Feb 2007 issue of Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting, I decided to use up a bunch of my blue scraps...

What do you think of my "Mixed Blues"??



One of the really fun parts of making this one was combining strips to make the logs for the log cabin! As the logs are sometimes mixed, it just makes the quilt look even more scrappy!!

"Love"ly Quilts!

I haven't posted quilts for awhile, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been quilting!!

Our quilting class in February had two heart quilts to celebrate the season... a scrappy patchwork heart and a woven heart. I decided to try to get both quilt tops done in class just because I wanted to make both of them.





For the scrappy patchwork hearts, I just went to my stash and found some scraps... it's bright and sassy!!


For the woven hearts, I had chosen some cute princess castle fabric -- this one is for my oldest grand-niece, Avery... she's really in to princesses and pink!! I think she'll love it... as soon as I get it done!

We Learned to Tie an Obi!!

Barb, Jan and I took a class at the Arts and Crafts Center at Camp Courtney to learn how to tie an obi to make a wall decoration. It wasn't terrible difficult, but I know for sure I couldn't replicate it!! :)

Here's some pictures of our results. (Rebecca took a class a few weeks ago, so she joined us for "show and tell"!)

Quilting Retreat at Okuma

Barb, Rebecca, and I spent the weekend at Okuma with about 30 other quilters.

Here's pictures of the quilts we made while we were there. For pictures of quilts by other members, check out the OIPG Blog

Barb is HERE!!

My sister, Barb, arrived on Saturday night for a two-week visit, and I think she's beginning to understand why I love this place!



Sunday at noon we went up to the Renaissance Hotel for their Italian Buffet... this is NOT your typical pizza and spaghetti buffet... it starts with pumpkin soup... yummy salads... ceviche... smoked salmon... grilled salmon... mixed grill.... garlic pasta... lamb ragout... fresh fruits... pineapple and kiwi and lychee... and then... the dessert table... TO DIE FOR!!! The cool thing about Japanese desserts -- they're not overly sweet... so you don't get sick of them...




After we ate our fill, we went down to the water to watch the dolphins playing in the pens... the trainers were out with them, so we got to watch them practicing their tricks. One of the dolphins who wasn't working with a trainer was clearly trying to get attention -- kinda reminded me of a toddler dolphin!! So cute!!

On the way home, we drove out to Cape Zanpa... we stopped at a gift shop that carries all sorts of Okinawan pretties -- and lots of sweet potato stuff....





Today, Barb had a massage at the fitness center. Now SHE worships Mimi, too! She decided that she just had to have another one before she leaves here, so we got that scheduled. Then we had lunch at a little soba shop down by the seawall... and went for out pedicures complete with nail art... an altogether decadent couple of days!!

I did assure her that they're not ALL like this... I do work sometimes!!

A Quilt for Jeff and Marie!

I completed this quilt top when we were stuck in the house during a typhoon this summer. Then it went into my UFO stack waiting for that "urge" to go farther with it... finding the right backing fabric, making the quilt "sandwich," quilting it -- and then hand-sewing the binding. That last part always keeps them in the UFO stack for awhile!! :)



But it's finally done -- and I really LIKE it!!



Let me tell you a bit about this quilt... I found the fabric while I was visiting my Mom in Bloomington, IN this summer. Jeff and Marie had hosted our family for a GREAT family reunion, and we'd spent lots of wonderful family time on their fabulous front porch. This front porch is really amazing -- more like a casual living room, complete with a stone fireplace. I know that Jeff and Marie and their friends spend a lot of time out there, and I just thought that they needed a quilt for their sofa. Marie had recently recovered the cushions on the sofa, so I "borrowed" a piece of that fabric and took it with me the next time I went fabric shopping. I found the two yellow prints that just seemed to want to be together... the paisley and the floral blend together in the quilt until you look closely... then the dark blue print just seemed like the perfect fabric to pull it all together! I found the backing fabric here in Okinawa... the colors were perfect and it just seemed like a fun fabric for a "porch quilt"! Now that I had the fabric, I had to figure out what pattern to use... I pored through books... turning down pages... searched internet pages and found lots of possibilities... and then I ran across http://www.quiltswithstyle.com and found this pattern called Folkloristisch. The pattern was inspired by traditional Dutch dance steps. I made a few pattern modifications so that I could strip-piece it (this was the my first attempt at doing that with a pattern all on my own!!)



Since you're reading about this quilt for my brother, you might be interested in Jeff's website

Quilted Star Table Runner -- A Bright Spot on a Gloomy Day!!

This is one of the first quilts I made, but it stayed in my UFO stack for a long time!! It was time to get it done!! It was just the project for brightening up our gloomy winter weather!!

New Years Resolutions

I'm a firm believer in NOT making New Years' Resolutions... they're seldom kept and then we just feel guilty for not living up to our resolutions...

But I really like this New Years Resolution generator!!

In the year 2007 I resolve to: Be kinky more often. Get your resolution here.

Kimono Quilts

I'm really enjoying my time off!! Yesterday I took Nathan to get a new ID card and drivers' license and shopping for clothes... as soon as we got back home, it took off to spend time with Ashley, of course!!

So I got caught up on some computer stuff, and then settled in at the sewing machine!

I had some little projects started, so I got those finished...



Rachel and Darryl Rice joined us Christmas evening for a traditional rousing game of Mexican Train. Rachel admired the kimono wall hanging in our entry way, so I had her pick out some fabric so that I could make one for them...





This little kimono quilt is fun to make and a great way to use small pieces of fabric... I like the way these colors came out...











My friend, Jan gave me some fat quarters of Okinawan prints for Christmas. I love the way they look in the Dancing Kimono pattern.










I finished this one for a Christmas present for a Greg and Sarah Sharp...

Merry Christmas!

My family wishes your family a peaceful and warm Christmas!!

Just in time for Christmas!! A Santa Quilt!

This guy has been done for awhile -- except for the button eyes.. and the red bead nose for Rudolf! It was Barbie's idea to make one of the reindeer on the background fabric into a Rudolf... kinda cute, I think!!

Edo Town -- a Quaint Japanese quilt

I have loved this pattern for awhile... It's a fun way to use small pieces of Okinawan fabrics!

A Snails Trail for a Baby!!

Darryl and Rachel's daughter Amber is having a baby!! It's their first grandchild. We've been friends for a lot of years so we got to watch Amber grow up.. so, of course, I'll be making a baby quilt!

As I was trying to decide on fabrics for Saturday's class, I thought that these fabrics would make a fun baby quilt and a great snails trail.

This one was really fun!!

Okinawa International Patchwork Guild: This Was Our Guild Project in September...

Okinawa International Patchwork Guild: This Was Our Guild Project in September...

Quilting on Saturday

Second Saturday of the month = Okinawa International Patchwork Guild workshop!!

Today we worked on a holiday Bell Table Runner -- a ThimbleBerries pattern. It was fun and easy!!

I got the quilt top all pieced today during class! So... it's another UFO to add to the pile!

Viv's quilts

There's a groups of us here in Okinawa who quilt together -- usually two Saturdays per month in class and sometimes on Wednesday nights at Barbie's house. Many of us also work together!! Working for the military, we're used to people moving away pretty frequently, but we still miss them when they go!!

Viv used to work for me and was part of the quilting group. She moved away a couple of months ago to Washington state. I was delighted when she sent me some pictures of her latest creations!! Thanks, Viv!! We MISS YOU!!

A Maple Leaf in Memory of Dad...

I finished this one this evening...

This quilt is a maple leaf design, and I decided to shadow quilt it.

This quilt is pretty special to me because I was working on it when my Dad died, 16 August 2006... and it seemed so fitting that it would be dedicated to him. One of my fondest memories of childhood was our yearly trips to Burton, Ohio to get maple syrup. My Mom and Dad continued to make that trip every year to get a supply of syrup for the family. When we lived in Germany and Korea, my Mom would mail me a half-gallon of syrup each spring... the postage was probably way more than the syrup was worth... but oooooohhh, it was good!!