A "reversable" runner?

This is not the last of the runners that I am making for my daughter for her birthday, but it is the last of the seasonal ones. I'm not sure it was much of a success because trying to make it reversible was something like trying to serve two masters at once.

The Christmas fabrics went together fairly well and I was pretty satisfied with the variety of color and size. Since New Years is the big holiday in Japan, my idea was to use a printed panel of the twelve zodiac animals for the reverse side. The sizes of the two were close enough and I thought I would quilt the back with the frames and animals ... so far, so good


























I used a gold metallic thread for quilting because there was a thin gold outline on the pictures of the panel.

I started with the frames around the animals but found the outer edges fell inside the green outer border on the Christmas side. Oops. So, I quilted those parts just through the top and batting.

Next I quilted around the writing. Well, it didn't look bad on the other side but it was a bit distracting and I began to think that quilting the fussy details of those twelve animals might not bring the effect I had in mind.

So... I turned the runner back to the Christmas side and quilted in the ditch around the squares, being careful not to go all the way through in the places that might mess up the animals.

This runner might have been a bit better with more quilting but I decided to quit while I was ahead.

Every year I attend at least one quilt show in Japan that displays the work of Emiko Toda Loeb. Her quilts are usually hung at the end of a section so that the viewers can enjoy both the front and the back. Indeed, it would be difficult to figure out which was intended as the front because her work is completely reversible in design as well as quilting. Next time I will have to study her work more closely and see how she does it. So far, she has no competition from me!

I am intending to make one more runner for my daughter to use at partys when she adds a cube to her narrow table. She likes Japanese indigos so that is what I am planning to use ... now that she has put up with the three and two-half runners I have sent. With her birthday a little over a week away, the last one is going to be late. Sorry, Marie, I can't even say,"it's in the mail".




Last week I posted a picture of the first bloom on my prickly pear cactus that Morishita-san had given me. Last Friday I went back to my old neighborhood while my car was having its yearly inspection and stopped at Morishita-san's house to give him the pictures I took. He was so delighted and said he felt like a grandchild was coming home. Here on his porch is the big grandpa cactus. It is almost finished blooming for the season but you can see what an impressive plant my little fellow has to look up to.

As I write this last bit, the table is dancing and the light fixture is swinging and the dog is trembling at my knees because we are having an earthquake.

Turning on the TV, I see the quake was centered to the north of Tokyo near where Tanya (Taniwa) lives and had a magnitude of 5 on the Japanese scale of 7.
There is no danger of tsunami but landslides are always a problem and the trains are stopped until they are all checked. This is not an activity one can "get used to"!

Jon's Birthday Tablecloth 2010

Having drawn Jon's name for birthday giftee, I thought it might be fun to make him a quilted birthday tablecloth. I asked him for table size and color options and then sat down with a pencil and paper to draw up the plan. The idea was to have animals of the zodiac running around to represent the years as they fly by and having made several cloths of food prints and having them found good for hiding spills, I thought it might be fun to have food on the table. I guess the title might be "Food on the Table".

Starting with the center I got bogged down finding positions and fabrics for all the animals. In the end, it took me almost a month past Jon's birthday to complete. With twelve inches between the center and table edge, I was able to put the food fabric on point for a more interesting effect. All the quilting templates I had on hand were the wrong size so I ended up re-drafting them. It gave me work for the trip in the summer and I was able to put in the last stitches before leaving to the jamboree. It has already been spilled on but is yet to celebrate a birthday, having missed Jon's.

Paul's "Big Boy" Quilt 2008

Started in April as a carry-along project, I went through my stash of greens and blues. I assembled 3 sizes into a 5" block and those were again combined to make a 10" block.

Designed to be sewed together, they just didn't work when laid out on Sue and Pete's living-room floor in June. At Sue and Cyndi's suggestion, the navy sashing and a blue+green border were added and Kimie helped with the arrangement during her July visit.


It didn't look like much of a "kids" quilt so I decided to use the zodiac animal towels for the reverse side. Paul made a trip to Ginza to pick up a dragon for the top border since little Paul is a dragon. To make the backing large enough I added a strip of dragonfly yukata fabric.

The idea is to have the family members sign their names and birthdays on the animals. I drafted the quilting design and made the templates. The idea was to have and interlocking pattern. I hope this will make up for his baby quilt which had become too small now that he has a big bed. 76" x 86" (193cm x 218.5 cm)

Maile's Quilt 2007