Kurume Kasuri Musubi (Knot)

We finally received word about our air freight. Apparently it arrived in Salt Lake on the 18th and has been trying to clear customs ever since. If it took nearly two weeks for them to approve of a few suitcases full of clothes, I wonder how long it will be before we see the rest of our household goods. While we lived in the UK I enjoyed watching an Australian reality series called Nothing to Declare. Most of the footage was filmed in the Sydney and Melbourne airports, following passengers who tried to smuggle drugs, weapons or other dangerous items into Australia. Before our movers arrived, we made an honest effort to remove from our home aerosol cans, candles, crayons, paint, ivory, batteries, food, and everything else we were told not to bring. What if we missed something? I thought Nothing to Declare was an interesting and entertaining show. It’s not so much fun to live through.

Kasuri Check

Twenty-six years ago today I was home caring for three young sons and a newborn daughter.  I don’t remember why my first grader was home on a Tuesday morning. I do remember I had to convince him to watch the liftoff with me. I told him, “This one has a teacher on board. She’ll be showing school kids all over the country what it’s like to be in space. So we were watching together when the space shuttle Challenger took off and seconds later ceased to be. President Reagan was scheduled to give his State of the Union address that night. Instead, he spoke to us from the oval office. He quoted from one of my favorite poems: “We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God.”

Five Squares

Patchwork piecing and quilting are popular hobbies all over the world, and in different quarters they tend to take on a distinctive cultural flavor. In the American Midwest, reproduction prints from the 1800's and 1930's are all the rage. In the Baltic we saw several simple block patterns using solid primary colors. Australian quilters are fond of large bold prints, and traditional Hawaiian quilts are elaborate two-color appliques based on botanical designs. The blue-and-white blocks that I’m working on right now were drafted from traditional Japanese patterns. In Susan Briscoe’s book “Japanese Quilt Blocks to Mix and Match” this block is called Kurume Kasuri Goku Masu, which she says means Five Squares. As I only know a handful of words in Japanese, I guess I’ll just have to take her word for it.

Redwork Sampler

The Year of the Dragon began a few moments ago. New Year is the longest and most important of Chinese holidays. It begins with a family feast on the eve of the new year and ends with a lantern festival fifteen days later. This is a time to thoroughly clean your house to sweep away any bad luck and to make room for the good fortune the new year may bring. It’s a time to pay your debts, to reconcile any differences you have with family members or neighbors, to forgive any grudges you may be holding and to offer sincere wishes for peace and happiness to everyone. This is also a time to dress in red and to decorate your house with red lanterns and red banners. This sampler is a friendship quilt, made with blocks my Harrogate quilting friends pieced. I hope to have it quilted and bound in time to display it next Chinese New Year.

Hoedown

Each year since 2007 there’s been a quilt challenge at the Utah State Fair. I’ve competed every year; even while I was an expatriate. Competitors must use at least 198 square inches of a particular print in their quilt top. The quilt must be the work of one individual. It can be no larger than 24"x36". This is the quilt I entered in last year’s competition. The challenge fabric was covered with the staring barn animals you see in the outer border. For my nine kaleidoscope blocks I fussy cut the challenge fabric so sheep, horses, cows and pigs each had their own corner, with roosters in the center ring. You probably can’t see it, but the white background fabric is full of animal noises. I was so proud of my entry, but it only earned a white ribbon - third place. I can see I’ll have to try much harder this year.

Linked Nine Stones

Our air freight is still AWOL, but we’re not sitting around and waiting. Every morning starts with hot oatmeal, raisins and walnuts, orange juice and the New York Times crossword. We have a little kitchen in our suite so we don’t have to eat every meal at a restaurant. While John is hard at work, Heather and I make use of the pool, exercise room and laundry. The hotel is pet friendly, so our little dog keeps us company. A grocery store and an excellent book store are only a walk away. Best of all, I’m getting acquainted with my precious grandson. Heather misses having a room all to herself. Occasionally she lets me know she’d like to see less of me. I worry about our household goods, and I wonder why we’re not receiving any mail. But as there’s nothing I can do about any of that right now, I may as well relax and enjoy the things I CAN do.

Simple Pairs

When we sorted all our possessions into surface freight, air freight and “what comes with us,” we believed our air freight would rejoin us within a week. To negotiate airport security and customs, we flew with a wheelchair, two backpacks, a medical bag and three carry-on bags. Two weeks later, that’s still all we have. We’re beginning to tire of wearing and washing the same few things. Our shirts and trousers are beginning to look tired, too. I sent a few necessary quilting supplies via air freight, and I’m still waiting for them. So today for the first time I’m posting a block I DID NOT MAKE. My mother generously pieced this block for me. It’s part of a series of Japanese-inspired quilt blocks that Quilts Etc. in Sandy is offering this year. Mother also loaned me a sewing machine, so in a day or two I can post my own work again. Whether or not our things arrive.

Scrappy Stars

Happy New Year! This may be my last post for a while. The movers will be here today around noon, and I'll be apart from my sewing machine and my fabric stash for some time. For the past few weeks we’ve been separating the things that will be moving home with us from the things that won’t. Our mover won’t carry my piano or John’s car, so both must be sold. They also won’t take any cleaning products, food (not even salt and pepper) or anything made of wax. Since the voltage in the UK and the US are different, it doesn’t make sense to bring any electrical appliances. Now that we’ve found homes for nearly all of that, we have to separate the things we can do without for the next six to nine weeks from the things that we can’t. If it’s true that a change is as good as a rest, we should all feel very rested soon!