Sendai Block Finished

The deadline to finish the Hearts and Hands for Sendai block was June 30.  Here it is, July 5th, and I am finally done.  As usual, I am juggling too many balls.  But at my age (over the half-century mark), things aren’t likely to be changing, LOL.   This block will, however, be in the mail to Leslie (who is coordinating this effort and assembling the quilts) tomorrow.

I have had the lace Geisha for years, and knew this was the perfect piece for it.  The blue brocade on the right side had swirl patterns in it that reminded me of waves (as in tsunami), so I added the blue scroll lace in that area to represent the water.  The other blue section is stitched with a traditional Japanese pattern which also signifies water.

The two pink fabrics were patterned with cherry blossoms, so to the bottom I added a spray of white lace flowers that I painted pink. A little center, some stitches representing stamens, some leaves... viola!

The trim that goes across the top had the perfect colors for the block, except the edges were red. So, I just stitched over them with pink metallic Kreinik braid.  The fan in the top corner was made from lace that Hideko donated to the auction at our Crazy Quilting International Retreat in September last year.  I bid on it and won. It is a cherry blossom pattern, and I love that I was able to use it to make a lace fan for this block that will benefit Japan!

The kite was the last motif I added, and it seemed appropriate since the shape of the fabric it rests on is roughly a kite shape.  There are two layers of fabric for the kite; the background pink with red is a piece of silk from a vintage kimono, and the top blue butterfly fabric was a recent (maybe 10 years old) cotton print here in the US.   The green and blue fabric the kite rests on (also in left bottom) was the first fabric - from a vintage dress -  I selected for this jewel-toned block.  Everything grew from that.  I wanted it to be a colorful, cheerful piece.

And speaking of colorful and cheerful, my sweet friend Wilma from the Netherlands send me this wonderful gift of fabrics she had left over from her Austria wall hanging.  You can see her lovely quilt here.   Wilma had recently visited Austria, and we talked about that beautiful country when we met at the CQ Adventure in Connecticut last April. I had spent a summer there going to school while I was in high school.  I only had one scrap of fabric left from my trip , and lots of ribbons in red, white, black and green. They will be lovely trims on the crazy quilt block I make with these.  Thank you, Wilma!!

The Austria Block will move up on my priority list for this year!

And now I will leave you with some pictures from the front yard today. We had our new living room window installed today, which made tending London rather interesting.  She thought it was so cool after they removed the old window, and we could stand there waving through the hole at everyone!  I did take before and after pictures of the living room window, but I am not posting them (they are, after all, just windows).  You’re welcome.

Flower pots are growing nicely. Delphiniums blooming!

Delphiniums and yarrow. Soon the daylilies and friends will join them.

An old birdbath that no longer holds water is still useful as a decoration.

I’m off to bed with high hopes that the neighborhood delinquents that were shooting off fireworks last night until after midnight will not be giving us an encore.  I don’t want to turn into the cranky old lady who has the police on speed dial...

Hugs,