A Grand Success!

Our auction was a huge success, both from the fun perspective and from the financial perspective. The gorgeous quilt was sold for just over 5 digits $US, over 7 digits in yen! Bidding was hot and furious! The quilt itself looked absolutely amazing hanging in the ballroom at the Ritz Carlton in Tokyo. Here it is -- how cool is that? Some of the people thought that it was part of the Ritz Carlton ballroom decor. How great is that?



Even better, the highest bidder is a friend of mine, so I know it will be loved and cherished.

Of course, since the auction I've done nothing but reconcile the accounts on the bidding, and the reciepts. For 4 straight days I've been in the Endless Tunnel of Accounting.

For my own inspiration, another picture of the quilt:


I'm off again to the accounting of the whole event. Numbers are all adding up, and it's going well. Hopefully I'll get a chance to knit soon (I haven't picked up my knitting in an entire week -- I think that's the longest I've gone without knitting since I STARTED knitting).

Back to the Endless Tunnel -- at least I see the light at the end....

Doin' the Happy Dance -- AGAIN!

I'm a-doing the Happy Dance!

The Auction Quilt is FINISHED (I know I said it was finished before, but now it has the hanging sleeve, so it's REALLY REALLY finished), and is hanging in the school! It will be auctioned off April 20 -- can't wait to see the bidding! My heart is pounding with adrenaline already.

Here it is:



AND, as if there wasn't enough joy in my life with the completion of THAT project, we also finished our class project: the Chinese character for PLAY (asobi) done in washi paper. It's amazing.




Since I'm on such a roll with finishing projects, I also managed to finish my shodo (calligraphy) monthly submission and begin the annual "test," ** AND ** I finally managed to block the purple angora shawl and the pink baby poncho. Look out baby, I'm on a roll!

Doin' the Happy Dance!

The Quilt is FINISHED!

Our fearless quilting master has finished the last few stitches, and now it is up to me to attach the sleeve as the final final piece before we hang this lovely thing!

Of course, I tested it out first -- here the dragon is reclining on a queen size bed:



And here, our dragon is enjoying a bit more room on a king size bed:



It's amazing, it's beautiful, and it's going to be someone else's in 11 days. Highest bidder wins!

Washi -- Japanese hand-made paper craft

Industrious souls embarking on a wild ride -- what kanji character will we use? What size paper? What type pen or paint? Do too many cooks really spoil the broth? NOT HERE! We ROCK!

Our initial forays into art - we are blurry because we are thinking so fast!


Here we are -- ASOBI, the kanji for "play." This is the test run. We subsequently tried "Wa," or harmony, and went back to asobi, and then we decreased the size. We'll use the paper that the kids create instead of this.



Washi is a traditional Japanese art -- hand-made paper. Sometimes the paper will incorporate other natural elements (straw, flowers, grass, etc), and we are having the 4 and 4 year olds rip black washi paper, dribble gold paint on them, and then we will assemble them in a character meaning "PLAY." It's very appropriate, don't you think?


Here we apply a combination of Japanese rice school glue and "bond," which always makes me think, "Bond, James Bond," but is actually GLUE in Japan, and water. The consistency is rather runny, and we pretty much soaked the washi paper to apply it to the laquered washi board. (By the way, a big hooray to the washi shop owner who came to a private home to help apply the gorgeous lacquered paper to a board -- HOORAY!)



And, applying the glue combination, the ladies are making sure that the top piece of washi is carefully glued to the board -- and no bubbles allowed!


You guys are awesome! (Any guesses as to what this project will go for at the auction??)

Look for more detailed pics on the final product next Wednesday.