memoirs of a gaijin: Spring Break

Spring break has come and gone, and I think it's what we all needed. I traveled, as previously planned, to Nebraska to see my family, while Jon and Denis ended up going to Thailand with some friends after his parents' trip to Japan was postponed. We were able to relax, recharge, and remove ourselves from the incessant news-watching that had become our reality after the earthquake/tsunami on March 11.

My week at home was wonderful. I was able to see most of my family and a few friends, and I got to do many of the things I was hoping to do while in Nebraska in March.

One of the highlights of the week was having some girl time with my mom and sisters at the fabric store. We all chose fabrics for projects we're working on, or are about to start, and spent half the day pulling bolt upon bolt of fabric from the racks. Thanks for all your help, M&M&M!

With all my new fabric, my mom and I started two new quilts (for Denis and sibling). I chose the log cabin pattern, for its classic design, and fabrics that are similar, yet different, for the two quilts. The first quilt, which will be made of these repeating green blocks, started coming together from the get-go. We all fell in love with the colors of this block! The plaids are a bit wonky (not printed straight on the fabric, and so proved a bit difficult to cut and sew), but they bring a certain masculinity to the quilt that I was hoping for. I absolutely love the two greens in this block, and they were chosen for their reflection of the great outdoors.

The second quilt, which is going to be made of brown blocks, took a little longer to come together. It started out like this, but the two black plaids (which are greats fabrics in and of themselves) ended up feeling too dark to me. And the busy blue print in the middle didn't 'pop' enough for me. Who knew I was so picky!

So, I rummaged around my mom's fabric room and found a dark brown print with a leaf design for the outside strips. We decided to use the reverse side of the fabric, rather than the front, as the softer color on the back coordinated better with the green fabric in the other quilt. I won't even admit to the number of fabrics we tried, or the number of fabric stores I visited, to come up with the right print for the small pieces next to the blue center. These were contenders, but neither ever felt right to me.

I eventually found another plaid that I liked, which I think is going to work well. The center was changed to the same blue that's in the green blocks, which will tie the two quilts together nicely, I think. There's also the same leaf fabric, but in brown, in this block.

And that was much more information than anyone wanted, I realize!

Anyway, thanks Mom, for doing all the piecing for me (and for putting up with all my changes!). By the way, Denis says he wants the green quilt.

A trip home wouldn't be complete without catching a ball game of some sort. This time it was my nephew's (#17) soccer game.

Another highlight was that I bought my first tree. A redbud!

My parents are tree-sitting for me until Jon and I can plant it at our property this summer. Long story short, we're having our current tenant move out and my sister is moving in. Let's just say that both the house and the yard are in some desperate need of TLC, and this tree is the first small improvement we're hoping to make.

The most spectacular highlight was witnessing the sandhill crane migration that takes place every March in Nebraska, a couple hours to the west of where my parents live. It's something I've always wanted to do, and I'm so glad I did. It was spectacular! My parents and I bundled up (the spring-like weather we'd been having up to that point suddenly decided to turn back to winter) on Wednesday afternoon and made the trip west, were we met my friend Gail at the Rowe Sanctuary for the sunset crane viewing.

Before I left on my trip, someone asked what the weather would be like in Nebraska at that time of year. I joked, saying I'd probably experience the full spectrum of weather within a week's time, and that's exactly what happened. There was spring for a couple of days (almost summer-like, as it apparently reached 81F in Lincoln one day), then there was a tornado watch, then a hailstorm, and finally, by week's end, there was winter.