Out and about again, and start of Noelle's Snowball quilt

Another week goes by.  The weather is heavenly.  Sunny and brisk.  I know that many of you are still in deep freeze winter, and trust me I will be envying you during our brutal Tokyo summers - but for now, every day is just a gift, weather wise. 

I took myself to Nippori on Monday, for one specific purpose - to find simple replacement buttons for a jacket - 

Ummmmmmm make a decision! 

The shop had some nice precuts and I picked up three or four: 

Here is what I decided on - something more subtle to replace the gold: 

I decided to stroll down this street and just browse.  Another button shop: 

And a little hole-in-the-wall shop: 

All of those shops are on up and down the street directly opposite the main 5 floor Tomato fabric store.  

Then I took a different train from Nippori Station and met David for an early (4:30!) dinner.  This machine automatically takes your temperature.

Seated inside, we read the notice on the plexiglass dividers between tables: 

A screenshot of the translation (notice the mascots - there are mascots for *everything* here): 

We kept our voices down, lol.   We also didn't linger at all.  Yummy soup dumplings. 

Out and about yesterday for a good walk - 

People of all ages jogging (not me):

Glimpse of the Imperial Palace.  It was the Emperor's Birthday.  

More plum blossoms: 

 

In quilting, I'm working on blocks for my first (of three?) Christmas quilts.  

Here's how a plan can evolve.  I wanted to make THE simplest nine patch: 

And I made a few blocks.  Ho hum, not exciting to make at this large scale (the blocks will be 9 inches finished).  Also, too much green for Noelle.  

So, first I pared down the green to be just 1/3 green, 2/3 white.  

That was a start but what about snowballing the white corner squares with the red snowflake fabric I love so much.  

That was cool and when I turned the piece the other way, I *really loved* the effect, how the snowballed corners connected the green bars.  

So, how about then also snowballing the opposite corners, with solid red?   

Now we're cookin' with gas!   The centers will be a whole variety of scraps. 

After figuring all that out I made a sketch and looked to find the block in Barbara Brackman's new encyclopedia (which is gorgeous!) and couldn't find exactly this, but it is most similar to #1729 (Blockhouse, Nancy Cabot) which is "like Rolling Stone", or even #1647 (Crow's Nest or Attic Window), which is "like Shoo Fly".   

I will call this quilt Noelle's Snowball quilt so if the block itself needs a name, I'm calling it 2021 Snowball.  

I feel so good about this.  I love a good nine patch and this one, when paired with plain white alternate blocks, will have the "mostly red and white" and spare look I think Noelle will like.  

Next on my list for tomorrow is to finish up a little mini for February.  Short month, flying by.  

xo

Cynthia