Reverse Reverse!

Each time I hear the word reverse my mind immediately goes to a clip from the BBC comedy Father Ted. Anyway, back to quilting, Like 'to prewash or not to prewash' there is another group, those of us who piece our backs vs. those of us who think a single color/piece of backing is sacrosanct. Both sides are right because there aren't any rules, only what works for each of us. Today I'll share some of the reverse sides (I hesitate to call them 'backs' as once they are quilted both sides do full duty on the bed.) It is fairly obvious which side of the fence I quilt on. The quilt above is the reverse side the John Deere quilt I made for Rob. This is a great way to use up what is left of theme quilt fabrics.

This is my red/white/black back titled Ode To Joan, my good friend who loves these colors in her quilts. It is the reverse side of one of my chicken quilts, Chanticleer.

I think this is one of my least attractive backs, the reverse side of one of my favorites, titled Sisters. Both sides of this quilt were my first efforts to work strictly from stash. There are only four fabrics in this back and the stripes were a real PITA to work with. This is the first time I had my working wall in place and it was invaluable, I can't imagine how I made quilts before I had one!

This is every single last piece of the fabrics my friend Elle and I purchased for a joint project titled Spirit of the Mesa. Being restricted by what you have adds a great deal of creativity to your work.

I love this reverse side because I love purple/green/yellow-orange together. It was my first effort at doing a layout in Electric Quilt software. My only one in fact, I just don't have time to work with it long enough to remember what I learn. The other side is a Delectable Mountains.
This is the reverse side of my Dear Jane/Jane Stickle quilt titled Two Sides of Jane. It was just a exercise to teach myself to appliqué, and working with mixed neutrals. I think it is my all time favorite top.

Thursday Thankies

Sewing Machines

Needles

Eyes

Collage

Last Sunday afternoon was a fun break for me, a five hour class which included a short yoga practice and a guided class in SoulCollage® with ten lovely women at Vision Yoga/Wild Trout Gallery.

Enormous boxes of magazines, calendars, and catalogs were set out and we each just pulled a armful of sources at random, then sat at the table or curled up on the floor and each time we saw an image that sparked something in us we'd pull it out and add to our pile. I've been working on a Discovery Journal for years so was familiar with this part of the task. (If you click on the photos on my blog they open up larger in a new page)

We were then given 5" X 8" mat boards, glue stick, and scissors and encouraged to make a collage of our bits. The results were outstanding and so different. I've worked with tarot and oracle cards for years so what I see in mine and what the object of the experience was supposed to be diverged, but I understand the concept, and will make more of these little art pieces as time and inclination permit. These are easier to sit out and think about than a Discovery Journal is!
I titled my piece Botox Party, based on a snippet of conversation I heard earlier. The foundation is 3 pieces, a forest in full color and glory, a withered and frosted winter weed, and the sun behind teasel pods.

For the statement I see a beautiful woman on the left railing against the body she has been given, then Aphrodite turning her back on her own beauty. Below center a false oddly shaped face is presented to the world. Which soon fades to bone and dust and what was the point?

In our teens we wish to appear older so on goes the make-up and tight clothes and we drink and smoke and behave like we think older women must do. At 30 we start dieting and tinting our first grey hairs and wish we were young again. At 50 we are going for belly bands and tummy tucks and breasts that look like wooden apples, our face skin is pulled up until our hair line is now two inches above our ears, we botox and have wands inserted all over our bodies to suck out yellow fat and bleach our teeth until they look like a packet of Chicklets. At 70 we marvel at how beautiful we were at 49 before we started taking things into our hands and skewing into a unnatural state of affairs.

I have considered all these things. If I were rolling in money I might even be tempted to try them. Obviously once you start you never know when to stop. Fortunately I have chosen to pay the mortgage and buy groceries instead. And work on my inner-mini-me. This week I'm taking a page from one of Rumi's books and polishing my heart, a forever project if there ever was one. I hope it reminds me to look at my Botox Party and appreciate what I have while I have it.

Tuesday Thankies
The blogs I enjoy visiting
Lunch out with my Rob
Candlelight

Sprung

In our moderate climate baby lambs and calves are already scattered over the landscape. I would hesitate to call myself a farmwife...the sheer non-political correctness of it for one reason. But I was born and raised on a farm and coming full circle I now do much of the day to day work on my in-laws farm. So what do our thoughts turn to? Seeds, of course!

I've already ordered the giant tomato tree seeds for my father-in-law. He'd seen the annual ads on television and asked me to get them...I noticed last week he has already placed his five gallon buckets in the spots where he intends to grow them. He will be 91 next month and anything that gets him up and excited is OK by me.

I ran across this photograph recently when I was doing some research about women's employment options. This is a 1890 shot of the Burpee Seed Company order fulfillment area. Looks like a pretty nice place to work to me, Way healthier than the cotton mills for sure. I have a collection of Botanical catalog covers in one of my Webshots albums and sure enough...there was Burpee's 1890 issue. Synchronicity...Happy Spring, and here is to a cool wet fall for our friends Down Under.

Saturday Thankies
Spring always returns
My Rob will be home soon
Mourning Doves

Question of the day

What to do when you run out of thread?

• Paint toenails
• make lists
• bother other people
• play with dogs

Wednesday Thankies
Thread
More Thread
There is more thread where that came from

Lent, Long Seams, and Violence

Odd group of blog title subjects, eh what? This week as I've had time I've been working on the long seams of the Hydrangea One Block Wonder. As noted before long seams are about my least favorite sewing task, who knows why. Should be pure pleasure as it means the end is getting close and getting to move on to another project new or old... But I will say this, it gives me time to think.

Today I was thinking about the 40 days of Lent. I've only observed Lent once but that one time changed how I view the world and daily life. It is one of the reasons we don't bother with TV reception here; no cable, no satellite, no picture, also no newspaper. I don't know where the idea came from, probably listening to the inane things people give up...but I got a bee in my bonnet about eliminating violence from my world for 40 days.

Sound easy? Don't kid yourself, we immerse ourselves in the idea of violence. How about:

I hate Brussels Sprouts

Stop, you're twisting/breaking my arm

I'll kill you if you tell my age

I'd like to break that drivers phone/head/neck

I'd kill for a ....

That coat is to die for

Squash that spider

Smack that fly

Eat that hamburger

and that is just off the top of my head.

Off the front page news today on Google:

N. Ireland riots after police arrest 3 over killings

Women in Congo speak out about rape despite taboo

Austrian incest suspect Fritzl faces justice

Girl decapitated 700 years ago gets church burial

German town holds first burial in school shooting

Pastor's slaying suspect appointed public defender

Baby hippo won't be fed to tigers zoo says

Movies and TV? From Loony Tunes to M*A*S*H to Clockwork Orange there is no limit to far to cross. Of course I could go on all day long...and tomorrow and the next day, because it never stops. And without thinking about what it is doing to us we go on bathing in it.

Not me. No more. I am So much more careful about how I phrase things, about where I let my mind dwell, what I read. I'm not preaching, to each their own, just throwing the thought out there for rumination.

Saturday Thankies:

Dunker donuts

Salad

Rain on the roof

The Quilt Show Part II, Being Bernie Madoffed

I mentioned below that The Quilt Show just isn't a good fit for me and I was going to request a refund of the balance of my subscription. That was March 3rd. I did indeed use the embedded form on the website and made an official request which included all my contact info.

Zero response, not even a form letter.

So I called the contact phone number for 'payment concerns' on Monday, March 9. No answer, after about 14 rings I got a voice mail for Lisa Bowman saying she was away from her desk and would return my call as soon as possible.

Zero response.

I called again three days later, same no answer after many rings, same voice mail.
And the same zero response.

This afternoon I sent a note to the contact address on Alex Anderson's own website:
I'm not holding my breath. I am wondering if one chick knows what the other chick is doing.

Thursday Thankies:

Robins

computers don't go up in a puff of smoke when I hit the wrong button...again.

Sunshine! Crocus!

Left Brain Right Heart and Slinky

As the terrible windswept fires have rolled across Victoria Australia, I like many quilters thinking with their Right Hearts lept to my machine to 'make it all better'. My original plan was to make two tops and send them to my long time friend Pam in Victoria to finish and give to two of their friends, of which many have been wiped out.

As my machine hummed I began to think with my Left Brain, the analytical side. And something wasn't right with this picture.
#1, I was asking my friend Pam...without asking her first, to assume the cost of batt and backing, plus the time and energy to finish two quilts.
#2, when I checked on shipping, the cost to send approximately 12 yards of fabric to Australia was over the moon.
#3, Was this really the way to help those in need?

So I reigned in my ideas and with Pam's blessing and suggestion, I donated the price of 12 yards of fabric to Australian Red Cross. Having watched how ill-served the victims of Katrina were by all the well meant personal items contributed, this doesn't quite warm the cockles of my heart like thinking of a stranger wrapped in my time and love...but I'm sure it is a far better thing I've done.

On a lighter note and apropos of nothing at all, what child of the 50's and 60's doesn't remember using a Slinky? You probably have one sitting on your desk right now and haven't even played with it...Come on you slackers.

Tuesday Thankies
The people who put their lives on the line daily all over the world to keep us safe in so many different ways
The wealthy at the top who walk the walk and make the huge donations that make a difference
Survivors

Hank of Hair, A Piece of Bone

It has just been one of those times when there is work going on like mad and no progress to be shown...except the Ort Jar is filling with bits left from the candlewick summer spread I've been working on, I've glommed onto a little more selvage to hoard, and there are a Ton of strips and strings in my trash can, there are now 6 empty spools on the corner of my cutting table to turn into Christmas RAKs...and take note of the 8 ounce water glass and the carrot.

So maybe soon those strips will become the three tops I'm working on (well to be honest, two will be backs), the Ort Jar will be full and the summer top will be on the bed, and I'll dream up some really exciting selvage project that will bring a smile. And maybe the carrots and water will add a little push to the pound a month I've been losing for two plus years. Stay tuned...

Saturday Thankies
SparkPeople
There are always fellow travelers
Freckles my Nubian goat is much improved

The Quilt Show

I'm curious what percentage of paid members resubscribe to this on-line quilt show after their first year expires. There is no way that information will be available to the general public, but having paid for a one year subscription in a weak moment I do think I'm entitled to my opinion.

And my opinion here is the same opinion I hold with any on-line membership. Only if the subscriber is very active within the member forum and built a sense of community for themselves is there any holdover value into the second year. I have a whole lot of things I don't like about this particular site and I'm thinking about requesting a refund on the balance of my subscription.

I'll think it over while I'm at work today. And maybe some of you will leave your thoughts either way. I can see some value...just not for me.

Secondary Gratitudes, because I had trouble being grateful in the first place today.
I'm extremely grateful for my health, I'll be at the cancer clinic for a couple of hours today which is always a wake up call.

I'm extremely grateful for a nice car in excellent condition. In the Pacific Northwest boondocks, if you don't have wheels you are stuck.

I'm extremely grateful for the companies I deal with that do have a listening ear, and care about their customers. I think there are more that do than don't...we're just overwhelmed by the media about the biggies who only take and take and take and 'screw the little people' is their philosophy of business and taking bail out money.

Before

I've been too busy to show progress on the quilts on the working wall, so I'll share one of my dream projects. We have a 10 acre farm where the 5th wheel is, I've featured a number of 'small space' quilting posts on that.

This was the view from my kitchen window east on February 28; we had a skiff of snow and low lying fog. The bovine ladies thought I was up Way too early for common sense.

My dream space is on the rear-most back northwest corner of the property. We can't build in that area because it lies within the 500 year flood plain. It is also the only really private area on the property. My goal is to make this my personal sanctuary. A place where I can read, dream, stitch, do my yoga practices, and simply commune with nature.

This pond will be rebuilding it's creature life this year, in December we had a flood which put the river water above the 39" fence behind the pond. I suppose what was washed out was probably replaced somewhat with whatever creatures were washed into it...The low spot in the center back is where my little space will be. I'll cut out a shallow 8'X8' space and lay in concrete building blocks even with the ground surface.

This little pond is also sanctuary to many types of migratory geese and ducks which are lovely to watch, and I often see blue dragonflies in the summer.
Anyway, perhaps sometime this coming summer I will have an After post to share.

Tuesday Thankies
Dreams
Plans
Options

Small Celebrations

Today is our 39th Anniversary. I got a cheerful good morning wake up call from my Rob who is in Los Angeles today. Our anniversary always reminds me of our wedding day as it probably does most women.

My two best friends had just celebrated their wedding vows with big weddings in November and December. I'd watched them fight with their mom, call it off, call it back on, struggle with the financial side, worry themselves sick over details...so I decided we would keep it small. Small as in our parents and us, at my folk's home. As the weeks passed I could see even this was too many people if one of the people was a mean drunk.

So we decided on the following Friday which I had off, to meet when Rob got off work, grab two friends, and go to the Justice of Peace in Montesano. Which we did, and I've never regretted it for a moment. Kathy happened to have her grandmothers camera in her car so we did get three fuzzy photos which are very special to me. The picture here shows us forgetting to pay the Justice of Peace about 4:30 in the afternoon.

We then took a drive out to Westport and for our wedding dinner we had burgers from a burger stand, after which we drove to my parents house to tell them the news. Who loved and respected Rob already. Except Rob had a hard upbringing so when my dad came tearing out of the house Rob jumped back in his car and locked the doors.

My folks donated all the money they'd saved for the wedding ($35.00) to the cause and we spent our first night in the Aberdeen Holiday Inn which was the noisiest hotel I've ever been in, before or since. I got up the next morning at 6 AM and went to work. Thus endeth the story of our wedding, February 27, 1970. I love you Rob, you still look 25 to me.

Friday Thankies
Cell phones
Photos
Good burgers, which are much harder to find today than they were in 1970

(((Hugs Computer)))

I suppose those with wildly active and interesting social lives don't find the on-line connections as important to their daily life as I do and more power to them. But most of my adult life we have had unscheduled schedules making it really difficult to plan for dinner with friends, meeting at the beach, joining clubs and organizations... so when my first computer entered my life in 1996 an on-line social life was like a bomb going off in my heart. Yes I know real-time people may be more important but I don't know anyone that wants to play at 4 AM or go to lunch on the spur of the moment and those are the sort of times I'm free.

And suffice it to say that I've made some lasting friendships via long distance and have traveled across the country and ocean to meet some of them, and had some of them travel across the country and around the world to spend time with me. And I can say I've never met an internet friend I didn't like. Bless you all, you warm my heart and my days with your presence.

So while on the theme I thought you might like to see the precursor to our marvelous machines of today. In some circles, the clunky box shown here with two floppy disk drives and a 5-inch screen introduced in 1981 is considered the world's "first really popular portable computer," found today in the Computer History Museum. The Osborne 1 weighed 24.5 pounds, had a detachable keyboard that served as a lid, had a carrying handle and was small enough to fit under the passenger seat of an airplane. The machine also came with a bundle of software, including WordStar for word processing, SuperCalc spreadsheet, and the BASIC programming language. We've come a long way, baby.

I'm off to the farm for a few days, I'll miss you all.

Wednesday Thankies
Automatic Microsoft updates
McAfee
Snopes

Sewing In The Bone Yard

I find comfort in a good old fashioned cemetery. I've been known, on a beautiful spring or summer day, to throw the dogs in the car and do a bone yard run, visiting many family and friends who have preceded me in death as the obits say...What I've been doing the last few years is buying little metal stands at the dollar stores, probably meant for the smaller garden flags, and hanging metal wind chimes on them at the gravesides. It gives me comfort to hear and think of them, softly singing to those I miss so much.

I love stopping at old country graveyards, seeking out the pithy inscriptions on the lichen encrusted slab style stones, reading the dates and connecting them to their places in history. Do you bone yard?

The worst job I ever had was receptionist at a law firm with nine attorneys. The only thing that made that job worth getting up for was the beautiful cemetery next door where I'd take my sack lunch and stitching and let the tension roll off my shoulders. A favorite spot was on a corner under a tree where I could see the marker for a little 6 year old boy. Every couple of months the tokens at the headstone would change. Little wheeled cars, rubber dogs and cats, a Little Golden Book... I don't have children but I could certainly empathize with the loving grief of his family.

Sunday Thankies
My new Graven Images Oracle
Jewel Quest Solitaire
Google Maps

Yes, I've Been Busy

I've been at our farm the last few days riding herd on my in-law's live stock while they have been sick. 'Tween times my sewing machine has been tearing along on this big stack of half-square triangles for quilt tops for Victoria's burned out families.

I started with a stack of 18" squares, stitched my double lines corner to corner, both ways, and when I started splitting them last night was astounded to discover I now had four pockets rather than four half-square triangle blocks. Those pockets needed to be split again, creating 8 half-square triangles per set of 18" squares. Cool Beans...twice the bang for my buck! I still don't understand how that worked out though...

Saturday Thankies
My Rob will be home tonight
A fun date planned for tomorrow
Fresh milk

Colors of Winter

Know how a certain song will instantly transport you to a certain time and place? I think these cotton candy green and pink colors, like gorgeous marbled fabric, will always remind me of this winter.
I can't remember the last time I've used a commercial car wash because my car is one place where I'm willing to spend my hard earned cash for top of the line. I've seen what car washes do to paint finishes and strips and wipers, or used to anyway... and shuddered at the very idea of scrapes and swirls in the finish.

But this year Rob and I have both been busy, (and tired) and rather than drive a filthy car I broke down and got an $8.00 wash. Imagine my surprise to have my rear wiper slipped into a protective case, to have a prewash spray before entering the tunnel, to be lavishly bathed in this coating of soft and colorful foam, and to be encased in all sorts of different configurations of gentle lapping draping circling blue tongues dedirting my car.

And what a beautiful job! It wouldn't take long to get addicted to WashMan. In these hard times I'll save this ride for special and appreciate that somewhere someone has been building a better mouse trap.

Wednesday Thankies
Every so special yoga practice, thank you Peggy
Two little dogs who wait patiently for me to come home
One little dog who rides with and should have to help with the washer dollars...
It has been a lovely day from start to zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Beavering Away

My One-Block-Wonder continues to grow, here are the first two sections stitched together, another few days and this will be ready for it's borders.

Note the finished sections on the right are a full block shorter with all the seams taken up. Good thing I have lots of border material. I'm trying to think of something clever to do with the leftover sections from the sides. Although I promised myself this year I wasn't going to try to reinvent the wheel. I'm sure that is how I ended up with so many projects in the works. Stopping to think and then forgetting what I was thinking about.

For the next few days I have my agenda cleared and will be making tops for a friend in Alexandra Victoria to turn into quilts for the burned out families they know. This is where all those precut blocks will show their worth in time savings.

Tuesday Thankies
Making decisions and moving on
I'm lucky enough to be able to make decisions regarding my life
Things always turn out ok in the end...the big blessing~

Here an Ort There an Ort Everywhere an Ort Ort

Ort \¨òrt\: noun; a snippet or leftover bit of thread, usually resulting from a voracious addiction to handcrafted needlework.

I heard the term ort early last year, it went in one ear and out the other like most things I hear... But I heard it again this week, with a photo attached to it. Well, a photo is worth a 1000 words, and here are some blogs with great ones.

Stitching Obsession

Sweet Pea (scroll down)

Dani Black Belt Stitching

If you know of any others or will share your own, give me a link, cyber photos of Ort containers would be a fun collection, one that didn't take up any room or need dusted. Like blog posts... I think this is the 100th for this blog. Off to my farm in a few minutes, y'all be good, ya hear?

Friday Thankies

Self-sufficiency

Barter

Multiple streams of income

Sunday Stitching

My One Block Wonder continues to grow, this is going to be a smashing top. I picked up some used movies at Hollywood Video this week to watch while I'm sewing today.

Iron Man, Wall-e, and Brandon Fraser's Journey to the Center of the Earth. Now there is a variety!

Sunday Thankies
Raisins
Pop corn
Oranges

Is It Love?

Approaching Valentine's Day brings thoughts of love and like and what it takes to make a marriage or relationship last. I've been a close observer of two marriages for the last 40 years that make me wonder how they ever did it...or more to the point why. Everyone's tolerance level is different though for a variety of sins; some will put up with infidelity but not drugs or alcohol, others might stay for a beating a month but leave if the finances got tight. Aren't people interesting in all their coats of many colors?

My Rob is the light of my life. This is one of the marriages I've been observing for 39 years. And the one I wonder most about, what has kept him here? Yes, I have a few good points but I have a hair trigger temper that frightens even me sometimes...

When I was a kid my mom would sometimes make our pancakes in the shape of something...balloons mostly :-) but the pleasure stuck and since Rob is our resident pancake maker and he knows the way to my heart I often get a pancake surprise with my Sunday morning coffee. I guessed at this one being a Volkswagen with CB antenna...just kidding...it is our brown and white double dapple dachshund Xing-Xing. Well Duh, of course it is. Yes, it's love and I am so blessed.

Yes, I know I could use some new dishes. I've been using 50's lusterware from soap and oatmeal boxes since we got married, a thrift store find in 1970. I love blue willow, but I've never been able to make up my mind about which line or manufacturer. I wonder if the lining of my stomach is lustered?

Friday Thankies
TGIF
Lots of work this week
The weekend to play

RV and Small Space Quilting part 4

One more space tweak-ed-er in our 5th wheel RV. Call me a square peg if you will but we don't watch TV, no time and no interest. So when I bought the 5th wheel I asked the seller to take the TV out. Better them than me, those tube TV's are heavy!

Anyway that left a big wonderful space

for an ironing center to the right of the sewing machine. And you can see my little travel iron and small board fit great. I took the measurements of the space and stopped by a cabinet makers shop one day and ask if he'd cut me a board from his scraps plus four legs, he used beautiful wood and only charged me $10.00 which I thought was very reasonable for his time.

It doesn't show very well in this photo, but I also put nails in the cupboard outer facing and hung my acrylic rulers up. I was starting to put a third nail in and my Rob asked me if I'd thought that nail through...What? Think something through? He pointed out that I'd take the hide and hair off my head every time I sat down if I put a nail in that low. Bless his observant heart.

I'm off to the farm again tomorrow, and every time I step into the 5th wheel my sewing center greets me with a smile...and vice versa.

Monday Thankies
Amazon
Our volunteer service people
Animal Shelters