Patience-- not always a virtue,Bob, & good eats

This is a picture of an antique quilt that my friend Rich sent me from auction he went to in Pa. Dutch country. It only had a spot or two and he wanted to know if it was worth all the money they were bidding it up to. I think it went for about $400. The best thing at the auction was a quilt that looked so blahhh that you wouldn't give two cents for it...in fact it looked like white sheeting that was stained..but wait...the person who had made it was really covering up what was inside. They had used a quilt as the batting- I kept thinking why was this quilt in this auction. It was not up to the standards of anything else offered and the quilting was horrible big stitches and randomly placed here and there. Turned out it was something called Dove in the Window inside and went for over $500.-hot stuff no???

Well, this morning was a test of patience for me. One of the most annoying things in life is waiting in a Doctor's office, especially when it 's not for me. I know that sounds terrible but I worked for a Dr. at one time and I ran that place like a very tight ship. We scheduled things so people didn't have to face insult to injury by having to wait an hour for a visit. Well, any way my brother-in-law Bob had to have oral surgery from a Dr. that we had never used before-now it all turned out great but they told us to be there at 10 so we left at 9:30 which got us there about 15 min. early for paperwork. I think they factor in the paperwork to take about half an hour because we waited 40 min. just to get in and another half hour to get finished. I read a third of a book(speed reader here) I just started, the place was really warm, and in sympathy for Bob I didn't eat breakfast(really dumb move as I am a cranky baby when I'm hungry) The reason it was so warm was that they had so many damn lights on overhead it seemed like I was in a tanning bed. They were the kind of overhead spots like I have in my kitchen which I never use in the summer because it makes it about 10 degrees hotter in an already hot kitchen. Geez it was hot in there along with being a colossal waste of energy. Anyway-Bob's O.K. and I came home and made myself something to eat while he went to bed for a rest and a Percoset. Sweet dreams Bob....

I got my fabric in the mail today from Hancocks for my son's quilt. He picked out several from the Alexander Henry Asian line that have dragons and Kanji and such. I think I will find a way to showcase the dragons by making it very strippy. Maybe long columns of dragon fabric in between long stips of Kanji and a wild spider mum in deep intense red and gold and black. I'll take some shots of the fabric tomorrow and post pics. I haven't made him anything since he was much younger and at 22 he's outgrown the kid sized quilts a long time ago. We still have them-one of cowboy boots and western theme, and one of airplanes and related items- I get a kick out of looking at them, as beat up as they are-they still make me think of how adorable he was-my blue-eyed boy....sign. He will be mortified when he reads this-of course Dani will laugh at him. When I went on vacation to Maine she had to show him how to use the washing machine(he's so full of it) and I just thanked her. I was secretly glad she did some stuff for him since everytime he gets involved with laundry something gets ruined and it's never his. Well, I picked up a bunch of shrimp and some scallops to saute with garlic and tomatoes to make a putanesca sauce. I bought a jar of Frances Ford Copolla's spaghetti sauce and it's the best and most delicious jar sauce I've ever eaten. It's very expensive but the putanesca and mamarella are soooo fresh and delish it's worth every penny. I can't make sauce better than that and I learned from a great old Italian lady. Sauce from a jar is a curse that I would normally spit at someone but this stuff is excellent for instant gratification. Never mind that you could make a whole pot for what it costs for one jar.It's light and not cooked to death and has a lot of calamata olives and sprigs of basil and good olive oil. You don't need to do anything but open, heat, add(or not)whatever, and toss the al dente pasta right in the same pan. turn off the heat and add a heap of parmigiana reggiano or something like it and grab a fork and some good brunello or a nice sangiovase..mmmmm...I'm adding the seafood to mine-somebody bring the bread-dinners at 7. Leave the guns, bring the cannoli, Do you know what movie that's from?

Dani's stars and buttons

I'm finally getting the hang it-sort of. This is the quilt I just finished for Dani, my son's girlfriend. It's not a very good picture but all of those stars are made from Bali fabrics. In between the rows are buttons in all different colors and shapes. Some hearts, some stars, some flower shapes. It was really fun to make and I had never done stars before so it was a learning experience for me. In retrospect, I wish I had amde the background out of something other than white. It's a very pretty white on white but I think it would have really been sensational in pale bali with more intense stars-perhaps in another quilt to come. I didn't mean for both these pics to be together but they are and I'm not changing it now. I'll look for some more stuff to up-load and maybe tomorrow there will be more...

being good to the muse(and me)

I've been reading a lot of different blogs for a while and I see a theme running through a some of them. Pledging to not buying fabric. It is spoken of as if it's a the road to enlightenment and goodness. It's a funny thing because it reminds me of my good friend Terry- she's another of the quilt ladies I know and a very hard working very talented person. Funny thing about Terry is that she seems to feel that she doesn't deserve to be happy. I'm not sure what happened back in the days of her childhood but I suspect that someone repeatedly told her that she was an unworthy child-unworthy of praise, nurturing, warmth, whatever. It makes me mad and sad and we have a close enough relationship that I'm happy to tell her how talented she is and that she is, indeed ,deserving of praise.Plus I can relate to the whole abuse thing. Now don't go writing me any nasty comments but I have long suspected that it has something to do with her Catholic upbringing. Even she says that. My husband, who was raised Catholic says that too. I think it had a lot to do with Sister Mary Margaret slapping her with a ruler every time she looked happy or proud.
ANYWAY...I digress. The thing about Terry that relates to the reading of some of these blogs is that I sense a theme of self deprivation when it comes to buying fabric and fun stuff. There was a whole month where people actually signed up...signed up to NOT buy fabric. Lordy, Lordy Let me grab a glass of water and fan myself for a minute on my fainting couch............O.K., better. This is how I see that. Quilting is my art, my love, my talent. Quilting is where I challenge myself to make something really pretty and pleasing to myself and hopefully, others. Why in the name of sweet Jesus would I want to rob myself of the pleasure of buying something to further that joy. I can find a dozen different ways to prove myself a strong person with moral fiber in other areas of my life-why would denying myself fabric prove anything. Maybe it's a catholic thing? Maybe we need to self flagellate somehow to feel better about ourselves? Buying fabric and quilting stuff makes me really happy. I've suffered enough in my life and at nearly 60, I'm no longer sure how much fabric buying time I have. Besides what will my friends have to fight over when I'm gone but my fabric. Lotta bitch slappin' going on there.
Well, todays entry will be short, at least for now-maybe I'll write more later. There's a video store around the corner that has been driven out of business by Blockbuster and is selling out all the stock for rock bottom prices. I'm going to take a look to see what foreign movies and other dvds they have left. Maybe I'll find a few good oldies too, not a lot of people are old movie buffs. I need to go grocery shopping too. Making fish tacos if I don't forget my list-need limes and avocado and mini corn tortillas. Maybe after that I'll get totally crazy and hit the fabric store. Maybe I'll buy something. Maybe not....whatever I choose to do, it won't be because I'm "saving myself" for fabric.......Hope you have a beautiful day

Sewing Sunday, movies and cool, cool, women

Today I actually got around to using my sewing machine and making something-well...the begining of something, after all I'm no Debra Spincic. I want to thank Debra for taking me to the Houston quilt show in her pocket and I loved the quilt she chatted with me in front of. Thanks Debra. Anyway, I worked on a quilt for....tah dah...ME. Afew months ago I bought several packets of die-cut squares from Hancocks from the April Cornell line. The colors are very springy andpretty like sherbet. Yellows and limes and pinks-polka dots and paisley and hibiscus flowers in those shades as well as pale aqua and melon. It's a riot of color, especially for me. I work with Amish brights and black a lot so this is a departure. I decided to bag the idea of doing anything fancy and instead just use the squares and as is. The only deviation from this was making half square triangles from some. Anyway-my thinking was that I would have an actual quilt for me for the winter in soft girly colors. My bedroom is very white with cherry furniture and so it is easily adaptable to most anything I like..and I likeee!
The One thing that kept me from accomplishing stuff this weekend was that I rented several DVDs-I got Elizabeth I and I got the first 3 dvds of "Big Love" the HBO show about the Mormon family with Bill Pullman who is the husband of 3 wives. The first two episodes sort of set it up in terms of characters and they're not bad at all but by the fourth episode you really get into these peoples strange lives.If any of you know who Bruce Dern is-in this he plays a role that must have been written for him. He's the Patriarch of a Mormon Poligamist family and he plays a completely crazy and disgusting human being. He's so darn good at it that it makes you wonder what he's really like. It's really good and I almost went back today to get the rest but I'll wait for tomorrow. I read a review of a new movie by Pedro Almodovar called Volver with Penelope Cruz(she's in all his movies) and I am looking forward to seeing it. I just recently saw his movie "all about my mother" which was great and served two functions-my son is taking a foreign film elective and he needed me to see it and review it for him. It was very moving and in the movie he incorporates one of my favorite old movies "All about Eve" as part of his movie. Warning-it has subtitles but I speak some Spanish so it made life a bit easier. I couldn't watch Elizabeth I (which is the reason I wnet to the video store) because I didn't realize that it was a 2 dvd set and all I got was disc 2 AGH!
Well, I suppose I should go and see how much I an get done before I slowly fade into the sunset. This getting dark at 4:30 reall sucks. I want to thank Debra for the chat in front of a beautiful quilt and Melody for just being...well...Mel. By the way-If DebR is reading go get yourself a copy of "Climbing the Mango Trees", by Madhur Jaffrey. It's a lucious book full of writing that makes your mouth water and your soul sing....see you tomorrow

best friends,mercy, and Max

Pull up a chair and have a piece of my bagel while I tell you a cautionary tale of a death in the family. Not a death in my family but the death of my friend Trisha's father-in-law Max. It's a cautionary tale because this is the kind of thing that can happen to you-SO PAY ATTENTION.
Last night I went to my Thursday night quilting with the girls. The girls are my two best friends, Trisha and Pat. Now both these women have the ability to make me laugh till stuff comes out my nose. Unfortunately, in the past few months Trisha's father-in-law Max had gotten progressively worse with a number of ailments that seemed to increase daily. It was one of those things you hear about in the news. Here's the headline- Man Never Sees Doc in 40 yrs-dies in 2 months of EVERYTHING!- O.K. got the picture? Now Max was probably in a health food store for the latest vitamin every other day and because of his(ahem)bazaar take on life, he wouldn't hesitate to tell you in detail what was wrong with your life and as an addendum, how miserable you were. Max was known far and wide in our village. He had long ago retired and only went to the Store on Mondays. I could make a list rivaling the phonebook of people who would put off going to the store until Tuesday just to Not see Max. If you went in for a specific item and forgot it was Monday-undoubtedly, you would come out having been lectured to about how ridiculous your idea was and you would hold in your hand the item that Max thought was more appropriate. Business on Monday was not brisk....For thirty years Max made every holiday miserable for my friend Trisha by initiating an argument with a random family member and clearing the room faster than a farting dog. Often after scraping his plate clean her would imperiously inform her how much better so and so's whatever was. He was as genuinely mean to her as he was sweet to the other daughter-in-law, who NEVER EVER invited him to dinner, EVER. Stay with me now.... Well..a couple of years ago I taught Trisha to paper piece. Sometime later I gave her some really special fabric for Christmas and she made, what started out to be a t-block quilt. It was really pretty and her work is always on the mark even without paper piecing. I watched her make the little blocks(many little blocks)and assumed is would be just lovely slightly larger than mini wall quilt. She picked out a paper pieced border with, I"M NOT KIDDING a million little pieces. It was very intricate. Well she decided to stretch out of the box on this one. When it was finished she had made a quilt that had all these t-blocks and toward the bottom they were twisted and turned as if they were falling out of the quilt. This was a really big stretch towards art for her. It was no less than spectacular. O.K. for those of you who have stuck with me on this journey-a few weeks ago Max finally left this mortal plane for a place where he can be a curmudggeon in eternity. Let me also add that the daughter-in-law who stayed by his bedside and comforted him was not the other daughter-in-law but Trisha. On the day he was buried, the mother-in-law asked if she could pick out something to put in the coffin with Max(you see where I'm going with this?) Trisha, being the best person in the world simply said "sure" and of all the houseful of quilts to pick from-MIL picked this one. OH!! yes!! she did! So anyway, last night at the Thursday night meeting of the quilting ladies the occasion arose to discuss someones quilt and how it wasn't done nearly as well as Trisha's. She said "you mean the one that's in the box with Max?" Now I'm not one given to throwing around colorful language(even though I find it amusing sometimes)but I yelled out in a barely restrained yelp "What the F__K were you thinking?" and of course everyone was very quiet for about 30 seconds-then we laughed so hard stuff came out our noses.....In closing let me just say that among the many reasons that this woman is a rock of a friend, after all the crap he gave her-she gave the eulogy for Max when no one else in the family was able to. As part of the eulogy she told everyone that if they had come to the store on Monday and wound up with stuff they didn't want because Max insisted he knew better-returns would be accepted on Tuesday of next week. Life is pretty damned amazing sometimes-for all the people who Max annoyed(and there are legions)over 400 people showed up at the funeral. We think some of them came to make sure he was really gone. The police blocked a main artery road so the funeral could get to the graveyard and there was a dinner at the VFW for everyone afterward. I guess that's what it means to be a part of a small town. People come to support each other and tell cautionary tales. I love this place. I will never pass the cemetery again without thinking of that quilt and hoping that Max is enjoying it.I hope it can stand up to the heat....

Catch-up

I was lost in the dust yesterday...literally. When you can write your name in it, it's time to consider a major clean-up. In my clean-up of the great dryer vent debacle on Saturday, I found that there is, indeed a floor under all the stuff in the closet and on that floor there were several bags of scraps. Now I'm not talking about big bags but just ziplocs. In the past I''ve always been excited to unearth such things. These were not the sort of thing you get excited about. Why on earth I saved bits(really little bits) of fabric that was questionable 15 years ago is a mystery. I guess back then I must have thought that I'd do do something with it someday(not)In case I forgot to mention it before, I live by the Scarlett O'Hara rules for life. Number one on that list is_ I'll worry about that tomorrow, or in this case, next millenium. Well, I am happy to report that it feels really great to unburden oneself of a lot of useless crap. While I was on a role I threw away a lot of clothes that will never in this life fit me again. I also found a bunch of UFOs that I clearly didn't like to begin with and, wait for it.....I chucked them. They were poorly done with fabric that was of a poor quality and so-out they went. Stuff that I started way back before I realised that you get what you pay for in the fabric world. I found a pretty good piece of fabric that was one of the early Asian designs with outlining in gold around the camellias and I held my breath and threw it away. Why, you may wonder?? Because I used it in two different quilts I made and after a number of (not many)washings the gold turned green and austic and actually ate through the fabric. Well all of this is by way of explaining my absence from the blog world yesterday. I am finding that it is really hard to get to the computer if I don't do it first thing in the day. I am trying to up-load a photo of the quilt that I just finished for my son's girlfriend, Dani. I don't know if it will work. Fingers crossed. If not I'll try again later. Have a spectacular day...