Summer is on the wane

A time comes in August when you say, ah, and oh dear, summer is about to end. Ah because it's heaven to sleep under a quilt again instead of just a sheet or not even a sheet -- waking under a quilt is SO delicious. Maybe the only thing better is to wake under one of those real, down filled, old fashioned duvets I've found on beds from Germany eastward in Europe. But then I say oh dear to summer's hinted end -- it will be warm at least through September -- because as one gets older the end of every season is poignant and a little bit painful. This summer began in a blaze the first week of June and since then has been a fit of good days mixed with stormy days. It's had a personality all its own.

The warm sun, the nice breeze keeps me on my feet after work, walking some portion of my journey home. Then I get into things that need doing and the quilting waits. The reversible quilt, slightly more than half the central part, is across the room on my "design sofa" where I can admire the progress so far -- I get up and turn it over now and then since it's reversible. I'm thinking that maybe another selvage quilt will be done in such a way that I can use plain strips and write a poem on them which will be semi-hidden within the other markings on the selvages. I need to write an appropriate poem ... the idea is percolating. There's plenty of time since I certainly won't get to a second selvage quilt for more than two months.

I've joined another quilters' blog list and I'm adding logos in the sidebar, of it and of swap-bot that I will write about shortly. The new quilt listing site is in blue,click it or click the logo, assuming my computer savvy extends to actually adding it.

Just Wondering ...

Last week, when I was listening to a panel of women executives they were asked what good advice had they received that made a difference? The most successful of the bunch said, "My father told me that I have two ears and one mouth, use them in that proportion." I'm wondering ... would he have offered those words of wisdom to a son?

Oh, I understand, of course, about the idea that you won't learn anything if you're always talking and not listening and it's good advice. As a woman turned on by Betty Fridan, Gloria Stseinam, et al, I cannot help having this reaction. But I have an answer that doesn't necessarily apply to women in business. It is that I also have ten fingers and was advised to learn to type long, long ago That skill made rapid self-expression possible, with or without thinking things through before the keyborad gets tickled.

Happily those ten fingers also learned how to sew. That too has brought me an avenue for self-expression few of the other gender enjoy. That's today's bit of contemplation.

Trade offs, so no whining

As I struggled a little bit putting together more of the reversible quilt this afternoon, I realized I was whiny yesterday about my tiny space. Nobody ever promisd me I could have it all. But I read quilters' magazine and quilters' blogs and look at their fantastic studios or work spaces and the blue eyes turn green and I start muttering, woe is me! Alas, I lack -- yes. I do. 'nuf said. I'm embarrassed and ashamed of whining about it for two reasons.

#1. Paula Nadelson. I don't know Paula Nadelson but I do know her magnificent kalidoscope quilts and I've heard her speak. She said -- this was many years ago, I don't know if it's still true but it may be -- that she lives in an apartment in the Bronx with her family and has so little space for her quilting that boxes of fabric are stacked under the dining table and when she works on top of the dining table people have to eat elsewhere. I promised myself when I heard that to always think of what wonders she creates under those conditions and never, never feel sorry for myself. At least I live alone and inconvenience no one but myself and most of my fabric is stashed away in a closet. I have yet to make even one quilt as complex and totally creative as the many for which she has become famous. I tried to find a website so I could put a link here but Google let me down.

#2. When I think about those lucky women out there is the land of individual houses, however suburban or rural, I have to think, too, this is well considered trade off . They do not have some dozen fresh fruit and vegetable venders within walking distance, they do not have excellent bakeries on that same walk. They do not have the Metropolitan Museum with its astonishing treasury of art also within walking distance, nor Central Park, the Museum of Natural History and Lincoln Center, never mind, a ton of movie theatres and the most fascinating street life in America. They do not have New York bagels!

So, I'll stop whining and figure out how to cope. The quilt is coming together and I'm liking it a lot, what more should I want?

Reversible Quilt making progress

Update on the progress of the reversible quilt mentioned a week or ten days ago: I've finished the 6" squares which will be the main part of the quilt. But I've decided I want to make another set of squares to become a border, possibly using triangles for a saw-tooth look. Anyway, I couldn't wait to see how it would go together. But first I read Sharon Pederson's book carefully, espcially the discussion of the binding for the squares.

Sharon wrote of auditioning fabrics for the binding. Studying her quilts I see she used wonderful taste; her bindings all add design and color beautifully. I pulled out a bunch of fabrics and contemplated them with the squares -- no design wall, just my small work space. The selvage side presented special problems, I didn't want to use the darker fabric from the other side because it's too different, but I wanted something that would connect the two. Or alternately I looked at various black/white prints. No, no, no. Finally I went to our wonderful City Quilter shop and studied fabrics a while and purchased the aqua print, after nearly choosing 3 other ones. [The choices were so many it's hard not to become paralyzed.] I had great hesitation but it's so pretty that if I got home and decided it was all wrong, I'd find a use eventually.

Then there was this dark batik that I've had a while and really didn't like very much, multicolors on purple. It seemed all wrong and yet when I laid it out, it seemed fine In fact, I now like it very much. And, as I've been sewing I like the aqua too, it may become triangles on the border of the selvage side.

So here they are together. Not too bad. I only have four rows together so far. Everything takes longer than you think it will, of course. I spent a lot of time this afternoon and that's how far I've got. The binding is tricky -- not really difficult but requires care and attention.

And here's a sample of how it's coming along. I love that it's quilted, so even though putting it together is going to take more time than I have tomorrow -- and then there'll still be the border blocks to sew and add ... we're looking at September now. When it's done, it will be done. No need to think about how to quilt it.

At this point, I like this quilt. I can tell that as it gets bigger it will be a little bit stiff and will fight me in my cramped sewing space. Ah, well, the dubious joys of being an apartment dweller.

Bad Wasp, Good Penny?

I was talking to Leslie yesterday evening [afternoon in the Bay Area] when she said, "Ow! That little bastard!" "What happened?" said I. "Wasp stung me." "Put a penny on it." I had read this bit of folklore a few months ago and told her about it. "Let's see," she said. "Does it have to be shiny?" "I don't think so." "Oh, it stings." "Maybe that means it's working. You need to keep it in place at least 20 minutes. Got a Band-Aid?" "No." "A handkerchief?" "Are you kidding?" Well, a scarf." After a bit, "I've got a fabric belt." And we went on to talk about weightier matters than wasp stings. Except a few minutes later when she asked rhetorically "Why'd he have to sting me" "He's a mean, nasty critter who hates you." "I hate him too." I asked for an update and hoped for an email today. Nothing.

I've forgotten the source of this bright idea but now I'm curious about it. I'll update when I get more info. There's also the paste of baking soda for wasp and bee stings too, part of a whole list of wonders baking soda performs. We'll see.

Stash and UFOs and LOQ #1 and 2

I've been pulling out portions of my stash to cut of selvages -- go back two posts, you'll see why. Every quilt project is bigger than you think it's going to be -- LOQ #1 and LOQ #2, every project will be more labor intensive than you expected. Obviously that stands for Law of Quilting. Others may be added in due time.

I saw that I have a lot of smallish pieces in some favorite colors which are kind of cluttering up the collection. This suggests loud and clear I need to make a scrap quilt, or two ... or three. In fact, I have in my To-do pile a neat scrap quilt design that can be paper pieced with ease and I just found a variation of the beloved Log Cabin that would also be a great way to attack those scraps. So I dreamed of plunging into one or both projects as I'm snipped away.

Whoa! Wait one doggone minute there! What about the three active projects in hand? Well, the selvage one is holding so much of my attention I expect to finish it definitely within the mont. The complex diamond/star? I'm chugging away. And then there's the drunkard's path I don't write about because I'm not enjoying sewing the pieces but I DO spend an hour on it now and then. That's three pots, one boiling rapidly, one simmering, and the other more like a crockpot with an hour long stew in it. Then there's a couple of UFOs. So I promise myself I'll do the one that's a child size I Spy quilt. It only needs to be quilted and bound, not a big job. The other -- well, it's over a year old and the less said the better but it nags like a too tight shoe that will be fine if I just manager to wear it a few times.

Let's add LOQ #3: Handling one's stash produces profoundly conflicted feelings. Love it, feel guilty about it, get a kick out of it's possibilities and the fun that's promised. Isn't creating things fun?

Dog Days of August

It's hot. And humid. It's been hot and humid for three weeks. I think it's going to be hot and humid until well into September Not one month of the dog days of August but two and a half. I can't prove it, but I think this is what global warming means here on the Atlantic seaboard -- hot and humid interspersed with occasional thunderstorms, sometime violent. UGH!

These are what I all three-shower days. If it's really humid in the morning I work up a sweat brushing my teeth. Then I need a quick shower so I can put clothes on a non-sweaty body. The shower can be as short as a minute. When I'm out during the day if I've had to deal with either the subway or a walk of more than a couple of blocks, I'm sweaty when I come in -- another shower. Come time for bed, I want to feel nice when I put on my pajamas - another shower. I don't waste much water. One of those showers, maybe more, will include soap and maybe shampoo. But their real purpose is just to make the skin cool and that only takes a minute or so.

It could be worse and is worse a lot of places -- the places that are having wild fires, the places that were submerged in horrid floods earlier, the places where the storms are really fierce. When one is mopping the brow and cursing the late subway train, trying to walk in the shade and wishing for a breeze, it's hard to think about places that you are glad you don't live.

End of complaint -- it's a time to truly enjoy cold water, iced tea, lemonade, watermelon, gazpacho, crisp chef's salads and simply washing the hands under cold running water. I haven't forgotten about all the iced coffee drinkers but I'm not one. But I did forget briefly about sherbet which is much more cooling than ice creams ... and then there's lakes and oceans and rivers. I promise I will not complain about the weather again ... in the near future.