Moving Forward

My husband and I went to San Francisco for a few days so I didn't get any sewing done. As soon as we got back I started anew on the first border of the Baltimore Album. It is very heavily appliqued as the previous picture (Half of a Quarter, 2/17/17) shows so finishing it will still be days away but I am having fun. I know that some people like piecing better but applique has always been my choice. Part of that is the wide variety of fabrics I can pick and part is the process of making the pieces and fitting them together with all of the tiny blindstitches.

Today is Trump's 100th day. Yesterday he complained that the job was harder than he expected. What a moron!

Predictable Pander

Trump's tax plan is great--if you are rich. There are so many reductions in taxes for those who are rich that all those who are poor and middle class will be paying for them until their dying day. Then there are all the leaked new ideas to rewrite the ACA. They will allow states to set up high risk pools for people with pre-existing conditions which will mean that those folks (and if you don't have a pre-existing condition yet, you will or someone in your family will) won't be able to afford insurance or care. So the overall message is, "Who cares about you?"

To make all of that even more special, Trump's environmental meddling will give us all dirtier air and dirtier water. His federal lands executive order will destroy our national parks and monuments (remember America's best idea?). He has already set up a trade war with Canada that will make building a new home or remodeling an old one far more expensive and started a trade war with Mexico. What a swell guy, or is that swill guy?

Another Rousing Success?

Trump is supposed to release his proposed budget ideas tomorrow. Administration officials who choose anonymity told various news outlets that they were not consulting with Speaker Ryan because they didn't like his handling of the ACA repeal and replace nonsense. I suppose that is good news since Ryan's biggest idea is to have a Border Adjustment Tax that would slap on a twenty percent fee for producing goods outside the borders of the United States. Now I am as eager as the next person to have jobs for people who live in our fifty states but the twenty percent wouldn't be paid by the companies out of their profits, it would be paid by the consumers who buy goods. And at this point it would be pretty much most goods since there aren't that many things made 100 percent within our borders.

Why Ryan is considered the brains of the Republican party is beyond me. There really are Republicans smarter than Ryan but I bet they don't want their names in lights.

Typhoid Mary

Typhoid May was infamous for being the source of the disease in several outbreaks during the early 20th century in New York. While asymptomatic herself, she unknowingly carried typhoid in her cells. It didn't help that she was a poor immigrant from Ireland and therefore easy to vilify.

Anyway, I feel like a modern variant myself. So many of the quilt stores I love and visit close soon after my visits. LeRouvray  in Paris, City Quilter in NYC, Gentler Times in Salt Lake City--the list grows. Now I have found out that the building where Britex Fabrics in San Francisco has been for more than fifty years was purchased and the new owner wants to toss them out on the street. They aren't just a quilt store, they carry everything anyone who sews might want, but they are a magnet for sewing in Union Square. I have purchased so many beautiful fabrics there, from Japanese indigo and batiks, to Italian designer wool. The owner of the business is trying to use a new law to stay in the building but these days money talks in San Francisco.

On an entirely different note, Trump has expressed support for Marine Le Pen in the French election. "Quel dommage!"

A Trio of Cuties

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that I stopped work on my Baltimore Album project in December to make some baby quilts for the dental technicians at my dentist's office who had babies. Then as I related before, the the receptionist asked for a quilt as well.  Although none of these is without flaws, they are all darned cute.

These are in the reverse order from which I made them but you see Flowering Star, Hugs and Kisses, and Something's Fishy. I spent the morning putting away the fabrics for these three. cleaning and sweeping, then retrieving the fabrics for the Album quilt.

My husband asked me today if it made a difference what design was on the fabric if the color was right. Naturally my answer was, "It depends." It's not that I am hedging my answer but there are many factors that go in to picking the fabrics (one of my favorite parts of quilting),  and sometimes they speak to you and sometimes they don't.

Treasure or Kindling?

My husband's family was well known in Japan. His grandfather was a political journalist and a founding member of the Socialist Party in Japan around the turn of the last century. His mother was a very famous actress who worked for Toho Studios before the second world war and made a few films after the war. She was a real pack rat but like a pack rat not everything she kept was the real deal. When my father-in-law died she moved to Hawaii and took boxes and boxes of stuff with her.

And from what I can tell most of it is just stuff. My husband's sister-in-law is sending us all this old paper because her daughter is moving in to the house that my mother-in-law lived in prior to her death ten years ago. The first box has some old historical documents, a few nice pieces of calligraphy, and some odd reproductions of events in Japan's history. Some of it was elaborately produced with silk covers but all in all it seems to be mostly worthless, at least to the two of us.

I don't know if any other boxes will have a different variety of goods. What I do know is I have to buy a big plastic bin with a locking lid to keep the rodents and the other vermin from attacking the paper.

Happy Easter

My youngest child is 37 but some Easter traditions still prevail. We still make hard boiled eggs because we like egg salad sandwiches. My son's current girlfriend, who is 32, had never had egg salad in any form before she met my son which we found completely astonishing. Once she found out that she loved it, she asked for it all the time. I should say that my son is a professional chef and the girlfriend doesn't cook.

We also make lamb for dinner. At least 30 years ago I started making a roasted leg of lamb with a garlic gravy so that shows up on our menu as well. There's usually nothing wrong with any recipe that includes: "Peel 8 to 10 garlic cloves." And since my other son's wife is the one with OCD I will be making the Kentucky Butter Cake that is way back near the beginning days of this blog (8/13), under Cake Not Quilts.

So have a very happy Easter. I hope the spirit of the day permeates everything.

Ironing Board

Because I use freezer paper and a hot iron to do my applique I go through a lot of ironing board covers. What irritates me is that some ironing board covers are clearly intended to be design elements not practical covers. I bought one recently with a black and white design but the design motifs melted under the heat of the iron. Luckily I wasn't ironing anything of value when I first used the cover.

So I cannot finish the top, that is complete, without purchasing a new ironing board cover. I probably purchase five times more ironing board covers than the ordinary purchaser, but the quality has gotten so poor, that I am purchasing covers two or three times a year rather than every two years.

I don't buy any dog food that isn't labeled United States. Unfortunately I cannot not buy a Chinese ironing board cover. They may be an emerging commercial power but their products are garbage. Are we stuck with garbage because capitalism demands returns without demanding quality?

I can't proceed with my Flowering Star until I purchase a new cover.  

Essays, Essays

This week it is spring break in our school district but a teacher brought over some essays the students had written on an Elizabethan sonnet on Friday. Some of the students clearly show the beginnings of mastery and some of them continue to just throw words at the paper hoping that if they write more, they will somehow get something right. Since sonnets only have fourteen lines, the student who wrote that the author slowly developed his ideas just made me wince. As did all the students who described "animalistic imagery," when what they meant was images of animals.

I think the idea of writing more became more prevalent when the SAT included a writing sample and people who reviewed the scores found that students who wrote more in the allotted time scored higher regardless of facts or grammar. I always try to point out to these kids that having concise and cogent arguments is a good skill to work toward and I also point out that many of their college essays, just next year, will require them to sell themselves to their desired schools in 200--600 words. That is. some of the prompts ask for 200 words and some allow up to 600 but those are quite limited. 

ee cummings

When George W. Bush attacked Iraq what ran through my mind was the end of an E.E. Cummings poem "Buffalo Bill's"---How do you like your blue-eyed boy Mister Death"

Trump's response may have been correct, but it was done so quickly and without any input from Congress, that I doubt he knows all of the ramifications.

Applique Blocks Done

Today I finished the eight applique blocks that go in to making the Flowering Star. After I included the name in my blog, I looked up any reference to the pattern online. There was a link to Amish quilters using the pattern, without any attribution to the derivation or origin of the quilt.

That means my iteration might be the first time modern quilters see this pattern. Not that there are that many who come here for quilting--I always get more hits from political comments. Anyway, this last dentist office quilt top will be done soon but there are so many set in seams that care and time are in order.

Not Forgotten

Steve Bannon just got removed from the National Security Council. With all the bad news lately there is that little ray of sunshine. Smile.

How Long?

All of the chaos that envelops the government these days is self-inflicted. What my family and I hoped for back in early November was utter chaos. Thankfully our hopes were confirmed. But utter chaos is difficult to put up with. Nothing really gets done.

Mike Pence announced that he doesn't meet with any woman privately. So what happens when Betsy DeVos comes for a meeting? Seriously. That statement diminishes women to only their sexual components. He isn't saying that he would be the instigator--he is saying that women are the snake in the grass. Besides the fact that his position is illegal according to federal law, all women should be offended by his outlook on women. How does any woman do her job if the men around her only think of her as a sexual partner?

Very Good

My Saturday was almost I as fun as I hoped though I didn't get much quilt work done. I did mark the eight squares that include the floral wreath around the star and I did cut one set of fabric appliques. But I didn't do any sewing so I have nothing to show.

The oxtail marmalade was fabulous. We ate it on toast points and rosti potatoes. I also made a Caesar salad. My husband made his date orange bread.

Fun Saturday

The weather has been pretty typical for spring in the Wasatch. We have had record high days, 74 degrees F, and snow, high winds, and sun. Today is supposed to be very nice with sun, light winds, and mild mid-sixties. I do hope to get a little bit of outdoor work done but I also have several indoor tasks. Right now I am finishing up making oxtail marmalade. I decided to spread this out over two days so I started yesterday. We ate oxtail marmalade for the first time on our recent trip to NYC. The restaurant served it with cassava latkes but I am just going to use potato. Mine may not end up being latkes either since I like rosti better.

I also have a student coming in a little while for her weekly session. Next week she will be in Slovakia and Austria for spring break with her father and I have already given her a take home (or take on the plane) assignment. She has made decent progress in her writing skills but she is certainly not ready for the exam yet. This last month of preparation will be crucial.

I am also planning to do more work on the current small quilt. It isn't a baby quilt since this little girl is nearly nine years old. The pattern is from the now defunct Leman Publications (Quilters Newsletter parent) and dates from 1985. It's called Flowering Star and is more involved than I remember. I made it 30 years ago but I don't remember all the set in seams. I am changing the flowers from their "sort of reminds you of tulip" configuration to simple geometric shapes.  I also find it amusing that the instructions are only to quilt around the applique shapes and in the ditch on the star elements. Times have changed.