Friday, April 30, 2021

 There is a storm coming closer to my house right now. Looking out my large kitchen window that faces sort of northwest, I see the grey clouds and the swirling winds. Yesterday was about 80F as a high and today won't get to 70F but that is pretty typical for southeastern Pennsylvania. Having lived in Utah for almost 30 years, we watch the rainfall amount more than we would if we were natives here since it is such a big issue there affecting potable water and even summer temperatures and fire hazards.

I have been working on the first border for the new project and that is complete. Now there are questions to be asked and answered. I certainly invite any readers to offer suggestions but I cannot guarantee that they will be used in the final version. Anyway, here is the flimsy so far:

 

There are numerous possibilities including simply leaving it as is, layering, and quilting without further ado. But my husband and I both think it needs something to "complete" the presentation. I am thinking about either a pieced checkerboard border but using green and blue or a pieced triangle border in the same colors. While the green and blue aren't major notes they are consistent notes so I am going to make some mock-up borders to check those options out. 

Any other ideas?
 

Friday, April 23, 2021

 My tulips are blooming now. There were very few bulb plants in this yard when we bought it. I don't know if it was because of the age of the woman or that there are deer in the area but the formal beds did not have much in the way of spring blooming bulbs that I adore so I planted some last fall. I like most tulips but my favorites are the parrot and Rembrandt varieties because they are so dashing.


Here are three that are blooming now, the most colorful being the inspiration for the colors of the new project tulips. So tulips really do come in red and yellow.



Friday, April 16, 2021

 I don't understand why people think they are being misled about the Covid19 vaccines. Tucker Carlson asked why, if the vaccines work, people will need a new vaccine in 9 months. Apparently a BA in history from Trinity (not the one in Dublin), has minimal requirements not including logic or science.

How often do people get flu vaccines? Once a year, usually in the fall, new flu vaccines are released and people go back to their doctor or their pharmacy to get jabbed. Does that mean the vaccine you got last year didn't work? Of course not. But the flu, which is also a coronavirus, mutates quickly and more or less constantly necessitating a new vaccine and a new jab. So it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that a new jab (and a new vaccine) will be needed.

Given how the virus has already mutated everyone should be happy that Pfizer has indicated that they are aware of this need (of course THEY are), but Carlson could at least do some real journalism and ask questions rather than simply spouting off on subjects he so clearly does not understand.

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

 Apparently there is a new biography coming out or just out about Nancy Reagan so I thought I would share an anecdote. Nancy Reagan went to Smith College. My late sister went to Smith College decades later but she and her roommate lived in the same room in the same house as Mrs. Reagan did back when she was Nancy Davis. Mrs. Reagan came back to Smith at some point during my sister's time at Smith which coincided with Ronald Reagan being governor of California.

I was certainly not there so I have to trust my sister and her roommate when they described what happened. Everyone knew that she was coming because there was a heightened security presence but according to my sister and her roommate no one told them that their room had been Nancy's room while she was there. The security protocol meant that once they arrived on campus, everyone was to stay where they were rather than moving on to their classes or leaving campus or whatever, so my sister and her roommate Mimi (that is her real nickname but I won't say what her true name was) were sitting on their beds waiting for whatever.

Then the door opened and there was Nancy Reagan. She walked in, looked around, and then turned to the campus guide and asked, "Isn't there maid service any more?" 

Too precious for words.

Monday, April 12, 2021

 My husband and I got our second dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Saturday which is slowing down my progress and apparently slowing down my brain as well. Neither of us had any major side effects but even the minor ones are all encompassing. Yesterday, Sunday, we were just sort of dragging around, lethargic and slightly sore. Today that has passed but we both are experiencing brain fog and a little dizziness. I am happy to have gotten the jab, but I do hope I feel better tomorrow.

But the fog and the dizziness means that I am not sure I am operating on all cylinders so I am turning to the online community for ideas.


This is the current state of the current project. Obviously unsewn and unfinished (that's why it's a little lopsided), but that's my question.  Does anyone have any ideas for the corners? I was going to make small bouquets or nosegays tied with the black and white "ribbon" but now I am not sure. Would a pieced block work better or should I stick with the whole colorful flower idea? I will consider every suggestion offered.

Wednesday, April 7, 2021

 Good news about my current, and probably last, student. Yesterday was Ivy Day, the day when at a designated time all Ivy League schools press a button to send out all of the electronic acceptance notices. Back in the day we used to hope for "fat envelopes" to signify acceptance but these days it is all over computer networks.

My student did not get into his first choice, Yale, but he did get into Harvard, Penn, Brown, Johns Hopkins, Washington at St. Louis among others. Hopkins gave him a big pile of scholarship money as well ($150K spread over four years) and Brown actually accepted him jointly to their undergraduate program but also to their joint JD/MD program, a circumstance I have never heard of before. I have no idea which school he will pick but I am pleased as punch that he has choices. I think he is supposed to hear from Stanford today but he already has relaxed for obvious reasons.

As I have written before, I do not cheat for these kids nor do I try to influence their choices. My contributions are 1) a good eye for a good story and a stubborn insistence that students write and rewrite and read and re-read until I am satisfied, and 2) long experience in reading and editing that makes me very good at helping students get their essays down to the right length. Time was if your essay was a little long it wasn't a big deal but nowadays the admissions committees are far more strict about those pesky word limits.

On the quilting front, I have been sewing and picking apart and redesigning and re-thinking so I haven't made that much progress. Learning from mistakes is still learning so that's a kind of progress. My husband and I will get our second Pfizer jab on Saturday so that's progress as well. Add to that the blooming and blossoming of spring and the contract for designing and installing a new perennial border at our house and some of the banality of the past 14 months is beginning to lift.