Hunkering Down

Looks like we'll be getting our first snow storm of the year tomorrow. 6 to 8 inches. That's bad enough, but then the forecasters use the three words that strike fear into my heart: blowing and drifting. That's what casts doubt on getting out of the driveway and being assured of getting back in. You just never know. It's that uncertainty that makes me crazy. And this is November and we have a long way to go.

So I ran my errands today and plan to settle in and sew tomorrow. I have a couple holiday gifty things that need to be ready this coming week.

Tonight I picked up the taupe Blackberry Ridge shawl for the first time in a couple weeks. I'm loving this border and how fast it goes, relatively speaking. Can't wait to see it blocked.


One corner down, three to go.

Thanksgiving 2008

This work of art pumpkin pie was created by my son's beautiful girlfriend. Almost too pretty to eat, but it was just as yummy as it looked.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving Day. With family and friends around, what's not to celebrate? And I have a brand new webcam--I can even have the illusion that ALL my family is nearby. Very cool. Almost as good as the real thing. And that will have to do for now.

Loose Ends

It's the quiet day before Thanksgiving--quiet at the library, but probably not at the supermarket. I'm just tying up loose ends in the last hour before I leave. Daily transit scanned and received? Yes. Weekly press release sent to area newspapers? Yes.

Not a lot of sewing and other creativity has been happening this week. Each night I've been doing One Thing as prep for Thanksgiving dinner. That one thing either takes a couple hours, or else wears me out, so I'm seeking the couch and the pile of books and magazines on the coffee table that I'm working my way through.

I've seen a lot of buzz on the web about the premiere issue of Stitch, the new magazine from Interweave Press. I bought an issue and was really impressed with what I saw--I love anything that will reel in new sewers. It's bright and breezy, with lots of cute projects (love that skirt on the cover!).

I have to say though, that I'm more of a Threads magazine person and have a nearly complete set of issues dating back to the era when Threads covered the full spectrum of needlearts and all allied topics like needlepoint, machine knitting, weaving, and sheep shearing.

We'll be a group of nine at the Thanksgiving table this year--my son and his girlfriend will be there, as well as some good friends who count as family, and are coming up from the Chicago suburbs. It'll be pretty much the traditional dinner, not much deviation from the norm. But that's nice and I'm looking forward to it.

So I'll sign off with a gratuitous picture of Lucy,

and we both wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating it.

Shopping!

It's been a driving weekend. Yesterday bright and early I headed out into the deep country to drop the Scrap Bag Log Cabin off for quilting. From there it was a short hop to Fort Atkinson to pick up my cousin and shopping partner-in-crime Jane. The plan was to take in a craft sale held annually in a wonderful Flemish Revival house in a leafy Madison neighborhood.

Well, maybe not so leafy at this time of year but an interesting neighborhood nonetheless. We both did some Christmas shopping and I treated myself to a pair of turquoise and coral earrings by Cynthia Koshalek. Turquoise and coral is one of my favorite color and stone combinations.



It was a bad Saturday to be tooling around Madison as the last University of Wisconsin Badger home game of the season was scheduled. But we were not to be deterred. Between dodging carloads of people bundled up in red, all looking for a place to park, and enterprising homeowners charging $20 to park on their property for the game, we managed to put in a good day of shopping.

Consignment shop find: these two vintage flamingo pictures in funky mirrored frames. One of the frames has a bit of...patina...on it, but I think that just adds to the effect. These will be a great addition to the flamingo bathroom.


(It's hard to photograph pictures with mirrored frames. I keep seeing myself coming and going.)

This bathroom is still painted in the tweedy paint effect scheme my daughter and I devised a few years ago. It's a prime candidate for a redo. But what color does one paint a flamingo-ish bathroom? The flamingos are many shades from peachy pink to burgundy and the greens are similarly all over the map.

Any suggestions welcomed.

One More F.O. Checked Off!

Finished--one Christmas table runner. Yes, yes, I know it looks familiar--leftovers from three different quilts. And since the candy cane stripe binding worked well on the red and white Delectable Mountains quilt I finished last summer, I figured it would work well once again on this piece.


I AM rolling on using up the leftovers including this backing piece that's been in the stash for years and years.


Computer woes at work! I'm hoping, hoping it may result in a new computer for me, but then on the other hand I think about the ordeal of getting everything off the old computer and installed on the new one--5 years worth of projects, files, and preferences. The thought of dealing with all that makes me want to go to bed and pull the covers over my head. For about six months.

Mr. Kathie is back from a week at deer hunting camp in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He wasn't hunting--just hanging out and enjoying male bonding time. I had big plans for tons of productivity while he was gone but I didn't accomplish nearly as much as I had hoped. But I am chugging along just the same.

Weekend in the Woods

Noting like a good slumber party for bonding with the peer group. This weekend--a quick getaway with the group of women I've known since freshman year in college. It's a bit of great good fortune that most of us remain in the greater Milwaukee/northern Illinois area, which has made regular meet-ups a treasured part of all our lives since we graduated. Our together time has always remained a priority for everyone.

Would you believe this group at one time spent a great deal of time partying, EVEN on school nights, and mastered the fine art of the unsanctioned getaway from the dorm (AKA circumventing The System) very early on? It's true. The attitudes don't look so bad anymore, but we were frequently accused of having them way back when.


These women are EASILY the best thing I got out of my college education. I wonder if college professors today accuse students of having bad attitudes?

I remember the early post-graduation get-togethers--bridge and beer at the apartment on the south side of Milwaukee that I shared with three of the group. At some point we had the idea to go out for dinner, and the rest is history: an unbroken tradition of meeting regularly for dinner and chat since about 1972. I lived out of the area for some years but when I moved back, I rejoined the group and felt like I'd never left.

This weekend we trekked north of Milwaukee to stay at the home of another college friend.


It was in the rolling Kettle Moraine, overlooking woods and wetlands, with Holy Hill in the distance. Beautiful setting and a great time.


Some wine, some great food, lots of friends--just about like a quilt retreat except without the quilting.

Drop Everything and Read

Once a year I get called on to read at the elementary school right near the library on Drop Everything and Read Day. I make it an opportunity to take my little quilting and pony show to the kids! I always ask to read to the fourth graders--that's just about my favorite age. Choosing the book always takes several days, although I ended up reading the same book again this year that I've used the past two years. After all, there are new fourth graders every year--the book is new to them.

I chose The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco, which is a charming story of heritage and a quilt that was treasured down through the generations. It's just the right length and has a message about family love and tradition that's just right for ten year olds.

I also like to take a couple quilts to show off. I always take one of my antique ones and one of my newer ones. Today the kids were in the Art Room, and there was room to lay the quilts out and to allow the kids to gather around to touch and ask questions.

It's funny how just touching a quilt opens the floodgates. The kids who had been quiet and shy immediately had quilt stories to share with everyone. Everyone wanted to trace the quilting lines with their fingers--the fan quilting on the antique one, and the meandering machine stitch on my newer quilt. There's someting about that tactile experience...

Making Words/Reading Words

A teeny peek at one tiny corner of the unbelievable mess that is my sewing room. But I'm finally doing something I've wanted to do for a long, long time. I'm sewing letters, a la Tonya, hanging on her every word, as you can see in the lower left of the picture, above.

That's it. I can say no more.

Reading: I finished When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris, which was sweet and funny, as most of his writing is. I gained a new appreciation of the agony of quitting smoking--he moved as far away from his comfort zone as possible--to Japan--to quit. Kind of extreme, but whatever it takes...

And I LOVED Company of Liars by Karen Maitland. It's a story of 14th century England, a bit reminiscent of The Canterbury Tales. A group of traveling companions tries to outrun the Black Death and each of the travelers has a deep, dark secret. If I mention fantasy or magical realism, it will put some readers off, but superstition ruled lives in the Middle Ages. It was fun to suspend reality and enter into the story. And I have to say that I saw some parallels to the present day life, where superstition and pseudo-science still seem to hold more sway than we would like to admit.

Back

Back from the library conference.

I spent last Tuesday night--Election Night--jumping up and down in front of a TV set, all alone, in a hotel room. Not my preferred way to spend such a momentous evening. But boy, I sure had a good time.

And how terrific to feel good about my country again. It's been a long time.

I was so psyched--SO WIRED! I had taken my Featherweight and a small holiday sewing project along, figuring it would keep me amused all week.

Well, I finished the whole thing on Tuesday night. Couldn't rest--I sewed like a crazy person till nearly 1 a.m.

And here's the result, all ready to quilt--this will be a Christmas gift tablerunner.


And do any of these fabrics look maybe just a tad familiar?? These half-square triangles are the leftovers from three quilts. Yet another something-from-nothing project.

Blue State Election/Library Trip

Tuesday I'll be working half a day, dashing to my polling place to queue up, then taking off for the annual Wisconsin Library Association conference. This year's conference is in Madison, just a short hop away.


The half day at the library is likely to be a doozy. We're expecting voters to be lined up and snaking through the library aisles, as they wait to vote in the municipal hall.

While they wait, they can amuse themselves browsing through our book sale.

And various local groups are also holding bake sales, T-shirt sales, etc., hoping to snag some of the election day traffic. Sounds like a recipe for gridlock to me... Election Day at the library is always a huge community event in a rural area like this, and this Election Day is likely to be bigger than most.

But back to the conference. Yes, I AM taking my Featherweight, along with a Christmas gift project, all cut out and ready to go. No reason why I can't get some sewing done! And perhaps some knitting too? In the past, many participants have been seen knitting through various workshops. I like that idea.

Anyway, I'm signing off till the weekend.

But one last thought: our last couple presidential elections should have made it very clear that every. single. vote. counts. I tend to shy away from discussing politics here, but if you are in the United States, PLEASE vote. Don't be deterred by the reports of long lines.

I'll be sitting by myself in my hotel room tonight, watching the election returns with all fingers and toes crossed. Which may make it hard to sew.

Road Trip

Our Seams group trooped down to Evanston, Illinois today for a get-together at the home of our only non-Wisconsin member. Judy and her husband live in a sunny condo, filled with art and contemporary furniture, in a character-filled century-old building only a block or so from Lake Michigan. Like they say--location, location, location.

We had a terrific lunch--latkes and all the trimmings, with a variety of salads, and a couple desserts thrown in for good measure.


Judy was frying up those latkes and I made a discovery: latkes, strictly speaking, are not a low fat food item. And also, there is a big difference between latkes made the right way, fried up in a couple inches of oil, and my sad little potato pancakes, cooked on a griddle with a spray of Pam. Not the same thing at all.

Judy has a happy and productive sewing room, heavily populated with red fabric, which comes as a surprise to no one.


Don't you just love peeking in other peoples' sewing rooms?