Piece O' Cake Blog

What? Why?

I have a presentation to prepare for a quilt industry seminar in March. My topic boils down to what makes a quilter buy a quilt book? Since Linda and I have been writing quilt books for 19 years you'd think I'd have a clue. I have some clues... but I am sure that you all know better what makes you buy a book than I do.

So I'm asking: 

• What makes you look at one book over another?
• What makes you part with your hard-earned money?
• Do you prefer buying books in a shop or online? Why?

Feel free to answer any question - even ones I didn't ask.

You know what books I've been buying? Moleskines. Especially the 'passions' moleskines. In the recipe division. 

Crystal Bridges...

I gotta say, Alice Walton has built a fantastic museum for American art. This review says it better than I could, or have time, to say. The surroundings are lovely - hilly with lots of trees. The walking trails are interesting. Yes, there could be more art and I believe that is the plan. What's there now is good.

The building is segmented. The copper-clad sections reminded me of roly-poly shells. 

Can you see our shadows? We are standing on one of the walking path's bridges behind the museum. I sat in one of the green chairs behind the glass later. Very comfortable - wish I had one.

The structure on the inside is light and airy. 

 There is no admission charge. Parking is free. The museum staff is friendly and helpful and protective of the art. Honestly, I was reminded of Walmart greeters, but in the best way. 

I took a few photos to share, with quilters in mind. This version of the Last Supper is made of spools of thread (DMC I'd bet), hung on chains. It is huge. When you look through that small glass globe, the image is right side up.

I loved the piece below by Mary McCleary. This is a mixed media collage and it is amazing. I had a detail shot and have lost it!!! Click this link to see more on her site.

This one sort of makes my head hurt. It is a very large curtain/screen made from deconstructed silk flowers that have been sewn together.

When I walk through a museum and come across something like this, I give it my garage sale test. "If this was in a garage sale, would I buy it? Would I even stop to look?" Perhaps it is because I am a quilter, this one didn't pass the test for me. Luckily for the artist my opinion doesn't matter one bit.

Another artist played with the 'what is art' question outside. There are several boulders along the walking paths with important looking chrome numbers on them. Look close and you will also see that they are labeled ART. The boulder, the rock, is the art. Subtle and interesting.  

The museum store was very good. I didn't buy this tree but we did find a wonderful cane for Mom.

 

It's pretty and it comes apart like a tent pole. The kind of pole where there is elastic inside. If you haven't put up a tent lately, go to this site for more info. 

It was a good trip. Steve and I visited and enjoyed time off with no real agenda. I did do some sketching and a lot of thinking about what quilts are next after we finish the book we are working on. I caught up on my magazine pile. 

Time off...

When you work at home, you tend to work all the time. So, when Steve asked me about going for a bike ride this afternoon my first thought was, no - I have to work. But then I thought again - I work ALL THE TIME! I should go for that bike ride. He did, after all ask me a week ago so that I could schedule it in.

We had lots of rain yesterday and this morning but this afternoon was clear and cool. Perfect, in fact. 

We drove out past Denison Dam to West Burns Run, on the Oklahoma side of the lake. The road is paved and mostly flat - except when it wasn't. Carla worked our legs in pilates this morning and I could tell it. This is primarily a campground by Lake Texoma which is closed this time of year.

We are going to go see the new Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, AR, this weekend. I have promised not to take work with me. I may try to do some sketching in the car... something I mean to do but rarely take the time for. 

From the Thimbleberries in Port St Lucie...

I gave a lecture and workshop for the Thimbleberries Quilt Guild Friday and Saturday. What a nice group of women - and men. Or man. Jerry was at the lecture and in my class which was fun! I wish more men were interested in hand sewing.

There was a potuck supper before the lecture. Betty brought a carrot souffle that was amazing. It is her signature dish. Sweet, light, orange and very tasty. She shared the recipe with me and said I could share it with you. I'll do that once I get it in the computer. Remind me if I forget.

Her daughter, Joey, brought a cake in this carrier:

Yes, everything is better with cake and frosting. I WANT one of these! Joey said is was made by Dept 56 in the 90s. Ebay here I come. It was not just cute but very functional. 

And then there were the ladies with these name tags:

I love wooden yardsticks and had not thought of cutting them up in quite this way. The maker hot-glued pins to the back and decorative stuff to the front. Surely there are lots of other things you could do with a chunk of yardstick.

And then there was this purse:

If I am remembering correctly one of the guild members has a pattern and taught a class for this bag. I learned two new things that you may already know. Imagine a tape measurer. The metal is flexible and curved. The closure for the bag was made of that sort of curved metal ruler. You cut a length for each side and insert it into the casing at the top of the bag. Turn the strip of metal ruler so the concave side faces out. When you pull the two sides apart to open the bag, it stays open. Push them closed and they snap flat, closing the bag. Cool.

The mesh for the outer pocket is the flexible screen you would use in a window screen.

I had not thought of including that in a sewing project. It's wonderful to learn new things!

 

By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea...

I've been in Florida for days and had not yet been to the ocean. I took a few hours Friday afternoon to drive to Hutchinson Island. It's a barrier island and more built up than I imagined it would be. However, once you get to the beach it looks a lot like most of the beaches I've seen on the southeast coast of the US.

Once I got past the high sand dune with the grasses, the beach was long and full of people. I'm generalizing but it looked like the retirees were enjoying relaxing and those under the age of 25 were playing. This man was in no hurry to go anywhere. I wonder if I'm going to enjoy that feeling when I retire? I don't like sitting and relaxing for more than a few minutes at a time now. I think I'd need a personality transplant. But I'm not retired yet so maybe that feeling comes.

I, dressed in my clothes for the lecture tonight, was completely out of context.

 

But my feet were at home in the sand...

 

I know many of you are 'enjoying' storms and frozen weather. Here's hoping a bit of the beach will warm you up!

From Titusville...

I spent Monday and Tuesday in Jacksonville, FL, with the All Stars Quilt Guild. One of the ladies in my class, Carol, took photos and blogged about the class. You can read her post here.

Carol asked me before class started if I minded if she took photos which was fine with me. She was really subtle, I never noticed her doing it. She ended up taking photos that I would love to take myself but am always too busy teaching to be able to do.

So I'm sending a thank you to Carol and all of the All Stars for making my visit to Jacksonville so nice!

I spent Wed and Thurs in Titusville which was also lovely. I had no idea that the Kennedy Space Center is there. I sort of saw it off in the distance. I am now in Port St Lucie where I have the afternoon off. I think I'm going to go look at the ocean.

The best baby photo ever!

One of my husband's colleagues and his wife have a new son - Theo. They sent this photo (and gave me permission to share it with you). As the proud parent of two sons and two grandchildren I've gotta say - this is may be the best newborn photo taken by a non-professional that I've seen. 

Theo is handsome but it's more than that. In this photo he's looking at you. He's not just looking. You can see that there is a brain working behind those eyes. It's lovely that this photo captures that.

I think that all babies are thinking about what they see, but it's not often that a photo captures it. I cannot go back and take this great a photo of my own children but if I could, I would try to capture the spirit of this photo.

As a quilter I also have to say that I want to feel the blanket Theo is wrapped in. The stars are printed on... what? It looks like a quilted gauze. If I'm lucky Theo's parents will at some point let me see this blanket. If they do I'll report back. That said - these are parents of an infant and I'll bet real money that they are going to be sleep deprived for kind of a long time. If they forget that I'd like to touch the blanket I will so understand.

I loved my boys. I love my grandchildren. I did not love sleep deprivation and I would not willingly ever go back to being the parent of a baby. I like my children older. Chris at 30 and Jeff at almost 27 seem to me to be the absolute perfect ages for children. Elanor at 9 is really good. Jack at 4 - I love him a lot - but really, he's going to get better with age.

UPDATE: I found out that this swaddling cloth came from Aden + Anais. There is a set of four with different colored stars. I think they might make nice, short curtains too.

Withlacoochies!

I spent this weekend in Valdosta, GA, with the Withlacoochie Quilt Guild. Seriously - how could these ladies not be fun with a name like 'withlacoochie'? 

Yesterday we worked on coloring a block from My Whimsical Quilt Garden. Today we worked on applique techniques. I took a couple of photos this morning before we had to get to work. Here's Grace and her block:

And Barbara and her block:

There were 22 students in the class and I wish I had had time to photograph everyone with her block because each one was lovely - and differently colored. I love a 2-day class where there is time to play with color! I very much enjoyed the time I spent with these ladies.

I left class today and drove 2 hours to Jacksonville, FL, where I will be for the next 2 days. Then it's down the FL coast to Titusville for 2 days and then farther south for 2 days in Port St Lucie. I fly home next Sunday.

I'll do my best to post more this week from the Sunshine state. It is, in fact, sunny!

Ryan Gosling - quilter?

I am so out of touch with modern culture.... at least the modern culture that is paying attention to Ryan Gosling.

I will admit that he is not hard on the eyes. But there is apparently a move afoot to use his image and the phrase "hey girl" in oh so many ways. (Hey girl must be 'his' phrase in the same way that we all know that Arnold 'will be back'.)

These posters came from this tumblr stream. Celia, my DIL, sent me the links (here's another). There are bound to be more. In fact, if I only had time I'd make up some more quilter Ryan posters myself. Unfortunately I have real work to do. However, if you think you have time, click here for more Ryan photos. And then I want to see what you come up with!

FYI - Steve's mom has congestive heart failure and doctors say she could die in the next 5 minutes or the next 5 years. She supposed to leave the hospital tomorrow but we don't know where she's going yet...

 

Fighting entropy...

In my layman's understanding, the 2nd law of thermodynamics says that all things tend toward disorganization. Murphy's Law is all about entropy. I have spent the last week fighting entropy all over my house. I have much tidier drawers and closets and I feel good! The photos, however, are not thrilling.

This morning Steve and I spent several hours fighting weeds on the patch of ground next to the driveway.

Our driveway backs onto an alley. The spot below, next to the alley, is hard to keep tidy. There is this wiry, persistent, obnixious vine that grows here and elsewhere in our yard. You can't really see it here but it had grown all over that chain link gate, up the crepe myrtle, and into and through the rosemary. 

We raked out the leaves and then layed down 4 layers of newspaper. It was at this point that I realized I did not have anywhere near enough newspaper. So I went dumpster-diving down the alley and was stunned to see that almost none of my neighbors take the paper or, if they do, they are not recycling. I called friends and got some newspapers but this job is going to take more time as we have to collect newspapers.

The reason we put down newspaper was because of an article I read that said that 4 layers of newspaper would smother the plants/weeds underneath. I hope so. Steve went for mulch as I spread newspaper. Here's a tip: pick a day with no wind. Luckily we did not have wind today. If we had this would have been a lot harder. 

I weighted the paper with logs and 'tree cookies' that we had on hand. Steve spread mulch between them and over the paper.

I admit that our after photos may not look a lot different from the before photos, but they are. The vines are cut back to the ground and it is to be hoped that they don't grow up through the newspaper. The leaves are tidied up. I am amassing more newspaper so that we can cover the remaining ground. I feel like I've made progress.

Don't you love making progress? I've also been working on the website this weekend, on pages that are not exactly obvious. I updated the video 'Lessons' pages. You can click here and here and here to see them. I also updated my class page. That meant re-writing all my supply lists. I've spent hours standing at the computer and working. I stand because it supposed to be a lot better than sitting. I can tell the difference - it's harder but my bone density is better.

Speaking of bone density... I've been doing a little yoga in addition to pilates. I read an article in the NY Times today that confirms what I had already been told. Be careful of some of those yoga moves bacause they are not as benign as you may have been led to believe. I listened to a related story on The People's Pharmacy about yoga for osteoporosis. It pays to be careful.

The other tool you're going to want...

If you read yesterday's post, you know we found a great tool for mom to use to put on compression hose. We got a call last night... she couldn't get them off. Good thing we live four houses down.

As it turns out, there's a tool for getting the darned things off. If I had known, I would have ordered them both at the same time. Click here for more info on the Medi Butler Off (called the doffer).

Boy, have I got a tool for you!

Mom went to the dermatologist today. He froze off some pre-cancerous patches and he looked at her legs. Mom gets to apply some ointment and wear compression hose for the foreseeable future. We bought the proper hose and then came the real fun.

When you can't bend and can barely reach your toes to put on regular socks it's more than a trick to put on compression hose. I have, in the past, thought mom was sort of a slacker when she told me how hard this task was. Boy, have I been schooled. 

I decided to google 'tricks to putting on compression hose' and found this movie. I watched the first half and we tried that. Didn't work. But then we watched the end of the movie together. Yes! There is a tool for putting on compression hose. Mom went from being disgusted with the whole process to happy.

Within 5 minutes we were calling (the number is listed) to place an order. We ordered one that has extension handles which should be even better for mom. So, for any of you who need to know... here you go:

 

You might also find good links here.

The porch and a bird!

As promised, here is a photo of Mom's front porch:

Rather than one big step, the boys built two 4 1/2" steps. The hand rails are made from treated lumber. We debated about using galvanized pipe but it's too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer. We also thought about building fancier hand rails (well, I thought about it) but this simpler design was faster and looks better with the house.

The concrete pavers off to the right were there before. As mom says it's one less place to need to plant something.

Steve used the same style of hand rail for the front steps. 

The previous owner painted all the concrete in front orange. Mom does not love it. The one gray step you see here is the one Jeff fixed last August. It doesn't match. I am waiting for the day when Mom would like us to either paint it orange or sandblast the rest of the concrete. Until then, I'm going to ignore it.

You're wondering about the bird, aren't you? On my way to Mom's to take this photo I was surprised to spot an adult road runner in our front yard:

I tried to get a better photo but the darned thing kept running farther away. It stood almost a foot tall. Who knew we had road runners!

Mom's porch and more...

I thought I had a photo of the finished porch but I can't find it - but the porch is finished and and so are all the handrails. I promise to get a photo posted soon. Mom can now walk from her front door to the mailbox and back. That's important. She is so not happy that her body is no longer agile. Anything we can do to keep her mobile makes us all happy. The boys did a great job and for that I am truly grateful.

My Christmas present was the installation of a new Solatube in the hall bathroom. Chris measured and cut the hole in the bathroom from the inside...

Chris is so related to me. You see that bandage on his arm? He fell off the stepstool and luckily only bruised his arm. We wrapped it and he took ibuprofen and it's OK. More OK than it would be if Steve or I had fallen. Falling down is really bad and I try to avoid it at all costs. I am not nearly as steady as Steve is and I think my oldest son got my not-as-steady genes. One can hope that he also got some of my other more beneficial genes to offset the falling down genes.

Jeff was in the attic. You can see how much he loves the attic.

Steve and I went into the attic the next day to wrap the new Solatube (and last year's tube) with insulation. I had not been that far into the attic before. It was interesting, knowing that one misstep and I'd be through the sheetrock ceiling. I didn't love it but I did do it.

Installing a solatube requires cutting through the roof. All my guys were on the roof (see above) and not long after I got this nice shot of the boys. How often do you see sky all the way behind your subjects?

In the daytime the Solatube looks like a recessed lighting fixture. The light from outside illuminates the room. I love it and think of my boys every time I walk by.

 

On New Year's Eve the guys (and Elanor!) did the polar bear plunge in our pool. I missed Elanor's jump but managed to get photos of the guys. Jack jumped twice.

Steve is in the pool often so it wasn't so surprising to see him wet. That said the water is COLD (low 50s) and you won't see me in it until late May, or June.

Once you are this far over the water, there's no going back...

Jeff jumped and swam 3 times across the pool. Which meant that Chris had to jump in again. See that look on Jeff's face? That's what your face looks like when you jump into COLD water.

Today, January 1, 2012, is here. Jeff and Celia flew home today. Chris is on his way to England for a conference on British literature. I spent all day, and I mean ALL DAY, cleaning the house. I washed and cleaned out drawers. I moved the 2011 files into a box and am ready for the new year's receipts. I'm getting ready for classes that are coming soon. Tomorrow I have to start writing the text for our next book. Life is going on.

But I can't help but remember those for whom life is not going on. Some people we love died in 2011. My sister, christy, and right before Christmas one of my mother's very good friends, Becky, died. It is a constant reminder of how important it is to treasure each day, to let those you love know that you do, in fact, love them. 

I ate my good luck black eyed peas today. I hope they work for the new year.