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Tuesday, December 31, 2013

out with the old and in with the new



A couple of years ago, I got inspired by one of Denise's posts and bought myself a planner. That was one of the best ideas ever.

I don't have so many commitments that I need to write down when to be where, but the planners have been great for keeping grocery lists and meal plans and pattern notes. I've got all of the doctor's offices listed in the front, so there's no more digging around for a phone book or trying to find a business card for the one that isn't listed in any of the five different yellow pages for our area.  I also keep the magic code number that starts the van's built in GPS again when it goes out for no reason.(Or when someone leaves the dome light on and the battery dies.) I think I needed those twice last year.

I'd hoped to find a different color cover for 2014, but it went from "too early to think about a new planner" to "better buy one today or you're not gonna find one" in the blink of an eye, and I was happy just to find the right style. Wonder what I could do with some Mod Podge and fabric or scrapbooking paper....

Monday, December 30, 2013

the more I need to remember...

It's easy to forget how soothing the hum of the sewing machine and the slide of yarn across wooden needles are.  The more wound up I get, the more likely I am to forget that sometimes just sitting down with some a project for a few minutes will calm my nerves.


And I don't have to figure out exactly where I left off on my current project. I can pull some scraps and start cutting them for the next baby quilt and sew a few new bow ties. That'll work.

I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times .

Sunday, December 29, 2013

2013 Year End Totals

Going back through my pictures for your year, I really got more done in 2013 than I realized. One large quilt quilted and finished. Three small lace shawls, six pairs of socks, a tote bag that I love to pieces and still carry almost every day, a possum costume, a gargoyle, a Sasquatch hunting backpack...a kindle cover, a couple of pin cushions, a mug rug and a pot holder...


After going through the baby quilts a second time, I was sure I had them all in chronological order...but now Sid is missing. He brings the total to twenty-nine instead of the twenty-eight I thought I'd finished. Short of my goal, but definitely better than the sixteen I finished last year. Especially considering that they're larger quilts and I also wrote tutorials for a bunch of them.


All year, I've felt like I was getting nothing done, definitely less than last year. Looking at it all together, I finished more than I realized.  Twenty-eight baby quilts was short of my goal, but it's definitely better than the sixteen I finished in 2012. Especially considering that they're larger quilts and I also wrote tutorials for a bunch of them. 2010 was my gold-standard year for baby quilts


Weekly Stash Report

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 69 3/4 yards
Added this Week: 10 yards
Added Year to Date: 321 1/2 yards
Net Added for 2013: 251 3/4 yards

Yarn Used this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 3615 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 9486 yards
Net Added for 2013: 5871 yards

I'm linking up to Patchwork Times.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Sock Knitting Master Class

When I first got bitten by the sock knitting bug, I read through every book I could get my hands on. It didn't matter that I didn't understand half of it, I was desperate to learn to knit socks and seeing all of the different ways to complicate them only made me more anxious to learn.

These days, I know how to knit socks and I've managed to build up quite a library of sock knitting books. But whenever I see that the library has a new one, it has to come home with me. That's how I stumbled across Sock Knitting Master Class: Innovative Techniques + Patterns from Top Designers.



I'll absolutely be buying a copy of this one. It's got everything -- charts for different measurements and yarn requirements, explanations of how to knit socks on four or five dpns and different types of circulars, more toe and heel styles than I knew existed, different cast-ons and bind-offs for toe-up and cuff-down socks...

And the patterns! There are some gorgeous sock designs in this book. I buy fewer knitting books these days because between the free patterns I've queued on Ravelry and the books I already know, there are hundreds of pairs of socks I want to knit, but I could justify this book just as a reference for heels and toes.

I haven't looked at the included DVD, since I'd rather read about knitting than watch it explained.

Friday, December 27, 2013

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {week 52}

Thanks for making baby quilts with me this year. It's been a lot of fun and I've enjoyed seeing everyone's progress.

My goal was to make fifty baby quilts this year. I managed twenty-eight. As far as I can tell, two are missing from the collages and one snuck in there twice -- but it's a decent sampling of what I managed this year.




Did you meet your own goals? Are you going to make baby quilts with me again next year? With the start 2014 is going to get off to at our house, I think I'm going to ditch the goals and just see what I can accomplish.



Thursday, December 26, 2013

Wooden Spoon Love

Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of wooden spoons?

I'm not going to admit how much time I spent trying to get a good picture of these spoons. The original plan was to stand them up in a vintage canning jar...but I couldn't get pictures that match the image I had in my head.  And I really want to show you these spoons so you can see why I was so happy when I found them at an estate sale a few weeks back. 


On my first trip to the sale, they were stuck together in a vase with masking tape across the bowl of each spoon. Fifty cents each. Not bad at all....but I wasn't sure if I wanted to cook with someone else's old wooden spoons. 

On our return trip the following day, everything was half off and they were still there in the kitchen waiting for me. I know I've seen neat things with wooden spoons on Pinterest....haven't I? (I just checked, and now I'm remembering exactly what I'd seen.)

They rattled around in the back of the van for a while until I finally got them into the house and took my first "those are mine" look.  These aren't like the new wooden spoons I've bought at the Dollar Tree (they don't sell them anymore -- but they've got wooden sporks, which just aren't gonna work for making cookies). They've got a totally different weight and patina...they're chunky and uneven....do you see the oddly shaped bowl of the third one from the top? 

Am I the only one who gets weirdly giddy about old kitchen stuff? 

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Angel and Shepherds Christmas Ball

This isn't the first time I've managed to totally confuse myself with a knitting pattern. I found this neat knitted ball on Ravelry and printed the pattern. When I started knitting, I knit the colors that were shown on the chart. Somewhere along the line, I started to wonder why the sky wasn't blue and the shepherds weren't white... Then I pulled up the project page to link to from this post and saw the project photos. Oops. 


It's far from the dumbest knitting mistake I've ever made. I'm more concerned about the tension, which isn't what it should be. Everything I've read about stranded color work says that you should choose a pattern that doesn't have floats of more than a few stitches. This pattern has loooong floats and even knitting the ball inside out didn't keep things from puckering.  I've tried stranded color work before, with the Endpaper Mittts and an ugly hat that didn't last long. It's something I'd like to get good at because there are a ton of gorgeous mitten patterns on Ravelry that I can't justify buying until I'm skilled enough to do them right.

This post is linked to Get Crafty Friday

Monday, December 23, 2013

two days 'til Christmas (or is it a day and a half?)



When I made the first batch of these little paper wreaths, I was worried about the inappropriate words that might turn up on my ornaments. The book I chose because it had wonderfully aged pages was an absolutely awful choice. I went looking for a better book....then, after it was too late for another shopping trip, I realized what I needed.

Harry Potter.  Because I know my kids. I know they'll read the ornaments -- so why not give them something they can identify? There are so many copies out in the world that cannibalizing one for the paper wouldn't keep anyone from reading it. (Now I'm kicking myself for tossing  a copy a few months back because it had lost the last chapter or so.)

I wound up with a battered copy of Little Women that I bought for a quarter from the Friends of the Library bookshop. They had Little House in the Big Woods, which would've been my first choice but I decided to leave the mostly complete set for some mommy who actually needs them to read to her kids.



I'd found a tutorial for making ornaments from picture book illustrations and was sure I'd pinned it. Maybe I didn't, because I didn't have any picture books to cut up. Then I found this one at the Friends of the Library for a quarter. It was trashed. Torn pages...crayon marks...scuffed cover... I don't feel any guilt at all for cutting it up to hang on our tree. We used the oddest animals. Have I mentioned that my kids are big Animal Planet fans?
 

And we were lucky enough that the book had everyone's absolute favorites, even some bees for Hubby.


goals vs. real life

My plans for the month of December haven't materialized. I'm actually glad that I didn't post the list, because I don't want you to see how many things I had hoped to get done by the end of the year but won't. 

Here's my design wall as of right now...


There's a knitted Christmas ball that still needs a bit of finishing and some pieces from clue #3 of Celtic Solstice. It was so nice of Bonnie to give us an easy clue this week, but I don't think I'm going to get to it for a while. You can't see the butterfly pieces or the knitted stockings and stars that still need loops added. Those are off to one side. 

I'm linking up to Patchwork Times

Sunday, December 22, 2013

the salted caramels that weren't meant to be

Salted caramel is one of those things that our family has agreed to disagree about. Hubby wasn't impressed. I think it's one of the yummiest things I've discovered in recent years.  The boys know it's got sugar in it -- in their book, that's enough. 


So when I saw the recipes on Pinterest, the only thing that stopped me from starting a batch right away was our lack of whipping cream. A couple of days later, I was ready to give it a try.  It tasted wonderful, but it didn't set so that I could cut it into pieces. A fair amount was eaten with a spoon or licked off of the fingertips of passing boys before I finally gave up and tossed it. I used the candy thermometer and followed the directions, but I guess it wasn't meant to be.

Weekly Stash Report

I finished two knitting projects this week. One probably won't appear here until after Christmas, just because I've got other things to squeeze onto the blog before the big day.

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 69 3/4 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 311 1/2 yards
Net Added for 2013: 241 3/4 yards


Yarn Used this Week: 500 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 3615 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 9486 yards
Net Added for 2013: 5871 yards

Sounds bad, doesn't it? But at 200 yards a skein, it's "only" 30 skeins. And 11 of those are for Teenage Daughter's sweater.

I'm linking up to Patchwork Times.

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Oooh -- it's THAT book!



I get a couple of daily emails featuring free and discounted Kindle titles. A few weeks back, one listed Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon.

Here's the description --

After watching his asthmatic daughter suffer in the foul city air, Theodore Constantine decides to get back to the land. When he and his wife search New England for the perfect nineteenth-century home, they find no township more charming, no countryside more idyllic than the farming village of Cornwall Coombe. Here they begin a new life: simple, pure, close to nature—and ultimately more terrifying than Manhattan’s darkest alley. 

When the Constantines win the friendship of the town matriarch, the mysterious Widow Fortune, they are invited to join the ancient festival of Harvest Home, a ceremony whose quaintness disguises dark intentions. In this bucolic hamlet, where bootleggers work by moonlight and all of the villagers seem to share the same last name, the past is more present than outsiders can fathom—and something far more sinister than the annual harvest is about to rise out of the earth.


It sounded right up my alley, so I checked to see if the library had a print copy. My book budget is limited, so if I can read their copy instead of buying it for myself, I usually will.  It wasn't until I picked the book up from the reserve shelf that I realized what I had in my hands.


It's that book, the one that was on the shelf next to the encyclopedias when I was little! Until I had it in my hands, I'd totally forgotten how obsessed I used to be with that cover.  I called and asked my mom about it -- she remembered the cover art, but nothing about the book itself. Of all the books she owned, that one was somewhere different...and unless childhood has distorted the memories, it was on that same shelf for years. It's kind of neat to finally know what that book was, now that I'm old enough to read.

As for the story, it was interesting in that sort of dated way that 1970s books have. I'm guessing that 40 years ago, the plot wouldn't have seemed so predictable. But reading it in 2013, when the family moves into a community with strangely old-fashioned ways an an eagerly anticipated ceremony....well you're not surprised when something bad happens. It reminds me of the original Wicker Man movie.  

Friday, December 20, 2013

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {week 51}

Just look at this baby quilt that Kate from Katie Mae Quilts linked up last week --


I really like that floral print she used for the snowballs and the way it plays with the polka dots to make such a cheerful baby quilt.

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules:

Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned, as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button

By linking up, you're giving me permission to feature your quilt in a future Let's Make Baby Quilts! post -- with a link back and full credit, of course.





Thursday, December 19, 2013

Fezzes are cool!

At least that's what The Doctor says, and what kind of mother would I be to argue with Doctor Who and my nine-year-old. He made himself a Fez out of duct tape. Bad mommy that I am, I thought I could make him something better.


Ravelry has a lot of free fez patterns. Most are crocheted, or  felted. I wanted to use the  Red Heart Super Saver that I'd bought for the Christmas ornaments...so I went with the toilet paper roll cover. Acrylic doesn't block, so it's not as structured as I'd like. If it keeps bugging me, I'll make a cardboard form to slip inside so it'll hold its shape.

The tricky thing about making Christmas presents for the kids is that I have four of them. There are things I want to do for all of them -- there just isn't enough time.  I could start in February, but I'm not going to make something for a current passion and then pack it away, hoping the kid hasn't changed his mind by the time the next holiday comes around. (Remember Quinn's Green Trip Around the World?)

Leif got the possum costume for Halloween. Quinn is getting the fez for Christmas. Teenage Daughter wants a Weasley Sweater in Slytherin colors, with an intarsia "S" -- and she's enough of a knitter to realize that it's going to take a while. There are things I've seen on Ravelry that Teenage Son doesnt' know he wants, not yet at least. And they're going to get them when I finish them, unless it's six days before a holiday or birthday.

I'm going to have to make a matching bow tie to go with the hat, aren't I?

This post is linked to I Gotta Try ThatSew Much AdoFinish it Up FridayCan I get a Whoop Whoop?Get Crafting FridayPinworthy Projects, and Freedom FridaysWonderful at Home, and Inspired Friday.

Waiting until you find a good deal...

Years ago, I read that when you decide you need something, you shouldn't run right out and buy one. Instead, you should hold off and give yourself a chance to find a really great deal, or one that someone is giving away, or decide that you don't need it at all. 


Obviously that isn't going to work for some things. But others, like sock blockers, can wait. In my case, the urge passed and it wasn't until I was taking pictures for Judy's pooling sock yarn challenge and my socks weren't lying nicely that I started thinking about a pair again.

Sock blockers aren't cheap. And I don't really intend to block my socks, just stretch them out a bit for pretty pictures. I decided that there were other things I needed more than props for sock pictures... then a kid held up one of these at an estate sale and asked me what it was. I'd been in that room three times and had noticed them hanging there and it hadn't clicked in my brain what they were -- three dollar sock blockers, for half off, and they were adjustable.

According to this etsy listing, they're Rowan adjustable sock blockers. The pair advertised adjusts for socks from 8.5 to 10.5.  Either my set is bigger or you're supposed to really stretch socks a lot while blocking them (the smallest size seems awfully big for my ladies size 11 socks.)

In this case, waiting for seven years paid off!

This post is linked to Knick of Time Tuesday, Tuesday's Treasures, Time Travel Thursday, Ivy & Elephants & Vintage Thingie Thursday, Share Your Cup, We Call it Olde, Thriftasaurus, Thrifter Share.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

I need these needles...

It shouldn't take long to get this last little stocking done and off my needles so I can start on a Christmas present, but it sure feels like it's taking forever.  Probably because I'm doing everything but working on it. 


I've been caught up reading Kiki and Cara Mia's Holiday Celebration, the newest in the Kiki Lowenstein series by Joanna Campbell Slan.  It's supposed to take place after Tear Down and Die, the first book in the author's new series, but I was in the mood for a quick read. It was a fun visit with Kiki and her friends, but I found myself annoyed by Kiki's attitude, and this one could have used a little more editing. But the writing is entertaining enough that I'm willing to ignore an occasional typo.  

 

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

We don't have an elf on our shelf...

So far this year, we don't have any Christmas decorations up, not unless I get to count that pile of knitted stars and stockings waiting on the treadle sewing machine to have their ends woven in. When I do get around to making the house festive, we still won't have an elf.

What we do have is Evil Santa. (He's currently skulking around up in the sewing room, mostly for his own protection because his stitching is starting to look weak.)


I've got to admit that I'm baffled by the whole Elf on the Shelf phenomena. When did this elf thing become a mandatory part of Christmas? How did I manage to remain so totally oblivious until last year?  I Googled it and found the Wikiipedia article, which solved that mystery. The elf came out in 2005, the year I spent December in the hospital on bed rest and managed to completely miss Christmas. The elf's debut slid neatly into the gap between my older two and younger two children and our family managed to miss it  completely.

Would we have an elf if I'd known about them when the kids were littler? I honestly don't know. When I was a first time mommy, I'm betting I would have jumped on the idea. But these days I'm lazier. Or I'm using up all of my mommy energy on things like possum costumes...  Isn't it great how we all have our own ideas about what we're willing to do for our kids?

The idea of hiding Evil Santa around the house is really starting to appeal to me...

Monday, December 16, 2013

Better late than never!

I've had a poor track record with Bonnie's mystery quilts. When she started Roll Roll Cotton Boll, I had a pile of fabrics in just the right colors, but I couldn't make up my mind whether I wanted to give it a try or not. As soon as I started to see finished quilts, I regretted that decision. I've still got the fabric, and the book with the pattern, and every intention of making my own someday.

I started Orca Bay right along with everyone else, and even kept up for a couple of clues. I wound up giving up, just for the moment, and using my hourglass units to make A Quilt for Mrs. Bate's Parlor.  I can always make more.

Celtic Solstice has had to wait until things settled down a bit. I know there's orange up in the sewing room, but I haven't had time to dig it out.


Even if I don't finish, I always seem to learn something new from these projects. This time, it's going to mean finally learning how to use those Tri Recs rulers I bought ages ago for a different project. 

I've made some more butterflies for the latest baby quilt -- only sixteen more to go! 


This post is linked to Bonnie's Celtic Solstice Linky Party and to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times. 

Sunday, December 15, 2013

It's finally warmed up!

For the first day in a week, the roads near are house aren't frozen. The temperature is up to almost forty degrees and we haven't got the sink running to keep the pipes from freezing.

Isn't it ridiculous, some of the things that can make you really happy?


Back in October, Jo posted about her Olfa Splash rotary cutter. My biggest complaint about my Fiskars cutters is that I wind up stripping the screw when I replace blades. I must've gone through a dozen of those cutters in my eight years of quilting.  As soon as I read that the Splash has a sliding piece instead of a screw to battle with, I decided I wanted one. Yesterday was my first day cutting with it and I really like that I can use it easily in either hand. (I do use the Fiskars that way, but half the time I'm using it backwards.) I'm not going to try to remove the blade until I have to,  but if it works as well as they say it does, and if I can sharpen the blades with my trusty little blue sharpener gizmo, I'll be thrilled.

For now I'm happy to be cutting with a sharp blade!

Weekly Stash Report

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 69 3/4 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 311 1/2 yards
Net Added for 2013: 241 3/4 yards


Yarn Used this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 3115 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 9486 yards
Net Added for 2013: 6371 yards

I'm linking up to Patchwork Times and Finding Fifth.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Abandon

Sometimes, I think a great reading experience is just a matter of picking up a certain book at the exact right moment. That's what happened with Abandon by Blake Crouch.


Early Sunday morning, the power was out and I was too stressed about the possibility of frozen pipes to even think about crawling back into bed. My Kindle didn't have a full charge and if someone hits a pole, it usually takes quilt a while for them to get thing fixed -- especially if it's icy out and more than one person hit more than one pole... Don't ask me how long it takes them to get around to taking care of a live wire lying across the front yard!

I didn't want to run my battery dead in the middle of a book, so I picked up the one at the top of the library pile. I'd read Desert Places when it first came out and although I couldn't tell you anything about that book now, I do know that it blew me away at the time.

Here's the description of Abandon from Blake Crouch's website:

On Christmas Day in 1893, every man, woman and child in a remote mining town will disappear, belongings forsaken, meals left to freeze in vacant cabins, and not a single bone will be found--not even the gold that was rumored to have been the pride of this town will be found either. One hundred and thirteen years later, two backcountry guides are hired by a leading history professor and his journalist daughter to lead them into the abandoned mining town so that they can learn what happened. This has been done once before but the people that went in did not come out. With them is a psychic, and a paranormal photographer--the town is rumored to be haunted. They've come to see a ghost town, but what they are about to discover is that twenty miles from civilization, with a blizzard bearing down, they are not alone, and the past is very much alive....

I've always been a sucker for tales of people who mysteriously vanish.  The power was back on within the hour, but by then I was hooked.  This was the perfect book to read while sort of snowed in (I could have left the house if I really needed to, but didn't want to risk the minivan on those roads)  The fictional town of Abandon is a few miles up the mountains from Silverton, Colorado -- we went over Engineer Pass earlier this year. And toured the Old Hundred Mine, so the settings of the book were easy for me to visualize.

I don't usually recommend horror novels on my blog, but this one is GOOD. It's gory in spots, so read at your own risk.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Let's Make Baby Quilts {week 50}

Thanks to  everyone who shared your baby quilts last week. Celine at Accroquilt shared the most adorable appliqued hearts.  I love embroidery, and that yellow background on Jessica's nine patch baby quilt.  Isn't that just the perfect bit of cheerful sunshine for a new mom? 


Please keep sharing your baby quilts -- it helps keep the rest of us motivated!

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules:

Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned, as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button

By linking up, you're giving me permission to feature your quilt in a future Let's Make Baby Quilts! post -- with a link back and full credit, of course.





Thursday, December 12, 2013

Some Stockings to Hang...

Knitting is one of the best stress-relievers I've ever found. Depending on the situation, I've had success with either super intricate lace and cables (the kind that require so much concentration it'll make you forget whatever it was you were worried about) or super easy projects that just keep your fingers moving and distract you a bit with the rhythm.  


These are Mini Christmas Stockings by Gemma Towns, a free download. I used worsted weight acrylic instead of the sport weight wool that the patterns calls for. Aside from a few rows of short row shaping for the heel and three rows of decreases at the toe, it's all mindless stockinette. And they're not boring, because even with only a couple of skeins of yarn, there are plenty of color combinations and striped patterns to try.

This post is linked to I Gotta Try ThatSew Much AdoFinish it Up FridayCan I get a Whoop Whoop?Get Crafting FridayPinworthy Projects, and Freedom FridaysWonderful at Home, and Inspired Friday.

Free Chrstmas Cozy for your Kindle -- Claus of Death

I know I've got more book related posts than usual this week, but I wanted to let you know that Claus of Death, the third mystery in the Myrtle Crumb series, is available free for your Kindle through December 13. I've already read and enjoyed this one, and if you're looking for a short, funny little mystery to get yourself in the holiday spirit, this one is a great choice.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

{Yarn Along} 1955 The Summer When...

Aren't these little angel ornaments adorable? The pattern is Hurricane Angel, a free Ravelry download. The head and gown are knit in one piece and the two wings and halo are knit separately. There's a lot of shaping, but it goes quickly, and I think they're cute enough to be worth some minor effort. 


I'm not so sure about the Christmas Shark... I don't think I have the enthusiasm to make him more than once!






I've posted before that I enjoy reading books about places I'll never visit myself and 1955 The Summer When... fits the bill nicely, sweeping the reader along to post-war Paris and Spain and Italy with nineteen-year-old Valerie Thornhill.

As I read, I kept comparing Valerie to the author of The Doris Diaries. Unlike Doris, Valerie doesn't blithely assume that she'll be safe or that everything will work out. She sets out on the trip alone and occasionally finds herself in uncomfortable situations, often with people who are known to her and who she felt she could trust. She also makes the best of things, coping with shared bathrooms that lack locks and learning to navigate different cultures.  I highly recommend this book -- you can read excepts on Valerie Thornhill's website, or more about her current life at her blog, Fifties Girl.

For more pretty knitting projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times and Work in Progress Wednesdays at Tami's Amis



Disclosure -- The publisher provided me with an electronic ARC. 

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Guest Post by Julian David Stone

It absolutely boggles my mind how much television has changed in just the past couple of decades. The television we have now is nothing like what we had in my childhood, and I can only imagine what it was like in its earliest days.  Julian David Stone, author of The Strange Birth, Short Life, and Sudden Death of Justice Girl, offered to write a guest post for my blog as part of his blog tour, I asked him to talk about the early days of television.


Even in this age of the twenty –four hour news cycle, the viral video and the instantly downloadable movie, the rapid explosion of television after World War II is still something to behold. In 1946 there were only six thousand television sets in the United States, by 1951 that number had risen to over twelve million. Twelve Million! Having a television in the home fit in perfectly with the desires of the returning G.I. to leave the war behind and settle into the domestic tranquility of a stable home life. In many cases, the television became the centerpiece of this new idyllic home, with the family gathering together to watch their favorite tv shows quickly becoming a nightly ritual.

And many of the returning G.I.’s also found the new medium to be the perfect vehicle for them to express what they had seen and experienced.  Gore Vidal, Reginald Rose, Rod Serling and Paddy Chayefsky were all World War II veterans, and all became very famous television writers in the early 1950’s. While some wrote directly about their experiences in the war, others turned a mirror on America as a whole, deciding instead to critique the culture that was growing out of the post war boom. Serling choose to expose the high pressure world of business in his classic “Patterns” and in “Marty”, Chayefsky examined the loneliness of those men who had failed to find a family and fit-in to the expected norms of the greater society.

The work they did for television in these early days came to be referred to as ‘kitchen sink dramas”, largely because of the stripped-down realism of portraying everyday characters in everyday settings.  While some have interpreted this to mean the dramas were small in scope, perhaps linking the subject matters to the technical limitations of live television -- few locations, minimal sets  – but in actuality, this is quite misleading.  The best dramas of this era take their characters through profound events and changes, that hold up with the best dramatic work of any medium at any time.  Serling’s work in particular leapt beyond the seeming smallness of the stories by having the protagonists fight an antagonist who not only represented an obstacle to what the character wanted, but also represented the ill in society that he or she was fighting against.  Thus the protagonist had to overcome not only the person who was standing in his way, but had to defeat society as a whole in order to win.  There was nothing small about these battles. The stakes couldn’t have been higher, and the desired outcomes couldn’t have been harder to achieve.

To further see just how powerful and strong this work was, one need only look to the influence they still have all these years later. Mad Men bares a more than passing resemblance to Serling’s masterpiece “Patterns” (Mathew Weiner, the show’s creator, has repeatedly mentioned Rod Serling as a huge influence) and any number of tv series and movies can look back to “Marty” as a starting off point.

Sunday, December 08, 2013

weekly stash report

A couple of Saturdays ago, I saw an ad on Craigslist for a "quilter's garage sale." Teenage Daughter had to be at a birthday party a couple of miles away and I had three or four hours to fill...  I came home with 30 or so yards of quilt shop quality fabric for a very reasonable price.

I might have bought more -- and in hindsight, it's probably best that I behaved myself -- but there was a guy there at the sales table who kept making mean-spirited comments about the fabric stash they were selling. I never quite figured out which of the three women the fabric belonged to, or why she was getting rid of it (and it was none of my business anyway.)

But if you're trying to sell of hundreds and hundreds of yards of nice fabric, your best customers are probably going to be the quilters who already have plenty at home. And those quilters probably don't want to be reminded of that while they're picking out fabric.

Just a thought...

Weekly Stash Report

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 69 3/4 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 311 1/2 yards
Net Added for 2013: 241 3/4 yards


Yarn Used this Week: 75 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 3115 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 9486 yards
Net Added for 2013: 6371 yards

I'm linking up to Patchwork Times.

Saturday, December 07, 2013

I really loved our Chevy Suburban...


We bought our 2005 Chevy Suburban a couple of years ago. It was comfortable and had great seat warmers. It got us safely over Engineer Pass in Colorado and up the Shafer trail in Moab.

And this is what it looked like Monday night after an oncoming car crossed the center line...


Now I love that Suburban. Because I'm pretty sure it saved my hubby's life. At the very least, it protected him from worse injuries. It took an hour for them to pry the doors open and get him loaded into the ambulance.  He left the emergency room on crutches and we're not sure how long he's going to be off his feet, but it could have been so much worse.

Friday, December 06, 2013

Let's Make Baby Quilts {week 49}


It's been a hectic week, but I spent some time this week chain piecing butterfly wings for my newest baby quilt. I'm thinking her name might be Lydia...or maybe Butterfly. We've been hearing Butterfly McQueen now and then on the old time radio station that we listen to when we're in the car.


How are your baby quilts coming? I've got a bunch of things in the works, but the holiday season is going to slow me down.

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules:

Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned, but it's got to be about baby quilts. While we're still gathering steam, you're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button

By linking up, you're giving me permission to feature your quilt in a future Let's Make Baby Quilts! post -- with a link back and full credit, of course.