Blocks of the Month

I sew sometimes. Mostly I have ideas of making something big; mostly I make small things. I joined a block-of-the-month program at a local quilt shop three years ago. I've made lots of blocks, and, in the process of making blocks, have become a more technical sewer of quilt blocks. At some point in the next twelve months, I'd like to make a quilt out of one of the block sets I've made over the years. This past weekend I made these:

Painter's Palette Block:


I had a fatal cutting error and had to run out to purchase extra fabric -- can you make out the mistake?

This makes 13 completed Klimt blocks on hand. I'll make 4 more blocks (I purchased the bonus kits in an optimistic frenzy), choose the best blocks, choose a setting, and make a Klimt Quilt this year.

In June the quilt shop started its "state of mind" block series. This BoM is different b/c I'll do one 12.5 x 12.5 block each month, and also do a finishing piece. At month twelve, I'll have all the pieces to complete a quilt top. I chose the colorway "exuberance." I call the entire project Leap of Faith.

Leap of Faith, Block 1:

I am Morally Excellent

Not only did I ride my bike to work one day last week (5.5, flat, urban, miles), but I also worked a long long day. Mine was one of the first bikes locked to the rack that morning and the last locked to the rack that night:

I have decided to buy baskets and lights for the bike to encourage more rides to and from the office. Why should the huge amount of stuff I bring to the office each day (knitting, food, extra shoes, paperwork) and the danger of riding the city streets at night without lights keep me from commuting with my bike more often?

Yes, I live with environmental, consumerist guilt -- though I continue to over-consume (accessories for the bike) and rationalize my points of abuse with the environment (more days than not I drive the 5.5 miles to and from work -- I can rattle off hundreds of rationalizations).

Yes, I have time management issues (is there another reason for being at the office at 8:30 on a Friday??

MeMe x Twelve

Why are some MeMes fun? I saw this on one of the blogs I lurk.
1. susan, 2. Strawberry-Balsamic Chocolates, 3. The Horse Who Lives Near the High School, 4. light spoke to me, 5. Mariachi!, 6. llibreria - bookstore - Amsterdam, 7. Tokyo International Quilt Festival January 2006, 8. chocolate lovers' ultimate delight, 9. simultaneousness…♫ little egrets - egretta garzetta - from bali ♫♫♫, 10. Travel Broadens The Mind., 11. binary easter egg, 12. Loop de Loop


How it works:
+ Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
+ Select an image from the first page.
+ Copy and paste the image's URL into fd's mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name

What you realize:
+ There ought to be a license for unsupervised play in Photoshop.
+ Sunsets. Big. Why?
+ One is attracted to a consistent color palette.
+ "Bono" Flickr search pulls up a Lego Boy Band. (See photo 5.) Why?

Rabbit, Run

May’s read at the bookgroup was Rabbit, Run, by John Updike.

I am a simple human. I could not get past Rabbit’s juvenile run from responsibility and consequence of Rabbit to enjoy the novel. I know we’re supposed to accept Rabbit as authentic in his impulsive reactions to his instinct. But aren’t we to expect more? Society’s glue is our responsibilities to ourselves and one another – society’s glue is that we respect.

Updike’s writing is gorgeous – hurried, emotional, confused, densely allegorical without undue weight. The scene of Janice unable to care for her newborn startles – the reader stumbles with Janice in her drunken haze. His depiction of a dead American town and how men and women interact with one another unnerves as these themes feel timeless.

I’m sure bookgroup will continue to read the Rabbit series – will Rabbit grow up in one of those novels?

The Predicament

Cat or mouse?

Some days you are the cat: seemingly dominant, in control, threatening menace. Other days you are the mouse: wily, unnoticed, low on the food chain.

It's a bad day when you are a cat without the killer instinct chasing the mouse without the flight reflex. That's how you get a cat staring at a mouse in a bowl.