Category: Interesting Information

Information I want to share in a non-essay form

Bees and More Bees

Interesting Information: July 6, 2021

Bees and More Bees

Yesterday, after two days of rain, I took AC to the athletic field at the Snow Bowl for a good run and a swim

As he chased his ball, I began to notice that bees were all over the clover blooming in the field.

At first, my eyes didn’t “see” how many there were:

And then I realized there were hundreds of bees everywhere—big bumblers and little honey bees.

The blooming clover was drawing them, yes, but I think they might have not been able to harvest pollen during the two days of rain.

I zoomed with the phone camera and got a better video of at least one bee.

But even this video does not capture how many there were.

AC was oblivious. But I slowly backed off the field, watching where I was stepping, and I took him swimming instead.

And I was reminded how we went barefoot most of the time when I was a child, and how stepping on a bee in the clover almost always meant a bee sting.

Walter Presents

Turkey Tracks/Interesting Information: July 2, 2021

Walter Presents


I’m watching the “Walter Presents” drama shows on the PBS channel—which I have through Amazon Prime.  They are AWESOME!  Every single one I’ve watched.  “Walter,” who is a real person, rounds up the best drama from across the world, puts in subtitles as needed, and PBS is one of the platforms where you can see some of them.  

Walter is Italian Walter Luzzolino: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Iuzzolino. He is a television producer with several successful UK series to his credit.

So far I’ve seen INSIDE (French), THE BERLIN DANCE SCHOOL (German), THE DEVIL’S THROAT (Bulgarian), and THE NORDIC MURDERS (German).  “Nordic Murders” is apparently a genre of murder mysteries, and this series is not set in Norway, but on an island in the Baltic that holds a border with Poland. Right now I’m watching “Bright-Eyed Revenge (Italian and set in Nice), two seasons followed by “Olivia,” which takes up where the “revenge” ends.

Anyway, all of these first four listed series have just been excellent—for many reasons.  But there is a lot of depth and complexity to each—which, I think, highlights how simple and derivative much American tv has become.  The stories, the acting, and the geography as a character are really good.  And the good news:  there are LOTS of these programs from across the world.  I’m sure not all are as good as these first four I have listed have been, but…what a pleasure.

The fifth (Bright-Eyed) is more conventially entertaining, but I’m still watching. I mean, how is Olivia going to get out of the traps in which she gets caught? This one is a bit like the series “Revenge” from years ago—beautiful woman, gorgeous clothes and settings, terrible and wealthy and powerful villain, yadda, yadda. It’s a story we like to tell ourselves over and over, isn’t it?

It would be hard to rank the first four I listed. They each have strong reasons to recommend them. INSIDE has 5 stars, for good reasons. THE BERLIN DANCE SCHOOL takes place post-WWII Germany before the wall comes down and in that moment when rock and roll comes on the heels of the breakdown of the old social order—which also happens in America and was very much a part of my own childhood. THE NORDIC MURDERS episodes each deal with a murder, but the meta-story of a mother and her daughter, of old family history that corrupts the present, of how decisions one makes builds and builds into consequences. Ironies abound in this series. And THE DEVIL’S THROAT in Bulgaria deals in part with the Muslim/Christian factions in that geographical area—but also with a history that comes back to haunt—as histories can.

I’ll keep going with these exciting series for some time to come I suspect. A bonanza!

Ideas For Quilting Stitches

Interesting Information: April 18, 2021

Ideas for Quilting Stitches

Cassandra Beaver of The (not so) Dramatic Life! blog is featured in this Aurifil blog post. Her subject is creating texture and drama in your quilt projects with your thread choices. Her blog link is below, along with the Aurifil blog article.

notsodramaticlife.com

https://auribuzz.com/2021/04/09/thread-matters-2021-creating-definition-in-quilting-stitches/

Hand Embroidery Information

Interesting Information: April 7, 2021

Hand Embroidery Information

At some point in my sewing life, I found embroidery.

But what I found, or did, bears no resemblance to what people are doing now.

How fun is this Aurifil post! So enjoy the eye candy here.

And below find a link to a project Debbie of A Quilter’s Table blog is doing—varied projects designed by Rebecca Ringquist, among them alphabet “dropcloths.”

https://auribuzz.com/2021/04/02/five-for-friday-hand-embroidery/

https://aquilterstable.blogspot.com/

Rebecca Ringquist

https://www.etsy.com/shop/DropclothSamplers?&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Search_US_DSA_GGL_Categories_Crafts_New&utm_ag=Embroidery&utm_custom1=k_CjwKCAjwpKCDBhBPEiwAFgBzj7bMXF7TsoiV2ODDyh6uytHO7g8WF1mAZOCxiKdLdEJ-xDtqd7lAoxoCgm4QAvD_BwE_k&utm_content=go_1875485221_71100487198_473135055546_dsa-394751788699_c_&utm_custom2=1875485221&gclid=CjwKCAjwpKCDBhBPEiwAFgBzj7bMXF7TsoiV2ODDyh6uytHO7g8WF1mAZOCxiKdLdEJ-xDtqd7lAoxoCgm4QAvD_BwE

And then there is Wild Boho:

https://wildboho.com/

Bits and Pieces April 5, 2021

Turkey Tracks: April 5, 2021

Bits and Pieces April 5, 2021

It’s Monday again!

And so the wheel of time turns, as it has a habit of doing.

I got the big long cabin, “Peaceful,” on the long arm. Naming credit goes to Linda McKinney, who told me on day when this quilt was still on the design wall that it made her feel peaceful. And, I’ve started quilting it. I’ll take it easy—a few passes each day. It is a big quilt.

There is so much promise when the design wall is empty.

I pulled out the gifted blocks made by those in the Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild group who are participating in our “Bee Sewcial” challenge. My prompt was “Shapes,” and I specified solids and very clear, bright colors. I included a selection of example bright solid colors in my prompt information. Not all of the received blocks are on the board as I ran out of room. And the long arm head is blocking the bottom of the design wall so you can’t see those. To begin, I’ll start combining blocks into bigger blocks—so everything will shrink down somewhat. But aren’t these blocks beautiful! I am loving all the motion that so many of the blocks have—motion from shapes and from color choices.

How fun!

”Trees” now has a name: “Bright Birches.” It is so funny to me how a quilt will name itself at some point. This one didn’t like being called just “Trees.”. Sewing down the binding is coming along.

LOCAL PEEPS: I am replacing the 2012 Toyota Sienna minivan with a smaller car. I love the van. I especially love to drive it on the highway. It is so easy to steer and has a great turning radius. But it is too much car for me for everyday use. So, if you know someone who wants this pristine, one-owner, garaged, VERY low mileage (just under 34K) car at a very reasonable price, let me know. (I did my research and am selling it for $14.2K—which is lower than you’d buy it from a used car dealer, but a bit more than the dealership is offering for it. Dealers make their money on trade resells, not on the new cars.) It can go to a new home when the new car arrives some time this month—which I hope will not be delayed due to the recent Suez Canal blockage of 400+ ships.

The “boyfriend” is not for sale.

Cross Stitching: Another Fun Aurifil Blog Post

Interesting Information: April 4, 2021

Cross Stitching: Another Fun Aurifil Blog Post

Way, way back in the day, when some of my cousins gathered at my Reynolds, Georgia, grandparents‘ home for summer visits, the girl cousins started cross-stitch projects from kits available locally in this small rural town.

Later, as a young married, and occupied with two small children, I returned to making some cross-stitch projects at night. These projects pre-dated getting a sewing machine and beginning to sew garments and, for one Christmas, what were probably my very first quilts. These “bedspreads” were just big squares that were layered and tied. I don’t even remember what I layered them with—but they were really heavy and warm and around and about both Falls Church, Virginia, houses we had for many years.

Cross Stitching, like the quilting I eventually discovered, has “taken off” in terms of complexity. And who knew that Aurifil makes a kind of twisted “floss” that is so pretty—much like the size 8 perle cotton I like.

So, if like me you were not aware of where cross stitching has gone, enjoy the eye candy on this recent Aurifil blog—which contains an interview with “Susan” that features both cross-stitching and some quilts.

There is also a link below the interview to information on the above-mentioned Aurifil “floss” threads—which are just pretty to see.

https://auribuzz.com/2021/04/02/little-quaker-abc/

Aurifil Cotton Floss

Virtual Tour of Nancy Crow’s “Riff” Quilts

Interesting Information and Quilts: April 2, 2021

Virtual Tour of Nancy Crow’s “Riff” Quilts

I forget now how this information about this exhibit and history of Nancy Crow’s “Riff” quilts came into my social media, but I was immediately drawn to these quilts for several reasons. One is that while I knew Nancy Crow was an early creator of the turn quilting took toward art quilts and innovative “riffs” on traditional quilting back in the day, I had not connected her work to either what we now see often in “modern” quilting or to more recent quilters like Maria Shell, the Alaskan quilter who won a major prize at this year’s Modern Quilt Guild show, Quilt Con. Or, to Tara Faughnan, who is the featured designer in Sewtopia’s online class The Color Collective. Or, to Timna Tarr. And I’m sure there are many more current quilters Nancy Crow has influenced—including all the students working with these clever teachers.

Crow’s “Riff” quilts were on display at the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska, until the end of March 2021.

Crow’s originating idea was started with remembering some railroad tracks from her childhood. Then she went deep with her explorations of those images, and her progression is seen in the way these “Riff” quilts were hung.

Maria Shell has been a student with Nancy Crow. Here is the quilt that made her a top winner at the 2021 Modern Quilt Guild’s Quilt-Con show this year: “Mosh Pit @the Golden” quilt. So you can see where Nancy Crow’s work has influenced and inspired other quilters.

And here’s a link to Maria Shell’s blog where she talks about creating “Mosh Pit”:

https://talesofastitcher.com/2018/02/17/mosh-pit-quilt-riot-stitched-anarchy/

Enjoy!

Sewing Justice Sewing Academy: Beginnings

Interesting Information: March 28, 2021

Sewing Justice Sewing Academy: Beginnings

Linda Satkowski sent me this interview article featuring Sara Trail and her formation of the Sewing Justice Sewing Academy (SJSA), and I hunted down the link so I could share it as this story about Sara Trail and the SJSA formation is so interesting.

Aurifil threads is a sponsor of Sara Trail’s Sewing Justice Sewing Academy, and they have a really nice blog. I signed up for it and am getting their interesting and informative posts.

Enjoy!

https://auribuzz.com/2021/03/26/sjsa-beginnings/

An Orchid Story

Interesting Information: March 27, 2021

An Orchid Story

AND, here’s another fun story—sent to me by local friend Marsha Smith.

“Our daughter in FL always looks forward to her cattleya orchid blooming every year. She has to time it just right to pick the blooms before the iguanas eat them-Look at the picture and see the iguana coming down the tree to get it as she is cutting it. Think they must smell them. The orchid has grown all over the tree.”

And here’s the beautiful bloom, now saved from the iguana.

Thanks Marsha!