Good Friday

Scarping my scraps continues. I'm like a stuck record, one that keeps playing and playing - Oh my, that's a thought that dates me, doesn't it? -  handling print scraps that are still in piles, pressed and sorted by color. Some of those piles are noticeably much smaller! Red, purple, navy and pink are practically down to nothing.

As the piles have shrunk, the number of blocks on the design wall have grown.

My original plan was to make 32 blocks and call it done.

But a reassessment has me aiming for 50 blocks. With setting triangles on the sides, I should end up with a quilt top that's about 70" X 82" - a nice useable quilt size.

I'm only concerned that with the hundreds and hundreds of seams in the quilt top, it might be heavy. Maybe I'll finish the quilt with a flannel or fleece backing, and no batting. I'd like to insert some extra blocks into the backing though. I'll decide when the time comes.

You might have noticed my iron in a previous photo. This week my new Oliso arrived from Missouri Star Quilt Company, an Instagram giveaway for National Quilting Month. Because my name was drawn as the winner, I received: 1) a felted wool pressing mat by The Gypsy Quilter; 2) a can of Magic Quilting and Crafting Fabric Fresh; 3) Iron-Off hot iron cleaner by Dritz; and, 4) a an Oliso smart iron, model T1600. The seafoam color and print along the soleplate are a custom design, specifically made for Missouri Star. 

This new Oliso beats the heck out of the Hamilton Beach iron I've been using! The Oliso has a sensor in the handle that makes it automatically raise and lower, doing so via a mechanism at the bottom of the soleplate, and another in the soleplate, at the tip. How cool is that?! 

Admittedly, it's taken me a bit to remember that I don't need to stand it up. Here's a little video of me using it as I've been sewing scraps together, then pressing seams open before adding more pieces to "make fabric." From the made fabric I use templates to cut convex and concave half-moon shapes.

From now until next Friday, I'll be sewing my scrappy blocks at an ASAP level! That's because next Saturday and Sunday (April 15-16) everything has to be off my design wall to take an Irene Roderick virtual Dancing With the Wall workshop. Irene suggests in her book that nothing else be on the design wall as a quilter creates - nothing should distract from the fabric colors being used to make a improv quilt. So however far I get with these scrappy blocks, they'll be off the wall by the end of next week.

Have you seen the latest bit of math that has been discovered? The "Einstein Tile"? My friend Courtney brought it to my attention. Then I came across a news article about it. David Smith, a novice mathematician recently discovered "the hat," a unique 13-sided geometric shape that "can completely cover a surface without ever creating a repeated pattern."

No doubt quilters will be working out how to turn this into a quilt design! 

Book Recommendations

Such a Quiet Place by Megan Miranda is about a community of people that work at the local college, and are friends, mostly by proximity. Their outside-of-work lives are spent in a small development with a neighborhood pool, and a homeowner's association that communicate through an online message board.

When Ruby unexpectedly returns to the neighborhood, after having just spent 14 months in jail, accused of the crime of killing her next door neighbors, no one knows what to do or how to behave, especially Harper, Ruby's friend and housemate. Ruby's conviction has been overturned, and though Harper has always believed in Ruby's innocence, not everyone agrees. As well, Ruby's odd behavior raised more questions than give assurances that all is well. 

Over the next few days, neighbors begin to share truths that didn't come out during Ruby's trial, and now everyone is more suspicious than ever. Could a killer be living among them?

Linda's score: 3.9/5.0

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande isn't my typical read. In fact it's non-fiction that was recommended to me by my sister, and I'm very glad I read it. In fact, I think it should be required reading for anyone who has ever contemplated living (or dying) with disease or illness, and what one's end-of-life might look like... and should look like.

Dr. Gawande, who grew up in Ohio, researched the process of growing old by talking with people in the field of medicine, and with patients having varying illnesses and debilities. His book reviews the history of nursing homes - how they came to be in the 1950s because hospitals were overrun with people with infirmities - and how the concept of assisted living came about in the 1970s. Today, not every assisted living facility is operated as the concept was first designed and intended. 

Dr. Gawande gives sound statistical information alongside his views that our dependency on medicine to prolong our lives is often at a cost that foregoes the desires of the individual, the (poor) quality of life the sick are able to sustain, and the almost inhuman ways people die - in a way that's often not of their own choosing.

I recommend this book to everyone who knows or will know an elderly person. It's a must-read for anyone living in a retirement community such as The Villages. I didn't give it a 5.0 because of the subject matter which takes a hard look at dying - not a cheery topic, yet, everyone faces it.

Linda's score: 4.5/5.0

It's Holy Week, and I've been trying to soak it in, beginning with the Maundy Thursday, when the Last Supper is remembered as when Jesus knew Judas would betray Him to Roman officers. Then, Jesus's prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane, including His last request that "this cup" of suffering be removed from Him. Good Friday is remembered as when Jesus endured several trials and Pontius Pilate ultimately gave Him over to the crowd and their cries of "crucify him!" It's sad to remember the intensely painful way Jesus died on a cross, but the good news is the significance of His death as the means for us to be united with God, when the Temple curtain was torn in two. That event forever removed our separation from God. Jesus' sacrifice was for me, and all of humankind. Today is a good news day. 

Andit's my Dad's 93rd birthday!

Like any great Dad, he reads my blog. In fact, though he has never sewn, or made a quilt, he knows more about quilting than any 93 year-old man you'll ever meet!

You're the best, Dad! Linda