To our everlasting shame

I have been very quiet as of late, watching our country disintegrate into an steaming rusted dumpster fire rolling downhill into a asylum full of orphans and fluffy bunnies

 Now to our everlasting shame we are embroiled in this shit-show of a presidency. Buckle up Babycakes this is going to be a rant of pent up epic rage. So if you don't want to be triggered please go someplace else this is not a safe page today unless you too are mad as hell and aren't goin to take it anymore.

May we pull the ship-of-state out of its tail-spin before we crash-and-burn? Who knows it's still to early to tell though it does look like someone has woken up from their business-as-usual coma, at least. 

I won't even get too far into just how obscene it is that the only thing that seems to move the needle these days because its Not the stripping of constitutionally mandated rights by the president and the rubber stamping by his supreme court, no that would be bad enough, remember when we were loosing our shit, when he was just saying he liked to grab 'em? *Sigh* halcyon days. Not the systemic world wide human trafficking ring, selling the rape and torture of women and children, Which BTW IS an actual Manchurian candidate situation, * she said rubbing her temples in frustration* no that's not bad enough. The 34 or is it 35 now state sanctioned federal murders? nope still not bad enough. It is the possibility that somebodies name might just pop up in that thrice-be-damned file! What THe Actual Fuck!

There is no hell because all the devils are here

It’s already going to take three maybe four decades, on the optimistic side, to recover some semblance of dignity from this utter fucking clown-car of destiny. Though it was always going here as long as we appeased the republicans and the religious right, whilst everyone took money from corporate interests to pontificate on "how wonderful being US" it is! In one breath and turn around and undermine the country in congress and the press, in the next. Their big lie being "Why Should We Apologize for anything? We have Never done Anything Wrong!" BullShit!

The question isn't why do I make my opinions known about all of this crap, It is why don't you?                 This is important stuff for our country. How we treat the people in our country is important.                        As Lincoln said A treats B so but treat C thus, Where does it end?

Better Intellects than I have already made all these arguments already, but it seems up to we the people to

 drag them out and give them a good shake in the disinfectant of sunlight. 

As they have been hidden in the back of a basement cupboard too long. Truth will out.

So there that's my Linda Blaire moment.

Showers are on the left, soap is on the shelf and fresh Towels are in the cupboard.

Don't mind the cat he likes to watch, we know, he's weird. 

Story Time

 The holidays are a time for family and cooking those special dishes everyone loves and waits all year to get. It's also the time, at least in my house, for the annual Christmas eave gourmet dinner. 
The Children when they were small and adventurous, would badger the chef until you'd break and tell them what was on the menu, my ex, or have fun with them by playing "Can you guess?" That would be me. I almost miss the constant kitchen traffic and queries of "What cha' making?"

When The children's father would cook it was lobster, crab or Prime rib. The first year we got live lobster and let the kids race them across the kitchen floor, with much laughter and joy. This is where we learned the lesson of "You don't name what you eat" It makes it hard to cook and eat them later.
The ex was all "More for me!" but I could see the the look of betrayal in the eye's of my child. 

They ate only the sides that year, of which there was plenty but that isn't the point is it?

Speaking of those sides, of garlic mashed potatoes, a large salad, Buttered broccoli and a cheesecake of which only the flavor changed from year to year. The ex had definite idea's on food.

I on the other hand liked to experiment, and for the most part my family would eat my experiments happily, no complaints, no leftovers. Every once in a while the food gods did not smile on my efforts, usually when I was not feeling well or was distracted beyond the usual big dinner, 3 kids and a husband variety. Those disasters didn't happen very often and when they did they were pretty epic.

Like the time we had to ditch the Beans because the child didn't realize the can of mushrooms should not exhibit an attitude when opened, it spit at him, and he threw them in the casserole anyway. Good thing he mentioned this behavior before we all ate!

The time I over cooked the shrimp and we could have played table tennis with them, they were so chewy. Or the year the oven door decided after 40 years it had had enough and fell off, dumping the entire roast duck A'la Orange on the floor. Breaking the pyrex, splattering lava hot orange sauce and duck parts  allover the kitchen floor my arm, one leg and leaving a divit in the linoleum, to remind us all to be very careful when using the oven. The same oven the ex swore up and down he had fixed and I must have "Done something to" the last time it flopped open after the loose spring finally broke. I had been holding it closed with a wooden spoon to bake for a month before the supposed fix. needless to say it didn't take.

Disasters aside, I'm a good cook and I like to try things I have only had or made in the restaurants were I worked before marriage. The year I decided to make Greek Youvetsi Arni a lamb shank stewed in tomato sauce served over Orzo. Roasting anything well takes hours and people get hungry, and by people I mean my family, so i decided to make a few side dishes and appetizers as well as the annual Christmas cookies, so the kitchen was a right mess. We had my ex's sister and friends over so there was even more confusion and noise,  extra children and glasses of wine. Every time I would take cookies or crab cakes out of the oven, they would disappear, so I was getting a little crabby. In order to not starve before dinner, I was hiding a couple of whatever in a cabinet, it kept them out of the blast zone and safe from the ravening hoards. 

I used to cater weddings and business meetings so I know how to feed a crowd but nothing keeps up with pre-teen stomachs. I had prepped most of the cookies stuff the day before and the dinner was pretty straight forward, hunk of meat in tomato sauce and herbs in large roaster in back of oven 3hours and your done. the rest was scoop on trays bake and serve. everything was labeled, except the salmon roe.

Between the making and the baking and the whipping of things the roe got pushed to the back of the counter, where one of the kids wanted to know what the pink stuff in the bowl was. Being busy I assumed it was one of mine and told them to try it and find out. Them not being one of my children, they did.
Ruining the joys of Terramosalata for them forever after. Though possibly teaching them an important lesson, Grown ups are not to be trusted.

I am so tired of this BullShit

 My Mother is a hippy so when I say "I have been protesting since birth" it is not hyperbole.

I have protested the Vietnam war, Nixon, birth control, women's rights, nukes, the gulf war, the Afghanistan war, LGBTQIA+ rights, abortion rights, women's rights again, Abortion rights again, no kings, worn pussy hats, carried signs, written letters called congress critters and seen some shit.

Because a bicycle ride through Lincoln park was our mode of transport back in the day, I was in the Chicago Riots at 4 years old. I have smelled the sting of pepper spray and felt the ring of the billy club against the metal frame of a purple schwinn.

And still, and still I have never feared the government......until now.

What will it take for america to wake up to this insanity? To the atrocities being done with their tax dollars, in their name, with a secret police reminiscent of the brown shirts of nazi fame?

It preens on a stage in front of men who should know better, about how strong they are

I have never before seen such an embarrassing display of weakness and incompetence

It rhymes already, it quacks, it beats unarmed protesters in the streets

It rappels onto the roof of apartments and arrests american citizens at 2 in the morning, with flash-bangs tear gas and tactical gear.

It Zip-ties babies in their underwear on a cold night at 2 in the morning

It crows about how it's making it safer and better, but I don't feel safer or better

It shoots protesters running away from them.

it is not out of the realm of possibility they will kill someone, soon.

CQ Tumbling Blocks

I am so behind on this project

Oh well, 

I'm only a year and 5 moths late in starting!

This is my latest block so far

It needs more cowbell

Here's the first block I completed

with SRE daisies 

and a good starburst seam treatment

The Tumbling Blocks stitch-a-long is still on Sharon Boggins Blog 

if you want to partake or just go look

And a cloudy moon for the full moon that just passed

I think This is going to be an ongoing difficulty with this project.

I want to do it, but other things keep getting in the way

I have 20 or so dark blocks made and a few ideas beside the 3 I've done so far.

I may even revisit some older Ideas but no theme has yet revealed itself to me 

And if I ramdomize myself too much I may not finish the project at all.

One 6"ish block a month is enough right? I don't have to finish right now, EVEN THOUGH

I started it late. I keep telling myself that, in between the times I wonder why I haven't finished yet.

Now that the studio is, mostly, finished and moved into I can start finishing projects that have been on hold for forever.

I just finished Quilt about 9 of the 14 flimsies I found in random piles some I put aside because they were too big for the space I had and some that got lost in the constant shuffle.

I also picked up 10 charity quilts for the guild I belong to, we have such a backlog of quilts that need quilting 

and as I was nominated and voted in as secretary, I feel honor bound to get as much done there as I can.

I also have my own projects here and there that I want to do, It's hard to keep myself tethered.

Flights of fancy are all well and good, but there is a limit to what one can accomplish on your own. 

As my DDH tells me all this pressure is self inflicted...... 

Rainbow scrap challenge is Red

This months color is Red 

These are the 6' stars

After moving into the studio and (stILL)trying to organize my space

I haven't figured out a good way of storing my fabric yardage

backs have a space and fat quarters have a space

but other than pilling the yardage on shelves I've got nothin'

and it maybe, that is the answer, 

it feels unsatisfying. 

 and the 4' squares

I am so bored with these people

 I try not to post too much on political things, since many out there have few places to avoid what it going on in DC, but things are not well in this country and have not been well for a very long time.

I fear the course correction that is coming will be devastating for many in our fractious country.

I have stated before I don't understand where the, cruelty for cruelties sake, streak comes from in humans.

How can you live with yourself when you know you have caused harm? 

How can you enjoy the causing of harm?

How is undermining the safety and stability of others beneficial?

We have seen through the lens of history that Slavery, oppression and inefficiency causes more instability and costs more in money, effort and time to perpetuate, than happy productivity in society and yet here we are.

Clawing back time, destroying a working, if flawed, government and causing harm to not just us but the world. Why? so a few bazillionaires can make more money they will never use? So they can feel even more superior to the rest of us? why? for what reason? To stroke an ego so small and fragile it needs to step on others to feel better about it's own inadequacy? How banal. How disappointing. 

How white supremacist.

I'm superior and yet so afraid I have to carry a gun everywhere, but I'm rich enough I can hire others to do it for me and i'll use my infant son as a shield to protect me from sharpshooters, is the height of frighted white manbaby. The orange puppet is no better.

Tell me your mother didn't hug you enough as a child, that you must destroy everything better men and women than you, built over 2+ centuries, to feel like you've made your mark on the world.

How inadequate. How flaccid.  How boring.

I put it out into the Universe,

May they all get what they deserve.

May they all get what they deserve.

May they all get what they deserve.

Sewing room update

 Ever begin to feel like you have too many hobbies?

me neither.

I'm in the process of ripping apart my sewing space in preparation for

moving into my new Sewing room, soonsometimeinthenextmonth 

that should all be said together in a hummmmmmmm!

in which there is now a floor, 2 windows and a door!

 woo!

I'm trying to be methodical in my sorting and boxing

but my squirrel brain keeps running amok

She's finding all the buried nuts of old 1/2 finished projects, she was going to do. 

Sounds like my lost tribe no?   Princess allthehobbies of the Wasgonnado tribe

Anyhow a week of boxing up aaaand.

I've run out of boxes and all that's moved is fabric and books.

I've barely made a dent.

Awwwe..........

Gold work update and some sewing stuff

Here Mr. Snail has gotten his body                                   antennae to come

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      I'm working on the stems now.                                                                                                                                                                        It's very slow going mostly because working the stems is fiddly.                                                                                                               More fiddly than clumping them all together, as you can hide some mistakes in the mash potatoes.                                                                                                                                                                             You can't hide a single strand of Purl Purl when it's all alone.        It's lumpy af all by it's self.

And any mistakes are going to trumpet their ick everywhere                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Doesn't look so bad this way

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       The bottom of the stem didn't look thick enough                                                                                                                                                             I added some more smooth Purl, cut small and threaded at an angle                                                                                                                                 Which gives the lower half more definition and makes the stem look more able to hold up the rest of the assembly.                                                                                                                                                                    I will all add gold sequin berries at intervals and I'm wondering               if I should add some smaller leaves or would that make it too busy?                                                                                                                                That's a ponder for later.

I have also been working on a bunch of old shop hops                                                                                                                                                       On tap right now is the 2022 featuring homestead type imagery                                                                                                                                       canning jars and labels, pick-nick baskets, pies etc.

                                                                                                                                                                        The blocks are mostly done,                                                                                                                       just the hand work to finish up on a few of them,                                                                                        I will give the blocks a lattice setting,                                                                                                     then use up as much of the rest of the fabric as I can in multiple borders                        

                                                                                     Gearing up for this years Rainbow scrap challenge                                                                                      sorting out the scrap bags, I need to make that yellow one bigger.                                                      I also need to make an orange and a teal bag, those two are way to small now                                                                                                                              And how is it I end up with all that blue?                 As a rule I don't use all that much in the way of blue, yet that bag is always over full to falling over.                                                                            I don't understand.                        

                                                                                    The state of my sewing space has become a bit on the Idea laden side                                                                                                                                          I keep wondering if I should clean or leave it                                                                                                The new studio is coming along and will probably be ready to move into after the first of the year.                                                                                        So clean or pack up? Leave it until I have to move it?                                                                                                                                                                As none of it is especially in the way,                   it's just cramped, 

                                                                                                                           or do I preemptively start moving to storage, I.E. the garage,                        the things I know I don't need now?                                                                                                                                                                                                  Do the lazy bit and leave it make some room                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              I'm Feeling                                                                                                                         Meh right now, though I do see the efficacy of doing a bit of a tidy.                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

So that happened

Life sucks when the tension is wrong

*Sigh*

This is going to suuuUUuuuck

 

On the bright side I now have a new pet!

What should I call them?

Fribbls maybe, feeling a little like Rimmer right now

They really need a set of googly eyes

Seasons Greetings!

Happy Yule Tide Everyone!

 

This year I am grateful for Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift.

I think these two smart, capable, talented women are, single handedly, saving the countries sanity.

I'm pushing 60 and whilst 60 hasn't started pushing back too hard yet, I look at Dolly.                       Who at 80 is still going strong. I look at what she has accomplished in her long glorious career and marvel at her energy. The people she has helped, lifted up or just brought a little joy to, with her charities, her music, her movies and TV shows and Dollywood which revitalized her home town and brought overdue jobs to the area so her people could lift their own selves up.  

If that doesn't inspire you There's Taylor.                                                                                                She is herself everyday and shows her fans by example, how to navigate in a world not made for women, to be strong in and they love her for it.                                                                                            I love her determination to be herself in front of the world, which is cruel to it's icons, doesn't accept imperfections and usually tears them to shreds for the slightest mistakes. Taylor has been open and honest about her struggles, she shows her fans the "warts and all". Who in spite of her labels betrayal of selling her masters out from under her, got the best revenge, in the history of revenge and looks classy doing it.  At 33 she is very smart, the savvy way in which she is navigating the world has been a joy to watch, her fresh face, creating anticipation and community for her fans, having fun doing it and she is just getting started.

This is what two very strong willed smart, talented women are able to accomplish, in spite of the social system they grew up in. None of their accomplishments were handed to them either, they fought hard for the right to be themselves in an industry that likes to exploit their talent for the biggest payday, then toss them aside bent and broken, instead of nurturing it. 

Now imagine a world where everyone got the support they needed to accomplish their joy, not in spite of their surrounding society but because of it? If we gave every one the support they needed to succeed, what couldn't we accomplish?

 Personally Fame looks exhausting to me, all the running around to do and promote and get yourself in front of ears and eyes and attention spans the size of a goldfish. It's the kindness with which these women do what they do, that I see. The kindness to their fans and the people around them, it's not "part of the act" They are genuinely themselves, thoughtful and kind.

Our nation needs them so much right now, I need their bright shiny goodness to go out in the world as an anodyne to the hate trying to tear it apart. It's a bit much to put on their head alone, we need our bright shiny people, To show us a better way. Let us protect them so they can continue to be shiny.

Thon Lizard

Whilst visiting BlueBerry Beads my favorite bead store in downtown Bothell,

I ran across this marvelous little bracelet on display made all of green a white duos

and I thought, as one does, it would make a wonderful lizard, so I did!

Unfortunately I didn't use the right thickness of thread so it kept breaking apart in odd places.

The silly thing is, I was trying to put this fellow together before renfair 

so I could wear it as part of my costume 

aaaaaand didn't re string the whole thing 

so

parts kept falling off. 

And I would redo thAt part.

Renfair appropriate to have a lizard leaper, no?

No, I didn't think so.

upshot is the head fell off, after living on my purse, just fine as it was BTW for a couple of months, 

so yes now I must re make it. 

 A lizard barely alive. We can rebuild them. We have the technology. We can make the better than thon was. Better, stronger, faster, than before ..................cue the music

It's been a long dry summer

 It's been a long dry summer, 

full of dire portends for the future and 

small signs that "crazy"season may be on the wain

One can only hope.

Meanwhile there are things that need to be done

That all seem to be stuck somewhere in the middle

We started to cut down a few of our "inconvenient" trees this year back in may.

Intending to get them down and dusted by the end of June

Which didn't happen

What did happen was we discovered the poplars on the north side of the property are dead, 

getting punky and need to be torn down 

before they fall down.

Note to self; More plants may be satisfying for a while

and gorgeous 

but they do need to be watered every day

Sometimes twice a day when the weather doesn't cooperate,

Which it hasn't

So we galloped off to get us some estimates

Easy-Peasy right?

no 

You see the poplars are close to 80' tall

3 of the tree guys wouldn't even give us an estimate

the other 3 were varying degrees of almost $10,000 per tree.

because they would have to rent the equipment.

I'm sorry, what, what now?

You have got to be fucking kidding me.

This in turn triggered the insurance company to decide they wouldn't renew our insurance based on a fuzzy satellite view google maps pictures, 

so now (mid July) they want us to do their job with aerial photos to prove to them our house isn't a fire hazard    -.-

Throw in moss remediation on both roofs, ugh. 

and ick,   there is now dust and moss crap everywhere, 

Making sewing outside is impossible. So much for my happy spot this year

I sublimated my rage at the wood pile ^

It now stretches the length of the house and

Is about shoulder height

Since the insurance was being a prat we decided 

in addition to the front trees 

We would get down all the dead branches in the cedars along the western fence.

there are 25 of them so it took a minute.

The wood pile grew to a second wall along the driveway

which isn't finished yet

< this used to be a nice little cedar privacy wall,

40+ years ago.

It also started out on the neighbors property....

Guess who's problem it is now.....-.-

Anywho, we finally got the insurance company to renew,

 We have found a tree guy who already owns a ladder truck for the poplars so it doesn't cost the world to remove, yay!

Both my yards are still full of 

tree limbs and brush but that will be removed soon too. Also, yay! 

My inner German was beginning to despair of it ever getting tidy again.

On the good news front we have plenty of wood for us and the kids to run the fire place for the foreseeable future, if they would only come get some of it.

And my mulch pile is about to get epic.

We had joy

So I have started to dip my toe back into Applique again

I flirt with it every once in a while

 and my past efforts have turned out 

allright buuut, nunghh......

I'm not a big fan of some of it (see it here and there)

It strikes me as blocky and meah The turtle is nice though

There is a bit more but we won't go into it here

I found this kit as a BOM from an online shop 

Meaning to do it whilst I ferried my MIL to her appointments 

And that did happen

I finished the 32 orange peel 3.5' blocks 

in a variety of parking lots, between running shopping chores 

and waiting on Robin to finish seeing whatever doctor had her next

Those took the year waiting for all the blocks and their instructions to filter in

Then they sat around 

Waiting

for another year, or so.

I took the sun parts to Chicago with me in march so I'd have something to do 

I finished those pretty quickly

But I had the wind by then

You know, 

That undeniable "Something" that gives you 

the desire to keep going until it's finished 

April has been busy with all sorts of other things too

Like our Quilt guilds bi-annual Quilt show, which was a roaring success by my count of oohs! and aahhhs! whilst standing as a door monitor, stewardess and goer.

I have a bunch of projects that I am working on between,

A new BOM in felt from SueSpargo which you can't see, as per the instruction I am not allowed to show it on line! well pooh!

It's really cute though!

 

also the lampbox which is mostly done with has one panel to go

And a few little embroidered things that scratch that new itch.

I finished the piecing parts of the top

and even got the sun even more or less 

Some of the points got lost, but I thought it more important that, the round part fit properly.

That cross where the 4 fabrics of the sun come together would have been waaay more distracting! 

Had it been off by even a smige, as that is where your eye goes first, it would have taken away from even the most precise of applique work.

So that part is done, it's off to the outside panels, 

which are all applique. 

Lets see how long this one takes me. 

CQJP 2023 Parrot side lampbox and an unexpected bit of bullshit

Work is progressing on the parrot slowly

but it is progressing

Life decided to get in the way this week 

and I had to make an unexpected trip to Chicago

nothing bad, just the ex deciding to sell the house 

and tell the rest of the family march 5th

3 weeks before closing 

I.E. the children who grew up there and left, because he's an enormous tool (my emphasis)

so that if we wanted anything from it we had to get there before the 20th of march

Well Fuck

Here's what I've done so far

The next installment will come around some time or another after I get back from this bit of bullshit.

Reminding me, yet again, why I divorced him in the first place, that it was an excellent idea and should have been done sooner.

 

Happy Valentines Day!

Sometimes waking up to a thing in place of your coffee cup,

Is not a good thing

Today was different

My dear darling Husband bought me a thing

A thing I did not think I could posses, because it's freaking expensive...

Enter man who loves me and wants me to happy!

*Squee!*

All the colorssssss!

 And I finally finished this

Yay!

It's Meeeeee!

It's meee!

This lovely little watercolor portrait was sent to me by Observer of Human Nature from over on instagram, go give her a lookie-loo, her water color paintings are amazing and detailed and I am so grateful!                                                                                                   This came before Christmas and at the time I was not able to give it the full attention it deserved,                                                                                                      so I put it aside                                                                                                                                               Aaand promptly forgot about it in the press of seasonal things and doings                                          (I feel so ashamed!)                                                                                                                                           But as soon as things calmed down a bit I found it in my sketchbook and OMG! It's a little masterwork!     

It's so pretty! And ORANGE!!!!! Squee!                 I added a peach and cream ribbon rose,                                                                                                      I may add more!