Author Archives: Becky Goldsmith

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About Becky Goldsmith

I am a quilt designer/teacher/author, a wife/mother/grandmother, and certified yoga instructor who is searching for balance, strength, and happiness in all things.

Simply Delicious…

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Lynette C. from New Zealand 2007 emailed to say that she has just completed her 9 block version of “Simply Delicious” and she graciously said that I could share it with you! Thank you to Lynette! It is a lovely quilt and you will enjoy seeing the close-ups that she posted on her blog. Click here to this and several more photos on Lynette’s blog.

SDbyLynetteCollis

In other news, I sewed most of last week on a sampler quilt for the Piecing book that just did not turn out well. I chose some colors unwisely and let the prints take over. Really, it ought to look good, but it doesn’t. Linda’s comment was that it looked like a birthday party (possibly with clowns).

I wish I could show it to you but I can’t since I’m still going to use the pattern in the book, but in a different colorway. If there’s room in the book, it will make a lovely example of what not to do.

I don’t mind sharing the fact that I occasionally make a lemon. Even when you know what you’re doing, it is possible to put together a quilt that is just wrong. Rather than losing heart, take a deep breath and move on. Save your lemons and find a way to turn them into lemonade! They can make great charity quilts, or baby quilts—they also make nice quilt backs!

I’m going to miss football…

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I grew up in Oklahoma. I loved going to football games in high school! Cool, crisp night and everyone was there. Boys, girls… lots of romance in the air. Seriously, how could a person not love that!

My first date with my husband, Steve, was at the 2nd OU game of our sophomore years. I don’t remember who OU played, but I’m sure we won. That was a championship year! Steve and I went to every home game as undergrads and many when he worked on his Masters degree.

I’ve watched and enjoyed NFL games for nearly 30 years. I have been Cowboys fan and that has not been easy for the last 17 years.

But now I’m done. I can’t watch football any more. It’s not actually because of the domestic abuse cases that have been in the news. Bad as that is, be honest, there is a lot of domestic abuse out there and it’s not all football-related.

No, I can’t watch football anymore because of the recently released data that shows that 1/3 of all of the players are going to suffer brain damage. And worse, there are more and more kids dying from hits taken on the field… 3 more last week. Honestly, how could I have been surprised. The physical abuse suffered by players has been right there in front of me for years… but now there is hard data to back up what we all should have known.

diet-you-can-take-a-look-back-in-time-to-the-roman-gladiators-20140718084517-53c87c2d499c5I am reminded of Rome, back in the day. With gladiators fighting and dying to provide a show. It was a spectacle, and you know that the watchers enjoyed it. Football feels like that to me now.

There’s more that’s wrong with football, lots more, but this is what has tipped the scales for me, and for Steve.  By watching the game, and enjoying it, we have both begun to feel like we are condoning the injuries to the players. Neither of us can do it any more.

Until the game changes, until players at all ages are more protected, we are waving goodbye to football.

 

Yet another iron bites the dust…

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I’m done with my Rowenta Pro Iron Steam Station (see this post). It works, but the reservoir has an unpredictable leak. When it leaks, it’s more like a flood and that does not mix well with the wood floor below.

Additionally, the Steam Station is slow to heat up (a minor annoyance). Once it is hot, it really puts out the heat. That’s good, except when it’s hot outside which is half the year where I live. When the iron is on, the studio gets uncomfortably warm. And did I mention that this this is big and awkward to store?

I went shopping for a smaller, cheap, reliable iron and got a Black and Decker, model ICR05X. At least it was cheap because it started spitting and leaking water out of the steam holes almost immediately. I am just about disgusted with irons and, if I didn’t have to have one, I would give up.

Luckily, in my last Consumer Reports magazine, there was a short review of irons. Some of the higher-rated irons were light, which they must have considered a plus.

Iron-3

After careful consideration, I bought a Panasonic NI-W950A.

Iron-1

 

The sole plate is pointed in front and back, which I somehow missed when I was shopping. How I missed that I do not know because the photo is huge on the box.

Iron-2

I’ve been using it for about a week and so far, so good. The pointy back is fine—I neither hate it nor love it. The iron gets hot fast, it steams pretty well. It’s heavy, which I view as a plus. I like the way the base of the cord swivels out of the way. It is stable when ‘standing’—more so than most irons.

It has an auto shut off, which I like, and it heats up quickly when moved. Honestly, if there is a year of good ironing from this iron I will be happy. If it doesn’t last, I’m going to consider a classic iron from the Vermont Country Store.

I still wish I had the space (and was willing to spend what it costs) for a Laura Star ironing system. Sigh.

King size is BIG!

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I believe I mentioned that I had made a quilt for the new Piecing book that measures 118″ x 118″. Technically that is king size, but mattresses are tall these days, and I’ve added foam toppers to them. It takes a BIG quilt to cover the edges of the mattress (and the edges of the blanket beneath it).

WowieBack

This is the quilt back. I made it bigger, of course—too big. The quilt will not hit the floor.I used 2 Kaffe Fassett fabrics that look nice in the room and with the periwinkle headboard. I think much of the time, the quilt back will be showing. That way I won’t have to worry about the grandkids and cats when they are on the bed. (The quilt top has lots of white in it.)

I thought about quilting this monster myself (for about 1 minute) and then I contacted Angela Walters who has thankfully agreed to quilt it. Yay, Angela!

 

Linda’s Quilt Auction

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Linda is moving from Grand Junction to Buckeye, AZ, in the next few months to a brand new, slightly smaller house. She needs to downsize her collection of quilts—her loss of space is your quilting gain!

This auction featured 4 different quilts, in a variety of styles. All quilts are in excellent condition. Linda has posted a starting bid for each quilt. The auction has ended, but there is likely to be another :-).

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Happy bidding!

Sneeze, squirt…

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If you are a woman who has had children, you know what I’m referring to. Even though kids are wonderful (see end of post) and it’s hard to hold a grudge, it hardly seems fair that you have to cross your legs when you sneeze!

I used to think that this happened just as we got older but Lorna, my DIL who has 3 kids, says that it can happen sooner than that. Lorna is training to be a doula and she knows things about a woman’s body that I don’t. If you don’t know what a doula is, here’s a quick definition, or click here to go to the DONA International web page.

The word “doula” comes from the ancient Greek meaning “a woman who serves” and is now used to refer to a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth; or who provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period.

Studies have shown that when doulas attend birth, labors are shorter with fewer complications, babies are healthier and they breastfeed more easily.

Anyway—to get back to the sneeze/squirt thing—Lorna said that I should start peeing in the shower. Specifically, that I should squat and pee in the shower. Take a deep breath and get over the ick factor, then click here and read what Heather Dessinger  @mommypotamus has to say.

Lorna said it works. That was a few weeks ago and and do believe that I agree with her, which is all I’m going to say about it :-).