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 :-).

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I got an email from Rebecca. After I replied I thought you all would enjoy both her email and my reply…

Hi, Becky!  I have both of your applique sampler books, have read them through several times, dog eared and highlighted, et cetera. I have also watched your videos.  You must be a wonderful teacher in person!  I’m working on my first needle turned applique block and all was going well until I got to the small leaves.  The block design is my own “Frankenstein” whig rose, combination of several different applique patterns from back issues of Quilter’s Newsletter, and I tried to include as many different shapes and sizes as I could so it would be a good learning piece.

I’m having trouble with the end where the leaf is round in a tight outer curve. I have been trying to finger press carefully along the chalk line, but I end up smearing the chalk and can’t seem to finger press a smooth enough curve exactly on the line—and my leaves are looking a little lumpy where they ought to look smooth. I have tried making my turning allowance narrower and turning only one stitch at a time.  Anyway, your other videos have been so helpful. I would love to see a tutorial on how to do a small, tight outer curve. Rebecca

I’m having trouble with the end where the leaf is round in a tight outer curve. I have been trying to finger press carefully along the chalk line, but I end up smearing the chalk and can’t seem to finger press a smooth enough curve exactly on the line—and my leaves are looking a little lumpy where they ought to look smooth. I have tried making my turning allowance narrower and turning only one stitch at a time.  Anyway, your other videos have been so helpful. I would love to see a tutorial on how to do a small, tight outer curve.

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My reply:

Hi Rebecca:

Your stitching is lovely! Truth be told, you might be too critical of your own work. That said, if it was a circle instead of a leaf, more round would be better.
I wish I could do another video on tight curves and will but it’s going to be a while. I’ve got several weeks of work to do on the next book and barely have time to look up!

However, maybe I can help you with words, if not a video.

First, slow down on those curves. What I mean is that this area is not going to turn under particularly quickly.

Where you see the little bumps at the edge, I suspect that the fabric is pleated, or folded over itself, on the underside. When I sew a curve like that, I can feel the pleat with my fabric-holding-fingers as well as see it with my eyes. It is at that point that you should park your needle and use the point of a damp toothpick to reach underneath and smooth open the pleat.

Some pleats take more fooling with than others. That’s why you need to slow down and just work with it until the edge is smooth.

If your curve flattens out, use the point of the toothpick or needle to move it back into round.

Your stitches look pretty small (close together) but this is an area where you want to be sure that there don’t appear to be gaps between your stitches.

I hope this helps, both Rebecca and others who might be having trouble with curves!

Becky