Full Spectrum Lights

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Jay posted a comment to one of my recent posts about full spectrum lights. I think it’s easier to answer that question here with a new post. I want to be very clear with you all that I love my full spectrum light and I use it every day. But I am careful with it and here’s why:


A few years ago I was teaching in Baltimore and noticed that one of my students had burned her arm. When I asked her about it she said that, because she had recently gone on medication that made her extremely susceptible to UV rays, exposure to her full spectrum light had caused the burn. I want to emphasize that this is rare. But it got me to thinking.

I had not ever connected the “full spectrum” claim on any particular brand of lamp with UV rays. I used to position my light in such a way that the light shone onto the side of my face and into the side of my eye. My glasses have a UV protective film, but that didn’t do me any good where the light was not going through the lens of my glasses. My initial thought was about cataracts which run in my family. I lowered my light so that it only shines on my handwork. The added benefit to the lower light is that it reduced my eyestrain.

It later occurred to me that, if I had a medical condition that required very limited exposure to UV rays, I would probably talk to my doctor about the safety of using a full spectrum light. I’m not an expert on UV exposure, I am just trying to use some common sense. 

I did do some limited research about Dr. John Ott who gave us full spectrum lights. He’s a very interesting guy! Click the link to read more about him and the technology he started. It seems that the range of light varies from one full spectrum light to another. I’m not sure how you would tell which light has the most UVs.

I want to be very clear: I am not advocating that you give up your full spectrum light. Just be aware of that what it means when the box says full spectrum.

Blog surfing…

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I found myself with a half hour on my hands yesterday afternoon and I spent it surfing a variety of design blogs.

I came across this photo of tulip fields in Abbey Goes Design Scouting. It came from an article posted in The Daily Mail. Being a girl from the prairie, I have never considered what tulip fields in flower would look like! Very quilt-like, don’t you think?
 
There are an amazing number of good websites and blogs that are all about design. In the coming days I’ll add links to the best of the ones I find. Then, when you have a little bit of time on your hands you too can do a little blog surfing :-).
 

A Quilt on a Barn!

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We got an email this morning from Heather Ladick. Here’s what she said:


“I am a quilt shop owner in Cynthiana, KY. I wanted to drop you both a note to tell you that one of your quilt patterns is forever immortalized on a barn. In our state, we have a tourism project where people are painting quilt blocks on 8′ x 8′ plywood and hanging them on barns. It has become so very popular and all our counties in the state participate. It is such a treat to drive and find a new one on a barn.

I do some painting myself on the side and have completed a few of these in our area. Last winter I had a customer come in who wanted a block to commemorate their family’s retirement from a greenhouse business they owned for over 45 years. Do you know which pattern they picked, of all the quilts, blocks, books, and magazines in the shop?

Well, I just wanted to pass along this photo to you both. They are so honored to have such a beautiful quilt in place, but really, all credit should be to both of you for the creation of such a lovely pattern. The owners of the greenhouse, now in their 90s, were so touched and happy when their children hung the block on their barn.

Thank you for your inspiration that reached far.”

Wow! We are so honored to have one of our quilts up there for all to see! Thank you, Heather, for sharing this wonderful story with us! 

BTW – The name of our quilt is Briar Rose and it was first published as a stand-alone pattern. Later it was included in our book, Flowering Favorites, which is currently out of print.

Details are wonderful!

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I love digital photography. I’ve never been a great photographer, but my digital camera makes me look like I’m much more skilled than I am. I love being able to snap as many photos as I want to with no thought about how much film I might be wasting. I love being able to delete bad images – rather than trying to figure out what to do with bad prints that I paid money to have developed. 


I also love being able to zoom in. My new tiny little Canon PowerShot SD950 (click to read a review) takes 12.1 megapixel images! The images are big enough that I can crop in to show detailed close-ups. So this plant…

…becomes this lovely detail. FYI: this is a poisonous plant that smells really bad when you break its stem. I can’t remember the name. It makes pointy seed balls and is very prolific.

The leaves of these tropical cannas…

…have an almost wood-grained look.

I’m going to take more of these detail shots. I think they could easily work their way into a quilt!

He’s really moving now!

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Here is a new movie of my grandson, Jack, on the floor in my studio. I have the camera. You can hear Elanor who is sitting near me on the floor. 


Jack doesn’t crawl so much as he swims on the floor. He’s fast enough that I have to keep my eye on him. He really likes the printer. I’m not looking forward to the day when he discovers my thread. 

Road Warriors

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My son, Christopher, is a big believer in bicycles. He rides as much as he can. In fact, his car spends more time sitting in the driveway than it does anywhere else. This is good and I’m proud of him for doing his part to cut down on emissions. Chris has even taught himself how to repair bikes and has set up a small bicycle shop in his garage. He buys used bikes, repairs them, and sells them. He has refurbished bikes for his wife, Lorna, and for Elanor. 


Both of my sons learned to ride bikes when they were young. When we lived in Tulsa they rode them a lot because our street was safe. When we moved to Sherman, TX, the bicycle riding came to a pretty quick halt. Our street was safe enough to ride on but they were getting big enough to want to go places and the city streets here are not particularly bike friendly. In fact drivers can be positively aggressive toward bicyclists. So, even though I know it’s a very good thing, when Christopher started riding his bike all over town at any time of the day or night, I got nervous. He assures me that he has found safe routes around town and I believe him – mostly. But I’m a mom so I still worry. 
Recently he found (and I admit it, it was with my help) a tandem bike. This is a contraption that attaches to a regular bicycle to add another seat. That makes it easier for them all to take family bike rides! Chris has Elanor attached to his bike and Jack rides in the seat on Lorna’s bike. They rode to our house for dinner last week. I took these photos as they were riding off into the sunset to go home.
Please be kind to the bicyclists that you come across when you are out driving around. Their mom’s will thank you for it.