Happy Thanksgiving!

Feast and family -- what could make the day better?

Ironing and folding, ironing and folding . . . repeat and fade

During August, in my (foolish?) desire to reorganize my fiber studio, I decided I should store my quilting cottons in file boxes. So I pulled all of the quilting cottons out of the big armoire. The fabric had been washed and loosely folded, but not ironed. In a burst of enthusiasm for my new scheme, I thought I should iron the fabric before I folded it into the new configuration and put it in boxes. So, since August, I have spent about one full day each week ironing and folding fabric. Each piece got ironed, folded in half and half again (selvage to selvage), then folded around an acrylic ruler to create a 14" X 12" folded square (more or less). These were placed, end up, in file boxes, by color or theme. Anything smaller than 1/2 a yard was folded around a smaller ruler and put in smaller boxes. Scraps were placed in yet different boxes.

The exciting news is that I'm almost done! I have a few more pieces to iron and fold, and some more scraps and smaller pieces to deal with when I go through the big plastic bins that held scraps before, but I can see the end in sight. I cannot believe that I have ironed every piece of quilting cotton fabric in my stash. This is the accumulation of many years of purchasing fabric, and I ironed it all.

Now I need to tackle the garment fabric. That's a big job, but at least not everything will need to be ironed.

In the continuing saga of my obsessive nature, I also got back to working on the beaded belt I started several years ago. It's black velvet with silver beadwork, and I'm doing all the beading by hand (no appliques). So far, it looks gorgeous, and I can't wait to get the rest of it done. I have been using all kinds of flashy beads and crystals, and it just glows under the light. Pictures to come soon.

Now, back to grading papers, which almost seems restful after all the ironing!

Beaded kitchen

Apparently I'm not the most bead-obsessed person in the world ... Liza Lou spent five years creating an entirely beaded kitchen. You can hear her talk about her story on This American Life (search for the story on "Obsession"), which is also available on iTunes.

Flight or invisibility?

I'm listening to This American Life, and John Hodgman is talking about the following hypothetical choice: If you could have the power of flight or the power of invisibility*, which would you choose? Whichever one you choose, you would be the only person in the world with this superpower. Once you had this power, what would you do with it?

Well, what would YOU choose? And what would you do once granted this power?



*The Power of Flight means that you can fly at speeds up to 1000 miles per hour within the earth's atmosphere. The Power of Invisibility means the power to make yourself transparent at will at any time, including your clothing. However, any objects you pick up can be seen.

Thorax cake

Some things look just too disgusting to eat.

What makes you cringe?

I'm listening to an episode of This American Life which is talking about the stories that make us cringe. They are exploring what aspects of a story are critical to the "cringe factor", and it got me wondering. Is cringing the same as embarrassment? They seem related, but perhaps not identical. What are the things that make us cringe?

When you think back on your life, what are the experiences that made/make you cringe?