here is a link to a brief clip showing the efforts of Lakota tribe members establishing a business to sell their crafts. as one whose ancestors came to this country very early and essentially made claim to lands already occupied by Native Americans, and then to read extensively of the treatment of our Native citizens by our government, I have a great affinity for their causes and sadness of their current deplorable conditions. My budget no longer permits me to support them, either with funds or goods due to high mailing costs, but I can post this video for those who are able to do so. Additionally, the Pine Ridge Reservation has a detailed website of current and ongoing needs, which are voluminous. It pains me so very much to see a culture robbed of everything, not the least of which is their dignity, when in hindsight we as non-Natives could have learned so very much from them about preserving and using the land and its resources. Please take a moment to watch and do whatever you can to help.
http://www.kotatv.com/content/news/Quilters-stitching-together-new-business-on-Pine-Ridge-Reservation-476710553.html
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Saturday, March 17, 2018
saturday scrap busting
after a quick market run, the required exercise and the usual poultry lunch, sat right down at betty bernina for an afternoon of sewing. sure, there was a bit of housework to do but there's always tomorrow or even monday for that matter. pulled out the march scrap attack project and went right at it while binge watching "longmire" on netflix. phew, so glad he didn't go for that female deputy of his; she is a bit of a scatterbrain. anyway, by the time the sun had set, bagged up 100 scrappy arcs for my scrappy DWR project; only 140 more.
thrilled that i was able to use up lots of pieces in my 2.5" squares box and even some 2" pieces for the ends. yes that is hello kitty you see, plus olaf is in here someplace as well. mostly trying to avoid the dark reproductions and use only medium values. with 2 weeks until april dawns, should get them all finished and maybe even get the 120 melon pieces cut out as well. hope your official quilting day was similarly spent in some quilty pursuits as well!
thrilled that i was able to use up lots of pieces in my 2.5" squares box and even some 2" pieces for the ends. yes that is hello kitty you see, plus olaf is in here someplace as well. mostly trying to avoid the dark reproductions and use only medium values. with 2 weeks until april dawns, should get them all finished and maybe even get the 120 melon pieces cut out as well. hope your official quilting day was similarly spent in some quilty pursuits as well!
senior housing observations--NOT quilt related
just passed my 2-year anniversary here in senior subsidized housing and although it should be care free pretty much, it's far from that. this is my second housing situation with the title "village" and it's definitely my last. village evokes cozy, friendly, comfortable places, none of which apply to either of the "villages" I've lived at recently. next time i should look for a place called "dungeon alley" and just maybe i'll get cozy, friendly and comfortable.
like the first "village", smoking by other tenants of various substances, legal and illegal, is a big problem. i know, the leases definitely PROHIBIT smoking of any kind but hey, who pays attention to the lease anyway? to be fair, there could be illiterate individuals who can't read and are unaware of the prohibition, but i'm probably being overgenerous to think so. even HUD, the big gun in subsidized housing, says no smoking, but again, who listens to the government? there's a big difference between KNOWING and ENFORCING. so right away the advertisement for both places is an outright lie.
some of the amenities do exist--a cakeless monthly birthday celebration, a coffee social that is donuts (ick) and coffee (i don't drink it), resident meetings where scofflaws don't attend and is basically a bitch session with no resolution and hardly any holiday events (none actually). of course, we do have prostitutes who visit some tenants on a regular basis which isn't listed for some reason. and there is the thievery that happens occasionally, smoke detector batteries that seem to always die and chirp incessantly on the weekends--management refuses to change them twice yearly proactively due to the high cost of batteries--true!!! then there are the endless apartment inspections at the drop of a hat (with 24-hour notice to be fair) by endless individuals.
on the very down side, there are people here who can definitely be classified as riff raff or low lifes. their emotional age is about 11, they feel they are entitled to do whatever they want whenever, lease be damned. their main concern is numero uno and make sure everyone knows that. they lack basic courtesy skills and have the maturity of a gnat. they smoke in their apartment, especially nights, weekends, cold days, hot days and rainy days and other days they just don't feel motivated to go outside. then they try and mask the smoke (because I complain about it regularly) with heavy duty air fresheners and deodorizers that would kill a rat a mile away, again without any regard for anyone in the vicinity. they borrow grocery carts and don't take them back. they open the door for any and all comers, especially after 10 pm. they ignore schedules on laundry and fitness rooms. of course, this does not apply to all of the tenants here, just enough to make life occasionally miserable and completely unfair to the rest. but again, the lease is more of a suggestion than hard-and-fast rules, so there is no recourse, just chalk it up to undesirables. These overpowering fumes make me physically ill for which I've had ER visits, missed my cardiac rehab sessions and had to cancel various other plans. the last episode was 2 days ago and lasted 3 long hours, long enough to render me nearly comatose and interrupt my life for 2 days....am i mad? you bet!
then there is other stuff, of course, which makes this a very un-village kind of place. I need my bedroom miniblind replaced, notified office two plus months ago, said she would put it on order. order? from where? india? china? walmart is just 5 miles away, which is the US branch of chinese merchandise....but still no blind. then toilet flushing is a serendipitous experience...have to schedule certain functions at certain times of day, otherwise it's a remainder until water pressure is sufficient.
there are real benefits to senior housing, though, that i will mention if only to remind myself. my trash chute is just down the hall. no bulky barrels with wheels to lug out to the curb. a clean and functioning laundry room with coke machine. bus service at the curb if needed. heating and air conditioning included, although it's seldom cold here, but a real perk in summer for those many 90+ degree days. apartment cleaning that takes 4 hours tops...leaves plenty of time for sewing and now exercising. one monthly check takes care of everything--water bill, electric bill, rent--nice and neat.
so if i were listing pros and cons, a method often used to make decisions, it's a draw. the smoke and other fumes make me downright ill and affect the quality of my daily life. i've toyed with the idea of going back to sleep in my car when weather permits as i just hate it and the fact that i've spent my entire 2 years here sparring with management. dealing with my own personal challenges is wearing enough without having to cajole and annoy other people into doing their job. the location is great, although i realize now i should be closer to my daughter, something very apparent during my recent surgery and recuperation. and ideally i'd like to be closer to the ocean, the only nonfamily thing i miss about new england. just being able to drive by or visit weekly was so soothing and relaxing to me. it often cleared my mind and enabled me to solve problems or purge emotions--my own personal prozac.
the other issue is i've not found a local church yet. i attended the brethren church but found i was not holy enough for them. plus, i found their attitude of making money, albeit for good cause, just a little too Pharisaical for my taste. their early traditional service was perfect for me, but i think they expected me to join, which i'm never doing again in my life, and attend more frequently. as a Christian and life-long church attender, i miss that anchor in my life, but hope it's only temporary.
the message here? yes, by all means consider senior housing but don't take their propaganda as gospel, be ready for regular monitoring visits, realize there will be compromise and by all means, make a list of pros/cons before deciding. i made the decision from 500 miles away, which was not optimal, but i am still alive, so it hasn't been fatal--yet.
like the first "village", smoking by other tenants of various substances, legal and illegal, is a big problem. i know, the leases definitely PROHIBIT smoking of any kind but hey, who pays attention to the lease anyway? to be fair, there could be illiterate individuals who can't read and are unaware of the prohibition, but i'm probably being overgenerous to think so. even HUD, the big gun in subsidized housing, says no smoking, but again, who listens to the government? there's a big difference between KNOWING and ENFORCING. so right away the advertisement for both places is an outright lie.
some of the amenities do exist--a cakeless monthly birthday celebration, a coffee social that is donuts (ick) and coffee (i don't drink it), resident meetings where scofflaws don't attend and is basically a bitch session with no resolution and hardly any holiday events (none actually). of course, we do have prostitutes who visit some tenants on a regular basis which isn't listed for some reason. and there is the thievery that happens occasionally, smoke detector batteries that seem to always die and chirp incessantly on the weekends--management refuses to change them twice yearly proactively due to the high cost of batteries--true!!! then there are the endless apartment inspections at the drop of a hat (with 24-hour notice to be fair) by endless individuals.
on the very down side, there are people here who can definitely be classified as riff raff or low lifes. their emotional age is about 11, they feel they are entitled to do whatever they want whenever, lease be damned. their main concern is numero uno and make sure everyone knows that. they lack basic courtesy skills and have the maturity of a gnat. they smoke in their apartment, especially nights, weekends, cold days, hot days and rainy days and other days they just don't feel motivated to go outside. then they try and mask the smoke (because I complain about it regularly) with heavy duty air fresheners and deodorizers that would kill a rat a mile away, again without any regard for anyone in the vicinity. they borrow grocery carts and don't take them back. they open the door for any and all comers, especially after 10 pm. they ignore schedules on laundry and fitness rooms. of course, this does not apply to all of the tenants here, just enough to make life occasionally miserable and completely unfair to the rest. but again, the lease is more of a suggestion than hard-and-fast rules, so there is no recourse, just chalk it up to undesirables. These overpowering fumes make me physically ill for which I've had ER visits, missed my cardiac rehab sessions and had to cancel various other plans. the last episode was 2 days ago and lasted 3 long hours, long enough to render me nearly comatose and interrupt my life for 2 days....am i mad? you bet!
then there is other stuff, of course, which makes this a very un-village kind of place. I need my bedroom miniblind replaced, notified office two plus months ago, said she would put it on order. order? from where? india? china? walmart is just 5 miles away, which is the US branch of chinese merchandise....but still no blind. then toilet flushing is a serendipitous experience...have to schedule certain functions at certain times of day, otherwise it's a remainder until water pressure is sufficient.
there are real benefits to senior housing, though, that i will mention if only to remind myself. my trash chute is just down the hall. no bulky barrels with wheels to lug out to the curb. a clean and functioning laundry room with coke machine. bus service at the curb if needed. heating and air conditioning included, although it's seldom cold here, but a real perk in summer for those many 90+ degree days. apartment cleaning that takes 4 hours tops...leaves plenty of time for sewing and now exercising. one monthly check takes care of everything--water bill, electric bill, rent--nice and neat.
so if i were listing pros and cons, a method often used to make decisions, it's a draw. the smoke and other fumes make me downright ill and affect the quality of my daily life. i've toyed with the idea of going back to sleep in my car when weather permits as i just hate it and the fact that i've spent my entire 2 years here sparring with management. dealing with my own personal challenges is wearing enough without having to cajole and annoy other people into doing their job. the location is great, although i realize now i should be closer to my daughter, something very apparent during my recent surgery and recuperation. and ideally i'd like to be closer to the ocean, the only nonfamily thing i miss about new england. just being able to drive by or visit weekly was so soothing and relaxing to me. it often cleared my mind and enabled me to solve problems or purge emotions--my own personal prozac.
the other issue is i've not found a local church yet. i attended the brethren church but found i was not holy enough for them. plus, i found their attitude of making money, albeit for good cause, just a little too Pharisaical for my taste. their early traditional service was perfect for me, but i think they expected me to join, which i'm never doing again in my life, and attend more frequently. as a Christian and life-long church attender, i miss that anchor in my life, but hope it's only temporary.
the message here? yes, by all means consider senior housing but don't take their propaganda as gospel, be ready for regular monitoring visits, realize there will be compromise and by all means, make a list of pros/cons before deciding. i made the decision from 500 miles away, which was not optimal, but i am still alive, so it hasn't been fatal--yet.
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
guilt got me
first up, accidentally bought 2 copies of the jan/feb issue of QUILTMANIA....i really can't afford to give it away, but for $10 i'll send it to you via media mail....email me privately if interested at gracemth@yahoo.com.
the other day i think i mentioned the civil war diary quilt that was hiding in a UFO drawer. well, today guilt was nagging at me again and i did take it out and took stock of the progress so far.
i think there are about 15 blocks done so far. years ago i went to a friend's and used her EQ to print out most of the blocks that i couldn't piece on my own. the papers got stuffed in the drawer as well, so went thru those and eliminated the waste portions, attaching partial blocks to the main block. there are quite a few, naturally, since the entire quilt is 121 blocks. here they are waiting for me to make them up. a lot of them are quite involved, and i think i had procrastinated due to the difficulty of many of them and limited time. now with more free time, they don't intimidate me as much, so have great hopes of tackling them. have chosen april to do just that......
aside from some house chores and exercising, today was a slow day. did print out 30 more DWR arcs and since they work up pretty fast, expect i'll have all 240 done before march is gone. few more house chores, but i'm spacing them out not to over-exert (ROFL).....anyway, that's my story!
the other day i think i mentioned the civil war diary quilt that was hiding in a UFO drawer. well, today guilt was nagging at me again and i did take it out and took stock of the progress so far.
i think there are about 15 blocks done so far. years ago i went to a friend's and used her EQ to print out most of the blocks that i couldn't piece on my own. the papers got stuffed in the drawer as well, so went thru those and eliminated the waste portions, attaching partial blocks to the main block. there are quite a few, naturally, since the entire quilt is 121 blocks. here they are waiting for me to make them up. a lot of them are quite involved, and i think i had procrastinated due to the difficulty of many of them and limited time. now with more free time, they don't intimidate me as much, so have great hopes of tackling them. have chosen april to do just that......
aside from some house chores and exercising, today was a slow day. did print out 30 more DWR arcs and since they work up pretty fast, expect i'll have all 240 done before march is gone. few more house chores, but i'm spacing them out not to over-exert (ROFL).....anyway, that's my story!
Sunday, March 11, 2018
trash tells the tale...
Friday, March 9, 2018
$2 bargain
it's true there is sufficient stash on hand for the immediate future and good thing, as the budget is uber-tight, especially as today's quilt shop prices are mostly out of reach for me. so when i spied a plastic bag of christmas fabrics for a pittance on the guild swap table, couldn't let it go by. some really pretty fabrics that'll add variety to my trees quilt plus morph into stockings, runners and wall quilts too. this was the haul after washing/drying.
might be as much as 7-8 yards here. a really pretty bundle for sure. my thanks to whoever brought them in! at my other guild meeting, one member has a home-based shop and she occasionally brings in fabrics to sell at bargain prices. plenty of choices but only this little piece came home with me,
a nice christmasy neutral with green triangles and little pale red dots. *** while putting away some fabric this morning, pleased to discover that although the bookcase is full, most everything is in one place meaning i HAVE been using it up even though it doesn't always show. even managed to tuck in the new christmas stuff as well...
hope you have time to sew today....
might be as much as 7-8 yards here. a really pretty bundle for sure. my thanks to whoever brought them in! at my other guild meeting, one member has a home-based shop and she occasionally brings in fabrics to sell at bargain prices. plenty of choices but only this little piece came home with me,
a nice christmasy neutral with green triangles and little pale red dots. *** while putting away some fabric this morning, pleased to discover that although the bookcase is full, most everything is in one place meaning i HAVE been using it up even though it doesn't always show. even managed to tuck in the new christmas stuff as well...
hope you have time to sew today....
Thursday, March 8, 2018
as if...
i needed to take time away from UFOs to make something new, but i did....saw this in a friend's book and, well, it's blue and that decided it. just a narrow border with some little 4-patches in the corners and it'll be ready to baste....
and was cruising the library card catalog again and found a few titles that interested me. the tula pink is a great little book, 100 mod 6" blocks....it's the fabric that makes a lot of these but i like the way the book is set up and plenty of inspiration for anyone. the other by lynn harris had some ideas for scraps with plenty of space for hand quilting for me. i love a good scrappy and this book doesn't disappoint. if you see them, give them a look; i think you'll like them too.
during my recuperation, a friend brought by her tried-and-true family favorite casserole and it was delish. she gave me the recipe and i tweaked it a bit leaving out salty things and cutting back on the pasta. now i have enough for the 4077th i'm pretty sure....it is delish and now that i can almost taste things again, it really satisfies. i wish i had thought to freeze half the sauce before adding the pasta, but will see how long it lasts. tonight i had half a cup with a piece of fish and will have some kiwi for dessert.
yes it IS as good as it looks! it almost has a pizza taste, which is good any day of the week!
and was cruising the library card catalog again and found a few titles that interested me. the tula pink is a great little book, 100 mod 6" blocks....it's the fabric that makes a lot of these but i like the way the book is set up and plenty of inspiration for anyone. the other by lynn harris had some ideas for scraps with plenty of space for hand quilting for me. i love a good scrappy and this book doesn't disappoint. if you see them, give them a look; i think you'll like them too.
during my recuperation, a friend brought by her tried-and-true family favorite casserole and it was delish. she gave me the recipe and i tweaked it a bit leaving out salty things and cutting back on the pasta. now i have enough for the 4077th i'm pretty sure....it is delish and now that i can almost taste things again, it really satisfies. i wish i had thought to freeze half the sauce before adding the pasta, but will see how long it lasts. tonight i had half a cup with a piece of fish and will have some kiwi for dessert.
yes it IS as good as it looks! it almost has a pizza taste, which is good any day of the week!
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
new post....new me
finally made it to the hair salon today for a much-needed clip, nice and short which should do me until summer is well under way. sporting that winter washed out look as it's not quite warm enough to sit out and catch some rays, but very soon i would imagine....thankfully neither of these prevents me from sewing like mad!
Monday, March 5, 2018
definitely spring...
well, spring-like anyway....temps near 50, sunny, grass greening up, trees budded...oh yes, i can't wait! but first thing today had a bit of a chuckle....would you believe the management delivered THIS to my apartment to solve the smelly neighborhood problem? me either...
to reiterate, the lease clearly states no smoking and no overpowering fumes/odors allowed...but for the entire weekend was nearly suffocated with same. this has been going on since november with multiple reports of incidents but as yet no resolution....until today. to be fair, some might be coming from the roof vent for the laundry, but not at 3 am certainly. my clothes closet reeks of perfume and worse, my cardiac status has deteriorated over the weekend due to this heinous, obviously illiterate perp. after all, if he/she could read, they would have read the lease, right? unfortunately in this complex, low income is equal to a certain amount of riff raff. i can tell you, this never happens in the homeless shelter; the staff actually enforces the rules. sheesh....*** as if i needed a new project, been working on a small piece seen recently in a friend's book. almost ready to show too! that plus double wedding ring arcs have been keeping betty humming.
to reiterate, the lease clearly states no smoking and no overpowering fumes/odors allowed...but for the entire weekend was nearly suffocated with same. this has been going on since november with multiple reports of incidents but as yet no resolution....until today. to be fair, some might be coming from the roof vent for the laundry, but not at 3 am certainly. my clothes closet reeks of perfume and worse, my cardiac status has deteriorated over the weekend due to this heinous, obviously illiterate perp. after all, if he/she could read, they would have read the lease, right? unfortunately in this complex, low income is equal to a certain amount of riff raff. i can tell you, this never happens in the homeless shelter; the staff actually enforces the rules. sheesh....*** as if i needed a new project, been working on a small piece seen recently in a friend's book. almost ready to show too! that plus double wedding ring arcs have been keeping betty humming.
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