Fair and Square

I’ve written before about donating gently used items to thrift stores. I don’t think I’ve mentioned that we should also be BUYING things from those same thrift stores. So I’m mentioning it today; specifically clothing. For the past few weeks the malls have been packed with parents buying back-to-school clothes for their kids. Now that school is actually in session they’ll be back buying more, generally because the stuff their kids begged for isn’t exactly the same stuff the really cool kids are wearing. The first batch of stuff (and a lot of the second batch) will end up on the floor of the closet until next June when it will be offered (but not sold) at the yard sale and eventually end up in the landfill. Do yourself a favor and go back-to-school shopping at the thrift store. Brand new is a relative term. You can be just as happy with brand new to you. For a lot less dough.

Hit and Miss

Today’s photo was the 365 Challenge block for August 18. It’s a deceptively simple-looking design. The pattern called for fifteen scrappy rectangles, each 1 1/2" by 1 1/8”. The 1 1/2" side was easy. I have rulers designed for that, and when you subtract the scant 1/4" seams, three 1 1/2" pieces come out to exactly 3 1/2”, unfinished. My rulers aren’t designed to measure eighths of an inch accurately. Even when the seams are precise, this block turns out either too tall or too short. After burning through an awful lot of frustratingly tiny scraps, I decided not to make this block 3” finished. A 15” block would have been a breeze; all the rectangles would be 3 1/2"x 5 1/2". But what can I do with an ugly 15” block? I settled on a size between fifteen and three inches, but I’ll probably never find a use for it. Some days you just can't win.

Forward and Back

“We can choose to make and keep the covenants with God that qualify us for eternal life. As we endure in that faithfulness, the Holy Ghost will confirm our hope and confidence that we are on the path to eternal life, to live in families forever in the celestial kingdom. For some that eternal joy may seem a faint or even a fading hope. Parents, children, brothers, and sisters may have made choices that seem to disqualify them from eternal life. You may even wonder whether you have yet been qualified through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. A prophet of God once offered me counsel that gives me peace. I was worried that the choices of others might make it impossible for our family to be together forever. He said, ‘You are worrying about the wrong problem. You just live worthy of the celestial kingdom, and the family arrangements will be more wonderful than you can imagine.’” – President Henry B. Eyring

Flying Geese

As a schoolgirl Alma Reville rode her bicycle to the London film studio where her father worked in the costume department, to watch silent movies being made. Later she got a job as a tea girl in the same studio. She was a film cutter at 16 and was quickly promoted to script writer. When she met Alfred Hitchcock, they were both 22, but Hitch was new to the industry and Alma was already a veteran. Hitchcock’s directorial debut was The Pleasure Garden in 1925. In the credits Alma is listed as director’s assistant. They were married a year later. Throughout his career, she was his closest and most constant collaborator. When Hitchcock received the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award, he thanked only four people, saying, “The first is a film editor, the second a scriptwriter, the third is the mother of my daughter, and the fourth is a fine cook. And their names are Alma Reville.”

Summer and Winter

Next week I’ll turn in my entry for the Utah State Fair Quilt Challenge. Last week we visited the Salt Lake County Fair where we saw half a dozen quilts displaying this year’s challenge fabric: an orange tone-on-tone chevron print. They were lovely designs, beautifully executed, and many sported blue ribbons. I have to assume every one (and dozens more besides) will compete with my entry next week. I may have a chance for a ribbon if my quilt is judged in the Best Use of Color category. The other quilts used purple, green or teal to contrast with the challenge fabric, making the orange a bit drab. I used tangerine, lemon and lime to pull it in the other direction. If the judges don’t appreciate that, at least I won’t mind having it on my wall. I’m reminded of a Katherine Hepburn quote: “If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased.”

Red Cross

They’re calling it the biggest disappearing act of all time. Penn Jillette, the larger half of Penn & Teller, is a lot smaller than he was. Last fall when high blood pressure sent him to the hospital, his doctor advised him to lose some of his 330 pounds. For fifteen days he ate nothing but potatoes – boiled, baked or raw – without butter, gravy, sour cream, or even salt and pepper. The next ten weeks Penn went hard-core vegan: no meat, no fish, no dairy, no sugar, no bread, no salt, and no oil. These days at 225 pounds he eats a lot of greens with vinegar, black or brown rice and fruit. His favorite treat is blueberries with cocoa powder.  “I could probably have a steak or doughnut, but I haven’t felt like it,” he reports. “When you feel as good as I feel, the temptation to go back to what you were doing is not very great.”