Double Pinwheel

Since my own children were very small, our friends and neighbors would use me to frighten their children. They’d say, “If  you don’t take better care of your pet I’ll give it to someone who will.” Meaning me. I’m confident most of the time this threat worked. When it didn’t, my menagerie grew. I’ve been the recipient of rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, frogs, turtles, birds, tarantulas and iguanas whose owners had tired of them. I’ve only once received a pet because her owner passed on. Lass has been with us for about four months now. Her papers say she’s a Scottie, but she’s as fierce as a dragon. She loves long walks, car trips, naps stretched across the sofa back, and keeping the cat treed on the piano. Last week her previous owner’s grandson told me Lass is really his dog. So I guess I’m only her caregiver. I can live with that.

Four Goslings

Like most of the rest of you, I live in an area where recyclables are picked up from my curb on a regular basis. That’s a pretty big deal for a girl who grew up with “Don’t be a litterbug” and “Give a hoot, don’t pollute.” I cancelled my newspaper subscription when I realized it was filling my recycling bin with paper grocery and department store ads. Now the space in my bin is mostly taken up with the cardboard boxes and hard plastic containers that once held food, beverages, laundry detergent, shampoo, etc. One thing you won’t find there anymore is plastic bags. Even if they don’t become airborne and stuck in some tree (Why is garbage day always the windiest day of the week?) plastic bags tend to gum up the machinery at the recycling plant. From now on my groceries come home in paper sacks – or in cotton ones.

Basic Elements

This is the twentieth quilt top I’ve made for the hospital quilters at Intermountain Medical Center. I started the first one six years and two months ago, on a borrowed sewing machine at the Residence Inn. The overwhelming majority of these have been very scrappy sampler quilts, even though single-block quilts are generally easier to design and faster to assemble. Most of my favorite quilts are samplers. I love that each block has a different story to tell and a different skill to teach. Some use traditional piecing techniques, and others use applique or paper foundations. Some have partial seams or Y-seams, and some call for curved piecing or irregular angles. I’m particularly proud of this top, with its clean lines and bright, cheerful palette. But I’m already looking forward to designing number twenty-one. The next one will probably be another sampler, with florals and stripes in clear red, blue and yellow. Unless, of course, I change my mind.

Four Gardener's Stars

Whether you’re someone who washes, dries, folds and puts clothes away nearly every day or the sort who has a “needs washing” pile and a “could be worn a few more times” pile somewhere in the house, you owe a lot to Nathaniel Briggs and to people like him. March 28 1797, Nathaniel obtained the first washing machine patent. His invention was a far cry from your Maytag. It involved a tank into which you dumped dirty clothes, soap and hot water (after heating it, likely on a wood stove). You’d agitate the wash by turning a lever, and wring the water out of the clothes by running them between two rollers, one piece at a time. His patent didn’t cover drying the clothes, but back then that would mean hanging in the fresh air when the weather cooperated and near the fire when it didn't. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

Goose and Goslings

For hundreds of years black cats have been associated with bad luck. Consequently, their adoption rate is much lower than, say, tabbies or calicoes. Even in cultures where black cats aren’t thought of as evil, people looking to adopt a cat tend to chose one that isn’t black. Or they did until about six weeks ago. One animal shelter in Colorado has suddenly gone from having more than fifty black cats to zero, and the new rescue kitties are being given names like T’challa, Okoye, Shuri, Nakia and even Killmonger. If none of these mean anything to you, it might be time to visit the cinema. They’re all names from the new Disney/Marvel hit Black Panther. Even if you’re not a superhero fan it might surprise you to see a film where so many black characters are portrayed in a positive light. It’s nice to see good fiction making change for the better in the real world.

Gardener's Star

“We easily can be overcome by the routine and mundane matters of mortality. Sleeping, eating, dressing, working, playing, exercising, and many other customary activities are necessary and important. But ultimately, what we become is the result of our knowledge of and willingness to learn from the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; it is not merely the sum total of our daily pursuits over the course of a lifetime. The gospel is so much more than a routine checklist of discrete tasks to be performed; rather, it is a magnificent tapestry of truth fitly framed and woven together, designed to help us become like our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, even partakers of the divine nature. Truly, we are blinded by looking beyond the mark when this overarching spiritual reality is overshadowed by the cares, concerns, and casualness of the world.” – Elder David A. Bednar

Hither and Yon

Some of the students at Mary Moore Elementary School in Arlington, Texas were recently surprised to find their school restrooms had been given a makeover. Eight of their parents – six moms and two dads – spent more than thirty-seven hours over the weekend cleaning and painting two bathrooms in the fifth grade wing of the school. Then they added inspirational quotes to remind their kids to be kind and that “they can do anything they want if they try hard enough,” the school’s Principal Tyson Jones said. The messages, which artfully cover the doors and walls, include: “Your mistakes don’t define you,” “Kindness changes everything,” “Choose joy,” “She believed she could so she did,” “Every day is a chance to get better,” “You will move mountains,” “Bloom where you are planted,” and “You are enough.”

Sixteen Broken Sashes

If I could share a message with everyone on the planet at the same time, it would be this: Please, please stop labeling yourself by the thing (or things) that make you different from the rest of us. Stop calling yourself gay or black or disabled or liberal or atheist or female or whatever. Stop being so quick to take offense when you don’t see your particular minority represented the way you’d like in a movie or television show, in your workplace or government or community. Instead, start thinking of the ways in which we are all the same. If you remember we’re all sons and daughters of the same God, suddenly you find yourself treating everyone else like brothers and sisters should. If you ARE atheist, the very least you can do is remind yourself we’re all fellow passengers to the grave, and there are many ways to make the journey more pleasant for all of us.

Hugs and Kisses

When we visit Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure Park we usually stay a mile from the concourse between the entrances to the two theme parks. It’s not a bad walk, until you consider we generally put in at least fifteen miles a day walking around IN the parks in addition to the mile getting there and the mile back. Last month we were trudging back to our pied-à-terre after a very full day when I noticed a stunning baby quilt on top of a stroller. It was executed in pink and blue 30’s prints: dozens of half snowball blocks arranged to look like X’s and O’s. The piecing, quilting and binding were flawless; a handmade masterpiece. I told the woman pushing the stroller I admired the quilt. She said (a bit dismissively) it was a gift from an aunt. I wonder how many people own works of art simply because a quilter loves them.  

Nine Broken Sashes

All I Need to Know I Learned from Heather (with apologies to Robert Fulghum)

Any day you watch a Disney movie is a good day.

Never go anywhere without a notebook and a pencil.
Everyone needs their own personal space.

Babies and small children should be seen and not heard.

When we’re not at Disneyland, Mickey misses us. So do Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto.

Egg shells must never go down the drain.

Exercise is completely pointless.

A smile isn’t just something you do with your mouth. Your whole face has to be involved.

Words CAN hurt you. Some words, like “stupid,” should never, ever be used.
Never miss an opportunity to enjoy a sunset, a sunrise, a full moon, or a rainbow.

Any dish is improved with the addition of cheese. The best foods – cheeseburger, cheese pizza, mac and cheese, grilled cheese sandwich, cheese quesadilla and cheesecake – already have cheese in their names.

A hug can make absolutely anything better.

Windmill

A Light exists in Spring not present on the Year

At any other period – when March is scarcely here

A Color stands abroad on Solitary Fields

That Science cannot overtake but Human Nature feels.

It waits upon the Lawn, it shows the furthest Tree

Upon the furthest Slope you know it almost speaks to you.

Then as Horizons step or Noons report away

Without the Formula of sound it passes and we stay –

A quality of loss affecting our Content

As Trade had suddenly encroached upon a Sacrament. – Emily Dickinson

Four Broken Sashes

“When we speak of repentance, we aren’t just talking about self-improvement efforts. True repentance is more than that—it is inspired by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His power to forgive our sins. As Elder Dale G. Renlund has taught us, ‘Without the Redeemer, repentance becomes simply miserable behavior modification.’ We can try to change our behavior on our own, but only the Savior can remove our stains and lift our burdens, enabling us to pursue the path of obedience with confidence and strength. The joy of repentance is more than the joy of living a decent life. It’s the joy of forgiveness, of being clean again, and of drawing closer to God. Once you’ve experienced that joy, no lesser substitute will do.” – Stephen W. Owen

Four Sidewalks

We’ve celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with corned beef and cabbage for as long as I can remember. It isn’t really an Irish dish, in fact it’s about as Irish as fortune cookies and chop suey are Chinese. I suspect it came about when Irish immigrants (with their tradition of boiling cabbage and root vegetables with cheap cuts of meat) encountered Jewish delicatessens in New York City. Google “St. Patrick’s Day recipes,” and you’ll find corned beef, of course, along with a wide assortment of dishes with green food coloring added. If you really want authentic Irish food this weekend, you might try potato onion soup, colcannon, Dublin coddle, lamb stew, scallop and mushroom pie, shepherd’s pie or soda bread. We’ll be having Irish boiled dinner for Sunday dinner tomorrow, and shamrock-shaped tortellini with pesto tonight. None of it is authentically Irish, but it has at least a chance of being eaten.  

World Without End

RULES FOR SONS:

When negotiating, never make the first offer.

When entrusted with a secret, keep it.

Hold heroes to a higher standard.

Return a borrowed car with a full tank.

When shaking hands, grip firmly and look them in the eye.

Don’t let a wishbone grow where a backbone should be.

Carry two hankies; one in your back pocket for you, and one in your breast pocket for her.

Marry a girl = marry her family.

Be like a duck: calm on the surface and paddling like crazy underneath.

Never be afraid to ask out the best looking girl in the room.

Never turn down a breath mint.

Write your own eulogy. Never stop revising.

Eat lunch with the new kid.

After writing an angry email, read it carefully. Then delete it.

Manners maketh the man.

Give credit. Take the blame.

Write down your dreams.

Be confident and humble at the same time.

Visit your parents often. They miss you. - Source Unknown

Washington Sidewalk

Since 1995 Dolly Parton’s program Imagination Library has been donating books to children of all ages and income levels, all over the world. On February 27 the country music icon went to Washington, DC to deliver her 100 millionth children’s book. I suppose it’s only fitting that her 100 millionth donation was a book she herself had written. "Coat of Many Colors" is a picture book featuring the lyrics of Dolly's song of the same name. Dolly started Imagination Library to honor her father, Lee Parton, who never learned to read. About the program, librarian of congress Carla Hayden said, “There is no way to truly quantify the impact this program has had on developing young readers across America and in other parts of the world.”

Nine Arkansas Crossroads

Amelia Earhart disappeared in 1937 while attempting to circumnavigate the globe. Three years later human bones were found on a desert island not far from her destination. The bones were analyzed at the time in Fiji, and it was concluded that they were the remains of a male. Last week a forensic anthropologist in Tennessee announced that the bones were almost certainly Earhart’s. He’d studied the measurements of the bones and compared them with photos of the famous aviatrix. He even consulted a seamstress on the relationship between inseams and the lengths of tibias and fibias. If the bones in question hadn’t been misplaced, a DNA test might have put this 80-year-old mystery to rest. When asked for her opinion, Earhart’s neice said, “I'm convinced she simply ran out of gas. No one has produced credible evidence of any of the other theories. The simplest explanation is the most likely.”

Garden Path

This year our quilt class is working on Jen Kingwell’s quilt, Green Tea and Sweet Beans. Like most of her designs, this is an impossibly ambitious project, with a frenetic, busy-looking end product. Two years ago we did Kingwell’s Gossip in the Garden https://mombowe.blogspot.com/2017/10/gossip-in-garden.html . We replaced several of the complex appliqued blocks with simpler foundation-pieced designs, and I think we were quite satisfied with the results. When introducing the pattern for today’s block, our instructor compared doing that with cutting corners in a marathon: she said both were “cheating.” I’ve had nearly three weeks to consider what she said, and I’ve decided I don’t care. Doing everything Ms. Kingwell’s way won’t be relaxing; not while I’m stitching the blocks together, and not later when I’m admiring the finished quilt. If doing things my own way is cheating, then you can call me a cheat. I'm fine with that.

Four Arkansas Crossroads

“The story is told that reporters were interviewing a man on his birthday. He had reached an advanced age. They asked him how he had done it. He replied, ‘When my wife and I were married we determined that if we ever got in a quarrel one of us would leave the house. I attribute my longevity to the fact that I have breathed good fresh air throughout my married life.’ I plead with you to control your tempers, to put a smile upon your faces, which will erase anger; speak out with words of love and peace, appreciation, and respect. If you will do this, your lives will be without regret. Your marriages and family relationships will be preserved. You will be much happier. You will do greater good. You will feel a sense of peace that will be wonderful.” – President Gordon B. Hinckley

Spinning Wheel

On March 10, 1876 Alexander Graham Bell made the very first telephone call. He spoke to his assistant, Thomas Watson, in another room: “Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you.” Bell invisioned the world changing for the better because of his invention. In a letter to his father, he wrote that someday friends would converse with each other without having to leave home. Bell went on to create more new inventions, including the photophone in 1880. This first wireless telephone transmitted sound on a beam of light instead of electrical wires. It’s the forefather of fiber optic telephone systems. Bell repeated his famous first phone call in 1915 when transcontinental telephone lines connected the East and West coasts. This time Watson replied that it would take him a week as he was in San Francisco and Bell was in New York.

Arkansas Crossroads

Edward Everett was an American politician, pastor, educator, diplomat and orator from Massachusetts. If you’ve ever heard of him at all, you probably know him as the man who gave the “other” Gettysburg address. Everett spoke eloquently (and exhaustively) for two hours before Lincoln upstaged him with a two-minute speech. Most of us can recite Lincoln’s address but know nothing of Everett's. Here’s a story about Edward Everett you probably haven’t heard: “Once a man who had been slandered by a newspaper came to Edward Everett asking what to do about it. Everett replied, ‘Do nothing! Half the people who bought the paper never saw the article. Half of those who saw it did not read it. Half of those who read it did not understand it. Half of those who understood it did not believe it. Half of those who believed it are of no account anyway.’” – from Staying Up, Up, Up in a Down, Down World by Zig Ziglar

Susie Q

Many years ago – it may be as much as a decade – I won a fat quarter bundle at the Utah Shop Hop. It was a collection of near-solid prints in every color of the rainbow called Elements by Mark Lipinski for Northcott fabrics.  These prints were designed as “blenders,” to be individually pressed into service in quilts where they’d simply blend in unnoticed. For a while, I thought that’s what I’d do with them. Once or twice I almost cut into the bundle while I was planning a state fair challenge quilt. But the more I looked at the prints, the more I became convinced they belonged in a single quilt where their jewel-like colors could shine. They’re finally about to fulfill their calling. This will be a sampler quilt (of course), a modern twist on some very old traditional blocks. I’ve just a handful of blocks and a border or two to go. I can hardly wait to show you!

Checkerboard

I resolved years ago never to give money to beggars when they ask for a handout. (It’s more PC to call them “homeless,” but I don’t KNOW they’re homeless. They ARE begging.) If they ask for food, though, I’ve committed to help. I’ve never regretted making or keeping that commitment. Recently a McDonald's customer in Myrtle Beach invited a homeless man into that establishment to offer him a meal. He was shocked to hear the employees order the homeless man out. When police arrived the good Samaritan objected loudly. He recorded the event as he and his benefactor were escorted out. The resulting video quickly went viral, and a predictable backlash ensued. In their own defense, the McDonald's says this particular homeless man has caused trouble there numerous times. It’s good to remember there really are at least two sides to every story. And that Mickey D’s sells takeaway.

Sixteen Lozengers

This is an old joke, but I thought it might make you smile: A man wanted to become a monk so he went to the monastery and talked to the head monk. The head monk said, “You must take a vow of silence and can only say two words every three years.” The man agreed and after the first 3 years, the head monk came to him and asked, “What are your two words?” “Food cold!” the man replied. Three more years went by and the head monk came to him and again asked for his two words. “Robe dirty!” the man exclaimed. Three more years went by and the head monk came to him and said, “What are your two words?” “I quit!” said the man. “Well,” the head monk replied, “I’m not surprised. You have done nothing but complain ever since you got here!”

Four Echoes

“Petitioning Heavenly Father for the blessings we desire in our personal lives is good and proper. However praying earnestly for others, both those whom we love and those who despitefully use us, is also an important element of meaningful prayer. Just as expressing gratitude more often in our prayers enlarges the conduit for revelation, so praying for others with all of the energy of our souls increases our capacity to hear and to heed the voice of the Lord. We learn a vital lesson from the example of Lehi in the Book of Mormon. Lehi responded in faith to prophetic instruction and warnings concerning the destruction of Jerusalem. He then prayed unto the Lord with all his heart, in behalf of his people. In answer to this fervent prayer, Lehi was blessed with a glorious vision of God and His Son and of the impending destruction of Jerusalem. The vision came in response to a prayer for others.” - Elder David A. Bednar

Four Lozengers

When we lived in upstate New York, I occasionally heard the word, “lozenger,” meaning a medicated drop meant to soothe sore throats and quell coughing. We lived in a college town, but the people I heard using this word weren’t teachers or students. They were usually elderly and (I assumed) less well-educated. I’d heard these same people mispronounce other words and simply thought they meant to say “lozenge.” More recently I heard the word in northern England. These people saying “lozenger” there were blue collar workers: plumbers, removers, joiners, or postmen. I thought it odd that folks with thick Yorkshire accents would mispronounce this word exactly the same way that bucolic New Yorkers did. When it turned up again in an Australian quilt book – spelled out for all the world to see – I decided to do a bit of research. As it happens, “lozenger” isn’t a mispronunciation at all. The word, R included, is very, very Old English.

Greek Cross Variation

I’m a sucker for antiques. When washboards, treadle sewing machines, butter churns or blue-and-white china are used to dress up a shop or a restaurant, I’m always more interested in them than what the establishment is actually selling. The quilt pictured below was hanging a week ago in a corner of the Pioneer Mercantile in Frontierland. The whole affair is more than a little wonky, and the way it was tied and mounted actually make it more so. I’m guessing that was done intentionally, for a more rustic effect. What attracted my attention was the blocks themselves. I have several books full of block patterns, but this one doesn’t seem to be in any of them. The nearest match I could find was a Greek Cross like the one I posted nearly five years ago: http://mombowe.blogspot.com/2013/05/greek-cross.html . If you happen to know the real name of this block, I’d love to hear it.

25 Propellers

Today is the last day of Purim: a two-day celebration which begins at sundown on the fourteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month of the Jewish calendar. It commemorates the happy outcome of the account of Esther, Mordecai, Haman and King Ahasureus in Persian in the fifth century B.C. If you’re not familiar with the tale (or if you knew it once and have since forgotten) you really should look it up. It teaches that each of us has the power to effect positive change, regardless of our lot in life, if we will just have the courage to stand up. It also serves as a powerful warning to those who would have us fear, hate and abuse people who are different from ourselves. Purim is celebrated with food (of course), gifts, donations for the poor, and with a retelling of the story of Esther.