Monterrey Medallion

 

I had great plans for this top. I was going to make twelve more Floating Stars and four more Four-Patch Chain blocks, so without borders it would have been 72x90”. Then I’d have added a 4” border on all four sides: a near solid that would have given the eye a place to rest from the red/blue/green/gold commotion. I’ve got plenty more of these bright, happy prints, but I’m running out of the white tone-on-tone polka dot background. I may have enough for a few more Floating Stars, or a handful of Four-Patch Chains, but not both. I’ve been hunting for weeks; the background fabric is simply gone. It probably doesn’t matter. I’d meant for this to go to the hospital quilters. They won’t need another top for some time – maybe not ever. Meanwhile, I have enough blocks for a 72” quilt. Too big for a wall, too square for a bed. That’s an awful lot of orphan blocks!

Broken Dishes

 

About a fortnight ago, I was unloading the dishwasher when a dinner plate slipped out of my fingers to the floor. It was a Corelle plate. I thought those were practically unbreakable. This dish didn’t just break, it self-destructed. It was as if a small bomb had gone off in the kitchen. There was shattered glass in the dishwasher, under the appliances, in the pantry, and on every inch of the floor around my bare feet. There were even shards on top of my feet and in the cuffs of my jeans. Luckily John was home and could rescue me with a broom and a pair of shoes. After the mess was cleaned up, I did a bit of research. My dishes came with a 3-year warranty (I bought them eleven years ago) and even during those first three years, the warranty didn’t cover misuse, negligence, or accidental breakage. What does that leave? Deliberate breakage?

Twenty-five Chains

This coming Saturday and Sunday will be the 191st semiannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I always look forward to conference weekend, usually because of a welcome break from my Sunday callings. But this year my callings have been almost non-existent. In the past six months, I’ve only attended church twice. Even then, it was because they needed an organist. Oddly, I find myself awaiting general conference more eagerly now than ever. I’m looking forward to hearing words of comfort and peace from the pulpit. I long to hear the choir singing my favorite hymns, even though those hymns will surely have been recorded long ago. For more than half a year, my gospel study has taken place entirely at home. And it hasn’t been without its own rewards. But it will be so nice, for a few hours at least, to feel more a part of Christ’s church.

Civil War Scraps Doll Quilt

 This is one of my very smallest quilts, and it has the longest name of all! I love making tiny little quilts. They’re a terrific way of honing my piecing skills, without draining my budget. It isn't hard to pull all the required fabric from my own stash and still make the finished project look like it was deliberate. I can usually finish wall hangings, mug rugs, placemats and table toppers with my own machine, so I don’t have to pay someone with a long-arm quilter. The red, green and black here are Kim Diehl scraps for Henry Glass Fabrics. The background was leftover from a large quilt I made with Audra’s Iris Garden by Bannock and Patek for Moda Fabrics. Somehow, the colors all seem to get along. The pattern (and the long name) came from “The Civil War Sewing Circle: Quilts and Sewing Accessories Inspired by the Era” by Kathleen Tracy. 

Sixteen Woodpiles

“My success in law school was in large measure because of baby Jane. I attended classes and studied diligently until four in the afternoon; the next hours were Jane’s time, spent at the park, playing games or singing songs, reading picture books, bathing and feeding her. After Jane’s bedtime, I returned to the law books with renewed will. Each part of my life provided respite from the other.”

“My mother’s advice was: ‘Don’t lose time on useless emotions like anger, resentment, remorse, envy. Those will just sap time; they don’t get you where you want to be.’”

“I coped with anger by playing the piano. I wasn’t very good at it, but it distracted me. Later, I did the same with the cello. I would be absorbed in the music, and useless emotion faded away.”

“Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.” – Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020)

Twenty Girls

 

I didn’t host any pot-luck dinners this summer, indoors or out. I wasn’t invited to any, and I would have declined if I was. But I believe there are pot-lucks in my future, so I’m saving this recipe here:

 

Mediterranean Bean Salad

 

1/4 cup olive oil

4 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon combined thyme, oregano, and rosemary

1 garlic clove, minced

15-ounce can of cannellini beans drained and well rinsed

15-ounce can of garbanzos drained and rinsed

1 cup halved cherry tomatoes

2 cucumbers halved lengthwise and thinly sliced

1/4 red onion thinly sliced

1 cup bell peppers, chopped

1/2 cup black olives halved

1/2 cup pimento-stuffed green olives halved

1/2 cup crumbled feta

1/2 cup chopped marinated artichokes

10 basil leaves, "chiffonade" sliced

 

Whisk first four ingredients together in large salad bowl. Add remaining ingredients to bowl and gently toss. Cover and chill. Gently toss again right before serving.

A Baker's Dozen

Paul and Kris DeForge met at a dance. They both claimed it was love at first sight. Kris told everyone, “I looked into Paul’s eyes and saw my future.” When they spoke of marriage, they met with opposition. Paul and Kris were born with Down Syndrome. Some people thought they wouldn’t be up to the challenges of married life. But they were married August 13, 1993. For twenty-five years they shared simple pleasures. Kris loved to cook. They went bowling and dancing together. Sometimes they’d go camping with Kris’ sister and her family. Eventually Paul began showing signs of dementia, something that tends to happen earlier to individuals with Down Syndrome. When Paul had to be moved to a care center, Kris would visit him. Shortly after their silver wedding anniversary, Paul passed away. Kris misses him terribly, but she knows their marriage was an example to so many others; proof that people with Down syndrome can achieve their dreams.

Turning Leaf

 

The Wild Swans at Coole

 

"The trees are in their autumn beauty,

The woodland paths are dry,

Under the October twilight the water

Mirrors a still sky;

Upon the brimming water among the stones

Are nine-and-fifty swans.

The nineteenth autumn has come upon me

Since I first made my count;

I saw, before I had well finished,

All suddenly mount

And scatter wheeling in great broken rings

Upon their clamorous wings...

But now they drift on the still water,

Mysterious, beautiful;

Among what rushes will they build,

By what lake's edge or pool

Delight men's eyes when I awake some day

To find they have flown away?"

-          William Butler Yeats, 1917

Twelve Woodpiles

“When was the last time you felt the sweet influence of the Savior’s Atonement in your life? This happens when you feel an exquisite and sweet joy come over you that bears witness to your soul that your sins are forgiven; or when painful trials suddenly become lighter to bear; or when your heart is softened and you are able to express forgiveness to someone who has hurt you. Or it may be each time you notice your capacity to love and serve others has increased or that the process of sanctification is making you a different person, patterned after the Savior’s example. I bear witness that all these experiences are real and are evidence that lives can be changed through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. The Book of Mormon clarifies and expands our knowledge of this supernal gift.” - Bishop Gérald Caussé

Four Prairie Queens

 

My oldest grandson turns ten today, on Talk Like a Pirate Day. It’s also International Red Panda Day and National Dance Day. It would have been the first day of Oktoberfest, if it hadn’t been cancelled. It’s also National Butterscotch Pudding Day. Which one can we celebrate while social distancing?

 

Butterscotch Pudding

 

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cup milk

4 egg yolks (Save the whites for a lovely egg white omelet tomorrow.)

2 tablespoons butter

Whipped cream

 

Whisk together sugar, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan. In a bowl, blend milk and yolks. Pour milk mixture into saucepan and stir. Cook, stirring, over medium heat until it begins to thicken. Stir in butter until smooth. Spoon into serving cups. You can chill for an hour before serving with a dollop of whipped cream, or you can enjoy it while it’s still warm. I won’t judge.

A Dozen Floating Stars

The largest living sharks are Great Whites. They can grow to twenty feet – as long from nose to tail as an adult giraffe can be from head to toe. None of the sharks at our aquarium are half that size. But there’s a reconstructed jaw on display there from a megalodon, which lived 23 million to around 3 million years ago. Its fossilized teeth are as long as human hands. People like to be photographed standing behind the jaws, as if the extinct creature swallowed them whole. Until recently we’ve had to imagine the megalodons’ length, because teeth are all we have left of them. But a new study led by the University of Bristol and Swansea University has produced a mathematical method of estimating the size of the monster sharks. They compared the fossil teeth to five modern sharks, and determined megalodons were about 40 feet long, with 6-foot fins. Useless information, but oh, so cool!

Prairie Queen

 

Oxburgh Hall is a moated country house – a castle, really – in Oxborough, Norfolk. The Bedingfield family has lived here since its construction in 1482, but ownership passed to the National Trust in 1952. The house was undergoing a £6 million (almost $8 million) roof restoration project when the pandemic hit. An archeologist working on his own during the lockdown was conducting a search of the rafters when he made a remarkable discovery: two ancient rat’s nests. The rats themselves were long gone, but they’d apparently been collecting things for a very, very long time. Preserved in their nests were textiles and embroidery scraps from the Elizabethan and Georgian eras, fragments of hand-written music from the Renaissance, and a page from 1568 copy of “The Kynge’s Psalmes.” If you dug in the walls of my house, you’d find Coke bottles and fast food wrappers from the late 1990’s. Maybe that’s why I find stories like this so fascinating. 

Nine Woodpiles

I should just stop reading the news. It always sets my teeth on edge. I’m not only talking about the pandemic, the riots, the economy or the coming election. It’s EVERYTHING. Last week the Energy Star Program (run by the Department of Energy and the EPA) announced we should all set our thermostats to 78F. When we’re at home and awake, that is. If we’re asleep, it should be 82, and 85 while we’re out of the house. That’s just silly. If it was 82, I’d NEVER be asleep. And if it was 85 in my house, I’d be at the Fairfield Inn. If I set the thermostat downstairs to the 80’s, it would be in the high 90’s upstairs, where the bedrooms are. Maybe I should move the thermostat up there. Or I could ignore the Energy Star Program altogether and read the daily comics instead.

One Dozen Girls

Last Tuesday was National Date Nut Bread Day. I’ve made lots of different tea breads, but never this one. I thought I’d have a go. This was the first recipe I found that didn’t involve things you’ll never find in my kitchen, like coffee or brandy.

Date Nut Loaf

1 cup dates, pitted and chopped

 1 cup water

 1/2 cup butter

 1 cup sugar

 1 teaspoon baking soda

 1 1/2 cups flour

 1 egg, beaten

 1 teaspoon vanilla

 1 cup chopped walnuts

In a small saucepan, bring dates and water to a boil over medium heat. Stir in butter and sugar. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Transfer to a large bowl. Stir in eggs and vanilla, then flour and baking soda. Fold in nuts. Pour into buttered 9x5” loaf pan. Bake at 350F for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out and finish cooling on rack.

Nine Four-Patch Chain Blocks

“I think of countless members of the Church, warriors who walk each day in faith, striving to be true and undaunted disciples of our Savior, Jesus Christ. They learn of Christ. They preach of Christ. They strive to emulate Him. Whether the days of their lives face steady or unstable ground, their spiritual foundation is strong and immovable. These are the devoted souls who understand the profound meaning of the lyrics ‘How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord . . . who unto the Savior for refuge have fled.’ I am grateful beyond measure to walk among those who have prepared a spiritual foundation worthy of the name of Saints and who are strong and secure enough to withstand the many tumults of life. I don’t think we can overstate the importance of such a firm foundation in our personal lives.” – Elder Gary E. Stevenson

Half a Dozen Girls

One very stormy night in July three years ago, the Sprague branch of the Salt Lake Library system was flooded. Thousands of books were destroyed. The high-gabled Tudor style building has been serving the Sugarhouse area since 1928. In 1935 it was recognized by the American Library Association as the most beautiful branch library in America. Repairs were sure to be costly and time-consuming, but the Sprague Library was closed for renovations on April Fool’s Day, 2019. Last November construction workers removed some built-in shelves and discovered a gap behind them where books had fallen. “Building with Logs,” “Making and Showing Your Own Films” and “General History of Architecture” aren’t likely to be familiar to today’s readers. Neither is “Lady of Lyons or Love and Pride,” a five-act melodrama from 1938. But I recognized “The Bird’s Christmas Carol.” The Kate Douglas Wiggin novel, written in 1886, has been my family’s holiday tradition for as long as I can remember.

Nine Floating Stars

I recently discovered a company that delivers dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, soy-free, low-sugar chocolate. If you live in the UK. But they have a Facebook page where they periodically share jokes. I can enjoy those no matter where I live. In April, they posted: “Did you know 87% of gym members don’t even know their gym’s closed?” These gems showed up last month: “I need to re-home a dog. It’s a small terrier and tends to bark a lot. If you’re interested, let me know. I’ll jump over the neighbor’s fence and get it for you.” “Breaking news: A cement mixer has collided with a prison van. Motorists are told to be on the lookout for sixteen hardened criminals.” “Police say they wish to interview a man wearing high heels and frilly knickers. However, the Chief Constable insists they must wear uniforms.” My current favorite: “Has anyone tried unplugging 2020 for thirty seconds and plugging it back in?”

Key Block

Julio Mora and Waldramina Quinteros were in love. Neither of their families approved of the match, so they quietly slipped away to get married. That was seventy-nine years ago. They’re still married today – to each other. In fact, they’re quarantine buddies. There are couples out there who’ve been married longer. But as far as we can tell, none of them are older. Waldramina is 104 and Julio is six years older; between them, they have seen a combined 214 years! It only just now occurred to me: they’ve already lived through one pandemic. There can’t be too many people out there who can remember two! Julio and Waldramina are retired teachers living in Quito, Ecuador. They’re both very lucid and active. Their family reports that they’re a bit downcast these days, because they miss large family gatherings. They have four children still living, eleven grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

Four Woodpiles

It’s a tiny little portrait, only six inches tall and five inches wide. “Head of a Bearded Man” was donated to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford in 1951. Pasted to the back is an auctioneer’s note from 1777 declaring it to be the work of Rembrandt. In 1982 it was dismissed as one of many copies; a fake. For decades it sat unnoticed in the museum’s basement. But a recent analysis by prominent dendrochronologist Dr. Peter Klein is changing all that. (I had to look that word up. It means someone who studies archaeological artifacts by analyzing tree rings.) Dr. Klein claims the board the bearded man is painted on came from the same tree as the one used in Rembrandt’s “Andromeda Chained to the Rocks.” It doesn’t exactly prove the Dutch master painted the little portrait, but it does prove it came from his studio. I guess it’s always wise to get a second opinion.

Hemmed Circles

It isn’t hard to see the unpleasant effects of the coronavirus pandemic. We're all suffering. But complaining won't improve anyone's mood. It takes a bit more effort, but you CAN find things about this odd rest stop in history that don’t suck. Generally speaking, our air and water are cleaner today than they were this time last year. Our streets are quieter. People are deliberately making connections: picking up groceries and prescriptions for elderly neighbors; phoning to check on family members. Nurses, teachers and first responders are finally getting some of the recognition they’ve always deserved. Movie stars, sports figures and politicians are finally LOOKING as irrelevant as they’ve always been. People are spending more time walking, gardening, biking, hiking, boating. The money they’d have spent on big vacations is going into home maintenance instead. It’s an ill wind that blows no good. And the wind can’t blow forever.

Four Four-Patch Chains

“I ask you to pray to your Father in Heaven for help. Pray to Him as Enos did, who wrestled before God and struggled mightily in the spirit. Wrestle like Jacob did with the angel, refusing to let go until a blessing had come. Get the best help you can from all the good people who surround you. Avoid at all costs others who would tempt you, weaken your will, or perpetuate the problem. If anyone does not feel fully worthy tonight, he can become worthy through repentance and the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Savior wept and bled and died for you. He has given everything for your happiness and salvation. He certainly is not going to withhold help from you now! Then you can help others to whom you are sent, now and in the future.” – Jeffrey R. Holland

Walking in Circles

“I needed to do the laundry, but then I realized I was out of detergent. I went to write my shopping list and noticed how disorganized the junk drawer was, and started checking pens for ink. When I tossed out all that junk, I saw the trash can was full. But before I took it out, I wanted to get rid of the old food in the fridge.  That’s when I realized a jug of juice had leaked, so I needed to clean it up. But when I went to grab a rag, I saw the pantry closet was a nightmare, so I started organizing it.  That’s how I ended up on the floor looking at old photo albums from 1980 and not doing laundry. Don’t tell me I’m the only one that does that!” – Stolen from Laura, who stole it from a friend who stole it from Sibyl, who probably stole it from someone else.

Four Floating Stars

According to the stories, she was pulled from the River Seine some time in the late 1880’s. The absence of any signs of violence led to the assumption that she’d committed suicide. As was the custom in those days, the body was put on display in the hope that family or friends would come forward. No one ever did, so she was simply called “L'Inconnue de la Seine,” in English, the Unknown Woman of the Seine. A pathologist at the Paris Morgue was taken by her youthful beauty (she was probably not older than sixteen) and her serene, enigmatic smile. He made a wax plaster cast death mask of her face. Over the years many copies were made and sold. As morbid as it sounds, people displayed these as works of art in their homes. In the late 1950’s when the first aid mannequin “Resusci Annie” was created to teach CPR classes, her face was modeled after L'Inconnue de la Seine.

Loyal, Brave, True

Today would have been the day Heather and I took the train to the state fair park to submit this year’s quilt. We never received notice that the quilt challenge was cancelled, but we’ve been following the news. I’ve seen a few articles describing the proposed modifications to this year’s fair to avoid making it a COVID-19 superspreader event. I don’t know which of the options were chosen - or even if a decision has been made yet - but none of them seemed to include ribbon events. I was hoping for an email from the organizers (Isn’t that why they collected our contact information last year?) but there’s been nothing. Will we be able to submit this year’s quilts next year, or order next year’s fabric online? I wish I knew. The Utah state fair’s theme this year is “A September to Remember.” How appropriate. It’s the September I’ll always remember I didn’t attend the fair.

Woodpile Block

I love the challenge of piecing complicated quilt blocks. They’re like puzzles, with problems that must be solved. Which parts of the block must be assembled first, and which should be added on later? In which direction should the seams be pressed? Are there Y-seams or incomplete seams to deal with? Would it be more accurate paper-pieced? But as much as I enjoy a good puzzle, my favorite quilt blocks will always be the simplest, most basic ones. Like today’s block, they tend to be rather unimpressive on their own, but have the potential to amaze in large numbers. Log cabin blocks are like that. So are pinwheels, hourglasses, and nine-patch blocks. The setting choices are endless, and the results can be dazzling. I can’t wait to show you how this block will look together with a dozen or so of his brothers. The whole is so much more than the sum of its parts.

Girl Next Door

Recipes like these are why I own a cast-iron skillet. The weather is finally becoming cooler, and my oven is calling.

Dijon Cream Pork Chops

4 boneless pork chops

3 tablespoons butter, divided

2 teaspoons oil

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 cup chicken broth

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 cup cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425F. In a large oven-proof skillet over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Drizzle oil into the pan. Salt and pepper chops. Add to pan and sear on both sides 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a plate and cover. Add remaining butter to pan. Stir in garlic a minute or two. Whisk in broth, Dijon, and cream. Return chops to pan. Spoon sauce over chops, then transfer to oven. Roast 10 minutes. Spoon more cream mixture over chops. Cook another 10 to 15 minutes until pork is cooked through and sauce is thickened.