Gakubuchi (Frame)

In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane, Sherlock Holmes confesses, “I am an omnivorous reader with a strangely retentive memory for trifles." I’ve always loved that quote, because I feel it applies to me. I enjoy reading all sorts of things. I wish I could retain the more useful parts of what I’ve read, but more often it’s the odd bits of useless trivia that become stuck in my head and won’t get unstuck. Did you know that women generally a have a higher body temperature than men do? It’s one of the reasons that women tend to make better nurses. Have you ever had someone with ice-cold hands check your blood pressure? It’s also why men often make better sushi chefs. It seems that cold hands are more suited to handling fresh fish. See what I mean? It does me no good to know something like this. All it can do is make me hungry for a tuna roll and pickled ginger.

Winding Ways

Every summer for the past six years I’ve submitted a quilt in the Utah State Fair Quilt Challenge. The challenge is to create a wall hanging using a specific fat quarter (18”x22”) of fabric. Each quilt must be the work of one person, from the original design right down to the binding. Working on my entries for the quilt challenge has pushed me to improve my skills. I love to do the patchwork piecing, but I’m usually happy to let an expert stitch the “sandwich” of top, batting and back together. I’m seldom pleased with my own attempts at binding quilts, especially when it comes to corners. This Winding Ways top was a practice quilt to help me get ready for last year’s competition. Sadly, my entry last year only earned me a white ribbon for third place. I have every hope that this year’s quilt will do much better.

Log Cabin Star

The movers have come and gone. There’s a place for almost everything and nearly everything is in its place.  There are still a few boxes in the garage I haven’t unpacked yet, but I’m not in the mood to deal with them now. It’s so nice to finally cook in my own kitchen again, to wash clothes in my own laundry room, and to sleep in my own bed.  The greatest pleasure of all is having my own sewing room. I no longer have to stash my Janome in a cupboard, my fabric in the dresser, and patterns in the bottom of a desk. I can’t be certain that I’m more productive with all my quilting supplies within reach, but it surely feels as though I am. Last week a large orange moving van did a three-point turn in front of our home before parking three houses down. Heather saw it and worried. “We’re all done moving, aren’t we, Mom?”

Enclosure

Several friends have forwarded a message suggesting I not pump gasoline April 15. They feel if enough people avoid buying gas on a single day gas prices will naturally fall. It’s a clever idea, but it has a few flaws. First, April 15 is a Sunday. I never buy gas (or anything else if I can help it) on Sunday. So my failure to buy gas this particular Sunday isn’t going to make anyone sit up and notice. Second, if everyone who would have bought gas April 15 simply buys it a day earlier or a day later, the only result is service station employees will have one really boring work day. Since prices are largely a result of supply and demand, you can only lower the price by increasing supply or decreasing demand. I can’t do much about the former, but I can certainly work at driving less and walking more. Who’s with me?

Japanese Flower

March 28 is Something On a Stick Day. No, really. There's actually a holiday to celebrate eating food on a stick! Corn dogs come immediately to mind, or caramel apples. If you're feeling creative, you might try this recipe:

SHISH KEBABS

1 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons A-1 Steak sauce
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons oil
1 ½ pounds boneless sirloin, cut into cubes
Mushrooms, onion, bell pepper, pineapple, and cherry tomatoes, cut into chunks.
8 wooden skewers, soaked in water

Combine first seven ingredients in saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir until sugar dissolves. Cool. Place beef in zipper bag and pour cooled marinade over. Seal and chill several hours or overnight. Place meat, fruit and vegetables on skewers and grill until meat is done. Serve with wild rice and warm bread.

Silk Blossom

I’ve come to the inescapable conclusion that I own too much stuff.  I’m running out of space in the cupboards, drawers and closets faster than I’m running out of things I’m trying to cram into them. I’ve already taken four carloads of stuff off to the thrift shop; things I haven’t used in the past seven years and am unlikely to need in the next seven. My rubbish bin is filled to overflowing, but I still don’t feel like I’m on top of the matter yet. Clearly I need to make a rule about the things I bring into the house. For every bag, box or parcel that comes in, something of equal or greater size needs to leave. If I need any incentive to follow this rule, all I have to do is watch a few episodes of Hoarding: Buried Alive or How Clean is Your House?  

Moonlit Dance

It's been five weeks since my last post, and a lot has happened during those weeks. Our tenant moved out of our house and we set to work. We ripped out nearly all the flooring and replaced it. Every single room got two fresh coats of paint. I’m in love with the new colors. The paint is a delicious warm cream, and the carpet is exactly the same shade as the inside of a Milky Way bar. Our household goods arrived from England a week ago, and we’ve been busy as beavers putting it all away. Yesterday we had Internet access and a phone line installed, but we won’t be able to use the phone until Thursday. That’s when we’ll get back the things we put into storage three years ago, including all our American appliances. I can hardly wait! Just think: in two more days, I’ll be able to make myself a piece of toast!