Fiber Babble: September 2008

Kinda Showing My Age

September 23, 2008

And for a moment it really did feel as if the whole world had gone away. "Friend of the Devil" by Peter Robinson

You know, I don't recall having spent any quality time with Miss Clairol at all this year. I'm thinking that I'm gonna have to change that soon, but maybe leave the Lily Munster stripes (I got two of 'em and I kinda like them).

And I'm not even going to analyze the reason for dreaming about cellulite last night...

Many of you know that I am adamant about not being called "Grandma" or anything that sounds like that. Let me set the record straight: I have grandchildren (three, with a fourth on the way, I hear). My grandchildren call me Oma. I do NOT appreciate being called one of those "G" words, even in jest. It's close to the "C" word for me. Don't try to analyze it. Don't try to rationalize it. Don't try to change my mind. That's the way it is and get over it.

So, here's the meme I was talking about in an earlier post:

The rules:
A) Go to Music Outfitters
B) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year
C) Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you hate and underline and/or italicize your favorite. Do nothing to the ones you don’t remember (or don’t care about)

* bold italic: turn up the volume and sing along loudly (chair dancing - not lap dancing - may be involved)
* bold: turn up the volume and sing along softly
* italic: leave the volume where it is but smile nostalgically and possibly hum
* plain: leave it be if I'm not paying attention, maybe look for something better if I am (or I don't know the song)
* ~~strikethrough~~: change the station
* ~~red strikethrough~~: lunge violently at the radio and break one or more fingernails trying to change the station as fast as possible

1. Shadow Dancing, Andy Gibb
2. Night Fever, Bee Gees
3. You Light Up My Life, Debby Boone
4. Stayin' Alive, Bee Gees
5. Kiss You All Over, Exile
6. How Deep Is Your Love, Bee Gees
7. Baby Come Back, Player
8. (Love Is) Thicker Than Water, Andy Gibb
9. Boogie Oogie Oogie, A Taste Of Honey
10. Three Times A Lady, Commodores
11. Grease, Frankie Valli
12. ~~I Go Crazy~~, Paul Davis
13. You're The One That I Want, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John
14. Emotion, Samantha Sang
15. Lay Down Sally, Eric Clapton
16. ~~Miss You~~, Rolling Stones
17. Just The Way You Are, Billy Joel
18. With A Little Luck, Wings
19. If I Can't Have You, Yvonne Elliman
20. Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah), Chic
21. Feels So Good, Chuck Mangione
22. Hot Child In The City, Nick Gilder
23. ~~Love Is Like Oxygen~~, Sweet
24. It's A Heartache, Bonnie Tyler
25. We Are The Champions/We Will Rock You, Queen
26. ~~Baker Street~~, Gerry Rafferty
27. Can't Smile Without You, Barry Manilow
28. Too Much, Too Little, Too Late, Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams
29. Dance With Me, Peter Brown
30. Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad, Meat Loaf
31. ~~Jack And Jill~~, Raydio
32. Take A Chance On Me, Abba
33. Sometimes When We Touch, Dan Hill
34. Last Dance, Donna Summer
35. Hopelessly Devoted To You, Olivia Newton-John
36. ~~Hot Blooded~~, Foreigner
37. ~~You're In My Heart~~, Rod Stewart
38. ~~The Closer I Get To You~~, Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway
39. ~~Dust In The Wind~~, Kansas
40. ~~Magnet And Steel~~, Walter Egan
41. Short People, Randy Newman
42. Use Ta Be My Girl, O'Jays
43. ~~Our Love~~, Natalie Cole
44. ~~Love Will Find A Way~~, Pablo Cruise
45. ~~An Everlasting Love~~, Andy Gibb
46. ~~Love Is In The Air~~, John Paul Young
47. Goodbye Girl, David Gates
48. ~~Slip Slidin' Away~~, Paul Simon
49. The Groove Line, Heatwave
50. ~~Thunder Island~~, Jay Ferguson
51. Imaginary Lover, Atlanta Rhythm Section
52. ~~Still The Same~~, Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band
53. My Angel Baby, Toby Beau
54. Disco Inferno, Trammps
55. On Broadway, George Benson
56. Come Sail Away, Styx
57. Back In Love Again, L.T.D.
58. This Time I'm In It For Love, Player
59. You Belong To Me, Carly Simon
60. Here You Come Again, Dolly Parton
61. Blue Bayou, Linda Ronstadt
62. ~~Peg~~, Steely Dan
63. You Needed Me, Anne Murray
64. Shame, Evelyn "Champagne" King
65. ~~Reminiscing~~, Little River Band
66. ~~Count On Me~~, Jefferson Starship
67. ~~Baby Hold On~~, Eddie Money
68. ~~Hey Deanie~~, Shaun Cassidy
69. Summer Nights, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-john
70. ~~What's Your Name~~, Lynyrd Skynyrd
71. Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue, Crystal Gayle
72. ~~Because The Night~~, Patti Smith
73. Every Kinda People, Robert Palmer
74. Copacabana, Barry Manilow
75. Always And Forever, Heatwave
76. ~~You And I~~, Rick James
77. Serpentine Fire, Earth, Wind and Fire
78. ~~Sentimental Lady~~, Bob Welch
79. Falling, LeBlanc and Carr
80. ~~Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood~~, Santa Esmeralda
81. Bluer Than Blue, Michael Johnson
82. Running On Empty, Jackson Browne
83. Whenever I Call You "Friend", Kenny Loggins
84. Fool (If You Think It's Over), Chris Rea
85. Get Off, Foxy
86. Sweet Talking Woman, Electric Light Orchestra
87. Life's Been Good, Joe Walsh
88. I Love The Night Life, Alicia Bridges
89. You Can't Turn Me Off (In The Middle Of Turning Me On), High Inergy
90. It's So Easy, Linda Ronstadt
91. Native New Yorker, Odyssey
92. Flashlight, Parliament
93. Don't Look Back, Boston
94. Turn To Stone, Electric Light Orchestra
95. ~~I Can't Stand The Rain~~, Eruption
96. ~~Ebony Eyes~~, Bob Welch
97. The Name Of The Game, Abba
98. We're All Alone, Rita Coolidge
99. ~~Hollywood Nights~~, Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band
100. ~~Deacon Blues~~, Steely Dan

Now, since I wasn't tagged (thank you), I won't tag. But there are some people whose lists would interest me...

Labels: babble

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Ketchup

September 22, 2008

"I think I need a really fast car." "Heat Stroke" by Rachel Caine

Well, the lack of blog posting is directly related to the lack of photographs that I've taken in the past week or two.

I finished the apron for Mo. Kathleen and presented it, a copy of her sermon that inspired it (eta: here is the pdf transcription), and a cookbook (sorry, Ky - yours will be in the mail when I get Lifesaver's pressie sent)(which will possibly not be until his actual birthday)(Especially if I keep spending my free time either in front of the puter or sleeping...).

Where was I? Oh, yeah. The apron is the same pattern as the one I did for the Summer Apron Swap. You can see a picture of that one here. Kathleen's didn't get the same embellishments or pocket, and the fabrics were opposite (print where there was stripes, stripes where there was print). I took my camera but didn't get a picture. It's too bad, too - the apron fit her like a flippin' glove. And she was pretty happy with it, too.

I've been working on my granddaughter's cardigan. I'm in the home stretch, but last night I realized that I've either added a row or skipped one and that made my stockinette turn into garter stitch. For her mom's reference, when I say I'm "in the home stretch", the thing is knit from the bottom up (ugh) and the problem was between the third and fourth row of eyelets. See? It's getting close! This is what happens when I read while knitting and don't actually LOOK at the stitches. Fortunately, the problem can be remedied by frogging two or three rows.

Speaking of reading, I've read 45 books since June 9. I have NOT written 45 blog posts. This explains why I have so many more last lines (sentences) saved up than blog posts to hold them. Just sayin'. Currently I'm reading Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe), John Sandford and Rachel Caine.

And speaking of Nero Wolfe? The A&E TV show really stuck close to the books, down to the color of Wolfe's shirt and the decor of his den. It's easy to visualize the characters when reading the books. And, I'm sorry Timothy Hutton, I love you in 'most everything I've seen but you'll always be Archie Goodwin to me.

Did you know that Timothy Hutton has a new show on TNT scheduled to air in December? Scuttlebutt is that it won't last two seasons, but I'll certainly check it out.

And looking for the link to the A&E site? I found that there's a non-Chaykin Wolfe and a 1936 stab at a series and an American network TV series of Nero Wolfe. Somewhere I even saw something about Russian movies. Wow, how did I miss those? Now to decide if I want to take the risk of watching anything other than my beloved and familiar A&E episodes...

Sheesh. Nero Wolfe-mania. Not really.

Let's see... what's on my camera? Oh. A fabric that I need 1/2 yard of to finish a quilt. I got it from Joann Fabrics within the last year. It's a Fabric Traditions fabric. Yes, I've gone to multiple websites looking for the fabric, it's as though it never existed. Some wonderful people I know have remembered to check for the fabric when they visited their Joann's in various parts of the U.S. Feel free to keep an eye open for the fabric at Joann's or Hobby Lobby or Beverly's or Fabric Depot (among other places that theoretically carried it) or your stash...

Plain yellow is a post-it note for color reference

Annie posted a meme that tickled my fancy. I'm working on it... I'll probably use that for my next "Hey! I'm not lying in a ditch!" post.

Oh, and today's the equinox. We've already missed the optimum time for eggs, but it will work for a good part of the day, still. (Some say that it will work any day of the year, but that takes all the fun outta Egg Day)

Labels: babble, books

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Slight Nod

September 14, 2008

It didn't matter. "Dead Man Rising" by Lilith Saintcrow.

(About the last lines thing? I'm reading faster than I'm blogging - I have a whole bunch of 'em saved up!)

Here it is, the finished TOP (not basted or quilted) that I've been working on and randomly titled SNuBS - Slight Nod to Boxy Stars. Again, this started with the Boxy Stars blocks from Quiltville and... well, let's be honest. There was a serious lack of control.

This ended up at about 67" square. In a nod to L (if I nod much more I'll be like a bobble-head doll), it's a Lap Tarp. The border is a dark red print.

If J2 will let me, I'll load on her quilting frame and quilt it with her machine.

No fabric was purchased for this project, rather it was already in my stash and/or in my scrap basket. A few of the 3½" squares were from J, who has semi-permanently loaned me her scrap box so that I can raid it for lights.

I've put the Farmer's Log Cabin (I just named it that right now) on the design wall now. I need to place some more appliqué sunflowers and go over the redwork again with the thicker, redder thread.

I'm still working on kitting up scraps for the Arlington Square quilt and the Happy New Year quilt (4 or 5 up from the bottom of the page, or the pdf is here). I have a wallhanging's worth of Boxy Stars that didn't make it to this quilt, plus a pile of Bonus HSTs that were produced by SNuBS.

I've also been knitting when I need to give my back a break from the sewing machine. My granddaughter's cardigan is getting very close to finished... eventually there will be a picture, but right now it just looks like a big blob o'bubble gum.

Labels: quilting

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Pay No Attention

September 09, 2008

And that didn't seem like a bad way to have the matter end. "S is for Silence" by Sue Grafton

Okay. Let me start out by saying that this will never aspire to be a Food Blog. (Oh, those who know me well are already rolling their eyes) We won't talk about the fact that my Photobucket account has an album named "Food". But.

Last week, Mr. W. had a craving for split pea soup. Well, since it's about the easiest thing on the planet to make, I certainly didn't argue. I wanted to try the Smitten Kitchen Rosemary Flatbread, so there ya go. Probably not all that appetizing a picture, but it was mighty good.

What did I do differently from the (flatbread) recipe? Not a lot. I sprinkled some salt on the top of the "bread" before baking it. It was a tad salty, so I figured that next time I just wouldn't salt the top. (Rosemary from my garden)

Well, quite soon-ly there was a next time, because the flatbreads really are dead-easy to make. The second time, when I was gathering ingredients, I realized that instead of using baking powder, I'd used baking soda. Well, duh. No wonder it was salty! The second time I made it with baking powder. I didn't like it as well! So, next time it will be back to the baking soda - I'll try using BOTH, maybe 3:1 soda to powder. No salt on the top. Hmmm... Maybe I'd better get out Alton Brown's book and remind myself of the properties of soda vs. powder...

Oh, and by the way, the recipe says it keeps well for a short time. Nut-uh. Eat it fresh. It won't be hard to 'force yourself' to do.

Okay. So then a few days later, I had some round steak (or other hunk o'beef that wasn't fit for just eating plain). I found Deb's Three-Bean Chili. Now, before I talk about it, can I just say? It was 89 degrees here today. It's not like it's chili and chowder weather. I don't know what's going on.

Okay. #1, Deb doesn't put meat in hers. I did. #2, I realized that three cans of beans was overkill for us, so I just used one can of black beans. #3, I grabbed a 14 oz (ish) can of roasted-garlic diced (stewed) tomatoes. By the time I had those ingredients together (with only half an onion and all of the seasonings called for), it looked right to me. I didn't open a can of adobo chiles, because it only called for one (for three cans of beans and lots more tomatoes), so I used cayenne. It was rich and dark, and the cocoa powder, while not all that great to smell while it was cooking, really did something for the flavor - and whatever it did tasted nothing like chocolate. (I didn't tell Mr. W. what the secret ingredient was)

Jiffy corn muffins. It ain't broke. The cheese on the chili did nothing for it. Didn't detract, just didn't zing in the least.

Now, for some fiber content:

A cardigan for my granddaughter. Bubble gum pink, a free pattern from the Lion Brand site (and I'm too lazy to go look it up. There will be another opportunity). I'm over halfway finished with it.

The food and fiber is to distract those readers who are anxiously awaiting a picture of both an apron and a finished SNuBS quilt top. I'm still working on both, but when I realized I was finding all kinds of reasons NOT to work on them (oh, look! Let's dust the top of the bookcases!), I decided to give myself permission to back off. I think it had to do with how many people I told that I was working on those projects. Performance Anxiety.

Now, to finish out the semi-random post... it's puppy-butt on my lap!

Labels: babble, knitting

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It Might Be Luck

September 01, 2008

"You can't really visit Green Gables," I said. "Bones to Ashes" by Kathy Reichs

Okay. So this is The Easy Scrap Project That Grew aka SNuBS. And, because it's me working on it, it became much more complicated than the original pattern was meant to be.

See those light blue "holes"? Took me almost three days to figure out what to put in there. Okay, to be fair, I was actually doing other things, not just staring at the design wall - but still.

SNuBS alt block

Finally I found The Perfect Block in my It's Okay book and commenced ta'figuring colors and finding scraps (and some yardage, as it turned out). Eventually I began doing math and cutting.

Today I finally began sewing what I'm calling the alternate blocks. First thing I figure out? The block I chose was a 6-patch. I cut all of the pieces the same size as the other components (3" finished). Fortunately I started sewing from the center out, so when I got to the 4x4 layout, it finally occurred to me that that was all I needed to fill in the "hole".

I'm not sure what was going on in my upper (or lower?) brain functions, but the block I chose made use of the random-ish design I already had in place around the holes. Kinda freaky, I think.

Now, hopefully all the thinking part is done, and I can finish piecing the remaining three alternate blocks and get this thing all put together. (And figure out what to do with all the other pieces I cut and don't need for the alt blocks!)