It's What's for Dinner

My injuries have slowed me down for the past couple of days.  Sitting at the sewing machine has been uncomfortable, so I haven't worked on any of the rainbow scraps challenge blocks and I've spent a bit of time stretched out and flipping through a couple Modern Quilting books.

In one, a successful blogger with many thousands of followers, suggests that a quilter's blogging should be restricted to quilting subjects only–because, "no one wants to know what you had for dinner."

In response, I offer what I had for lunch today, Barbecue Black-Eyed Peas Burgers, served in lettuce wraps with fresh Pico de Gallo and avocado slices, and I gently suggest that some readers like to get to know know more about the authors whose quilting (or any other) blogs they follow. I love it when someone I have come to know suggests a recipe or a knitting or craft project I'd like to try or a gardening tip or other recommendation.

I've tried a lot of veggie burgers and this recipe, from Susan's Fat Free Vegan blog has become one of a couple of my go-to favorites ... though, I confess, I don't always keep it vegan and sometimes make it for brunch and serve it topped with an egg.

In the other book, the author offered a guideline for adding borders to modern quilts. Her rule is to use borders that measure odd numbers in width.  She says, for example borders that are 3-inches wide are modern, those that are 2-inches or 4-inches wide are traditional. My guess is that she was once given this guideline for a specific project; she liked the result and has since remembered it, without any of the context that might make it meaningful (like block size or the size of the quilt before borders were added or other proportions).  I'm sure somewhere there is a guideline about PROPORTIONS which feel modern (and not) ... but that rule, as it was provided, seems meaningless for modern (or any other kind of) quilts to me.

I started wondering if I have learned and passed any information to others that, out of context, is just as non-sensical and meaningless.  If you ever notice me making a sweeping generalization like these, please call me on it ... honestly, I feel embarrassed for these two experts and hope I never end up walking in those particular shoes of theirs.

Lunch with Jane

A couple of weeks ago I won a copy of Jane Sassaman's new book, Patchwork Sassaman Style.

Today, during lunch, I walked to the PO and picked up my mail, including this fabulous book.  Then I walked over to a nearby restaurant for lunch with Jane('s book.) 

Both lunch and the book could be described as VERY TASTY ... and that glass of Pinot Grigio was quite tasty, too :-)

Jane inspires and gives the reader a lot of insight into her design process.  She educates with great "recipes" for 20 quilts with clear instructions.  I also love that she references the traditional blocks that inform the design and layout of her quilts ... I am not a fan of designers who rename well known traditional blocks in their patterns. And she further illuminates her designs by presenting (and explaining) variations on her recipes--one of them features the same Potato Vine fabric as my Prairie Gothic wing chairs.

Thank you, Dragon Threads, for sponsoring this giveaway.

Thank you, Anita Grossman Solomon, for hosting the give-away on your Make It Simpler blog and choosing my name.

Thank you, Jane Sassaman,  for creating another brilliant book for quilters.  I'm thrilled to add it to my resource library.

I know why they call it Water Hammer

A strange noise invaded my environment Friday night. When it woke me up before sunrise on Saturday morning. I had been dreaming of jack hammers and, once awake, I wondered if it was possible that the crew rebuilding a parking ramp on the other side of the building could be jack hammering in the dark that early on a weekend. Unlike this guy, I wasn't smiling.

After I woke up and poked around a bit, I realized it was coming from somewhere in the building but it wasn't anything inside my apartment. When the Property management office opened, I went downstairs and asked them to help.

I won't bother you with the details of the unreturned phone messages and promises made (and apparently abandoned) by everyone on staff here over the past five days. If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that the design fault which causes my 6th floor loft to flood whenever there's a big rain has still never been fixed . . . nearly a year later and that's pretty typical of "property management" here.

Over the last five days, the noise became louder and louder and unfortunately, was loudest exactly where my bed is. I've been getting less and less sleep until last night, it was so loud that I couldn't sleep at all. Extended sleep deprivation definitely makes you grumpy. When the office opened this morning, I went down and YELLED at them to fix the noise in the loft directly above me ... which coincidentally has been left vacant since the first flood because "it leaks." After my hissy fit in the building office,  I walked to the coffee shop for some caffeine–there was no way I could get through the day without it–and some peace and quiet. While I was there, the office called and told me that "the water hammer" was broken in the unit above mine and that it has been fixed and the AC turned off.  I came home to a blissfully quiet loft and am looking forward to bedtime tonight.

By the way, "the water hammer" isn't really a piece of plumbing hardware to be fixed, as the person who left the message for me explained, it's a specific plumbing noise. if you're curious or if you start hearing jack hammer sounds from your pipes, you can read about it on the How Stuff Works site, here: How To Stop Water Hammer.

So, what did I do all night for the past 5 nights when the noise was so horrific I couldn't sleep?  I've been devouring mysteries.  It's a good thing I live so close to the library, because I've been returning and picking up every day but Sunday.  I caught up with the latest adventures of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum (2 books), Marcia Muller's Sharon McCone (3 books) and one from Robert Parker's Spenser.  I particularly enjoy the last two series because their characters live in cities in which  I have lived–the San Francisco Bay Area and Boston.

My reading got me wondering if there are any light mystery writers who have series based in Dallas.  I could have checked on Google, but I thought it would be faster to just ask, when I was at the library. I somehow imagined that people from Dallas who worked with books would know that kind of thing.  The lady at the information desk ... Googled, then called upstairs and asked, then sent me upstairs to a man who had ... Googled and found a university site that had a list of mystery writers whose books take place in TEXAS.  I confess I was disappointed.  I really expected one of the three librarians I talked with to come up with a personal recommendation. But I took the printed list, wandered through the books and came home with two books set in mythical Kickapoo, Texas (mythically an hour away from Dallas) by Paula Boyd, who reviewers have compared to Evanovich. While Jolene Jackson was entertaining, her series seems to stop at three books and she wasn't quite what I was looking for ...

I doubt I'll need it tonight, but today, I returned the last published adventures of Sharon McCone, Locked In, and picked up the first in a series by William Manchee, who, according to one of the promotional blurbs on the back of the book, could be Dallas' answer to John Grisham.  We'll see how it goes . . . I'm still looking for that personal recommendation ;-)

The other thing I did when I couldn't sleep was post some block instructions for a couple of wanna be Lotto Blocks that we never used.  If you want to take a look, check out:

Quartered Star Quilt Block Pattern
Free-style Tree Block

After I get some sleep and can think straight again, I'll be back with something much more interesting than this stream of consciousness . . . and photos ;-)

One thing led to another and another . ..

Recently one afternoon on a DART train, a woman sat next to me, pulled out a book and was soon engrossed in My Life in France by Julia Child.

I had recently seen the movie, so I was curious. When I had to bother her to get out for my stop, we chatted briefly about it. She was enthusiastic, so, while I was out shopping, I picked up a copy of the newly printed release featuring scenes from the movie on the cover. I started reading on the trip home. (You can click the image to follow the link to Amazon to buy it for much less than my impulse purchase that day.)

As I had really enjoyed the "Julia" scenes in the movie, I was happy to read much more of her adventures in France throughout her life. I confess to a little bit of something akin to homesickness when she wrote of her house in Provence, trips to Grasse, stories about her friend and chef, Roger Vergé and his two fabulous restaurants in Mougins. I never knew she and I were nearly neighbors when I was lucky enough to be living and working in that corner of the world. There are still two versions of Vergé's Cuisine of the Sun cookbook on my shelf–one in French and one in English.

Meanwhile . . . a friend in California–curiously, a male friend that I would have never suspected of an interest in such things–has been reading Julie Powell's book, Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously. He sent it to me when he finished; it arrived on Thursday. I finished reading it with my cafe latté this morning.

It has been fascinating to see the film, then separately read each perspective presented over the course of only a couple weeks . . . and, as usual, noting the poetic license and subtle ways the movie differs from the books.

I suppose the only thing left for me to do to wrap up this particular literary and film adventure would be to go to the cook book at the heart of both of these books and cook a fabulous French meal for friends. (All this reading about cooking yummy french food has inspired this foodie to get back to some serious time in the kitchen!)

As you might expect, there's a new printing of this one coming soon, and, yes, there's a photo of Meryl Streep as Julia Child on a wrapper around it, too. The original volume is quite pricey, as you'll see if you click the book and follow the link to the 3rd party sellers on Amazon.

I think the cross-merchandising is complete with this new edition, but maybe there will be giant-sized mortar & pestle sets and Julia's favorite copper pans for sale in your favorite kitchen store with "Julie and Julia" tags (and photos of the actresses who portrayed them) soon . . .

Summer Reading

What are YOU reading this Summer? I've just finished a couple books and am ready for some interesting recommendations.

My recent reading has maybe been a little unusual for me–focused through the lens of my job hunt . . . but I've found these two books fascinating nonetheless and would highly recommend them, whether you are job hunting (or even working) or not.

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, by Daniel Pink

Whether you are part of the working world or not, all right-brainers should read this book, if only to be able to articulate to the left-brainers of the world the importance of our special way of seeing and doing.

Daniel Pink's book is written in the context of the modern western world of abundance where many of the things we do can be done cheaper by someone overseas or done faster by a computer.

I was a little taken aback to see a reference to the phrase "high-touch" . . . something I have been saying forever to explain how the fiber art I practice balance the high tech work I do in my personal life, but something I have never seen used anywhere else. It made me smile . . . like a lot of things I read and wholeheartedly believed or agreed with in the book.

StrengthsFinder 2.0, by Tom Rath
This one comes with an online test in which you discover your top 5 strengths, so you know I was going to love it . . . and I did. This book is the updated version of a very popular title, Now, Discover Your Strengths, which spent a lot on the New York Times Bestsellers list and made the rounds through large corporations and small companies a few years ago. I found it an interesting, quick read and I couldn't disagree with my results. A friend hooked me up with an excellent coach who interpreted my results and explained how they worked together and what that meant, how common (or not) they were, individually and in combination. It was fascinating . . . I know, I already said that, but I thought it was worth repeating. The information definitely correlated with the jobs I loved and the ones I didn't love so much . . . there were definitely some "a ha" moments during the discussion with the coach.

So . . . after these two introspective volumes, I'm ready for some just plain fun. A light-hearted mystery maybe? A travel book . . . since I won't have any vacation time for a while? What are you reading? What would you recommend?

Whatcha Reading?

A book order from Amazon arrived today. I'll be . . .

Eating healthier,



Thinking makeover,



Building better websites



and . . . making really hard (quilt) blocks that take a long time to make.



What are you reading?