Background Fabrics

I was pretty sure I wanted a red-on-white dotted fabric for the background for this Rose Star quilt top.

These pictures show some trials with the only dots in my fabric stash drawer. Too big, too close together, wrong colors, etc. but it did illustrate what wouldn't work.

After wasting some time online, studying websites, trying to guess at scale and color, it occurred to me to go downtown! Shop local! Duh!

The fabric I ended up getting has black dots, not red. I was so sure that red would work. The black just looked so much better in the store than any of the others and I had five or six reds to choose from.

I like it, especially up close. Once I had a few blocks laid out and stood back, there wasn't quite as much contrast as I wanted but I'm pretty sure I don't want to go with plain white. I'll finish up the final two blocks and make a few white shapes to try in place of the dots and make the final decision then.

26, 27, 28 and 29

Four more Rose Star Blocks are finished, upping the count to 29. The current goal is 32 but that may get revised once I start attaching them together and see how the layout looks. I bought 3 yards of background fabric a few days ago; I was 100% sure at the store that I made just the right choice. Now I am less sure. We'll see...

 

State Championships

In January, Ray and four of his classmates scored a Superior rating at a Regional Solo and Ensemble event in Bellingham, which qualified them to go to the state contest in Ellensburg last week. The quintet was required to play the same piece of music (Die Bankelsangerlieder) and was prohibited from making any changes to the group. 

 

The boys were very responsible when it came to preparation and practicing. They received some good coaching from the Anacortes band director, Ian Simensen, and from Malcolm Peterson of the Fidalgo Youth Symphony.

They were goofy, at times, and they had fun. They roomed together in a hotel the night before, got a day off from school and spent a sunny day on a college campus with hundreds of other musically inclined high school kids.

 The judges awarded them a rating of "Excellent" for their performance. The scale is Superior, Excellent and Good. We received the written comments today in the mail and one of the judges actually rated them Superior. Most of the feedback pointed to improvements needed in tempo and dynamics, and all three scorers mentioned "rushing". Other quotes were, "Mp/p sounded good. Overall - good! Fine literature. Solid interpretation. Nice brass sounds!"  My favorite remarks were, "I really liked the ornaments" and "Nice ornaments, trumpets."

Chris Ford, Ray Palmer, Conner Darrow, Blake Prescott, Jay Sourbeer

Courtesy of Les Schwab Tires and the Washington Dairy Farmer's Assn, the Washington Music Educators Assn. awarded each participating group a certificate and a handshake. There is a lot behind a three minute performance.

They are on YouTube. Here is the link.  

Motorcycle Tool Boxes

Give a retired guy a shop full of tools, a couple of motorcycles and an idea - and what do you get?  A project that turns into a business...

Dave saw some wasted space between the frame of his bike and the rack that supports the touring panniers. He made a tool box to fit this spot exactly - first a plywood version, for a pattern, and then a much nicer one out of aluminum.  A buddy wanted a box for his bike, then another guy saw it and asked for one. Someone posted a picture online on the Adventure Riders web forum that this group frequents, and the requests began to trickle in. 

It's a nice little box - it keeps the greasy tools away from the clothes and doesn't add any bulk to the load. 

The hinges, rivets and locks have all evolved since the first box was built. The design has been improved and the production methods streamlined. He has needed to buy more tools (surprise!) and now has a nice website, thanks to our friend, John Corso.

Dave has sold boxes to men in Brazil, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Columbia. People seem to like them - word of mouth is keeping sales going and he has sold more than 60 so far. A magazine writer is going to interview Dave later this month and expects to publish an article soon. He may be spending even more time out in the shop.

 

Ditty Bag

Getting a sewing kit ready for an overnight trip made me realize a couple of things. I haven't been sewing much and I rarely leave home!
 

It's okay, of course. Enthusiasm for projects will always wax and wane a bit and it was a brief two weeks of dormancy. I have started sewing again on a machine pieced quilt top and the little ditty bag has components for another four Rose Star blocks. I'll have more time now as my work schedule has just dropped back to one day a week. 

In the meantime, I was able to waste time on some reading and TV, crossword and Sudoku puzzles and make some feeble progress on the spring gardening. A friend pulled weeds furiously last week and claimed nine 5 gallon buckets in two days. My count is about four for the season. I'm a fair weather gardener, at best.

Twenty Five Blocks

It sort of feels like I am running out of fabric so maybe it is a good time for a break in production. I have used up three packs of Kaffe Fassett charm squares but still have a fair amount of yardage in the pile. The photo mosaic gives a pretty good preview of how the blocks look together. Each block seems to stitch up pretty quickly. I think it needs more red. And I do like the polka dots.

On Monday, I go back to work for another two or three weeks. It has been a nice week off - we saw Blast! in Bellingham on Thursday and tomorrow we are going to Seattle to see the Gauguin exhibit.  Oh, so cultured!!

When Johnny Comes Marching Home

Tunes get stuck in my head. This week, the tune in my head is an orchestral arrangement of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", thanks to the joint performances of two local youth symphonies, playing together twice on successive Saturdays. The younger kids played the crowd pleasing pieces, the march, Hungarian Rhapsody and The Pink Panther. Ray's group played Scheherazade, a pretty piece with haunting melodies and a wicked backstory. He also had a concert with his school band so we heard a lot of music in some nice theaters. Some of it goes on a bit too long but it is just what parents do, and we were grateful to get past the soccer and track meet parents standing out in the rain and the wind and into our velvet seats.

I have watched enough basketball over the last couple weeks that I'm lucky not to have "One Shining Moment" stuck in my head. College ball in high definition - I love it! I've continued to make Rose Star quilt blocks, we've had visitors from Alaska and returning snowbirds to welcome home, and I have resumed, for the most part, the habit (chore) of daily exercise but, mostly, it seems, I have been working. A nurse at our clinic quit and I stepped up to work full time until another person could be hired and trained. It takes awhile, which is not surprising, but an experienced medical assistant has accepted the job and I will begin training her on Monday. 


Working five days a week has given me a different view of my clinic job and I have enjoyed the depth and breadth that comes with being there every single day. When someone calls or comes in with a problem, likely I know something about it already, because I was there last week or last month when it first started. I know so much more about the people - the everyday stuff and the exotic. There is heart disease and depression, sore knees and sore shoulders, can't lose weight, can't gain weight, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high blood sugar. There are many stories I can't tell but being involved in the intimacies of lives is a privilege and a pleasure, and it is a pretty good job.


And the puppies! Katie's boyfriend's dog had 10 puppies and they were a block away from the clinic and we got to visit at lunchtime - 10 puppies, ten, TEN - five black, three red, two blond - puppies are pure pleasure and great medicine. Man, if I could bottle that...

Rose Star Block 22