Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Pi Day 2020

"Hope is the choice we make to see the light, 
even while recognizing the inevitable presence of darkness." 
~Rabbi Nancy Kasten

Quilting


Wonders never cease. Pi Day is Saturday and I'm currently working on a circle quilt as it approaches. In fact, the top is sewn. Sort of. Maybe I'm moving forward; maybe I'm standing on quicksand. I'm not sure. But I have sewn plain white sashing and posts to the Shadow Stars. While it's not as visually appealing as the green compasses, it's not lumpy and twisted either.

Shadow Star quilt with plain white sashing

While I consider whether to add appliqué near the posts {and if so, what fabrics to use} I'm also going to think about the border. The Stars are {fairly} precise so improv or very casual piecing won't match. Appliqué borders may be a solution but oh, how I wish I could think of a pieced border that would work.

Meanwhile, here are some light prints that might fit in a border somewhere. I'm wondering how they'd look as part of a pieced border or as the background to some appliqué.

Photos of four floral prints on white backgrounds that might make a border for the Shadow Star quilt
Possible border prints for Shadow Star quilt

I can only find three circle quilts this past year. The propeller baby quilt:

Large propeller block surrounded by twelve smaller propeller blocks sashed with red flying geese
Propeller baby quilt

The spirals on this Chinese Coins quilt:

Chinese Coins sashed with a variety of yellow to orange solid fabrics has additional spiral applique in dark rust
Chinese Coins quilt with spirals

and Clara's emoji hair:

Fabric collage of girl's face with emoji fabric cut as pigtails
Clara, a collage quilt

Now that we have the spiralizer apple peeler, we are definitely having apple pie for dinner. All week!

A small clump of yellow daffodils in full bloom

The daffodils are fading. Every time they bloom I remember how our mother told my sister she was born "when the tulips bloom." Upon spying the daffodils in the garden she started dancing around crying, "It's my BIRTHDAY!" And we had cake that night.

Coronavirus
Professor Marcel Salathe recorded a lecture on coronavirus for an infection biology class at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne the last week of February. It addresses the state of our knowledge at that time but it also contains excellent general information about how epidemiologists address novel diseases. Just over ninety minutes so get your coffee first.

Enjoy the day, Ann