We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope.
~Martin Luther King, Jr.
Quilting
The introduction of a story by Donald Hall relates an apocryphal story: 'A man was cleaning the attic of an old house in New England and he found a box which was full of tiny pieces of string. On the lid of the box there was an inscription in an old hand: "String too short to be saved".'
My mother loved quoting the punch line whenever something foolish appeared in our cabinets. We deny packrat tendencies but truth will out. What crazy stuff we save because it might be useful one day. The dreadful warning of this tale {occasionally} restrains me from expanding my quilting stash which I already find overwhelming.
It is also the reason I keep a single small bag for scraps although an amazing amount can be crammed into that bag. I won't purchase containers to subdivide the stuff. My point is to use it up, to keep it moving because this insidious fabric propagates nightly. My scrap bag still looks as full as when I started this recent set of scrap quilts; there are just fewer "pretty" fabrics.
My mother loved quoting the punch line whenever something foolish appeared in our cabinets. We deny packrat tendencies but truth will out. What crazy stuff we save because it might be useful one day. The dreadful warning of this tale {occasionally} restrains me from expanding my quilting stash which I already find overwhelming.
It is also the reason I keep a single small bag for scraps although an amazing amount can be crammed into that bag. I won't purchase containers to subdivide the stuff. My point is to use it up, to keep it moving because this insidious fabric propagates nightly. My scrap bag still looks as full as when I started this recent set of scrap quilts; there are just fewer "pretty" fabrics.
How can I sew this mess? Why am I bothering? How small is too small? What's your limit? What's the smallest scrap you keep? What do you do with the waste? {I know Cathy spreads hers as garden compost.} Questions we face daily.
There are still a ton of strings. I'm tired of diamonds, thought about Chinese Coins, but got the brilliant idea to angle the strings. At least it sounded brilliant. In reality it's been a bit of a pain.The newspaper foundations are 5.5". No idea why except it's less than six inches so it was easier to cut and the smaller squares don't need such long strings - only about eight inches for the main diagonal. I pulled "longer strings" out so the centers would be easier to plan but still find myself coming up short.
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| String blocks |
What should be the middle string? How can I highlight the angle? The X? I'm way overthinking this.
Wow. It looks like I stuck my finger in an electric outlet. Too wild? I need to think it over.
Projects Around the House
Scanning and shredding continues apace. Two more drawers cleared. I'm finding a few things that still need to be retained physically but hope to limit it to one drawer. Once the compost bin filled I attacked our bookcases and culled three bags of books for the next library sale. QS and I laughingly refer to moving junk out of the house as foundational cleaning. I imagine how happy the house is to lose the weight and I certainly love having more room in the rooms.
We enjoyed a quiet holiday weekend at home. All our family called at some point... and we watched Hamilton. DH took me to the stage play a few years ago as a special gift but the many unique angles of the video recording make it almost as remarkable.
Voting
Our national election scheduled for November 3 is 119 days away. The Vote411 website can help any American register, check their registration status, and find out what is on their specific ballot. I find printing a sample ballot before going to vote gives me time to double check all my options. Who can you help register? And get to a polling place? Democracy requires the participation of ALL citizens.
