February 2010

This quilt isn’t kid-friendly, or work-safe, or any kind of two word sobriquet. It’s also not tactful or tasteful. It’s also not being given away, which is a first.

For months now, I’ve had an ongoing dialogue with a friend, who has referred to my public side and my private side as the “white librarian” and the “red librarian.” I’ve been amassing fabrics through various sources that I have loved and couldn’t imagine parting with; I now have enough to actually make a ‘Red Librarian’ quilt as well as a ‘White Librarian’ quilt. Rest assured that every fabric in this quilt has a story. You may not hear all of them, but they exist.

If you visit the photoset on flickr, you’ll discover why this quilt is labeled NSFW. Think of this quilt as a cheat sheet that will keep you warm, too! (The oh-so-NSFW fabric comes from this etsy shop. I think I owe her a beer.)

After a day filled with code that didn't work and deadlines that aren't budging and phones that just didn't stay quiet when I needed them to, I present this response to a question that was innocently asked but just irritated me:  "What does modern quilting mean to you?"

Soapbox ACTIVATE!

If you go by date, I am a modern quilter, because I am doing a craft that my great-grandmother did, but I do it after a day of working on databases and writing code.

I noticed that a group of people all seemed to classify themselves as "modern quilters" but a lot of their work looked similar to me. It took a little more digging before I found out who Denyse Schmidt was, and once I saw photos of her work, things made more sense to me. If the litmus test for "modern quilter" is "Are you a Denyse Schmidt fan?" then nope, I suppose I'm not.

Nobody ever thinks about tenure growing up. It's the kind of adult possibility that doesn't register on kids, and rarely registers on college students. If you end up in a social circle of people in which post-graduate education is common, eventually the reality of tenure becomes all too real for you.

A few years ago, I watched the drama of tenure unfold for a friend of mine, and it caused me to look back at my college professors in a different light, knowing every one of them who had gotten tenure went through this process. In academic circles, tenure is "go big or go home" on a grand scale. You've just finished undergraduate and post-graduate work. You've survived the thesis process, and you're out in the work force armed with your brain and enough college loans to float a Third World country or two. Your tasks are as simple to describe as they are difficult to execute:

I haven't sewed much this week. Getting ready for Wednesday's rollout at work consumed most of my energy; by the end of each night, all I wanted to do was turn into a little couch lump. Dragging myself to the sewing machine wasn't a high priority; rest and antacids were.

It still feels a little strange, knowing that I'm actually keeping this quilt once it's done.

['Each by each']

This quilt is surprisingly personal. The fabrics were all gifts specifically for me, or have other personal meanings. I mean, c'mon, there's a print about brassieres and a print about sexual positions. It's a bright, bubbly, and bawdy little thing. Of course I'm keeping it.

Quoting because I just can't think to do anything else.

"The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children," said Marshall, a Republican.

Quote from this article on newsleader.com.

To be extra helpful, they even have an MP3 recording of him saying it. Download it here.