Friday, February 10, 2017

z

The usual Friday brain dump...

I really do want to pay less attention to politics, but it's like watching a circus where someone let out all the monkeys: screeching chaos and poo flying everywhere, sliding off the combatants but clinging to the onlookers. It's hard to look away.

David French has a great piece at the National Review on the latest installment of the immigration halt. One portion of that decision holds that the state universities could potentially suffer harm as a result of students, professors and researchers from the affected countries not being allowed in to pursue their studies/goals/research.

H1-B visa holders are only supposed to be hired if there is no American available with the required specialized skill set. Hmpf. I can tell you that hiring foreign professors and researchers is more about the perceived "prestige", "diversity", "collegiality" and "globalization" of the university than about a shortage of American talent.

As for the students...I've personally processed the work-related paperwork for a fair number of students from Iran who are here to study...civil engineering. Am I the only person whose brain explodes a little bit at that thought? They all seemed like nice guys (yes, guys - all male), but you do wonder.

In other news, my quilt guild's workshop day is tomorrow. I'm the teacher for this one.

The pattern is called "Summer in the Park" by Missouri Star Quilts.

My own quilt top looks quite a bit different. Instead of white, I used several different shades of ecru. My prints are not the bright batiks shown here, but the leftovers from a baby quilt I made this summer, mostly muted rose, grey, green and blue. Not at all my colors, which is why I wanted to use the leftovers all up in one scrap style quilt.

The construction is very simple and quick, thanks to a cutting technique that lets you cut the entire block at once from sewn strips. I'm hoping to send participants home with a partially completed quilt top rather than something destined to become another UFO.

Speaking of which, the dual February challenges of quilting twenty minutes a day and working on a UFO are coming along nicely. I'm currently piecing a twin sized quilt called Galaxy that I cut out a couple of years ago. I take no credit for fabric choices; this is a kit. When finished, I plan to hang it on the wall in my bedroom. Unless I change the décor in the bedroom in the two years it will take to get this finally and completely done, that is.

To avoid confusion, I'm making one block at a time. The piecing method involves sew-and-flip, and if you go in the wrong direction, everything is wrong. There isn't enough extra fabric in a kit to make up for that kind of mistake.

I'm halfway done with piecing the blocks, which is the fun part. There is a narrow sashing with cornerstones between each block which creates the secondary pattern. That portion of construction will be a royal pain.

Otherwise, not much is new. Trying to keep my head both above water and out of the firing line at work. Lots of changes going on. Lots of furor in the homeowner's association as well, which will culminate at the annual meeting the end of April. I've checked the by-laws: I can very easily call for a vote for removal of the current board. En masse would be easiest and quickest, but it can go individually if need be. Unfortunately, the people who would replace them are just as crazy.

Whatever you do this weekend, have fun!

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