Wednesday's Word -- Cat

Blackie the cat really likes the new office. He's found a favorite perch.

My friend Jackie told me today that she is disappointed when she clicks on my blog and finds nothing new. So, to fill the gap when I have nothing to say or post I'm introducing "Wednesday's Word."

Tour of my new space

Finished, at last -- my new office/design area, the workway hallroom, and my sewing room.
I shot my first video with the Flip Video Ultra.

Kyra Hicks posted her first video on her blog. She made a video featuring the Harriet Powers Bible quilt. It inspired me.

They told me to drop out

Way back in 1974, I ran for a seat on the Santa Rosa (CA) City Council. Two women ran for office that year. Iva Warner was the other woman. Her committee members called me and told me to drop out of the race because I would “split the women’s vote.” Iva and I were the first women to run for the council.

Here is my campaign photo by Marlene Nordstrom.
I didn’t drop out of the six person race – three incumbents, one big businessman (who accused me of being “a member of The Women’s Liberation”), a lawyer, Iva, and me.

The three incumbents won. I did not come in last!

I’m glad I ran because it opened the way for other women to run for a council seat and win. Donna Born won a few years later and she was even elected mayor. My friend Nanci Burton ran in 1984 and was elected. She was elected mayor in 1986 and was re-elected again in 1991.

Here is a photo of Nanci pondering some weighty council business in 1990.
In a 1992 Press Democrat interview she recalled that she had entered public life in an era when female candidates often got questions like: “Sweetheart, do you really understand how a business operates?” She replied by saying that she kept the books for her husband’s catering business and “…if I didn’t take care of the payroll…and taxes my husband would have been in jail because he is not going to do it.”

My dear friend Nanci died on April 15.

We shared many other interests besides politics. We first met when our children were in grammar school and we tried to tackle the Superintendent of Schools about curriculum. We took Lydia Van Gelder’s spinning and natural dyeing classes at Santa Rosa Junior College. When I left Santa Rosa in 1979, Nanci took over my job as director of Junior Achievement.

Flashback Friday -- My Dad

A birthday anniversary is a good day for remembering someone we loved.
I wish I could tell my dad about my new toy. I am sure he would think it is really neat. It is a Flip Video Ultra. (Click on the picture for more information.)
I found reels (probably 20) of 8-mm film while cleaning and sorting for the sewing studio/office/design area. They are the large reels – 200 feet each. My father loved taking movies and splicing them together. Aside from the usual birthdays and vacation reels, he loved to shoot mountains. Miles and miles of mountains. Because mountains don’t move and he was making a movie, he would pan slowly back and forth. Oh, so boring.

I plan to take some shots of Mt. Diablo (sunset, snow-peaked, cloud enshrouded, dawn) but not too many, and I won’t pan back and forth. My Daddy did teach me some important life lessons.

I asked him to cut the lawn

Our son, Robbie, came back again this week to do some more projects for the office/design/sewing studio. He drove down here (190 miles round trip) to help.

He was here two weeks ago (click on Labor of Love) working hard with me. This time, he and his dad tackled three important items on our list. The first one was hanging shelves in the sewing studio closet for storing machines and old quilts, plus family photos. Then, he hung new folding doors in front of the washer/dryer area.

The new shelves are hung level and plumb and are ready to be stuffed full. In the “workway hallroom” my new fabric storage cupboards are to the right, and a huge drop leaf table for pinning quilts (or sorting laundry) sits to the left of the new doors.

Robbie and I decided on his last visit that a “lawn” would be a fun thing to have on the second story balcony outside the office. DH Robert and I drove up to the Snylawn store near Sacramento last Wednesday and bought a remnant.

The lawn had to be cut to size – 81” by 81” x 115” right triangle. Robbie’s friend Lisa and I laid the lawn pile-side down on our lower landing and marked off one edge with masking tape. Robbie, of course, measured again and tweaked our calculations a bit. He cut one side with a box knife, but decided to cut the hypotenuse side with big scissors. I realize now I should have sacrificed a rotary cutter for the project and skipped the scissors. The lawn is a big piece of heavy-duty plastic fabric with tufts.

In the meantime, my other son Davis was working online from his home to help me with a Google Adwords program to try to increase my quilting pattern sales.

I think I have two of the nicest sons in the world. I know I have two of the nicest sons in the world.

Flashback Friday -- The Manly Art of Knitting

Whilst sorting though everything during our office/design/sewing studio re-do we found some old advertising posters for The Manly Art of Knitting by Dave Fougner.

We published Dave’s book in 1972. He was the husband of my son’s kindergarten teacher. He was an avid knitter and a cowboy. He made lots of beautiful sweaters and dresses for his wife and daughter.

Dave came up with several unusual projects for his book such as a hammock knit with rope on shovel handles, and a horse blanket knit on a circle made from a garden hose. The Whole Earth Catalog said that The Manly Art of Knitting was an excellent basic knitting book. We had a lot of fun with it. We sold it to Scribner’s in 1973.

Now, we see that Amazon has used copies listed for $150. I sure wish we had a few copies of the book around here.

I put one of the posters up on eBay yesterday. Search for “Manly Art of Knitting Poster” to find it.

Just a few little things

We are trying to repair little things before declaring our work finished in the sewing studio/office/design area.
The flip-down front thing on my old Singer 101 has been broken for years and years. When I pulled on the knob the whole thing fell down and all the stuff would fall out on the floor. That’s not good. Wood glue and clamps were still handy, so Robert fixed the problem. The latch now works and I can keep the little manual in there along with a needle-threader.
I plan to use this as my free-motion machine and I’m ready to start learning on some sample quilt squares now. Such progress!