Musings

I just got back from a brisk walk across campus. The library had the book about Phoebe Anna Traquair and I walked over to get it rather than have a page bring it to me. The sidewalks are still slushy and the wind's pretty chill, but it was a nice walk. My sister-in-law works at the main library so I got to pop in and say "hey!" I've only had a chance to flip through the book but it looks quite interesting.

On the way back I saw a delightful sight. For several years now I've seen a Chinese grandmother out walking with her two grandchildren. Today the little boy was learning how to use one of those razor scooters--he had a bit of trouble keeping it on track but was doing quite well. To my amazement, the little girl was strolling along on home-made stilts, maybe a foot high. I told her I was most impressed, and I am. (Pretty soon she'll be cleaning the top of the curtains like Sharon B's daughter did recently--http://tinyurl.com/3d8rsk.

I didn't stitch at all last night, but I did think a lot about the Take It Further challenge. I've been fascinated by the journal quilts shown each year at the International Quilt Festival. Here are a couple of links to past journal quilts: http://www.larkinart.com/quilts/journal/journal.html, http://www.quiltart.com/2005journals/, http://home.att.net/~kareyb/JournalQuilts2007.htm, and the book (which is wonderful) http://www.clothpaperscissors.com/shop/cq_book.html. So I'm going to do a small "quilt" each month.

I've long had an interest in the Fibonacci series and the Golden Rectangle. http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibInArt.html and http://www.jimloy.com/geometry/golden.htm are two good sites. My golden rectangle will be 17mm by 27.5mm (it was easier to come up with round numbers on a ruler using metrics rather than inches this time). That's just about 6-1/2" by 10-3/4". I took 17mm and multiplied it by tau (1.61803398875) to get the second dimension. (I love playing with geometry.)

I also figured out a binding method that I don't recall seeing elsewhere (but I wouldn't be surprised if I have--I've looked at a lot of books on cloth books and book binding over the years). Each page with have loops along the spine edge. The loops will interlink and the cover will have buttons to hold the loops of the first page and end the chain. I've been doing a lot of knitting and crochet lately and I think that's where this came form. I'll make a sketch and scan it this weekend--it may be more clear than words.

So I have a form, a size and and idea for finishing.

Then I focused on my sister, mostly listing down words that came to me. What is intriguing me is that I see very definite colors for her: bright red (going toward blue not scarlet), royal blue, navy blue, a bluish turquoise, hot pink. These colors have really been haunting me the last 24 hours! I can't wait for the weekend and time to pick out floss and fabric!

My word lists so far:

• focused, organized, disciplined, lists, reliable, classic, worker, religious
• music, singing, Harley motorcycles, nursing, community service
• mom, wife, nurse, sister, daughter, church member

I also took a photo of her from the summer and made it into a black and white graphic. My thought right now is to print it onto something clear or sheer and place it over other things (pretty vague so far).