Draped to the Ankles

Singer 66 Redeye

Here is the result of my latest project. I have restored this lovely treadle sewing machine from 1920. The DH says I have SMAD (Sewing Machine Acquisition Disorder), and I'm afraid he may be right. Now I just want to restore more of these things. But, I will resist the urge to acquire more old machines. Meanwhile, I will learn how to use this beauty:

And here is a before and after of the back of the machine (it was quite yucky).

Celebrity Faces

So how many times have you been told you look like a celebrity? It doesn't happen to me or my family much - we're such unique individuals - but since yesterday, all three of us have named our famous dopplegangers. I present to you, my family:

That's Mom, Dad and Son. Granted, we don't look exactly like our celeb counterparts. For example, I'm not half as pretty as Saffy (Julia Sawahla), and Dad is darker and grayer than Treat Williams, and Boy wears glasses.

Who do you look like?

Movie Review: The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn

I do so enjoy Netflix. Yesterday I watched The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn (1999). Sidney Poitier plays Noah Dearborn, a local legend in Twin Pines, GA. He's a carpenter with a single-minded dedication to his work that is almost uncanny. He lives a simple life without electricity or running water, on a farm outside of town. But, land developers want to build a shopping center there, and do all sorts of sordid tricks to try and get him off the land that he has no desire to sell. In the process, a big-city therapist comes to know him and is amazed and fascinated by him.

As always, Sidney Poitier was great in this. He's never been in a bad movie that I know of. In my old age, I find quiet, heartwarming movies easier to take than blockbuster action flicks or intense drama. This one was just right. Nothing you wouldn't want the kids to see - though they would probably pronounce it "boring" and head off to play video games.

Two More Quilts

Finished two quilts this month. The first is one I had been working on for a while (you can see an earlier stage here.)

I'm calling it "Tribute to Gee's Bend" because it sounds much more elegant than "American African" quilt. It's all machine pieced and quilted. And what did I learn on this on? Don't quilt in purely horizontal stripes. It gets all wonky. There are more tucks in the back of the quilt than on Joan Rivers' face (ba-dum-bum.) Still, it's very pretty, and the boys are fighting over who gets it. (me, that's who).

The second quilt was one made especially for our Valentine's Day event at church. It will be up for auction on Sunday.

This one was made using the antique Free-Westinghouse, until I messed up the bobbin. It's working now, but I had to change over the the Kenmore for a time because I was under a time crunch. Anyway, I quilted this one better, but it still has tucks in the fabric, front and back. The hearts are my first attempt at needle-turned applique.

UPDATE: The quilt went for $150 at the auction. Too bad I can't figure out how to get that for myself :-)

His Majesty's Dragon

Let me start out by saying that I was never a huge fan of dragons. Sure, I read the Pern novels by Anne McCaffery when I was younger, but I didn't become obsessed by them or even sought out other books about dragons. That said, I inhaled His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik. I really couldn't put it down.

The premise is a cross between the Sharpe novels by Bernard Cornwall, Patrick O'Brien's naval series, and Dragonriders of Pern. The story is set in an alternate universe where Napoleon is still the big bad bent on the conquest of England, but dragons are real. Not only are they real, but they are used as an aerial corps to support naval and ground troops.

Capt. Will Laurence is a dedicated naval captain, but when they capture a French ship with a very special egg on board, he knows his duty is to see that this dragon is brought safely home to England no matter the personal cost. And the cost at first seems very high, but we know that he will not feel this way for long, because everyone knows that dragons have a special relationship with their riders (at least, we do if we've read the Pern novels.)

The writing is very good, and I particularly enjoyed the bit at the end where Novik includes excerpts from the 18th century books on dragons that had been mentioned in the story. I also enjoyed the scene of dragons frolicking in the lake while their handlers look on in bemusement. My one problem with the book is that there are far too many species of dragons to keep track of. Don't ask me what a Regal Copper looks like, 'cause I couldn't tell you.

This is the first in a series, and I look forward to reading the rest, and anything she continues to write in the future.

His Majesty's Dragon at Amazon.

Naomi Novik's website.

Stone Bowl

I was out walking my dog the other day and I found this:

I'm no geologist, but it looks to be made of very heavy volcanic stone. It's very round and smooth, like it had been in water for a long time. The curious thing is the bowl cut into it. I've seen naturally occurring hollows carved from rocks before, but this seems too convenient to be natural. Also, the rock was found lying by the side of a shopping center driveway in a busy city. It looks like it has been subjected to fire at some point, with that uneven black discoloration fire gives to rocks. The edges of the hollow show that at least part of the bowl was formed long ago, though there are now chips in the rim that are obviously more recent.

It's a very cool rock. The little dog liked the taste of it, and the others just sniffed at it. It looks like it could be one of those rocks for hiding your key under. Other than that, I am at a loss to explain how it turned up on a busy city street. Any ideas?