Oy

And now, more ignorant political punditry from yours truly:
Oy vey is mir. This is gonna be ugly.
I hope that the Democrats take ownership of the filibuster they complain so much about, because they are going to need it. What just happened?
It's a combo of so many things, I get tired just thinking about it. But I am thoroughly confused. Some people say Obama has done nothing. Others say he has enacted the most significant legislation in centuries. Others think he is both a Marxist and a Nazi (those people won a bunch of seats).
I think what has happened is a perfect example of the broken politics of Washington. A two party government that is increasingly undemocratic.
In his ineffective pleading for bipartisanship and collaboration where it was clear there was none to be had, Obama ended up with a healthcare bill that pleased absolutely no one. The banks were rescued and supposedly Armaggedon was averted but people do not see it that way. All they see is that the stupid house they had to buy with the money they don't have is now worth bubkes, all they see is foreclosure and joblessness. The banks are still hoarding the money they are not lending to small businesses. They are still behaving like criminal bullies. The culprits of the worst economic crisis in history not only have gotten away scot free, some work for the current administration.
Nobody knows or understands the concrete results of the stimulus package, if any. Obama seems to work hard behind closed doors but it turns out that he does not really connect with most of "the people". He seems aloof and flinty (I'd still do him in a second, though). And then to compensate, he goes to The View and The Daily Show, instead of trying to explain the accomplishments of his administration to the people in a clearer and more presidential way. Whatever happened to press conferences?
And government? As long as they are getting campaign contributions from industry, what can citizens expect?  The system is fundamentally and institutionally corrupt.
If it was up to me, we would have universal healthcare and campaign finance reform and Lloyd Blankfein, Angelo Mozillo, Richard Fuld, Hank Paulson and their hosts of minions would all be sharing a cell with Bernie Madoff for all eternity. Hell, if it was up to me, I'd make New York City secede and become an independent country. Who needs this aggravation?
Meanwhile, the American people, all they want is not to have to pay taxes, everything else be damned. They don't care about the costly wars that are getting us nowhere and possibly making things worse, they don't care if they will lose all the money they save on taxes when they get diabetes or cancer or heart disease, they don't care that thanks to the right wing majority at the Supreme Court corporations are what dictates policy now, even more than before. 
Stick your fucking tax cuts up your ass. I hope you are happy now.

Paradise Lost.

I got down to Islamorada, Florida on Saturday. Leaving NYC in 50 degree weather and landing in Miami just moments later was like a gift. Palm trees and a searing sun was all it took to put a smile on my face. 85 degrees and humidity can be an instant game changer. I brought along a cineplex worth of movies including Eat, Pray, Love which I'd successfully avoided watching til that morning. The crowd in the waiting area was unnervingly gritty. Traveling used to be glamorous. Not anymore. Planes are little more than subway cars with snacks and shitty coffee you have to pay for. The bookstore in the terminal had a book that elicited a screech. Right next to "Eat, Pray, Love" was a new book I wish I'd written. "Drink, Play, F%@k". As touching as Julia Roberts can be, I couldn't help thinking that "Drink, Play, F%#k" would make a much better film. It would be a great vehicle for.....well, me.

Little did I know that the Moorings Village would be that answered prayer I'd impatiently waited for. All pristine beach and elegant bungalows punctuated by a forest of palm trees. One palm in particular grew parallel to the beach and rose out over the water. The minute I saw it I felt as though I was running into someone I'd seen before but couldn't place. The mood was quiet and seemed focused on some very distant point. It took a couple of days to down shift but once I did, I couldn't imagine a more perfect place. It felt better than good, it felt right. No computer or phone or TV. Almost no music. Just a little "Namaste Shanti" for good measure and conch whatever. Imagine a spotless beach that has been mysteriously raked, only you never saw anyone do it. Or an Olympic sized pool nestled in a grove of palms with no screaming kids, in fact, no one in sight anywhere. We only saw a few people on the beach in 4 days and they were at a safe distance. From the front porch I could look through the palms, past the hammock and out to sea without anyone or thing interrupting.

That was the case until this morning. Paradise was invaded by a film crew with a string of cheesy blondes in fuchsia bikinis and sprayed on tans. I thought QT had gone the way of red dye #2. It's alive and well on Tiffany from Iowa and BreeAnne from Winetka. They, along with Todd from Colorado were about 30 feet from my front door loudly proclaiming their weight loss secrets to a camera and crew. Hydroxycot had snagged paradise yanking me back to the harsh reality I thought I'd cheated. I just stood there on the porch staring at about 30 people wondering what the f%@k happened. I guess I'm lucky to have had a few days of peace. This is surely an absurdly lame luxury problem and one to get over butt fast and I have. I packed my toys and headed south and now am sitting at the end of the line in Key West. What a strange and compelling place this is. Even though I bitterly complained of paradise lost I actually stumbled onto a paradise found. It may be just another trashy t-shirt shop but it works for me. This must be the right place. I could have sworn I saw Marc and what's his name stumbling into the bath house across the street. It was a blur of tattoos and an Hermes Birkin along with a manly scent of pepper.

Fashion never sleeps. Chow!

Election Day

V is for VOTE!

Or maybe Victory as in this World War II era quilt from the collection of Cindy Rennels

The pictures are from an exhibit at Quilt Festival this week in Houston.

Cindy is a quilt and textile dealer from Oklahoma who has collected patriotic quilts from the 19th and 20th centuries. 

Detail of a sampler from the mid-19th century

Detail of a mid 19th-century star

Detail of a Whig's Defeat with chintz sashing

A quilt from the WW I era

See Cindy's website by clicking here:

http://cindysantiquequilts.com/

Quilt Market: End of the Live Blogs

More shots of cute booths:

The Eazy Peazy lady and her friend La Todera are first-time exhibitors with their pattern companies.

I took lots of pictures of the booths offering patterns and very few of the fabric company booths, because I don't want to advertise my competition (AND they think I am spying when I photograph a fabric booth.)

Except for my old friend Kaye England who has a lovely line of reproduction prints called Bread and Butters. Here she is when I told her she was the only fabric designer besides MOI that I was going to put on the LIVE blog.

Here's another new pattern company that caught my eye. The Olde Green Cupboard is kitting up blocks from the Susan McCord book that Karla Menaugh, Deb Rowden and I did.

The block-of-the-month kit includes wool for applique and cotton ticking (from sturdy dish towels) for background, plus a copy of the book and their original design for the cotton set. They are calling their version of the blocks "Southern Gathering."

Click here for more: http://oldegreencupboard.blogspot.com/

 

Well I could go on like this but there are over 500 exhibitors and we had to go home.
 

We saw a lot of quilts! This one in the park a favorite.

Dorothy Parker who did a lot of her writing in hotel rooms.

My intention was to do a LIVE blog from Quilt Market. Several things stood in my way.

1. My ineptitude...like running out of battery on the camera so I couldn't download pictures I'd already taken.
2. Lack of internet access.
3. It is very hard to blog at night in the hotel room when you are asleep.
4. It is very hard to blog in the car. I have always been optimistic that I could use the computer while riding in a car but the cursor is all over the page when you hit a bump and it's darn hard to crop a photo.

I could have done a better job of LIVE by getting an internet card and most importantly by not running over my camera with the car while I was packing to go.

This is not my camera. Mine actually held up better than this but it won't work.

 I'm not even going to go into that story but you can imagine. So there has been a time lag on the so-called LIVE blog but it was fun to do. I'll continue to post pictures over the next few weeks because I took 210 with my new camera.

It's a twelve hour drive back home. This is the time you wish you'd flown.
 

Birds in the parking lot

Quilt Market Update 6

Minay Sirois, Feeling Chintzy

The quilt exhibits take up about half the space in the giant convention hall in Houston. The Quilt Market, the trade show open to quilt shops and quilt professionals, is over today, Monday November 1st. Quilt Festival, open to all, begins November 4th. Exhibitors scurry to change their booths from wholesalers to retail and lots of new shops come in in the two days between shows, but the quilt exhibits remain the same. They permit pictures of most of the exhibits, so I took a few shots of reproduction quilts.

Minay used a printed panel in the center of her medallion. I am always pleased to find some of my reproduction prints being used. The blue star above is familiar.

Mary Curley, Salute to Tradition

Between the stars Mary used a chintz from the Seneca Falls collection that Terry Thompson and I did years ago.

The quilts above are in an exhibit called In the American Tradition 2010, co-sponsored by Coats and Clark. Another reproduction quilt exhibit is the 2010 Study of 19th Century Star Quilts sponsored by the American Quilt Study Group. You aren't allowed to take pictures in that one so I will provide a sneak peek of the book that AQSG and  Kansas City Star Quilts is publishing in the spring.

Mennonite Lone Star by Bobbi Finley

Years ago Bobbi and Penny Tucker thought up the AQSG Quilt Study project. Every other year members are invited to interpret an antique quilt. The theme in the 2010 Quilt Study was 19th-century stars. Bobbi and Penny have passed the organizing duties to others. Bobbi's used her free time to make this reproduction. You've now seen three of the hundreds and hundreds of quilts on display in Houston this week.

Cara Membuat Mesin Pencari Google Custom Search

Untuk memudahkan pengunjung dalam mencari artikel di blog kita, sudah selanyaknya kita pasang mesin pencari di blog kita. Banyak widget mesin pencari yang dapat ditambahkan, seperti fitur tambah gadget di blogger sudah menyediakan. Tapi kali ini mencoba cara lain dengan membuat mesin pencari sendiri di Google Custom Search. Selain mudah membuatnya, fitur ini juga mempunyai banyak keunggulan.



Berikut cara membuat mesin pencari google custom search

Pertama masuk ke Google Custom Search di sini

Kemudian klik tulisan Buat Mesin Telusur Ubah Suaian



Isi formulir yang telah di sediakan



Nama : Isi dengan nama yang di inginkan

Deskripsi : Tulis sedikit gambaran mesin telusur kamu

Bahasa : Pilih bahasa yang kamu inginkan

Situs yang akan ditelusuri : Isi dengan situs yang ingin kamu telusuri
Contoh : seperti punya saya di isi dengan http://www.poetra-anoegrah.co.cc ( kamu bisa menambahkan lebih dari satu URL )

Edisi : Pilih Edisi Standart ( biasanya sudah tercentang )

Centang kotak kecil persyaratan.

Klik tombol Lanjut/Next

Pilih tampilan yang kamu inginkan



Kamu bisa mengedit tampilan sesuai selera kamu ( klik ubahsuaikan/customise )

Jika sudah Klik Lanjut

Dapatkan Kode : Ambil kode yang diberikan dan pasang di Web kamu.




Nb : Kamu Masih bisa mengoptimalkan lagi mesin pencari kamu.

Seperti menambahkan kata kunci, menambah URL yang ingin di indek, membuat peta situs dan lain-lain..

seperti gambar di bawah ini.



Silahkan di edit sendiri ya ..


Baca juga : Tips dan Strategi Membangun Backlink

Quilt Market Update 5

Saturday at Market, continued....

Did they change the manhole covers in Houston to welcome us Sewers?

Or am I mispronunciating the word?

Even though our feet hurt after a day at Market, Deb and I walked through the park across the street from the George Brown Convention Center where Market and Festival are held.

We'd recommend a seat by the reflecting pool near a restaurant if you are coming to Quilt Festival this week.

Although on Saturday evening there were aliens, witches...

and Edward Scissorshands terrifying us and the small children.

Our guess is that it was a Halloween costume contest

 and party and not just a usual day in the park.

We then walked on over to Minute Maid Park a block from the Convention Center.

This is where the Astros play, but no fans were there as

 they were all watching the Rangers win a game in the World Series.

 No one was there except about 1,000 quilt shop people.

Moda/United Notions hosts a dinner party every year in some spectacular location.

We ate barbecue and chocolate pecan pie at tables inside where the halls would be during a game.

Some of us took our plates out into the stands and watched the sun set.

And called any baseball fans we knew to say:

"You wouldn't believe where I am eating supper."

It's hard to say what was the best thing about Saturday.

The carpet at Minute Maid Stadium is right up there at the top of the list.