Saturday, May 4, 2024

Great art making day, also spaghetti

Saturday was cold, later rainy, not a bit springlike, so there was a large bowl of spaghetti with spicy plant-based meatballs. 

Hot peppers, onions, butter and tomato paste, blended with diced tomatoes, made a great sauce, and it was all very welcome. Blueberries and yogurt for dessert.

The main good thing about the day was the number of art ideas jumping at me. This is related to sending artworks to good homes. It leaves space for new ideas which unfailingly show up 

One was how to complete the fabric page. I had a piece on the wall that I've been thinking about deconstructing for ages, and realized the embroidered motifs, natural dyed, stitched onto net, were a natural to overlay on the silk stars. It's about transparency. And yes, it's political. Art is.









So here, deconstructed, is a lovely piece of shibori dyed linen, several freestanding embroidered works, and cheesecloth which is new and clean and might get into the kitchen. The colored thread in the embroideries is also natural dyed. 

And here's where a couple of motifs found a new home.

Then I plan to make a hussif, using some cheap and cheerful cotton printed pieces I found among the stars,  round up my needles from various ragged needle books, and upstairs, and make  places in it for my scissors and useful stitching tools.

Also I'm going to ditch the nasty pink plastic project bag I've been using for knitting, and make something more interesting.

All this happening on an otherwise unpromising day. 

My mail-in primary ballot arrived, where I get to triumphantly vote for Andy Kim for Senate. This will help send a decent man to Washington to replace a shameful one. 

It's also a great effyew to the completely inept and inexperienced governor's wife who tried to run, and couldn't get arrested despite having all the party bosses working it. 

And who inadvertently helped abolish the infamous county Line, the very ballot position advantage the party bosses tried to leverage in her favor. What an own goal. Kim pursued his lawsuit to abolish it and won. 

She's trying to forget she ever tried, total humiliation, well deserved.  Someone who has never run for anything, anything, school board, HOA, library board,  wanting one of the three major key elected offices in the state? Please.

Happy day, everyone, you never know what good things might happen.








30 comments:

  1. May this good thing be a trend in government. Your latest creation is an inspiration.

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  2. I do admire your cooking skills, making tasty meals from cheaply bought fresh food. You've really got that together.

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    1. It's not too hard. I think shopping is the hardest, involving planning. It's a learning curve.

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  3. Our local elections have set the tongues a-clucking with everyone and his aunt predicting the outcome of the general election, which has not yet been announced.

    I have my mother's rather fragile wedding veil and keep wondering what to do with it. Inspiration may come, one day.

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    1. It will be interesting to see what comes of the veil, depending on its size. It sounds like a red (in US blue) wave
      is under way in the UK.

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  4. Mail-in voting is a great idea. Perfect really!

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    1. Thank you. I was part of the drive to make it universal, to have dropboxes to avoid relying on the postal service, and tracking, to be sure my ballot arrived, and each stage of it, up to where it's counted, after primary voting day.

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  5. The embroidery on the quilted stars looks lovely!

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    1. Thank you. I think it's enough for this page. I have ideas for the next now.

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  6. We had spaghetti too! And some very fine sourdough bread.
    I have been pondering and pondering how to use the beautiful book you sent me. I don't want to keep it just as an art piece. I want to use it.

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    1. Good, it can be collaborative. I like that idea.

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  7. Replies
    1. Well, I had to run out with the bowl to field them.

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  8. I must try that sauce! Have a great day.

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    1. It's not only simple, it's really good. Go for it!

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  9. After you wrote about spaghetti and meatballs yesterday I took Italian sausage, ground beef and roasted tomatoes out of the freezer. It just sounded so good. I really like what you did with that page.

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    1. My influence goes all over, to kitchens near and far! It was really welcome now that we're in a cold snap again.
      Thanks for the nice words, too.

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  10. I had to look up hussif. I just have a plastic storage container that holds all my sewing tools. isn't 'plant based meat' an oxymoron? I wish they would find a different term but then the dairy industry failed at owning the word 'milk' and now we have plant based milks.

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    1. I'm not a fan of copying meat words for plant based food, I agree. This is plant based sausage, meaning the shape. Like referring to a sausage of fabric or something. I don't know what to call little fried globes of it, and settle for meatballs because they're understandable. Any suggestions would be welcome. I like this "sausage" because it's very spicy.

      The use of meat meaning contents is ancient. Centuries ago people referred to the meat of an egg. And force meat stuffing is largely breadcrumbs and herbs. Mincemeat in mince pies is fruit and spices. I think milk is used metaphorically similarly. Anyway the plant based industry is milking the term for all it's worth!

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  11. I saw that, about the ex-governor's wife. Perhaps it's a case of being in a political echo chamber where too many people (including her husband) were saying to her, "You know, YOU could do this!"

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    1. No. He's the current sitting governor using the power of one of the most powerful of governing positions, more than most governors. He tried to strong arm her into power, so that two of the three major elected positions would be them as a couple. The hubris is far greater than if a former gov tried it. She was an obvious puppet. Not astute enough to understand that though.

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  12. Weird. I just saw a big blue US to type next to. I click, and it goes to my Profile page. I click Back and the regular comment area appears.

    Stitching you posted about a few years ago has been on my mind lately. It was decorative stitching patterns on cloth. I've always wanted to embellish using that method along with old doilies. Reading you post today, it is meant to be!

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    1. I wonder if it was blackwork? I did quite a bit a few years ago. I'd say go ahead and enjoy a bit of stitching.

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  13. That spaghetti looks five star, to me.

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  14. You remind me that I have Saturday's spaghetti/meatball leftovers in the fridge for today! Thanks. (Yours looks tasty!)

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    1. It's so nice to remember you don't have to cook today. And spaghetti and m can reheat nicely.

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  15. I really hope the voting dropboxes are well anchored down so nobody walks off with them. Must be something about spaghetti at the moment because we've been eating it too. Ours ended up being some of the noodle part in a pan of lasagna because RC ran out of 'proper' noodles.

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    1. All dropboxes are bolted to the paving on all four sides, mine under 24/7 camera surveillance at the next door police Department, and emptied daily by election officials with witnesses. I think we're okay.

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Please read the comments before yours and see if your question is already answered! I've reluctantly deleted the anonymous option, because it was being abused.