Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)
Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Kristin Sievert!
Kristin Sievert (KESinMN, #6020) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning an Intermediate Level Quilting Merit Badge!
“I fell in love with the paisley type fabrics. We thought a quilt pattern that allowed for large pieces to highlight those patterns would be best. I finally found an aardvark pattern and thought it would suit the fabrics.
I then started hunting for secondary (smaller print) & tertiary (more solid) fabrics to complement.
I volunteered to use this quilt as a sacrificial penguin on my mother’s new quilting machine. She got some practice on her new toy and I got my quilt quilted.
I quilted with a quilt group as well as my mother throughout the process. This was not a just a 20-hr project, it was more like 200 from first fabric purchase to finishing the binding.
Finding enough fabrics was the first challenge. Tertiary fabrics were easier than smaller prints for the secondary fabrics.
The diamond pattern was WAY harder than I thought. We ended up having plexiglass templates made to speed up the process.
The completed top sat for a while, then became a guinea pig for my mother to practice on her new quilt machine. Then the quilted project sat again because I was in no hurry to finish it.
When I decided to go after the Glamping badge, I realized this would make a good starting point.”
When was the last time you ‘yoisho’ed? I’m betting it was more recently than you think.
Like at the top of a mountain after a long hike, on a bed of clover. Or at the end of a work week that just felt like it would never end. Accountants experience it every April 16th, when tax season finally wraps up. Definitely, Santa Claus has his yoisho moments on each and every December 26th.
Yoisho
(phr.) A Japanese expression used when flopping onto a chair or bed or floor, usually after a hard day’s work, combined with a grunt or loud exhale.
Photo by unknown photographer via Wikimedia Commons.
It’s one of those nifty words that isn’t easily translated into English, but apparently, some Google-translated documents and/or books that have been translated into or from Japanese will translate our expression ‘sheesh!’ into ‘yoisho!’
Today, I discovered an in-the-works documentary that might just revolutionize our nation’s notions about elderly care, child care, and the power inherent at their intersection. The movie is called The Growing Season (formerly titled Present Perfect), and it is scheduled to be released later this year.
“Stepping into most any nursing home, it’s hard to ignore the sense of isolation one feels on behalf of the residents living there, and even harder to reconcile that with the fact that old age will inevitably come for us all. In our fast-paced, youth-obsessed culture, we don’t want to be reminded of our own mortality. It’s easier to look away,” begins project leader and Seattle University adjunct professor Evan Briggs.
She was inspired to delve into the concept of elderly care when she learned about the Mount Intergenerational Learning Center in Seattle, an award-winning child-care program located on a campus that is also home to more than 400 senior residents.
Photo, thegrowingseasonfilm.com
“When I heard about the Mount and its Intergenerational Learning Center, I was struck by the simple perfection of the concept. I was further intrigued by the idea that with neither past nor future in common, the relationships between the children and the residents exist entirely in the present,” Briggs explains. “Despite the difference in their years, their entire sense of time seems more closely aligned. As busy, frazzled, perpetually multi-tasking adults, we are always admonished to live ‘in the moment’. But what does that mean? And with the endless distractions provided by our smart phones and numerous other devices, how can we? I was curious to observe these two groups, occupying opposite ends of the life spectrum, to see firsthand what it meant for them to simply be present with each other.”
Briggs says that The Growing Season explores the experience of aging in America—both growing up, and growing old—and captures the subtleties and complexities of children’s interactions with their elderly counterparts. She challenges viewers to consider what value a person offers to others throughout his or her life. “Are we asking for the right contributions from each other? How do we measure and define a successful life?” she asks. “While this film doesn’t shy away from confronting some difficult realities, it is ultimately a life-affirming story of hope that, we believe, just might lead to serious positive change.”
Here’s a sneak peek:
You can also pre-purchase a digital download of the film to help support the project on IndieGoGo.com.
Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)
Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Heather Bedford!
Heather Bedford (nnfolkways, #7462) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning a Beginner Level UFOs Merit Badge!
“I was working on de-cluttering my craft area when I realized I had several unfinished projects. I placed each project worth continuing in a bag along with necessary supplies (I started with 11). A few days later, I grabbed a bag and got to work. I worked on it off-and-on for about two days when I was able to squeeze in a few minutes to myself.
It turned out well. The purse started as a market bag, but I didn’t like the way it seemed to bulge. I then decided it would be a purse and went off pattern to add a different style strap and enclosure.”
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
