Friendships in your 30s are so much different than friendships in your 20s, and thank goodness for that. I hope my 40s are even better.
Kathy and I met 13 years ago when were pretty fresh out of college, working a random office job we’d found ourselves in together. We weren’t happy about it. Our entire early friendship was based on being unhappy. We were snarky, wanting to get on with being who we were going to be. We were restless.
Other posts on this project: Parisville Quilt Pt. 1, Parisville Quilt Pt. 2, Parisville Quilt Pt. 3, Parisville Quilt Pt. 4.
I so wish I’d taken better photos of this finished quilt, especially since I’ve been holding on to it since February 2013–which is when I finished it! My friend Kathy and I have birthdays two weeks apart, and that’s what this was originally for last February. I’ve seen her a couple of times since then, but we’ve either held off on exchanging presents or I’ve forgotten it completely. This is a testament to the kind of close friendships you can have in your thirties…you might not see each other as much as you see your friends in your 20s (we keep the love alive with snarky texts and Facebook comments), but you can deliver a gift almost two years late and still get hugs and love for it. We always pick up where we left off in the conversation.
Read more on The Finished Parisville Quilt; Or, Kathy’s Really Late Gift…
H and I had lunch yesterday with my good friend Kathy, a music journalist who is just so fierce–I’ll be posting more about her in the new year when she starts popping up on my television regularly. We ate at Spuntino, home of the supremely yummy small plates and burgers and truffle fries. She told me I’d “finally” posted another recipe (that baked ziti). Her devotion to this little blog of mine earns her all of the hugs and a quilt that I just delivered. More on that later. In the meantime, here is another recipe. I fully believe in giving the person what they want…or something?
I made these more than a month ago and have been waiting to post them to try and keep the secret, but I can wait no longer.
I’m finally getting the appeal of the mini quilt and mug rug phenomena.
When I was an art student in college my mother would come to visit and look at the giant 4′ or 5′ square paintings I was working on and beg me to paint smaller. She saw my grocery or power bill money flying out the window on huge quantities of paint. I would be aghast at the idea of trying to contain my artistic expression in the prison of a small canvas or something, I’m pretty sure I was insufferable about it. But it was inconceivable to me to think smaller. It still is, any time I think about a new project it tends to be full scale. This is definitely true of my quilting.
So I never understood the point of small scale quilts. I tried one once for a contest, but it didn’t really take. It’s also why I struggled with quilting bees. I need to get excited about the whole big picture to even think about making a block. But I have to say, Laura Ann’s mug rugs were kind of addictive. Then Kathy saw them and wanted some, too. Truth be told, since I’d bought her a French press for Christmas I was already pondering a pair of them for her February birthday. But I was not on the ball about winter birthdays this year with the arrival of The Sprout. So I just made her a pair over the weekend.
And. I. Love. Them. They’re so quick to make that it’s a great opportunity to practice quilting skills. Like binding, which is my Achilles’ heel. And patience, the biggest skill. Usually by the time I hit the quilting phase of a project I get lazy and don’t take enough care with my thread color choices or my corners. I mean, during the piecing phase I get lazy about my seams, too. And during the cutting phase…you get the idea. The bigger the scale, the more I fall down on the job as it drags on. I like things big, but I also like things quick! And these provide some much needed practice. My corners and binding are still terrible, but I learned a few things while making these. Read more on Kathy’s Mug Rugs…
I’ve had a lot of adventures lately, but since I’ve been neglecting this blog a little in favor of sleep and school mania they have gone undocumented. So I’m starting with something from this past weekend, the Brooklyn Book Festival. Kathy and I went on Sunday, and it was quite cool.