Huzzah! We're 1/2 way through the 8 weeks. At this point, keeping a blog is really helping me keep the challenge. As you could probably tell from yesterday's blog, the cravings are coming fast and furious, so knowing that I have to report truthfully at the end of the day helps keep me from going to far astray.
Today is Saturday, which is farmers market day. We got loads of stuff today, including... wait for it... strawberries! It turns out that the rain didn't completely drown them and the last few days of warmer weather allowed some to ripen. Sweet! (Which they are!) So now I have strawberries for the next few days. Sadly, there are no more nectarines. No one had them today, nor will anyone have more until late July 2014. Ugh, that sounds so far away. I also got end of the season plums and some cherry tomatoes. On the plus side, Mutsu apples are finally in and pear season is in full swing. We also got butternut squash, onions, sage and basil, broccoli, as well as some bolo rolls from Grand Central Baking Company for our vegetarian sandwiches later in the week. Oh yeah!
It was an interesting food day, as well. Breakfast was the last of the ginger banana bread and a cup of green tea. Second breakfast was a root vegetable hand pie (although it was made with cheddar cheese). Brian had a tiny pie with egg, sun dried tomatoes, basil and feta. It was OK but mine was really good. After the farmers market, we took Max downtown and met my brother for lunch at Milo's City Cafe. I was looking forward to one of their pasta concoctions, but they have a very limited menu on the weekends - brunch only. Instead, I had a vegetarian hash with two eggs. It has been an egg filled week (I had a couple earlier on the waffle, two today, and most likely, I may have some for breakfast tomorrow) and I need to back off on them a bit. I've found that going out for breakfast makes it hard to not have eggs.
After a hilarious lunch with my brother, Brian and I went to the convention center to meet our family friend at the quit show. It was amazing. (There was no food there, so nothing to worry about on that front.) I learned so much about quilting today. Not in a "how to" way, but more of an art appreciation sort of thing.
Firstly, most of the stitching on quilts today is machine worked. It can be free hand or computer generated, depending on the quilt artist/technician. If it is done by hand, you need a super responsive machine that is light weight and easy to control. I tried my hand at the top model and was able to cursive spell my name on some fabric with just the lightest touch of guidance. That machine cost 16 thousand dollars! Not $1,600. $16,000.00!!! Holy sewing machine, Batman! The computer system to guide the machine is an extra 10 thousand. You have to be truly dedicated to this profession to make that kind of investment.
Secondly, it is oh so much more than taking someone's finished piecing (the fabric design of a quilt) and putting a decorative stitch to it. Even with the computer, you have to essentially rebuild the design in the computer, then create your stitching design on top of it. Just recreating the quilt design (that you or someone else created) can take hours and hours. Then designing the stitching on top of that takes even longer. It is a huge bunch of time. And folks who don't do the stitching do not place value on the work and expect a queen sized quilt to be stitched for $60.00. Some quilts take over 60 hours to stitch! It is really part technical skill mixed with talent and amazing amounts of patience.
Thirdly, there are endless combinations one can play with when creating a quilt. We saw one that was pieced together to form a forest with a stream and trees. The piecing must have taken forever to do, but that was the least of the quilt. There was stitching, embroidery, applique, and the use of tulle for depth. I was so glad our friend was there with us to give us a tour of each individual quilt, let alone the whole show. It was a mind blowing experience which I am super glad I had.
Lastly, did you know that once you start stitching a quilt, the fabric changes shape and size? So each section of the quilt has to be basted (sort of temporarily stitched down) to ensure it won't pull out of shape. Even with that, the quilter has to be really careful. This stuff was shockingly fascinating. If you haven't attended a quilt show with a quilter before, I would highly recommend it. Learning new things is good for your brain and keeps dementia at bay. And this stuff is cool and beautiful!
So, I got off track a tiny bit. Sorry. By the time we got home, Brian and I were exhausted so we had PB&J with bananas for dinner. It sounds sort of anticlimactic, but after the day we had, it was perfect. Sleep well and be healthy!
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