This week I've been glued to the television and I'm hating it! I find myself talking loudly to the commentators...the only effect being the cats raising their heads to see what the fuss is about and occasionally Macbeth with bark in sympathy. The generalization of America as a "gun culture," a phrase they keep repeating, is bit foreign to me. When I joined the army I had never touched a gun. I had never seen my Father or my brothers handle a gun (though my brothere later became a police officer and he did wear his gun into the house while in uniform but I also remember my Mother asking him to lock it in the book cabinet in the front hallway...it made her nervous to have it in the kitchen.) My husband, who is retired from the Air Force, is vocally opposed to gun ownership. So where is this gun culture?
They had an american journalist on mid-morning yesterday. He was trying to explain how big the campus is and how gun laws differ from state to state. In the end the newsreader just gave him a blank look and said well, that doesn't make sense. I want to reach through the TV and shake him! Anyway, I am stopping now...this is a quilting blog after all....
So what have I worked on while playing the angery couch potato....I finished the next block for the Fairford quilt sampler. We did 4 six-inch maple leaves. The top photo is of a very, very old UFO. (think early 90's!) The photo on the left is how I will lay them out for the sampler quilt. The next blocks are a pine tree and a basket. Some of the quilters in the group are really coming along with some nice quilts.I have also successfully removed the sampler from the frame...not an easy thing. The glass was touching the sampler so I decided not to wait getting the sampler out. First, there were dozens of tiny metal brads holding the back of the frame which took hours to carefully dig out. Then came a rather nasty surprise - when it was framed years and years ago they used one of those sticky mats that hold the needlework flat but in the long range are nasty for the piece. I was at a standstill. Fortunately one of my fellow dog walkers 
in the village knew a woman who had completed an embroidery guild apprenticeship. She came over for and helped me very carefully and very slowly remove the sampler from the backing. My fingernails may never recover since they were the only "tool" I got to use! We also removed some rather bad bad repairs. It was fun to see the colors on the back which are much brighter...there are some corals, several greens, and a darker blue that have all faded on the front of the piece. Here workmanship is very good, the back is almost as neat as the front! There was also a little family tree handwritten on paper that showed who she married and the next two generations.
in the village knew a woman who had completed an embroidery guild apprenticeship. She came over for and helped me very carefully and very slowly remove the sampler from the backing. My fingernails may never recover since they were the only "tool" I got to use! We also removed some rather bad bad repairs. It was fun to see the colors on the back which are much brighter...there are some corals, several greens, and a darker blue that have all faded on the front of the piece. Here workmanship is very good, the back is almost as neat as the front! There was also a little family tree handwritten on paper that showed who she married and the next two generations. I've ordered some acid free mounting board and today am going to the store and try and find some linen that matches the sampler. (The sampler is linen with silk threads.) My neighbor is going to come over next week and walk me though mounting the sampler and then I am going to drive her up to a fancy farm shop she has wanted to visit (she not longer drives.) Now I just have to figure out the frame part...
10 comments:
Thanks for that rant! I started trying to put my feelings down on my blog but I was getting too carried away so stopped. Japan is basically gunless so practically everyone I've come into contact with this week wants me to explain why America continues its "gun culture". I'm so fed up of trying to defend America.
Thank you too for visiting my blog. I hope to keep up with yours too from now on.
generalizations hurt every cutltural group -- and the USA is no different. Every nation has its stereotype, and none are truly fair... Many many Africans are not tribal warriors, many Russians are not heavy alchohol drinkers, many Canadians do not live in beautiful scenery and are not peacekeepers...
I try not to watch the news, because I either get really depressed or furious. I still hear what happens and pray for those involved, but I can't let myself be pulled down by it.
Keep going with the sampler restoration, it looks much better just being out of that modern frame.
That is so great that you found someone to help take care of that embroidery properly. And the family tree? How cool is that.
I try not to think about what the framers used in Cairo. I know they weren't worried about archival anything. Watched a guy use turpentine on one of my embroideries to get the hot glue off that was holding it to the backing. sigh.
That sampler is amazing! I am glad it found a home with someone who wants to take good care of it! It seems odd that the foreign press wants to identify America as a "gun culture". The shooter was obviously mentally ill. Maybe they think all Americans are mentally ill.
It is all so very sad - the BBC correspondent Matt Frei on the news last night tried to justify showing the students video tirade on the media and then promised that the BBC wouldn't put it on a loop for the sake of it - then they proceeded to show it several more times during the programme - don't you just hate the media? I feel that lots of Brits may well think that guns are way too easy to get hold of in the US and pontificate accordingly but hey how many gang shootings of teenagers in London have made the headlines over this side of the pond in the last month or so and our gun laws are so much tighter. I believe that if someone wanted to carry out something like this they'd get hold of the weapons no matter how tight the laws were. We had Dunblane in the early/mid 90's and Hungerford in the 80's so we understand some of the pain but it doesn't bring any of those victims back - again all so very sad.
Love the maple leaf blocks and how fascinating the things you're discovering with your sampler - you will be its ultimate salvation :o)
I do not watch the news, a few women at work watch it and let me know if something major comes up. I have been staying away from it for years and have not regretted it once. The sampler is beautiful.
Hey,
Why don't you take and post a picture of the backside?
Hugs,
Melinda
How wonderful that you've found someone to help you with the preservation of your wonderful sampler. The family tree to go with it is a real bonus -- you should find a way to keep that with it as well.
I understand your rant about television -- can't say I haven't been doing the same with the American coverage of events. Even though we live in that "gun culture" (ha -- the only weapons I grew up around were black powder weapons my father used for historical recreations) the American media aren't faring much better in covering the story.
How marvelous to have such a resource near you to help you restore this wonderful piece!
You know - that's why I never listen to the news any more. All I do is get angry, frustrated and depressed. It doesn't mean I feel any less horrified that others about the people who have died - both her and in the middle eastern was. I just figured I was helping no one and hurting myself by watching, so the right decision for me was to stop. I've never regretted it.
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