FemiKnitMafia

Thanks to M., I nearly snorfed my tea all over my desk this morning.

Go snorf for yourself.

And fess up in the comments — how many of these dances have you done?
I’ve done very nearly all of them … eek!

The Puma quilt is very nearly done, and an update is coming soon. I really needed some time with the pointy sticks, so I picked up Little Man’s socks-in-progress yesterday, and I’m feeling much more centered now.

3.5 hours of puncture wounds & debauchery

Dos Equis Amber
Tums (mostly gone)
Trader Joes dark chocolate (yes, that’s a pound. shut up! I’ve had it for a long time…)
my dear sweet love, Ms. Nano, playing my girl Brenda Dayne from Cast On.

decapitation: what happens when good needles go bad

post-decapitation ritual cursing at “quilting” needles and the installation of the good ol’ “standard” size

after the 7,000th bobbin eff-up in the last 48 hours

Holy shite, this might actually work!

Still to do:
-finish quilting
-applique one last piece of t-shirt material
-cut binding strips
-pin binding
-sew binding
-wash
-dry
-iron

The Puma Quilt countdown begins …

Front (apologies for the craptastic photos)

Back

Puma’s Mom and Sidekick are coming to my house on Wednesday evening to decorate the quilt with sequins and other such synchro swimmer adornments. Still to do:
-finish quilting
-applique one last piece of t-shirt material
-cut binding strips
-attach binding
-wash
-dry
-iron

Can she do it? Yes she can!

Since most of my weekend was spent at the machine - quilting, quilting, quiling - my mind is filled with fabric and thread today.

One of my Favorite Things is this quilt which hangs in Little Man’s bedroom and was designed by Wifey’s 29yo sister, Little.

Little started quilting many years ago, but has only taken it seriously in the last 5 years. An idle interest in mosaics morphed into her signature quilting style. Her mosaic quilts capture locales that hold meaning and memories for her loved ones and show the most amazing details. In a quilt for a dear friend, she showed his house and included the exact flowers that grace his front garden.

This quilt pays homage to the many weekends that Wifey and Little spent on their father’s boat in the Thousand Islands, near his childhood home of Watertown, NY. It also pays homage to the family’s love and cohesiveness. Her father (FolkMan), a penniless folk musician, who became a civil engineer late in life, grew up sailing with his 3 brothers and 3 sisters. As young adults, the boys (plus a new brother-in-law) decided to buy a boat, pooled their money for a down-payment, and took out a long-term loan. They’re now paying the loan on boat #2, and sailing has become a family legacy. Every spring the brothers convene for “The Bro’s Weekend” under the guise of getting the boat ready for the season. In actuality, they give her a little TLC, set sail, and spend the weekend drinking, smoking, playing music (or as FolkMan would say, “John scratches away at his fiddle”). Nearly every weekend during the summer, someone from the family clan, now spread across the northeast and beyond, takes the boat out to explore the Thousand Islands or to gently rock in the calm waters. And every fall, the Bros convene to pull her out of the water before the snow flies.

As new Bros were born into the extended family clan, many embraced the sailing lifestyle and committed to these mysterious weekend rituals. So when Little Man was born, FolkMan was delighted to have another “Bro” in the family and eagerly anticipated Little Man growing into his sea legs.

Although I initially resisted the idea of my Little Man heading out to sea with his grandfather and a bunch of other aging hippies for some chest-beating male-centered bonding, I know that these men love each other in a way that I’ve never seen before. I now hope that my Little Man will set sail every summer and learn the strange rituals of male love from the teddy bear Bros.

“The 5-foot-10 … comes with flowing red hair, knee-high red boots with spiked heels, and a form-fitting black outfit.”
Meow.

It’s Blogging for LGBT Families Day, so I’m blogging* for LGBT Families!

“What is Blogging for LGBT Families Day?
Blogging for LGBT Families Day is a time for bloggers to write about LGBT family issues and collectively raise awareness of LGBT families, our diverse nature, and how current prejudices and laws negatively impact our lives and children. I aim to make people more comfortable interacting with LGBT families and discussing LGBT families with their own. I also hope the event will make people more informed voters, showing them how their decisions at the polls directly affect the families in their communities.

When is it?
June 1, 2006. This date falls exactly between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. As such, it honors mothers and fathers equally, but also conveys that not all families fit into the traditional structure of one mother and one father. June 1 is also the start of LGBT Pride Month.”
-from Mombian’s post

I don’t have the brain cells to write a new post today. Just read the last two, which are pretty timely.

*I do whatever M. tells me to do. Thankfully she still doesn’t mind bossing me around.