This morning, this beautiful quilt arrived in my inbox from kattails:
The Christmas quilt I finally finished a couple of weeks ago. The piecing was done by at least four different women, there are four names in the seam allowances on back. Two were dated: 1989 and 1997. I “inherited” the quilt top when a neighbor’s mother passed away, lots of stuff given away. The top had been put together.
Quilters will notice quite a bit of “fussy cutting” where a specific section of a printed pattern was carefully cut to repeat within the star. I’m NOT a quilter, but my own Mom just goes nuts decorating.
This year I finally put the batting and backing together, tied it, and sent it off. Same fabric passed around for years, used in such different ways. I suspect they ran out of the dominant green border at the very end, because the upper right star contains a more recent fabric. The front: (it’s lap size, about 50 x 65”)
A closeup of the back of one of the most intricate squares, the feather star, center right in the first photo.
Going to be a quiet day here. Holiday movies, standing rib roast, writing Christmas cards, and hopefully staying offline most of the day. I’ll be so glad to see the backend of 2020….as I’m sure you all are.
What are y’all up to?
Open thread
Nicole
Wonder Woman 1984 drops in an hour! I know what we’re doing this afternoon.
TaMara (HFG)
I’m just giving up on formatting. There were paragraphs in there somewhere before I hit publish, but you guys can figure it out. Off to let the ducks out, since the temps are now about 27. They will bitch at me the entire time because they don’t understand why they are confined when the sun has come up. I try to explain to them their little feet will freeze (their downy bodies stay toasty warm). They are unmoved.
debbie
What a beautiful quilt! 😍
laura
Stunning stitchery- that is a beautiful quilt.
Merry Christmas to all of you all. Let’s hope for better days ahead.
gbbalto
Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to all, and best hopes for the return of the light!
MomSense
That quilt is amazing!
Kid just opened guitar – and is sooooooo happy.
Mousebumples
@TaMara (HFG): if their feet are frozen, they are also likely to be unmoved. 😅
Sorry, couldn’t resist the bad joke. 😉
HinTN
Indeed
Standing rib roast here, too. The oven just sang out that it’s reached 450. The thing goes in fifteen minutes from now and the kitchen pace steadily increases.
Merry Christmas!
Sloane Ranger
Love the quilt.
Finished the first course of my Christmas lunch (pork and all the trimmings) just in time to watch the Queen’s Christmas speech and now contemplating microwaving the pudding.
narya
Merry happy to everyone–particularly loved the Beethoven below. I’ve seen it before, but it always raises goosebumps for me.
I’m cleaning things up, after a week of baking and such–going to send off a package to my parents next week, including sauerkraut and venison summer sausage and cookies and more cookies. A friend who has quarantined for 8 days (and no known exposure and constant mask usage) will be over later.
I’m so grateful for this space and for all of you. It was the ONE place I could come to during the election season, and I loved seeing you all during the Thanksgiving zooms. Thank you to our BlogFather and to all of the front pagers and behind-the-scenes elves who keep it all running; I appreciate you
ETA: beautiful quilt! If anyone has info on how to properly hang/preserve a quilt, I would be grateful; I have one my mom made for me
ETA2: I shared the kitchen post w/ my mom, who loved it and read all the comments, so thanks for that, too!
Leto
@Nicole: HELL YEAH! I’ve been so excited for this!
Avalune and I got up, exchanged gifts, then we popped into the kitchen where I made Mary Berry’s Yule Log (with much needed help from Avalune because she’s a very good baker). It’s currently resting on the window sill, along with the ganache topping, and I’ll finish it up here in about 30. Next will be starting the ham and rest of Christmas dinner items (Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, and green beans).
kattails: love that quilt!
Happy Christmas everyone!
jnfr
Lovely quilt with an even better quilt story.
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it! Mr. J is on a three-week vacation and we intend to mostly laze around the house as usual.
NotMax
You can always buck them up by telling them they’re in okay company, as both Dan Ackroyd and Ashton Kutsher have webbed feet.
(Don’t let them know that Josef Stalin did, too.)
;)
WaterGirl
@MomSense: I can’t believe you were able to wait until Christmas! I would have caved and given it to him early. I admire your resolve!
Kristine
Lovely quilt.
Silly ducks.
Blueberry pancake breakfast. Walking with friends in a few hours. Then home to filet, baked potato, veg, and no bake lemon tartlets (bought phyllo shells and jarred lemon curd. I’ll make a topping with Greek yogurt, vanilla, and cinnamon). Sunny here, with temp in the teens. Looks like whatever snow there was has blown away or melted.
Merry Christmas/peaceful Friday to all.
Quantumman
Car bomb in Nashville this morning.
zhena gogolia
@MomSense:
Oh, great!
My husband and I agreed not to give each other gifts. So he got me Obama’s book, a book about Biden, and the new Cary Grant biography.
Major Major Major Major
I just woke up, myself. Probably get japanese or, failing that, chinese for dinner—we have lots of leftover roast but I don’t want that for two meals in one day.
Oh, and what a gorgeous quilt!
zhena gogolia
@Major Major Major Major:
So beautiful. He always retains his dignity.
Miss Bianca
Christmas arrived at the Mountain Hacienda with little fanfare this year – ok, even littler than usual. Big Christmas dinner will be a piece of sushi-grade tuna steak I had in the freezer along with some steamed edamame beans. Chased with either the last of the martini fixings or New Belgium’s holiday beer, Oakspire, which is decidedly tasty. Waiting to record the repeat airing of our radio play tonight at 6 pm MST (8 PM EST!) – last night was plagued with technical glitches, I have a feeling that the Christmas spirits were playing with us! But even at that, it sounded better than I remembered. : )
Christmas quilt is lovely, makes me wish I were handy with a needle.
Other than that, just chilling. I may do a very relaxed restorative yoga session later that I found on Youtube – Winter Solstice Yoga! I liked it because the instructor kept emphasizing that this is the time of year to kick back and not try so hard to be productive – eat more, sleep more, relax more, it’s good for you! I am totally on board with this message!
Danielx
Working on a GOOD Irish coffee, waiting for late breakfast casserole to come out of the oven, watching the cats wreak havoc amongst the bags and tissue paper. After late breakfast getting crockpot Italian beef going for nommy sammitches later.
AND it’s ten degrees and we have a sorta white Christmas!
rikyrah
Christmas greetings from the Bidens
https://youtu.be/eS5CaAkgkys
rikyrah
The quilt is beautiful😍😍
Miss Bianca
@Major Major Major Major: Oh, so cute! I can’t even imagine any of the kitties that I had holding still for being stuffed into holiday garb, what a good boy is Samwise!
rikyrah
@Major Major Major Major:
Samwise is gorgeous😻😻
Miss Bianca
@Mousebumples: That’s almost NotMax-worthy. And I mean that in the best possible way.
@MomSense: Christmas guitar!! Yay! Let the shredding begin!!
laura
@MomSense: more details please! First song? Best gift ever? Hugs? Enquiring minds would love to know….
rikyrah
@HinTN:
Standing rib roast😋😋😋😋
Major Major Major Major
Looks like Twitter is arguing about Love Actually again. Regardless of your thoughts on it: There are so many Christmas movies with big stars that are so much worse; why does everyone fixate on this one? Is it just a millennial/Gen x thing?
eclare
@Major Major Major Major: Such a velvety looking coat…
rikyrah
@Major Major Major Major:
I still crack up at Die Hard being considered a Christmas movie
Major Major Major Major
@rikyrah: I saw a poll the other day that said more people consider Die Hard to be a Christmas movie than Gremlins—which is not only better, but also EXPLICITLY A CHRISTMAS MOVIE. Sigh!
zhena gogolia
@Major Major Major Major:
I really don’t know. Why does it anger people so? Looking at imdb comments, they seem to really be offended by Kiera Knightley kissing Andrew Lincoln.
Miss Bianca
@rikyrah: IKR? And I can’t believe how many jackals say they are planning to watch it today
@Major Major Major Major: I’ve never actually seen “Love, Actually”. I keep meaning to, and then never quite getting around to it. So, I have no dog in this particular fight. Yet.
Kathleen
@zhena gogolia: I adore all three of them! I’m jealous!
zhena gogolia
@Kathleen:
Yeah, it’s pretty cool.
zhena gogolia
@Miss Bianca:
I think it’s totally charming. So many great comic performances from Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Bill Nighy, even Martin Freeman as a porn actor! For me it’s total catnip.
ETA: Well, strictly speaking he’s not a porn actor but just a standin for lighting purposes.
WaterGirl
Tucker is busy tearing the arms and legs and ears off of his new Christmas baby, while Henry wants to snuggle them. They have three new ones, collectively, because just like dog beds, you always need one more than the number of dogs.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl:
Adorable!
Nancy
@narya:
You said it so well; I am feeling so fortunate to have found this community.
Wishes for a happier new year.
laura
For my taste- the best Christmas movie is 84 Charing Cross Road. Ann Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins – just a beautiful, melancholy, wistful story. Try it, you’ll like it. It’s on the youtubes.
WaterGirl
@Major Major Major Major: Do not tell Samwise that I laughed when i looked at that picture. He truly is a handsome fellow, always dapper, no matter what he is wearing.
MomSense
@laura:
Tears, smiles, and now just non stop playing. I’ll send WG a photo.
Kathleen
That quilt is simply gorgeous!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all. It’s freezing in Cincy and half assed snowlets are swirling in the gusty winds. I mean really. Precipitation needs to make a commitment. Snow or don’t snow, damn it. I’ll be Microsoft Teaming with the the Florida family contingent later today and am looking forward to the baked Sausage Ricotta Pasta bake and cheesecake I got from my favorite coffee shop/cafe downtown for my Christmas dinner. Much too cold to run outside this morning but I got two outside runs in this week.
Cermet
Very nice quilt.
My step daughter decided to get us a 47″ flat screen – while I’m not a big one for cable/TV but certainly will use it for a few shows. She made out since she got a SUV (used) from her grandmother – that was a thrill since she isfinishing her first semester of college (at home.) However, they might start in school classes this spring she finally just got her driver licenes and needed a car at that point.
Horrible about the car bomb – zero dought it was a rightwing tRump terrorist; in comments many rightwingers are saying don’t jump to conclusions – right. Like they don’t.
Kattails
Silly ducks! Adorable Samwise!
It’s been in the 60’s, raining all night, it took down most of the 18″of snow we got a few days ago, so I spent some time cleaning out overflowing ditches (long private driveway sigh). Now back to work on projects. Sis and I hoping to get together tomorrow.
Here is another cute critter video, guy giving a deer a helping hand.
I can’t claim anything for that quilt but putting it together, all the fancy work was done by others, but it feels good to have it out in the light and being used.
Major Major Major Major
@WaterGirl: aww!
Miss Bianca
@zhena gogolia: That cast alone makes it a “Will Watch, Eventually” for me.
@WaterGirl: Aww! We tried getting a leather rabbit for Roxy the Wolf Girl the other day – D thought she needed a toy of her own, since Watson hogs and hoards all the others – but she just stared at it, bemused. I think dog toys must be a taste acquired as pampered puppies, because most of my adult rescues don’t seem to get the attraction. (And even Watson seems to be slowing down – the only toy he ever eviscerates these days is if we get him a Lamb Chop stuffie. The others – his piggie, his bunny, etc – he chews on but has so far left intact.)
MattF
Watched Queen’s Gambit (Netflix) last weekend, still thinking about it. Rewatching some parts, reading reviews. This YouTube ‘essay’ stands out.
WaterGirl
Guess who is playing their new guitar from MomSense?
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl:
Oh, so beautiful!
jnfr
@Major Major Major Major:
The movie where Alan Rickman breaks Emma Thompson’s heart? I hates it forever!
We had our ritual holiday viewing of “Die Hard” last night.
Miss Bianca
@WaterGirl: Nice!!
Kathleen
@WaterGirl: Love it! Great pic.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
That’s a nice-looking axe!
Kathleen
@WaterGirl: Doggies are so cute.
Major Major Major Major
@Cermet:
And they are correct. The facts will be out soon enough.
ETA Oh, this is a Something Good thread, so I’ll shut up now.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: @debbie: @Kathleen: @Miss Bianca:
You guys all know that’s the guitar from MomSense to her son, right?
So gorgeous!
Faithful Lurker
@narya: The best way to hang a quilt is to sew a fabric tube to the top of the back, run a rod through and hang it from the ends of the rod. If you’re going to store it DO NOT fold it and leave it that way. The creases will be set in and never come out. The best way to store quilts is to roll them around a pool noodle or roll them however you can. There are other ways to hang quilts, it depends on the size. Big quilts are startling heavy. You can sew triangles on the corners and put a rod into the triangles, this only works for small light quilts. Or sew loops across the top, etc. This is more information than you probably want, but there’s lots more stored in the Google.
Merry Christmas. Our snow is melting and rain is coming. I made a confit with turkey thighs..we’ll see how that turns out.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@laura: I don’t think of that as a Christmas movie, but I agree that it is a wonderful movie with two fine actors. I read the book as well and was amazed that it could be adapted for film.
Ah, I do remember some Christmas elements. She sends a Christmas ham to the bookstore staff. Their reaction is how I learned that meat shortages were still a thing in England well into the 50s, long after the war was over.
Kattails
@WaterGirl: wonderful–guitar photo! Also adorable pups.
eclare
@WaterGirl: Awesome!
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl:
Yes. She’s been hiding it somewhere in the house for a while.
SiubhanDuinne
@Sloane Ranger:
The Queen’s Christmas speech is always soothing. I watched it a few minutes ago, and she didn’t disappoint. Lovely rendition of “Joy to the World” at the end, and the video editing throughout, as always, was excellent.
https://youtu.be/TbHdrC-ZkbQ
JPL
@WaterGirl: How cool is that!! Thanks for posting the pic for all of us to enjoy. Lucky boy.
PST
One more here preparing a standing rib roast. I’m going for the so-call reverse sear, where you roast it more or less all day long at 200 or so until it reaches 125 in the center, then let it rest for an hour or so, and finally finish it off by blasting it at 500 or more in a convection oven for ten minutes to sear the outside immediately before serving. I’ve done it before in someone else’s oven, but we finally got a first class oven ourselves and I’m trying to make good use of it.
eclare
@SiubhanDuinne: Thank you for the link, going to watch now.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@laura: Speaking of melancholy, we have an ongoing lesson in mortality and how our stuff outlives us going on across the street. Our beloved 95-year-old neighbor died a few years ago, and her son died this summer of Covid and a host of other long-term health issues. Since then we’ve watched the family come and go, the estate sale people come and go, and now (yes, on Christmas Day) we’re watching a crew fill a dumpster with what remains, which is considerable.
All fuel for lots of thoughts about Stuff, and how I really have to get back to my project of trying to reduce the worst of it.
WaterGirl
@JPL: You guys all know the you can click once on the photo to open it on a page, and the click again to enlarge it to see all the details. Right?
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
And the guitar’s not bad, either.
JPL
The quilt is a beautiful labor of love.
The older son and I prepared braised cabbage together by the magic of zoom. It’s now in the oven for a hour. Last weekend we cooked outside and exchanged our gifts. Yesterday morning my other son, his wife and grand imp came over for brunch. They quarantined, so Carter could visit his grand parents. The imp won’t be two until February, but he is at the age where he’s thinking this Christmas stuff is okay.
WaterGirl
Not all pets accept their holiday costumes happily. This from my best friend just now.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: ha!
laura
@MomSense: Behold! It is beautiful and your son looks good too. It’s a rare thing to find the just right something for someone, savor this and know that you are bound up in every note, every shred, and every time he’ll get to tell the story of how he and his guitar first met.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
That’s not how I pictured Amir Khalid.
Amir Khalid
@WaterGirl:
Momsense chose well. That is a cherry-red Epiphone ES-335, a wonderful instrument that I know her son will enjoy. Happy New Guitar Day to him.
Nicole
@Major Major Major Major: Love, Actually inspired this absolutely hilarious take on it. I don’t like the movie, but I’m glad it exists because without the movie there is no this and this made me laugh very hard:
https://jezebel.com/i-rewatched-love-actually-and-am-here-to-ruin-it-for-al-1485136388
SHIRT
eclare
@WaterGirl: That face!
JPL
Has trump blamed the President-elect for the bombing in Nashville? If Biden hadn’t cheated on the election, the right would not have needed to fight back.
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
I ain’t that young anymore.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
The present I’m most proud of this year: Elton John’s Jewel Box collection. My bride is a big Elton John fan, so when I heard about this release this year, I leaped on it.
Only problem is, I bought it in electronic form, and am giving it to her via the family share on my iTunes (which Apple has inexplicably renamed “Music” though it seems to look and act the same). How do you wrap that?
I decided to print out the contents of that web page, which is the only thing I’ve found that gives the complete contents, and wrap the printout.
I would have thought by now, since the world has switched to distributing music digitally, that there would be some standard way to include liner notes for digitized CDs. Or any way at all. But that seems to be lagging behind.
Tdjr
@WaterGirl: That is so nice!
JPL
@WaterGirl: That is hilarious.
WaterGirl
@Baud: hahahahaha!
zhena gogolia
@SiubhanDuinne:
Haha, you dirty old lady :)
WaterGirl
@eclare: Someone. Is. Not. Pleased. But I still think it’s an adorable photo, which probably makes me a bad person.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
My reaction was, “somebody gave Justin Trudeau a guitar for Christmas?”
laura
@MomSense: Behold! It is beautiful and your son looks good too. It’s a rare thing to find the just right something for someone, savor this and know that you are bound up in every note, every shred, and every time he’ll get to tell the story of how he and his guitar first met.
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: yes, the things of our lives – our next door neighbor just went into care and all his possessions were suddenly “just stuff.” We lost another neighbor a few weeks back and her family just did the last cart out this week.
And yes – it was the gift hamper to the book seller’ staff that just gets me in all my feels. That movie and the 1966 version of A Christmas Memory are my dearest holiday movies because they are simple stories that need no gilding.
WaterGirl
@Amir Khalid: “I am Amir Khalid, and I approve this purchase.”
zhena gogolia
@Nicole:
I love the movie but this is cracking me up! It’s very accurate.
But I don’t care!
Nicole
@zhena gogolia:
I totally empathize. The list of movies I love that I know are chock full of flaws but I don’t care I love them anyway is long. I once wrote an ode to Cocktail.
Glad you’re enjoying the piece; it really cracked me up the first time I read it and still makes me laugh. “DAD I WON SOMETHING BE HAPPY FOR ME.”
zhena gogolia
@Nicole:
zhena gogolia
@Nicole:
And we’re going to watch it tonight! Take that!
JMG
@PST: Reverse sear is definitely the way to go for rib roast.
Martin
@JPL: I’m assuming someone finally had it with AT&T. And I get that.
Die Hard, Elf, and Christmas Vacation are all you really need for Christmas movies.
Major Major Major Major
@zhena gogolia: oh no, not fudging! That never happens in Christmas movies! Truly the film is unique in that regard.
Do yall think Bad Santa holds up?
Amir Khalid
@Nicole:
It’s all too easy to lose sight of the fact that a critic is really just another moviegoer like you, only they get paid to opinionate in public. If you enjoy a movie, then it’s a good movie no matter what the critics say.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
Of course.
zhena gogolia
@Major Major Major Major:
It’s a totally ridiculous critique, but very amusingly written.
I’ve never seen Bad Santa.
Nicole
@Amir Khalid: Oh, I disagree. Cocktail is an objectively terrible movie, and I love every terrible minute of it. I am perfectly capable of holding “this is a bad movie” and “that I am enjoying immensely” in my brain at the same time. I contain multitudes.
To that effect, I love CinemaSins’ “Everything Wrong With…” pieces on Youtube. The funniest ones they do are the bad movies, but even the ones that are everything wrong with really great films, like The Silence of the Lambs, are fun watches.
eclare
@Major Major Major Major: I watched it last night, I think so. But I’m a big Thornton fan.
Martin
@Nicole: Someone needs to replace all of Alan Rickman’s scenes in Love Actually with Hans Gruber and release that as the ultimate Christmas movie.
Has Trump pardoned Hans Gruber yet?
raven
@Nicole: I was looking at reviews for “Same Old Lang Syne “ by Dan Fogelberg and hit one that scorched it for being the “worst Christmas song ever” and noted
Yutsano
@Major Major Major Major: Yes we’re torturing you on Twitter. But it’s all in good fun right?
EDIT: get Japanese. Some miso soup, karaage, and Japanese style fried rice sounds delicious.
Major Major Major Major
@Yutsano: of course!
narya
@Major Major Major Major: Yes. But I absolutely loathe Christmas Vacation. All of the vacation movies, actually.
Nicole
@raven: That’s amazing. I don’t know the song. My dad preferred his 8-track mix tapes to the radio so my knowledge of music 1970-1980 is not strong, but I just looked up the lyrics and… holy cow. Now I have to go listen to the song.
As a novice guitarist, I have spent plenty of time noodling through “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane,” as it’s 4 chords, but just this month I realized that the narrator of the song is a TERRIBLE PERSON. John Denver was lucky Peter Paul & Mary made that song a hit and Mary Travers’ incomparable alto could make one not notice the person singing the song is, really, a total asshole.
(“Leavin’ on a Jet Plane” was on ALL of my dad’s 8-track mixes)
TomatoQueen
I’ve decided to view A Christmas Carol in all its forms today, wandering the channels. Also getting up every 15 minutes to stir the Party Mix, original recipe (sort of). Game hen sitting in the sink to thaw for dinner, did I explain that Aldi gave me five of them when I ordered only one? Various side dishes in my head, probably will open some Campari tomatoes or some cranberry in the can. That is a fabulous quilt and a wonderful story behind it. And Samwise is a lovely man. Someday maybe Merlin will consent to an xmas costume, just long enough for a picture. Oh hahahahahahahahaha silly me.
Merry Xmas.
Kathleen
@Nicole: OMG this is hilarious! But I don’t think Liam Neeson is Emma Thompson’s brother. Emma Thompson’s brother is Hugh Grant. So to me the mystery of Emma’s & Liam’s relationship is not clear. I can’t believe I typed that with a straight face.
raven
@Nicole: Dan was from Peoria but was in Champaign-Urbana a great deal back in the day. He was an extremely talented musician and singer and died way too soon. Here’s Longer.
taumaturgo
May the homeless be housed, the hungry be fed, the sick, healed, the angry, assuage, the sad, be joyful, the lonely, accompanied, and the privileged, be kind. Happy Holidays.
zhena gogolia
@Kathleen:
They’re just friends.
raven
@Nicole: If you like pickin check out his bluegrass album and the incredible lineup
Cermet
@raven: I too could find flaws but no matter what I say or think about belittling it – that still is a really wonderful song to listen to.
Kathleen
@Nicole: As a fan of 60’s folk music all the men in folk songs were assholes but since men wrote and performed them they were just rambly wandering guys who felt compelled to leave their “loves” behind because they were cool, tortured and manly dontcha know. Lindy could do a great number on 60’s folk songs (including Dylan’s). I can’t believe I sang and internalized a lot of that crap all those years
raven
@Cermet:
Leader of the band is damn good too.
Kathleen
@zhena gogolia: Thank you! I thought I was losing my mind there for a minute.
trollhattan
@raven:
Hilarious. “Frozen foods.”
Worst Christmas song covers a LOT of territory and my only stipulation is “Must include being sung by Mariah Carey.”
Want something oversung, she’s your gal.
Kathleen
@raven: I really like Leader of the Band. That is a great song.
Bishop Bag
Merry Christmas Everyone!
My copy of The Grateful Dead’s Dave’s Picks Vol 26 with the Bonus Disc was delivered last evening! Yay! The Ann Arbor, MI 12 14 1971 Bonus disc is Wonderful…So good to hear a relatively healthy Pig Pen tear up the show! Pig doing “Rum Rudolph Run’ is a joy! One of the last good Pig Pen shows before we lost him…
raven
@Bishop Bag: Dick’s Picks?
UncleEbeneezer
@Amir Khalid: This is making me miss my Epiphone Les Paul and 335’s that I never should have sold :(
mrmoshpotato
@Martin: Where’s A Charlie Brown Christmas? Or Garfield Christmas Special?
UncleEbeneezer
This morning I received : 1.) a collapsible steamer tray (for veggies, dim sum etc.) and a 2.) Japanese Donabe (stove-top, clay rice cooker). These will both make our somewhat regular Asian-inspired meals so much easier (The steamer we have is big, metal, clunky and a pain to get out/clean. And we often use our dutch oven to make rice which complicates things when also making broth).
Major Major Major Major
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@raven:
We’re big Fogelburg fans here and his Christmas album, The First Christmas Morning is an important part of the holiday for us. Sting is another guy who explores an amazing range of musical styles, and his Christmas album If on a Winter’s Night is another staple for us.
@narya: I mostly detest Chevy Chase and agree with you about the Vacation movies (though the original National Lampoon story by John Hughes was pretty good) but Christmas Vacation is the best of the lot. Also I’m an Aunt Bethany fan since discovering that the actress, Mae Questal, was both Betty Boop and Olive Oyl, and had quite the voice career. In fact, it’s an all round great cast.
Nicole
@Kathleen: Very true! And yet I still love so many of those songs.
In the 1970s, rock critic Ellen Wills proposed the Willis Test, by which you could determine the inherent misogyny in a song by flipping the gender of the person singing it (“Under My Thumb,” for example, works with a woman singer, while “Wide World” doesn’t work so well). My husband and I play that game when we do karaoke and you know, there are a not insignificant number of songs that are improved when you flip the gender.
“Leavin’ on a Jet Plane,” I would venture, passes the Willis Test.
eclare
@trollhattan: Agree 1000%. And yet every year All I Want For Christmas Is You reappears on the charts.
Major Major Major Major
@eclare: That’s because it’s one of the best Christmas songs. I will not be taking questions at this time.
UncleEbeneezer
@TomatoQueen: Make sure to watch the recent FX version with Guy Pearce. It’s great.
Bishop Bag
@raven:
Dave Lemieux took over the Grateful Dead Archives after Dick Latvala died in 1999. so now the releases are Dave’s Picks.
WaterGirl
@Major Major Major Major: I don’t get that. What am I missing?
Miss Bianca
@WaterGirl: Hell yeah, I knew! That axe is a dead ringer for one that I have hanging on my wall and haven’t played in way too long – might be time to bust it out today!
WorkingOnIt
@zhena [email protected]: Their kids to go the same school…
JPL
@zhena gogolia: The part about Sam running to say by to his love is totally true though. Don’t believe the naysayers.
Major Major Major Major
@WaterGirl: Revelation 4:8
Ezekiel 10:12
Isaiah 6
GregMulka
eclare
@Major Major Major Major: Hahaha…to each his/her own!
schrodingers_cat
@GregMulka: Wacom one? I am thinking of getting it. I already have the Wacom intuous.
debbie
@TomatoQueen:
I tried defrosting mine in the refrigerator, but it won’t be thawed in time. Do you use cold water or hot water and how long does that take?
Miss Bianca
@SiubhanDuinne: That was my thought. “Nice! – oh, yeah, so’s the guitar.” ; )
WaterGirl
@Major Major Major Major: No wonder I didn’t understand! Thank you.
debbie
@Major Major Major Major:
I’ve had better-looking nightmares!
Leto
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: John Hughs also wrote Christmas Vacation.
@MomSense: what music does he like?
Brachiator
Watching the new Wonder Woman movie.
Miss Bianca
@Nicole: Road House is my go-to example of “this movie is all kinds of wrong, and that’s what makes it sooooo right.” It’s a Zen koan posing as a stupid action flick. Or, even more tantalizingly, maybe it’s a stupid action flick posing as a Zen koan!
Plus, Sam Elliott in feral ass-kickin’ mode with hippie hair – ROWR.
Nicole
@Miss Bianca: Oh my God, Road House! One of my regrets of my life in NYC is that I did not get out to see the musical version of it that ran off-off B’way some years back.
I did see Point Break in a bar (with a member of the audience chosen at random to play the Keanu Reeves character), which was excellent. Especially the sky-diving scene.
Mike in NC
We’ve gone through our mandatory Christmas movies, and for no particular reason will watch Gladiator later tonight.
Miss Bianca
@Nicole:
Oh.My.God.
A STAGE MUSICAL version of Road House…? I…I can’t even. “It’s like Footloose, but with more gang murders!”
Oh, man, oh, man. I have *got* to tell my ex – he’s the one who introduced me to this movie, damme!
ETA: Ah, I see the “off-off-Broadway” aspect. Probably an indication that the snark/cheeze factors were probably in pretty good balance! Yes, missing that would be a regret, indeed!
Origuy
Jingle Bell Rock on the bagpipes. Merry Christmas, you jackels!
Luciamia
For dinner, duck breast and gnocchi with sage butter. Sorry that I didn’t get around baking any Stollen yet. I miss it today. So will start marinating the fruit. Before I use up all the booze in th hot toddies.
eclare
Miss Bianca
@eclare: I would like to see that. I came to Bee Gees love late in life, but it sure hard me hard when it got here! Their 60s stuff particularly – some of their psychedelia is really out there.
@Origuy: Did you have to? I mean, REALLY?!
trollhattan
@Major Major Major Major:
Heh. [hoser]
She’s the Madonna of Michael Boltons.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Major Major Major Major: I love that! probably not scary enough
Bishop Bag
@Mike in NC: Good Call! ‘Gladiator’ the great scene where he is riding the horse back to find his family murdered was filmed in the Alabama Hills with the Sierras standing in for the Pyrenees Mountains. Beautiful scenery and the Lone Pine locals all loved Russell Crow while he was in town.
Major Major Major Major
@WaterGirl: I feel like they were all on shrooms.
MomSense
@Leto:
I think the center for him is blues – think T Bone Walker, BB King, Magic Sam, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf. but also Memphis Soul, Rock n Roll and country.
Leto
@Miss Bianca: There’s a really good HBO doc about the BeeGees. Covers everything.
John Cole
Wait does kattails sell these? Take commissions?
Leto
@MomSense: A recommendation for a modern take on classic rock: Wolfmother, their first album. Band out of Australia that channels a lot of 60s rock with some spectacular guitar riffs. The whole album is gold but from a guitar point of view it’s very nice. You can hear a number of different influences but a lot of solid guitar work.
Back to the ham…
zhena gogolia
@Major Major Major Major:
Yes, it is. I guess Dolly Parton sings it on this year’s album. I’d love to hear that
ETA: Here it is. It’s with Jimmy Fallon, unfortunately.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZfANwI9EwI
zhena gogolia
@zhena gogolia:
Nevertheless, Dolly does it beautifully.
raven
@Bishop Bag: Aha, I had no idea, thanks!
sab
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I closed up my parents’ large house of fifty years a couple of years ago. They had absorbed a lot of their parents stuff who had absorbed their parents stuff. What a mess.
I found my great grandmother’s notes from nursing school in an old desk, another great grandmother’s demitasse set in a very old shoe box, amd yet another great gramdmother’s silver tea service in a sugar chest in the dining room. We never knew any of that stuff was there.
I think my mother was depressed for decades afterwards because she could never quite get the house in order after all that stuff came in.
zhena gogolia
@WorkingOnIt:
Right.
Sister Golden Bear
@Nicole: Tina Turner did an awesome version of “Under My Thumb.”
Nicole
@Sister Golden Bear:
Oh wow, I’m totally going to check that out. I love Tina Turner. Thanks for telling me!
Kathleen
@Nicole: Flipping the gender. Now that’s interesting ! My 60’s self would have never thought of that!
Kathleen
@WorkingOnIt: Ah! That’s right. But I’ve always looked for additional connection whenever I’ve watched the movie.
Kathleen
@eclare: It is absolutely fantastic! I forgot how much I liked the Bee Gees. Those harmonies!
Kattails
@John Cole: Hi, Merry Christmas, and thanks for thinking of me!! But I mentioned that I really didn’t do the primary work on this. I can sew OK but quilting is not my thing, it would take me so much longer than someone who makes a lot of them. A friend’s mother had been an avid quilter and when she passed, the daughter handed out her stuff to anyone interested and I took the completed top. Took me like 6 years to get around to putting the batting and backing on, bind and tie it.
I can’t imagine that in WV you couldn’t find local quilters who could do something similar given a photo. Google “quilt or fabric stores near me”. They’ll know who the regular local people are, who have the sewing machines and skills to do all the neat, fussy stuff. There are so many “star” pattern variations, it’s one of the fun things about this one, 12 different variations using the same fabrics. In this one, the individual blocks are 12″ square, the entire quilt is 46 x 58″. This is a nice lap/couch size. I used cotton batting; you can specify things like that, cotton, polyester, wool for the innards. Hope this helps. I would say yes, but really there are better people to take on a project like this.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kathleen: isn’t that what Linda Rondstadt did with Mike Nesmith’s Different Drum?
ETA: I made a google, and I actually remembered something correctly. This is increasingly rare.
Quiltingfool
Kattails, as a quilter I gotta say some of the blocks in that quilt are seriously hard-core, 5 stars in terms of difficulty! I attempt Mariners Compass (2nd row, third from left) and Feathered Star (to the right of Mariners) ONLY if I can paper piece. Now, they may have had paper piecing in the late 80’s, not sure, but I’m gonna pretend these ladies cut out tiny triangles and had awesome sewing skills to make those difficult blocks. Fight me. (Lol, not really).
Quiltingfool
@John Cole: John, I make quilts. I sell them (Etsy). I make custom quilts. I’m very affordable. I really think Steve needs a quilt. Animals love quilts.
(It is really a good thing I never became a salesperson; whew, I’m terrible!)
zhena gogolia
@Quiltingfool:
Send it to WaterGirl and she’ll get it to him. I don’t think he’s coming back to this thread. “Contact us” at the top.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@Bishop Bag: Quite a few films were shot in the Alabama Hills(there’s even a museum in Lone Pine), it’s also a great place for still photography😁.
Kattails
@Quiltingfool: Well Cole is asking whether I sell or take commissions! I have a shot of the back of the compass one as well. Nearly fainted looking at how it was put together. Hand sewn. I just took it into Photoshop since it was signed and I don’t have permission to use the name, don’t even know the woman. But will send a jpeg to the overworked and underpaid WaterGirl which she can send to you if you want, or add it to the post.
Addendum to COLE here’s a link to the various WV quilters’ guilds.
Sister Golden Bear
@Nicole: Here ya go.
Quiltingfool
@Kattails: A beautiful quilt – so glad you quilted the top. I have quilted old quilt tops that family members found after the death of the quilter. Quilting a top strengthens it and extends its life.
Now, sometimes I’m just given the blocks, and some blocks have holes (mice snacks, most likely) or rust stains from forgotten pins, etc., so I spot clean and patch/repair and put the blocks together best I can, then I quilt it. It can be daunting and time consuming, but it is a joyful duty as the new owners have a treasured family heirloom.
Here’s a photo of a “fix”. https://pin.it/2vWQX1u
JAFD
Good afternoon from a greyed-out New Jersey – my light-sensitive electric window candle was on at 1 PM.
Woke up, found gout in left foot had gotten worse. Hobbled thru breakfast. Took one of my Heavy Duty Prescript Pain Pills. While waiting for it to kick in, took nap. Got up, had tea. May take another nap. Or not.
Anyway, thanks to all yon jackals for distractions. And moral support. Stay well.
Kattails
@Quiltingfool: Just found this, lovely. Do contact Cole, I know my limits. I’m a painter; if I do any quilting it will be smaller stuff, crazy quilting with more embroidery. Good luck!
ColoradoGuy
Pleasant sunny day here in Colorado. Saying a virtual “hi!” to my next-town-over neighbor, TaMara, and the duck pix are charming. Things are good with my sweetie, along with our little doggy, and we’re all just enjoying a quiet day. A v-shaped flock of geese just flew overheard in a deep blue sky.
J R in WV
@Amir Khalid:
You are so wise, Amir! Thanks for sharing that with us here on the other side of the world…
J R in WV
@Sister Golden Bear:
We went to a Tina Turner concert here in Charleston, was sold out, the Black community showed up dressed to the Nines!
Miss Turner tore it up, singing, dancing, looking great! Amazing talent, no surprise she moved to Europe on retirement.
Kathleen
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I did not know that! Thanks for that insight.