Quick Tied Play Quilt

[pic -- Photo of the quilt was supposed to go here, but my FDIL left this morning and I forget to get one. I have to ask her to take one when she gets back home.]

I made a quick tied sweatshirt quilt for my grandson the other night. It is real down home, no frills and no batting. I had been wanting to make it for a while now, but procrastination had got the best of those plans. I rescued several sweatshirts my son had set aside for trash and an extra lrg. old disney/winnie the pooh pullover about month ago. They were all navy blue or gray, nice colors to stand up to play times and food spills.

I measured the Winnie the Pooh area for use as one of the top center blocks. It was 9" in height and I added 2" for extra room, so total height of cut block would be 13". I made the width 13" also for ease in work (so a 13" square). I had already cut all the sweatshirts apart at the seams, leaving big blocks of fabric to work with. I cut out the WTP (winnie the pooh) block and used it as a pattern to cut out the rest, taking care not to stretch out the fabrics as I cut, just letting it sit as it normally would. Cut out -12- 13" square blocks in total. Just laid em out side by side, 4 in a column, 3 in row. Pinned right sides facing and sewed the 3 squares across each of the 4 rows first, taking care not to stretch. While I was sewing, I had the whole piece I was working on either laying on something (my little table next to my sewing machine or sometimes I use an ironing board) or what was coming off of my lap, I held up in my hand at sewing machine height and careful not to be hanging down as I sewed. This would help in lessening the distortion of the fabric. (I actually thought working with the sweatshirt fabric was going to be a pain, but it is one of the most forgiving fabrics I have worked with.)

After the rows were sewn, they were sewn together, still taking care not to distort. Laid the whole thing out, eye-balled it for squareness and did a little trimming.

But then I did not have a backing piece in mind yet. I looked around, found an old blue and white striped crib sheet. Keeping my fingers crossed that it would fit, I cut off the elastic, split the seams and laid it out. Did not fit as it was (almost did), but if I cut off the extra end "tabs" created when I split the seams at the corners, I could sew those two pieces together into one long strip and then attach it at the bottom and cut off the excess, as the "tab" piece was a little too long for the width of the sheet. Perfect fit after that alteration.

Sewed together the quilt top and sheet backing fabric right sides facing (making sure no stretching of quilt top fabric again), leaving about 10" unsewn in the bottom area, for a "hole" for easy turning. After sewing, turned to check for accuracy and to eye-ball again. Looked pretty square, so I turned it back inside out, clipped the corners and trimmed the seams. Flipped it back out, hand sewed the hole closed with a blindstitch ( a video - I hide the knot under the fold of one side of the hems and go through the hem folds with my thread to hide stitches). Tied the quilt with natural color cotton yarn at the corners, in the middle of all the sides and in the center.

Quick Tied Play Quilt Made. :)

Baby Quilt FAQ at Quilt.com
http://www.quilt.com/FAQS/BabyQuiltFAQ.html

[edited 7/10/08 -- man, I must've been tired, cuz I could hardly understand those directions! hahahahha fixed it tho'... hopefully :) still need to add those pics...]
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The Disclosure Project

I am just getting ready to start watching this series of videos on YouTube. I first heard about The Disclosure Project about 4 years ago or so (I have their link in my side bar). I was sent a link, went to their site, watched the video and got my hair blown back! This is a different video than the one I saw then. If you want to see something about UFO's that has what folks would call "credible witnesses" (military, air traffic controllers, etc.) then this is that.

The UFO Disclosure Project -- Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFJsaK3j4js

Old 1977 UFO Documentary for Australian TV

This documentary was pretty cool to watch. I LOVE seeing old TV programs from the 70's and remembering what TV used to be like when there were only major channels and several local ones. The presenter says it's the last surviving copy of the program and appears a little rough in some areas (showing a lot of Stars Wars and Jaws movie clips, which turn out to be an extra bonus for me anyways). Also there are interviews with a very young (did not recognize him) Steven Spielberg, Allen Hynek, Stanton Friedman, Betty HIll and many others. It was the first time seeing an interview of Betty Hill (at least that I can remember) and what she said freaked me out a little. I was watching the first parts late at night and I had to pause it and save it for day time.

I like the style of the whole thing. It's pretty matter of fact and straight forward, not filled with all the drama and overly emotional music of today's docs. I am on the 6th video and getting ready to watch the others.

Stan Deyo - UFOs are Here! - 1977 Documentary

A large amount of videos at YouTube Channel Freeforyoutohave (page says "Ex-Soldier and War-Veteran (Bosnié-1993)"... "To Boldly Go Where Someone Has Gone Before" - over 600 videos uploaded)

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Good Book

I put some new links up to several free downloads for some great E-Books. I like to look at old books to get a snapshot of what life was like back then so I included some old cookbooks for some fun archeology without disturbing anyone's bones.

The book "What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Southern Cooking" is said to be the first cookbook written by a black woman. On that same site, there are several other cookbooks and a recipe book for cocktails, all firsts by Black authors. I tried to find the links this morning, but didn't have time to look for them. I will post them tomorrow or later on today.

And of course the Black Elk Speaks and Autobiography of Black Hawk books are amazing. I was so happy when I found these as public domain books.

The Dictionary of Biblical Names is pretty interesting. There's probably a lot that could be done with that.

I was taking a Choctaw class last year, but had to drop out. The Choctaw Pentateuch is a book I found at that time.

I will post more as I rummage through my years of bookmarks.

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Little Cotton Crochet Pouch

I like using these little pouches for carrying special herbs or stones. They can be used alone or with a small drawstring muslin pouch for a liner. Especially helpful for when I am going for an evening stroll in the neighborhood and may find some stone or leaves I want to take home. I can also keep my pennies and tobacco in here too (in little 2"x3" ziplock baggies). I made several of these for my nieces as homesickness necklaces. They had just moved away to another state and where having a hard time getting adjusted. Every time they thought of us far away, they would get sad. So they would "squeeze" the pouch to release the scents, remember their old home and feel better. I believe I filled them with a little rose, bay, thyme, chamomile and lightly ground flax seeds.

Here's the pattern for anyone interested... It's free and only for personal use. Please don't sell any items made with this pattern. Click to download PDF pattern here. Hope you enjoy it!

[*note -- I use Foxit Reader for PDF files now after all the mess that was going on with Adobe. Download here if you need a PDF reader. It is very lightweight and fast.]

[edit -- there was a problem with where the PDF was hosted. It should work now.
*** Since this is my first original pattern that I have shared outside of my family and friends, it very may well be a little buggy. If there are any problems with the pattern, please don't hesitate to contact me through the comments section or my email.]

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Ulali - for stress and self-love

Oh my goodness, the music of Ulali (Pura Fé , Soni Moreno, and Jennifer Kriesberg)is so amazing, I am continually entranced. I just had to share the medicine of these women's voices. Their song "Wah Jhi Le Yihm" was in the movie "Smoke Signals" and the song "Mahk Jchi Heartbeat" was sung with the Robbie Robertson Red Road Ensemble. These two songs are on their myspace page with the addition of the amazing "All My Relations", which makes me stop what I am doing every time I hear it and just say a prayer and give thanks for being alive. Just beautiful.

You Tube video for "Mother"

Lyrics to Mahk Jchi Heartbeat --

Mahk Jchi

Mahk jchi tahm buooi yahmpi gidi
Mahk jchi taum buooi kan spewa ebi
Mahk jchi tahm buooi yahmpi gidi
Mahk jchi taum buooi kan spewa ebi

Mahmpi wah hoka yee monk
Tahond tani kiyee tiyee
Gee we-me eetiyee
Nanka yaht yamoonieah wajitse
Nanka yaht yamoonieah wajitse

Hey yah eh yah eh yah
Hey yah oh way-hee-tah-ah
Hey yah hey yah hey yah
Oh way-ee oh way-ee oh way-ee yah-ah

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Sacred Object -- Boli

This sacred power object is a Boli from the Bamana Nation of Mali. I know almost next to nothing about these objects and what I do know is from several webpages that I just happened across last night. They are amazing. The idea of these to me is mind blowing. If I am understanding correctly, they are a constant sacred power work in progress, containing the intentions of all who have ever participated in any type of ritual with them. Amazing. Here is an excerpt from one of the pages above (I can't seem to find the other ones) that has some info about them:

"The primary function of a boli is to accumulate and control the naturally occurring life force called nyama for the spiritual benefit
of the community. Used as altars or carried during dance performances, they are complex creations created from esoteric
recipes, or daliluw. Animal bones, vegetable matter, honey, and metal are packed around an interior armature of bamboo
wrapped in white cotton cloth. They are covered with layers of mud and clay, and their surfaces accumulate sacrificial materials
over time, including chicken and goat blood, chewed kola nuts, alcohol, and millet porridge. Each added layer of material lends
the structure greater spiritual power."

The Dogon also call the life force called "nyama" and if I recall correctly, they live in the same area as this ancient empire.

[*** note -- okay I had not scrolled down on the page... I thought the top part was all there was as a matter of fact... but I scrolled down right now and see that these objects are for sale??? (huh???) I thought this was a museum or something. And they have a picture of one in someone's house next to a TV??? Okay, I am not going to say anything else... just fill in the blanks rant rant rant !!! ]

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African Ritual Objects Photos

As I was web wandering this evening, I came across this nice collection of photos of ritual objects and ceremonial dress from different parts of Africa. Included are photos from the (DR)Kongo, the Wodaabe of Niger, Bamana of Mali (with photo of a Boli -- which I am becoming extremely interested in these sacred objects), the Asante of Ghana, Yoruba of Nigeria and more. I was really happy to see the photos of the Nkisi and the ceremonial dress of the Wodaabe women. The bead work of the women was beautiful.

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The Underverse

Checking news stories yesterday and came across this article at Wired. It pointed to Trevor Paglen's website where he has done various art projects documenting government secret projects. He has several, but the most interesting to me was the collection of uniform patches from 75 top-secret military programs, some he obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

Here are some more links related:

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1033/1
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/science/
01patc.html?pagewanted=2
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/03/31/
science/0401-PATCH_index.html
http://bellwethergallery.com/current_01.cfm?fid=305

Peppermint and Rashes

When my MFDIL came to visit last week, she brought me 2 peppermint plants from her backyard, at my sons urging. Sadly, by the time she got here driving through the scorching desert, they did not survive to be re-planted. But I was still able to make one of the plants into a tincture with the leftovers of bottle of rum I had sitting on my work table. I've had peppermint on the brain lately, but had no specific outlined need for it. I've just been wanting to purchase some, but for one reason or another had not done so.

I've suffered from eczema since birth with it sometimes clearing up for years at a time. But about 3 or 4 years ago, my eczema came back in a way I have never seen it. It was horrible. I was not able to easily get rid of it, visiting doctors who had no idea of how to help me. I only received relief after visiting a botanica where I was given a medicine, which cleared it up within 3 days. About 8 months ago, I had a recurrence of this same rash and again doctors were not able to help, only a "doctor" at a botanica here in town was able to pass along the medicine I needed. Two nights ago I was sitting on the computer typing and a patch flared back up on one of my knuckles, itching like crazy. My peppermint tincture was sitting in front of me and it dawned on me, duh, put some on my rash. And after the initial burn, which actually felt good, it cleared right up within several hours. Right now, I can only see a small light discoloration left behind. I have also applied some to other areas that would flare up occassionally, and it has also appeared to induce further healing in those spots as well.

Here is a page from the University of Maryland Medical Center on the applications of Peppermint:

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/peppermint-000269.htm

A standard tincture made -- one small to mediumish size Peppermint plant placed into an empty recycled glass jar(mayo sized)and about 1 cup of good rum poured over (I'd say about a 1 to 5 ratio of plant material to rum, a guess-timate), to sit for 5 days or more in a cool spot. Turns a deep brown like a strong tea.

*YMMV
[This is not meant to substitute for medical advice. Please seek out a doctor for medical help.]

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Allelopaths

[I hope the lady who gave me this info doesn't mind me sharing it, if she does, I will remove it.]

I was recently recommended as a solution to a personal work I have been doing, the use of Black Walnut, an allelopath. The work being done is in reference to being extremely sensitive to other's thoughts and emotions. The idea being that allelopaths create a natural border around them where very few plants can grow or thrive. Black walnut was recommended being it is the strongest of the allelopathic plants. I've also recently seen some agricultural articles where research is being done on Peppermint oil for it's allelopathic qualities. Also ran across that farmers growing Japonica Rice in certain areas, aiding in controlling the growth and spread of major aquatic weeds, which might be helpful in specific works.

Some others that may be of use:

American Chestnut
Thyme
Purple Sage

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Obeah Man

While searching you tube for some rake and scrape videos I clicked on this from you tube channel Jamaica Yard TV. It is a short video (wish there was more), but is good in what the man says when he is asked if he is an Obeah Man.

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June 19th -- Galveston, TX

I went here to learn more.

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With TV Gone

... I don't seem to have as much to write about. Not so much to be angry or appalled at. And when I read to catch up on the news, seems to have a different affect. I don't feel so invaded.

Through a yahoo group I subscribe to, I found out about these several things...

this one's relevant for tomorrow --

Moon Illusion

these concerning American enslaved Bantu people's and Christianity --

Kimpa Vita
Christianity in the Kongo #1
Christianity in the Kongo #2
Christianity in the Kongo #3

The latter pages shifting and balancing the askew picture of a majority of African's in America's practice of Christianity and the belief of their being introduced to it by their enslavers. Makes common sense that some already believed and this is how they were manipulated into not escaping or destroying their captors. After hearing about Stockholm Syndrome, I immediately applied it to slavery and the Africans forcibly involved, trying to make some type of life under horrific and unbelievable cruelty. A mind shift. But now with this information, the psychological impact appears to have been even more insidious, with the attackers using what they believed against them. A cult.

Also in the essay recounted on this page, a former slave talks about his experience with conjuring and how Africans could conjure each other, but not their captors.

"The biggest thing the niggers done was working congerations. [This is the interviewer's attempted phonetic spelling for "conjurations," that is, conjure or hoodoo.] The funny thing bout that was they could hoo-doo each other but they sure couldn't hoo-doo the white folks."

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Aside from the Box

My TV blew out several days ago. I had always considered myself not hooked on the tube, but I am instinctually(?) missing it. Several years ago, I didn't watch TV for over a year. (My friends telling me about Dave Chapelle's Show is what brought me back in the fold) So now I am without a hypnotube and what to do? The day seems to go alot slower, which is nice. I can hear the birds outside and spend time paying attention to the trees outside my window. I am finding I have a lot more time to get work done.

---

Last night I was relaxing and watching videos on YouTube. I came across this lady named Nancy Today. I really like her videos that I watched. The ones I watched were of her in one of her self-constructed tipis on her wilderness property in Ontario Canada. One day soon, I will be constructing a tipi on my property somewhere in Northern New Mexico or Arizona. Living life outside under the sky...

"I became invisible a few years ago, so I made and wear outrageous flower-covered hats. I'm locally known as the Hat Lady." ~ Nancy Today

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Pea in a Pod

I haven't felt like being on the computer too much lately. My FDIL and two lil' grandbabys are here visiting for 3 weeks and all I want to do is just want to lay around with the little ones. This is the first time my new grandson and I have met since his birth and he is just little hunny bunch. But my son and FDIL told me that he has been having trouble sleeping and often times looked like he was having nightmares. My son told me that when he visited his Abuelita, she blessed him and did several little prayers for him which helped him alot. But after arriving here, he was fussy again and not sleeping. So I started observing him and it looked to me like he was not feeling secure. FDIL said that she would try and wrap him up but he would squirm out of it and wiggle his arms free. It popped into my head that what he might need is a sling carrier that his mommy can wear him in. I pulled up some bookmarks that I had for making a sling carrier and found this one to be the best one for me. It took me about a 1/2 hour to make and about an hour to try and figure out which shoulder method would be the best for her. We decided on a hybrid of the fan method and the 3-fold, it seems to give more support for the wearer's shoulder. This morning we put him in it. He stopped crying, but something didn't look right. After watching a video on this page, we realized we put him in backwards. hahahahaha ooops After fixing that error, we had to put a little receiving blanket folded under his head to prop him up. And after that, he went right to sleep. The sling is made of a dark olivish green t-shirt type material that I had bought to make some culottes for me, but never got around to it. He looks just like a pea in a pod.

♥

Earthships

And now for some good stuff... :)

Was watching the Science Channel and saw a program called Eco-Tech with a feature on "Earthships", common-sense homes. I had seen these a while ago, and wanted to live in one (I really want to live in a lodge/tipi, maybe one day...).

Lots of info and images to look at.

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So Obama got it...

When my oldest son first informed me that a Black Man and a White Woman were in the running for the Democratic nomination, I was like wha??? First of all I had not ever heard of Barrack Obama. So I turned on the news and was like, why are the media trying to push this man down black people's throats. It felt like when I was in high school, going to a predominately all white and Mexican school, and when a new young black man came to the school, all my "friends" would be hey don't you like him? Isn't he cute? Okay because I am black and he is black we are made for each other??? What business was it of theirs anyways who I liked and dated, as far as I know, they did not own me? (yes a veiled reference) So I had to think about it. What could be the real reason for this? And after a few days, I finally got it. Okay, they really wanted Hillary to be the prez, but they were not sure she could win, so they paired her up with what America might consider her equal, a Black Man. And by equal, I mean their relative standing among general American society/thought status wise. So they got their two patsies, and figured that America would not vote for them on the same ticket, but if they ran against each other, they would in the end legitimize each other since the American public are like goldfish. And all the little "party bickering/politics"are just to make it look good. All of this hanging on at the end is good stuff too, giving the impression that she is a fighter and doesn't give up. And who ever ended up winning at the primaries, it did not matter, because the other would just pop on over to run on the other one's ticket. And it is looking like that this may just be the case.

Oh and this brings to mind what Chris Rock says:

"Now as you know, there's been alot of talk about a black vice president. And I just wanna tell the world that it'll never happen. As long as you live you will never see a black vice president, you know why? Because some black guy would just kill the president. I'd do it. If Colin Powell was vice president, I'd kill the president and tell his mother about it. What would happen to me? What would they do? Put me in jail with a bunch of black guys that would treat me like a king for the rest of my life? I would be the biggest star in jail, alright, people would be coming up to me and I'd be signing autographs: "97-KY, here you go." Guys would be going: "You're the brother that shot Bush. And you told his mother about it huh? I hope my children turn out to be just like you, Man, you know I was getting ready to rape you until I realized who you were. And even if they had a death penalty, what would happen? I'd just be pardoned by the black president. So you see, Dennis, it would not be in George Bush's best interests to place Colin Powell on the ticket. "

And on the page where I copied and pasted this quote from I found this underneath:

if Obama becomes president, should he worry about some idiot out there shooting him so white VP becomes president?

Should Obama be shopping for bulletproofs? (and not the Ganstalicious one's... but that's another story... )

Here's Paul Mooney's take on it from last year on Letterman.

Oh and just one more thing... a little more finagling/conspiracy... wasn't Bill at the Grove?

But you ain't heard it from me... :)


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Huh???

Okay this is ignorant...

http://underafullmoon.com/2007/08/
witchcraft-suppression-bill-in-south.html

[excerpt]

"Supposedly, the bill was designed to prevent the practice of traditional African witchcraft which can include animal sacrifices and the like. But the bill makes no mention of Western witchcraft, such as Wicca, leaving Pagans who practice it wondering if they'll have to abandon their religion or keep it in secret."

Blog Posts

I went to my usual "news" sites this morning... at least this where I can get some interesting stories as to what is going on in the world without having to be bashed on the head with the "Fear and Consume" brainwashing waves coming from other news outlets. Well, I went to wired.com and saw this story about the 7 Basic Blog Posts . Brought to mind the un-originality and apparent deceit of the blogworld, and the thought that this is what made me stay off the internet for about a year. I just could not take the bullshit anymore. At first, I was addicted when I first started reading blogs about 3 years ago (I also was addicted to forums or websites that dealt with some type of "cause"... rights, truth, poverty, etc. Maybe another post about some of those pieces of crap later). I used to read the Craft type blogs. Oh my goodness, these women seemed so perfect and their lives so perfect and their photos so perfect. I tried to do the same, trying to achieve the perfect life. Of course, I fell short and ended up beating myself up at how imperfect I was. Women telling stories of how they had 3 young children, a new baby and stayed up all night making this cute little purse. And she was going to have 5 of them to sell to you tomorrow. And little gullible me was like "oh my god, what is wrong with me? I have 4 grown children and I can't do this". The only way I could achieve what they were doing would be to have beckoning assistants and nannies, be independently wealthy (or married to a rich man, who gave me a "busy business") and snort big lines of cocaine on a regular basis. I am not saying these folks are lying or even that they may be stretching the truth, but dayum are they cyborgs then??? This post is eventually what got me to thinking that maybe some of what folks were putting on their blogs might not actually be all-the-truth. I even dared to go so far as to wonder if these were real people at all and not actually representations of some corporate entity... I mean corporations masquerading as "regular folk" happened over here and they were stealing from these young women and bringing product to the consumer at unable-to-compete at prices.

Okay so this all led me to wonder and question "why have a blog" or be on the net at all? Was it supposed to be for showing off some latest hipster type item acquired at the local Goodwill? Be a "look what I can do and what I have and aren't you jealous" type situation? What I wished for was some realness and just a little truth and real connection. And here I am, still here, with my umpteenth blog... still searching after 5 or so years. In the end, it makes me sad. Where are all the real folk at? I would assume in their real homes, walking on their real streets, in real stores, doing real day to day living... but to assume, makes an "ass" out of "u" and "me". [hahahhaha... corny :) ]

Have a wonderfully REAL day!
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Let's Make a Black Hole???

(I woke up a little extra crabby this morn... this may turn into a rant somewhere down the line)

I caught a little bit of the Science Channel's "Six Billion Dollar Something or Other" and it was about that LHC (Large Hadron Collider) scientists have built in Geneva to recreate the Big Bang/beginning of the universe.

Okay... first of all, scientists are scared that this experiment could "create a black hole able to devour our planet" or allow the opening of being able to interact with other dimensions (I believe that is what the scientist said), among other horrific things. What the hell is wrong with these folks??? Damn they remind me of a little bad ass boy who has to touch the stove, even though his mother tells him it's hot. How many ancient societies have told of these things that "modern scientists" are just now so-called discovering? Who is the one who needs proof??? What is the proof going to matter??? These "children" will still find a way to say "well that's not conclusive... we are going to need 10 jillion dollars to build this mechanical thingamagigger....".

Man... why are these the folks with all the money and in charge??? Just the way of this ***backward world/plane I guess.

If someone can stomach it, here is something about it on Youtube... complete with idiotic comments by bored little children and all.

Prayers for an interceding on humanity's behalf could not hurt at this time.

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***this link to info, I had originally found at www.thosefoursounds.com which the domain is no longer current. Tells of the Dogon People and Dogon Cosmology and Creation. I may put in a pdf link up if this link goes.