Do Your Ears Hang Low?

 

 

 Do your ears hang low?
Do they wobble to and fro?
Can you tie ’em in a knot?
Can you tie ’em in a bow?
Can you throw ’em o’er your shoulder
Like a Continental soldier?
Do your ears hang low?

 

 

 

I have never given my ears much thought. They sit there on the side of my head and give me music and bird twitters and sweet nothings. I've thought about my little toe much more than my ears. I feel I have been neglect. I mean, the ears do so much and I have just never paid much attention to them.

Oh, I had my ear lobes pierced when I was in high school. I remember admiring them in the mirror. And then I had a second piercing sometime in my twenties or early thirties. I then became allergic to any metal for about 30 years, so earrings weren't thought about; thus, no ear itself thoughts.

But lately...well when I hit the sheets at night and settle my head in the pillow, I find my ear lobes fold over a bit uncomfortably. Here I am, all snuggled in, and I have to move my hand under my head and flip back that earlobe.

I mean, c'mon. After age 30, people tend to lose lean tissue. Your muscles, liver, kidney, and other organs may lose some of their cells. Bones may lose some of their minerals and become less dense.

We shrink down while we age. I used to be six foot tall. Now I'm 5'11, maybe even 5'10.5.  I'll never cop to it, but yeah. 

Yeah, we are getting shorter and our ears are getting longer. 

But wait! There's more!

Not only is our ears starting to sag, so is our nose! Noses and ears are made of cartilage, a flexible tissue that’s harder than skin but softer than bone. It wears down over time and doesn’t give as much support to the skin on top of it. Your skin also loses elasticity and firmness over time, and it tends to sag. Loose or sagging skin over a weaker cartilage frame makes ears and noses look longer. 

Well, that's the story. In looking up this information, I discovered when "old age" starts.  Typically, the elderly has been defined as the chronological age of 65 or older. People from 65 to 74 years old are usually considered early elderly, while those over 75 years old are referred to as late elderly. According to AARP, those under 30 believe old age hits before a person turns 60. Middle-aged respondents cited 70 as the start of old age while those 65 and older put the number closer to 74.

Thank gawd I just turned 71...
not old yet!

peace~~~

A Bit of Quilting: Add a Little Flange to Your Life

I make a lot of quilts. Each one is unique in that each one is made for someone special. Might be a family member. Might be a friend. Might be for a child in the hospital. Might be a homeless stranger in need of warmth and love.  See, my philosophy is that every quilt I make puts out a bit of positive energy into the world. I keep making quilts because the world needs more positive energy.

Quilts are also pieces of art.  It is created through choices:  a choice of fabrics, patterns, of stitching. Even the most simple quilt, sewn together by someone with little skill becomes a piece of art. It is beautiful! The borders that surround the piecing is a type of frame; it gives the center the crown of glory. But the binding, that small piece of fabric that surrounds the outer edges, is the piece that brings and holds it all together.

 

How about adding a little fun to that piece? I learned how to make a flange/piping on the binding from fabric artist Melody Crust. It's fun and easy.  As someone recently said, it is just adding a little step to regular binding.  Here's the deal: The binding is added to the quilt when it is finished, meaning after the top has been sandwiched with the batting and the backing and then quilted. The raw edges are then wrapped with fabric that binds it all together. The binding can be any width but the most common size is 2.5" by area of the quilt (plus 15"-20"). That's the size I will show you in making the flange.

To make the flange:  

 

Cut two sets of strips.  Make note the piping strip is wider than the binding strip 

• The piping cut 1.3/4" wide 
• The binding cut 1.3/8" wide

Stitch the ends of the piping strips together and the binding strips together. It helps to iron the seams open in order to have less bulk at the fold.

Sew both strips together using 1/4" seam. Press the seam toward the binding fabric.  Then fold in half and press.

With binding side down, place the binding onto the back of the quilt.  Using a walking foot or something else that will enable the even-feed feature on your sewing machine, sew the binding onto the back.  Keep the raw edges together.  Don't forget to start sewing with about an 8"-10" tail at the beginning. 

Turn the corners the same as you would turn the regular binding.  Stop stitching 1/4" from edge, fold up to create a 45 degree angle toward the corner, then fold the strip down with folded edge aligned with the top of the corner. Resume stitching :)

When you get to the first end, stop at least 8"-10" between the first start.  This will give you room to attach your ends together. A great way to end the binding so that it fits snugly is to use a clipping of the binding itself, snip snip...create a little hat... sew... measure...and sew down.

Now you wrap the binding to the front and sew down along in the ditch between the binding and the flange. Pretty cool, huh?

You will have a stitch line on the back along the edge of the binding seam. This is why I tend to use the same color thread in the bobbin as the quilting thread.

 

Piping and flange. It's easy and fun.

And so it goes
peace~~~

 

Weird Portland Wednesday: Sleestak...of course

As you are exploring our beautiful Forest Park, as many a Portlander as well as a tourist will do, you come to the intriguing Witch's Castle. Out of the corner of your eye, you notice something standing in the shadows just inside a doorway of the Castle. And then it emerges....

It is the Portland Sleestak!

Yes, we have a Sleestak wandering our city streets. Think about it...any town that would have the Unipiper--Darth Vader riding around town on a unicycle playing the pipes--would have a Sleestak. No question.

Sleestak got his start in Portland in late 2019 but came into his own during early 2020. According to the Oregonian (Aug. 27, 2020), "By day, Brent Marr is a maintenance tech for a downtown property management company. By night, he’s the Portland Sleestak. Marr, 52, was one of many Gen-X kids who grew up watching Sid and Marty Krofft puppet-filled kids shows..."

The Kroft-created program, Land of the Lost, made an impression on Marr. He decided to make a Halloween costume as a Sleestak. And then he decided to make a better costume and wander around the streets of Portland, scaring people. No one was scared. Everyone wanted to have their picture taken with the Portland Sleestak. So Marr just went with it.

This story explains our little town (from the Oregonian):  

When the coronavirus pandemic hit Oregon, Marr took a several-month break from “Sleestaking.” But in mid-July, he brought out the suit, loaded it into a pickup, and headed out with a roommate to the Eastbank Esplanade. As dusk fell, Marr stood under a streetlight. He’d brought a speaker that played the call of the Sleestak, a sound like a low-fi recording of a howling wind.

At that moment, maybe a half-mile away as the crow flies, federal officers were tear gassing a crowd of protesters outside the federal courthouse. But on this side of the river, it was quiet. A few teens rode by on electric scooters. A group of cyclists slowed down, and one woman giggled and pointed when she noticed Marr standing.

Most people, though, ignored the monster on the sidewalk.

It was just a Saturday night in Portland.

Yes, the Portland Sleestak, just one more way we keep Portland Weird.
And so it goes~~~
peace

 

Weird Portland Wednesday: Who's Missing?

Portland is such a beautiful town. With Mt Hood as a backdrop and greenery all around, what's not to love? I have a friend in Tennessee who came to visit one Christmas break. It snowed as we drove over the coastal range. It snowed as we came home. The skies were grey and cloudy--our favorite winter weather. She would drink poison that there is no Mt. Hood; it's simply a picture backdrop we use in Photoshop for all pictures of our city. *shrug* you know those Southerners ;)

Like everywhere, we have many pets. Like everywhere we have "crazy cat ladies," fish lovers, those who like them a bit wild. My former neighbor used to love to have ferrets. Nice big cage in the middle of her living room. Dogs galore! We have what every city has in the pet department.

And every city also has missing pet posters stapled up on light posts and taped to walls. Kitty missing, call this number. Dog ran out of the open gate, call this number. Just moved and puppy is lost. Sad and heart-felt posters with pictures of their beloved animals. Portland is no different. 

So why am I even writing about missing pets? Well, perhaps it is the actual pets that we post that are missing that makes us weird. Here are a few examples:

 

And yes, this is one of the things that keeps Portland weird.

And so it goes~~~
peace

Weird Portland Wednesday: Buck Naked Full Moon Ride

 

One of the highlights of Portland summers is how we love to get naked and ride bikes. The Buck Naked Full Moon Ride is one of three planned naked bike rides. It is hosted by PedalPalooza. Of course "Pedalpalooza," right?

This particular ride has been happening for the past 17 years and was held last Friday, July 23. It is protesting (of course we are protesting something) three major issues: oil dependency, body shaming, and the dangers of bicycle riding.

The three events typically coincide with the World Naked Bike Ride, which an international biking protest that is hosted in 73 cities and 20 countries. It has been once again cancelled due to COVID-19.

Portland's World Naked Bike Ride is the largest in the world, drawing over 10,000 riders. Just another proof that we do love to get naked and love to protest. The Buck Naked Full Moon Ride should have no "body shaming" as it brought several hundreds of riders out on a beautiful summer night, all in a variety of dress, frills and body paint. People rode anything from unicycles to triple-tandem bikes.

Yeppers, naked bike riding protests...one more way we keep Portland weird.

And so it goes~~~
peace