I’ve hung up my knitting needles for a while, but have not at all ignored the material girl within.  Instead, after a bit of work to get my sewing room established, I have been enamored of making the quilt tops, both hand and machine pieced.  The actual quilting part is a long way away.

I investigated the national quilt registry, looking for quilts that were similar to those of my childhood visits to relatives, and came across a very old seven sisters pattern.  I was so entranced with that worn and stained rag that I have begun a seven sisters quilt, using the technique of English paper piecing and employing a variety of civil war reproduction fabrics.  It has only taken me two weeks to create only one half of one block; it may be a while before a whole quilt top appears.

Meanwhile, I look forward to warmer days when I will finally get to see our new tree (planted in November) bud for the first time.  Her name is Annie Oakleaf; she is a tall slender beauty, about 15 feet high.  She was our answer to the brutal murder of the neighbor trees, though it will take many years before she provides the same grandeur and shade as the old walnut.

The economical news has been so depressing that I have taken the ostrich approach, reverting to my former tactics of not listening to the radio or reading the newspaper.  It still leaks out, though, the depressing news of foreclosures and bankruptcies and bailouts.  It permeates the workplace and is visited upon me in the form of friends and relatives being laid off; it shows itself in the lighter commuter traffic and the number of shops I visit only to find closed.

A co-worker returned from a three week visit to Ireland this week, and when I asked him had he visited Waterford (the factory) he informed me that it had closed.  Apparently our young people are not continuing the tradition of using real crystal, and the whole industry is in decline.  The artistry and knowledge that went into a legendary product will no doubt be gone in a few years, replaced by plastics and gauche glass masquerading as elegant tableware.

Sherlock was disturbed to hear this news.  He always enjoys the use of fine crystal.