Wordless Wednesday - A Day in The Sun, And Girls He Cooks Too

Some Useless Factoids about Motorcycling

If you want to see today's block or hear about yarn, scroll down or just unfocus your eyes for like 3 paragraphs. LoL.

I woke up today with a headache that would bring a strong man to his knees. I mean. like my eyes were tearing. I haven't passed that kidney stone from about 10 days ago yet, so there ya have it. About 11 I took some aspirin, 2:30 some extra-strength tylenol-type stuff, and 4 o'clock some Excedrin migraine. Plus in the latter time frame, I got to spend about an hour or so of time on the bike. I actually started to feel like I wouldn't like to die, which I think had more to do with the ride than the pharmaceuticals, since it was a balmyand sunny Spring-like 72 degrees today.

With a tiny little curtsy to the vegans out there, I have to say this:
There's Nothing like Leather
For Beating the Weather.
(Oh, Thank God! My parents were always worried I wouldn't make anything of myself, but in one epiphany, it is apparent what I've become: a Poet!) Vinyl will keep the wind out better than denim, but will stay icy cold in winter, and in summer, is like wearing a plastic bag. Leather will take on your body temp and keep you WARM when it is cold out, and will breathe in hot weather. And if theoretically:
You should have to Ride in the Rain
Or Through a Broken Water Main
(more Poetry! What's up with that?) Like we did today, your socks, legs, and undies will stay nice and tidily dry under leather boots and pants. And to be fair, these poor little beefies didn't die in vain. Not only am I wearing their skins, but I have eaten more than my share of pretty fair steaks in my lifetime. Waste not, want not.

Another theoretical situation which gives us a learning opportunity to study Sociology: should one get a mile and a half from home and run out of gas, and have one's Reserve tank not pick up (which we ALL know would NEVER happen to ME... I am FAR too experienced a cyclist, LoL), and have to wait, and wait, and wait for one's sons to go get gas and bring it... which group(s) of people will stop to see if you need help?

A) Bikers, of any gender

B) Women

C) Men

D) Men with their wives in the car

E) Men with their kid(s) in the car

F) People in very expensive cars, whatever their gender
And the answers are... (drumroll please)... Groups A, C, and E.

Here is another little sociological study: Match the times below with the activities in the cars passing by a stranded motorcyclist on a busy road:

A) Food in their hands or laps B) Kid(s) in the car C) Cell phone to their ears

1) 4:30 PM 2) 5:00 to 6:00 PM 3) 6:00 PM

And the answers are: (oh what the heck, this time let's have a Trumpet Fanfare!) A-3, B-1, C-2

On the left you see the block for the day, as made by Diantha. Mine is on the right. I tweaked mine by turning the outermost HST all around the block, and reversing the order of the light and dark around the outsides of the block. Amazing how different the effect is. I like it this way. LoL. Since Joe Morelli is a vice cop, I thought the fabric with the cards and dice was an appropriate touch.

Because I spent an hour on the side of the road this evening, leaning against the seat of my motorcycle and enjoying the Spring breezes, I got ONE yarn done today. ONE. YARN. DONE. Here it is. I will re-skein it in the morning for a more balanced pic of the colors. I think I will call it St. Patrick Rebukes The Snakes.

And, I got this gauntlet ready to list in my HeartFeltFun shop. I have 2 of them but am making them available separately. Too cool.

Train Wreck Italian Transvestite Art Yarn and Random Thoughts

So here are a bunch of random bits I have put together today. One is this pic of Beverly. Is this the happiest lookin' kid you've seen in a long time or what? LoL!

Today it was like 65 degrees F. This past Monday we had a sudden snow storm, and by Wednesday it was still only 21 degrees for the high for the day. By Saturday it was 63 and today, 65. Suddenly Spring! I got out the Old Suzuki today and took a ride. Actually I took several rides, because my kids are as eager to get on the bike as I am. So I took Diantha for a ride, then Veronica for a ride, the Josiah for a ride. I took him over to Home Depot, where Richard works, so his dad could see him being the little macho guy out for a ride. Richard was just going to lunch, so we hung out with him a while, and then rode back home. Betsy kept insisting it was her turn, but unfortunately, she is too little. Have to be 5 or have their feet rest on the pegs... she has a while to wait!

The block for today was too complex. So I decided to make it in a bigger size, for another quilt than the series of blocks I am working on presently. Ok... the black fabric I bought online, that was supposed to be a hand dyed, is so dark, it is just black. In order to further complicate my life, I took a piece of black fabric, sprayed it with a bleach solution and immediately dipped it in vinegar water to stop the alkaline action of the bleach. Looked like hardly anything until I ironed it dry, then this is what I got.

So then I looked at the block, and decided that the diagonal line of squares would be WAY too plain with the rest of the block having all those little bitty triangles. So I made them be squares-in-squares. And this is the result! The calendar says it is Birds in The Air, but I am calling it Firing Range because all those little high-contrast pieces remind me of targets.

And when did I become the Bad Quilter? I have been quilting almost 25 years and own quilts that I just basically threw together, that the points all match. This block, I squared up the little bitty triangle units. Then I put the black side triangles on them and squared the right angle and trimmed the diagonal. Then I added the tan triangle and squared the unit up again. Put the block together, and darned if every unit doesn't have a triangle point chopped off. ~~ fuming ~~

I also started spinning a yarn this evening from this batt I bought from extremespinning at Etsy. It is both wonderful and horrible... or wonderfully horrible. Like a train wreck, you don't want to see anything gross but you can't help looking. It really is like spinning with some beautiful, soft Merino and someone's chest hair. LOL!! My daughter says I should put it up in my shop as Train Wreck Italian Transvestite Chest Hair Handspun Art Yarn and see if it sells. ROFLOL!!