Banner event - last Thursday HWD's daughters came over for dinner. Prior to that I had only met each of them once, briefly. We had a nice meal and it was fun to see the two of them together - they clearly are very close and are still catching up after being separated for a few weeks when the younger one came back from Asia in early January. As I've mentioned before, HWD's ex grudgingly gave the OK for younger daughter to stay over here occasionally. His initial thought was to start by just having her over for dinner so she could see the house and see her room and get used to the idea. But, when he went to pick her up, she said somewhat wistfully, "so I'm not staying over? I shouldn't pack anything?". So there was a lightning change of plans and she did end up staying overnight. Luckily I had already more or less gotten the room ready for her.
I think it went well. One funny thing, she took a shower and she was in there SO LONG. I remember that phenomenon with a previous partner's teenage son. Finally I said to HWD, "Is she STILL showering?" and he went up to check on her. Turns out she ran out of hot water before she could get rinsed off all the way. 😂 I don't think I've ever drained my hot water heater before...maybe back when I had the giant tub that filled very slowly.
So, I think she'll be staying over once a week or so, on the evening when she has a job nearby.
Friday night HWD and I went to an performance at the event hall where he moonlights sometimes. He was interested because it was a puppeteer and he's done a lot of that in his art. This puppeteer was a woman from Czechoslovakia, who had been brought over with grant funding. It seemed quite odd to me, because that had to be an expensive undertaking and she was only doing two shows - one for adults, and another one the next day for kids.
Our show was definitely for adults! It was quite dark and Kafkaesque. Between the surreal plot and her somewhat broken English I really struggled to figure out what was going on with the "plot". And parts of it were creepy AF. She had a looping sound machine. She recorded some creepy laughter and then had it playing on a loop for a while. 😳 Fortunately not the whole time.
Anyway, in brief, there was a puppet who represented the "Care Institute" who was actually poisoning the other puppets with strychnine. The program said it was based on a novel that was written by someone during a period of totalitarianism, so I guess that (sort of) explains it. Here is the cover of program, it gives you an inkling of how demented this production was...
Afterwards I asked HWD what he thought. "I hated it at first" (this was kind of a relief to me). He didn't think she was very skilled as a puppeteer - she was just kind of shaking the dolls at us rather than making their limbs move in believable ways. He said because of the repetition in the plot he finally could kind of get what was going on and started to appreciate it more. The small audience of fifty or so people certainly seemed to like it.
On the other end of the artistic spectrum, yesterday I went to a quilt show at the Dakota County Historical Society (hopefully PonyGirl will stop by and see these pictures!). When looking at quilts I usually focus on the color blocks and design, but most of these quilts had incredible stitching. I noticed for my favorite quilt, the card said that the quilt was created by one person and the stitching was done by someone else. Apparently there are people who have the equipment and skills to do that as a service.
Here's a closeup of the fancy stitching on one of the quilts:
A funny detail on one of the quilts (the rest of it was quite traditional)
Look very closely and you'll see that the planet motif is repeated in the stitching. This would be a fun one for a kid's room.
Can you guess which was my favorite?
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21 comments
The fox one is cute, but I like the dragonfly one
Yes the dragonfly is pretty spectacular!
A great bit of art on those quilts. I am glad it worked out well with your visitor even if they did run the tank dry. My last visitor managed to break the shower!
I'd love to hear more of that story! 😂
Gorgeous!!! I love the quilts!!! I can spend hours among quilts and never be bored.
I piece my quilt tops. I will quilt the small ones. The big ones though are too heavy to push thru my small sewing machine. And I do not own or really have the space for a hand quilting frame. So I take the tops to a local lady who has a big machine linked with a huge frame that supports the quilt. It's a long arm quilt setup. She does the stitching - sometimes a preset stitch program and other times she personally guides the machine (custom quilted).
To a quilter, the piecing is one skill and the quilting is another. Some people are amazing at both.
The pink/purple, navy quilt is fabulous. I love it. The dragonflies and fox are so pretty too. So much beauty in all of them!
That was very informative! It totally makes sense that there would be special equipment to do the quilting on larger pieces and that it’s sometimes programmed rather than freestyle.
The talent and patience required to complete those works of art is admirable. I think you liked either the 4th or 5th quilt.
Those are both spectacular, but the one that really caught my eye right away was the third one with pinks and purples.
Glad you enjoyed the DCHS's show. A couple of the staffers there are colleague pals of mine
Oh of course! I was impressed by the museum, I hadn't been to it before.
Wow! Beautiful pics of some fabulous quilts.😲🤗
And, a lot of other stuff to absorb.
I understand what HWD's daughters were thinking.
It sounds like you ironed out the creases.💕
I'm sure they were nervous about meeting me (for more than five minutes anyway). I'd love to be a fly on the wall and hear what they said about me afterward (or maybe not - eek).
@smartasswoman
Kidz judge their dad's "other" based on four criteria: your smile, the feel of your house, the food on the table, and the look their dad gives you.
Ask him.
But I'm sure if you got "them" to laugh, things are good.
@Paulxx001 I did ask him whether younger daughter said anything later...apparently not. No complaints anyway!
@smartasswoman
Give them knitting needles and a lesson on how to knit a hat. "Knit-pearl" is easy enough and priceless in a storm. 🤗💕
@Paulxx001 Funny you mention that - younger daughter said she would like to learn to knit or crochet, and I said I'd be happy to teach her. We'll see if she takes me up on it.
@smartasswoman
Go for it.
I knit my first hat when I was eight. I couldn't finish the top part (where you had to drop stitches and close it off), but I still have that hat. And it still keeps me warm. Knitting is a way to bond.🤗💕
And that's probably why no one is bonding these days. Not enough "knitters."
Cool about HWD's daughter(s) coming over. And the quilts are beautiful...something on the retirement list of things to keep me busy. I'm thinking that the dragonfly quilt might be your favorite?
That one is beautiful, but the one that immediately grabbed my attention was the third one in tones of pink and purple.
It is nice to have a retirement hobby! Although I'd probably get out more if I didn't have my knitting passion...
CONGRATS - suddenly the quilts sound fun - well when comparing them to the puppet show anyway. 😂
Very true!!
I'm guessing the last one is your favorite. It reminds me of your bathroom tiles.
I like the dragonflies.
The tiles that ended up getting tiled over with something else, haha! Although I do like that quilt.
My actual favorite was the third one down in tones of pinks and purples.
My initial comment got denied. It read "It's great HWD's daughter stayed over and wanted to stay over. I know it's a pain sharing the bathroom."
It beggars belief how this got denied, I can only think it's the daughter word!
I suppose it must have been the D word. That should not automatically be flagged. Someone's female progeny can be over 18 after all!
Luckily I have my own master bath so we don't have to share. I just had not heard a shower go on for so long for quite a while!
I'm forever amazed at the work that goes into quilts like that! So beautiful!!
I thought about expanding into quilting now and then, but I'd never come close to anything like these.
I found the quilts way more interesting the the puppet show horror theater. The folk who did the quilt are very talented. I had no idea.
Haha you reminded me of that old SCTV skit Monster Chiller Horror Theater. 😂