Tuesday's Orts--Jan 25, 2011

Today's orts will be short and sweet--I'm late to work at Job #2!

• It was fun to read all the responses to my Bullseye bargain shopping post.  I wonder how many quilters I have just infected with that new source of fabric hunting sickness?
• A neighbor of ours went to a taping of the Jay Leno show recently and the new American Idol judges were the guests.  She reported that Steven Tyler had about four assistants rush out at every break to fluff up his hair.  Too funny!
• My sister was going through the drive-thru line at a fast food restaurant that was being remodeled and  noticed a handwritten sign posted to apologize for the hassle.  It read: "Sorry for the Unconvince".  Yeah, my sister was unconvinced that anyone literate wrote the sign.
• Traffic rant:  Oh, the fun of driving behind someone unflappably keeping their speed 10-15 miles an hour below the speed limit, totally oblivious to the 4 or 5 irritated people behind them.  Even worse: Then turning onto a two lane road and the slow driver's twin occupying the other lane just slightly ahead by a car length, but not enough to let anyone pass these two jokers.
• My mom and I saw the movie The King's Speech on Sunday.  We arrived 10 minutes late on purpose so that we could miss the first half of the previews/ads, which seem to run about 20-25 minutes these days.  That worked out quite well and we enjoyed the movie a lot.  Colin Firth was really great. 
• Finally, I received some photos from my sister in law of the throw-sized quilt I made for her son and his bride for their wedding gift, six years ago.  They are Romanian and I wanted to incorporate something of their ancestry.  In my research, I learned the Romanian flag is red, blue, and yellow. 

The simple design was done with strip piecing--I think there were six or seven different strip sets!

Being me, it had to be scrappy, of course. 

Here is the lovely couple, Vlad and Mara, with the quilt. I'm very pleased they love and use the quilt, as I did not get to see them open the gift and they immediately left for school in San Francisco following the wedding and have been in school nearly the whole time since.  When writing to give me permission to use their photos, Vlad said that he currently "is an assistant researcher on a schistosomiasis project funded by the Bill Gates foundation and NSF, which he will be able to use towards his master's thesis. Mara is studying for her Certified Nurse Midwife California Board exam. Once she passes it she will prepare for the board exam in women's health."  My sister in law is thrilled to have her only child and his lovely wife back living in L.A. finally.  I'm happy to have photos as my camera had failed to save the pictures I took before delivering the quilt.  I congratulate Vlad and Mara on all their long and hard work studying and their goals of helping others in their work.