Indigo Dyeing With Quilty Friends

My guild did it's in person meeting in August at a member's home and we did indigo dying. Indigo can dye all natural fibres. It gives beautiful shades of blue — from the palest summer sky to an almost purple black. The colour achieved depends on the type of vat, the concentration of indigo, and the number of dips. Indigotin (the dye component of indigo powder) is insoluble in water. To use it for dyeing it must be reduced to a water-soluble form. All indigo vats need three things: 1) Indigo 2) A reducing agent 3) A Base. Chemically, we need to reduce the indigo to make it soluble — we do this with a reducing agent. Reducing agents can be sugars, some natural dyes or other plants, or chemicals. A reducing agent lowers the oxidation state of the indigo molecule, transforming indigotin into leuco-indigo — which is soluble in water at room temperature. If we just add powdered indigo to water it will remain in pigment form, suspended but not dissolved. What is the difference between a suspension and a solution? A fish is suspended in the ocean. But salt is dissolved in the ocean. You can see the fish (which remains distinct) you cannot see the salt (which has dissolved). If we can see the indigo (the dye bath is blue inside) then the indigo is not dissolved and the dye bath cannot be used to for dyeing. When the indigo is reduced it dissolves and the dye bath is a greeny-yellow colour. We had so much fun with all the various iterations that we produced that we are eager to do it again next year.

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

I loved The Correspondent, and when the author, Virginia Evans, did a segment on It's Friday And If You Haven't Read This It Is New To You and recommended this. Like her book, this an epistolatory novel, and she was surprised to learn that it is a memoir rather than a work of fiction. The author writes to the London bookstore at the address in the title in 1949 looking for obscure, out-of-print classic English books she cannot find in New York. The author is quintessentially American-- informal, frank, and humorous which is a contrast to the bookseller's more formal and properly British responses. The heartwarming part of the correspondence that that Helene is concerned about the scarcity of meat and eggs in post-WWII England and she sends care packages to the store through a relief organization at Christmas and Easter. Frank Doel, Helene's main contact at Marks and Company, shares them equally with the bookstore staff. These acts of kindness are deeply appreciated at a time when there is not another way to get these treats, and they write to tell Helene how much this has changed their holidays, how they have shared them with neighbors and family members, that her thoughtfulness has made a meaningful difference to them all. This is also a celebration of second-hand books, fine leather bindings, clear type, and the sheer tactile joy of reading. Helene is not a reader of best sellers, and what she is looking for is quite particular, and she doesn't want to spend the earth on her books either--Frank is able to find quality affordable books that make her very happy and for me the fact that these books find a good new home where they are appreciated. This is a window into a time and a place that is really quite lovely.

Guadalajara, Victor, Idaho

We went to a beautiful wedding in nearby Alta, and it was catered by this restaurant. There were three kinds of tacos--chicken, carnitas, and vegetables, which were sauteed and in the style of fajitas. The tortillas were steamed and despite the size of the crowd and the length of the service, they were soft and supple throughout. The rice and beans--which is one of the bars that I judge Tex-Mex food by--were both excellent. The guacamole was good, and the salsas had layered flavor as well as a hear gradient to keep everyone happy. The chips were very good, and despite the rain, they were crisp. The salasa had finely shredded cabbage in it, which was unusual but very good, and the queso was delicious.

Front Desk by Kelly Yang

One of my kids gave me the American Library Association's book of 52 books that are targeted by book banning groups, and this book is on that list. I am working my way through it, and this one is aimed at a middle school audience, which is not a genre I read at all. I related to a review that I read that noted that she did not read younger than Young Adults (although I do like a good picture book on occasion and I do have grandchildren who are getting old enough to be covered in this genre and I will be doing more of it as a result). The reason that that this book is being targeted by angry white adults is that they are scandalized that a children’s book would dare talk about racism. The racism in this book is very much in your face rather than more subtle, which is what I would expect for a book aimed at a middle school audience, but which was a bit glaring and heavy handed to my adult ear. The story is about Mia, who helps her parents manage a low end motel where there are some long term residents. She faces prejudice at school and while she works, and it is quite recognizable. Mia sees that immigrants and Asians are not the only people targeted, and when she sees a favored hotel resident who is African American get treated unfairly, she sticks up for him in an anti-racist manner that is very appropriate and is a great example of how to do that.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026)

The Devil Wears Prada--the reboot. It is literally 20 years later, both in real life and in movie life, and the gang's all here. What is no longer true is that print journalism is still here. That is the test, not the subtext, all prettied up with high fashion and glamor. Anne Hathaway returns as the delightful and talented Andy Sachs, now working as the kind of serious journalist she always wanted to be before becoming a Runway Magazine dropout in the first movie. She wins a journalism award the same night that she loses her job, and is ripe for, well, anything. Enter Runway and Miranda again, after Andy mysteriously lands a new job at her first professional home to reshape the editorial direction of the magazine. Battling with a PR nightmare after the magazine’s accidental praise of a highly unethical supplier, neither Miranda nor her right-hand Nigel recalls Andy at first glance. She is promptly placed in an embarrassing office that looks like a stockroom and paired with the hardworking assistant Jin, who is as smart and ambitious as the young Andy. The theme is that you cannot count on anything, and that people can be surprising, and while this is not a great film, it is a fun one. I recently rewatched the original and it holds up, and this one is a perfectly servicable sequel. Not to mention that while in the first one no fashion house wanted to be associated with a film spoofing an industry icon and they had to manage on a shoestring, this time around there were gobs of clothes and fashion was truely on parade, both on the screen and off.

Yesteryear by Caro Clair Burke

Well, this one left me thinking that I didn't initially know what to think about it. Natalie Heller Mills builds a multi-million-strong following by broadcasting an idealized, picture-perfect version of rural life and traditional womanhood. Behind the scenes, her idyllic farmhouse relies on nannies, producers, and industrial equipment. One morning, she wakes up in a harsh, 19th-century version of her farm without modern conveniences, forced to actually live out the old-fashioned values she preaches. She must figure out if she has time-traveled, suffered a psychotic break, or entered a sinister hoax. Here is the thing--Natalie shamelessly did what many a Tik Tok phenom does--they exploit themselves and those around them--including their children, all in the pursuit of fame and fortune. Which is as old as mankind, I get that--I am listening to the book 1929 right now, and a hundred years ago it was a different media and different gatekeepers, but fame and fortune was where it was at. The thing that really struck home for me was the memoir I just finished by Sally Mann, about how her life was blown up by a journalist who accused her of exploiting her children and how 25 years down the road that is just Tuesday, a nothing burger that is as common as days of the week and fast food. I really did not love this, but it is food for thought.

A Business Owner's Right To Choose

An owner's right to refuse to host a meeting by an organization that is against a woman's right to have autonomy over her body set off a tsunami. Jim Sheehan, the owner of a coffee shop in Driggs, was filmed in mid-August telling members of an anti-abortion rights group not to hold a meeting in his cafe, he has found himself the subject of national news stories and columns. He and his wife have been doxxed, and his business received so many angry calls — even death threats — that staff turned off the phones. Ironically when people try to protect a woman's body autonomy people threaten to kill them, making it all too clear that this is not, in fact, about life. No, it is about controlling women, making them at best second class citizens when you take away their ability to choose what is best for their bodies. It all started with a Facebook post by members of Students for Life of America, a group that opposes abortion rights, advertising that it would hold an Aug. 17 meeting at Wydaho Roasters to discuss efforts surrounding Proposition 1, a 2026 ballot initiative in Idaho that seeks to increase access to abortion. Sheehan, who supports Prop 1, also called the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act, responded to the Facebook post in a comment, asking the group to hold its event elsewhere. He said he didn’t give the topic much more thought after that. But the next day, he said, he looked up from grinding coffee to see that the meeting was taking place anyway. He confronted the group, reiterating that he didn’t want them meeting in his shop. An event in the cafe, he reasoned, would give the appearance of support from the business and its owners, and he strongly opposed this group’s efforts. In a confrontation the activists filmed, they pressed Sheehan on what they saw as hypocrisy. His shop advertises its desire to be inclusive, flying an LGBTQ+ Pride flag and displaying a sign that reads, “Everyone is Welcome Here.” Well, not racists and not people who see women as less than worthy of the rights that men are afforded. They can buy coffee, but they cannot advertise they are holding meetings in a business without the owner's permission.

That Summer by Jennifer Weiner

I read this for one of the reading badges in a Goodreads challenge--I read incessantly but somehow two of the 12 summer badges did not have a single book that I had either read or was hoping to read, including this one, which was that the book had 'summer' in the title. The book has two Dianas. The first Diana we meet as a teenager where she works as a nanny for well-off family vacationing in Cape Cod. She loves the beach and the ocean and even her job. As the summer progresses she develops a crush on an older boy and when he invites her to a party with all of his friends, she happily accepts. But the boy betrays her and Diana is assaulted, which changes the trajectory of her life forever. The story fast forwards to 2019 and we meet the second Diana, called Daisy, who a stay-at-home housewife who is working on growing her cooking business. She married her husband Hal when she was very young and he 13 years her senior. She is quite financially dependent on him but also beholden to him--she dropped out of college intending to go back but never does. She wanted more children but only has one. She is isolated after the one friend she had that was hers dies. Otherwise he controls her life--what they do socially, where they travel, and what happens with their daughter. Everything changes for Daisy when she starts to receive misdirected emails meant for a woman named Diana Starling, whose email address is just one punctuation mark away from her own. Daisy gets a glimpse into Diana’s glamorous life and she begins to wonder, what if things were different for her? Eventually, the two connect, meet and become friends. But as you can imagine, this connection isn’t accidental. And you probably know exactly where the story is going from there--this is not a book with twists and turns. So that said, I liked but did not love this--it is a good story though, so I would recommend it.

Amish With A Twist Tula Pink Style

2026 is the Block of the Month year for me, and while the other 3 I am invovled with I have slipped behind in, this one has been easier to keep up. One is that the Facebook group is replete with people who do all the month's blocks the day they get the material and post their results lickedy split. I was gone when the first month arrived, the second month came a couple weeks later and while I was away for the Fourth of July the third month arrived, all while I had yet to open even one ofr them. So, not a great start for me, but I have rallyed and was done with the third month before the fourth arrived--one thing about the Pink Door preparation of the fabric is that it is possible to figure out what color is what, even with so many coming at once. I am really enjoying watching this come together, there is some space to go a little off road in some place, and after quilting for 50 years, I discovered two things that are pretty common and yet I had neither of them. One is design boards--there are so many different fabrics in each block that cutting out is a bit tedious, and it would be very unlikely that I could keep them all straight when sewing them together, and a 14" design board has been key. I have made some cutting errors, but with the design board as well as what the final block is supposed to look like, I have not had to seam rip because of wrong placement. The other is that I bought a ruler organizer--there are so many rulers that I have been regularly using for this quilt that it has been great to have them all organized and propped up so they are easy to move between as needed. We are a third into the quilt and it is coming together beautifully. The Facebook group has been a great source of inspiration--including someone who FPP a butterfly for her blocks! And provided the pattern so we all could if we wanted. There are a few people who I sew regularly with in my guild who are doing this as well, and the whole experience has been great. I would do another Pink Door Block of the Month if the pattern and final quilt moved me, but in some ways I would be just as likely to try this one again with fabric of my own choosing.

Hold Still by Sally Mann

I read this after hearing about it in the Parnassus weekly vlog It Is Friday And IF You Haven't Read This It Is New To You--which has been a rich source of books that are not new and therefore that I would have almost certainly missed without being alerted to them in this way. I have no fewer than 5 such recommendations on my bedside To Read stack and I finished another one earlier this week. It turns out a lot of things are new to me. Sally Mann is a photographer who is best known for photographs of her three children – the collection called Immediate Family-sometimes naked, often not. They gleaned wider attention than art photographs typically got in the early 1990s, when Mann was the subject of a lot of bad press, and specifically a profile in the New York Times magazine that saw a journalist(who shall remain nameless because, well, no need to toot that horn) lifted her life and work almost wholly from its context. She became a figure of a favorite kind of modern controversy: a bad mother, one apparently willing to sacrifice the psychological wellbeing of her children on the altar of art. This is especially ironic in the Instagram/Tik Tok era, where influencers shamelessly flog their children for extra clicks. In any case, this is a far reaching story, sprinkled liberally with photographs, that goes back several generations in her family, to draw a clearer look at who she is, what made her, and what she is not. Some quintessential take homes are that she herself would not wear clothes--at all--until she went to school, making me think of some sensory integration challenges (maybe not where every reader went with that), she married young to someone who many years later she still sees as having saved her, and that she is driven to create. A probably unintended consequence of the journalist calling her art problematic, if not pornography, was that her in law's murder/suicide was re-examined by the police with her spouse as a suspect in a murder-murder. Why was unclear--the pair were deeply in debt, which was known to the author and her husband, and they literally had nothing to gain from such a violent course of action. Well, the adage of May You Live In Interesting Times certainly applies and the book is an outstanding version of peeling back the curtain and looking at the artist's process, messy as it is.