Giddyap Y'all

Another roundup of links and thoughts generated from random surfing. They seem to break into two distinct themes: fiber arts & going green. Also a follow up on Joss Whedon and something about food consumption both from the NY Times. There are a couple of questions sprinkled in about where I might like to direct my blogging energies in the future, so please peruse and offer feedback.

I miss Bob and Rebecca while they're on their Northern Exposure tour. To supplement Photojojo's Ultimate Guide to Road Trip Photography, mentioned in my last roundup, here's Molly Childers' instructions on How to Create Your Own Travel Journal via 52 Projects.

The New York Times reviewed Joss Whedon's latest project, which I inaccurately reported in my last roundup was no longer available for free streaming. It is free, but there are brief commercials. While I agree with the NYTimes that its technical execution is certainly better than other web-based programming and not quite as good as most broadcast television, I disagree with that being their overall conclusion as to the piece. The writing was better than most broadcast television. Think about The CW. Now watch Dr. Horrible. Do you not agree?

Quote of the Day:
"Boldness has genius, power and magic. Engage, and the mind grows heated. Begin, and the work will be completed." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Via Robert Genn's Twice Weekly Newsletter.

Reading Robert Genn's Renaissance letter, I wonder if we shouldn't rework the heading of this blog. I don't think it's a collection of whatever random thoughts come into our respective brains. I think it is a repository for our curiosity, an aspirational canvas, a viewfinder of renewed potential in all things, a laboratory for inventing private systems and reinventing former skills. Which is to say, this is a blog about whatever we feel like posting. Circle takes the square.

Label-Free provides a guide to fabric care symbols via WhipUp, which I normally would not be excited about, but just the other day as I was preparing for our first house guest to test drive our Hemnes day bed (some day I'll dedicate a post to our recent forays into Ikeaology) by washing the Nattglim mattress protector, I thought I was doing so well with the fabric care pictograms until I got to something that I could understand only as "No Circles." Turns out it meant it shouldn't be dry cleaned. Phew!

True Up collected some seriously inspiring pictures of well-folded fabric stashes. She even linked to Happy Zombie's fabulous fabric folding tutorial. While packing I took the time to similarly fold my fabric, so when I do finally unpack it, I hope to have a similarly well-folded stash in my nascent quilt studio. Now if only I could stop arguing with myself about how to categorize prints long enough to arrange them by color.


Inspired by the work of Curtis Cutshaw via dear ada to make some hand dyed whole cloth quilts. Anyone want to follow along as I move from inspiration to finished product? Keep checking back here. I'll give it an ETA of 2010.

From the sublime to the supralime, contemplating making Julie-Bird's remote control pillow, though probably not out of a t-shirt, via WhipUp.

True Up reviews the two hot new printing books, Printing by Hand by Lena Corwin and Lotta Prints by Lotta Jansdotter. Based on my experience with Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing, I'm not remotely surprised that True Up recommended her book for people "who usually buys craft books as an inspirational jumping-off point." If I'm going to buy a craft book, I'm more of a nuts and bolts girl, so if I were in the market for a printing book, which I don't think I am right now, but I might be once I've unpacked my nascent quilt studio, it sounds like I should look into Printing by Hand by Lena Corwin. Wonder if the local library has Lotta's books?

Dreaming about a flat panel television. Re-Nest is greening those dreams with some resources regarding finding efficient flat panel options.

Utne Reader provides a fabulous list of resources for getting rid of your stuff without putting it in a landfill.

The Blue Marble Blog reports on a Cornell study which echoes The Omnivore's Dilemma. In sum: want a simple way to save the planet and save yourself? Eat less.

By just reducing junk food intake and converting to diets lower in meat, the average American could have a massive impact on fuel consumption as well as improving his or her health.

To visually reinforce the idea that we just plain eat too much, check out The New York Times Metrics column regarding The Overflowing American Diet. Be sure to click on the link to the pretty graphic. Now how do I calculate the food miles involved in making my chocolate chip cookies? (BTW, I've added two more batch updates and a conclusion section to the post about my adventures baking New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies.)

Totally inspired by Georgia's one foot by ten foot garden in Berkeley as shown on Re-Nest. And I kinda want to catalog my attempts at greenness, just to positively reinfornce myself (i.e., Me to Blogosphere: "Toot toot!" Blogosphere's reply: "What's that?" Me: "My own horn!"). Anyone interested in reading about my collection of reusable shopping bags and my adventures with my new front-loading super efficient washing machine?

Grist covers Princeton Review's rating colleges based on their greenness. Some hometown favs got the top score including Emory University, Georgia Tech, and SUNY-B or Binghamton University or whatever they're calling themselves these days.

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