When I had lunch with my friend the amazing quilter last week, she showed me some of her new work. She’s not reallyquilting any more; she’s doing a combination of quilting and applique, using fabric the way a painter uses paint. And it’s her choices of fabrics that makes her pieces remarkable. She’s working on a series of exotic birds, having just finished a series of zebras. I was particularly struck by a zebra wall hanging that was not a solid compilation of fabrics and images but rather pieces with empty space between them, hung from a dowel, balanced, somehow, on strings of beads.
So, I decided to take a blob of free-form crocheting that I had made a while ago and hadn’t figured out what to do with it — and I copied my quilter friend’s idea.

I’m still playing with the idea of sewing beads in strategic places on the blob, but I’ve affirmed something about myself that I’ve always known and somehow keep trying to change. You would think that, by now, I’d have accepted the fact that I don’t like to pre-plan too much, especially when it comes to making things — clothes, recipes, interior design… I have more fun when it sort of flows organically, one thing building upon another toward a surprise ending. Sometimes I end up with something so unappealing that I wind up throwing it away. But that doesn’t matter if the process was fun. And usually what I wind up with is something I’ll play with until it becomes something interesting enough to wear or eat or live beside.
I guess that’s why the idea of free-form crochet appeals to me. Not only can I have fun playing with textures and colors, but I don’t know what it’s going to be until it finally is.

Watching one of the Bush twins stick her tongue out at the tv camera on Entertainment Tonight yesterday, I couldn’t help compare the Bush family with the Kerry family in terms of intelligence, maturity, social conscience, articulateness, poise, etc. etc. etc.
(Interesting that Mrs. Bush was on tv news trying to do some damage control, making excuses for her silly party-girl daughter. Somewhere I read tht the Bush twins caused some delays at the Albany airport as they were being hurried away from some hard partying they were doing in upstate New York so that they could get to NYC for some photo ops with their sweet mom.)
From where I sit, the Kerry’s beat the Bushes, hands down (and tongues in and fluent).
UPDATE:
While the little Bush sticks her tongue, out, the big Shrub puts his foot in his mouth:
“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we,” Bush said.
He tends to be brutally honest when he’s trying not to lie.
And if you don’t believe that he really said it, listen to an audio recording here, compliments of Joi Ito via Jeaneane Sessum.

Bruce Springsteen might not be superman, but he’s coming close these days.
I stayed up late to watch him on Nightline with Ted Koppel, who threw some very tough and legitimate questions at The Boss — who answered with obvious thoughtfulness and intelligence.
Springsteen’s Op Ed piece in the NY Times today is even more eloquent. It begins with this:
A nation’s artists and musicians have a particular place in its social and political life. Over the years I’ve tried to think long and hard about what it means to be American: about the distinctive identity and position we have in the world, and how that position is best carried. I’ve tried to write songs that speak to our pride and criticize our failures.
These questions are at the heart of this election: who we are, what we stand for, why we fight. Personally, for the last 25 years I have always stayed one step away from partisan politics. Instead, I have been partisan about a set of ideals: economic justice, civil rights, a humane foreign policy, freedom and a decent life for all of our citizens. This year, however, for many of us the stakes have risen too high to sit this election out.
Through my work, I’ve always tried to ask hard questions. Why is it that the wealthiest nation in the world finds it so hard to keep its promise and faith with its weakest citizens? Why do we continue to find it so difficult to see beyond the veil of race? How do we conduct ourselves during difficult times without killing the things we hold dear? Why does the fulfillment of our promise as a people always seem to be just within grasp yet forever out of reach?
The rest is just as good.
Springsteen said something to Koppel that he doesn’t say in the Times, in response to a question about the ethics of artists using their influence in the political arena. His answer not only affirmed that artists are intelligent enough to have informed opinions about politics and government, he also reminded Koppel that lobbyists try to influence politics and government all of the time. When Koppel countered with the fact that lobbyists use their influence so that the companies they represent can sell more “widgets,” so is a “personal thing,” The Boss had the best answer of all. He said that it it’s even more personal for him because he’s concerned about the country that his kids are growing up in. It’s very personal for him.
As it is for all of us.
Bruce Springsteen, American champion of Truth, Justice, and the American Way.
Rock on.
And Vote For Change