My new treasure

Several years ago my sister Vanasa, bought me a vintage Empire deluxe microscope, with 750X magnification and light (made in Japan). The 8 inch microscope came in a leather carrying case with 6 glass slides, a spatula and a probe.  Now, as cool as the microscope was, it is the leather case that has always thrilled me.  It is as if a person would say, I think I will take my microscope with me when I go to Grandma's house, and it is a good thing I have a leather case to protect it!"  The microscope (in the case) has been displayed tongue-in-cheek on a shelf at work in remembrance of the slides I viewed in biology, genetics, and anatomy as I worked my way through academia and into an amazing career in health science.

You can imagine my excitement when last month a patron walking past my pseudo scientific display stopped and said, "I have a microscope that would look good on that shelf, can I bring it in for you? The microscope that was given to me is dated around the turn of the century (circa 1900) made of black metal and brass measuring 14 inches and weighing over 10 pounds-I am a little disappointed it didn't come in a case :-) but it looks amazing displayed with my other treasures.

My Trip Around the World

Last week when I was in an antique store picking up a few chachkas for the pharmacy, I ran across an orphan quilt top wishing to be adopted. Now ordinarily I don't buy quilts.  It would be akin to an artist buying a masterpiece versus an artist painting a masterpiece, and in this case I felt the quilt was very far from a masterpiece, so I bid the orphan good-bye and went home.


Several days later I had a change of heart and made a trip back to the antique store to look at the quilt again.  Unfortunately, the piece looked to have been machine washed, evident by the bleeding of the purple fabric onto the white fabric and by the fraying of all then material when viewed from the backside. The pattern was set 'on square' rather than 'on point' and the design seems to stops rather abruptly on the outside edge.

However, on the plus side; the pattern used for this quilt is a very difficult design called Trip Around the World. The seamstress who made this quilt cut 1600 pieces of fabric into 1 inch squares and HAND SEWED them together, producing one large 48 inch square! And when I considered in awe an undertaking of this magnitude, I knew that this orphan needed a home. So, here is my plan for this quilt:


-Finish the quilt by adding a six inch boarder (hand sewn of course)
-Remove all fraying on the backside and iron using a good quality quilters starch
-Assemble quilt top, batting, and backing and figure out a way to put it on the new Gracie quilt frame I received for Christmas (see December 30th post)
-If I live long enough to finish the hand quilting, I will add a binding and tea-dye the entire project to even out the bleeding of the purple fabrics


I will blog my progress as I work through this project so look for new posts and photos as time goes by and wish me luck.

Rules of Civility

It would not surprise me in the least to see Rules of Civility make into a Hollywood movie. From the first sentence of the Preface to the final paragraph of the Epilogue, this breakout novel by Amor Towles delivers a captivating story of friendship, insight gained and loves lost.


In looking at the dust jacket it is easy to determine that story is set in 1937, but the real gem of the book is the backdrop of New York and the attention to details this novel so effortlessness provides.  The story is provided to us by Katey (now in her mid life), as she recalls a time she worked as an 'office girl' in a secretarial pool in Manhattan.  


I have not been so drawn into a story since I read Years of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks, early last year. 

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A study in vertebrate zoology (sort of)

Vertebrate zoology is the the study of animals with a backbone (such as mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians) and to be quite honest, I didn't spend any time studying them, instead I recently toured the new University of Utah Museum of Natural History's back hallways, offices, storage rooms, and other areas generally not accessed by the general public with the museum curator.

We started in the wet specimen room, with creepy crawlies in glass jars of every size. I saw one 5 gallon jar completely full of snakes! GROSS The cool part of the viewing this inventory was seeing specimens collected all across Utah and lands elsewhere.  Some of the collection was dated at the turn of the century (the 1900's) and it impressed me that scientists over 100 years ago saw the value in proper record keeping.  I should have been a scientist (but not in the creepy crawlies).

The dry specimens were less icky to look at, but the collection had a distinct odor associated to the preservation and content of the DEAD ANIMALS.  It was amazing to look at a tray of over a dozen field mice with such ignorance.....No, I could not tell that they were different species.....this is certainly not my field of expertise.

After a stroll through the research laboratories we headed to the museum for a first hand look at the exhibits through the eyes of a man who have devoted more than 30 years studying the origins and preservation of biological diversity, both regionally and globally.  His current research on mammals of the Great Basin uses historical data from museum collections to determine the direct implications for future conservation efforts and the preservation of biodiversity.

I feel really fortunate that Dr. ER was willing to give me a tour of this wonderful facility that made its debut in Utah late last month, and look forward to visiting the museum many more times in the future.

and I opened a present a few days late

A few weeks back I was at my BFFs house having a holiday celebration with some really great people when the UPS man pulled up and left a box on the porch. As you can imagine, Scott panicked a bit, worried that I had somehow caught a glimpse of my Christmas present as it was delivered to his house. I did not see enough of the box to determine what was inside but as as my close friends and family would attest, I asked EVERYONE what could possibly be in a box that measured about 32 inches tall by 8 inches by 6 inches.

The guesses ranged of everything from a telescope, to a camping tent.  I had a guess of a table, of a piece artwork (not a painting), some rather inappropriate guesses of intimate objects, snow shoes or other winter items.  I was very excited about this box because one of the best aspects of Christmas (and birthdays) is when you open a present and see yourself in the eyes of the gift giver.  It is like saying, 'so, you see me as a .........'

Well, believe me, I was utterly shocked to find a hand quilting frame, I would have never guessed this is what the box contained.  As I sit here and think of all the hand quilting projects I have completed on my lap with a quilting hoop on my lap over the years, I realize that this is really a great gift! Very unexpected and very much appreciated. I do not have a quilt to put on the frame (yet) so I downloaded this image of the frame from the web.

Pretty amazing, right? When I opened this gift I said, 'so you see me as a ..........quilter!' And boy did he get it right. Of all the gifts that could have been in the box, this was the best. Thank you Scott.