I finally got to the de Young's Amish Quilt exhibition

I finally got to the de Young's Amish Quilt exhibition and spent hours studying the quilts, taking notes, viewing them with a small magnifier, comparing their colors to a set of color cards I'd brought with me.  I want to construct some Amish-style quilts, so I wanted to know how they actually made theirs.  When they put on a border, what did it look like?  What colors did they use for the hand quilting?  I was lucky enough to visit with Stephen Brown, the owner of these quilts, and we talked about how important it is to preserve the colors by displaying the quilts in low light.  Once a quilt fades, he pointed out, there's no way to reverse the process and get the original colors back.

[June 15: the exhibit has ended, and the de Young has removed the link, so I've edited this post. -- reh]

Another page about the Amish quilt exhibition (the page may look blank, but scroll down for text and illos)

A site that displays many of the Browns' collected quilts

-- Rachel Holmen

BIKE SAFETY: blinky lights, lights at knee level

As a driver, I try to notice bikes, but some riders seem to INTEND invisibility. Others mount lights on their arms, their shoulders, their helmets. If you can only use one light, it should be at approximately the same height from the ground as a car headlight. That's where drivers are scanning the street ahead of them.

I found this light yesterday, thanks to the Rock the Bike folks' participation in Bike to Work Day: Rock the Bike dot com. I particularly like the Down Low Glow -- a set of fluorescent lights that attach to your bike frame.

-- Rachel

Bike to Work today - May 13, 2010

Join the Velorution!!! www.sfbike.org

I can't bike this year, because my bike was stolen and I'm waiting to drive to LA and pick up my dad's recumbent (he's not riding any more). But at least I take public transit and use casual carpool.

An invention for weaving

I invented something before breakfast!  (A new kind of reed for use in rigid heddle looms.)  The invention was prompted by an article in WeaveZine by Syne Mitchell (who once sold me stories when I worked as editor for a fiction magazine).

Of course, once I started trying to record the original idea, seven variations popped into my head, so breakfast was very late indeed as the ideas took precedence, clamoring to be recorded and illustrated. -- Rachel Holmen