Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

Don't sweat the small stuff. Sorry if that's an overused phrase that gets your hackles up, but they are words I try to live by in both life and quilting.

Jude recently made an improvised horse and was saying "oops" because she forgot the ear. It's a marvelous horse, you can tell exactly what it is, so what does an ear matter? The trick is to get enough details to get your point across, you don't have to have them all.

See if you can identify the next three Halloween images. The third one is tricky, but I think it's doable if you keep my entertainment choices in mind.

So first off is the witch. She's got the requisite pointy hat and black dress with Wizard of Oz witch striped stockings and admittedly clown-sized ruby slippers. Witch also has a black cat. Back when I made this quilt I was experimenting with different ways to piece improvisationally. The technique I used on cat (layering two fabrics together, slicing the outlines and then making two blocks with reverse-color images) didn't work very well and I've pretty much given up on it. Can you read what the words say around the witch?

Another Wizard of Oz reference: I'll get you my pretty. These words are difficult to read because I used such a busy print for the letters, something I avoid these days.

Dracula is pretty easy with his big fangs and dramatic cape. I like the widow's peak as well. You'll notice lots of things are missing: eyes, nose, lips, ears, hands and feet. Does it matter? He vants to drink your blood.

Here's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, here to save the day. (I know that's Underdog's motto, but I thought it applied.) I gave Buffy her blonde (okay, orange) hair, a tank top and a raised stake.

These are all blocks from my Happy Howloween quilt. I posted a very lousy pic of it years ago, but don't bother to go back and look for it. I'll post a good one once I'm allowed to hang the quilt up on the wall. I made it way back in 2001, one of my early letter/improvisation quilts. One thing I notice is the the way I made my Y's with a slant, rather than the way I do it now (upside down h with an additional bit).

Book recommendation: The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. It's a fantasy, magical heist novel. It's about a great con, ala The Sting and Inside Man, as well as a story of loss, revenge, and death. I want to call it light-hearted fun, but it is quite serious as well. Check out the author's site to see other recommendations and read a sample. 5 out of 5.

DVD recommendation: Heroes Season One. Woohoo I finally got to watch it all. You know I love superheroes, stories with intricate plots, and time travel, so this show was right down my alley. I loved the ruminations on what it means to be a hero and how it's not about having super powers but how you behave and Is there such a thing as destiny and can the future be changed? Some of the characters are very ambigous - are they good or evil or just misguided.

My favorite character was far and away Hiro, who turns away from a traditional homogeneous Japanese life to do something remarkable. I loved his "sidekick" Ando as well. He definitely had the Xander job - the superhero's heart. And Hiro's father? Excellent casting.

My favorite episode was "Five Years Gone" when we get a grim peek into what the future will be like if the explosion in NYC can't be prevented. Reminded me of my favorite X-Men storyline where Phoenix Rachel went into the future to see how the mutants have been hunted down. (Was that called Days of Future Past or is that just a Moody Blues song?) Yes my inner geek is showing.

[added later: How geeky exactly am I? I just looked up Days of Future Past and X-men and found an entry for it on Wikipedia. It was Kitty that went into the future, not Rachel. How could I have made that error? Well, it was back in 1981 so guess it's been awhile.]

Anyway, Heroes gets 5 out of 5 in my book. I'm going to make my husband try it and I'm really looking forward to seeing it again, knowing what I know now. I'm still not sure all the little plot points hang together, but as I said earlier, don't sweat the small stuff. Just enjoy the show.