Blog Housekeeping

Teri, one of my blog readers, alerted me to the fact that the comment box was not displaying on my blog posts. I hadn’t changed any settings. I opened a trouble ticket with Squarespace and received this reply:

Due to an authentication issue in these browsers, we've temporarily disabled logged in commenting in Safari and Chrome. To comment, you can use guest or anonymous commenting in these browsers.

I have changed the settings to allow anonymous commenting, but comments are still on moderated status. (Also, nice of Squarespace to alert their users ahead of time about the change.)

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I’m going to have to start another project so I have something else to talk about here. The Noon and Night quilt needs to go under wraps now. I am confident in my block cutting and assembly instructions, but at some point, I may ask if anyone is willing to make a few test blocks for me to make sure my method is reproducible. My job now is to make blocks until I can’t stand it anymore, then play around with some setting options.

I’ve always been good at finding niches—Aran and cabled knitting design being a prime example—and any quilt designs I publish will continue in that vein. I want Noon and Night to be the kind of quilt pattern that would appeal to my quilt-making sensibilities: something slightly challenging to piece, scrappy but not disorganized, with opportunities for the quilter to put a personal spin on the quilt. If I can throw a bit of history and detective work into the mix—inspired by Margaret—I’ll do that, too. I am not Judy Niemeyer and have no aspirations to be. (Her quilts are stunning, though.) I am going to find my lane and stay there.

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I took WS to Kids College yesterday morning because I had errands to run in town. He’s taking Japanese Language and Culture this week and it has been fun to listen to him talk about what they’ve learned in class. I am always amazed at what sponges little kids are. I find it distressing that so much of that love of learning gets beaten out of kids in the current educational system. Our girls were fortunate enough to attend a rural school where many of the teachers were community members that they saw at church, at the grocery store, etc., and who were committed to the idea of the whole village helping to raise the kids. Unfortunately, the bureaucratic nonsense implemented over the past couple of decades has resulted in an educational system that I no longer recognize. Worse, it is one that I think no longer benefits children.

I’m curious to see how this pandemic changes the educational system in this country. Homeschooling has always been a popular option in our area, and it might become even more popular now. Not everyone has the skills or the temperament to homeschool their children, though, which is why I also see an opportunity for “microschools” to become an option. A return to an older form of schooling might well be appropriate now.

A picture of the first blooming echinacea, just to brighten up your day:

There were more bees on the lavender hedge this morning, which is gratifying, but still not as many as usual.