I haven’t felt much like blogging in the last week or two. I’m not feeling creative, funny, or even very interesting. That was, until yesterday.

On a whim, I decided that the answer to one of my stumbling blocks was a sun print (don’t hate me because I get perfect Setacolor Transparent weather all year round). I’m really happy with how well the hastily gathered flowers and leaves tuned out, I just had to share.

Ironically, when I went to write this post, I saw that Nadine had nominated me as a Kreativ Blogger (not spelled wrong, just German). Thanks! Now I’m feeling a little better. I know this is a cop-out, but instead of nominating three creative bloggers, I’d rather just direct you to my sidebar where there is a whole list of blogs I follow regularly and they are all creative — every last one. Go check ‘em out.

I made a perfectly awful quilt today.

After a mere week on my son’s bed, the beautiful quilt inspired by his awesome racetrack drawing told me that it just wasn’t going to stand up to bi-weekly washings. I knew that going in, but I had my fingers crossed that the quilt would somehow be immune to the ravages of washing, and that my son’s bed wetting would miraculously end (not sure where I got that idea since he’s always been very consistent in that department).

My answer was to stuff an old duvet cover with batting and stitch it together. Stuffing is not nearly as easy to smooth as layering like in a traditional quilt sandwich. I followed the stripes on one side, but didn’t bother to make sure they lined up on the back side. The edges are all wobbly. My loop quilting in the wide stripes has very inconsistent stitching, and I closed the whole thing by folding over the open end and top-stitching. Nope, it’s not a beautiful quilt. But I won’t care when it’s faded and thin after many, many washings.

Which leads me to washing. I’ve determined that the eco-conscious people who promote washing laundry in cold water only definitely do not have bed wetters in their homes. Nor do they have kids still mastering the art of butt wiping or husbands who take long runs and sweat profusely. Sometimes, hot water is just the best way to get the job done. I’ve found that this is especially so when one uses the phosphate-free, all natural laundry soaps. They say they are formulated for cold water, but my nose tells me that I can either wash in cold water with lots of chemicals, OR wash in hot water and have gentler runoff; but cold water and natural soap — still smells like urine.

I like fluffy towels too. My plan: two or three loads of laundry, but only one load in the dryer. Towels, jeans, socks and undies go in the dryer, everything else goes on the line. unless it’s raining — then everything goes in the dryer.

Back to the quilt. I tried a new batting made of 100% PLA fibers. It says it’s eco-friendly. I don’t doubt that this corn-based fiber is friendlier than polyester, but I’m not sure how it compares to cotton. As a big time cotton batt user, I’m thinking that I might be better staying with that, because (as underlined by my copious research a few posts back), if we are eating corn, and eating animals that eat corn, and are putting corn-derived fuel in our cars, do we want to be making quilts with corn too? With a potential need for so much corn, will there be room on the earth to grow anything else? At least if I use a cotton batt, maybe some of those corn crops would get rotated to cotton every once in a while (don’t tell me how it really works, I know it’s not as simple as this). Anyway: the PLA. It feels a little scratchy and more like a poly batt than a cotton one, but it’s light and fluffy and potentially a perfect weight for our mild climate. It was hard to tell how it handled since my quilt making was so bass-ackwards on this project, but it wasn’t awful. The price was good too. I’m curious as to how well it washes. I’m also sure it won’t be long before I find out. In addition, I bought a batt that is 50% PLA and 50% cotton just for comparison. I’ll use that on the quilt for my daughter that still resides only in my head.

That last post was just because the picture was so darned funny (yes, we’re warped). Now Mr. Incredible has a post on his blog with a few more details. You should go check it out, if for nothing else than some very nice, nostalgic (and not warped) photos.

An Armed Meal, originally uploaded by RFCM.

Look, he’s using a real knife on an airplane! I bet he didn’t even have to take his shoes off at security either.

Robin and her daughter inspired us. Particularly since my son has been trying unsuccessfully to grow a venus fly trap for years. We had one as a houseplant in Germany, but it died (probably from lack of watering) after about a month. We tried one here in Hawaii in a pot on our lanai, but it died after about a week. He recently saw a terrarium of carnivorous plants in a catalog and then Robin’s project sealed the deal. We went shopping for supplies yesterday and got straight to work.

Here’s the girl version:

And here’s the boy version:

Thanks Robin!!

We live…

…in Hawai’i!

We don’t have any regularly scheduled game night. In fact, we barely stick to reading-only after dinner. But, tonight, my son voluntarily got out a board game to play — which in itself is quite a surprise. It ended up being one that I thought we were done with seeing that it’s best for the 4-6 year old crowd and my kids are 7 and 10.

No matter, Geistertreppe (Spooky Stairs) cracks us up every time. It really is best with four players as the hook of the game is that all the playing pieces get covered up with identical ghosts and start swapping places and it soon becomes difficult (especially after a glass of wine or a Cuba Libre or two for the parents) to remember who’s ghost is whose.

I’d recommend this game to anyone with young kids or grandkids around. It’s quick and fun and you can play over and over without tiring. But I have to say, the American price scares me — I payed a lot less in Germany four years ago.

As long as we’re talking auction, I thought I’d let my blog readers know that I’ve put all the collectible pottery I blogged about last month up on eBay. Shameless self promotion, yes, but check it out, and refer a friend if you know anyone that likes cool 1940s-ish pottery!

And you have checked out the SAQA auction, right?

I almost forgot — Studio Art Quilt Associates is starting their annual Art Auction today! The piece I donated is on page one and is available starting today.

Last year’s auction was wildly successful. I am happy to support SAQA, and even though I have not maximized my opportunities this year, I’ve still gained much as a member through their quarterly Journal, an online discussion group, exhibition opportunities, and even a critique group. Monies from the auction go towards exhibitions, catalogs (many artists enter only those shows that publish a catalog), and outreach programs for the following year.

Go, check it out, and if you see something you like — bid on it! The piece I donated last year was bought pretty quick, so don’t hold your breath waiting for a piece to get down to the $50 price.

World Population chart from Wikipedia

One of the things I really liked about being a graphic designer was wrapping my head around whatever it was that the current client was about. I learned a lot about Braille writing and types of blindness, Princess Cruise Lines’ routes and specials, tourism in Israel, the benefits of easy blood sugar testing, and on and on. The current 12 x 12 Mathematics challenge reminds me of my old work as, so far, I have spent exponentially more time researching than actually creating the quilt visuals or sewing. And because I doubt that all this information I’ve been gathering will actually show on the end product, I share it, and ultimately, a peek into how my brain works on a project, here.

After ditching the quilter’s math idea, I grabbed onto the phrase “You do the math.” It appealed to the ironic side that Terry says I seem to gravitate towards. It begged for some sort of comparison or statistics. For it to be meaningful to me, I figured I should look at women’s issues, or something close to home. It was the writings of Jared Diamond that finally inspired me (I’ve read two books and two articles by him and although he can bog you down with facts and figures and details, in the end I always find myself saying, “wow, I think he’s on to something.”).

According to his book, “Collapse,” First world people consume 32 times more resources than Third World people and produce 32 times more waste. If all current Third World inhabitants adopted First World living standards (a very real desire and a hope held out by relief organizations and human nature) the globe would need to support 12 times the current human impact.

Thomas Malthus, an English economist and demographer, wrote in his 1798 Essay on Population,

“The power of population is infinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man. Population unchecked, increases in geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in arithmetical ratio. A slight acquaintance with numbers will show the immensity of the first power in comparison of the second.”

So, even if high food-producing First World countries were willing to export food on a regular basis to Third World countries, it would not, without effective family planning, mitigate starvation. And, even if world population levels off at double it’s current numbers, we are already living at a non-sustainable level. Diamond askes, if 2.5 billion people are currently malnourished and lining on less than three dollars a day, what do we do with another 2.5 billion, especially when so many people in Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa are trading in their lower impact lifestyles for higher impact First World ones? Apropos to today’s food riots in Haiti, a decline in poverty equals an increase in food consumption which then equals raised prices (and that’s just one angle to the problem).

Thought to have been disproved in the 1950s by the Green Revolution, Malthus’ Dilemma is once again rearing it’s frightening head. I’ve found very interesting articles here and here that do a far better job summarizing the problem than I could (also, not about Malthus, but very interesting food issues, here’s another interesting article).

It’s possible that technology could save us with the next big leap forward (just remember that with solutions inevitably come more problems). In 2002 biotech crop acreage rose 12% worldwide, which might feed an annual 1.5% increase in population, but could it be sustained long enough to support an eventual 33% increase? The advisers at the National Academies paint a grimmer picture, additionally pointing out a decreased use in the pesticides that made the previous Green Revolution possible, decreases in available land in some of the neediest places and poor natural resource management that will impact agricultural yield. They say “A major challenge for the future will be to link conservation and biotechnology.”

Many of the articles I read, including a recent one in National Geographic, praise organic farming. Unfortunately, it currently makes up less than 10% of farming worldwide and between 1% and 9% of farming in developed nations (Sweden is a notable exception with 11% of it’s agriculture organic). Naysayers posit that 100% reliance on manure as fertilizer uses more space than exists: there is not enough space for fields, pastures AND homes (they must not have read the article about rotation where the fields and the pastures are one in the same).

In a 2003 article, the Christian Science Monitor says international agriculture has exceeded demographic increases (disproving Malthus), but can we keep it up? “Starting in the 1700s, Europe fed its burgeoning population by expanding agricultural production, especially in its colonies.” One third of the world’s land is currently cultivated, essentially leaving no more for agricultural use without inviting environmental catastrophe. As an aside, more and more farmland is being used for non-food crops like corn for ethanol, or less efficient food such as grain for cattle being raised for their meat. According to the article, the world’s farmers produce 25% more food per capita than 40 years ago, but the population has nearly doubled. Between 1950 and 1960 US grain yields increased 45%, but from 1960 to 1990 only another 10%. An article from Harvard’s Belfer Center gives similar statistics.

Back to our theme of Mathematics. All this research was to properly be able to visually represent my original inspiration. My quilt will be about Malthus’ original idea — which is mathematical and thusly fits the challenge. As to whether or not the dilemma has or will come to fruition is arguable (I’m tending to think Malthus was right, his timetable was just off by a century or two), but for my math purposes, beside the point.

In order to illustrate some of the information I have been trying to digest, I found projected population information at the UN’s Department of Economic & Social Affairs’ database, and agricultural yield info from the statistics division of the UN’s Food & Agricultural Organization. As with all statistics, it’s what you do with them that tells the story. Numbers don’t lie, but interpretation of those numbers can be manipulated in many ways. I think the research portion of this project is finally over and now, with the help of my Excel savvy husband, I’m off to draft some quilt art.