Thanks for the sisterhood award!

Thanks to my friend Karen at a Corgi House for this nomination. I like the name because there really is a sense of the sisterhood about our virtual meetings on the web. Friends are people who share common interests and respect, maybe not just the folks in your own neighbourhood anymore.

Tomorrow when I have more time I am going to list my ten blogging sisters, it's late and it has been a very busy day, but I do want to share a sisterhood of sewing story. A long time ago now, remember the first war in Iraq, I was in a fabric store and they had the radio on. They were announcing the first  bombing of Bagdad. Over at the next cutting table a mild looking senior lady picked up her bolts and threw them hard down on the table and quite forcefully said "Another bunch of stupid men starting a stupid war that is only going to make things hard for women and the children they are trying to take care of." At that one moment I felt that the sisterhood of women was transcending all other realities and politics, hard to explain, just that ordinary women and mothers had so much more in common than all the other constructs of government and country.

I have never forgotten that moment.

More tomorrow. Thanks Karen.

On those arms

On and off on the sewing blogs there has been debate about whether or not Michele Obama should cover up those arms. From style experts on her strong arms have caught people's eyes and attention. All this in a society that is training teenage girls that cleavage falling out of wonder bras is OK in class.

This morning Maureen Dowd in the NYTImes said it best. I hope hers is the last word. Here is what Dowd wrote:


During the campaign, there was talk in the Obama ranks that Michelle should stop wearing sleeveless dresses, because her muscles, combined with her potent personality, made her daunting.

She ignored that talk, thank heavens. I love the designer-to-J. Crew glamour. Combined with her workaday visits to soup kitchens, inner-city schools and meetings with military families, Michelle’s flare is our depression’s answer to Ginger Rogers gliding around in feathers and lamé.

Her arms, and her complete confidence in her skin, are a reminder that Americans can do anything if they put their minds to it. Unlike Hillary, who chafed at the loathed job of first lady, and Laura, who for long stretches disappeared into the helpmeet role, Michelle has soared every day, expanding the job to show us what can be accomplished by a generous spirit, a confident nature and a well-disciplined body.

I also have no doubt she can talk cap-and-trade with ease and panache.