Catch up 2: Geology, Awards, and Stuff

Almost immediately after I returned from my sister's wedding in Canada, did I have to get on another plane and head up to Minneapolis for the Geological Society of America's Annual Meeting. This meeting is pretty much always awesome for many reasons:

1. free beer
2. reunions with geology nerd friends/colleagues/GSA buddies from last year/profs/friends who are the authors of the textbooks from your u-grad education
3. field trips
4. making new GSA friends
5. meeting the program director for the exact NSF grant you intend to apply for over free beers

I started this meeting off with a geology field trip called "cycling the Mississippi Gorge", it involved learning local geology, riding bikes, eating really yummy yogurt, making new GSA friends, and learning local "fun facts" like: when Minneapolis was emerging as an up and coming mill city it was also the biggest producer of prosthetic limbs, and no, not peg legs (I asked), real jointed top-of-the-line-for-the-early-1900's prosthetics. There was also this random park with giant polished slabs of hematite in it. And giant mirrors glued to other rocks. It was a little weird...

I was not presenting at GSA this year, but instead going to enjoy the meeting and be flashed momentarily on the 2011 Hall of Fame screen.

Oooh - there I am! Don't blink or you'll miss it! Really there was a big fancy (and extremely nerve wracking) luncheon with presentations and speeches and things. The 4 of us getting awards and our "citationists" (the people introducing us) all had to eat lunch awkwardly on stage while everyone in the audience got to eat their lunch while NOT sitting on stage, which would have been far more preferable.

There was an amazing quilt that someone had (painstakingly) made of the geology of Minnesota. Unbelievable!

I finished off the event with another field trip, although I completely FUBARed the original plan. I was supposed to go on a relevant field trip, but stupidly scheduled my flight back in the middle of the trip. Amazing. So, since I realized this exactly 1 week before the meeting I could not get a refund and changing plane/hotel would have been too expensive, so I traded trips. Unfortunately this other trip involved much less learning and cool geology and fun facts. I did find a handful of fossils, which I gave to a guy from New Zealand who couldn't seem to find any himself and was far too excited about these run of the mill crinoids and brachiopods.

...and I've been making stuff too.

Engineery and I have been working off and on (mostly off) on a totally awesome Pi quilt. Unfortunately, despite meticulous measurements and CAD drawings, we are still having issues. The Pi quilt will become a Pi floor cushion when we finally complete it.



I used a pretty neat tutorial to make these "tea wallets" for the Geology Club to sell at Garden Fest for fundraising. I still have a couple of them left, so if you want one, let me know. You may get lucky!



I FINALLY ground the punties off the remainder of my glass pieces that I made... oh, maybe 3 years ago? They're all so functional now, it's great!

In case you're wondering what the heck that even means, this might help clarify, but then keep in mind that novice glass blowers tend to be a little too generous with the punty, leaving behind a large wad of glass on the bottom that needs to be ground down.

And now for something completely different

A while ago I sent a square I made out of one of my derby T shirts (the one where my name was spelled wrong) to contribute to the Roller Derby Quilt project. My original submission is here, and you can see it sewn into the quilt (under a cat) here.

What's totally cool, is that this project is actually a collaborative art project for Dreadnaught's thesis somewhere in Boston! Even more awesome that our team is a part of it, and that I got an invite to the thesis exhibition... not that I can make it, but either way, the thought is what counts!

Further - she's going to try and self-publish this quilt project as a book, so if you feel like supporting her, I bet she'd really appreciate it.

Return to Canada Part 1: The Wedding

Among many fun and reminiscent visits with friends during my 3 week tour in the north country, the big event was our very own Fly Fisherman marrying his Mexican sweetheart. Everyone was there (most of them even managed to get to the ceremony on time), and the intimate back yard setting of the reception (not to mention the food & beverages - mmm!) was fantastic. More photos can be found here.

The bride & groom - now fully "tartaned"

In the words of Kilometres: a typical Gnat perspective

The reverse side of the quilt I made them

The full-fledged chaotic front of the quilt - so much going on!!!

top 2 least helpful things...

wedding quilt

Well, next weekend 24th St Cafe Girl will be marrying Captain Kindness. Texas Gal, Emarathoner and I are all going. In my usual tradition of ignoring the registry, I suggested we make them a quilt. This of course meant that we (mainly, I) had to squeeze in hours of cutting and sewing in our already hectic schedule... especially since I insisted on doing a reversible quilt... with "wedding" side and "traditional" side.





Nonetheless, last night, fueled by snacks and wine, we got through the bulk of it and this morning I finished up. Kiki "helped" too.

The 2-day Quilt

I'm really not a big fan of x-mas gift exchanges. You have a limited budget, and so very few people are creative enough to get something cool with it that you end up with a singing santa or ugly snowflake doilies, or cheesy stuffed x-mas trees, or hideous wooden snowmen, or I don't know what - but essentially something that you don't want, will never use, and will probably end up donating to the Goodwill, where it will then be picked up by someone else, presumably to bring to a gift exchange... I have one of these gift exchanges tonight.

Well, being ME, I of course take the challenging route and decide to make something. Something appropriately x-massy without being too x-massy, but also being within budget. I went to the Goodwill. I bought several (overpriced) sweaters - I think my local Goowill is totally overcharging, I need to find a different charity store for future projects.

Anyway, so I buy several sweaters, demolish them all, sew like MAD for 2 days, and complete a reversible quilt to give away tonight. See pictures above. On the purple snowflake side you can barely make out the seams - which are at funky angles to make up for lack of colour, and you can also barely make out the silver star buttons scattered throughout - but believe me, they're there!

Needless to say, I got NO work done during this time period.
Also needless to say, I will doubtless be returning to the Goodwill to drop off whatever it is that I receive at the exchange tonight...