A New Beginning - an Ending

Well, I did it. After a lot of thought I have resigned my almost 9-year position as Quilting Guide at About.com - my first article was written there at end of Feb. 1997! how time flies!

Here's my final newsletter I sent out from About.com on January 13, Friday (my lucky day is always Friday the 13s!):

Dear Quilters,

I have been the Quilting Guide at About.com (originally The Mining Co.) since it began, almost 9 years ago. It's been a wonderful experience and a chance to meet many quilters on the Internet from all over the world. But, it's time for a change and I have decided to leave my Quilting Guide position.
About.com is changing in look and feel and I know it will continue as an incredibly useful site for all its many topics. But I have decided it is better for me to leave and move on to work in my own style.

I will begin a Quilting Blog soon - read below to see how to reach me and how to find out what I will do in online quilting in the future.

Thank you for all the support and friendship. I've learned so much about quilting from my readers and visitors.
~ Susan Druding

Quilters' Nuggets Mailing List -
Signup here: http://www.straw.com/quilting/QNuggets.html

A few years ago, when About.com did not have newsletters, I began a newsletter called Quilters' Nuggets to tell people what I was writing and interesting quilting news.

I'm starting it up again and you can sign up to receive it at this link. It won't be frequent and I promise not to fill your mailbox. Quilters' Nuggets will be completely non-commercial and I will share your address with no one.


Quilting Forum at Delphi - QFAD
One of the things I'll miss the most about leaving as the Quilting Guide at About.com is our Quilting Forum. So, I hope you'll come by and say 'hello' in the new one I have just started: the Quilting Forum at Delphi (QFAD). (it's free to join)
Here is the link: http://forums.delphiforums.com/quilting_forum . I chose Delphi Forums because many years ago (1993) I opened the Textile Artists Forum (TAF) on Delphi and have always liked the style and useful structure of the Delphi forums - so I'm full circle back to where I first began my first textile arts forum hosting online! I hope to see you in QFAD!

Thank you for the years of fun and learning!
Until we meet again in quilting spots online, my warmest regards and best wishes that all your quilts will be just as you plan them, or even better!

Susan C. Druding
Former Quilting Guide at About.com

London | Smokers get help to Quit as they Knit

Non-smoking support groups are forming with the focus of using knitting to help women stop smoking.
This report from a London group shows how well it seems to be working.

I had a mother who was a heavy smoker while I was growing up - which, I believe, is the reason I never smoked. But, I think that keeping hands and mind busy with knitting could help - I know it helps with dieting!

What's in the name of this blog: Mopalia ?

So what, you may ask, is MOPALIA?

It's the name of a mollusk invertebrate that I began researching when I was working on my PhD in Marine Ecology at UC Berkeley's Bodega Marine Lab in the 60s. I left Marine Biology and moved to textiles and got my MA from UCB in the Design Dept in the early 70s instead.

Mopalia muscosa, common name 'mossy chiton' is a slow-moving, attractive little animal. and more good photos here.

Below is a very nice photo of a Mopalia muscosa taken
by E. Eugenia Patten © California Academy of Sciences. There is a lovely collection of invertebrate photos at the site where this photo was located : Cal Photos

In case you are interested in my background, how I got from tide pools to textiles and quilting and knitting - here's a bio of me from approximately late 1998.

Mopalia muscosa photo by E. Eugenia Patten © California Academy of Sciences

How do you 'adopt' a frozen egg? - The Boston Globe

How do you 'adopt' a frozen egg? - The Boston Globe: "How do you 'adopt' a frozen egg?

When I first saw this article in my news links, I assumed it was an Onion joke article - but it's not! It is from the Boston Globe.

By Susan L. Crockin | December 4, 2005

This past May, to protest a bill on embryonic stem cell research, President Bush surrounded himself with 21 babies, each of whom had been born to parents through the donation of a frozen embryo. Declaring that there is ''no such thing as a spare embryo,' President Bush suggested that surplus embryos should be ''adopted' and used to produce children, not stem cell research.

To further this agenda, the Republican-led Congress has given almost $3 million in grants to promote embryo ''adoption,' funneling much of it into the ''Snowflake embryo adoption program' sponsored by Nightlight Christian Adoptions." ...

And there's more to this article. Don't miss the rest of it. Don't you love what they are doing with our Tax Dollars, both at home and abroad!?

Good for South Africa's Supreme Court!

This was a pleasure to read on Google this morning! Perhaps some other countries will take the step now that there are 5 other nations who have seen the light!


South African court rules for same-sex marriage - The Boston Globe

South African court rules for same-sex marriage
Parliament given year to amend laws
By Craig Timberg, Washington Post December 2, 2005

JOHANNESBURG -- South Africa's highest court ruled yesterday that gays and lesbians have a right to marry, and it gave the national parliament one year to change the words ''husband" and ''wife" to ''spouse" in its marital laws.

Under the ruling, which was greeted with jubilation by gays and lesbians and frustration by some church leaders, South Africa will become the first African nation and the fifth in the world to extend full marital rights to same-sex couples.

''It was a great victory for human rights and gay and lesbian people," said Dawie Nel, director of OUT, an advocacy group based in Pretoria, speaking by phone. ...

Knitting Picking up in Japan

Knitting boom warms up Japan's winter - MSN-Mainichi Daily News


USA spreads knitting interest to Japan. Interesting change from the 1980s where USA picked up knitting ideas from outside the country.

Finally

After opening this blog a year ago, I've finally decided to get started.

I'll be posting with personal reflections on things - including knitting and quilting, digital photography, but straying into politics and social issues and a few rants.

Susan