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mem_somerville

@mem_somerville@mastodon.social

Scientist. Lacemaker. Special fan of Ipswich Lace.

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mem_somerville , to random
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So, today I was here. This was one of the most unusual historical marker signs I have ever seen.

Charming. Serious. And #NinjaTurtles. #TMNT
#DoverNH

A green heavy duty, serious historical marker sign with the seal of New Hampshire at the top, with a charming clipper ship looking vessel on the water, surrounded by state incorporation date stuff. Text of the sign: CREATON OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES In November 1983, living in Dover, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird created a cast of Ninja weapon-wielding turtles during a late-night drawing session. Amused by the absurdity of the idea, the duo developed the story of four teenage turtle brothers: Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo. The one-shot comic, published independently by Mirage Studios on Union Street. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles soon became a full comic series and ultimately an international multimedia franchise. 2023
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    mem_somerville , to random
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    I don't know what this plant is, but it spawned from a sidewalk crack and I love it for weirdness and resilience.

    A strange flower growing from a crack between a brick wall and th sidewalk in an urban area. The flower heads are in bloom. They have a center that's dark purple that looks a little like images of corona virus, with yellow tips at the ends of the spikes that come out of it. In addition, it has a ring of tiny light purple flowers that seem to come from other spikes, that look like tiny trumpets with a long stretched section and some delicate petals on the ends of the trumpet. It's weird and wonderful. It has a bunch of these flowers off some dark green foliage.
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    • mem_somerville , to random
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    I have run out of pins. Hmpf.

    I have to stop now and spend a while pulling pins from the back.

    This is my first Tønder lace, from my workshop last weekend. I like it better than I expected. I expected to break more threads, but so far only a couple. I never worked with thread this tiny and fine before.

    Closeup of the unpinned first section of the lace, that was done in the workshop last week. It has a penny nearby for scale. It consists of a heavier serpentine linen thread that offsets a series of teardrop shaped motifs. On the outside edge, the teardrops are either filled with cloth stitch or open "Copenhagen" holes. You could fit about 3 alternating teardrops in a penny area. The teardrops on the inner section are filled with honeycomb stitches. The outermost picot stitches still have pins in them, but are pushed way down to be out of the way. The inner sewing edge also has most of its pins still, while it's still in progress. Over to the right a small section of the same pattern still has the pins in it. These are the ones I need to pull to use next.

    A wide view of my lace pillow and the 2 of 6 sections of a hexagon mat pattern loaded with silver pins. You can't even see the lace because of the pin density. Nearby is my open tin holder for pins, with one lonely and wrong sized pin in it. My wooden bobbins (17 pairs and one with heavy thread called gimp) are strewn around the pillow, hanging off the last completed part. A small cloth section covers the work that was unpinned so far. The cloth protects it from damage while you keep working.
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    mem_somerville , to random
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    Antique store cat wonders if you really need more doilies....

    To be fair, she's right (her name is Beatrice, at Howard's Flying Dragon Antiques). But you can't get linen like the fineness of these squares now, perfectly hemmed. Seriously great stuff.

    And that goose. I mean, of course I needed the goose doily.

    A round linen doily about 7 inches in diameter. It has a triangular trim with a little flower motif in it, made of filet lace. The center of the doily also has about a 2 inch square motif of a goose with a long bent neck in that angry goose pose. The circle of linen in the main area also has drawn thread work removed so that it looks like a tic-tac-toe grid (with the goose in the center). The initials ADH are embroidered in the top center square too.
    A pile of fabulously soft and fine linen rectangles, with drawn threads to make one inch squares around the edge. It also has a perfectly sewn folded over hem all the way around. It has a safety pin holding the batch, and it says $10 set of 8. I can make a lace trim around the edges of these that will look divine. And that means I don't have to sew the center part, which is just not my favorite part of the whole thing.

    Beatrice the long haired beige tabby sits on the register stand (around closing time) as the store owner checks on my doily prices. Beatrice looks a little doubtful about my purchase with mild disdain as she looks to the side. The rest of the store is full to the brim with antiques and candles and tchotchkes and stuff loaded on every shelf and hanging from the walls and ceilings.
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    swachter , to random
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    I have to say, having an unknown piece of electronics begin smoking aggressively is a damn effective way to end an otherwise lovely chat between Randall Munroe and @pluralistic. Gotta remember that one for the next time I want to get out of a meeting.

    mem_somerville ,
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    @knizer @pluralistic @Zittrain

    I found the idea of the "bezzle" a helpful (if frightening) concept.

    And I loved Randall's answer about how he frames taking a small window of someone's time with the distilled idea he's trying to convey.

    mem_somerville , to random
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    RFKJr is pissing off everybody....

    "Cesar Chavez’s family tells RFK Jr. to stop using activist’s name, image"

    https://wapo.st/3PH0Xgv

    flexghost , to random
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    What the hell is this?

    I made it 3 minutes into Katie Britt’s astonishingly bad SotU rebuttal

    Drop on the comments how far you can make it into this clip before turning it off

    Video of Katie Britt turning in her audition for Mr. Johnson’s junior class presentation of Our Town

    mem_somerville ,
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    @flexghost I wish someone would do the green-screen stuff where her shirt is replaced with scenes from The Handmaid's Tale....

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