Feeling guilty here about having gotten sidetracked again from ongoing projects to make a couple of new quilts. And i can't help noticing how the list of UFOs keeps growing. Sooo, here is a list of UFOs i plan to finish this year:
grandmother's fan
Autumnal Tumbling Blocks
Indigo Star (3 versions)
Amish Dahlia
yellow and blue star for Franny
Sophie's bargello
blue Tumbling Blocks for Amelia
Hidden Ninepatch for Julian
Not-Yet Begun Projects that are tempting me:
a ragtime in muted pinks and browns
a bear's paw
contemporary, simple quilt in Autumnal batiks
UFOs i'm leaving on the backburner for 2011:
log cabin
Sister's Choice for moi me me
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Can Quilting Prevent Memory Loss?
I just saw this article on the New Old Age blog.
"At the age of 78, Bob Branham, a retired computer software developer in Dallas, Tex., took up quilting. It wasn’t his idea, actually. He’d never dreamed of piecing together his own Amish diamond coverlet or rummaging around Jo-Ann Fabrics in search of calico prints. But then he enrolled in a trial sponsored by the National Institute on Aging to assess whether learning a new skill can help preserve cognitive function in old age. By random assignment, he landed in the quilting group.
... neuroscientists suspect that learning a challenging new skill — a new language, a new musical instrument — may be even more effective than mental games at keeping the brain sharp. And quilting is more complicated than it may seem..."
Maybe this explains why my grandmother (the galloping horse one) was still as sharp as ever when she died at 97. I wonder how helpful quilting is if you've already been doing it for years. Maybe if you continue to expand your repertoire of skills and keep experimenting, it has the same effect.
"At the age of 78, Bob Branham, a retired computer software developer in Dallas, Tex., took up quilting. It wasn’t his idea, actually. He’d never dreamed of piecing together his own Amish diamond coverlet or rummaging around Jo-Ann Fabrics in search of calico prints. But then he enrolled in a trial sponsored by the National Institute on Aging to assess whether learning a new skill can help preserve cognitive function in old age. By random assignment, he landed in the quilting group.
... neuroscientists suspect that learning a challenging new skill — a new language, a new musical instrument — may be even more effective than mental games at keeping the brain sharp. And quilting is more complicated than it may seem..."
Maybe this explains why my grandmother (the galloping horse one) was still as sharp as ever when she died at 97. I wonder how helpful quilting is if you've already been doing it for years. Maybe if you continue to expand your repertoire of skills and keep experimenting, it has the same effect.
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