Amber Piona
Historian and Urban Planner, passionate about the past and the future.
- Reposted by Amber Pionai feel like the viral bus thread resonates because at every step of the way you're like "ok surely this will be resolved shortly, any second now," which seems like what all the passengers are also thinking. then the fact that the situation doesn't resolve and the bus just keeps going is an Allegory
- Reposted by Amber PionaFRIEND: what are you doing this weekend? ME: slowly crumbling from the gruesome balancing act of needing to stay informed while trying to salvage enough healthy headspace to be able to continue to support myself FRIEND: cool, cool
- The news is horrible and has been for a while. I turned on my sewing machine just to give my hands a thing to do. I know I will really love this little crib quilt. I remember spending happy hours playing with these fabrics. But right now, I don't have much joy in me.
- 2025 is nearly over and good riddance! The things I am going to carry over to 2026 are: 1. Rejoicing as a communal activity (thanks @theradr.bsky.social for this!). 2. Using ring theory for anti-trans news (care in/dump out). 3. Writing a monthly card to my friend as a secular homily on feelings.
- 1. Rejoicing as a thing you do, rather than a feeling has been very freeing. I have gone to protests and concerts, danced with other queers in bars and basements, and celebrated the holiday traditions that matter to me with the family I made. Highly recommended.
- 2. Had to find the ring outside myself for help with this one so I could be the shield I needed to be for those I love who are most directly affected. I didn't realize how much psychic damage I was taking with the news until I got help here.
- 3. This was a surprise! I wrote a card because I needed a place to put feelings, and then discovered I loved having the space to craft a monthly meditation on feelings that led somewhere positive and real. I wrote about joy, about growth, and about breath. Felt great, friend liked it, too. Win-win.
- My first economy block (diamond in a square). I forgot about seam allowance and over trimmed it, but that is why I do test blocks! This block is a little fussy, but the effect is neat.
- And complete! I ended up stitching in the ditch in a very fun zig zag around the squares that just barely shows on the yellow fabric on the back. This little blanket is ready to go off to its new home!
- Reposted by Amber PionaI was a kid once. And my biggest regret in life is that I never got a childhood without pain. Politicians should never insert themselves into the personal health care decisions of patients, parents, and their providers—and that includes trans Americans.
- Now you see these nine-patches, and now you don't! I am enjoying this little crib blanket, it is also nice to see how my sewing has improved. If I were to do a quilt like this again I would pick higher contrast fabrics, but I think this is cute!
- I love family book club. Every two weeks we take turns talking about a new book we read. Today I got to hear about the latest Marisol Rainey book from the 11 year old and a very enthusiastic review of Of Monsters and Mainframes from Lara. Hearing people be excited about books is itself exciting.
- Whenever I am trying a new (to me) quilt block, I do a test block out of stash fabric. Accidentally made something mesmerizing with this disappearing nine-patch block using Kaffe Fassett and Morris & Co fabric. This feels like a Victorian drug trip, in a fun way.
- Felt motivated to do something small(er). I was able to put together this quilted table runner pretty quickly. This is for my mother's dining table which is wider than mine. Log cabin blocks are so versatile, I spent forever deciding how to arrange them because so many ways looked good!
- I realized I never shared the finished quilt. I learned a lot, and I really like how it looks. Hopefully my grandmother agrees!
- Reposted by Amber PionaIt’s basically Deep Space Nine.
- Having some people over to celebrate Halloween (by eating ghost pizza and decorating Halloween cookies). Behold my costume, the Other Kind of Mermaid!
- Reposted by Amber Piona[Not loaded yet]
- Out of idle curiosity I checked in on the mariners/tigers game at the bottom of the seventh, and it was 2-2. That was two hours ago, we are now at the bottom of the 14th inning, it is still 2-2.
- Every 2 weeks, my wife, our kid, and I have Book Club. We each read a book and share it. There's a giant gavel, it's fun. I just shared the People's Project, and read @mirajacob.bsky.social 's You are Here to the table. Thank you, Mira (also @theferocity.bsky.social & @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social)
- Last night Lara and I got dressed up and went to the theater to see The Play That Goes Wrong. I love a farce, and a -live- farce is such an impressive technical feat.
- Reposted by Amber Piona[Not loaded yet]
- Okay, I am done with the news today. I have a pizza birthday dinner to attend (someone in this house turned 11 today), and I need a little time to get my party face on.
- After dinner out, I read a book with a cup of tea. On my way back to my car I heard live funk music. I followed it to a little theater and was let in for free to see the last hour of an excellent band. It was a really great time! Fun little community event.
- I have two quilt tops I much want to quilt but I do not have the space to pin one of them and I somehow miscalculated the yardage I needed for my backing on the other. I know I could make my life easier if I quilted small(er) things (or lived in a smaller place) but I dream in big cuddly blankets.
- Larger, obviously this hobby would benefit from me living in a -larger- place. With a room for sewing (not a tiny desk in the corner of the dining room) and a giant table. I think though, I am going to figure it out because this hobby makes the artistic part of my brain very happy and I need that.
- Every time my kid adds a new food to her list of food she will eat it is a celebration for all of us. She is so giddy from the success of tonight's vegetarian corndog (delicious) and side of red bell peppers with dip (the dip helped a lot) that she is right now reading a kid's cookbook in bed.
- In 7th grade a friend lent me VHS of MST3K: the Movie. I saw it and suddenly got so many jokes. It was foundational to my friend group. I never saw the show when it aired (no cable), only tapes. Years later I found @glaiveguisarme.com blog b/c she also liked that show. We've been married 14 years.
