The latest entry in the “why I don’t quilt enough” saga is indeed a sad tale and a warning. After the Computer Woes of two weeks ago, I thought I had it all back together, but it was not to be. Aside from some ongoing issues with the DSL router that we finally solved yesterday morning by the simple expedient of buying a new one, I spent the last part of the week doing damage control.

On Wednesday morning I tried to check my email at Gmail, and my password was mysteriously incorrect. It was fine the night before at 11:30-ish, and I couldn’t get into the account at 8:30 the next morning. I use Firefox and Outlook to check mail, and of course the passwords are stored in there, so I pretty much knew that I wasn’t giving Gmail the wrong one, so someone else must have changed it. Now, while Gmail wants you to think that this is not a complete crisis, let’s look at the facts:

Gmail’s password recovery system is seriously flawed when it comes to a malicious user accessing the account. Why? first, you have to say you’ve lost your password, and Gmail will send password recovery instructions to your “secondary email account.” If you don’t have a secondary email account set to begin with, or you no longer have that email address, you’ll never get that email, so you can’t get back into the account. OR, if someone else has gotten into the account, what do you think the first thing they’ll do is? Um, change that secondary email? Yeah, that’s it, you’re never getting those password reset instructions.

Never fear though, since Gmail’s got your back, right? If you wait five days, and no one accesses the account, Gmail will ask you your secret question, and let you back into the account. Hmmm, let’s see, if you’ve really just forgotten your password, that might work, because you don’t have the password anyway so you can’t access the account, so as long as you don’t try to get in (since a login attempt, even if failed, counts as accessing the account), you’re golden. BUT, if a malicious person has hacked the account, do you seriously think they’ll let it be dormant for five days?? NOT. And, they’ve undoubtedly changed or deleted that secret question and answer anyway.

Gmail will tell you that if you’ve forgotten your password and can’t remember the answer to your secret question, they can’t help you. But if someone else has gained control of the account, you’ll never be able to get it back through their normal channels of help for this problem. And of course, there is no telephone support for this kind of thing from Google, no surprise. All of these stark realities sank in Wednesday morning as I tried to work through the mess, and see what was actually at risk. When I started to think about what that hacker would have access to through my Gmail account, I really started to worry.

Leave it to Google to make stealing from you even easier…

Gmail wants you to think that it’s a good thing that you never have to throw anything away, but consider this: I’ve had that email for almost two years. Everything (and I mean everything, unless I manually deleted something) is still in there, every email that went out, and every one that came in. Sure, you don’t share passwords, SSN’s, or credit card numbers in email, but a savvy hacker can trace your activities and find vulnerabilities. What if, like I’m sure so many people do, you use a certain password for your email address, and then when you shop at an online merchant and create an account there, that same email address is your login name and you use the same password out of habit (or to make it easier to remember the huge number of passwords that we have to in todays world)? That hacker could figure this out from order confirmation emails that you’ve received from that merchant, and use your account at that merchant to buy goods with your credit card that’s probably stored there too, and have the goods shipped to themselves. But leave it to Google to make stealing from you even easier than that. Read the rest of this entry »

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I’m back on the embroidery machine today (well, in and around grocery shopping and the PX, and some work, too ), since my thread order finally showed up yesterday! I was smart this time (hopefully) and ordered lots more for the next project too, so maybe I won’t have this problem so much…

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I think there are times when ITMan rues the day that I discovered antique furniture (okay, let’s be honest, I know there are times!). Lately, probably due to the number of new pieces that have found their way home with me (more on those later), I’ve been thinking about what it is exactly about antiques that speaks to me so strongly. So take a look at this:

This is the carving on one of the doors of my buffet in the dining room. This is not a recent addition, but one of the pieces I got in Antwerp when I took a road trip to an antique wholesale warehouse with two carloads of other shoppers a few years back. I bought some other pieces on that trip, but we’ll get to those later. Anyway, I looked at this carving with new eyes some time ago, and thought about translating it into a quilted design. I think it was Kristin’s needle doodles that started me on that track, and I figured at some point I would work on some sort of a practice piece to see if I could duplicate the look and the texture of this design in fabric and thread. That’s as far as the idea went, but it was still floating around in my head when it came time to figure out what to do with the border of The Misery Quilt. The scalloped border was definitely more perfect than the idea that came before, but it still needed something more, and here’s what developed:

Can you see the roots of this design in the carving on the buffet? I loved those little curved edges around the central medallion on the buffet, and they soften the line of the oval, and add a bit more interest. I can hardly wait to get to the quilting part to add to the effect! I’ve planned to put sixteen medallions, eight each of two different sizes, in the outside border of the quilt. The embroidery designs are all just a bit different, since the feathery magnolia and leafy designs are all actually separate embroidery files that you can put together any way you like and stitch them out.

If you look closely at the background of the medallion on the buffet, the wood has been textured in some way, so it almost looks like stippling, in person anyway. I don’t know that “textured” is the proper term, since I know just enough about wood carving and furniture making to appreciate it, and nothing more, but you get the idea. I’m planning to quilt The Misery Quilt in #100 silk thread, and will probably put some insanely small background pattern around the flower in the medallion. The medallions are fused together, by the way, and I’ll do satin stitching with the silk thread on the edges like I’ve done in other places on the quilt.

I’ve come to realize that many of the reasons quilting attracts me the way it does go for antiques as well. Character, individuality, the unmistakable stamp of loving hand craftsmanship, finely wrought details, and the sure ability to stand the test of time; all these things are inherent to both antiques and quilts. Is it any wonder? Even the excitement and satisfaction of the search is similar: when you find the perfect antique that you just love (and can afford, and have a place to put!) you get that warm, fuzzy feeling, just like when you’ve found the perfect fabric for your current project, or you’ve tried some new technique or design solution and it’s given the project new life and made it better than you ever imagined it could be. What’s not to love about antiques and quilts?

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