impulsivity

triangle top – and boomer

One thing I love about quilting is how multifaceted it can be. Sometimes it involves intense planning, and other times you can just figure it out as you go.

Last week, I was in desperate need of a new project distraction. I had a little bundle of fat quarters from Joel Dewberry‘s Modern Meadow line that I had picked up at a quilt shop back in February.

I had recently seen this lovely quilt on pinterest, so I grabbed my 60° triangle ruler and just started cutting. Of course, in my impulsivity, I cut a couple of pieces wrong, so there are fewer of the darker prints. But I was rolling with the punches on this one, and I just made as many triangles as I could.

After getting some input on Flickr and from the Austin Modern Quilt Guild, I assembled the top Monday (just barely) before work. My roommate’s dog, Boomer, got in on the picture, and he’s just too cute to crop out!

Nuts and bolts: This will finish at about 28″x42″ and will probably become a wall hanging? I’m really not sure yet.

Abortion really isn’t the issue here

Planned Parenthood funding battles have been in the news so much lately, it’s hard to keep track of which bill threatens which services. Texas Senate Bill 1854 would renew a program that provides low-income women with contraception and disease screening — but only if Planned Parenthood doesn’t provide that care. That stipulation may keep the bill from even being debated, and the program may lapse.

The Texas Medicaid Women’s Health Program, according to a state website, “provides low-income women with family planning exams, related health screenings and birth control through Texas Medicaid.”

Now, the bill itself doesn’t single out Planned Parenthood, but rather all abortion providers. The bill states: “The department shall ensure the money spent under the program, regardless of the funding source, is not used to perform or promote elective abortions. The department, for the purpose of the program, may not contract with entities that perform or promote elective abortions or are affiliates of entities that perform or promote elective abortions.”

The bill not only bans Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from participating in the program, but — as the Austin American-Statesman has reported — it would also kill the program entirely if Planned Parenthood successfully sued to participate.

If this isn’t throwing the baby out with the bathwater, I don’t know what is. The program doesn’t cover abortion services (nor does any other state or federally funded program I’m aware of). So what does it matter if a woman chooses to obtain birth control and have preventative exams and screenings at a clinic that happens to also provide abortion services?