Mandalei
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mandalei.bsky.social
Mandalei
@mandalei.bsky.social
750 followers 4.1K following 460 posts
Recovered from academia, Latin and ancient Greek tutor, archaeology, professional traditional- and modern-style quilter, wahm, UM alum, fountain pens, Adirondacks, Covid is still a thing, adult dx ADHD, all my hobbies I can barter with in the end-times
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mandalei.bsky.social
Art museums: art is cool Science museums: science is cool Natural History museums: prehistoric animals were cool Maritime museums in Michigan's Upper Peninsula: Lake Superior will kill you and everyone you love --ben Wetherbee @wetherbeephd on X sep 4 2023
November 12, 2025 at 10:25 PM
mandalei.bsky.social
Without saying your age, who was your first animated crush?

Shut up.
Keith from the Original Voltron wearing a red coat with white collar and a classy black mullet. He's looking angry and resolved.
April 18, 2025 at 7:01 PM
mandalei.bsky.social
I've been all bff with my friend E since middle school (1988!) and I only get to see her for a few hours every few years, and a few weeks was one of those yime. We were in a gift shop at Cheekwood, and I saw a funny card and said "we shld send each other cards once a month" anyway this just arrived
sitting on top of a postmarked and opened envelope is a greeting card with a banner made of sparklyletters in pink, gold, and sky blue that spells out HOLY CRAP.
March 7, 2025 at 8:58 PM
mandalei.bsky.social
The youngest teen was moved enough to make a statement on their Tumblr account about dinner the other night.
A cartoon drawn by a young teen. It says "I fucking hate carrots!!" And has a line drawing of a cartoon person from the rear throwing up a pile of green goo with orange bits. There is also an orange carrot with a curly green top to the right.
January 31, 2025 at 5:41 PM
mandalei.bsky.social
smiling missionaries holding a copy of Dungeon Crawler Carl with the text DO YOU HAVE A MOMENT TO TALK ABOUT DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL
January 10, 2025 at 1:13 AM
mandalei.bsky.social
Christmas stocking goodies for a Nashvillian living in upstate NY
A jar of pickled okra and a jar of jarred chow chow on top of torn wrapping paper and a red and white stocking on someone's lap.
December 25, 2024 at 1:26 PM
mandalei.bsky.social
Ran across a painted cell for a Maurice Sendak cartoon at an antique store, just labeled "painted cartoon cell". They clearly had never seen it. I feel like this is some weird degrees-of-separation thing because they had no idea what show it came from and I did so therefore Maurice and I are BFFs.
A painted cell from a cartoon animation featuring art by Maurice Sendak. There is a young boy dressed as a cowboy on the left, a young boy held in the paw of a lion as he climbs onto its mane in the middle, and an alligator wearing a bright blue helicopter beanie and blue jacket standing on its hind legs on the far right.
December 18, 2024 at 10:09 PM
mandalei.bsky.social
Today's pastry haul from Bakery Suzanne just outside Saratoga Springs NY. Starting clockwise with the morning bun in the white bakery bag, then a Morello cherry Danish, Meyer lemon and caramel basket, hen of the woods Danish (in shadow) and a chocolate pecan croissant
A box of various pastries open in the sunshine including danishes, a croissant, a lemon baskets with a bright yellow lemon curd, and a Danish with dark purpley red cherries, with a white bakery bag saying "bakery Suzanne" having a morning bun peeking out
December 13, 2024 at 3:03 PM
mandalei.bsky.social
I have to quilt this before my mom gets up here Saturday. It was pieced by my grandmother. My aunt has held onto it for decades. I don't want to do it bc my gmother purposely and purposefully ruined the lives of everyone close but my aunt really is wistfully nostalgic. It's novel/book stuff #quilts
An antique double wedding ring quilt top, hand pieced. The background fabric is a pink, with the central joins in a dusty blue and jade green. The rings are made of vintage flour sack prints. It is draped on a chair sitting next to a jade green wall.
December 9, 2024 at 6:48 PM
mandalei.bsky.social
The things this dog puts up with. You can see it in his face.
A large black and white curly haired dog named Stanley wears a red saddle on his back that has a stuffed squirrel holding the reins. He is looking at the person holding the camera and both trying not to show his exasperation and also use his predicament to get the attention he likes.
December 6, 2024 at 2:00 PM
mandalei.bsky.social
Watched the documentary on the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Art museums: art is cool Science museums: science is cool Natural History museums: prehistoric animals were cools Maritime museums in Michigan's Upper Peninsula: Lake Superior will kill you and everyone you love
December 1, 2024 at 11:56 AM
mandalei.bsky.social
Do people still make bed runners? Or is that so 2010s? I made one but am still skeptical about it. This bedruner was inspired by triglyphs & metopes from Greek temple architecture 🏺and also the seating at places like the theater at Epidaurus or Athens. If you click on it, it shows the whole runner.
A quilt called a "bed runner" that is made to go over the foot of the bed and give the appearance of a bigger piece. It is diagonal lines stepping down from left to right in bands of three, and alternates with bands of verticals to kae it looks like steps and seats. Theoretically
November 27, 2024 at 9:01 PM
mandalei.bsky.social
Hey y'all, if you are interested in learning traditional crafts and can get to upstate NY (and by that I mean Lake Luzerne, a couple hours N of Albany), the course lists are out for the ADK Folk School 2025. Blacksmithing, wood carving, basket weaving, etc Also online at www.adirondackfolkschool.org
A photo of the cover for the 2025 course catalog the Adirondack Folk School in Lake Luzerne NY
November 27, 2024 at 5:30 PM
mandalei.bsky.social
My one and only bargello quilt. Made with my then-5th grader for their beloved teacher who was obsessed with rainbows. It was a free pattern I found here:
www.thequiltingland.com/2018/05/rain...
A bargello quilt in rainbow colors, which is stripes of colorsfrom reds to yellows to greens blues to purples and back to reds/yellows/greens. The stripes are cut and sewn to look like undulating waves A small black featherweight sewing machine on a dining room table sewing blue pieces of fabric together with a young tween in the background lining up strips of fabric to press the seams
November 27, 2024 at 12:45 AM
mandalei.bsky.social
If you need a ridiculous and funny thing to watch, please allow me to recommend Way of the House Husband, either live action or anime. I'd start with the anime, personally, because it takes a lot for me to lol during a show and this had me cackling every episode. Yakuza turned house husband=funnyaf
An intro screen for the anime Way of the House Husband. Status, the male lead, is a former Yakuza member who has left his life of crime behind and now dedicates himself to his new life as a house husband using his skills to become the best he can be. The image shows him in a mob-style suit with his shirt open, and he's glaring up through his eyelashes behind aviator sunglasses. He's also wearing an apron with a Shiba Inu on the front and carrying a bag of groceries, standing I. Front of a store with signs up about the special sales of the week. Because he's frugal like that.
November 25, 2024 at 1:59 PM
mandalei.bsky.social
This one makes me laugh because it's like 80s animation, when those color bands are behind the character to show rapid acceleration lol
Quilting on the back of a quilt that shows the stitch in the ditch around the blocks and also the image quilting of straight lines with a bird coming. In to land
November 25, 2024 at 12:41 PM
mandalei.bsky.social
Before I played with quilting maximalism, I played the other end of the spectrum with quilting minimalism. This is a quilt of my friend Latifah & I decided to mess around with the play on the flying geese pattern with some birds of my own. She asked for simple and subtle, so they're all worked in.
A picture of a line of quilting with a bird in profile. It looks a little like it's flying in front of telephone lines. There is a hopping foot for a quilting machine at the top left. Gold color thread on a white background. A picture of a line of quilting with a bird in profile as if it is standing I am holding my finger out underneath its feet as if it is the perch for it. The background is white and the threads are gold with a bit of the quilt blocks to the right and left The drawings of birds I used to quilt the bird designs. I put these pieces of paper down and then quilted over the top of them, which acted like a series of punch marks along the outline of the bird. This is the image left after removing the tiny templates. It is white paper set against a reddish wooden surface so the negative space where the birds would have been stands out A picture of a line of quilting with a bird in profile as if it is perched on the edge of a quilt block. The pattern is an elongated asymmetrical triangle which is a variation of the classic "flying geese" quilt pattern. I have stitches in the ditch around every triangle which makes them both unable to shift around but also makes them appear to pop out from the white background a bit.
November 25, 2024 at 12:19 PM
mandalei.bsky.social
Graduation is coming up
A picture of two golfers, one on the left in extremely conservative clothing of black and white with text superimposed that says "ADHDers living in their parents house", and Chris Daly on the right fancy-smokong a cigar dressed like Santa cutting loose in the Florida Keys or something with the text "ADHDers when they move out and lost structure."
November 24, 2024 at 10:05 PM
mandalei.bsky.social
Exterior of Olana House, mostly looking south down the Hudson River towards NYC about 1.5 hours away
Exterior of Olana House, an example of Victorian Orientalism. Frederick Church had it built after his many travels to the Middle East. This shows the south face of the house, and the red and white awnings over the porch and windows The front door of Olana House, the home of landscape painter Frederick Church. The porch is surrounded by tiles in geometric designs of blue, cream and red inspired by his travels in the Middle East during the late 19th century. The entrance to the porch and the door both have a peaked arch Looking south down the Hudson River outside of the main entrance to Olana House (at right). The north face of Olana House showing the brickwork inspired by Frederick Church's travels to the Middle East. This includes diamond designs made of different colored bricks laid down and the peaked arches of the windows. The transition to the roof at top has different floral motifs painted in reds yellows and and blues
November 23, 2024 at 2:06 PM
mandalei.bsky.social
A mourning quilt on display at Olana House, which if you're into Victorian Orientalism this is a place you've got to see to believe. Frederic Church was the premier landscape painter at the time and had traveled extensively including Petra and the Andes & painted them for public display
Olana.org
Closeup of hand quilting on a mourning quilt made of the silk clothing of the deceased. Hexagon pieces were seen together to make large "flowers" of varying colors all set on a cream background of silk and velvet, then hand quilted. A mourning quilt made of the silk clothing of the deceased. Hexagon pieces were seen together to make large "flowers" of varying colors all set on a cream background of silk and velvet, then hand quilted with feather wreaths and borders and diagonal lines. On display at Olana House. Closeup of hand quilting on a mourning quilt made of the silk clothing of the deceased. Quilting uses traditional feather motifs for the border and wreath designs, and diagonal lines are used to fill in between the two. A journal detailing the execution of the mourning quilt along with samples of the fabrics to be used for the different hexagon flowers.
November 23, 2024 at 1:46 PM
mandalei.bsky.social
The best thing about being out of academia is that now I can willfully indulge my hyperfocus research interests of any variety without feeling guilty. Currently, that's studying up on the 1918 flu, how it was memoryholed, how it helped lead to the rise of fascism, and how covid is similar. First up:
Paperback cover of Pale Rider: the Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World, by Laura Spinney. Published 2017
November 22, 2024 at 3:36 PM
mandalei.bsky.social
If you see this, post fungi. All pictures in this post are from the same walk
Tiny orange fungi on a damp log covered with moss, surrounded by frilly green ferns I have no idea what kind of fungus this is, but it's tall and skinny in a tan color with little offshoots of pale trumpet shaped flowers branching off of the stalks.
November 22, 2024 at 2:48 PM
mandalei.bsky.social
Pastry day, picking out the choices from Bakery Suzanne outside of Saratoga Springs NY. Went with a salted caramel pull part, Meyer lemon curd basket, hen of the woods mushroom Danish, and a morning bun. Best in town, and we even have the French bakery that trained Zingerman's
Closeup of a box of laminated pastries made Friday-Sunday at Bakery Suzanne outside Saratoga Springs, NY. From top to bottom: morning bun flavored with cardamom and dusted with sugar Two lemon baskets, filled with a creme anglaise and a Meyer lemon curd Two mushroom danishes made with hen of the woods mushrooms and bechamel topped with asiago cheese shavings And bottom right, a salted caramel upside down pull apart style thing made with chunks of laminated dough and baked with a salted caramel base
November 22, 2024 at 2:31 PM
mandalei.bsky.social
Well, shit. I guess when your fella cleans the basement, your MA thesis and all supporting translations show up in some box...not that it matters since can I even open this any more?
FTR it was on the flora and landscape of the Odyssey with my translations of the text
A beige 3.5" floppy disk with hastily scribbled titles saying MA project-Odyssey Final paper/biblio/Greek phrase
November 20, 2024 at 6:27 PM
mandalei.bsky.social
Eating in the car at Bistro Box in Great Barrington. 💯 Worth the trip and the brain freeze
Lunch to go from Bistro Box to be eaten in the car: raspberry lemonade slushie with a festive straw and paper umbrella, rosemary garlic fries in a box, burger with grilled onions and a brioche bun, and a falafel burger with a big slice of romaine lettuce on a brioche bun. Both buns have been grilled, too.
November 18, 2024 at 4:19 PM