trying new things

I belong to two quilt groups. One of them meets at a quilt shop once a month and pieces for 3.5 hours. This year we chose the book Extraordinary Log Cabins and everyone is making a quilt from one of the patterns in the book.

Log cabin blocks are created with a square, then the rest of the block is created by sewing rectangles to that square. It sounds bland, but if you have a pattern it can produce stunning results. Since all the rectangles for this book are 1.5" in width, to say there is a lot of cutting is an understatement. A group of us met for a cutting party. Two of the ladies have machines called acuquilt go that will cut multiple layers of fabric at one time. (Think die cuts).  I was amazed at how quickly the machines cut the strips (and accurately, too!).  In less than 2 hours, all my fabric was cut into 1.5 inch strips and I had already started subcutting into the rectangles. They also introduced me to a Creative Grids ruler that allows you to cut multiple strips without ever having to move the ruler, which helps eliminate the fabric shifting and getting an improper cut. Using that ruler, I was able to cut 1,000 squares in about twenty minutes. Granted, that's only because the strips were already cut and ready to go, but I'm still amazed at how much time one ruler saved.

4th-6th graders

For years, the children's section of our church was boy heavy. As in the boys outnumbered the girls at least two to one. Some years it was more than that. And I learned that 4th-6th grade boys, much like American high school boys, love to talk. A lot. One classroom management strategy that seemed to work like a charm was making them sit boy-girl. Unlike high schoolers, at that age boys and girls don't interact except to pester each other, and the thought of sitting beside a member of the opposite sex is true punishment. It worked great, so much so that when they started begging for a trial Sunday of sitting beside their friends, we decided to let them try it, with the understanding that they would get one reminder and the second offense was to be moved beside a girl. The first Sunday they were as good as gold. The second Sunday they needed one reminder. The third Sunday was the same. The last Sunday of the month I moved one of the talkers beside a girl who was very quiet. She looked up at me with tears welling up in her eyes and said "But what did I do wrong?"  I quickly replied "Nothing" but the more I thought on it later the more I realized how she probably did view it as punishment for good behavior.

The last two years we've had the exact opposite situation - almost all girls (and sometimes only girls). And they are QUIET. So quiet that we've almost quit planning games or activities with the lesson because they don't want to participate. They'll sit terrified or quietly giggle.

But the last four months, that has changed. The boys actually cheered last Sunday because one girl was out and they outnumbered the girls by one. As the new teachers rotated in for their month of teaching today, I gave them a heads up about the change in classroom dynamics. Afterwards one of the teachers mentioned they almost went to the dreaded boy/girl seating arrangement, and all the girls protested. I laughed, not realizing other teachers had used the same technique, but am also sobered realizing the girls view this is as punishment even more than the guys (for they are NOT the ones talking).

So I guess part of my agenda this next month will be to talk with elementary/middle school teachers for this age and ask for classroom management suggestions. I want them to enjoy class, but I also want them to learn. And I am totally baffled why girls have the stereotype of being the most talkative gender.

Packing up

 I've enjoyed the tree lights the past few nights. Power was off and on from 7:30 last night through ten this morning, so I didn't have the lights on as long as I had planned last night. And I could have done without the 7 phone calls throughout the night from Duke Energy telling us every time the power went out and when they thought it might be restored. If next week wasn't busy, I think I might leave the decorations out another week.

But the census is over, and Bethlehem looks like a ghost town. Even the streets have rolled up! 

My husband likes for Christmas to go up after Thanksgiving, but sometimes I'm sorely tempted to decorate November 1st. Either way, it's all heading back to the closet for another 11 months.

Ryan's Case for Smiles

The Southern Wake Quilter's Guild meets once a month from August - May. During our meetings we have a guest speaker, hear updates from the charities we support, have a show and tell of what members have currently completed, and then discuss any business. Every year the President has a challenge. Last year's challenge was to submit a list of unfinished projects and see who could complete the most. I didn't participate in that one, as my schedule was a bit crazy. This year we are supposed to complete something for each of the charities our guild supports.

Ryan's Case for Smiles - 2 pillowcases
Scrap Happy Quilters - 1 full quilt
Quilts for Kids - one crib size quilt
Quilts of Valor - one twin size quilt

Ryan's Case for Smiles makes pillowcases for the childrens oncology ward of local hospitals. There is a pillowcase method called "hot dog" or "burrito" that is very simple. Videos can be found on youtube and patterns can be downloaded at various sites.

Since I was trying to use up some small pieces of fabric I had leftover from other projects, I made more than the two required. There's three more I hope to make, but I'm going to wait until I finish a few other projects before I tackle them. With my serger I was able to eliminate the french seams and finish two cases in an hour (disclaimer: the fabric was already cut and ready to roll).

 The first Pooh case is plain...cream case with yellow Pooh accent, but the others are colorful. I have a grey accent ready to put with a case, but haven't decided what color would make it pop. That one will have to wait with the Spiderman fabric. One challenge down!

January projects

January 2020

Bible study...
Lifeway Christian Bookstores closed all their brick and mortar stores, so I stocked up on several Bible studies. I have a few books that our women's group at church have done over the years that I never totally finished, so I'm going to start with one in January. Many of them have 6-8 weeks worth of lessons, so I'm hoping to do 6-8 studies this year. Up first is Fight Back with Joy by Margaret Feinberg.
 
Quilting...
Yesterday I showed  how out of control my craft room has become. My goal is to quilt at least one quilt top a month, as well as bind and label it. For January I'm going to tackle a Christmas quilt I pieced a year ago.
 
Hobby...
The Southern Wake Quilters Guild has a president's challenge every year. This year the challenge is to do something for each of the 4 charities the guild supports. I've already completed the one for Ryan's Case for Smiles (hope to show those tomorrow). For this month, my goal is to make the kids size quilt for Quilts for Kids.
 
House project....
Finish painting our bathroom. I started that project back during the summer but for various reasons could not finish the same weekend I started. Then after my fall in September it's not been safe for me to climb up and down the ladder. My knee is still not well, but it's well enough that I can conquer the last parts of the bathroom now. No more excuses!!

Reading...
Over the last several years I've purchased books at sales that are out of my normal genres of reading. Several of them I've actually started! This year I want to add them to my "books read" list. Since I don't read non-fiction with the same zeal as fiction, for January my goal is to actually read half of one of these books. No Soap, No Pay, Diarrhea, Dysentery & Desertion, edited by Jeff Toalson, is one of my six historical books to read this year.

Cleaning...
Finish cracking pecans. I know that doesn't sound like cleaning, but I've been trying to eliminate the bushel basket of pecans from last year (so I can start this years!). I came to close to finished the bushel basket today, and there's about a peck bucket beside it, then 2018 pecans will be done. Since every other year is the larger harvest, we don't have as many for this year (about a peck total). It's ambitious but reasonable to think I can have all of them cracked and bagged by the end of the month. 

UFOs

Earlier this fall everything had to come out of my sewing room while we replaced the floors. I took that as an opportunity to clean and sort. I like the layout of the room a lot better, but I didn't get rid of enough stuff so that everything has its spot. That's why you see a lot of things sitting in the floor - there's nowhere else for it to go!

Far left: my quilting/sewing machine, cutting table (piled with stuff and batting, backings, and one tub of fabric stored underneath), the white container holds sewing notions and quilts of valor fabric and patterns, china cabinet with completed quilts, projects in process shelving.  Not show is 2nd shelving, my serger, and a  HUGE wooden storage cabinet. Maybe in a few months I'll have 360 pictures of a cleaner room! Maybe.

This is project pile #2. All the containers inside the cubbies have been started  to the point pieces have been cut out or actual piecing has begun. The storage containers on top of the shelves are pieces sorted by color for a large project and pieces cut according to size.  The basket and bucket contain patterns and the pile in the front is fabric that I pulled out of the closet in search of something and decided not to put it back in. My goal is that it will be used up by the end of the year. :)

Project pile #1 is much neater and smaller. It's under the ironing board I made earlier this year. The projects on the bottom shelf are quilt tops closest to completion. The top shelf is an assortment of projects like pile #1. I quit counting the number of started projects I found when I begin putting things back in the room. It was simply too startling. The cardboard box is remnants from costume fabrics that I've not decided what to do with just yet.

There's also 10 quilt tops hanging in the closet waiting to be quilted. My goal for this year is that anything hanging up in January will be either in the storage closet or gifted by December. My unrealistic goal is that my project piles will be hanging in the closet (if not already quilted) by then as well, with a more reasonable amount of started projects in their place (meaning some emptied fabric containers).

Several years ago a group of us bloggers had project goals that we made the beginning of every month. At the end of the year I found I had accomplished quite a few things (and had some things not finished but a good dent put in them as well), but I also found it was a bit of stress having a public deadline hanging over my head for something that was not essential.

But I'm hoping that by writing everything down for me to see and remember, I'll also focus on smaller tasks and finishing things I start instead of literally running around like a chicken with its head pulled off. (If you've never seen that, they truly flop about all over the place, in every direction, the most spastic of ways.)

I'm glad 2019 is over. And I'm hoping to be just a tad bit organized for 2020. :)

the heron

While this isn't what I often refer to as the "Big bird" or the "Grandpa Heron", it it as tall as the geese. (Can you tell who got a camera with a zoom lens for Christmas?)

I didn't have time to change to action shots to get it diving for the fish.