New Perspectives

I had one of those moments today that make me realize how important we as teachers are...but epitomizes the struggles we face.  I had a student show up for morning tutoring (yay!) and after working with him for about twenty minutes I finally figured out why he's struggling.  It's not the talking, or the joking, or the lack of trying--he cannot comprehend what he's reading.  He's a ninth grader that cannot find the subject of a verb.  I was trained in biology, but apparently I need to get a masters in literacy because I need some strategies for teaching reading.  I'm hoping that now that I know what the problem is, consistent review and practice will help him improve.  Any ideas on how to teach reading in ninth grade science?

In other news...I finished a project!
It's a Christmas Tree Skirt for Jamie...made to match the place mats she received for Christmas!

 Looking back on parts of the project: (Bias tape, quilt sandwich, and pieced backing)

That leaves the following works-in-progress:
1.) Hooterville Quilt (needs a bit more stitching before I can sew the blocks together)

2.) Scrappy baby boy quilt (a few seams to sew...then maybe a border?  Made for practicing zippling.)

3.) Washing and drying of newly adopted fabric stash (airing out the fabric didn't quite rid it of the musty smell...too bad)

4.) Square root of nine quilt (still in the rotary cutting phase)

5.) Baby girl quilt (blogged about here) for free motion practice with borders and squares (fabric washed and starched)

6.)...oh yeah, and my wedding...BUT the invites went out this week!

This will be my first attempt linking up with Work in Progress Wednesday!  Hope it works!

An experiment

The event that kicked off a whirl-wind of quilting in my life was an evening spent with my soon-to-be grandparents-in-law.  I got to stay in the quilting room of a thirty-year quilter and see the Canton County Fair Quilts.  I had quilted and sewn as a little kid with my mom, but had never seriously attempted quilting as a young adult.

With the inspiration, I instantly picked up a quilt I'd tried to start a few years back.  I finished a quilt top only to realize on my old Singer I couldn't free motion quilt.  I was not picturing straight line quilting.

After some research I found the machine I wanted...a Janome MemoryCraft 6600.  Little did I know that a 6500 was under repair at a nearby store in preparation to be sold used.  Everything worked out in a perfect way--I snatched up the machine...and then Dad won a killer scratch-off lottery ticket and helped me pay for it (so sweet!)

Well, the same grandma-in-law that started it all came to town this weekend and brought lots of fabric!!!  She's clearing her stash and her fabric is beautiful.  The only downside is the old smell.  That brings me to the experiment...I don't want to wash the stabilizers and UV protection and all the other things that are used to treat fabric out of fabric that may stay in my stash for a while.  So...I'm letting nature do the job...

I hope 12 or so hours of sunshine and a breeze will eliminate the musty smell without bleaching the fabric.  PS-If you have plastic containers that are stained red from tomatoes...direct sunlight will remove the stains.  Thank you Mother Nature!

Saturday and Random...

So many things have happened since I've last written:

1.) Spring break arrived, and Mom, Steph, and I went out with my wedding photographer for my bridal portraits.  It was a 10-4 sort of affair on Good Friday--I took an hour long nap as soon as I got home.

2.) Packed up all most of my worldly belongings.  Then, the following weekend, Dad and I drove them to Virginia in the U-Haul.  Here's a shot of me driving:

And our new kitchen:

3.) The next weekend was a garage sale with Katie!  We had a blast chatting with her neighbors and selling some old stuff.  It was the perfect day for a sale--great weather, their garden was taking off and the neighbors wanted to see, and best of all, an auction in the neighborhood brought in fantastic amounts of traffic!

4.) The next week was our extreme fundraising event for March for Babies--I'll save you the details, but basically it couldn't have been done without two hours of crazy each day (collecting and receipting money).  I could have NEVER pulled it off without my excellent volunteer(s) (THANKS MOM!) and support from my Key Club students.  We raised over $2000 in a week...excellent!

5.) And that brings me to last weekend, which is really the reason I've been wanting to blog.  I gave Mom an early Mother's Day gift of a free motion quilting class.  Unfortunately, she did have some sewing machine issues, but she had the entire staff at Viking Says...Sew and Quilt helping her out.  My Janome and I were going to town.  Here's some of what I came up with:

 

I've come to a few conclusions:
A.) I love Aurifil thread and prefer to quilt with thin thread.
B.) I still need a lot of practice before I have consistent stitch lengths.
C.) Leaves are extremely fun to quilt.
D.) Bubbles are not hard or terrifying--but they are a lot of fun and they take focus.  They are also now one of my favorite patterns.
E.) I need more quilt tops prepared so that I can quilt something other than a practice swatch!

Here's my latest plan:

Quilting plan for the borders:

and the fabric to match:

And finally, I still need to block and bind (or create a pillow), but here is my finished wholecloth quilt from Leah Day's Quilt Along.

Ahhhhhh...

...that's my sigh of relief. I've made it through the week and got six teenagers safely to a convention this weekend. We just had a lovely discussion about colleges which was so much fun since I spend most of my time teaching 9th graders (whom I love, but we don't talk college much).

Last night I enjoyed my "weekend" by beginning work on my wholecloth quilt!!! I'm working with Leah Day's Free Motion Quilt Along, and this is week 11: outline quilting. I LOVE the work...but it definitely took serious focus! I'm using a blush colored Isacord thread. I haven't had a single problem with threads breaking since my switch to Isacord. AND...it's thinner, so a bobbin of Isacord lasts a lot longer than your typical quilting thread.

Here's a few shots of what I have so far:

A little later:

I'm off to a 2.5 hour meeting about how to be a great faculty advisor. It'll be a long but rewarding night. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy right?

A Very Busy Week

It's been a busy week here in Greenville. Grades were due and midterms were given. It is the unfortunate wake up call for many students (most of whom have never had to study.) We're learning together though. I'm adjusting to a new generation of freshman...consequently I'm learning the importance of a quality middle school education...for their grades and my sanity. Just yesterday, in the midst of my tired delirium, I watched a student struggle with his midterm. He looked left, then up, then another upward sort of angle, then right, then just when I thought he'd look at his test again--he looked away...back to the left. At this point all I could do was laugh to keep from crying...I mean, how can they pass a test that they don't even glance at?!? So, I'm trying to hide my face as I laugh, then my students notice, and they think I'm crying--so now I'm losing it--laughing out loud. I had to tell them it was because so many of them weren't looking at their test. They thought it was funny too. It's the first class I've had that really has an appreciation for what an absolute mess (lovable, but a mess) that they are.

But...on to crafty things. For week ten of the free motion quilt along, I prepared my wholecloth quilt square. I got to borrow my future in-laws' sunroom for an amazing set of big windows I could use as a light table and came up with this:

Simple masking tape operation. I used a sewline pen to draw the lines...and I absolutely LOVE the rich fabric. Then, I pinned the backing fabric to my floor as usual with T-pins, put a square of the quilters dream recycled polyester batting in the sandwich, and pinned together. I've decided that I HATE small safety pins...and I think I put too many...

I starched with Magic Sizing...seemed to work okay. I want to try the Niagra brand starch in a spray bottle...I love the non-aerosol concept!

Well, I'm off to enjoy a night of outline quilting! Yay! My first evening without grading to do, AND I can sleep in because my kiddos don't leave for their field trip until the middle of 1st period!

A Few Finished Projects

It was wonderful to have a four day weekend last week! I accomplished a lot...including one work in progress that may someday become a tutorial. It's a set of hanging file pockets: I hung it beside my file cabinet for easy access to works in progress...the sort of stuff that would normally sit around on my desk. I also was able to free motion quilt an entire quilt! I incorporated practice stitching along lines and filling in spaces with stippling, then quilted the entire quilt using the directions found here on Leah Day's Free Motion Quilt Along.
I cannot say enough good things about her blog...I feel like I've learned so much in so little time. Plus, the added bonus is that many projects can be done in small increments...perfect for a busy teacher on the go. Of course, as I start quilting more and more, I'm adding a lot of little tools, thread, and fabric scraps to my stash of supplies. How do quilters keep things organized? I've found a good tip here at Cut to Pieces, but I know there's got to be more ideas out there in blog land. Suggestions?

I bound the quilt using a quick binding process found here. Only, I used a fancy embroidery stitch...also inspired by Leah Day.

I found time to outline the lines of the wholecloth quilt for week ten of the quilt along...maybe I'll finally keep up with the week to week progress from here on out! But with a weekend-long field trip next weekend, a move to VA in three weeks, and a wedding in 98 days!!!!...I doubt it. Goodness knows I'll try!

Many works in progress

I've been having a blast with my new ("old") sewing machine--a Janome 6500 that I purchased used--and my adventures into all kinds of quilting techniques.

After finishing up a quilt top that was in progress for two years (on an old Singer), I still didn't feel comfortable quilting but knew I wanted to do more...hence, the Janome...a lucky find my mom made while scoping out a Janome dealer in town.

My first quilt top I pieced was a baby quilt in purple with multi-colored squares and dots. I tried to free motion quilt swirls in the borders, but was infuriated with thread breaks. After changing needles many times, I found that Inspira 90/14 quilting needles (mostly) solved the problem. Then, I started reading the free motion quilting project blog. Her posts about thread lead me to try Isacord...and although I've purchased a few other threads to try (Superior, YLI, Aurifil), I haven't felt the need to try them yet.

Now I'm working on a transportation themed baby quilt with all-over stippling, detailed small-scale stippling around some of the pictures, and fun swirly borders. I'm hoping to quick bind the project using this tutorial from Quilting in the Rain. But, I want to use a decorative stitch like Leah from Free Motion Quilting.
After taking my machine classes, I really wanted to try an applique project. Here's Hooterville by Brandywine Design. It needs a few more blanket stitches around some owls, but I'm ALMOST ready to piece it together! I stopped working on this to practice free motion--oh, and that whole job/apartment hunting adventure that happened mid-February. I'll pick it back up soon I'm sure...now that I'm feeling less intimidated by the idea of quilting it.
Other things to be working on include:

• A tree skirt for Jamie--the pieces are cut, they just need to be pieced and quilted.
• A scrappy quilt that I started piecing as an all-over free motion practice quilt (before finding the awesome transportation fabric.
• A quilt as you go project made with the Bold and Beautiful line from Benartex to showcase some center-fill designs made by free motion quilting in pink on black. (This will be mine all mine when it's finished!)

Now I'm off to wrap up some french toast for the freezer and quilt!