The Sisters, Oregon Project

That is what I called this project. It has been hidden away for years, occasionally making an appearance when I re-organized my sewing spaces. I pulled it out today and carefully looked at it.

This is the book with instructions for the rows we would be making. I purchased it and the author, Karin Hellaby, signed it. She has a website if you are interested in looking. It appears she is still quite busy teaching. 

I printed the class photo from the Quilter's Affair website.

Here is the current information in case you are interested in going in 2019.

I remember being excited about taking this class. As I looked through the class options I was drawn to this quilt. The colors, the piecing, the applique, the EPP. But I also was a little frustrated. The pattern called for an ombre fabric which I spent a lot of time searching for, finally settling for something that wasn't what I was seeing in my mind, but was good enough. 

It goes from yellow at one selvage edge to purple at the other. It is a McKenna Ryan print by Hoffman.

Here are the rest of the beautiful fabrics I had gathered.

I also remember Karin saying that American quilters differ from British quilters in that Americans are drawn to a quilt/pattern by the colors and fabrics and tend to make their quilts with those colors/fabrics. British quilters tend to choose the colors/fabrics different than the pattern shows. Interesting. Maybe that is why I felt frustrated. I wanted my quilt to look like the one in the class picture but was having trouble finding the fabrics.

This next picture shows what I accomplished during the 2 day class.

I pieced some of the Delectable Mountain units and sewed some of them together; not enough to border each side of the 'river' strip. I also pieced on of the 'river' strips. I had to piece two purple selvages together to get the yellow-to-purple-to-yellow effect. I also finished English paper piecing one flower unit.

I have decided to stop this project. I don't have enough done to inspire me to keep going. I feel the frustration from this project more than I feel the joy. So all the fabrics have been put into my stash to await another project. I haven't decided what to do with the units that are finished. For now, I have added them to my ever growing pile of I-don't-know-what-to-do-with-this stuff.

I will continue going through my projects and post about them as I do. Right now I a washing, and washing, and washing, shirts, pants, coats, hats and gloves for little people. We have a cabinet at school with extra clothes for those in need. The students are suppose to keep an change of clothes at school and be properly attired for the weather, but often they have outgrown the clothes they brought in at the beginning of the school year, or the clothes are out of season - shorts have not been exchanged for pants. And, often they don't have hats and gloves and it is getting too cold to be without those item. So I am going through the cabinet and culling some of the clothing items and washing all of it. We have a LOT of hats, coats and t-shirts. I will keep some of those and donate the rest to the local Food Pantry. I have been assured that those items will be given out and appreciated by the recipients. It is a good project for today since I am still recovering from this cold and am feeling tired and lazy today!

Making Decisions

When I moved my sewing corner I went through some of my projects and am starting to make some decisions. I have things that were started long ago and never finished. I have kits not even started.

I saw a garland on a Christmas tree several years ago. It was made from torn skinny strips of fabric wrapped around milk carton rings. I really liked it and even though we didn't put up a Christmas tree (sad childhood story from my husband) I thought I could use one to decorate somehow and use up some of the many scraps I have. I cut thin strips from paper towel tubes and began wrapping, hot gluing the ends to hold together. And, because life was busy I put it away and forgot about it.

I am thinking I will never do any more with this and might as well pass it on. I will take to my next quilt meeting to see if anyone is interested. If not, it will go in the garbage.

This next project is about 15 years old. My parents want to take my son and I on a RV trip to Oregon one year. Sisters. Oregon to be exact. They had been through there a few years before and came upon the annual Quilt show. My mom knew I would love it and encouraged me to sign up for a class during the week and they would find things to do with my then young son during the day. He got to fish and explore the area while I took a class.

This was the quilt we would be making. I loved it. I searched all over for ombre fabric, the fabric that is used for the mountain blocks and 'river' between the mountains. It was hard to find then and I settled for what I found.

I got a good start, came home and put it away ... because life was busy. Again. I need to get this one out of the box and really look at it to decide if I want to continue with it, finish it into something different than the original idea, or put the fabrics into my stash and scrap what it done.

I remember being excited about it when I was working on it. So, we will see what happens.
More later.

What I Have Been Up To

Today (Sunday) is a cool, windy, rainy day and I have a cold. I was really hoping it was just sinus issues due to the weather change, but, no, it is definitely a cold. I am feeling worse and the day goes on.

Edit: It took me so long to write the above statement that now it is Monday. It started out rough as far as the cold goes, but I feel better this evening.

We have had some days with extreme wind...

It's hard to see my little banner because the wind was blowing so hard.

My quilt group held their retreat the last weekend in October. The exchange also falls during that time. Lots of sewing happened. (I blocked out faces since I didn't know if these ladies would want to be on my blog!)

I worked on a couple of UFOs.

In A Pickle - I thought all the units were pieced. Turns out I am missing two sashing units. I wondered why I had so many extra pieces! Also, I need to add the black piping/flange to the side triangle units. I will be re-arranging some of the units to distribute colors and fabrics better.

This top is together now and ready for borders. I don't like to cut borders at retreat. There just doesn't seem to be enough room and I only take my smaller mat and 12 inch ruler.

I got my empty corner filled with my sewing set up. From this...

... to this. It's a little tight, but this set-up allows me to be in the same room with Husband, watching TV and talking together.

Now I have an empty corner where all this stuff used to be for Husband to fill with his Farm Office.

I don't expect anything to happen with this until probably January which is when the table will be cleaned off in readiness for tax preparation. I am not pushing for it to happen until he is ready.

October 15th Week

Monday: I don't understand why people have to have conversations IN A DOORWAY. Why?

I have been catching up on knitting dishcloths. 

I like the Stained Glass Pattern because it uses less yarn and I am able to use partial skeins. 

I am also allowing myself to throw away small amounts of left over yarn. I keep thinking I might find a use for them, but I never do. 

Tuesday: I had a student tell me today that his mom said "The people who take you outside are dumb". He means me and the other aide; we do PE and recess duty. I asked him why she said that. He said she said "For making you wear a coat"! The temps have been in the high 30s, low 40s with 15 mph winds making the feels like temps in the 30s. We just want to keep these kids warm and safe. When I mentioned this conversation to the teacher I was told this student says his "mom said" a lot. Most of the time it isn't true.

Wednesday: We had a two hour early dismissal on the third Wednesday of the month. That was today. The teachers work on curriculum and the aides go home. I am thankful for the two extra hours at home, but these days seem harder than a regular full day. We have to get all 68 students through the bathroom during the 30 minute recess because they board buses shortly after recess. Today was especially challenging because there was a sub for the other aide. It was her first time subbing in our building this year. She doesn't know the routine or the students. This is the first time we have had an early dismissal when the students had to deal with coats. The other early dismissals where during the times when we had excessive heat days and the students spent recess in the air conditioned library. It is much easier to corral one classroom at a time when they are all in an enclosed space. 

Our district offers flu shots to employees every year. That was today too. They also offered the Tdap vaccine so I got both. Glad today is over.

Thursday: I was brought up to do the best you can at what ever it is you are doing. When I began working I was taught that you were ready to work at the time you workday/shift started. That didn't mean walking in the door at that time, or driving into the parking lot at that time. Not getting a cup of coffee or fixing your hair or whatever else. It meant at your desk or work station ready to begin work. Break times are meant for you to take care of personal things - use the restroom, make a phone call, smoke, take a quick walk, but when your break is over, you go back to work. 
 I have watched the work ethic of my co-workers change over the years. They come racing into the parking lot 5-10 minutes late daily. They come sauntering down the hall when it is time to get their students from me only to veer off into the office leaving me, and their students, standing in the hallway waiting for another 5 minutes. This makes the students restless and me late for my next duty. It happens all day long. What kind of message does this send? I think the students learn that being on time is not a priority and I feel disrespected. If teacher one is late coming to get their students from bathroom break, then the next class doesn't get started on time and don't finish on time leaving students still in need of using the bathroom when the third class comes which puts them behind and that teacher is also late which puts me behind going to cover the office for the secretary's break, which makes her late coming back because she does, and should, get her full break time. But, that makes me late to my next duty. And, it dominoes down throughout the day. Every day. It affects my math RtI student time, my break times and my attitude. When staff take their breaks I don't know what they are doing because I am working. I do know that when their breaks are over they are then going to the restroom, or making a quick copy of something or something else they should have been doing on their break. When the secretary comes back from her break she heads right to the restroom. I have talked to the people involved and my principal, but nothing ever changes. Our school is dirty because the custodian is not doing his job.
I have showed these two pictures before - cereal on the floor on a Monday left from the Friday before, and an very full trash can, which is in the front lobby of the school.

The next two are new, I took them yesterday. It looks like some kind of jelly like substance - maybe from a student's PBJ sandwich. It has been there ALL WEEK!




This is near the restrooms - the red tape on the floor is where the girls stand to wait their turn. This smear of whatever is getting stepped in and smeared into a bigger and bigger mess all through the day.

Our custodian was given an award at the end of the last school year for being a great employee! 
I guess if you get rewarded for a job not well done why would you bother to do a good job.

Friday: On to nicer things. I brought in some plants last weekend due to the threat of frost. We did get frost so I am glad I brought them in. I have tried to over-winter geraniums before without much luck. I am trying again. I know it is still early and even if they do not survive the winter I am enjoying them now. One has 3 stalks blooming, the other has some buds that will open in the next day or two. So cheerful. I like chickens, in case you didn't notice!

Saturday: A day filled with cleaning, organizing sewing stuff (hopefully), resting, changing the screen protector on my phone. When I replaced my phone this summer I immediately ordered a case and glass screen protector. So glad I did. I have dropped my phone a couple of times and it has been protected. I use my phone a lot at school - I have alarms set for every change I make through-out the day - every 20 minutes - because I do not like to be late and I don't want to be disrespectful of someone else's time. I also don't like to carry a purse so my phone is often slipped onto a pocket. Last weekend my screen got scratched, badly. I think my key chain did that. Anyway, the scratch turns out to be a crack. 

I ordered a new screen and hope to get that replaced today. I got a couple of bubbles in the first screen I installed so hopefully this time it will go better. 
Edit: It did go well. We will see if it stays bubble free.

Then I decided to do this:

I didn't think to take a picture until I had already emptied two shelves. This is an old shelving unit that was given to me. It is old and the finish is in bad shape, but it works great for storing my projects. 

I worked half a day to get it unloaded and the pieces moved up stairs. At least 10 trips up and down the stairs. That corner now looks like this...

Empty and clean. While I was taking things off the shelves I got to thinking about them. I have projects that are just kits/not started yet 

and others that were started and then forgotten.

I will be re-evaluating what I found and deciding if they still need to be my treasures or moved out to be treasures for someone else. More to follow. 
Right now I will be re-hydrating and resting.