A week flies by

School is in full swing.  Grades are coming in for my students and that means vigilance for me. Algebra 2 is our hardest subject, not that we don't have APs and all kinds of other difficult classes.  But it is the hardest required subject. And I have many students needing support.

My school was rocked by hazing by our football team's seniors. It seems it has been going on for several years without our coaches knowing and despite instruction by the athletic director.  The appeals of the students and the suing by a parent are unfortunate and time consuming for our administration

So this week has been more tiring than anything else, and I have not gotten to the sewing machine since last weekend.


We went to an art/craft sale last weekend and saw this;

We as a family do so love the Muppets so I had to take a picture!

The only hand sewing I did was my last wool hexie for our round robin.  Here is the finished table topper.

And here is the block I made.

Quilting and quilting

First I want to show you the rest of the quilts for the Quilt Expo in Madison from the 1st weekend in September.

Here is grand winner of them all: so inspiring!  Between the gorgeous quilting and the kaleidoscope designs, and even the different borders: Wow ! what a quilt! 

This one has beautifully embroidered Santas in the middle of each emblem.

This is just the center of another quilt. The very middle is a knitted doily that is tie dyed and cut to an unusual shape.

A grandmother created this design for the boy who wanted to become an astronaut. 

What a loving and inspiring gesture!

Second, I want to share the inspiration and fun I had this past weekend at my quilt retreat.

The best part to me is the location: it really is on a beautiful lake. I have seen all kinds of weather from snow to hot as summer, from raining to a beautiful sparkling sun on the lake. It is a camp, but having all of is in one room is so fun. Plus no cooking or cleaning.

Then, here are some of the quilting projects that I remembered to photograph: 

 This is such a bright and cheery one! She needs to add more rows, and then it has a small applique border.

This is an Edita Sitar quilt, but only the center. The designer has an refreshing blend of batiks and regular printed fabric in similar colors.

I love this Wisconsin pillow and even got the pattern to make.

This is the top I have put together for the beau of my daughter. The bright red print is a paisley for University of Wisconsin at Madison as he is a graduate from there. I am awaiting more paisley for the outside border. 

Two and a half days of uninterrupted time to work on projects.  I worked on others as well and will post more later this week.

More of Quilt Expo

Oh, to have unlimited time for sewing!  The second wish is the unlimited money for supplies: does that include an assistant to organize my stuff?

Anyway, here is the new hand work project I think I am going to start.  And the lady in the booth showed me a tailor's knot, something I had not known.  She also showed me how she pieced ( in very tiny stitches and leaving a little wiggle room.  These shapes are traced around a template, and cut in strips with a rotary blade and a 1/4 seam allowance.

 The cherry on top tip is the next photo: here is how she pressed it afterward to have it lay flat. 

But I promised more photos of the Quilts.  The quilts in a multitude of categories were from all over. 80% of the winners were from out of the state of Wisconsin.  These are what I would call pictorial quilts.

This one was so neat, beads, wool roving for the splash, and so many beautiful colors. I believe the creator is from California.

This is a close up of the next quilt : tiny snippets of colors under a netting.  Really beautiful!

I'll bet we see the following one in upcoming magazines and shows.

And here ends today's mini show with a Bucky Badger.  

I found another quilter who also posted pictures and close ups from the show:
https://paulabquilts.com/2019/09/06/quilt-expo-today/  Enjoy Paula's photos.  ( really neat as well)

September goal

My July/August goal setting worked out fairly well, if I do say so myself.
I selected 6 projects to work on and completed 3: my mini Kim Diehl QAL, my Christmas 9 patch block and the top to my grandson's big boy quilt. 

Three cheers for me!

So September goals:

1) Quilt top for daughter's boyfriend started before Christmas, but dropped when I knew I could not reach the deadline. These are the fabrics selected, and they are somewhat cut into strips for the Yellow Brick Road pattern by Terry Atkinson.    It is an easy scrap quilt or made from yardage and fat quarters.

And yes, he is a Wisconsin badger graduate. And his birthday is in October.

                 

2) 3 pillow cases for my grandsons, Jude and Jensen. These are both boy fabrics, trucks and dinosaurs. And the 3rd is for my mom which is blues and has butterflies. A lovely vibrant digitally printed fabric.

        

3) Prep and start handwork on last 2 blocks of Henrietta and pumpkins:

These are the completed blocks, but as you can see there are 2 missing ones.
I have the background almost pieced and some colors of wool selected.


This should be easy to do as I have a retreat next weekend: two wonderful fun filled days on a lake with friends.
I so wanted to join One Monthly Goal for the first time, but didn't get this done in time.  That will however, not prevent me from working towards completing these and maybe more.

Quilt Expo in Madison

I survived my first week of school.  It went well and we are off to a great start for the year. 

( Although my feet are very sore. Hmmm. not sure why?)

And this week was the Quilt Expo in Madison, Wisconsin. 

It has been going on since 2005, and I have attended every year  on Saturday except the 1st.

Who knew how great it would be then? 

Nancy Zieman of Nancy's Notions created this. What a wonderful legacy!

And here I am at the entrance!  

And prior to walking 6000 steps that day.

I can't say enough for the one hour lectures, quilts on display and fabulous vendors and vendors and vendors. Next year I will get to choose some half day sews or classes during the week. Can't wait!

I feel it is better than some of the national shows although I have only attended Rosemont and Paducah. There are so many volunteers from Public TV that make it run efficiently.

So I will reveal parts of the show during the week. 

Here is one of the displays on log cabin quilts. These were all small wall sized quilts.

I loved all of them and here are my favorites: 

Take a little trip

School started on Tuesday.  And it was mixed blessings. I teach a group of middle/high school kids sporadically all day in a class called guided study. These kids are chosen based on their struggles in classes. They are not in special education, although I am licensed in regular and special education. To me, it is all about the kids and helping them make decisions and then deal with their consequences.  I do think that hard knocks are what define you and what make you think.

I really do love my job.

Having been in education about 40 years, I feel it has been my calling and my heritage as I am a 5th generation teacher.  I do very much care about my kids ,and I  express my opinions and values, and hope to make a difference in their lives.

And I know that it is my last full year.  I am getting tired of getting up and going every day. It is time for me to do other things. So I plan to retire at the end of the year, but substitute for a while the following year ( to cover the health insurance we so greatly need until Medicare).

So it has been a time for looking back and forward. God has given me a lot to enjoy as a teacher. And as in all things, there are good times and others not so great. But always there have been kids and staff and parents and we NEED each other.

Last week was returning for meetings, a different classroom to set up, and all the organization and materials to get things started. It was the first time that I have not been truly excited about returning... maybe because of all that occurred this past summer.

So I am back, and now thoroughly involved and working hard to improve these kiddos and make this a great year.

And fortunately, my husband and I did take our weekend to Door County in Wisconsin. We love, love, love the lake and the sunsets and the walks and the food. We have a great bed and breakfast we have been back to for at least 6 years. The weather was definitely cooler than years past, but we had a wonderful time.  ( Also visited 2 quilt shops.)

Here we are by the water...notice the long sleeves and jeans. 

This is one of those gorgeous sunsets by the marina.

After returning, I did get a little sewing going. I am prepping my last blocks of Henrietta and her pumpkins, just 2 of them.

Then some sawtooth star blocks for our mini raffle quilt for guild. I have 4 more to make tonight. They are cut out and the half square triangles made. These are 8 inch blocks.