Anything for the Kids

Okay, here is your laugh of the day! I am wearing a pig hat to represent Wilbur of Charlotte's Web, and a sign declaring that I am RADIANT in web writing. I thought that would be better than SOME PIG! Some of the kids at my school looked adorable in their book character costumes. My favorite was Little Red Riding Hood in full red cape. And the fifth grade teachers were all Oompah Loompahs from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Switching gears back to the weekend at our mountain cabin, the weather was very interesting. As we approached elevation of 3,000 feet in Laurel Springs, NC, Friday night, the light rain changed over to huge snowflakes pouring down on our windshield. Nothing stuck to the road, and the next day we had a gorgeous blue sky. Wouldn't you like to be soaring in a jet over the beautiful mountains?

The frozen pond finally started thawing out in the balmy afternoon sun, and the world's ugliest ducks (they are decoys) finally got freed after being frozen to the pond for a few months.I planted some daffodil bulbs along our driveway and in one garden bed, and here they are starting to poke up through the soil!
And there is some grass growing over the earthen dam of the pond. We planted grass seed all around the new pond, and hope it will do well this spring. My nephew has chosen to get married up there on the banks of the pond on May 17! Right now it looks far from being ready for a wedding.
(That's my dog, Maggy, checking out the dam.)

Quilts get new homes

I got a good laugh this morning looking at the title of my last post, "I'm Classy!" Of course it referred to me taking a class and beginning to teach classes. The reason it is striking me funny is that I am currently dressed as a pig! It is Read Across America Day, or some such, and we are all supposed to go to school dressed as our favorite children's book. So, it's Charlotte's Web for me. I'll have to get someone to take my picture later.

This weekend I delivered the Hunting Season quilt to James's parents to take to him, and the Lilly Pulitzer quilt to Ellen's mother to take to her in Florida over Easter. And the white wedding quilt which I made for Dave and Em is now looking beautiful in their freshly painted bedroom with refinished sleigh bed. I will post more tonight about our beautiful mountain weekend and delightful impromptu housewarming last night at David and Emily's, to celebrate their restored and newly purchased furniture. Finally the end of the story after their apartment building burned down last September.

I'm Classy

Today I found out that I will begin teaching my first classes on Monday. And I found out that I will be working with higher-achieving students, not the ones in need of remediation! Wow, that is a huge difference. I worked primarily with special education students in my career as a teacher before I retired. I love new challenges, so this should be fun.

And, this weekend begins the online quilting class I signed up for with Pamela Allen through the website Quilters Threads. Bad timing- of course I had no idea I would be getting a new job when I signed up. But I am looking forward to learning some new ideas and techniques from this quilt artist! Here is the description of the class:

Think Like an Artist- Have you made the transition from traditionally designed quilts to ART quilts? Would you like to? Then this is the class for you. There are two parts to every art quilt....one is the technical expertise of stitching, applique, quilting, blocking, binding. And we all continue to improve in this category simply by making work . The other side ... the ART part....is more ephemeral, as it requires many years of questioning, risk taking and imagination to develop. Pamela has designed a program that will start the student along the road to that development. Students will hone in on the whole process of art making using a series of hands on exercises which focus on the important elements of creativity.

And this additional information is provided on the page about the class:
I met Pamela Allen on an online email list several years ago. She started out making collages out of fabric and this past year, she has been adding intricate quilting motifs that she free hand quilts. She has been doing this on a lower model Kenmore and has just found out that she is the recipient of a new machine from Janome of Canada. Pamela lives in Kingston, Ontario with her husband who is also an artist. Pamela gave me this message to you - I favour a rather informal style where the image is developed as a sort of "stream of consciousness". By that I mean each element grows from what has taken place previously. This attitude works well with my drawing-with-scissors technique, which allows me to put down background, primary shapes with prints and recycled fabrics, and then develop the narrative by additions and reductions depending on how the composition is developing. I have a largish collection of books on folk art, outsider art, and non European art which inspire me. I can relate to the kind of art that is spontaneous and unselfconscious. It’s as if the idea goes directly from the heart to the hand, bypassing the brain and it’s preconceived ideas. Emulating this philosophy allows me to keep an open mind right to the very completion of each project I look for the personal element in art, where the artist seems to have direct knowledge or experience with her subject matter. When I am working, I have to have a personal stake in it to maintain my interest.

Check out Pamela Allen's website to see some of her work.

My First Day at School

It is hard to go to work at a school when it is not the beginning of the school year. All the procedures are new to me. If you read #7 on my tag list last week, you know I get lost easily, too! So I spent some time today wandering the building. First things first: where is the faculty bathroom? (Hey, I'm 57 years old, that's important!) Everyone has been very nice to me, but no one was ready for me. Turns out I have a roommate! Another retired teacher is teaching remedial reading and math in the same trailer. She just started a couple weeks ago. I think we will get along well, and it is nice to have another adult in the room. I observed all the third grade classes today and met some of the students.

We may divide up the students so that one of us teaches just math, and the other just reading. That would definitely make planning time easier!

Speaking of school-age children, here is a little quilt I made as a challenge at one of the Capital Quilters Guild shows a few years ago. The quilts were donated to one of the public libraries, and they were to illustrate a children's book. I have always loved Island of the Blue Dolphins, so I illustrated the strong female character who was left behind on a Pacific Island when her tribe abandoned it. I don't have any detail pics, but I like the bottom section the best, which represents the ocean life and the dolphins of the title. When I was in San Francisco, I purchased lots of buttons to sew in, which represent fish, sand dollars, etc. This quilt is now hanging in the Southeast Regional Library in Garner, NC.

My First Blogiversary Came and Went

I was just thinking that I had been blogging for about a year. When I looked back at my first post, it was February 24,2007- a year ago yesterday! Since then I have posted 172 times. Thanks to everyone who has stopped by to read my blog, and especially to those that have left comments. It is very encouraging to get feedback, and I cherish your remarks!

It is sometimes a custom to offer a drawing of a blogiversary gift to those who leave comments. I promise I will also do that, but must postpone until a later date. My sewing room is all torn up due to recent painting and re-organizing, and sewing machines in the shop! I will announce a nice give-away when I go back into production!

Today I spent a yawning morning in orientation back to the school system where I worked for 24 years. I am now officially "hired," and will start work tomorrow morning at a nearby elementary school. I am looking forward to working with kids again and being part of the friendly faculty at this school.

Here is an organization tip: I have been looking for pegboard-type solutions for the new sewing room. Wal-Mart has a pegboard starter kit, already finished white, with lots of hooks and connectors. You can configure the four pegboards any way you like. This is much more workable for me than buying a huge pegboard sheet at the big box home improvement store, painting it white, sawing it to fit, and inserting spacers and hanging.

And my $5.00 file cabinet from the side of the road is now rust-free and painted a bright creamy almond color instead of the ugly dull putty. It took a bit of work, but it's done!

Wish me luck tomorrow in my new job!

What's in Bloom?

Here is evidence that spring is not far away here in the North Carolina piedmont:

One does not normally associate maple trees with blossoms, as they are known more for their fiery display of autumn foliage. But my two red maples are in bloom with lovely red flowers. They are not very showy from a distance, but quite pretty up close.
Here is my first pink camellia. And first daffodil!

How about a nice little cluster of crocus?

I planted a little four-inch pot of rosemary a few years ago, which is now a nice shrub that winters over. It's blooming, too.

When we moved in our house, fourteen years ago, there were no trees in the front yard. Here is a Southern magnolia and a river birch that I planted when they were each about four feet tall. They are facing my neighbor's yard in this photo.

And finally, here is the hemlock tree I planted next to the house on the north side. They normally grow in the mountains where it is much cooler and shadier, but this one has done well in the shade of the house. The little window on top is my new sewing room. I can look down from there and see birds in the hemlock and river birch trees.














Rosemary shrub

No new quilts, but here is an old one

I finished painting the new sewing room FINALLY! Now I need to start moving in my furniture and storage cabinets. I was really needing a file cabinet for my patterns, articles cut from quilt magazines, etc. I looked at Sam's, a bulk-buy discount store, and the four-drawer file cabinets were $85.00. Naww- too high. On the way home, I spied a putty-colored four-drawer cabinet on the side of the road at this little flea-market type place. I bought it for $5.00! I checked the drawers and they slid in and out just fine. When I got home, I pulled out the drawers and was disgusted to see lots of rust in the cabinet. Oh, well, what do you expect for five bucks! So I have cleaned, steel-wooled, painted with rust remover, and cleaned again. Now there is no rust, but I probably should paint. Tomorrow's job!

Since both my machines are in for servicing and the sewing room is OUT of service, I thought I would feature a little art quilt I did a couple years ago as part of a challenge by the Cyberbee, a group I belong to. Several of us signed up for the challenge, which featured a monthly inspiration such as a poem, song, or piece of music, and one technique drawn from a hat. This one was based on a poem by Maya Angelou called This Winter Day, and the chosen technique was Shiva Paint Sticks. The Shiva Paint Sticks were used to create the orange and green vegetables. I did some woven strips for the background. I like the back better than the front, since I prefer bright colors. Anyway, since many of you are experiencing heavy snow this weekend, here is my version of This Winter Day. The back has the poem written on the hanging sleeve. This little piece is only about 81/2 by 11".

The kitchen is in readiness
White green and other things
Leak their blood selves in the soup.
Ritual sacrifice that snaps
an odor at my nose, and starts
my tongue to march,
slipping in the liquid of its drip.
The day, silver, striped
in rain, is balked against
my window and the soup.