Some decisions of life...

...are never easy.

I am typically not one to hide (or able to hide) my emotions. Through a blog, it is easy to hold back, but in real-life, if you knew me, my emotions are almost always on my sleeve in full view. There are times when I wish I could keep my emotions bottled up because they get in the way with certain situations; be it sadness or anger. Remaining calm is a virtue I am still constantly struggling with and working on.

Yesterday, I drafted, signed and delivered my official letter of resignation as the varsity volleyball coach. Over the past few months, I have needed to have my PRO and CON shoulders battle with each other, mulling over what the position and the girls I work with mean to me. This was not an easy internal battle to fight and thankfully I didn't need to completely keep it bottled up and go through it alone. Naturally, DH was supportive of my resignation but he also understood the difficulty of this decision for me; he also had a stake in this position having spent a fair amount of days working with the team. A very dear coworker, who also happens to be a former varsity coach that I coached under for 8 years, has also been very supportive and an amazing ear for me.

As I was leaving the Administrative office having delivered my letter, one of my team captains was walking by. In very few words I asked her to see me sometime next week when she and the other team captain had some time together. I needed to be brief because I was already feeling the sadness of the decision that was made. I absolutely love these girls.

When I returned to my room a few minutes later, my two captains were there. As joking as I could be, I said..."Wow. That was fast!" In summary, the 10-minute meeting was difficult and emotional.

The guilt I feel is so incredible that it is eating me up. I am upset that this decision needed to be made, but bottom line, I know that my plate is (going to be) full and I won't have the strength or time to accomplish all that needs to be accomplished, and all at a level that is satisfactory to me. I always set my bar high; anything less is simply too difficult for me to accept.

Quilt-along: Raven Stars - Step 5: Blocks -n- Borders

The final step

Layout all units and piece into rows. A good amount of chain-piecing occurred with this step once I stacked all the units together and zooooomed away.

Press the top/bottom rows towards the white squares and press the center unit away from the nine-patch center.

Piece the rows together to finish the block, pressing seams in the same direction.

Quilt center
Using all 42 blocks, piece into 7 rows of 6 blocks each.

Borders
Recall that I had not included fabric requirements for any border treatments. I elected to add three nested borders to finish off this quilt. I've included the fabric requirements now in the event you choose to finish off this quilt the same.
Black: 17.5" -- Cut (7) 2.5" strips.
White: 10.5" -- Cut (7) 1.5" strips.
Purple: 21" -- Cut (7) 3" strips.

When I piece borders, I no longer measure and cut to a specific length. For many of my first quilts, I did this....and since I hadn't perfected the 1/4" seam yet.....my quilt centers and border strips RARELY matched up. I also no longer do the "just sew along without pinning and cut off the excess once I get to the end" method. I now realize the error I made for so many years which lead to the "wavy border syndrome." NOR do I do the "measure through the center/measure each end and find the average" method. BLAH! I'm all for math ((duh! Math teacher here)) but.....that's just a bit overkill for me.

NOW, I follow Bonnie Hunter's border tips-n-tricks completely! For those of you who have never questioned the importance of having square borders, here's one deelio to think about...

If your edges have ANY (or MANY depending on your quilt center) seams, those seams can and will stretch. The edges of your quilt are not a good guide to know how long to cut your borders because of this stretch.

Therefore, I now sew all of my border strips together in one continuous strip (much like sewing binding strips). I then use my quilt as my measuring tool----why mess with those blasted measuring tapes??? As Bonnie suggests.....
a) simply spread your quilt out and lay your border strip through the center of your quilt (I typically follow one of my center seams)
b) trim to match the length/width of your quilt
c) PIN PIN PIN your border strip at each end and middle and here-n-there along the length.

Trust me! I never used to pin! Anything that slowed me down was annoying, and pinning was one of them! Not to go too far off on a tangent here, but....I couldn't stand pressing when I first was starting out either! Gahhh.....I'm now a changed quilter forever because I understand that (in the long run), pressing and pinning saves time.

Anyway, since I have been attaching my borders with this method:
** I have not had a single "wavy border" problem. For those of you who don't have a quilting frame and use your DSM for quilting, this 'wavy border' problem probably isn't that much OF a problem. But, if you took a gander at Bonnie's border page, you'll see the disaster that some non-square borders create on a quilting frame.
** I no longer stress over finding a way to measure out 74.5" of border fabric like I did when I first began quilting using patterns

Raven Stars (70" x 81")

If you've followed along and participated, I would love to see your final product. Be sure to drop me a comment or email to share your progress!

O Warm weather, warm weather! Wherefore are thou warm weather?

O Warm-weather, Warm-weather! Wherefore are thou Warm-weather?
Deny thy Mother-nature and refuse thy chill.
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my weather,
And I'll no longer be a whining runner.



Okay, I'm no Shakespearian, but, I'm sure you understand me (????). Winter running in Wisconsin (and other northern states) brings with it its own challenges. And, let's face it: many of you, my dear followers, know my absolute loathsome attitude towards the ever dreadful "DREADMILL!"






Yesterday; Teens/low 20's and 2" snow. NOT my cup-o-tea for running!
Today: 50s! (Let the heavens open up and hear the angels sing!)
Tomorrow: 2-6" of MORE SNOW!!!!! *UGH*


Yes, I utilized the GLORIOUS temperatures today and ran. Only 1.8 miles, but I ran :0)

I suppose SOME scattered running is better than none. Yes????

Not much action today...

I was downstairs by 7:30, making progress on Maltese star - Mystery 24. I didn't lay out any border treatments, I simply saw a picture in my head and went for it. Here's the current status (pictured sideways); I still want to add a final wider blue border, but I don't have enough of any one blue fabric (that I can find, anyway). There may be a gem or two that I can find in one of the donation boxes, but I didn't feel like digging in to the boxes today.

Therefore, I finished up piecing the 20 string blocks of RRCB part #7 and 6 more of the pieced blocks from part #7. I didn't take a picture before heading upstairs for lunch, nor have I been back downstairs since.

DH is down-n-out with some form of bug. Psht! He even is giving us the sympathy-craving-vomit routine. {{ewwww}}. So, rather than heading back downstairs, I've remained up here, cleaning and rearranging the living room.

And now, all of us girls are kicking back, watching Ice Age and having an afternoon snack.

Harry Potter update
Yeah, yeah....I wouldn't say I'm obsessed as some, but it IS quick reading so far. I'm on page 208 and will probably spend the next hour or so with my feet up, reading.

Stash Report: Feb. 28 - Mar. 6
Used/week: 1.75 yds
Purch/week: 0.0 yds

Used/year: 36.68 yds
Purch/year: 6.0 yds

Net Used: 30.68 yds

Blue Ridge Beauty, Raven Stars, Maltese Star and a Tooth!

Blue Ridge Beauty was the first task-at-hand this morning and the quilting was completed shortly after 9:00. I had some difficulty and am a bit unclear as to what the problem was exactly. My bobbin thread had run out; so I tied off a new start......and then........a bit of tugging here-n-there and SNAP! Bobbin thread breakage. That's a first! I actually had to rip out the little bit of section I attempted to sew. Then retried after reinserting the bobbin case....SNAP again! Hmmmm........ After ripping out the small section again, I decided to give the machine a quick cleaning, rethread the upper thread AND change bobbins. **shrug** One of them worked, because I was off-n-runnin' again.

I unpinned the quilt from the frame, but it still remains hung over the bars. I didn't have floor space open to lay it out for trimming. Rather, the center of Raven Stars was still claiming the floor. Therefore, that was my next project to tackle....

and by lunch time, all the borders were added. For those of you who have been participating in the Quilt along, the final step will be posted on Wednesday (Block piecing, top piecing and borders).

Then, I pulled the remaining Maltese Star - Mystery 24 blocks so that I could piece together the final rows into a completed top. The mystery did not include any borders, but I am electing to add some. This is the stage it currently is in. An hour ago, I came upstairs to make a cup of tea. While waiting for the water to heat up, I pulled out my Harry Potter book (I started reading it last night before bed and only managed a few pages before my eyes couldn't remain open any longer), and have been reading ever since. I don't know if I'll get back downstairs anymore today/tonight. I figure I accomplished enough to consider it a full sewing day, so I'll be perfectly fine if I don't get back downstairs.

Cailtyn had a great day on Wednesday at school! I received an email from her teacher early in the day saying that she had a really loose tooth. (Psht---NO CLUE that it was even loose!). And then, right around 1:00, another email came in that said "It's out!" This is her first lost tooth, and now.....the other big tooth and two bottom teeth are all loose.

Okay....back to my reading ;0)

Another "it's FRIDAY" post!

Good golly -n- poopers! Time is a'flying and even though this is the more quiet and subdued time of my school year......I'm amazed at how breathless and pooped out I am at the end of days, and CERTAINLY at the end of weeks.

Today was actually a joyful day that was a bit out of my norm; I had an all-day meeting with a small group of individuals. Our goal was to create a draft of our School District's Technology Plan, a LARGE task at-hand. We were successful at creating an extremely rough draft and had just enough time to start performing an edit on the first quarter of the draft. I have been dubbed the committee's secretary; merely because years ago I would bring my laptop to every meeting to jot down notes for myself, which then turned into 'why don't you fancy them up to be the minutes for the committee' which then advanced to a full-blown secretary title. No biggy. I don't mind being the laptop schlepping, minute-writing individual. ;0)

Anyway----tonight dinner consists of a very lazy "mom" meal (that most kids love). Frozen pizza and pizza rolls. Dessert: left-over caramel corn that was made last night.

Plans for the weekend: SEW, SEW, SEW :0) I will also have to fit in some time to grade the assessments that I had my students take today while I was out of the classroom.

Also, I finally bit the bullet and checked-out the first Harry Potter book from my school's library. I guess I'll see if I get obsessed into them as so many others have.

Happy Friday!

Quilt-along: Raven Stars - Step 4: Star Points

Today, we piece the 168 star points! Refer back to Step 1: Cutting directions if you haven't already cut the pieces for this step.


Layout the units so you are certain how the white pieces match up.

Now that little notch that we so pain-stakingly trimmed off will have a purpose! I started with the right white REC. Notice that the white will not match black corner-to-corner. Instead, you will be fitting the white REC to match up with the EDGES of the black TRI, not merely with the corner.

Piece and press. This is a unit that doesn't follow the "press-to-the-darker-fabric" rule. I pressed towards the white.

Now repeat with the left REC piece. Again, you will be using that notch to line up along the edge of the black TRI unit.

Piece and press (towards the white again).

Do not panic that those little black corners are showing! Truly! Once pieced into the final block, they will result in PERFECT corners!! :0) You shouldn't need to trim up anything; just cut off the little dog-ears that were created from pressing. 2.5" (almost) on the spot!


And to finish up this step, using HALF of the star points (84) and all of the remaining 2.5" white squares (168), attach a white square to either side of 84 star point units. Press towards 2.5" white square.

Yeah----next week: Step 5: Putting blocks together!!! :0)

A political post - I really don't like 'em either!

I have not spoken on my blog about much of the political issues going on around our wonderful state of Wisconsin.
Governor Walker is addressing the public as I type to share his Budget Address for the next two years {short term}, NOT about his Budget Repair Bill {longterm} that has made national news. Although, he has brought it (Budget Repair bill) up many times already in the first 10 minutes of his Address.

Many states are in budget problems; many states have made drastic cuts to education; it is very frustrating for both sides of this sad issue regardless of where you/we live! I have never been a teacher to complain about my income because I understood the added "income" that came in the form of benefits. But bottom line: I became a teacher because ...... I was meant to BE a teacher!

Let me be the first to say from the absolute bottom of my heart----I have NEVER liked the "politics" about politics. Yeah---kinda ironic, but I'm sure many of you know what I mean. Things are said, but actions don't always follow. Actions are performed, but don't always agree with what had been said.

Some of Walker's quotes....
** "We have a diverse set of beliefs"

** "Each (person) has a vision to better Wisconsin"

** "We all want Wisconsin to be the very best."

** "People of Wisconsin will always come first."

** "Despite budget cuts, the longterm funds will allow more money and resources to be made available in the classrooms.....". ???? Hmmm.....I'm optimistic, but I'm also a skeptical mathematician who also happens to be a teacher.

** "This budget delivers true tax breaks to home owners..."

** "3rd Grade basic Literacy assessment will be established"



I really don't like politics. I don't like controversy. I see little things on both sides of this political fence. I have not made much of a voice on either side, although, naturally, I am supporting most of what is sent my way via my District's head negotiator.

BLAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Why can't life just be simpler?