Author: quiltedl

This is more a compilation for my use, but feel free to borrow:

Singer-Featherweight  (f/n/a April 1930’s – successor to Graham Forsdyke)
Nova Montgomery
Desk Dave
Featherweight Doctor
Glenn Williams (Temple Terrace, FL)

Helpful hints:
*Original Bobbin Case is a MUST.
*Best replacement belt:  Bernina Black V-Belt part# 305.201.13
*Stick to original bobbins or reproduction bobbins from sources listed above. Bobbins from big box craft stores have mixed results.
*Screwdrivers with magnetic tips work best.
*LED bulbs are much cooler.
*If you don’t like/want to preserve original Bake-Lite foot controller – get the clamshell version with the rubber molded plug (about $40). WORTH EVERY PENNY.
*If you experience tensions issues, try a thread stand.

Teachers have to be really good at hiding their emotions. I tell my students that we sometimes have to put on our game face and deal with adversity. It’s a part of growing up.  Is it easy? Oh heck no – especially when you secretly wish you could act like some of the second graders throwing a fit because they didn’t get their way.

As I mentioned in previous posts, I decided I needed to be more like my students and ask for what I want. So, I put myself on the transfer list and started applying for openings.  I had a really, really good interview with my “home” middle school (the one my neighborhood kids attend). This was the kind of interview where you really connect with the principal and you know they “get” it.  In the past, this level of connection has usually meant that I got the job. Not so this time.  I received the “position filled” email shortly before I left today to go to another interview with a neighboring school district.

That was hard. 

I had to put on my game face and go try to convince someone I didn’t know why they should hire me as their media specialist.  I had a great conversation with two very nice people. I seemed to answer their questions in ways they liked. Hopefully, I’ll be asked back for a second interview. I really would like to see where the library is located on campus. It’s driving me crazy that I didn’t get to see it today!  I was, however, very impressed with the cleanliness of the facility and the sense of order on campus.  Markedly different from my current school.

I also have an interview with another elementary school later this week. One of my former coworkers told them they needed to hire me!  🙂  The only sticky wicket is due to staff reassignments, my path will cross with an assistant principal from my former school. She’s a proponent of the fixed library schedule that I’m trying to get away from.

Four years ago, it was either transfer to another school or leave education. I absolutely, positively was not returning to that school for another year. Things are very different this time around. I actually like my current school and coworkers, but I’m stagnating in the day job. Not a good place for me to be. I want to pursue learning commons certification and work toward state recognition for an exemplary library media center before I hang up my school librarian hat.  Retirement is still a few years off, but this is something I’d like to do before I do retire.

I use the word success, because for me – that’s exactly what it is…

Yesterday, I went to an in-person doctor for an actual physical exam. Success #1.
My lab results came back and they were the best they’ve been in 20 years. Success #2.

I attribute both of these to my starting Weight Watchers Freestyle late last summer.

My last physical was in October 2016.  That experience, along with the subsequent comedy of errors resulting from that visit, left me not wanting to ever set foot in a doctor’s office again. So, I didn’t. I used the online doctor service through my health insurance provider and the local clinic at the corner pharmacy to meet basic health care needs. Kind of silly, yes I know, but that’s how I needed to work through it.

When I first started WW, I set a goal that once I reached a certain target weight, I would  schedule a physical with a new primary care doctor. I met my target weight over spring break. I’d already researched doctors and had a couple of candidates in mind. I scheduled an appointment with the one who had the earliest availability (still 2 weeks out).  I LOVE my new primary care physician! I still don’t like going to the doctor, but I no longer dread it.

According to Dr. P, I still have 20 more pounds to lose (more than I thought), but he was very encouraging of the steps I’d taken so far to take control of my health. The lab results clearly showed what cutting back on sugar, red meat and fast food can do for one.  I had a biometric screening done August 2018 for my employer’s wellness plan. My April 2019 numbers were much improved. Total cholesterol had dropped 55 points and my blood glucose level was within normal limits – not pre-diabetic like it was last August.

I am ready to tackle the last 20 pounds and schedule the remaining health screening visits for the summer months (ob/gyn, dermatologist and gastroenterologist), so I am up-to-date on taking care of ME.

As the saying goes, “Your health is your wealth.”  If one physician isn’t a good fit for you, then go find another one who is.  I actually liked my previous physician, but not her practice manager (who has a god complex and states it’s his decision whether or not you remain a patient of the practice).  In hindsight, I feel really stupid sometimes giving that fool the power to keep me from taking the best care of me for nearly 18 months. The good news is I wised up and that won’t happen ever again.

Oh and success #3 – I found the white 1964 Singer Featherweight I’d been seeking! It’s set to arrive on Saturday!  Sew excited!

In elementary schools, Genius Hour is a dedicated time where students can explore anything that interests them. Some sort of output is usually required in the form of a physical object, writing piece or digital multimedia presentation. Our Friday clubs are my school’s version of Genius Hour.

My Stitching Stallions were required to design and make blocks for Block Party, which is a kid-focused quilting exhibit (open to all K-12 students in Georgia) that will be on display during Georgia Celebrates Quilts in June, 2019.  Most of my kids had never touched a sewing machine before the end of January.  They love to sew long lines of fabric together, so we decided on strip pieced blocks as the overall design for everyone.  The kids cut the bulk of the strips themselves using my Sizzix machine and strip dies. Some of the kids really took their time and kept a fairly consistent seam allowance throughout the entire block construction. They carefully selected colors that would complement one another and arranged their strips in a certain color order. Other kids took a lot of creative liberties with sewing wide seam allowances because they wanted different width strips, or sewing the strip directly on top of the other one because they liked the look.  Their written block descriptions are due back Monday. I can’t wait to see what they wrote about the experience!

This Friday sewing club has been a treasured part of the past four years I’ve spent at this school. We learned on Friday afternoon that there would be no more clubs for the remainder of the year due to the new state-mandated testing schedule.  The rumor mill (usually accurate) also says there will be no clubs next year.  This confirms my feeling that it’s time to dismantle sewing studio B,  re-home four sewing machines and divest the bulk of the craft materials (rather than waiting until the end of the year).  Two sewing machines and some supplies will be kept in the Media Center for Maker Space activities.

Two years ago, I attended the event in Savannah.  Had a BLAST!  Immediately put QuiltCon 2019 in Nashville on my calendar. I had a good time and met some nice folks, but I left without the warm fuzzies that I did in Savannah.

Why?

1. Downtown Nashville is very crowded.
2. Parking was expensive.
3. Conference hotel prices were outrageous.
4. Food vendors were confined to one small space where the dining seating (roped off to boot) also served as the seating for the demo stage.  I had to eat my lunch sitting on the floor of the loading dock.  Not cool.
5. Unless you sported vibrantly colored hair, nose rings, full sleeve tattoos and a hipster vibe, some of the vendors weren’t that interested in you. I saw more than one customer leave an armload of merchandise in a booth because they grew tired of waiting for someone to take their money. Apparently Instagram followers are more important than paying customers. 
6. There was no communication at all from QuiltCon or the instructor regarding a required kit fee for one class.  This caught several class attendees by surprise, many of whom don’t carry cash.  We had to pay the kit fee at the door before we entered the classroom. Why wasn’t the kit fee included in the class fee?
7. Dear instructors: please remember your students paid money to learn and sew- not listen to you constantly pitch the various products you sell, represent, or serve as a brand ambassador for during the entire class.  Once, maybe twice, is more than enough.

Remember the oxygen mask instructions given before each flight by the flight attendant? “Put YOUR mask on FIRST – then help the person next you.”

Honestly, mid-winter break came at the right time.

I’ve been feeling out-of-sorts for the past 3 weeks.  Tired, cranky and ever so grateful for our pseudo-snow day.  That gave me a very much needed one day off to regroup and make it until mid-winter break. My applied linguistics class has an insane amount of homework and I’ve had one hell of a time making any meaningful connections with the required IPA transcription activities to my daily library work. Thankfully, it’s about over.

In the day job, we’ve had some professional development sessions designed to help us better understand ourselves and our students.  Teachers tend to be very selfless and giving, but we have to learn to be selfish and put ourselves first or we’re not going to be any good for anybody.  My school work environment meets the training leader’s definition of “a trauma environment.”  Hmmm. Think that might be one of the reasons so many people leave each year?

After 48 hours of wholesome food, proper hydration, vitamins & supplements, sleep/naps and mega time spent reading, I FINALLY feel good again.  Message received!!! I have to slow down. set boundaries and take better care of me. 

Oh, and quilt!

And did I miss the memo?

At Saturday’s Kid’s Club, Miss Jackie and I compared notes on how crazy the past two weeks had been. She even asked if there had been a full moon. (I checked. Nope, it was a new moon moving into a quarter moon!) Saturday’s Kid’s Club involved the girls learning how to make chenille.  Lots of fuzzy fun!

Sometimes the SHTF in all areas of your life about the same time. That was me last week. Too much of everything – work, linguistics class, home and then a text from a customer asking if her orders were ready (no due date had been previously communicated).  I will just say that I made it through the work craziness and spent 14 hours of my precious weekend devoted to linguistics class assignments.  A brief reprieve was spent teaching the kid’s sewing class and purchasing backing fabric for two of my customer’s projects. (I also now have a deadline, but will not be able to complete all projects in her desired time frame.)

There were some pretty dark moments in the past week – like when the professor suddenly changed the assignment requirements and I thought I had no choice but to drop the class because there was no way I could redo my work at this late stage or the unsolicited “reality check” (courtesy of  my spouse) when I mentioned that I might want to leave teaching at the end of the year.  I also felt as if I’d let my customer down because I didn’t ask some hard questions on the front end when a seemingly small project morphed into something much, much larger, thus requiring substantially more time needed to complete her projects.

Linguistics class assignments are submitted, lesson plans written and now I’m heading downstairs to my happy place for a couple of hours before it’s light’s out and we welcome the craziness of the Block B schedule at work. Thank goodness February break and QuiltCon are right around the corner!

Peace!