Me? Piecing, hands-down. Most every project I’ve completed in the past two years – regardless of designer – has been pieced. Just take my Lori Holt projects for instance: A Quilter’s Cottage, My Happy Place, Great Granny Squared, projects using blocks from Vintage Christmas and Farm Girl Vintage I/II…yeah, I’m all over those.

Not so much with the half-finished Granny’s Garden that’s been languishing in my studio. Why? It’s primarily applique. The blocks are simply gorgeous, but seem to require 3x the work of a pieced block. I’m good with a mix of some applique, hand embroidery and embellishment on a quilt, but my preference is definitely not for a primarily appliquéd quilt top.

There, I said it.

That’s why I scaled Flea Market Flowers back to a single large pillow, so I can do the Dresden flower technique. I skipped Chicken Salad and decided against Prairie Meadow for the same reason – primarily applique. I did order the Prairie Shoo-Fly Stars boxed kit, though because – you guessed it – it’s a pieced project. I’m also eagerly waiting on my copy of Scrappiness is Happiness.

Now that I have more time for quilting and a desire to take on more challenging projects, I may decide to go back and tackle blocks/projects that use the Sew Simple Shapes I’ve collected. Before I do that, I’ll complete the Granny’s Garden quilt.

Guess what? Teacher preplanning week starts tomorrow and I’m not gonna be there! 🙂

Cue the happy dance music, please.

I’ll miss my workday peeps, but I’m so glad I took that giant leap of faith two months ago. Looking forward to a week of quilty fun and getting back out there after 10 days at home due to COVID.

As a school district employee, my salary earned for a ten month employment contract is paid out in twelve monthly installments. This means my paychecks (and benefits) continue through the summer. It’s actually been a nice way to ease into full-on retirement.

Today’s mail brought the first of two expected COBRA notices. Everything except for health insurance coverage is provided by the local school districts. I got the school district’s COBRA notice today. The unexpected bonus was learning that my dental plan is eligible for COBRA continuation coverage at the same reasonable employee rates. Is it necessary? No, but it will definitely be nice to have with my upcoming dental work.

Here’s hoping the switch to COBRA for the health insurance side goes as smoothly. That notice is expected sometime in August – but I’ve already been in contact with them to advise I wish to keep the coverage for both of us.

If you are changing jobs or retiring, be sure to take full advantage of all benefits available to you before you leave. We made sure to get our wills and estate documents updated using my legal coverage benefit before it runs out at the end of July. Don’t forget to rollover any 401(k) and 403(b) accounts either.