Week 2 is in the books.  Thank goodness.  I had a nagging feeling that perhaps this week’s project was a little too ambitious for them to complete in the allotted class time.  I was right.  My current students don’t have a working sewing machine at home, so they weren’t able to practice between classes.  They spent almost 30 minutes winding bobbins and “practicing” their stitching before we even began.  My Nascar and Indy driver wannabes went full throttle on their machines (despite constant reminders to slow down from me, the shop owner and their mom) until they had to rip out some stitches and redo the really bad stitching.  The shop owner graciously agreed we could use the classroom space on Monday to finish our project, so I’m thankful for that.

Both of my students liked the mechanical machine available in the quilt shop the best, so I stopped by the “donor” sewing machine shop to inquire about obtaining a second machine to use for my classes.  The model in the quilt shop is the Jem Gold 3, which is okay, except I wanted the ability to do a true satin stitch, which the Jem Gold 3 does not.  Enter the MyStyle 100.  It met all of my requirements – top load bobbin, adjustable stitch width and length and is easy to use.  The only thing it didn’t have was a needle threader…which is easily remedied by purchasing the Janome accessory needle threader (and it works better, too!).  The price point is $199 for the machine, which makes it budget friendly and you’re supporting a local business.   The machine sews a nice stitch, is quiet and fairly lightweight.  I would consider this one for a travel machine to take to class or as a student machine in my mobile sewing classroom – if my business expands to offer an after-school stitching club.

Now mind you, I have a 15 year old Kenmore mechanical that I bring to class for their use (made by Janome) and neither one wants to us it.  Don’t know why…they sure like to use the accessory feet I have for my machine.

Sometimes you have to take time to reflect.  One of my favorite ways to do this is with my journal, a good writing pen and my favorite beverage.  I generally head to a spot at Lake Acworth or Red Top Mountain.  Water has a calming effect on me.  I often get there early, so I  have the immediate area to myself.  Occasionally, I have to share with the fishermen.

Today’s reflection was a little different.  I wanted to spend time in my studio experimenting with some tools I’d purchased but never got around to using.  I’d seen a particular ruler demonstrated at the sewing show back in March.  Here was my chance to give it a whirl.  I was  also trying to decide if I really needed to buy that $150 binding foot for Jewel.  My much loved vintage potholders were about to disintegrate, so I decided to make copies.   I played around with free motion quilting on two fat quarter sandwiches.  I still can’t follow the lines on intricate quilt motifs very well, but my free motion loops, circles, hearts and stars look much better  than they did at Christmas.  I made templates from my vintage potholders and cut out as many potholders as possible from the quilted fat quarter sandwiches. I used the ruler to cut strips, which worked surprisingly well (helps to follow directions!).  Then, I unearthed by Clover bias tape maker.  It took 3 tries, but the finished bias binding looks awesome once I got the hang of it.  I used a serpentine stitch to sew down the binding.  Remember to turn under the raw edges where you start.  I simply looped the binding back on itself and stitched it in place to finish off the loop.  There are other options to add a loop, as well.  Look at the potholders in your drawer or spend some time surfing the web.

My time spent in my studio today was sometimes frustrating and at other times exhilarating as I learned a new technique.  I have some handy dandy new potholders to boot.  AND, I can hold off on buying that binding foot for Jewel for now.  However, a new 1/2″ bias tape maker is necessary to replace the existing bent one.

Well, we finally saw the personnel allotments for next year.  I am still employed full-time, but my parapro has been cut to 3 days per week and the technology teacher (who worked with me closely on a number of things) got put on the “reassignment list” because her position has been cut for next year.  We are returning to one K-5 school, but we still don’t know who’s on the administrative team.

I think parents are going to be in for a huge shock when they realize how large class sizes are going to be next year.  Max class size is 32 for 4th & 5th grades.  County requested a waiver to put up to 37 students per 4th & 5th grade classroom.  Has anyone from the district office or school board visited one of my 4th and 5th grade classrooms?  They have a hard enough time fitting 28 kids in there now.  Where are 9 additional bodies going to go?  On the floor?  In the hallway?

At these levels, teaching is going to become nothing more than glorified babysitting.  I had a lovely group of 3rd graders this morning for a skills lesson.  And the group from hell this afternoon.  I finally took the half of the class that wanted to learn aside and continued with the lesson while leaving the other half in their small groups exploring the resource we were studying.

All I am going to say is there’s a huge difference in students who come from families that value education and those that don’t.