Author: Teresa

Quilts, good books and dogs. Plus a cup of tea. Life is good.

Get ready to jump through some hoops…

June 6, 2024

Backstory: I was a school librarian for 22 years before deciding to join my husband in early retirement back in May 2022. When I left, I was pension eligible, including health insurance benefits, but too young to begin collecting any pension payments. We had to wait two years. I was advised it would be a journey and would require a lot of follow-up and persistence on my part because I would be retiring outside the normal process.

They weren’t kidding!!!

In February, I applied for retirement benefits. Got all the paperwork submitted by mid-March, including unused sick leave verification. Whenever I periodically called to follow-up on my application status, I was told my file was complete. Be patient as they were working through the volume of end of school year retirement applications. If I didn’t receive my official retirement letter by the end of May, then I should contact them.

May 31st came with no official retirement letter, so I contacted them only to be told my application was incomplete and still pending. Why? My previous employer hadn’t submitted the official Retirement Certification Form (TR-8). No completed form, no approval for retirement benefits. Non-negotiable.

After some back and forth today with 3 different folks at my former school district, the required form has been filled out by a school district employee with the promise she’ll forward it to her contact at TRS. There’s a note on my calendar to follow-up on Friday if I don’t get a notice in the TRS portal that they’ve received the form.

I definitely want to be officially retired as of 8/1 in their system. Of course, I want the monthly pension benefit I earned, but of equal importance is to see our health insurance premiums drop by 75%! It’s been an expensive two years when it comes to health insurance. That’s all I’m saying. Would I do it all over again? Absolutely given our situation.

Hello summer!

June 1, 2024

Can you believe it’s June 1st? It’s National Nail Polish Day, National Barefoot Day and National Say Something Nice Day. For those of you on the coast, it also marks the beginning of hurricane season. We’ve had some wild weather of late here in Georgia. If you haven’t already, make sure you have non-perishable food, batteries, flashlights, water and other needed items set aside just in case. Here’s a checklist from Ready.gov to get you started.

Sadie and I will be at the Cobb County Public Library’s summer reading kick-off program later today with several other therapy dog teams. This has been a summer tradition for both of my therapy dogs. Other therapy dog visit requests have popped up on the calendar this past week; however, I will be wearing my quilt volunteer hat for the next two weeks. It’s quilt show and quilt camp time!

Speaking of reading, this is what I’m currently enjoying:

Yesterday was our monthly quilt guild meeting. Of course, everyone was abuzz going over details for the quilt show one last time. I’ll be there 3 days – two as a volunteer and one with my CraftLAB girls who submitted blocks for the kid’s display. (Psst: I’ll be the kid’s exhibit chair for the 2026 show.) Our guest speaker was Sylvia Schaefer, who is known for quilting in the negative space. Her presentation was interesting. I enjoyed the trunk show and picked up some tidbits to try on my own quilts.

I turned in my first completed quilt to community service this week. It’s not one of my PhDs either. I made this one specifically because the recipient organization requested more quilts suitable for boys. The pattern is Dash from one of the 3 yard quilt books from Fabric Cafe. I picked up the fabric bundle during the Middle Georgia Shop Hop. The backing is a wide back from Joann’s. Binding is scrappy and made from leftover fabrics. Batting was courtesy of the free table at a guild meeting. I machine quilted it in an all-over meander and attached the binding using a 3-step zigzag stitch. The community service rep smiled when she saw the dogs on the quilt.

June will be busy with reading, quilting, volunteering and travel. I plan to be away from my devices as much as possible. I’m definitely in need of a technology and social media fast.

Quilty Fun Row Along

May 30, 2024

When Fat Quarter Shop announced this QAL several months ago, I knew I wanted to participate. I’ve used several of the blocks from the book in other projects; however, I’ve never actually made this quilt. Already have the book and a bin full of scraps – why not?

Each month calls for making 1-2 rows. You can find all the details over on the The Jolly Jabber blog. I’m currently finishing up May’s Chubby Chevrons. If you’re looking for an intermediate level, scrap-buster quilt project that’s spread out over a year – here you go.

Tip: Sew this quilt with a full 1/4″ seam allowance.

I can’t stress this enough! I typically sew with a scant 1/4” seam allowance. You can still make individual units using a scant 1/4″ and trim to size. However, once you go to sew it all together, you’ll need the full 1/4″ seam allowance. My first row came out about 4″ too long. At first, I thought it was a pattern error and removed two 4-patch units to make it work. When the second row (butterflies) also came out significantly longer than it should have, I checked my seam allowance. With so many seams in each row, that extra thread or two width from the scant 1/4″ seam allowance really adds up. I restitched using a full 1/4″ seam allowance and things were much better. We’ll see how things work with the chevrons using a full 1/4” seam allowance.

Fun facts:
Lori Holt did an online QAL on her blog many years ago using a different setting for the quilt.

The sewing machine cover and mat that you see featured at The Featherweight Shop is made using instructions found in Quilty Fun.

Go have some quilty fun of your own!