Coming Home Again

Kurt and I had the best time in Jamaica. Many walks on the beach, a little too much time in the sun. 

There was nothing more urgent on the schedule than a dinner reservation. 

It was just the reset that I needed after getting all too caught up in the worry over having a job next year. 

We got home again late Wednesday which left time for a few more log cabin blocks. I finally had to call it quits yesterday when I ran out of foundation paper patterns. I will need to make a few more copies and then continue to figure out where to go with the design. I think this will be called fractured diamonds. Maybe I will add a few more rows to the bottom to put the red diamond at the break between the first and second third. Then I think that I want to mirror the purple and red chevrons near the right hand side. The whole thing is going to be rotated... so something like this... 

Hmmm. It is all too symmetrical now that I look at it this way. I will keep playing. Maybe if the red diamond is at the first third then the peak of the chevron can be at the second third? At some point I will need to decide on a size. Having some parameters might help. Given that the blocks are going to finish at 2.5 inches, it isn't as large as it seems. I might need to get some graph paper out to do some planning. 

I ran out of red leaders and enders while I was sewing the log cabin blocks, but there is a good representation of red on the wall. Time to go and figure out what color is next! (Just checked, and pink is up next!)

 It has been a lovely week. Spring break is one of the nice things about teaching. How has your red month progressed? 

Spring Break Relaxing with Red

 So maybe red isn't the color that comes to mind when you think about relaxation, but it is a great color for spring break. Kurt and I are (hopefully) off to Jamaica for the trip that was supposed to have happened over Veteran's day when they had that massive hurricane. So far our flight has been delayed 45 minutes due to the TSA issues, but we are patient and hopeful. 

I pulled out this tiny log cabin UFO last week and started adding blocks. I am not settled on an exact layout quite yet, but I had lots of extra red blocks. I worked during the week on adding more orange and yellow. It looks like green and purple are up next. These blocks are paper pieced and each block is 3 inches unfinished with 13 pieces. I used up as many crumbs as I had and then dug into the string bin. After a massive organization for the new year, I have color sorted bags of strings and crumbs in all the colors of the rainbow. 

While putting together the log cabin blocks, I worked a few more red blocks in as leaders and enders. Finding contrasting shades of red for the centers of the dot blocks was not easy, so I went with some alternate colors instead. I don't have nearly as many reds as blues or greens, so there won't be too many more for next week which is the last red Saturday. How are your blocks coming along this month? Misterlinky is below. Please share with us all. This is scheduled for bright and early on Saturday, hopefully it all works as it should because I will be on a beach with an adult beverage and a trashy romance novel. 

How are your reds coming along. 

ScrapHappy Saturday - Radiant in Red

 I sewed - on a Thursday! Yesterday was a teacher workday which meant that Thursday felt like a Friday and so I sewed. Crumb strips are so relaxing to make. No measuring, very little cutting. Then I went out and got a massage. Apparently I have a lot of tension in my back. No surprise there. Things have settled down at work though and spring break is right around the corner. My goal for today is to finish up the rest of my graduate school work for this week so that I can slide into the break with no stress. The first chapter of my dissertation was officially accepted! It is actually chapter 3, but it is the first one that I have written. I learned last weekend that all of the necessary people were not part of my Canvas classroom to give approval to my submission, but I got that all straightened out and that means one class is off of my to-do list. I have a haircut first thing this morning and then I will power through the rest. How are your reds coming along? I know that people do red and white quilts, but red is so strong - I think it looks better with other blocks. 

ScrapHappy Saturday - Its RED

 

Are you ready with your reds? I found a few blocks ready to come out and play, but my sewing machine was at school this week as we worked on t-shirt quilts using some of our new makerspace equipment.

I made the ugliest quit top imaginable from a box of shirts that had been moving from place to place for many years. There are shirts here from 3 junior high schools and two high schools that I attended along with random other shirts from so many years ago. Mostly I was helping other people to press and trim their shirts. We did a trial run with teachers and then will have another workshop with seniors in a couple of weeks so that they can start their own t-shirt quilts. 

On the work front, my principal has promised me at least a 60% job next year! I was glad to be able to move ahead with planning for my summer boot camp and even ordered a planner for next school year as we began to plan summer workshops and professional development sessions. After waiting for two and a half months to find out whether I would be unemployed, it is a relief to know that I will have a job and be able to finish my doctorate. I am very tempted to just tell him at this point that I would prefer to stick with part time so that I can get a better work and life balance until my degree is finished. I had been waiting on signatures for my current dissertation chapter and those just came through this morning. So lots of good news to celebrate! Have you dug into your red scraps yet? Now is the time.