Anyway, in an attempt to get my sew-jo back and reduce my stash, I decided to go ahead and participate in the QAL I mentioned last week. It is called the Sewcial Bee Sampler. Sharon Holland and Maureen Cracknell are the hosts/designers for this one. You make one quilt block a week for 25 weeks and end up with a 72" square quilt when you're finished. The blocks are published each Wednesday. And it's free! You can even grab this button if you click on the blog button at the top of Sharon's page and go to "older posts".
I pulled the majority of the fabrics I'll be using from my stash. I was lacking really light and dark tones, so I spent $20 at JoAnn to get a few filler pieces. I will also need to buy more of the solid on the lower left since I'm using that for sashing and don't have enough.
I injured my foot last week, so walking, driving, and sewing have been a challenge. I did go in to urgent care Saturday and they couldn't determine the issue. They referred me to a podiatrist, who conveniently can't see me for more than a month!! I did feel well enough yesterday to get last week's block sewn. I changed the color placement a tad and am pleased with how it came out.
I just printed off this week's block and am hoping to get it done today. I'm planning to share here and on Instagram (feed to the right--->)
In other news, I finished the cross stitch I shared last week. Obviously I broke the cardinal rule of not leaving it hooped, but since its frame will be a hoop of the same size, I'm not too concerned.
I haven't shared any bird photos lately. I was attempting to get a photo of a flicker in flight so that I could show my son the yellow feathers. I didn't manage to get one, but here are a few shots I did take.
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| One of our many Pileated Woodpeckers. |
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| Can you find the Northern Flicker? |
I'll be sharing my first finish of the year (a mini for my guild swap) next week after the mini has been received.
Things I've been thinking about: Why does it seem like rich people have to have their names on everything that they donate to? If I had enough money to give a really good donation to something, I'd do it anonymously. I just don't understand the need for recognition. It also seems like political favors are implicit in the donations.
Also, why can't educators be the ones responsible for making school decisions? Why do politicians have to be involved in something the vast majority of them do not understand? Testing and overtesting is not the way. One single test does not give an accurate representation of a student's understanding, nor does it reflect a single teacher. Also, comparing testing by grade from one year to the next doesn't make sense because you are not comparing the same group of kids. Way too many factors influence this. We are losing creativity in teaching and we are losing good teachers. The current climate has led to teaching only to the test since funding and pay are now tied to these flawed testing models. It is not fun for a teacher or a kid to spend the year learning only what will be on the test and spending hours on review. Things need to change for the better.
We watched the entirety of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s August 28, 1963 speech--the one with I Have a Dream in it--the other night. I was struck by how issues back then are issues now, 53.5 years later. One of my friends shared an article comparing current rulers to rulers of the Roman Empire, same theme. The more things change, the more they stay the same?
Both my kids will be getting braces over spring break. I never dreamed they'd be at the same time given their 5.5 year age difference. Fun times. If you made it all the way to the end of this, thanks for reading.
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