manually quilting again

 Yesterday I had a large quilt loaded on Rebecca, the Robotic machine and I was feeling the need for speed, so I quickly quilted up these two little guys on Pierece, my manual Janome quilting machine.  I haven't used that guy in several months.  The idea was to have both machines going at the same time so I could really blast through the quilts quickly.  Problem is, I'm usually piecing quilts while Rebecca works away at quilting.  But, I really do need to get some things done around here as my friend at work's mother has been speed sewing for me.  She has an industrial sewing machine and I gave her about 50 quilt kits which she quickly sewed up and returned to me after Christmas break.  That means I have 50 more quilt tops to quilt up.  I can't keep up with how fast she is

 This is the big beauty that was on the machine all day yesterday.  It is going to Margaret's Hope Chest when it is finished.  I called my friend Judy this morning who zipped over quickly to pick up all 21 quilts I had ready for her.  She will get the binding on them and bring them back so they can get into the hands of people needing hugs.  This quilt took all day to quilt up, number one because it is big and number two because I picked a pretty dense quilting pattern.  It is a free one, which I love and a pretty one too.  It is a feather leaf type and worked out beautifully on this quilt.  It came out perfectly on the quilt too.  I love when the math works out perfectly and I don't have to stretch or shrink the pattern on the last row.  I'm learning how to make it fit on that last row so it doesn't look too weird.  After so many quilts, it's good to know I've learned a thing or two about long arm quilting.  I still get a pucker or two in the backing fabric which is frustrating.  I have to always remember to pull on the backing fabric to make sure to get out any folds or wrinkles which tend to happen as you roll the quilt.  Sometimes I forget to check the back as I roll the quilt and then sure enough, there is a fold in the backing fabric.  Sometimes it isn't too bad and sometimes I just want to cry.

I love the colors and pattern of this quilt and I know a new mother who receives it will feel the love that went into it.  If you want me to quilt something for you and send it on to Margaret's Hope Chest, just let me know.  I will send you my home address and we can work together to bless new mothers suffering from Post Partum Depression.  Just click on the banner on the side bar for more information about Margaret's Hope Chest and the projects they support.

My first massage

I've had massages before, but never from a professional.  Yesterday I went in and paid for a 30 minute massage.  My acupuncture lady suggested I try getting a massage as part of the treatment for my migraines.  I wasn't sure what to expect, having someone I didn't know touch me.  Kind of creeps me out.

I'm not into the whole getting naked in front of strangers thing.

She massaged my back and neck and at the end used peppermint on the base of my neck.  I wasn't sure if that would bother me.  Strong odors usually trigger migraines, but she said she has migraines and the smell doesn't bother her.

The massage felt ok and I left feeling better than when I came in.  I had a migraine going in, but then I have a migraine almost every day now.

I felt pretty good for about an hour and then the headache got worse and worse as the day went on.  The smell got to me and I finally had to take a bath and wash the peppermint oil off.  I had to take lots of medicines and still felt horrible most of the day.  By the end of the evening, my back and neck were so sore.  I asked my friends on Facebook what was up with that?  Most posted that I should have been drinking lots of water.  The lady told me to drink water and relax all day.

I was drinking water, every time I took medicine and with lunch and dinner, so about 40 ounces all day, but I guess that wasn't enough.  That's more than I usually drink.  Most people said it was because the massage was releasing toxins that were stored in my muscles.  That just didn't make sense to me.  Why would my body store toxins?  So, I did some research.  I'm a scientist you know :)  Turns out, a massage is like exercise or bumping into a wall and getting a bruise.  It puts stress on the muscles and makes them produce lactic acid.  It causes trauma to the muscles, especially if there is any pain during the massage.  I didn't know that going in and figured that if there was pain, that meant she was working out a sore spot and that it was supposed to hurt.

Will I make massage part of my long term health plan?  Not sure.  I have acupuncture on Tuesday and will talk to her about it.  It certainly didn't make me feel better, but maybe combined with acupuncture and exercise I can find a combination that will work out so I can take less medication.

See what you can do in a day?

 I loaded this one on Thursday evening and started quilting it Friday morning before school.  I have about an hour after I get the first crew out the door in the morning and before I have to get out the door myself.  I am the first one up in the morning.  I eat breakfast, check email, get myself ready and then wake everyone else up.  That way, I get my me time in before I have to help everyone else out of the house.  I need that hour to figure out what my day will be like before everyone else places demands on me or I'm pretty grumpy the rest of the day.  Then, once everyone else is gone, I have an hour with the little guy to make sure he has breakfast, is dressed, gets the reading from the night before written down for homework and we can head out the door.  In that hour, there is usually about half of it spent waiting to go.  Inbetween getting things ready and making lunches, I have time to roll the quilt and push the buttons.  I got this quilt about half done and then finished it up after school.  I didn't get home until about 5 last night because I'm going to be out several days next week.  It always takes so long to write up sub plans.  It's much easier to just be in school than to take a day off.

 After dinner, I loaded this Quick stippie and quilted it with a simple pattern.  I added borders to it because the backing fabric is 60 inches wide and I didn't want to waste such wide fabric and batting.  Sometimes these quilts come out so long and skinny and adding the side borders evens them out and makes them a little better for the bigger kids.  The quilting pattern looks a bit like dinosaur footprints, but I think it is supposed to be a leaf.  Either way, it was quick and I was able to get two quilts done in a day.  It is nice when there is a long bunch of backing and batting loaded up and you just have to throw one quilt top after another onto the machine.  Not too much thinking involved.  I really do need to call my binding buddies though.  The quilts are starting to stack up around here and I have several places needing quilts.

Look What I Made Link Up

I can't believe it is Saturday already!  This week has flown past so quickly, but dragged on at the same time.  How is it that time can warp like that?  My days are the same way.  Some classes move so slowly and others just zip by.  I try to plan my lessons so that the kids are always busy and I'm not spending all period talking, after all, who wants to listen to an old lady drone on and on about sciency type stuff for an hour?  The kids would much rather get some hands on fun playing with water or cutting up jelly like stuff and lighting things on fire.  They learn better by doing than just by listening.  Even if they are quiet, that doesn't mean their minds are engaged.  At least if they are talking, I know what they are thinking about.  I like a busy, noisy classroom and like to hear what the kids are thinking.  Their brains are trying to make connections and sometimes they say the funniest things.  Every day I am guaranteed to laugh at something someone says.  That's the best part about teaching high school.  Kids say the funniest things!

This week in class we were doing a lab that used sugar cubes to build a model of a cell.  They measured the sides of the cube and calculated how much surface area and volume the 'cell' had.  I gave the kids clean sugar cubes to eat so they wouldn't eat my models.  One of the kids was working and all of a sudden, the leg of his chair just gave way.  The whole chair just collapsed under him.  He went down to the ground with the chair.  He isn't an especially big kid so it was pretty funny that the chair just broke for no reason.  He is a funny kid and says, "I guess I shouldn't eat any more sugar cubes!"  Good thing he had a good sense of humor and didn't feel bad about that old chair.  I have no idea why the chair just decided to break at that moment, but we all had a good laugh about it.  You just never know what is going to happen.

I hope you had some good laughs in your week and I also hope you had some time for working on something fun too.  It's time for Look What I Made!  Link up here to your blog or picture hosting site so others can see what you've been working on too.  I love linky parties so I can visit other blogs and get some inspiration when I'm stuck in a rut and need to get my self into gear for working on more quilts.  Right now I have 4 quilts to make for young kids whose father just died suddenly over the Christmas break.  Their mother is a hairdresser and isn't able to work right now because she has no one to help her take the kids to and from school.  My friend, Nancy is a teacher at the school where the youngest attends.  I will be working on quilts for the kids and mom this weekend.

I also have two memory quilts to work on as well as many other quilts in the que.  I need to call my binding buddies and get the ones out that I have quilted.  I'm taking Monday off for a BTSA (teacher mentor thing), Tuesday is acupuncture and Friday is another BTSA day.  That's three days off next week which means lots of lesson planning.  I was after school for 1 1/2 hours on Friday getting ready for Mon/Tues.  Then next Monday is a holiday (yay) and next Sunday is Binky Sunday.  Lots of things to get ready for so off the computer and back to quilting, cleaning, planning, grading, yikes!  Too much to do.

Link up so others can see what you are doing.  And then get back to work :)

finding time to quilt

 How do you find time to quilt when you are working, raising a family and keeping the rest of your life going?  I squeeze my quilting time in whenever I can.  I put the borders on these quilts in about 15 minutes, before school, or after I got home, or while dinner was cooking.  Then, the robotic machine does most of the work, I just have to push the button, check it when it gets to the end of the row and make sure it doesn't run out of thread half way down the row.  My biggest trouble is making sure a quilt is loaded at all times.  If I can plan out my next quilt while one is quilting, I can unload and reload quickly and get busy working on one after another.  I like to have a quilt on the machine all the time.  It doesn't always work out that way, but I'm happiest when there is always a quilt waiting its turn.  So many quilts, so many needs, so little time.

Having thread tension issues?

This video from youtube was very informative.  I learned a lot about tension issues with my long arm from this video.  I'm always ready to learn new things and having a computer with the internet makes that so much easier.  Remember when you had to go to the library and check out books?  Remember when you had to take a class and actually get dressed?  Now you can learn in your pajamas any time anywhere, almost any place.

Happy 80th birthday mom

This picture was taken five years ago when my mom was out for the summer visiting and came to a Binky Patrol meeting.  I can't believe how little my daughter was here.  She's all grown up now and off at college!  This was before she entered high school.  Don't blink, the kids grow up when you aren't looking.

My mom turns 80 today and is my inspiration for all my quilting and charity work.  She's the reason I started my Binky Patrol chapter almost 10 years ago.

Happy Birthday mom.  I hope you have a great day and get to enjoy it sewing, reading, playing solitaire and building a picture puzzle.  Maybe even watching some James Bond movies :)

California Mission

My son is in 4th grade this year and is learning about California Missions.  His oldest sister is home right now and helped him make this mission for his school project.  Way back, when my older sister was in 4th grade, about 40 years ago, my dad helped her make a mission, very similar to this.  Her teacher liked the idea so much, she told her teacher friend who told a friend and so on until all kids in 4th grade across the state were making Mission projects.  My son didn't have to make a project (because too many parents complained they didn't have money to make the project anymore--they have money for a cell phone but not a mission-yikes) so it's an extra credit project now.  My daughter had a great time remembering when she had to make hers.  My son is a minimalist and would have been happy just doing the required report.  But he is happy to have the project done and I'm happy for the help.

What do you think dad, does it pass inspection?  Do you think his teacher will realize he got some help? :)

Cat quilt

http://www.stitch-n-frame.net/images/koolkatskwilt_.pdf

How's this for a really cool quilt?  I've added it to my to do list for the year.  Not that I will actually get it done, but hey, it's on the list, so at least there is a chance now :)  I'm supposed to be grading and I've been sitting on the computer for the last hour looking at quilts and checking Facebook.

My husband's brother had heart surgery on Friday and it looks like they didn't fix things.  They will be trying to treat his over excited heart with medicine now.  His heart is enlarged and beats too fast.  They put in a pacemaker/defibrillator which is supposed to shock his heart into slowing down.  That did its job, but kept shocking him and the heart didn't slow down so they went in and killed off a nerve in the heart that was overstimulated.  The problem is there are several nerves that are overstimulated.  They can't destroy the other nerves because they are too close to the blood vessels that are feeding the important parts of the heart.  So they are hoping to fix the trouble with medicines.  He may come home from the hospital on Tuesday.  His name is Rex and prayers are appreciated.

dropping her off at college

back to school for my daughter which means back to school for me on Monday.  She's excited.  Me not so much.