Paraments, kneelers and banners

We woke up about 8:30 but I stayed in bed a little longer, tapping for the feeling of not wanting to get up. Must have been 9:30 when I did get up, fixed breakfast, showered, dressed and was ready for church. Chris stayed home because his ankle was hurting. I suggested ice and heat, but he wasn't interested. Today our church celebrated the 30th and 50th year of ordination for our pastor and Pastor Ettraim. The bishop came and he gave the sermon. It was quite good. After the service, people lined up to get food in the garden room. I hung back to talk to Jennifer, Margie, and Cecelia. Mary, our organist, asked me to play my trombone for the service next week. She wants to get together to practice on Saturday. The food table was loaded and there were a few things I could eat. So I got my plateful and sat near Shannon. Susan came to talk to me about paraments. They need banners for confirmation, first communion, and baptism. Cecelia said we could get together on Thursday to cut foam for the kneelers and glue the batting wrap on them. My week just got busy. Just before the service started I had made a mental image of myself patting a kneeler in my passenger seat. When I got in my car, the image came back and I ran in to get one of the kneelers. I don't remember when I got home. I changed clothes and Chris made a grocery list. I drove to Publix to get the items and a few for myself. He hardboiled a dozen eggs for his lunches. I mowed parts of the lawn. I put away stuff from the trip on Friday. I took a kneeler down to my sewing room to examine the construction. But that is as far as I got, running items up and down the steps. I read e-mail and practiced my trombone. I juiced up celery and a beet and a cucumber. I took the pulp and ran it through again, getting another quarter glass full. I tried out the new toothpowder that came in the mail. Tasted ok. The reviews said it would stain my toothbrush but not my teeth. Then we went down to watch 3 episodes of Chuck. It's pretty good. Much less disturbing than Forever Knight. I took off my earrings. I think the holes will stay open now, but for some reason I can only get studs in, no french hooks. I sat down to write my blog and got caught up in a Facebook e-mail, which lead to another and to places I never intended to go. So now it is really late and I have to go to bed.
* I did not have my camera today, so here is a pic of Peggy Barkle and her Circular Bargello quilt. *

The day after

When I got up Saturday morning, I did not feel good. I wasn't sick exactly, but had no energy. I wanted to post to my blog for last night, but my eyes had trouble focusing. It was a bright sunny day so I put on my bathing suit and laid in the sun. I contemplated mowing the lawn, but did not have the energy for that. I laid down for a bit, and had breakfast. I listened to an audio while reading e-mail. I picked a cucumber and ate it. Cathy called to ask how I wanted my green quilt quilted. I baited two mousetraps with moldy cheese and set them inside the HVAC unit. Then I opened the software for my handout. I figured if people only look at the pictures and diagrams, then the diagrams needed to be self-explanatory. If I ever get to teach this class again, Ill be ready. I tweaked the diagrams this way and that. I re-wrote steps 4 and 5 because we did not have room to do it the original way. I changed those diagrams too. I changed the shading in many steps, and added some text and labels. My eyes hurt, but in a way it was fun and challenging. I discovered inconsistencies in the original diagrams, which I corrected. Suppertime came and went but I didn't notice. Chris gamed with the voices, and took a break to remind me to eat. But I wasn't ready to stop. I only stopped when I heard him having a post-game chat with Michele. So I got on Skype with her. She is recovering from a bad cold or flu. We had a nice chat, but it ended up with us reading xkcd comics to each other, and then to ourselves. That meant it was time to say goodbye. Chris had already gone to bed. I stayed up to blog for yesterday and today. Good heavens, it is after midnight.
* These are blocks that students made during Lisa's class. I wish I had known we could pin blocks to the walls when I taught my class. *
** It occurs to me that if people don't read quilt instructions, why would they read my blog? Maybe I need to write less and put in more pictures. **

My big day

I felt like I hadn't slept all night. I started watching the clock around 6 because light was coming in around the edge of the curtains. I don't know if it was the thought of teaching the class, or caffeine in the tea they served with supper. At 6:23 I got up to take a shower. After dressing I went to the hotel restaurant to get a spoon to eat my breakfast mix. The event organizer was there and she gave me two meal passes, one for me and one for Lisa. I ate in the room and gave Lisa the passes. I read e-mail until 7:30 when I loaded all my class stuff on a cart, some of it hanging on my shoulder. I was halfway to the elevator when I realized that I had forgotten my shoes. When I got to the room, there were women setting up their machines. Apparently they come early to get a good seat. I set up my display and looked at the outlet situation. I did not want any power problems during class. I put my samples on a piece of flannel thrown over my whiteboard. But even though I leaned the whiteboard against a box, it was not stable, and just the moving of pieces knocked it down. I introduced myself and how I came up with my quilt design. Then I passed out the handout. During the night, I tried to console myself with the thought that even if I lost the power of speech, it would be ok because everything they needed to know was in the handout. But I don't think they read it. Over and over I was asked questions that were clearly explained in the text. Ok, so I don't mind feeling needed. But how will I know if the instructions make sense to them? Anyway, when I wasn't answering questions or trimming someone's block, I walked around the room to check on each person's progress. I learned to do that teaching high school math. I spotted a few potential problems. I made mental notes to address those in the handout - in case someone might read it. My focus was on teaching them how to make this particular quilt. But some ladies needed to have the very basics explained - like quarter inch seams, lining up the edges and matching the corners. I made a note to be prepared for that next time - if there is a next time. I was mortified when I cut someone's block wrong. Somehow the cutter did not stay next to the ruler. She was very gracious about it and there was nothing I could do. But I made a note to bring fusible interfacing next time. Lisa sat in on the beginning of class, and then left. Her daughter drove in from Nashville to have a free breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Class was officially over at 11, but some of the students stayed to work and that was fine with me. I really thought most would leave with a finished quilt top, but no one did. Part of the problem was that there weren't enough large cutting mats and rulers. It created a bottleneck at the cutting table. I did take a few pictures of finished centers, which a good handful did finish. Theresa used black and yellow fabrics for her background. It was striking and I can't believe I did not get a pic of it. One lady 'audited' the class. She had cut out the piece, but inadvertently left them at home. I can understand that. What I can't understand is why she cut them out. She told me at least twice that she thought the pic of my quilt in the flyer was ugly (black and white) so she didn't want to take the class. But she said she liked it when she saw it in person (in color). Ok, so when the last student left, Lisa gave me her keys. I went to the room to pack up, eat my packed lunch (eggs and an orange), and put my stuff in her vehicle. I also checked out and turned in the room cards. I helped Lisa set up for her class. Dad had called during my class when I couldn't answer. So I called him back just before Lisa's class. I wished him and Mom a happy anniversary. It was a day late. Then I got a chair so I could sit on Lisa's class. She had 25 students so the room was really full. After her intro, she passed out her handout. It was only two pages. One had a pic and a few paragraphs. The other was hand drawn diagrams. She got so few questions that she got out her machine and started making another quilt. I did not sit for a moment during my class. I walked around her class, looking at what the ladies were choosing for their strips. Some had been in my class, too. I talked to Theresa, who had the neatest folding sewing table. Like me, she washed her fabric because of the chemicals in it. A lady visited from the class next door. She had taken the bargello circle class and was able to explain to me how it was done. I was excited to try it. Class was officially over at 4. But the ladies stayed to work. We stayed for a bit, then packed up and left at 4:45. On the way home, Lisa told me that people don't read handouts and that mine had too much text. Even she couldn't read it. She recommended relying on the diagrams. I didn't know what to think because everything I wrote down was something they needed to know. Maybe her quilt was just that much simpler to make than mine? She dropped me off at home just before 7. Chris helped me bring the stuff in. I told him about my trip. I read e-mail and ate supper. I picked a cucumber. We went downstairs to watch Forever Knight. I had seen it years ago, but did not remember that it was so 'suggestive' and disturbing. I nearly fell asleep watching, but rallied to stay awake until the episode was over. I should have accepted the gift of sleep when it came, since later we went straight to bed. But then I could not sleep.

Our Arrival

I woke up when Chris got up. I could have gone back to sleep, but it seemed right to get up and moving since I had to finish preparing for the trip and the class. I read e-mail and exercised and listened to an audio. I was unable to pack before breakfast for some reason. So I ate a little early. It rained hard in the early morning so I checked the basement for water. The only water was in the garage, and it wasn't much. I packed several boxes with stuff for class and special foods for the trip. I took my supplements and made egg salad for lunch. I filled a water bottle and a water jug with filtered water. I cut some fabric pieces for a demo. I hunted up some flannel to cover the whiteboard, also for the demo. I moved the items to a location in the garage to keep it all in one spot and away from items not going. When I had it all assembled, I opened both garage doors and waited for Lisa. I swept out the water. I checked my garden. But I was waiting when she arrived. It took almost no time to put my stuff in her Tahoe and we were off. She stopped for a green tea at Starbucks. We drove north and east, past places I had seen before and then places I hadn't. We arrived in Murfreesboro just after 4. We checked in at the hotel and brought our suitcases up to the room. Then we checked out the classroom space to see what we had to work with. It was a ballroom divided into thirds. We were unable to find out which third would be ours. The tables were different in each 'room' but none of them had many outlets. Then we got the rest of our stuff from her car and moved it up to our room. We chatted for a bit until dinner time. It was in the same ballroom, but with different tables. We each had a card with our dinner choice on it. The card came with our nametags. We sat at a round table with 6 other women. Salads were already on the table. I ate mine without dressing. Then the entrees were delivered.

After that, a luscious-looking upside down bowl of cake with pudding in it. Lisa and I skipped ours. After the meal, there were door prizes. And there was a speaker. She was very good, and it was evident that she had given this speech many time before. She had her quilts all lined up to be shown in the order that they came up in the speech. After the speech, we were dismissed. Lisa and I went up the room. I had forgotten my laptop, so she gave me her keys. On my way to get it, I investigated the pool area. It was partly inside and partly outside. There was no changing area, and no pool towels. And no hot tub. So I got the laptop and went back to our room. We chatted for an hour or so. She wrote notes for her class tomorrow. Then she turned in while I stayed up to post to my blog.

* This is Lisa's quilt for her class, and our hotel room. *

Packing for the class

The morning started with e-mail, exercise, and breakfast. Gwenda sent me the phone number of the Wagner reunion secretary. So I called her, only to find that my dad had already called her last night. So I called Dad, but he didn't answer. I looked up how to make soy sauce. I was surprised. They mash the cooked soybeans with flour to make small cakes. These are left in a moist place to go moldy. Then they are dried in the sun and added to a salt brine to ferment for months. The cakes break up, and the mash is strained out to leave soy sauce. Mmmm, huh?
I went outside to sunbathe. When I got in, there was a message from Dad, so I called him back. I offered to handle the file transfer for him, but he wanted to do it himself. Then I quickly got ready for tai chi. I arrived just as class was starting. Today the instructor spent much less time talking and much more time actually tai chi-ing. We got through the entire routine. He says that when we have learned it all, we get a patch. I don't care about a patch, I just want to learn something new, to keep my brain active. And tai chi does. It is like learning to speak Korean. At first it makes no sense whatsoever because there are no greek or latin rootwords for reference. But hopefully, I will get used to at least the simple moves. When I got home, I put on old clothes and an audio. I emptied the dishwasher and restacked it. I folded laundry. I assembled the recyclables for tomorrow. I got the hose from the front of the house and added it to the back so it would reach the back garden. I watered both gardens, and pulled weeds. I was going to mow, but by then it was 5:30. I came in to clean up and Chris came home. He saw the Jehovah's witnesses drive up and warned me. I asked him to answer the door and send them away. But they asked for me by name and he called out "Are you home?" What was I to do? I met them at the door and we talked. I did not invite them in because it would have prolonged the conversation. I did not want to be rude, but neither did I want to give them the wrong impression. There were two young ladies, probably early twenties. They insisted that they were not trying to get me to convert. I am not sure I believed them. Why else do they keep coming back? After they left, I ate supper and packed a suitcase and thought of more things to bring for the class on Friday. I also printed out a few more handouts, just in case. Lisa said they added 5 more people to her class. Chris and I watched the first two episodes of Forever Knight, which came from Netflix. Chris thought I hadn't seen it. I thought we saw it together when it first came out. Then he went to bed and I stayed up to blog.
* This is the quilt Mirna made from my handout. With such lovely colors, I might like it better than the original. *

Unloading empty egg cartons

I stayed up late last night doing relaxation techniques so I could sleep. Of course that lead to sleeping late in the morning. It did not give me much time to read e-mail and exercise before breakfast at 11. At noon I laid out in the sun for almost half an hour. I finalized my class handout and e-mailed it to Chris. I did an internet search for herbs to treat menorrhagia. One site recommended large doses of vit C. And I took a shower. I watered pepper plants on my way to the car. I went to the farmer's market to buy eggs and tomatoes. They had baskets of peaches for $6. The peaches were beautiful, but since there were only about 6 or 7 in the basket, I thought it was too much. I brought my empty egg cartons along and divided them between the two egg sellers. One of them gave me $1 off :) I put most of the eggs in the fridge and hardboiled 5 for Chris' lunches and mine. I went down to collect a pile of any items that might be needed for class on Friday. I deleted pics from my camera to make room for more. I heard Chris come home. While he ate supper, I sat outside with a pad of paper, deciding how best to cut the foam for the kneelers. I had figured this out before, but on the back of an envelop which cannot now be found. I also did diagrams on how best to cut out the fabric pieces. When I came in, I was resolved to eat a salad. But I ate some chicken instead and wasn't hungry for the salad. I ran through my e-mail again, parsing it down to only 60 unread messages (it had been running about 100). Then we watched 3 episodes of Chuck. No more 3rd Rock, sigh.

The End

My day started at quarter after nine. I read e-mail and exercised. I had to restart my laptop since the touchpad turned itself off. Then it insisted on installing updates, but it seemed to hang up there. I ate breakfast and packed a lunch. I started a quilt for Linus Project almost 2 months ago and it has provided me with something to do every Monday since. So I put the blocks in my sewing box and headed to the church with my machine. I got there after 11. There were not many ladies there so I had my choice of where to sit. Mirna brought the quilted quilt that I gave her last week, and the finished quilt that she made from my directions. Both were very nicely done. I trimmed the rest of my Linus blocks and started putting them up on the design wall. Bertha finished putting them up while I took the chance to trim up the quilted quilt. After she left, I rearranged the blocks, soliciting suggestions from the group. When we were satisfied with the result, I sewed them together in four-somes until the top was finished. By then it was only Lauri, Mirna and me. The rest had gone home. I went home, too, wondering what I will work on next week now that this top is finished. Chris arrived home just before I did. We had last night's chicken for supper. Then he picked two heads of broccoli from the garden. I made mine into a salad, but he ate his just as it was. After supper I tweaked my handout for class. Not the text, just the diagram page. It's fun to do, but probably pointless, as it already gets the point across. Then we watched 2 episodes of 11th Hour. That makes 4 episodes, and that is all there are. We finished up with the last episode of season 1 of 3rd Rock. We don't have season 2. Now I am wondering what we'll watch tomorrow. Chris went to bed, and I am watching the largest roach I have ever seen appear in different locations around the room. I am armed with a flyswatter just in case.