Friday, May 2, 2014

May BOM Block Posted

The free block of the month for May is now posted on the BOM Page.

This one is a bit more of a challenge than the first four blocks only because the pieces are a bit smaller.  It looks amazing in batiks though. 

I have had a bit of a quilting dry spell lately.  I think it is because the end of the semester is here and I have been busy grading papers.  Wow is that ever an understatement!  I gave up my administrative position this semester and returned to the classroom and full time teaching.  I guess I forgot how much work it is to keep up with all the grading for 4 college classes.  The two freshman level public speaking classes are not too difficult to keep current, but my two upper division classes -- Persuasion and Social Influence and Native American Rhetoric -- have been a real challenge.

I know, my students keep telling me I wouldn't have so much grading if I just didn't assign as many papers!  So true.  I try to cut back, but it is like eating only half a piece a cake.  It sounds good in theory, but in practice hard to do.

The countdown to retirement has begun.  Only 38 weeks to go.  I am marking days off the calendar and making plans for all my free time when I finally hang up my red pen.

I am planning to teach and vend at the June 2015 Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival next year, and hope many of you in the midwest will put it on your calendar and plan to attend.  It is a locally sponsored Quilt Festival with a whole flock of local guilds doing the planning and preparations. I have booked a lot of speaking engagements and workshops for 2015 and casting my nets a bit further afield than I was able to while I am still working a full time job.  It is very exciting and I will share plans in my blog and newsletter as they get closer.

On my to-do list (after final exams next week) is a baby quilt for one of my kids' friends who is expecting in June.  It will be a fun project and I am thinking I might even get the whole top pieced this weekend.

And I had to share a new grandbaby picture with you!  Little Bryce is now 3 months old and getting cuter every day -- no bias involved!  :-)  A friend took this picture of Mother and Baby reading one of my favorite books from when my son was a baby.  Aren't we grandmothers hopeless?  hehehe


With the end of the school year here and the summer off I am looking forward to babysitting, camping, designing, traveling, and perhaps even getting some quilting in.  How I love summer!!!