I've got a cold in my nose...

and hopefully continuously fixed AC.
The repair guy came out today (forcing me to get a sub at work) to replaced the broken drain pan in the AC unit.
It appears to not be leaking now. (PLEASE, UNIVERSE, LET IT STAY FIXED.)

I accomplished little...other than grading and planning for the camping trip.
I had intended to sew, especially after I thought my dance rehearsal was cancelled.
I got ONE block done...for something I can't post about yet.

I was going to cut up dad's quilt fabric.
Then I got the confirmation that rehearsal was still on.

While I had a blast with the ladies, I kind of wish I had been able to just sew.

WIP:
Monkey Quilt (rows still need to be sewn together)
a Prayer Flag charm pack quilt for me (blocks sitting in a baggie)
2 Across the Sea QALs (which are caught up)
Skill Builder blocks (caught up)
Sew Bee Blissful blocks (waiting for fabric to arrive)
New Bee Block (hopefully designing tonight, as I need to sew and mail it off this weekend)
Billboard QAL (designed once, needs to be redesigned, currently sitting on back burner)
Dad's quilt (fabric selected, not cut yet)
Mom's quilt (IN NEED OF A LONG ARM QUILTER'S SERVICES...or I need to suck it up and hand quilt it)
School Bee block (I think I have 3 out of 11 circles sewn on...why oh why is it hand-sewing circles...circles that are supposed to be unraw...and sewing that has to be invisible?!)
The Scrap Bag Challenge at PingsandNeedles (pattern, check!, still waiting for bag of scraps to arrive)

I really really want to sign up for more swaps. Yes, I know I'm crazy.
I have signed up for the Hoopla at Misfit Quilters. I can take something for that with me on the camping trip, I think. Which will only work if I know and can stalk my partner by Mon. Hrm.
Anyway, I have a really cool (at least I think it is) swap of my own in the works...I'm just waiting til the camping trip is over to announce it.

It's Wed!, WIP 09/07/11

I got some sewing today.

It was a mixed bag kind of day.

I have to say how much I love and appreciate The Pirate.
Warning for the squeamish....skip ahead to the ****
I thought I saw a cat hit/dead by the side of the road yesterday. I wasn't sure if it was a cat or a possum.
I passed it (it was across a 4 lane highway) on the way to school, and I wondered if it would still be there when I went home.
It was.
And I wanted to cry.
Because I wondered if it had tags and if it's owner knew it was dead.
So, The Pirate humored me...and we went with my phone (to call the potential owner), trash bags and gloves to retrieve the body. Well, I carried the phone and held the bags, but he did the actual retrieval. No tags.
So, no one to call. We removed the cat anyway.
And, I was at least glad I had tried. Because if it was my kitty, I would have wanted to know.
And The Pirate (who hates dead things) tried to help me.
Anyway, it was kind of gross, but I went home and could sew without worrying about the cat owner.


****Here's what I sewed today:
Monkey Quilt

The rows are sewn, but still need to be sewn together.

I've cut pieces for a doll quilt and will be designing a book block for a bee tonight. Hopefully both will be sewn tomorrow.

I finished the second top for the Across the Sea QAL:



I still have to clean up the threadies and press it (and the boy version).
I'm not sure I'll be able to get the next step done in time as I have the school camping trip next week. *dread*
I'm just not an outdoorsy type of gal.
I'm clumsy.
I have wicked allergies.
Bugs like to eat me.
I won't be able to eat normally for 4 days bc of my food allergies and cafeteria food.
The last time I lived off of cereal for breakfast, rolls (whenever I could get them) and carrots and chickpeas or eggs at lunch and dinner.
Argh.

I got some things done today.

Despite flinching and waiting for the power to go out, what with storms and tornado watches most of the day.

I'm super stuffy.

Here's what I did:

3 blocks for my first ever block lotto entry

I love love love batiks, so I'm kind of hoping to win this month.

I think I picked a layout for the girl version of the Across the Sea QAL:

I haven't sewn it yet. Just sewing the boy version (after squaring up all the blocks and having to cut borders and more edging bits) took longer than I estimated.

Here's the finished top for the boy version. (It is still in need of pressing.)
with Kraken:

sans Kraken:


It's a really cute quilt. I'm praying I don't mess it up with the quilting.

I picked 2 (because I apparently have to do everything twice) palettes for the Dead Simple QAL:
Palette#1:

It's WAY out of my comfort zone with colors...YELLOW, ORANGE, AND PINK.
I'm trying to come to terms with them....plus, I think it will be nice to have bright colors going into cooler weather.
Palette #2:

I'm thinking of making just a lap quilt out of these.

I'm making another disappearing 9 patch kid quilt...I've decided this is my meditative action. It's easy. I get a result quickly...I have lots of people that could take it. I'm coveting the monkeys and birds on this one. I bought batiks this weekend to make one for my dad. I haven't cut into them yet.
Here's the layout of the monkey quilt:


I'm still trying to decide what to do with Mom's quilt. I contacted one pro-quilter for long arming, but she wasn't local and she hasn't responded. I'm ok with mailing one off. Does anyone have someone to recommend?

Blarg.

I decidedly have a cold.
I started to feel crappy Fri but chalked it up to the whole AC stress. (Which is still not working right....it's still leaking but purportedly a new drain pain will fix it, which will be ordered on Tues when the office is open again. In the meantime, The Pirate has to shop vac it at least twice a day. As a result, my dermatitis flared from the stress and I'm a blotchy/itchy/peely mess. He tells me he still loves me...and that I apparently snore as well.)

Nope..not allergies. Not just being tired.
It's a full fledged cold.
I shall look like Rudolph by Tues. Well, Rudolph with some sort of pox thanks to the peely patches. Ugh.

As a result, most of the plans for the weekend have been shelved.
Yesterday, we were going to go to the big Dragon*Con parade downtown. I love Dragon*Con. We went one year when we were doing the back and forth long distance thing. It's a hoot. But exhausting.
And rather expensive. I'm kind of glad we didn't splurge on weekend passes for the 25th anniversary and wind up with me drooping the entire time. That said, I'm sad I don't have ridiculously geeky/sci fi-y pictures to post. (To give you an idea, the parade has, among other things, a section of Harry Potter fans, a Star Wars section, a Star Trek section, Xmen and other comic characters, a Stargate section, and an anime section....a rocking Steampunk section... I'm leaving tons out. Instead, I slept (and apparently snored) until after noon.
Then around 3, I went to Joann's in search of some batiks for a quilt for my dad and to stock up on some fat quarter bundles I plan to use for some kid quilts.

Anywho....today we were going to go to the Decatur Book Festival. It's awesome and free, but I just don't have the attention span to focus long enough to enjoy it.

I *still* haven't finished my Skill Builder block from 2 weeks ago. I started it last night (late) and realized I didn't cut all the pieces out.
I also sewed up the blocks for the second quilt from the Across the Sea QAL. I still have to press them.
And I still have to square them all up. I'm terrified of cutting them wrong. How do you keep all the seams lining up?
Anyway...I'm also thinking of entering into the Block Lotto for this month, since I love batiks.
Here's what I did yesterday:
2nd Across the Sea QAL block batch

3x6 angel block (done a while ago, just photographed before mailing)

I also did one of three Block Lotto blocks, but I am waiting to take a picture until they are all done.
Why does this feel like a puny amount of work for one day?!
I think it's because I had grand plans and just lacked the get up and go.
Ditto for today.

Soooo....we may or may not be going to get thread and head to mini-golf....maybe stopping for Suno (an icey Asian dessert type treat).

Trying to hold on...

because the second half of today got stressful...but I had this moment last night...well, you'll see.

The kids were wired at day's end. Not surprising. Three day weekends tend to do that.
My knitting class didn't make, so it got cancelled. Honestly, I was hoping it would happen but I wasn't surprised because I had to move the day it was held. I knew there'd be some drop off.

I had to take The Kraken to the vet; poor kitty is missing fur around her eyes. Trust me, being itchy ain't fun. She ended up getting a steroid shot. Verdict seems pretty strong in favor of allergies for her, too. And....as I was rushing home to grab a bit and snag the kitty to take her to the vet, I discovered the AC was out. The catch pan was full of water.

While this might not phase someone else, I was ready to sit down and cry. You see, despite the fact that my AC unit is less than 2 years old, I have had a bevy of problems...which resulted in learning about 2.5 months ago that the unit was not installed properly and the source of the coolant leak that had been getting progressively worse over a year (resulting in unit freezing, melting, and turning off) was a bad solder at the connection point. At that very last visit, it had worked for less than 48 hours before it froze. I was ready to call it day.
But I didn't. I called the emergency service. They promised to try to fix it today.

Then I headed off to the vet. The Kraken was very good, lovey almost. Even when she got her shot. Yes, folks, she's a weird weird cat. The AC folk called me during the vet visit (despite the fact that I had asked for a note to be put in that I was gone under 6:30 or 7 at the vet). It was about 5:20. *sigh*
Got home, waited for tech.
He arrived. He said it wasn't a coolant issue. Instead, it's a drainage issue. The drain plug/hole/thingie is cracked. It make the seal fail and dripped water into the pan instead of the drainage pipe. So he rerouted it. But I might need a new drain pan. *sigh*
did I mention that this unit is less than 2 years old?!

Anyway, I'm trying to hold on to a moment.
That I had last night.
Because it's one of THOSE moments.
The ones you get (if you are lucky) as a teacher that carry you through.

I went to see a student show last night because a batch of my former 6th graders were in it. Some of them are seniors now. Anyway, it was odd/a bit surreal to see them older, to realize some of them are almost done.
I sat there, enjoying the music...taken by surprise at times by kids I had never really heard sing before. (One stole the show in a Hairspray number.)
Anyway, sometimes after shows, I run...especially if I'm tired. Because I find being with/interacting with so many people tiring. I'm not shy, but I only have so much reserves.
This time, I decided to stay. Mostly to thank the senior who had come by my class to invite me (and who had made sure there was a ticket waiting for me at the box office because I'd told him I'd come but couldn't get up the HS to get a ticket). While I was hugging kids and gushing, one of my old students...who I think is a sophomore (and who was BRILLIANT in a piece from The Putnam County Spelling Bee)...came up to me and hugged me...and said,
"Thank you! You know, you started this all for me. My first real time on stage was the class play. I haven't stopped since!"
See, I write a class play for my kids every year. It's a labor of love. I give up time with my family over Xmas break to write it. I sweat blood (and one year, tears) trying to crank out an hour long show for approximately 30 kids. It's me...my heart...my personality...my sense of humor...on the page. Then there are rehearsals for a month and a half, designing and sewing costumes, building props, and fretting.
And I got my glorious moment.
A sophomore boy, with a big hug, tons of talent, and a thank you.
Most teachers don't get a "Dead Poet's Society" moment.
And I'm going to hold on to mine...

Did I really?

do all this in August?





What I didn't do was sew yet today. I came home, ran errands, slept a bit (I was dealing with fretty animals and fretty me because the Pirate had to go to a sleep study last night for apnea), and I'm going to see some alums in a few.
I might sew some when I get home....I might not.
I'm cutting myself some slack.
The Kraken has to go back to the vet. Her eyelids are balding. She's itchy and cranky. And I don't know why, but I don't want her to be itchy for a long weekend (and I'd love some insight).
So, it will be vet manana instead of the fabric store.
Blarg.

Also, linking up here:

and here:

My Thursday To Do List...

*Measure the angel block...pack and mail if it's ok.
*Catch up on the Skill builder from last week.
*Piece the remaining bits of the 2nd Across the Sea QAL. (Come to a decision on the orange)
*Size up blocks.
*Catch up with alums.
*Call my knitting class, to teach or not to teach (ie. if no one new is signed up, cancel the class)

Yes, it's quite a list.


On the up side, I have mailed off my 3x6's for Hive 1 (hive 16 was mailed a long time ago), my FTLOS objects, and my block for Quilting for Kids.


On the downside...my kitteh is itching her face off. Well, not quite literally, but she's now got bald patches around her eyes. She's already been on allergy meds. She's not an outdoor kitty AND she is on Revolution. Any one out there got a similar problem/solution. Right now, I'm hoping it's just seasonal allergies and not a new food allergy.