Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Grading with a bit of stitching

Oh, hi there! I'm just coming out of my post-finals stupor to say hello. Okay, not exactly post finals, because I still have grading to do, but close enough. Some semesters I have an easy time with the grades, and some semesters I don't. This was a down semester, so it has been sucking up aaaalllll of my time. I think I'm even dreaming about some of it. Why should students have all the nightmares?

Thank goodness there are other things in life! It looks like I've finally gotten my sewing room to a good place where most of the space works for me. I'm still looking for a bookcase and a new cutting table, but I've got the design wall working over time and I've finally started hanging some things on the walls. I even put up curtains! It's starting to feel like home at last.

There are several things I've been working on in a few spare moments, First, I've started putting together the tiny Tuesday quilt:


It might behard to see, but if you recall, I'm using the Tula Pink striped layout, and I chose to use a white on white and a beige print for the sashing.  I made a mistake in how I placed the sashing on the top row, so I just flipped it around so that the darker pieces are on top.  I think it looks okay, but I still might go back and rip them all and put the blocks in the original order. (But I probably won't.)

I've also been putting together some of Alycia's Winter Quilt Along sections:


Looks like my husband may finally get the Packers quilt he's asked for!  I'm hoping the blues make it a little less Packer-y, though. I still have to make a bunch of hsts for the rest of the top, but that should go fast.  These pieces feel huge to me!

The last thing I've been working on is starting to lay out the rainbow rails quilt that I've been making for the RSC this year:


I still have a few rails to make, but I think it's going to look pretty good.  The centers are the same print that I used as sashing in the hollow 9-patch quilt. Hey, if you have a winner, go with it! 

Finally, I may not have been getting a lot of stitching time, but I have taken a few breaks to cruise through some fabric sales, and the packages are arriving.  It's my own private Christmas! I purchased this fun group from Wanda's pop-up shop:


These are really fun fabrics and I just like looking at them. Not sure what they'll become, but they sure are happy.

I also got these from Shabby Fabrics:


They have the best remnants, and I love it when they're on sale.  The oranges are going to let me finish off my nephew's quilt, though I know for sure it won't be done before Christmas. Good thing I didn't promise it!

Before I forget, does anyone out there know anything about metric measuring cups? Would a liter-size cup be too big to be useful? Does everything dry measure by weight and not volume? My daughter is trying some European recipes and having a bit of a time. I know nothing about this, so Canadian, Australian, and European friends, please send advice! Thanks!

More stash enhancement to come! Hope you all are getting in some stitching time during this very busy time of year.  Take a break and have a Christmas cookie, and cross your fingers that I finish those grades on time!

12 comments:

Linda said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

good luck on all your grading - you sound like my sister in law it seems she is always grading papers.
you found some good fabrics - I told myself not to look and ended up buying things anyway!

Sarah Aldrich said...

I’m American but bake a lot. I use both weights and volume. Dry measuring cups are volume not weight. One of the problems with them is different people measure differently so the weight in say a cup if flour can vary widely. A liter measuring cup will be about the size of a quart. It might be useful for wet ingredients, but I would find a half liter more useful. Many us measuring liquid measuring cups have imperial on one side and metric on the other, just turn the cup around and see if it is metric on the other side. I would suggest getting a scale which measures in both ounces and grams. Be sure it has a tare (zeroing) function. Oxo makes a good one. I hope all of this helps. Happy quilting!

Louise said...

Oh, I had an AHA! moment while looking at your Tiny Tuesday layout. That's just the idea I needed for my own RSC quilt with crumb blocks. Thank you for showing your piece in this partial state because it really made it clear to me how to do it :)

piecefulwendy said...

Fun to see all those progress pics! For some reason, the word "Packerish" makes me chuckle, so thanks for that! Those rainbow strip sets look so cheerful and happy. Glad your sewing space is settling in. I cannot imagine how difficult (and tedious) grading would be!

Quilter Kathy said...

Enjoyed seeing your own private Christmas gifts! LOL
Your layout for the tiny Tuesday blocks is cool!

Bernie Kringel said...

I thought you just be buried in end of semester work. Glad you are coming up for air now.
The tiny blocks are wonderful. So much work in those little bits and pieces. Also love the rail quilt - great colors and it is fun to look at all the different fabrics you used in that one.
I can't say too much about metric baking. The few times I had a recipe in metric, I weighed the dry ingredients and used a scale that had grams on it. Maybe a kitchen scale would be a good gift?

Chopin - A Passionate Quilter said...

Love the orange fabrics! Hats off to you for being a teacher! VERY DIFFICULT JOB in this day and age! Great to see the progress you make even if your hair was on fire! LOL

Sara said...

My online students have kicked things into high gear this past few days - probably realizing how few days remain before the end of the semester. So I spent most of the morning scoring things. Tis the season!!

Love those blues and greens. Those colors just speak to me!

ButterZ said...

Your Tiny Tuesday quilt is coming together nicely. Love those blue and greens. Then, wow, that orange. Have fun with your design wall.

Kelly said...

I’m Australian and our cup measurement is 250ml whereas yours is 235ml. Before I bought my Betty Crocker USA measuring cups, I just converted dry ingredients into weights. There are lots of conversion sites listing various foods from US cups to weight, so hopefully there might be conversion from our cup measurements to weight. Lots of recipes whether metric or imperial include weight. With the jug, unless it has small measurements as well, will probably not be helpful because it won’t be accurate enough for small measures.

JanineMarie said...

Your rainbow colored quilts have been so much fun to watch come together this year, Mari! I always love how you find the perfect backgrounds--neutral but with fun pops of color. You know that's been inspiring for me. I'm intrigued by the Tula Pink style of sashing, so it will be fun to see how it finishes. I hope the grading is done by now. Let the holiday break begin! And sewing, too!