Yearly evaluations and progress on hobby fronts

Today was my annual evaluation; I'm doing fine and GreatBoss is very happy with me. Yay! That means I get a merit raise next academic year. Unfortunately, university raises don't take the leaps that private company salary increases do, but it's better than nothing!

This relaxing quarter, when I only had to teach one class, is almost at an end. I need to grade one more set of assignments and then write the final, which will be available next week. The spring term starts March 12, and I am back to teaching two courses plus being "tech support" for a third. GreatBoss is adding a bit of admin to my workload; I have to help adjuncts with the course conversion process. We have a lot of adjuncts! Oh well. It has to be done anyway, and I would rather do that than teach another class.

With the "extra" time I've had this quarter, I've been watching videos from Stanford University's database and machine learning courses for two reasons--brushing up on concepts, and to see how they deliver the material online. I've also signed up at udacity.com for their two computer science classes, for the same reasons (and one is on programming a robotic car, just too cool!). The classes started this week, and I've already submitted the homework for the CS101 class.

The other things I've been doing is working on embroidery. Since I've finished the Tudor pincushion and the spot sampler, I've gotten the silk-and-silver fan out again, and I'm doing the silk work on the petite pincushion that is the last part of the goldwork master class.The other activity that has been taking a lot of my time is bagpiping. I've gotten to the point where I can get through a song with two drones going. A two-song set is a little beyond me until I get better with blowing and squeezing. Practice certainly makes perfect, and considering that a couple of months ago I couldn't even get sound of the chanter, I've made progress even if it hasn't been fast enough to suit me.

Best Friend flew home today from the hospital and is starting the recuperation period which is expected to last eight weeks. Since I don't have to be on campus until the 12th, I may be going there if she needs someone to clean and cook over the next couple of weeks. A road trip would be really nice.

Spot sampler pic

I do have a couple threads to tie off, but the stitching is done.

Next up? I need to finish the silver and silk fan and the petite pincushion. The list of unstarted projects that I'd love to dive into gets longer all the time.

Surgery over and a success, and another finish

It seemed like an awfully long day yesterday, but we finally got the word around 3 p.m. that all went well.

Thank God.

I had four meetings yesterday and then went to see a play with my parents at night so didn't get a chance to post the good news. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. There's still a long recovery ahead but this surgery was pretty scary and we are all grateful that it's done.

In other news, I finished the spot sampler yesterday morning, so that will go to the framer's too when I have money--which I am a tad short on at the moment!

It's done! And a delay.

Finally, I finished the Tudor pincushion this morning. I am going to frame it (hopefully using the silk that was originally intended to be the cushion back as a mat instead) and give it to my PhD adviser's wife for a birthday present. I think that works better, for me at least, than making it into a pincushion that I would never use.


Best Friend texted me this afternoon to say her surgery has been postponed until Thursday morning.

Progress on the pincushion

I've decided not to do anything to the chain stitching on the pincushion, because--I AM A DITZ--it's a different gold thread than the one I am using for the lacing. I used the gilt special tambour thread for the lacing and gold passing for the chain stitch, and they are different colors. I had completely forgotten I did that, until I looked at the thing really closely. That's just embarrassing. Sigh.

Anyway, here is the lacing almost done. I need to make one more pass around the edge, put in the silver four-sided interlacing in the middle, and then I can take the pincushion off the stretcher bars and get the thing framed. Yay!

In other news, I think I finally have the hang of the bagpipe blowing/squeezing cycle, or at least enough of a handle on it that I can actually finish a song without running out of breath. It's great fun and scares the cat!

In work news, I am writing yet another NSF grant while STILL waiting for news on the one I submitted last May. Usually NSF says a six-month turnaround but this is nuts, to keep us waiting so long. The new call is out for this year's program and we haven't gotten a decision on last year's!

Now the serious stuff: if you have spare prayers please remember my best friend who is having open heart surgery on Wednesday.

The Tudor pincushion progress (or lack thereof)

and a bit of a dilemma.

Here is where I am with the pincushion. I just need to do the guilloche stitch around the lacing, and then the center bit. But I am increasingly unhappy with the amount of tarnishing on the chain stitch elements. Unfortunately, I really tied them down pretty hard on the back--it will be tough to take the gold out and re-do it. But it doesn't shine anymore and is visibly darker than the lacing.

Knowing that the lacing will also tarnish, eventually, and that it will be hard to take out the existing gold, should I or shouldn't I replace the chain stitching?

Decisions, decisions.

2012 didn't start out well.

My Uncle Lew died January 10, on my parents' 61st wedding anniversary, after a heart attack that turned out to be more damaging than we first thought. Kitty Mom lost a valiant fight against oral cancer on January 16th.

It was a very hard week.

Here's hoping that the rest of 2012 is better. I've moved into the new rental place and each week, as I bring another load of furniture and belongings from the HomeCity house, the new place is less and less like camping. It will take a few months to get everything out that we can take while leaving enough for Spouse to live on until the house is sold. I'm trying to prune as I pack. That's the plan, but I realize that after a while I may get sick of that strategy and just stuff things into boxes. Trying to hold out as long as I can!

Lots of things going on at work, research-wise, which is GREAT and keeps me busier than I thought. Living only six minutes from campus is already paying off! I am also enjoying only having one class to teach--I've never had this low a teaching load. I even managed to get some embroidery in but that's another post.