Just FYI

It is not a good idea to practice one's bagpipes within 25 feet of the glass-break sensor.

Grading jail

Grading jail is the pits, but at least it means I am almost done with this term! Two courses are graded and two more to go. I can't believe how utterly disorganized I was this fall. Sigh.

Anyway, I took some time this morning to work on the Tudor pincushion. One more side of Ceylon stitch and then the lacing, and finally the center interlaced stitch.
Then I thought I'd work on Eldest Daughter's change purse. Well, I should have thought a bit more, because I made a mess of it. While I was doing that, Kitty Mama was sitting on the sewing table right next to my machine, watching the needle and thread going up and down, up and down--and finally it got too much for her so she whacked at it. That sent my little box of pins flying all over the place, and I had to stop to pick them all up. Just as well, I have to unpick what I did anyway.

All three kids are coming home Wednesday for Thanksgiving, which means time to CLEAN. Did some today while avoiding grading. But now there's no avoiding it, since they are due tomorrow night at 11 p.m.

This fall I have been taking bagpipe lessons and have progressed to the full pipes, yay. Only I am not having a lot of success on the full pipes yet. Arrgh! This whole venture was going to be a surprise for Spouse, who gave me a practice chanter three years ago, and I was able to keep the lessons and practicing secret until last week. I had ordered a new reed for the practice chanter and an easy reed for the bagpipe, thought I was so smart because I had them sent to my parents' house instead of HomeCity; but the vendor let the cat out of the bag by calling my house to thank me for my purchase and guess who answered the phone? Oh well. I think that the secret was bound to come out anyway because it's a lot harder to hide a set of pipes than it is to sneak the practice chanter in and out of the house. Spouse is excited about it anyway. It sure is great fun.

Pretty stuff

I made this cream dupioni silk cosmetic bag for Best Friend and sent it to her (a saga in itself) for her birthday:
Here is the embroidery on Eldest Daughter's change purse; the silk is the same fabric as her cosmetic bag with the peacock feather:

Other than that, I got nothin'.

Blog hiatus

Sorry, but I can't find the time to blog--or to post kitty pics--until the end of this term. Teaching four courses, participating in grants, supervising MS students, commuting, and dealing with a sick kitty is just sapping all my time.

Maybe December...

Students, sigh.

One of my favorite exam questions begins "You are given the task to optimize the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow."

I shall have to change that to a more boring example, I guess, since 30% of my class didn't know what a swallow was, and another 10% didn't know the meaning of "unladen." So I estimate probably 99% didn't know the source of the "unladen swallow" reference. Sads. Gone are the times when at least one smartaleck would ask, “An African swallow or a European swallow?”

However, my undergrad data mining class is well aware of the significance of the number 42, and for that I am grateful.

Pictures from the conservatory

Youngest Daughter and I visited a conservatory near her school last week and saw some really pretty flowers, and a panda made of plants!

The Secret Project Unveiled

I know, I know--it has been ages since I blogged, both here and on Kitty Son's picture blog. My schedule this term is so awful that there is no time in the beginning of the week, and at the end of the week I am utterly exhausted.

Today, for example, the day after teaching three classes (two in a row!), I was pretty much useless until 3 or 4 p.m. My feet hurt (I came home last night and took some Tylenol), I was tired and sleepy, and my brain was just mush. I have managed, though, to finish grading for one class. Three to go.

Last weekend I went to see Youngest Daughter and we saw Wicked, the musical about the Wicked Witch of the West. It was a great show, even if I did have to run up four flights of stairs to get to my seat before the overture started (they shut the doors and don't let anyone in for 12 minutes once that starts!). We went apple picking, made our way through a corn maze, toured a conservatory, and took a walk in the local park. I taught YD how to make chicken pot pie, roasted red potatoes, baked chicken breasts, and shortcake. We went to Dick's and got her a bike. It was a packed weekend!

On Sunday we stopped by Val's house and gave her the Secret Project (here, too), which I made (and FINALLY finished) for her wedding present. Here it is--eighteen hearts, embroidered in different stitches and colors, alternating with pink heart-print squares.
So the secret is revealed, and best wishes to Val and Mike for a long, happy life together.

Now it's time for ANOTHER Secret Project!

Ten years later

but it feels like it just happened.

God rest the souls we have lost.
God preserve our nation.
God protect our troops.
God judge those who murder innocents in His name.

Month 16 is done!

Month 17's stitches will fill in the bottom right, between the strawberries and the big motif, and also the spot to the left of the pansy. There's one more month to go, but I'm not sure where the stitches for Month 18 will fit--there are no more designated spots on the sampler. I guess it's a surprise!

Got a scare after I finished the Month 16 set. I embroider in my sunporch, sitting in the rocker that was a honeymoon present from Spouse. Next to the rocker is Youngest Daughter's art table, and that's where my cutting mat is, and the ziplock bags with linen and silks are sitting there while I get traveling projects set up for this fall. I'd set my half-filled mug of tea on the mat, turned around to straighten up the sewing table, and heard "clunk!". Kitty Son, ever so graceful, had jumped up on the art table and sent my tea flying. The mug ended up on the floor (not broken, thank goodness) and tea was everywhere. Thankfully, my linens were in bags and the splatter did not reach to the sampler. The surge protector and my phone charger got soaked so they are drying out. What a close call.

More plaited braid, and figure eight interlacing, and ...school is starting...

Top is plaited braid, bottom center is figure eight interlacing. I am up to Month 15 of 18 in this online class. It's a lot of fun! Wish I had more time to play around, though.

But, the time for play, if there was one this summer, is gone now. Classes start Monday and I need to get syllabi and class materials ready. I am teaching four courses this fall, unfortunately, which means I will be crazy busy.

Kitty Mama had surgery Tuesday on her mouth (several teeth removed) and it looks like she has oral cancer. That's bad. She is recuperating pretty well from the surgery; at the moment, she is curled up on a cot upstairs by the window, sleeping in the sunshine. I hate the thought that I will be gone four days out of each week and not here to pet her and love her up. :-( I may decide to commute more often this fall. Depends on how things go.

Plaited braid!

Bad picture, but Month 12 is done!

Next....plaited braid.

Get Out of Jail Free

Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.

Free at last, free at last. Well, until Labor Day. I am DONE GRADING. The class is OVER.

Now, time to do nothing for the rest of the day, because I am done in. Nothing else to report, no stitching done, no cleaning done, just grading done. Maybe tomorrow I'll do something useful but I am not promising anything, because I feel like this:

Grading done for this week

I was exceedingly diligent and spent today finishing my grading for this week. Yay! One more assignment, one set of team presentations and team reports to grade and this class is DONE. THANK GOD. What a slog.

One student has been AWOL for the entire term. We have what we call "early alerts" where we send notices in the third week to students who are underperforming, and notify their advisers that they are at risk. I sent one for him in Week Three, and when I got no response I took a look at his record. It turns out he didn't have the pre-requisites for this class anyway, so I asked his advisers if we could do an administrative withdrawal. Unfortunately, we don't have that option. Well, he finally sent me an e-mail asking if I could make up a special plan for him to do all the coursework before the grading deadline. He thinks he has three weeks to finish everything, but he's wrong--grades are due the 22nd. I wrote back and said no, I wasn't going to do that--and he promptly sent me another e-mail asking me to reconsider. It didn't take me long to say no again. Amazing how deep a hole some of these kids manage to dig for themselves. His job is dependent on finishing his degree, and I know from his advisers that he has blown off all three courses he signed up for this summer. He is going to learn a really hard lesson.

Anyway, since Eldest Daughter's birthday is over and she's gotten her present, I can show it off now. I made a cosmetic bag based on Kelly Fletcher's pattern from her Stitch and Thimble quarterly (issue 3), only I made it out of yellow/green silk dupioni with an embroidered peacock feather instead of a flower. We put a silver dollar and a brand new penny inside, stuffed it with tissue paper, and sent it off priority mail. I let ED's boyfriend know it was coming, and bless his heart--he ran after the mailman to get the package before it got sent back to the post office. Of course I forgot to take a picture of it all ready to go, but here is one I took right after I'd finished whipstitching the lining. It looked a lot better all pressed and stuffed with tissue.


I've got enough of the silk left to do a change purse and maybe a jewelry pouch--we'll see. I was a little unsure how this was going to turn out, especially since I needed to interface the silk, but it worked great! Really easy directions.

Also finished Month 13 of the goldwork sampler and then was taking a deep breath to start the plaited braid (Month 14) when I realized I'd skipped the Month 12 stitches. Reprieve! Temporarily, that is.

Happy Birthday, Eldest Daughter!

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday, Eldest Daughter
Happy Birthday to you

May you live long with us
May you live long with us
May you live long, may you live long
May you live long with us

Njech nam zhye stolat
Njech nam zhye stolat
Njech nam zhye stolat Eldest Daughter,
Happy Birthday to you!!

Miss you, love you, have a wonderful day--

Love, hugs, and kisses,
Momma

Students, sigh.

I think I should write up something for students so they know how to communicate and interact with professors. It would go something like this:

1. Pay attention to how your professor wants to be addressed. When I introduce myself to the class as Dr. LastName, don't send me e-mails addressed to me by my first name--or to Mrs. LastName.

2. You are not your adviser's only student. Don't expect that your report/proposal/paper is going to be read the same day you sent it.

3. Be polite and careful with your tone in e-mails. Think of your professor/adviser as your boss. Would you be snarky to your boss?

4. Professors have families and lives outside of the university. Don't ask for an appointment before 9 a.m. or after 5 p.m., or on weekends.

5. When you have an appointment to see your professor, show up. If you can't make it, have the courtesy to notify your professor. Sometimes your appointment is the only reason they come to campus that day.


I have gotten four e-mails from students in the past couple of days complaining about their grade, or asking if I've read the report they sent to me only hours before, or annoyed that I didn't respond to their grade complaint e-mail within two days. I swear, sometimes it's like being pecked to death by ducks.

Peck, peck, peck.

I've got another rule but it's not about communication. If you are a grad student, don't even THINK about handing in a paper or essay without references. Those references had better be cited in the text, too. I've had to explain that too many times this summer.

Saturday, day after Friday

Spouse and I went to see Captain America last night. I liked it, he didn't--although most of his complaints seemed to be about everything but the movie: the seats were uncomfortable, the theater was too warm, the previews too long--but the popcorn at least was great! On the way home we were talking about remakes of TV shows, and I got this brainstorm--someone should make a movie of the old Man from U.N.C.L.E. show. Who could play Napoleon Solo? I was thinking Aamir Khan; Son suggested Karl Urban. For Illya Kuryakin, maybe Chow Yun Fat? Although he is a good 7" taller than Aamir...or, as Son suggested, maybe the actor who played Chekov in the new Star Trek movie. Ian McShane would be a great Alexander Waverly. Too bad I don't know any producers!

Today I need to get the last lecture ready for the online class, grade the next-t0-last set of assignments and discussions, work on the grant proposal, and do some laundry. We've got all the new drawer pulls installed, and the bedroom furniture looks really nice. Now to clean out all those drawers (ew).

Youngest Daughter is spending the weekend on the Jurassic Coast. Sounds like great fun! I hope she finds a fossil or two.

I'm almost done with Month 13 on the goldwork sampler, once I get the braid stitch done on the middle motif at the bottom. Next month is plaited braid stitch. Normally I don't practice these stitches before I put them on the sample, but I think I will need to practice that one.

A pretty productive day

Got up early, worked a bit on the sampler, worked a bit on another project, then did some editing on the grant proposal, and then read a master's thesis, ran the analysis for the data, wrote up my comments, and sent them off to the student.

Also replaced 8 drawer pulls on my dresser (yay for the internet, for finding drawer pulls that would actually fit--because of course our pulls are non-standard!).

Kitty Son likes the extension on my Needlework System 4. It gives him more room when he is sitting on my lap.

Goldwork sampler update and more whining

I've gotten to the 11th month on the goldwork sampler--next is Guilloche stitch on ladder, which will go on the right side by the strawberries. There certainly is a lot of ladder stitch! That's a good thing in a way, because I find that the left side of the ladder isn't quite as nice and neat and tidy as the right side, so I get more practice.

I've also set up a surface embroidery project for those days when I don't feel like doing goldwork. Then there's the Secret Project which needs some attention--I'm not all that skilled at piecing, which is the next step in that project. I think I'll have to rip out what I've done and baste the pieces by hand before doing them on the machine. Can't stand sloppy corners!

The whine is about teaching--still in grading jail and grousing about only having a week or so off before the fall term starts. Ugh.

Today's chores are finishing the laundry, finishing this week's grading, working on the grant proposal, and the fun part: going to my brother's brass band concert tonight at a local sports arena.

Month 8 progress

Here is where I am with the gold work sampler. Getting there!

I've been relaxing this week, sort of, concentrating on the grant proposal and the current grant work once I had the assignments from last week graded. I still have grading to do; I'll probably do that tomorrow.

One of my colleagues came back from a review panel for a major national agency, completely incensed and upset at the review process. Increasingly, it seems, grants are only for top faculty at top schools. The rest of us haven't got a chance--and not only do we not have a chance, the reviewers spent valuable taxpayer time making fun of those of us who dared to write a proposal. The snobbery that has come through in the last few grant reviews that I have seen is just disgusting. So, we are going to look elsewhere for funding. Why put ourselves in the position to be ridiculed? We spent hours and hours writing and rewriting, carefully considering all the requirements of the grant solicitation and trying to put forward a novel and well-crafted proposal. It's bad enough to get a rejection; there's no need to be nasty about it.