Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Building Dedication :) No stitching :(

Hello all.....I am at school and my drama class is in the library working on Power Point Presentations, so I have some time to work at a computer also.
Last night we had our new building Dedication Service. Our new auditorium is amazing and the acoustics were especially amazing. My girl group sang the Star Spangled Banner and then the entire choral department was placed throughout the auditorium and sang the Alma Mater. It was exciting for me to hear the 'new sound'. We now have state-of-the-art lighting and sound...I can't wait to have a concert in there.

OK.....stitching blog.....no stitching to report. Maybe tonight?

Happy Stitching..
Jane

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Quilting Question

Here's the question - for all of you experienced quilters:
DD wants me to make a quilt out of the bridesmaid dresses she has worn. All of them are satin. We will also be using crushed velvet. My vision was to tie it. But she wants it quilted. Can you quilt satin and velvet? I suppose I could do it in squares and then sew them together. I really don't know. And what thread would I use for the quilting, with the materials being black, silver, periwinkle, 2 different shades of burgundy, and an off-white. Can you even wash these fabrics? I'm thinking it would have to be dry cleaned. Tell me your thoughts please?

I am in Louisville visiting DD and SIL. I came up yesterday, took a wrong turn in Knoxville and made an already 6 hour drive into an 8 hour drive. She is soooooo pregnant. Bless her heart, she is so ready to have this baby. It is fun seeing all the baby stuff.

I am loving my new Rodeo. It was great driving here. I have not had a CD player and that was great. [You remember that the car I was hanging on to was a '97.] I also like being up higher. So I rode along and Barry [Manilow] and I sang our hearts out all the way here. [I did give the Beatles some time.]

Incidentally, remember the post about trying to make baby booties and it turning out huge, like for a 5 year old. Well, the title says " something, something,and a HUGE bootie." I have gotten sooooo many hits on that post, isn't that funny. I had never thought about what that would sound like.

Have a great weekend and I hope yaw'll get some stitching [or quilting] done. I am driving instead of stitching, but it's worth it to see my kids.

When talking to them about coming up later, I said "when I come back up here to get the baby..." It was funny, talk about a Freudian slip!! I think I may have given my plan away - Bwa-ha-ha she laughed with an evil gleam in her eye!

Jane

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

School, A Good Book, and Lingering Christmas Decorations

Back to school today - they said we were going to have freezing rain and sleet - we didn't. Neither did we get the 2 to 4 inches of snow we were supposed to get on Saturday. Oh well... I did pretty much nothing this weekend. I did knit and stitch some. I ran across a book - The Friday Night Knitting Club - I read the entire book in a day. It was really good, it's currently on the Bestseller list - I highly recommend it.

I managed to get through the entire long weekend without taking down my Christmas decorations. When I was little, I would always beg my mother to leave the tree up until my birthday - now I think I understand why she always said no. Anyway, this Saturday I will definitely go vote and then take down the decorations...maybe.

School was good today. We are working on our Dinner Theatre - which is all Broadway music this year - and all of the music is such fun. The kids like it, too, so they are working pretty hard. It's fun when they work.

A friend took me out for dinner for my birthday. That was nice.
So, all in all, a good weekend and a good day at school.

I hope all of yaw'll are doing as well.

Happy stitching!
Jane

Thursday, January 17, 2008

SNOW !!!!!

I absolutely LOVE SNOW !!!! And we got some! ON MY BIRTHDAY !!!!
Anyone who knows me at all, knows that I am crazy in love with snow!
I don't even care if we have to make up the school day. Snow days are a gift of a free day - you don't get to carry out your plans, and you can't get out [well, in SC you can't get out] and so it's a totally free day with no responsibilities or obligations. I don't believe in cleaning [or really doing any kind of work at all] on snow days, because if you were working you wouldn't be cleaning, so no guilt there. A happy, relaxing, lazy day .....I JUST LOVE SNOW DAYS!!!
I'm just hoping it freezes overnight and we can't have school tomorrow either!

I should get a lot done on my VoHRH this weekend. I may even catch up with my SAL friends!

Well, I can't seem to think, or write, about anything but the snow - so I'll go sit by a window and stitch!

Jane

Sunday, January 13, 2008

I've Been Tagged



So, I have been tagged. And I am supposed to list five random facts about myself.

Well my first thought was to call one of my children and ask for suggestions, but then I decided to call my dear friend Tara. Tara and DD became best friends in high school and have been close ever since. They were in each other's weddings etc.
Tara was also in my choir at school - for four years - and we have gotten to be good friends. I love her like a daughter. We get together two or three times a month and go out for dinner and I figure she knows me about as well as my own children do, actually better in some ways. So when I asked for unusual things about me, she began laughing and listing things faster than I could write. [Not quite sure how to take that.] Anyway,here goes:

1. When I sneeze,I sound like a small dog barking, and I never do less than a series of four at a time. [My classes start counting as soon as I start sneezing. My record is 21!]
2. I have watched the first Godfather movie so many times that I can say the entire script along with the movie.
3. The first time I took an Ambien I fell head first into the bathtub in the middle of the night.
4. When my Daddy was trying to teach me to drive [1965] , I nearly ran into a train station because I was looking at my knees peeking out from beneath my new lavender skirt and thinking how pretty they looked. [He was pretty mad.]
5. I went to Landrum High School which was the first air-conditioned school in the state of South Carolina. [Incidentally, they kept their piano in the closet of the health room.]


So now I get to tag 5 people. I think I'll tag some of the members of my SAL group:
1. Mindi [What's Up With Wyora]
2. Marie [Creative Thread]
3. Katrina [The Needle's Promise]
4. Kathy [Purple Wildcat]
5. Wanda [WB Stitches]

Speaking of the SAL group - I actually stitched on my VOHRH today. Unlike everyone else I started in the middle and I don't really do a block at a time. I skip around a lot, I guess I am an ADD stitcher.

So, no kids at school tomorrow, it's a teacher workday. Kinda nice.

I've had a great weekend. Yesterday I took my mother [90 yr old] over to Landrum. We picked up a friend of ours and went to Tryon to my most favorite restaurant anywhere for lunch, and then I rode all around in Landrum for Momma. She lived there for twenty years and really enjoyed seeing the town. It has changed a lot, and she enjoyed seeing the house we used to live in and the little downtown and the church etc.

Well, it's off to stitch. AND guess what's on TV? Godfather III. Woo-hoo!

Happy Stitching!
Jane

Friday, January 11, 2008

FRIDAY!!!

You know, coming back to school after Winter Break is just HARD! Two weeks at home really spoils you! But back to school it was and this week was exam week. I haven't stitched much. I started knitting up this extremely soft white yarn for g-baby, but this is the most difficult yarn I have ever tried to knit. SO, forget that!

I finally broke down and bought a new car, well, new to me. I have had my car for eleven years and really liked not having a car payment. SO,the brakes went and I still drove it, going slow and coasting to a stop. [I am neither stubborn nor stupid - really - I'm not -really!] Anyway, I am going to need to drive to Louisville when the baby comes, so I took the big step. It was going to cost more to fix what was wrong with it than the car was even worth. So--I got a Rodeo [I feel like I am driving a truck!] and it is our school color - Royal Blue. It is really pretty and my students thought it was pretty cool that I got that color. In fact, they want to paint yellow racing stripes on it.

I guess that's all my news.

OH _ WAIT _ I do have BIG NEWS!!!

I went to dinner Tuesday night with a friend. We went to the local Panera Bread. Lo and behold - there sat a group of KNITTERS!!!!
Being the shy and retiring person that I am, I went over and began talking to them and admiring their work etc. etc. Well, I was invited to join the group and I am going to start next Tuesday. Some of you may remember a while back when I was trying to find people to start a group with....well, I am excited. They start arriving about 4ish and stay until it closes. Fun stuff!

I hope everyone is having a good start to the year and has something fun to work on!
Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Stitching
Jane

Saturday, January 5, 2008

A personality Quiz




People Definitely Like You



You are very well liked, and many people admire you.

You are friendly, well mannered, and fun to be around.

Of course, you're not perfect... but that's okay.

Your friends are usually willing to accept you for who you are!



What People Don't Like About You:



People don't like that you forget them easily. No one wants to be friends with someone who doesn't remember their name!



What People Like About You:



People like that you give them complements. You make people feel good about themselves!



People like your self deprecating sense of humor and that you don't take yourself too seriously.



People like that you're interesting and intriguing. You always have something interesting to say.

Pictures - I hope!

Well, I have to say for that, for the most part, I really love me. But, bless-my-heart, sometimes I am just not smart! After I spent - oh 45 minutes- trying to load the pictures onto my computer, I realized I had not turned on the camera. But, even then it took me forever to, first - FIND where the darn things were on the computer- And then put them on the blog. So - PLEASE - enjoy.
[And sorry it's so long, but I WAS away for a while.... :)

First of all these are some pics from the Winter Concert. [You may note that I actually loaded them in reverse order so they would come out in the order I wanted.]

The first is Grace Chu, who is an exchange student from Taiwan. She is incredibly talented. As well as being a wonderful soprano, she is an amazing accompanist - so I had her play a piece on the piano. [When I gave my beginning of the year 'pre-test' to concert choir to see where they were musically, she scored higher than ANYONE! Oh to teach in a system where the students have music training starting in pre-school and ALL THE WAY through school.]



The second is Ryan Fowler. He is a senior and a wonderful tenor. He is also a wonderful kicker and has a full ride to Vanderbilt to play football. He was chosen to play in our state North-South game and they started practice two days before the concert. His parents worked it out so that he could perform in the concert. They had to go get him, bring him to the concert, and take him right back. [He had to change out of his tux in the car on the way back.] I am so grateful for parents who take the performances so seriously. He was singing 'I'll Be Home for Christmas'.



The next one is Matt Henderson and Bennett Dixon singing... man, I can't remember.
Anyway, they are both talented and NOT seniors. YAY!



Next is Sweet Harmony. They wanted to wear 'winter clothes'. I was picturing Christmas colors - not what they wore. BUT they sounded heavenly.



And finally Those 8 Guys.[yes, you see 9] I don't know why in the world they decided to go behind the piano to sing. Teenagers....ya just never know what to expect



This is my Treble Ensemble - sophomore girls who are first year singers. Notice the trees in the background. The church was going to throw them away, so instead they are giving them to us to use for the Dinner Theatre.



And here is the entire choir. Aren't they beautiful! They look like angels all dressed up and standing up straight and not talking! I love them so much!
I had to take the pic in 4 sections, or go to the balcony, and they were not wanting to wait for me to do that. They were READY TO GO! We had the concert at the First Baptist Church in Taylors since our auditorium was still not finished. We always finish the concert with everyone on stage singing 'Let There Be Peace On Earth' and any graduates that are there come up and sing with us. Since we had the concert so early we didn't have as many alumni as usual, but there were some and I am always so glad to see them.






The gift and roses in picture , 3, were from the choir. The gift was one of those Visa Gift Cards that I am still deciding how to use. Woohoo!

**********************************************************************************

I thought I would share some of my Christmas decorations. And they are, by the way, still there because I just can't bring myself to take them down [which is one way of putting a positive spin on just being too lazy]






Now for - yes! - stitching. One of these is an old old pattern that I finally did and the other...well actually it's pretty old too. I took the picture almost the minute I finished, so it isn't even pressed.




So, thanks for stopping by. I guess this is a little long, and possibly a little boring.

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year.

Happy Stitching!
Jane

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Happy New Year!

Well, it was back to school today, and I must say I was pretty glad to get back. I think I am finally back to my old self. I am excited about preparing for our dinner theatre - I ordered the music today and I'm meeting with the choreographer tomorrow. This year I am doing a Broadway theme, and there was sooo much music to choose from. Fun stuff!
We are having a building dedication the end of this month for our new school building. We are singing for it - so we also have to learn something for that. AND we are doing four churches, so we have to polish up our church repertoire.
I just thought - this must be sooooo boring to non-music people.

So...stitching. I finally finished The Prairie Christmas that I started back in - yes - 1999. I will now finally begin really working on the VOHRH. [My little SAL group is way ahead of me, I'm sure - but I'll catch up!]

So, thanks for continuing to stop by while I was in my funk.
I'll post some pics this weekend.

Happy Stitching!
Jane