I am going to be a quilter!
One of our instructional aids at school is an avid quilter, and because some interest has been circulating, she is going to be giving us quilting lessons every Thursday. I am so excited.
Currently, I crochet. I don’t know many stitches, but I can make a pretty nice afghan. I’ve made lots of them for other people. I love to make things and then give them away. I guess it’s the whole sense-of-accomplishment thing. It’s also seeing other people enjoy a hand-made gift. That’s a really nice thing.
Well, I must have been a little out of the loop when the decisions were being made for the quilting class. I went to the store and bought some fabric, but I didn’t know how much I would need. I forgot to get the pattern from Ann, who would be teaching us, so I had to make an estimate regarding yardage. I found some very nice fabric to have a dark green and dark red theme. I’m all about dark green and red. Everything in my house is, at the very least, dark green. Okay, that wasn’t the loop I was left out of. Heh. I bought the fabric, but I didn’t know I’d have to launder it before I started. Yes, yes, it does make sense, but I didn’t even think about it. Darn
Our school secretary, Christy, brought in her fabric (she laundered hers!), and Ann used hers as an example of what we needed to do this week. She showed us how to cut and yada yada yada. After tonight, I realize that I am going to have to invest some money into this! Not only do I need fabric, but I also need to buy a cutting mat, a rotary cutter for the fabric, a 16” square ruler, and a few other things. Oh yeah, and more fabric because one of the pieces that I bought (to tie in the green and red together) was a loose weave. The others are a tighter weave, and I want to have a tighter weave for the fabric. Otherwise it’s more likely to unravel or something as I’m creating my masterpiece.
So, I went shopping today for my stuff. I received a telephone call from one of my fellow quilting gals who had called JoAnn Fabrics, and she said that they were having a sale this weekend on quilting stuff. I ran down below to the fabric store. Oh yeah. It is definitely a holiday weekend (Columbus Day), and there must be sales at every store in the whole Palm Springs area. People were everywhere, dagnabit!
I walked into the store, and there were people everywhere! I’ve never been much good in a fabric store. No matter how organized they are, it doesn’t feel organized. I first looked over all the supplies and suddenly realized that I would be spending even more than I thought I would be. Did you know that a rotary cutter (the one that Ann suggested) is over $30! It’s true. Hello! I browsed through the mats and rulers and things and decided that I would be spending a whole lotta loot.
After I picked out my supplies, I began my search for fabrics. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a whole lot that I liked. Of course I did go for the sale stuff, but even in the other section I didn’t find much that I liked. I was looking for no less than seven different colors! Three reds, three greens, and a tie-in color. The colors must go from light to dark. With a quilt you can have different patterns and it will turn out really neat looking. But you have to keep in mind the color schemes. The colors have to go with each other. I thought I found something, but while I was in line to have it cut, I looked at the three red-patterned fabrics and thought maybe they were the wrong shade of red. All of them went beautifully with one another, but the shades of red were on the orange side, not on the deep red side. I got out of line and put them back.
I ended up putting everything back and leaving. The lines were incredibly long, and the people who worked there weren’t the kindest or most helpful people. Very disappointing. I mentioned it to Ann, and she said that they weren’t very nice there. The best thing about JoAnn Fabrics is that they had some nice sales. Gosh, that doesn’t say a whole lot about the place, does it? I will most likely just go to the nice little place here in town and get my stuff.
I am going to be creating a quilt called “Log Cabin”, I believe. I’m so excited! I’m also going to make a few extra squares so that I can make some quilted tote bags for gifts. I don’t know if I’ll have them ready for Christmas, but hopefully I will. Maybe I’ll just concentrate on the tote bags now and make a quilt later. Hmmm . . . I will have to ponder that.
On another note, the stuff going on with my colleagues and the conference that we had on Monday has been getting a little bit easier. I have not really talked to them, but I’m not as uncomfortable being in the same room. That’s not true. I’m just better able to handle it, I guess. The first couple of times that we passed, they said hello and I replied with a timid hello. That’s not like me at all. I am usually full of smiles and cheery attitudes with both of them.
They have definitely noticed. How could they not? The wife actually confronted one of the teachers that had been there that awful conference day. She mentioned to Linda that “Maggie seemed a little upset.” Ummm . . . yes, she does! Am I supposed to feel any other way? I’m uncomfortable. I’m not angry anymore. I’m not really hurt anymore. I’m just plain uncomfortable. I simply don’t know what to say.
Anyway, things seem to be on an upward roll. (Is that the right phrase? Heh.)
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