Crunch Time

The next couple of weeks are dedicated to testing. Most of the tests are of the AP or IB category, not standardized tests to determine the effectiveness of the school program. So the tests are standardized but their purpose is supposed to be more lofty not more prosaic. This year's junior class, the students with whom I am most familiar, are not prepared to take the AP English Literature exam. They have weak critical thinking skills and even weaker writing skills. The handful of students who have come for tutoring may pass, one or two may do slightly better than a simple pass; but the majority of the students are not able to write a two page five paragraph essay on a directed topic to save their lives. One of the teachers has been sending me multiple excuses including that the students are lazy and the principal is incompetent. While either or both of those may be true, the fact of the matter is this is the teacher who has already told them they don't need to come for the next two weeks since there is so much pressure on them, who has simply not shown up for class or scheduled meetings with students with no excuse and no advance notice, who told the class that the core meaning of "Hamlet" was that Gertrude was horny and treacherous. My husband tells me that I should simply resign both my paid and volunteer positions.

The young lady who is a senior decided to go to Harvey Mudd rather than MIT or Stanford. Because she skipped a grade she is younger than the normal freshman and was quite intimidated by MIT on her campus visit and bored to tears at Stanford. She picked Harvey Mudd because everyone seemed as immature and nerdy as she is. Oh well, you can lead the horse to water but you can't make it drink.

The Rest of the Corner

The tulip photograph is part of the corner on my new project. I am making a trapunto center with grapes and leaves and an appliqued border with tulips, poppies, grapes, and some smaller flowers. I know grapes and tulips and poppies don't bloom and produce at the same time but the color combinations are good--red, yellow, purple, green.

 There will be embroidered accents at the end and of course the blue ink will disappear on the center section once all the work is done and the top gets wetted down. I think my lilies of the valley could be smaller but I don't know that I will change them. The corners will be more or less mirror images.

Tulip Time in Utah

My quiltmaking doesn't usually follow the seasonal changes happening outside, but in the current instance I am working on tulips while tulips bloom outside.

Good Night, Napoleon

I finished my Napoleon quilt the other day. As usual there are items that I would change or that affect my total satisfaction with the project but I still like the colors and the overall design. The connection to Napoleon is largely in my head and mostly informed by elements of language rather than design. I guess that makes sense.

 Here is the quilt on my bed to give some scale to the project. It is about twin size but a little short to be a bed cover.

 The center portion shows all the Winding Ways and all those "magic" circles.

 The borders are more specifically targeted to Napoleon with their references to diadems, laurel leaves, suns, etc.

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If you look very closely you will see a Napoleonic bee quilted in gold thread in the corner. You can also see the pieces binding combining blue and gold. All the seams made the binding more difficult to apply but I do like the end result.

Funny Thing About That

All the college applications have been read and processed and the students I worked with did very well. I read in the New York Times that it was a tough year to get in anywhere and even tougher to get in to the "selective" colleges. I didn't work with that many students this year, only three, but all three got in everywhere they applied including Stanford that had the lowest acceptance rate (5%) in the country. Funny thing is I don't think she is even going to go there.

Corner Quilting

corner bees

The blue ink makes it easier to see the designs in the corners but they will still be visible when the quilt is complete. The bees are for Napoleon of course, and the fleur de lis is for France. I am about halfway around the border but it is very wide so it takes a while. Add to that I am painting my dining room--a multi-day process--so there is still at least ten days of quilting left if not more. This photo shows the slight pattern on the background fabric as well.