“He was a great teacher, Mr. da Silva. He treated us with complete seriousness, as if we eighth graders, during fifth period, might settle something scholars had been arguing about for centuries. He listened to our chirping, his hairline pressing down his eyes. When he spoke himself, it was in complete paragraphs. If you listened closely it was possible to hear the dashes and commas in his speech, even the colons and semi-colons. Mr. da Silva had a relevant quotation for everything that happened to him and in this way evaded real life. Instead of eating his lunch, he told you what Oblonsky and Levin had for lunch in Anna Karenina. Or, describing a sunset from Daniel Deronda, he failed to notice the one that was presently falling over Michigan.”
Middlesex
Jeffrey Eugenides
Happy Friday!
I hope you are well and have had a super week. I chose today’s quotation in homage to the best teachers I know and to all of the teachers who are working to make places of learning wherever they are. I know this school year is a challenge for everyone.
Last week I told you I was going to work on organizing and cleaning up the studio, and I feel very successful in that endeavor! I have a few things left to do, but overall everything is neater and better organized, especially my orders. Prior to the reorganization, orders were in either one of six stackable laundry baskets or they were in giant ziploc bags. You can see how that would be cluttered after a while. I now have all of my orders in containers (save one, but it is neatly tucked away), and I am so pleased with the room it created in the studio.
New bins for orders creates more space in the studio!
My embroidery machine along side the big stackable laundry baskets. Do you spy the six quilts all packaged and ready to go?
I also dusted and organized shelves. My husband had some books on shelves in the studio, and I packed those up and made space for fabric scraps.
My steam press and new fabric scrap shelves!
Shelf under my cutting table…everything within reach!
I also reorganized all of my thread and personal projects. Now everything has a place and I feel like the studio runs more smoothly! I will try to create a video for my stories or do a live video on Instagram of my studio, so that you can see how it is organized better! Would you like that?
Thread and personal quilts. I have a new thread holder for my longarm thread…it is waiting to be hung on the wall.
I have also spent time binding, piecing, and quilting this week. I have six quilts ready to deliver!
I am still chugging along on my half square triangles---I am getting so excited to see them come together! How about yours? Can I see some pictures? Leave me a comment or send me a DM or tag me in your stories on Instagram.
Have a great week. Stay safe.
Sending Quilting Love,
Ginger
Coming Next Week: An update on the Anniversary quilt. Definitely news on my secret plan I mentioned last week!
I am Reading: Cræft: An Inquiry Into the Origins and True Meaning of Traditional Crafts by Alexander Langlands and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (unabridged). I am also reading various poetry. I haven’t started Mozart’s Starling yet, but I am still thinking about it...still...Edmond Dantes has me spellbound at the moment...at once tragic and beautiful...he is terrific and I am frightened for him. (Yes, I have read the book before, but I am the person who always cries at the end of A Tale of Two Cities...even though I know what is going to happen...and the person who hopes 1984 will end differently, even though I have read it a hundred times.) Please let me know what you are reading...it really doesn’t matter what it is as long as it is giving you pleasure!