Ode to Sewing Machines #35

 Many of you follow my "Ode to the Sewing Machine" posts.  We've all seen the ads on craigslist, ebay and elsewhere.  The clueless sellers give those of us who sew a belly laugh, or two!  Here's installment #35…

No doubt about it

I studied at Faith Baptist Bible College in the 80's. During my first year, a brilliant man named David Powell was one of my instructors. His class on Old Testament Theory was, by far, my favorite class. He taught in a way that made you think outside the box, to dig deep for the answer. I loved his class. After each test, I found myself striving to get a better grade than the one before.

In 1985, I was 25 years old. 7 years earlier I almost flunked out of high school. I received a 1.42 out of a possible 4.0 grade average. While enrolled at FBBC, I worked 50 hours a week, drove an hour each day to classes, and studied when I could. I worked full-time as the owner of a small business with 5 employees. I also worked part-time as the manager of a 64 unit residential facility. I could only attend FBBC part-time, it was all I could afford at the time.

In David Powell's freshman class, as we studied each book in the Old Testament, one of his assignments was to create a graph of the book. We were to break the book down into events and chart each one as it progressed to the next event. In the evenings, I dove into each graph with gusto. I learned things about the Old Testament I'd never thought of before. I started out the class getting a B, or 80%, but by the end of the semester I received 100%+ on my graphs and tests.

In the middle of the semester, mummering started on campus. At first, I tried to ignore the whispers that reached my ears, as I studied in the campus lounge above the cafeteria. But the whispers became bolder as time went on. Freshman who were in the class with me began to grumble about how hard the class was, Powell was a bad teacher, he did this and he did that...mur-mur-mur-mur. And I began to wonder why am I doing so well if he is such a bad teacher?

Once, I nearly stood up in class to ask them what was going on. Mr. Powell was late to class that morning and the little rebel inside me wanted to ask why someone who nearly flunked out of high school 7 years earlier and worked 50 hours a week was getting A's and they weren't? I chose to remain silent. Instead, I chose to make my sentiments known in Dr. Houghton's presence. 3 decades later I still regret my decision.

As each decade has passed, I've often thought of my time at FBBC. I love my school and pray for the students and teachers to this day. Dr. Walton and Dr. Shipp changed my life through their kind and loving example. They loved us, truly loved each student. It was an honor and privilege to attend FBBC and I look back at my time there with fondness. Today, I look forward to reading the alumni newsletter and always look for people I knew in the pages.

But I'll never forget how gossip took away a brilliant teacher. A few students wanted mediocrity. They wanted an easy road and they received it. He was let go at the end of the semester. He was replaced by someone, I don't remember who they hired. Through the power of gossip, a truly great teacher was sent away.

Gossip destroys. It should be hated by more than just One Person.

Winter is over

 Winter is definitely over in my part of the world.  And the slow period of longarming is over, too!  I have 11 quilt tops to get longarmed over the next 2 weeks.  I love the busy season.

I finished up a table runner I've been working on.  It took awhile to applique the pieces.  I used the invisible applique method with monopoly monofilament thread.  This was a laser cut quilt kit and it was so easy to iron down the precut applique pieces.

ForeverMore Quilt Progress

 I've made good progress on the ForeverMore BOM.  I'm ready to begin sewing the setting triangles to the blocks.  And after that comes assembly of the quilt!  The yellow tags are the block #'s.

Donation Quilt

 I made this quilt in December and longarmed it last month.  I finished the binding over the weekend and it will be donated to one of the women at the Pregnancy Support Center here in Durham.  

The pattern is called Garden Trellis and it is a free download here!

Quilt of Valor

 I haven't posted a quilt top in awhile so I thought I'd show the Quilt of Valor top I'm longarming today.  I love QOV quilts.  I attended our group's last awards ceremony where we awarded over 25 quilts to deserving veterans.  The man I gave my quilt to gave me 3 hugs because he was so grateful.

If you would like to serve veterans in this way you can visit the QOV Foundation website to find a quilt sewing group in your area. 
There are groups all across the country!  https://www.qovf.org/about-qovf/whos-in-my-area/
 The search function on their site doesn't work very well if you enter a zip code.  You have better results if you zoom in on your location using their map.

Ode to Sewing Machines #34

Many of you follow my "Ode to the Sewing Machine" posts.  We've all seen the ads on craigslist, ebay and elsewhere.  The clueless sellers give those of us who sew a belly laugh, or two!  Here's installment #34…

Outrageous price for a machine with mold growing on it.

A rust bucket for only $700!

Start to Finish: How to stitch a pantograph

 I had a few people ask me to make a video showing how to stitch a pantograph from beginning to end so I made a video showing just that!   I hope this helps!