Back to the Grindstone

I am sitting here today wishing that I could stay home! But, alas, I have to leave for LaX today for another week of archaeology. Even though it is interesting, and I am glad I am doing it, it is hard to go today after what I did this past week. I just returned from four days of sewing and laughter at a quilter buddy's cottage, with quilter friends. Couldn't get much better than that! I feel like I got so much done! I finished putting borders on a "Garden Pathways" quilt that I started THIRTEEN years ago! Now I have another top in my rubbermaid tub. Well, on the stack of quilt tops that is in the tub... it is a foot higher than the tub at this time. Oh My! I also put a binding on a small Christmas quilt. I made that one around the same time. I still have to hand stitch the binding to the back. I am going to take it along for the ride to LaX, since I am not driving this time. I worked on some more bookcase blocks, too. I have two sets finished and one partially done. One set this time I just made books all the way across. You can't have something on EVERY shelf! The second set has books along with a bug in a jar cut out of a panel. The perfect size! They are so cute! The third set has books and a bowl with fabric scraps in it. I have that one 3-D so scraps are falling out (stitched in with the sewing that anchors the bowl fused applique. I just ironed them right in there and stitched over them.) I like how they turned out. I will take photos and post them when I return. No time now... in fact, I should be in the shower, and I still have to pack. It is always so nice to go to the cottage with friends. We realized that this was our 5th year. What a nice time! I don't go outside much, and enjoy the lake, though. Since I only have so much time to sew, I get obsessed with that, and ignore the beauty around me. The first day we were there it was incredibly HOT and HUMID and we were all dripping (or was that MELTING?). After that a storm came through and it cooled to a perfect temperature. We have so much fun together, and my friend is such a good hostess. We all bring food, and try to help, but I know she works hard to have us there. What a wonderful time! That's what makes it so hard to have to go back for archaeology class! I will be OK once I get there, but I wanna stay here to QUILT!!! Waaaaaaah! sniff

My co-worker and I are going today so the drive is over and we are ready to go tomorrow. We are taking an extra day and are going to see the SPAM museum in Austin, Minnesota tomorrow. I know we will do other things, but not sure what. We will be going to Iowa Monday night and meeting our class at Effigy Mounds National Monument on Tuesday morning. That night we'll be back in LaX watching one of our teacher's slides from Egypt, while having a pizza party. Wednesday we will be back out at the site. We'll see what the second group of teachers did at our feature (and the others) and we are also "walking the creek" to see if we find any more mastodon bones washed out. The found an ulna there a number of years ago, and don't know where it washed out of, so every once in a while they walk the creek hoping to see where it came from. Another thing we'll be doing is testing an area looking for a burial. The brothers who own the farm were using a small bull dozer to make a road in to another site, and pushed the soil they took off into a big pile. A young boy who was visiting picked something up from the pile and it turned out to be a human skull! So we will be looking for the rest of the burial so that it can be protected from further disruption. We'll also be having a picnic with the brothers that day. They are 81 and 78 years old; I think I mentioned that in a previous post. We'll have a day of school talk, as well. On Thursday we'll meet in groups and share our overviews of how we will be implementing this into our classrooms. My co-worker/friend and I have a 16 day unit planned that will begin the 3rd day of school, which we will do only with our 5th period classes. We'll be trading classes some days so these students will have both of us. The rest of our classes will be learning things the "old" way so that we can compare test scores. I know that the other classes will be jealous, so I will have to do some of the activities with them later in the year. Friday we will be driving home. Then it will be a weekend with DH at the trailer. I am hoping to be able to sew on the following Monday and Tuesday so I can quilt some baby quilts that are overdue. I can't believe that summer is almost over. Sigh. I want to do so much and the lack of time can be so frustrating!!! Better get packed so I am ready when my friend arrives to pick me up. I hope I can stay awake today. I didn't fall asleep until 5:30 AM last night (this morning). Now today I am drinking coffee so the caffeinne keeps me going. I keep typing double letters and having to go back to edit. =-) Oh, I almost forgot... I found my DJ journal, and added the blocks I had made since my last entry, and found I had 99!!! So I took one that I only had two little "melons" to stitch on yet, and finished it. So now I am at 100 blocks! I'm a Jubilee Jane! Yahooooo!! Off to PACK now; I have to go as much as I'd like to stay! Stay tuned for the next episode of "Adventures in Overbooked Land!"