Design Wall Monday: In Which Tenacity Triumphs Over Tricky Triangles... And Rebecca Sings With Kristin Chenoweth!

Although I've been more consumed with Italian opera choruses than sewing over the past week (more on that later), I did continue working on my Tabby Mountain quilt in fits and snatches.  I have finally come up with a method for matching up those 30 degree triangles that gives me reasonably good precision on the first try, without slowing me down to a crawl.  My OMG (One Monthly Goal) is to get this one on the frame and QUILTED.  The month is nearly half over and I have some upcoming travel at the end of this week so I'm trying to keep my eye on the prize and resist my the temptation to get bogged down in pursuit of perfection.  

As of Sunday Afternoon

I have the whole quilt laid out on my design wall.  Despite the pattern directions to press all seams open, I'm pressing each row to the side in opposite directions.  I discovered early on that I have better visibility at points if I'm able to press each completed seam allowance AWAY from the next seam to be sewn.  So I'm working from right to left on rows 1, 3, 5 and 7, and I'm working from left to right on rows 2, 4, 6 and 8.  Those triangles that you see flipped upside down on the wall are the next triangles to be sewn in each row, so I've only sewn about 25% of the triangles together so far.  I flip the next triangle over onto the pieced section to which it needs to be attached and then take the whole thing to the sewing machine like that, to keep from getting confused about which triangle goes where.  It is NO FUN to sew a perfect seam, press it open, and realize that you sewed the wrong pieces together!

I've modified the marking template that I showed you last time.  Marking the ends of all three seams on each triangle corner was taking too long, breaking the tips off my mechanical chalk pencil over and over again, and was also fussy and fiddly, trying to stick pins through little dots to line the two triangles up for stitching.  Then I remembered the little notches on my isosceles triangle die for my Accuquilt GO! cutter, the same kind of notches that you find on garment patterns.  So I printed out the last page of the Tabby Mountain quilt pattern again at 100%, the page with the optional cutting template for those who don't want to rotary cut their triangles.  That template includes a blue dashed stitching line that I could see through my paper.  Holding the paper up to the window so I could see through it, I carefully folded each seamline in half so the points matched up, creating a perpendicular crease at the exact midpoint of each side seam.  

I've Marked the Seam Intersections in Green

In order for this to work, you need to be matching the seam intersections together when you fold the paper template in half -- NOT matching the points at the cut edges of the triangle.  I've marked the points I'm matching together in green on the photo above.  After creating that perpendicular fold line at the exact center of each side seam, I went over the fold line with pencil and then transferred those markings to my plastic triangle template as you see above.  The little dot at the end of my Sharpie-marked midlines on my plastic template represents the exact midpoint of each quarter inch side seam.

Skinny Channels Cut With Pattern Notcher

Then I remembered this nifty little pattern notching tool that I had bought for dressmaking patterns a long time ago (and have never used).  It's like a hole puncher except, instead of punching a hole, it punches a narrow 1/4" long channel, just wide enough for a chalk pencil point to draw a line.

See How the Chalk Line Completely Fills the Channel?

Now, instead of trying to draw and match up three tiny dots on each triangle, I'm just making one little alignment mark on each side seam.  To make it super easy to line them up, I mark my dash on the WRONG side of the top triangle, and I mark the line on the RIGHT side of the bottom triangle so I can see both sides at once when I'm matching them up.  It's much easier to line up two little ticks at the raw edges of the fabric than it is to try to line up three little dots that are inset from each triangle point!

Straight Edges Perfectly Aligned, Triangle Point 1/4" Away from Raw Edges

So here's how I lay these pieces out for stitching.  I've just taken this partially stitched row down from my design row and I'm about to add the Disco Kitty triangle with the blue background, so that piece is upside down (right sides together with the pieced strip):

I want to sew this with the new triangle I'm adding on the BOTTOM, though, next to my feed dogs -- otherwise I won't be able to see that seam intersection that creates the triangle point, and I really want to see that to make sure the seams are transecting at 1/4" from the raw edge.  So I flip the whole thing over, like this:

I've shifted the triangles slightly apart so I can see both of them at once.  Then I lay my plastic triangle template over my green triangle and make a little chalk mark in the seam allowance on the WRONG side of the fabric that is facing me.

See That Little Blue Chalk Mark?

And then I flip my template around 180 degrees and line it up with the exposed side of the kitty print triangle underneath:

Marking the Bottom Triangle On the RIGHT Side of the Fabric

See how I'm keeping both triangles facing the way they'll be sewn together the whole time they're off my design wall?  That way I can be sure I'm sewing the right pieces together, each one facing the right direction, without having to use sticky notes to keep track of what goes where.  I've got three different chalk pencils that I'm using -- pink, yellow, and blue, so I have a chalk that I can see clearly on any color fabric.

Pink Line Matched to Blue Line

Now I slide the marked edges back together, matching up those two chalk lines the same way I match the center of a quilt top to the center mark on the canvas of my quilting frame (don't you love how everything is connected to everything else?).

This works because I'm matching up the center point of the SEAM line, not the center of my fabric edge.  With the midpoint of one triangle aligned with the midpoint of the other triangle, the edges of those fabric pieces automatically get "jogged apart" by exactly the right amount every time.  

Pinned for Stitching

The other thing I wanted to show you is how I'm pinning these pieces together prior to stitching them.  I always pin quilt pieces with the points facing the raw fabric edges and the glass heads pointing to the left.  That's so I can use my 97D 1/4" patchwork foot with the foolproof screw-down seam guide that butts up against the right toe of the presser foot.  The first pint goes in right at the marked center point, and then I carefully smooth the two fabrics until the raw edges are aligned to the left and right of center.  I mark the two ends of the seam next, fill in with an extra pin at approximately halfway between the first pins, and then add an extra pin through just a pinch of fabric at the very tip of the intersecting triangle seams that I'm about to stitch, to keep them from wiggling apart before they reach the needle.  

Meet My Best Friend, Spray Starch

With the addition of these alignment marks, this quilt project becomes easy enough for a beginner.  The only thing to watch out for is that the long bias sides of these triangles are very easy to stretch out of shape, which is why I'm handling the triangles as little as possible.  I have no water in my iron, pressing the seams to one side without any distorting steam, and then I'm starching each seam immediately after pressing it, before putting the pieced unit back on my design wall.

MEANWHILE...  The only other sewing I accomplished over the past week was that I finished the reverse applique centers of all of the tulips for my eight remaining Frankenwhiggish Rose applique blocks.  I've been doing Old School applique for this project so far, needle turning the edges of each piece as I stitch them down, but I think I might switch to prepared edge with freezer paper, to hopefully speed things along. There are so many things I want to do, and so few hours in the day to do them!  I would love to show you my first finished block for my Queen's Garden applique BOM. Heck, I'd love to show you even a partially begun first block for that quilt, since Block 2 is due to be released any day now.  I'd love to show you a finished pineapple block, or something nifty on my quilt frame...

But instead, I'll just have to show you this picture of ME with Kristin Chenoweth, right before we sang together onstage in front of thousands of cheering fans on Friday night:

Oh, YES, That's Kristin Chenoweth!  I'm the Smiley Blonde on the Far Right

Okay, it's not QUITE so glamorous as that.  It's not as if she and I were singing duets or anything (I wish!).  Some of us VOX singers were asked to join Opera Carolina Chorus in singing with Andrea Bocelli at his concert at the Spectrum Coliseum -- hence my remark at the beginning of this post about working on Italian opera choruses all week.  Kristin is currently on tour with Andrea Bocelli as a Very Special Guest performer (that's how she's billed in the program) and we got to sing backup on one of her songs, too.  

My View From Onstage

Look at all those PEOPLE!!  I couldn't resist snapping this photo at the end of the concert (I would not dare to take a photo DURING the concert!)  The chorus was at the back of the stage throughout the entire sold-out performance.  I'm tall, so I was in the center of the back row of chorus in the Soprano section.  The orchestra is in front of us (those two gentlemen in the picture are percussionists) and then the featured artists (Bocelli, Soprano Nadine Sierra, Chenoweth, and violinist Caroline Campbell) were down in front.  

I just have to tell you all how beautifully gracious Kristin Chenoweth is.  At rehearsal, the other featured artists practiced their pieces facing the empty coliseum, just like they would do for the performance, getting used to the space, the sounds and lights, etc.  But when Kristin came onstage to rehearse with us, she turned around and faced the orchestra and choir.  She serenaded us with our own private performance, and posed for a few pictures as well.  She even thanked US for singing with her -- like SHE was the lucky one to be onstage with us instead of the other way around.  Isn't it wonderful to find out that someone as brilliantly talented as Kristin Chenoweth has a heart as amazing as her voice?

48 hours later and I'm still giddy!  Okay.  I'm off to accomplish less exciting things, like laundry and grocery shopping.  I'll be linking up with:

• ·       Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com  
• ·       Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts http://www.cookingupquilts.com/
• ·       Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/
• WIPs on Wednesday at Esther's Quilt Blog
• ·       Moving it Forward at Em’s Scrap Bag: http://emsscrapbag.blogspot.com.au/

Happy Belated Mother's Day!

My Mom With My Son Anders After His Orchestra Concert Saturday Afternoon

Good Monday Morning, and Happy Belated Mother's Day to all of you moms and grandmoms out there.  I hope you all enjoyed your special day as much as I did mine.  My husband Bernie was finally up to attending church with us for the first time since his heart surgery last month.  Our pastor preached a fantastic Mother's Day sermon about the nature of God encompassing both paternal and maternal qualities and the many ways in which mothering -- not just fathering -- is a reflection of God's love for us.  And I got to sing a beautiful duet during the offering!  The service is available online here for anyone who's interested: http://gospelstream.tv/christelca.  (You have to choose the "View On Demand" tab and then scroll down to the 5/14/17 Contemporary service.  If you don't want to watch the entire service, you can skip ahead to where the sermon begins, 23 minutes into the service.  My duet with Todd is about 52 minutes in).  And of course, if you're local to Charlotte and you're looking for a church family, I'd LOVE to see your smiling face at Christ Lutheran on Sunday morning!  I'm a choir junkie so I sing at both services, the 8:45 AM Traditional Service and the 11 AM Contemporary service.  If you do visit, please find me after the service!

The Sanctuary at Christ Lutheran Church

After church, my mom came over for an afternoon of Mother's Day Mimosas and sewing.  We took the hem on my VOX choir dress (Burda 6911 with modifications) up by a good 2 1/2".  Since the rayon jersey is heavy and stretchy, the dress was originally so long that even with my highest stiletto platform pumps I was still stepping on the hem.  Now it's a much more versatile length that I can wear either with heels or with flats.

Burda 6911 Dress for VOX Choir Performances

I was able to just slice off the original deep hem with a rotary cutter and do a new 1/2" coverstitched hem.  I cut 1/2" strips of fusible tricot interfacing with the stretch going the same direction as my dress fabric, fused them to the raw edge (through a damp silk organdy scrap that I could see through), and then pressed the hem up at the top edge of the interfacing. 

1/2" Strips of Fusible Tricot Interfacing and Silk Organza Pressing Cloth Scrap

Interfacing Fused to the Wrong Side of the Skirt, to Prevent Coverstitch Tunneling

Fusing the Interfacing In Place Through Wet Silk Organza

My coverstitched hems are still not as perfect as RTW, but I'm getting better at them.  Now that I know to stabilize my lightweight knit fabrics so they don't pucker and tunnel between the rows of straight stitches on the right side of the fabric, and I know to clip the seam allowance of the intersecting seams and flip the hem seam allowance in the opposite direction to reduce the bulk that I'm stitching across at the seams, I'm about 80% of the way there.  My ongoing coverstitch challenges are keeping my project perfectly straight as it feeds through the machine so my cover stitches remain perfectly parallel to the folded edge all the way around the hem, and maintaining the stretch of the fabric so I don't get popped stitches over time from taking the garment on and off.  I've heard of people using Wooly Nylon thread in the looper for a stretchier coverstitched hem, and I can try that next time, but the biggest difference I see between my insufficiently stretchy coverstitched hems and the stretchier coverstitched hems on my RTW rayon jersey dresses is that they are using a shorter stitch length for their coverstitch.  Since the looper thread kind of zigzags between straight stitches on the wrong side of the hem, it makes sense that shorter straight stitches would put more looper thread between each straight stitch, resulting in a stretchier hem.  The hems are fine on this dress, especially since the skirt is so full at the bottom, but I would need more stretch for the hem of a close-fitting knit top that I'm pulling on and off over my head.

After rehemming my dress, my mom and I took Lars shopping for some costuming and prop items that he needed for his theatre class, and then we wrapped up the day by going out to dinner with Mom, Bernie, and the boys.  I can't imagine a better Mother's Day!  ...Well, yes I can -- same day, but without the boys squabbling and kicking each under the table at the restaurant.  Will they still do that when they are adults???

Yesterday I ran around picking up prescriptions and taking first Anders and then Bernie to doctor's appointments and a bunch of other errands.  Bernie's surgeon says he's doing well considering his heart surgery was less than four weeks ago, and he was cleared for driving again.  Yay!  He is still out on short term disability at least through the end of May because he's still weak and tires too easily to be traveling for work and doing site visits, but he's headed in the right direction.  We're so thankful for that.

Today I've got some paperwork to catch up on in my office, but I'm hoping to squeeze out an hour or two in the studio either before or after taking Anders to his violin lesson this afternoon.  Have a fantastic day!

Of Multitasking, Medical Mayhem, Magnolias, and Music

Ah, where to even begin?!  Since my last post, I've finished the remaining 4" sawtooth star blocks and begun assembling my blocks into rows for this baby quilt:

Yay!  All My Blocks Are Done!

I am LOVING how this quilt is coming together!  I've got my blocks laid out the way I want them on my design wall above, and then I take just two blocks down at a time to stitch them together to increase the likelihood that this arrangement is what I end up with once I've sewn everything together.  Of course I am using my trusty 97D foot and its fantabulous patchwork seam guide on my Bernina 750QE because I definitely don't want to be lopping off my crisp little star points at this stage in the game:

Assembling Blocks Into Rows

I'm using the piecing straight stitch #3126 under the Quilting menu, which has a stitch length of 2.0, and now that I've completed all of the paper piecing I switched to white 50/2 cotton Aurifil thread and a size 70 Microtex needle for the remainder of the piecing.  That gives me a thin but strong seam that won't add too much bulk once it's pressed open, but won't pop open, either.

I ordered two different possible border fabrics for this quilt:

But once I auditioned them on the design wall I wasn't wild about either one of them:

Border Fabric Auditions

Too distracting, don't you think?  The hot pink is a satin binding, and I do need a border on this otherwise my outer sawtooth stars would get covered by satin binding.  But now I'm thinking I might just add solid white borders so the hot pink satin binding will be the only "frame" for the blocks:

...Or Just the Satin Binding?

What I'll probably do is a 3" solid white border so there's a little space between the pink satin binding and the star points.  Unless I change my mind before I finish assembling the quilt top.

So, you were wondering about the medical mayhem, were you?  Well, just briefly, my strong, healthy, incredibly active and fit 48-year-old husband suddenly has a serious heart issue, like out of nowhere.  He went to see a primary care doctor for the first time in about 7 years on Wednesday, complaining about his sinuses and how he "couldn't breathe," and the primary doctor sent him straight to a cardiologist who said he had Atrial Fibrillation (wonky syncopated superfast Maramba heartbeat played by toddlers on pots and pans) and he had to go to the hospital the very next morning.  His "resting" heartbeat was 176 and VERY irregular, like something out of a cartoon, causing him to feel exhausted and short of breath just walking up the stairs, and he was having chest pain as well.

The Patient, Just Before Electrocution

Why did he need to go to the hospital?  Because they needed to electrically SHOCK his heart to reset his heartbeat to a normal rhythm, under general anesthesia.  I kid you not.  And this is a healthy, fairly young guy with no other health issues.  He eats well, has low blood pressure, no risk of diabetes, not overweight, works out and hasn't smoked in 13 years.  Crazy!

But even crazier?  After they finish zapping his heart back into submission, the doctors tell us that they discovered with their little surgical cameras that my husband has a severely prolapsed mitral valve, which they suspect was a congenital thing that has progressively worsened over time, and that's what they think has caused this atrial fibrillation thing.  So the AFib is a symptom of a defective heart valve that is allowing blood to flow backwards in his heart, resulting in an enlarged upper left chamber and a heart that was in a lot worse shape than what they expected to find when they checked him into the hospital.  The good news is that they think they can repair the heart valve surgically to restore functionality to his heart and prevent the AFib from coming back.  The bad news is that this means HEART SURGERY, possibly full-on OPEN HEART SURGERY.  So we are all pretty freaked out about this, naturally.  He's going to have some further testing done this week, and then we'll be scheduling his surgery as early as April.  Prayers for strength and healing are greatly appreciated.

Saucer Magnolia In Bloom

And meanwhile, Spring comes just as though everything is normal. 

I love this tree.  We planted it soon after we moved into this house, nearly 10 years ago.

It's nearly up to the roof now.  We've had bizarrely warm weather in Charlotte, and I've even been driving around with the top down on the convertible a few days when the temps were up near 80 degrees.  It's beautiful bike riding weather, but I don't know how long it will be before my sweetie will be able to go riding with me again. 

J.S. Bach (1685-1750)

...And the music I alluded to in my alliterative blog post title is mostly Bach's St. John's Passion lately for VOX, for performances coming up the first week in April.  For those of you who are local to Charlotte and who might wish to attend, here's a shameless little plug:

J.S. BACH - ST. JOHN PASSION

J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion stands as one of the greatest musical and spiritual expressions of all time. Its dramatic, almost operatic, portrayal of Christ’s last days forms the backdrop for profound music of grace, love, and truth in the face of violent persecution and injustice.

VOX presents a staged performance on April 1, in collaboration with Opera Carolina, directed and choreographed by Baroque opera and dance specialist Paige Whitley-Bauguess.

STAGED PRODUCTION:

Saturday, April 1, 2017, 7:30pm

Sharon Presbyterian Church, Sanctuary

5201 Sharon Rd, Charlotte, NC 28210

$20-general admission / $10-students and seniors

Tickets are available online here: https://www.voxfirebird.org/current-season.html

CONCERT VERSION:Sunday, April 2, 2017, 4:00pm
St. Ann's Catholic Church
3635 Park Rd, Charlotte, NC 28209

Presented as part of Gaudium Musicae Concert Series.

$12-adults / $8-students / $30-families. Free-children 12 years old and under.

DAVID TANG, CONDUCTOR

PAIGE WHITLEY-BAUGUESS, STAGE DIRECTOR AND CHOREOGRAPHER

David Vanderwal, Evangelist
Eric Jordan, Christ
Carl DuPont, Pilate
Margaret Carpenter Haigh, soprano
Martha Bartz, alto
Glenn Siebert, tenor
Neal Sharpe, bass

NORTH CAROLINA BAROQUE ORCHESTRA

VOX

WINGATE UNIVERSITY CHAMBER SINGERS

It's very unlikely that Bernie's heart surgery will happen before the St. John's Passion performances, because the surgeon mentioned that he is already booked into April.  They also want Bernie to be on the blood thinners and other medications for awhile before they operate, to reduce the possibility of a blood clot and to give his heart a chance to recover and get stronger again prior to surgery.  Personally, I'm hoping that the surgery can be scheduled AFTER Easter, since we have plans to take the boys to see Bernie's parents in Florida over Spring Break.  I think Bernie's mom needs to see her son, and my boys need to see their grandparents.  There's nothing quite like a major health scare to reshuffle our priorities and remind us not to take family for granted.

And now, I'm off to check on my patient, sort some laundry, and hopefully finish assembling that quilt top!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone!

I'm linking up with:

·       Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times www.patchworktimes.com

·       Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts http://www.cookingupquilts.com/

·       Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/

·       Moving it Forward at Em’s Scrap Bag: http://emsscrapbag.blogspot.com.au/

Meanwhile, Applique... and Dog Arias

Leaves Finished on Whig Rose Applique Block

I finished the last of the leaves on my Whig Rose block a few days ago.  This is my first needle turned applique project (the applique shapes for the Jingle BOM project had preturned edges, starched and pressed over heat resistant mylar templates).  As you may remember from this post, I was having trouble getting that curved edge of the leaves nice and smooth at first.  As usual, I'm learning new skills by reading a book -- in this case, I'm following the instructions in The Best Ever Applique Sampler by Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins, a.k.a. Piece O'Cake Designs.  I contacted Becky Goldsmith via her web site and blog, and she was unbelievably generous and kind in helping me troubleshoot my Lumpy Leaf Dilemma.  You can read her wonderful suggestions on her blog here: http://pieceocakeblog.com/tag/curves/.  What helped me most was Becky's advice to work slowly and only worry about turning enough fabric for one stitch at a time on these tight outer curves.  I see a lot of improvement from that first leaf to the last leaf that I appliqued.

I'm still getting the hang of the whole vinyl overlay and pinning process.  With preturned edges, it was easy to use a lightbox with the pattern BENEATH my block to precisely position applique shapes and glue or pin them in place for stitching.  With needle turn applique, Piece O'Cake recommends tracing the pattern onto a clear vinyl overlay that you lay over your block and then carefully slide your shapes into position between the block fabric and the overlay, lining up the chalk lines on your applique shapes with the traced lines on your overlay, while using registration marks on the block fabric and overlay to keep everything straight and positioned properly.  I'm finding it difficult to do this as accurately as I would like it to be.  I get that, in nature, no two leaves are identical, but this is not a naturalistic applique design that I'm working on and for my purposes the goal is identical, perfectly symmetrical leaves and flowers. 

Evidence of Shape Shifting During Pinning

See how that one leaf shifted when I pinned it down and ended up touching the leaf below it?  If these leaves had preturned edges, that would have been much more obvious before I began stitching, but with the fabric allowance sticking out all the way around it was too late by the time I realized it.  My stitches are really tiny, which is good because you can't see them, but not so good if I have to pull them out with a seam ripper.  I'm not willing to risk accidentally cutting into the background fabric, so that leaf stays where it is.  What's next for this block?  The fussy-cut rosebuds that go around the center of the main flower!

Up Next: Rosebuds!

Another famous applique teacher and author has also gone out of her way to help me out.  Jeanne Sullivan, whose classes sell out faster than rock concerts, reached out to me in response to my post on the Applique Addicts Yahoo group.  I already had Jeanne's book, Simply Successful Applique, and she was kind enough to suggest that her prepared freezer paper template method would work well for these tiny shapes.  The difficulty I'm anticipating is in preserving the not-quite-round shape of the rosebuds without having them look lumpy and misshapen, like I tried to make them round and I just did a terrible job.  I also don't want the rosebuds to "shrink" when I turn them, but I can't let any of the off-white turning allowance show, either, because it would really stand out against the chocolate brown fabric to which these shapes will be applied.

This afternoon, Lars has a math tutor coming (don't ask) while Anders will be at church for his Youth Orchestra rehearsal.  I'm planning to set up my supplies on the kitchen counter so I can experiment with rosebuds while I eavesdrop on the tutoring session.

Anyone who has read through this entire boring post deserves a treat, so here you go: I made a recording yesterday of my three-year-old male Rottweiler puppy singing his favorite song, Mozart's Laudate Dominum aria.  Enjoy:

I'm linking up with Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, because I think those leaves are definitely whoop-worthy.  Like I tell my son with regards to math (which we're not talking about here, because this is a happy place), being smart doesn't mean you automatically know how to do everything the first time you try it.  Your brain gets smarter every time you struggle with something that is NOT easy, and you keep working on it and ask for help if you need it and refuse to give up until you've learned how to do it.  Everything is difficult before it becomes easy!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Singin' the Back-to-School Blues

Femme aux Bras Croisés by Pablo Picasso, 1901

So, the kids started back to school on Monday.  Fifth grade for Anders and seventh grade for Lars.  Wasn't it just a year or two ago that Lars was posing for his First Day of Kindergarten photo in front of a big yellow school bus? 

Everywhere I look, I see commercials, comedians, and popular wisdom telling me that the kids are supposed to be reluctant to go back to school, and the moms are supposed to be celebrating.  Lars and Anders were excited, though, and this momma is sad to see them go.

The summer went so nicely, especially these last few weeks of August without day camps or traveling.  I enjoyed having them in the house.  It was nice not having to battle over homework enforcement or morning traffic on a daily basis.  We stayed up later, read extra chapters of our books, and watched episodes of Chuck on DVD.  The weather in Charlotte was atypical this summer, with so much rain and so little sunshine that it felt like an extended spring, and now the summer has ended before it really began in the first place. 

Now it's a new school year with new teachers, new challenges, new schedules and classes and expectations to get used to.  Already Anders has told me that I've "ruined his life." I mentioned his plans to take up the trumpet in band class this year (in addition to his ongoing private violin and piano lessons) to his violin teacher and she strongly advised against adding a third instrument.  I spoke with the piano teacher and the band teacher, and three out of three music teachers agreed that three instruments is too many, especially for a beginner, especially on top of all of his other homework...  So we switched him to Strings class instead of Band.  Anders retorted, "Mom, they wouldn't have known I had three instruments if YOU hadn't TOLD them!"  Ah, well.  So now, when he's an adult, he can tell his therapist all about how his mean mother deprived him of Band class in the 5th grade, crushing his dreams and denying him his destiny in the brass section.  I can live with that.

Don't feel too badly for me -- I'm sure we'll all adjust to the new school year just fine, once we get used to all the changes.  I met most of the teachers at the Open House night when we dropped off school supplies, and I think it's great that both boys will have different teachers for each of their core subjects this year -- Math, Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies.  Anders will have the same Chinese teacher as Lars this year, and she's wonderful.  I only volunteered to be the Room Parent of one class this year, and I'll volunteer in the school library once a week as well.  I may be teaching Sunday School to fifth grade boys at church this year, too, so we'll all have plenty to keep us busy.  It will be Halloween in a heartbeat.

Is it too early to start decorating for Christmas?  ;-)

Chopin Meets Suzuki and Alfred Hitchcock: 2013 Spring Music Recitals for Lars and Anders

It has been a busy spring for my boys this year, with their Willy Wonka Jr. performances at school followed immediately by Anders' Suzuki violin recital, followed the next weekend by both boys' piano recital.  For your viewing pleasure, I will share both recitals today. 

This was their first recital with their new piano teacher through the Community School of the Arts.  They both have been taking piano lessons for three years.

Here's my 12-year-old son, Lars, playing Chopin's Prelude in C Minor, Op. 28 No. 20:

...and here's my 9-year-old son, Anders, playing Gounod's Funeral March of a Marionette (which will sound familiar to Alfred Hitchcock fans): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCAJiBF9jVU.  (for some reason I was able to embed Lars's YouTube video but not Anders.'  Please let me know whether or not you are able to view the video when you click the link!)

Last but not least, here's Anders playing a Suzuki Etude at his Spring violin recital.  He has just completed his first year of violin lessons -- and of course I can't figure out why this YouTube video won't embed in my blog post, but here's a direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLJYSrp-ZAw&feature=youtube_gdata 

They both did a fine job, don't you think?

In Which Lars and Anders Meet Joshua Bell

Violinist Joshua Bell, photo by Eric Kabik

We drove two and a half hours yesterday to take Lars and Anders to violinist Joshua Bell's afternoon performance at The Peace Center for the Performing Arts in Greenville, South Carolina.  Wow -- what a mesmerizing performance!  No orchestra, just Mr. Bell playing his 300-year-old Gibson ex-Huberman Stradivarius, accompanied by pianist Sam Haywood on a Steinway & Sons concert grand.  All four of us, including Skeptical Lars, were at the edge of our seats with wide eyes and silly grins on our faces throughout the entire performance. 

I didn't find out about this concert until a few weeks ago, so I wasn't able to get the sort of seats I usually snag -- we could see the performers' facial expressions and Anders could see how Mr. Bell was bowing and adjusting pitch mid-song with his fine tuners, but we could not read the sheet music or make out fingering.  Anders' favorite piece was the Sonata for Violin and Piano in E-flat, Op. 18 by Richard Strauss, and Lars's favorite (mine, too) was the Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in D Major, Op. 94bis by Sergei Prokofiev -- until the final encore blew us all away.  You have got to hear Joshua Bell play the Ziguenerweisen Op. 20 "Gypsy Airs," written in 1878 by composer and violin virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate.  I couldn't find it on any of Mr. Bell's official recordings, but I did find this clandestine recording on YouTube:

Couldn't you just listen to that every day for a hundred years and never grow tired of it?

We couldn't believe how quickly the roughly two-hour performance flew by.  Afterwards, Mr. Bell was gracious enough to sign autographs in the lobby (although, unfortunately, no posing for photographs) and Lars and Anders both got to meet him personally -- Lars even shook his hand!  All in all, it was a wonderful afternoon, worth every penny AND well worth the five hour round trip in the car. 

Learning to Love the iPad: My Favorite Educational Apps for iPhone and iPad

I can't believe I hesitated so long before jumping on the Apple cart, so to speak.  You know, iPhone, iPad, iCan'tBelieveIt'sNotButter (sorry; that just slipped in!).  I was worried that the iPad was just another flashy gadget that I'd end up not using at all, but I've had one since the beginning of the year and I keep finding more uses for it every day.
Yes, Dear Accountant, if you happen to be reading this -- I am using my iPad and iPhone primarily for business.  Ahem.  I've got my design portfolio on my iPad, plus thousands of other photos that I constantly refer to in client meetings when I need a visual to explain an idea or a concept, and I put design renderings for clients on my iPad as well.  I use my iPhone and iPad to check fabric and trim stock and pricing on the fly, or to monitor backorder status, as well as emailing with clients, my workroom, vendors, etc.  Whereas my old laptop computer was so cumbersome that I rarely brought it with me on appointments, the portability and simplicity of my iPhone and iPad means that I can work from wherever I happen to be.

But today I want to tell you about some of the cool educational iPhone and iPad apps I've been playing with this summer.  Although all of the apps I'm sharing with you are available for both the iPhone and the iPad, I'll be showing you the iPad version throughout this post.

Anders Works on a Timed Multiplication Test with the Math Drills App for iPhone and iPad

Anders' second grade teacher suggested that he would benefit from memorizing his math facts over the summer.  Yes, we have flash cards for this, but the kids hate them.  Yes, I know all about web sites like Math Facts Cafe where I can print out all sorts of math skills worksheets -- kids are tired of those, too.  However, give a kid a timed math test on a snazzy iPad that tells them how they did in "miles per hour," and encourages them to beat their highest speed to get into the Hall of Fame like a (gasp!) video game, and the kids are hooked.  The Math Drills app pictured above lets kids test separately on addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts, or you can choose mixed tests.  I especially like that I can customize which facts appear in the test, so that Anders has been able to test on only the multiplication facts he has learned so far.  Math Drills Lite is the free version of this app, but it's worth upgrading to the paid version for $1.99 to be able to save students' progress, save multiple student profiles, etc. 

Mean Mommy that I am, I've been requiring each of the boys to do one Math Drills test per day in order to earn PlayStation time.  The only thing they fight over is who gets to take the test on the iPad (big screen, big buttons) and who has to use the iPhone instead.  Their speed and accuracy has steadily increased, and they love seeing "New Personal Record" when they finish a test. 

Anders demonstrates the Sight Read Music app on the iPad

This next one is an app that I've been using myself to help my rusty sight reading now that I'm taking piano lessons (yay!).  I'm pretty good with the treble clef from singing, but until a couple of weeks ago I would have to count up the lines or spaces of the bass clef while silently thinking All Cars Eat Gas or Great Big Dinosaurs Fart Alot (Lars and Anders came up with that one).  The Sight Read Music app shows and plays the sound of the note, and the student touches the corresponding piano key on the iPad or iPhone screen.  The app keeps track of how many you have done correctly.  Sight Read Lite is the free version of this app, with additional features available in the full version for $1.99.  This has helped me SO much, and my kids can do this one, too.  You can set the app to test you on just bass or just treble, or a combination of the two, and you can turn off sharps and flats in the settings to make it easier for beginning music students.

Anders Demonstrates Note Tutor App on the iPad

Another complementary app to Sight Read Music is Note Tutor, pictured above.  Whereas with Sight Read Music the student identifies the correct piano key for each note, with Note Tutor the student must identify each note by letter name.  As with Sight Read Music, Note Tutor allows you to choose whether you want to work on Treble Clef and Bass Clef together or separately, and you can turn sharps and flats on or off to suit the student.  Again, there's a free version of this app that you can download just to try it out, but it's worth paying $2.99 for the full version that keeps track of students' progress. 

Anders Demos the French Audio FlashCards App for iPad

Since I was discouraged by how rusty my French had become when I was in Paris last January, I splurged on the $14.99 French Audio FlashCards app from Declan Software to brush up in preparation for my September Paris trip.  I am in love with this app!!  There are 4,400 French words grouped in manageable word files of 10 around topics such as Days of the Week, Food: Seafood, Slang, etc.  At the beginning of each word file you get to go through and review each word, with an audio recording of the word of phrase spoken by a native speaker.  There are three multiple choice tests for each word group, as well as a spelling test, and the user can easily add words to a "sticky" list if they feel they need more practice.  I love this app so much that I just downloaded the Declan Spanish Audio FlashCards app and the Declan Chinese Audio FlashCards app, since those are the languages Lars and Anders will be studying at school.  More hurdles for little boys to jump on the way to PlayStation! 

Baby FlashCards Mandarin Chinese app from Dream Cortex

I had downloaded the Dream Cortex Mandarin Chinese Baby FlashCards app a couple of months ago for Anders, but it's more of a memory game for preschoolers than a tool to supplement formal language classes.  There aren't many flash cards, and other than the counting cards, most of them are pretty random.  Seriously, do Chinese people even need to know how to say "accordian" in Chinese?!
There are a couple more educational iPhone/iPad apps that I've downloaded, such as the National Geographic Jigsaw Puzzle app, The Oregon Trail (remember that from grade school?  It's so much better in color!), the National Geographic GeoBee app, Sudoku2HDPro, National Geographic Kids Magazine, and a cool NASA app, but we don't use these as often -- they come in handy while waiting for a table at a crowded restaurant, however.

It wasn't too long ago I was investing in Leap Pads and Leapsters for the boys, and then having to pay between $15-20 for each cartridge and book set.  I can't get over how inexpensive these truly superior learning tools are, and the fact that I can carry all of this around with me in my purse, ready to whip out in the grocery store checkout line, in the waiting room at the doctor's office, or whenever we have a little down time.  With the ability to read electronic books on the iPad and iPhone with the Nook and Kindle apps, or watch full-length films on the iPad through the Netflix app, this iPad contraption is more valuable than I ever imagined it could be.