I've got the non-applique blocks done for 1 part of mine. The applique pieces are cut and interfaced, ready to peel and iron down. I am having a couple issues with the other part of my project, which I'll get worked out even if I have to hand stitch the part that's giving me issues. It's the tight seams that are getting me. My 22 year old Kenmore machine isn't happy doing 1/8" seams.
One of my boyfriend's students is defending his PhD thesis today, so we'll be having a graduation party this evening, which means no sewing for me. It's like losing one of your children sometimes though. Some of the students you get to know really, really well. This student is from Nepal, and has only been home once since he came here to start college 7 years or so ago. He got his bachelor's at another school, but since he came here, he's been like one of our kids. He went to Greece to the conference Dusty and I went to with my boyfriend 2 years ago, and he and Dusty shared a room the whole trip. We changed flights in Rome, so we took a long weekend there for the boys to do some sightseeing, since my boyfriend and I had been the summer before when that same conference was on Ischia Island (it's in the same island chain as Capri, off the coast of Naples) and Dusty didn't get to go. You get to know these students pretty well just from regular interaction, but when you spend vacation time with them, you really get to know them. I can't tell you how many times I've fed that young man since then.
I'm very proud of him. He's been offered a position at the company that my boyfriend's undergraduate class usually visits every year for a plant tour, because their senior design projects are based on work they do there. He's also married since he moved here, and plans to stay in the state at least for now. It's rewarding to see "our kids" do well, and see how the long hours that my boyfriend puts in changes their lives.
