Grading Mania!

I love the end of the semester because it is the end of the semester which means I get a break from teaching. I hate the end of the semester because it means I have such an insanely large pile of stuff to grade.

This semester, I stumbled upon papers from two students who obviously cheated since whole paragraphs are IDENTICAL. I have a warning in my syllabus about academic dishonesty and plagiarism, so I know I should report them, especially since they are college students who need to learn about the real world. 

I have no idea if I should report them or not. This is the first time this has happened to me, and the paperwork seems daunting. Ugh. Any opinion?

Anyways, now for happy crafting stuff!

I finished the April and May blocks for Color Bee Shocked.

This is the April block for Caryn. It is a GIANT block, 24.5" unfinished!

Here is the May block for Karrie. This one is also large and ends up being 17.5" unfinished. (The group used this tutorial over here.)

I also mailed out my pouch for the Pretty Little Pouches Swap. Here are the two sides, with some goodies.

Lastly, I was able to eat some Brussels sprouts from my garden! Yipppeee!

Now I have to go back to work at grading. I should really try to have everything graded by Thursday afternoon since I am going on an amazing road trip to Texas Star Party, the best Astronomy viewing party in the world this weekend! I will try to bring pictures. :)

HS: Home Sick or Hand Stitching?

I am fairly certain I have contracted the bubonic plague.

That means I have spent nearly all of the past two days snoozing on the couch. For an insomniac, being able to actually sleep is already impressive enough, but sleeping during the day AND night illustrates how sick I truly am. 

In between naps I have been doing some hand stitching. This is what will be the front of the pouch I am making for the Pretty Little Pouch Swap. 

Here is a reverse shot showing the hand stitching and thread colors! 

The back of the pouch is going to be the green version of the woven fabric panel I made in this tutorial over here.

I also managed to start this ridiculous bit of applique for myself. Apparently this is what a fever does to my brain. The fabric styles are so random, which makes me like it more. This version where it is now is definitely underwhelming, don't you think? 

My TA Josh suggested more flowers to add depth. So I cut out more wildflowers and am playing around with this now. I will need fusible web for these additional flower bits because my machine applique is not too great yet. It still feels like something is missing, though. Any suggestions??

Well, I'm off to go back to sleep. Maybe I won't get banished from work tomorrow. Or maybe I will and I can fit in more napping and sewing.