Pretend

One is never too old to learn something new! I am most certain research will back up my claim: It is a great way to stay mentally active!

When I say “new” I refer to acquiring knowledge totally outside my comfort zone. It’s not to polish up my skills, or learn a new technique or way of doing something I already know something about, but a totally new (yet I’ve always wanted to know about) aspect.

I will never actually seek a Masters Degree. It is most impractical for a 65+ me with zero plans on ever working full time again (especially to pay off the over $75,000 ridiculous cost to achieve such a degree). But I have spent the past few days of down time (while husband recuperates from double bypass surgery) coming up with a pretend degree plan through Texas A&M University!

Thank goodness for the Internet and folks/businesses that provide content!

I am very interested in land management (our own personal land and surrounding local community) by transferring the precious commodity into a permaculture landscape.

I started in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences area, then found the “Master of Agriculture in Agricultural Development” (ALEC) degree planner that lists the required courses.

For the “additional” ALEC courses and the “Support Courses” I found TAMU’s online catalog and simply scrolled down the list of course descriptions.

Everything and anything that peeked my interest, I right clicked “open link in new tab” and will read further, later. I have bunches of links open and pray my system doesn’t crash on me!

Oh. My. Goodness. For the first required course “Principles of Adult Education” I found a bucket load of online resources and read and read and read...

Anyway, while trying to keep a low profile around here, that’s what I’ve been doing... learning something new!

What are you learning today?



                   

The Beast

Okay, not everyone considers applique as a beast, but it’s been an intimidating technique for me. It’s so far outside my comfort zone I totally avoid it! I do admire those who applique and love the beautiful creations they make. I’ve seen breathtaking quilts and fashions with appliques and appreciate the hard work involved.

According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, an applique is:

~ a cutout decoration fastened to a larger piece of material ~

Before diving in, I know I cannot “fasten” the applique via hand stitching; due to my hands, it’s simply something I cannot do without lots of pain. Knowing my physical limitation, I’m going to step out of my comfort zone and search out the best way to prepare the piece, then machine stitch it down to another, larger piece.

I realize there are embroidery “patches” folks can do, then machine stitch it down, and by definition, it’s an applique. One can find lots to download and embroidery out like I found here on Adorable Applique.

I’m looking to create an applique ~ the decoration ~ from fabric, like this…

Not having the fine motor skills anymore, how do I work the cut edges nice and smooth underneath? I’m looking for the “turned edge” technique.

OH MY GOODNESS! I love working with glue sticks and large knitting needles! Yes! I just found a fabulous informative article by Karen Johnson at Connecting Threads. In fact, she provides step-by-step photo instructions!

I think I can!

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