What’s In a Name?

Happy 2018! It is a new year, and we have so many things on the agenda for the shop. I’m not a huge New Years Resolution person, but I am really hoping to find time to blog more this year.

 

With that said, I am also helping to continue learning more on Millie, and I started early learning new things this year. On Christmas Eve/Day, I quilted a custom quilt for my Brother-in-Law. Somehow, my two brother-in-laws have been able to convince me to only quilt custom for them. It has always been a large learning curve. Each time, I have learned new things, and thankfully the quilts always turn out great!

 

This particular quilt was a gift for the man officiating his wedding. The family’s last name starts with a G and they have three kids: Ellyn Beth, Jax Joseph, and Jones Dean. I promise we checked the spelling multiple times during this process, but it still made me nervous.

Devin, my brother-in-law, had the idea to quilt all of the childrens’ names into the quilt. It sounds easy, doesn’t it? Well… I couldn’t find an easy way to do it without a ton of jumps between every letter (A jump is when Millie stops sewing in one spot and moves to another spot. It leaves a stretch of loose thread that needs trimmed.), so I improvised. I spent quite a lot of time in PatternCad, a program in QuiltPath that allows a pattern to be “drawn”.

I grumbled quite often while “drawing” this pattern, but I love how it turned out. Now I want to do a similar quilt for my grandmother with all of the grandchildren’s names, but the idea of creating patterns for all of those names makes me worried.

 

See you at the machine,

Care

 

 

8 + 2 + 1 = ?

8 + 2 + 1 = ?

I’m a numbers person. I struggle with scrappy, I try to find a pattern even if it is hidden deep, I want some sort of order to things.  I look for numbers.  I think this is the only reason I can work up a pattern from a picture.  My brain functions by adding seam allowance to things and using one yard lengths, 40 inch width, and feeling at home with a calculator in my hand.  I might be a numbers person, but please do not ask me to do anything in my head.  I need a calculator and something to write on: a napkin, post it note, paper, anything.

This weekend we quilted EIGHT quilts.  They were all beautiful and all completely different. The quilts ranged from: a Harry Potter baby quilt (pictures are top secret until later this month), a fabulously finished t-shirt quilt from our class earlier this month, a jelly roll strip quilt that came to life with the quilting, a peacock-lovers wedding quilt, two twin Farm Girl Vintage quilts (I LOVE FGV!), a scrap quilt where the lady used a piece of wood cut by her husband- so resourceful and so smart, I have too many ideas now- and lastly one we finished at the end of last week called Tapestry.

I also started TWO quilts this weekend.  Go big or go home, right? We have a class coming up, and my goal is to always make at least one quilt of each size before sharing any fabric measurements or class patterns.  I am still working full time in addition to the shop, so my time has been scarce.  I finally disappeared this weekend and started cutting.  Friday and Saturday I spent finishing one size using our brand new Moda line, Poetry, and Sunday I found a couple helpers to help cut out the second quilt.  I went with a much different feel than the first, opting for solids and a more modern look.  I started sewing this one Sunday and Monday evening.  I have great things planned for the quilting of this modern-like quilt, but I am not sure when I will sneak in any of my quilts on Millie.  I’m thinking that would have to happen in the middle of the night one of these days.  If you ever pass the shop late one night and see the midnight oil burning away, you will know what I am up to.

I have ONE pup who will try her hardest to stay awake with me.  (I had to come up with some excuse to share another puppy picture).  Our oldest knows the routine, and she will always go to bed and get comfy, but the youngest will stay awake, or try to, until I am ready for bed.  I caught her watching me from the top of the stairs Monday night as I sewed late trying to finish up a quilt.  She would open her eyes if I looked her way or moved, but she was so tired and fighting sleep so badly. It was too funny to watch.

 

8 + 2 + 1 = A successful weekend and start of a new week!

See you at the machine,

•Care

T-Shirt Quilts, Teacup Spinning, and Team Work

Do you ever feel like you are cramming a week’s worth of living into one weekend. It is the end of the week, but everything starts spinning in fast forward motion.

I feel like I am on the teacup ride at Disney World with my husband and a family friend crammed into this little tea cup and they are spinning it so fast I cannot see anything outside the cup. You focus on the inside, and the only thing you can clearly see. The door is locked and you are stuck spinning away. That is my weekend, but I completely love it.

I am truly living every second of every weekend. I’m not sleeping it away or waiting for time to pass. I’m living in the moment, and enjoying it wholeheartedly. However, I’m a little tired. Many weeks and weekends with little sleep are causing my batteries to run low. Tonight, I am going to sleep early and I have announced this to my family. Hopefully these storms don’t get too nasty….

This weekend was our second sewing class- a full t-shirt class. This has been our most requested class, and it turned out to be such an exciting and all-around great class. Several people even finished their quilts!

We are almost certain two machines had smoke flying out of them as their owners earned several speeding tickets throughout the weekend, but we let them fly and loved their finished products.

My goal with every class is that each participant makes the quilt they truly want, not what is required. We have few requirements in our classes. There are so many different ways to sew, and we understand that. Things work for one person that do not work for someone else. We recognize this. My mom sews one way, and I sew a different way. Laugh if you will, but I was taught to cut by a left-hander (mom), so that is just a hilarious process unto itself. 

 There is no right or wrong- putting a needle through fabric is sewing. We will teach what we know and tricks and tips we have learned along the way. Most importantly, we will all have fun.

 
After a brief chat, everyone got to work. Baseball shirts, anniversary shirts, soccer, football, OSU, tie-dye, and fraternity—we saw so many different shirts and each quilt is incredible and different. 

As class progressed, I was even able to play on Millie a bit. I stayed late and came early to prepare quilts so it wouldn’t disrupt class. 

Two cute, matching KU quilts were finished, and we even took in a K-State quilt. We do not choose teams when it comes to quilting. 🙂 

A small table runner or wall-hanging also made its way across the machine. This one was incredibly pieced and I loved getting to add the quilting.

Our most popular thread this month has been Sand, and we quilted with it again this weekend. A fabulously, fun quilt with a flower pattern was screaming for gold thread. Sand has a way of looking like the perfect gold for quilting, and that is just what it looked like on this one. 

Two of the quilts this weekend used a fun color thread on a solid backing, which allowed the quilting to really pop. It creates a truly reversible quilt. 

I have yet another unfinished project since I couldn’t fully finish my OSU T-shirt quilt, but this is the first full week of the month, and that means it is WIP Week! I have two quilts that I will be working on and hopefully you will get to see finished pictures soon…
One last project that happened this weekend–my batting wall. Friday night I walked my amazing husband into the quilt intake room and pointed at the massive pile of batting and said I wanted something to fix it. Then I left the room. The result was this awesome wall that works perfectly! 

Our next class will be a Log Cabin quilt using the Creative Grids trim tool. I love the traditional log cabin block, so I cannot wait for this!

See you at the machine,

•Care

Traveling through Hyperspace… Or Just a Weekend

Weekends used to mean a time to relax, clean house, catch up on laundry, and go grocery shopping.  Now, they mean sewing and being surrounded by fabric! I’m fine with this tradeoff, but my house might be included in the next State of Emergency Alert.  Long days doing what I love, and an extremely understanding husband, make the tradeoff bearable.

This weekend was busy… and fabulous… and so much fun.  Friday I worked with Millie and caught up on random shop things including placing more inventory around the shop and ordering even more fun stuff.  Saturday we had our first class.  The Disappearing Nine Patch Class was a blast.  Although the pattern was the same, each quilt was vastly different.  I cannot wait to see the finished quilts.  Everyone made great progress during class, so ladies, don’t let that get buried in your unfinished project pile. I’m mainly talking to myself since I have had a partially finished D9P floating around in my car/backpack/sewing room for quite a while now.

Two of the quilts we finished this weekend were customer quilts.  One was a fun Bruin T-shirt quilt and the other was a GORGEOUS star quilt.  The t-shirt quilt was quilted using a pattern similar to the border print.

The Star quilt was quilted with a simple Damask pattern.  Can we have an honest moment for three seconds? This quilt made me nervous.  First, it is GORGEOUS.  I cannot believe the time spent on this quilt.  Secondly, the story behind it is one to break hearts and show love.  Every stitch was sewn with love, and I felt compelled to carry that through the quilting.  Lastly, it is just so breathtaking.  I was not the one to take this quilt in, so I had not seen it before I started loading it onto Millie.  Breathtaking.  Simply amazing.  I believe I asked my mom if they were sure they wanted me to touch it.  A few deep breaths later Millie started to hum.

The quilting pattern was perfect as it did not take away from the quilt piecing.  Thank goodness.  I would not have been able to handle it if the quilting changed this quilt in the smallest way.

Shout out to tall husbands and brothers.  Also chairs and friends.  Taking some of these pictures can be difficult but they put up with my “just a few more pictures” every single time.

The last quilt from the weekend (which is still on Millie) was a quilt my brother-in-law, Devin, has sewn.  He pixilated two Star Wars graphics and pieced them together using 3 1/2 inch squares.  I think there is a rule that you try to do anything a brother asks (I only have brothers), so we were jumping into the deep end and learning new things, left and right this weekend.

First, we wanted to keep the squares lined up.  The front and back were the same size and used the same 3 1/2 squares, so in theory they were to line up.  To handle this and knowing that the back sometimes shrinks up more while quilting on a Longarm we pinned the squares together all throughout the quilt.  I also attached leaders onto the backing so I would have enough space to attach the quilt to Millie.  On the last row of pinning, we found that there was an extra row on the top piece. Something was wrong.  The unpinning began and we finally found the problem in the middle.  We repined and were ready to start quilting.

Devin found two images he liked and wanted quilted throughout his quilt.  One was a TIE Fighter and the other was a X Wing.  At first, we tried pulling the images into Quilt Path, the program I use on Millie, but the program could not understand what line to draw next.  She was moving all over the place and creating around 45 “jumps” in one small square (Jumps are when the machine moves but does not sew, so you are left with long threads to trim).  I finally decided to draw each image line-by-line, so I could control what she would sew next.  I figured out how to upload a background image to “trace”, but it still took quite a bit of time, and it was a huge learning curve.  I was besties with that undo button.

I also reset the line and dot design he had found so it would fit in the different spaces.  We made different sized blocks so all of the lines and circles would stay the same size and not get stretched or scrunched when we set each block.  I set Quilt Path up to have four point marking in place.   Every block could be placed within the set boundary and not start to sew outside of the grid.  Although some blocks are off slightly, most are extremely close.

After all the blocks were designed and ready, I showed Devin how to place each block using the four point set up, pull the bobbin up, and get Millie to sew each blocks.  While he worked on this, I was able to work on a handful of other things around the shop.

Out of nowhere, we heard an awful noise and everyone started running to Millie as I kept saying “Press stop! Press stop!” Devin caught it, pressed stop many times, and we were there.  She broke a needle.  I tried looking for the other part of the needle and said a prayer that Millie’s timing was not messed up.  After looking underneath Millie, I quickly noticed the hook assembly looked out of place and way wrong.  To test, I put a new needle in and tried using the fly-wheel to make sure everything was okay.  It was not.  I jumped online and searched for the re-timing video APQS has recorded on YouTube.  A machine’s timing is correct when the needle can enter the bobbin basket as the hook assembly spins around at just the right time.  This creates a stitch.  Needle down, hook assembly spins, needle up, stitch created.  That is the simple way to say it.

When I realized the video was almost an hour long and knowing we still had quite a bit of quilting left to do, I called Brenda (The sweetest distributor from Barnsdall – Red Barn Quilting).  She confirmed my fear and said we really needed to watch the video and follow each step in order and fully.  I thanked her and turned back to the computer.  Here goes nothing…  After the first three steps, back up was called in.  My father-in-law was already at the shop, so he stepped in and I walked away.

I was a ball of nerves as the video continued; file this using an emery board, pull on this, unscrew and remove that.  Each step caused me more fear, and I was not helpful.  I quickly exited the room and worked elsewhere while they went at it.  On occasion they asked for my help, then I would quickly leave again. It was best this way.

Eventually she was back to sewing happily, which meant that I was back to being happy.  We began sewing again, this time moving on from the line design and starting on the X Wing blocks.  On the first block we all gathered around and were mesmerized by Millie (it happens quite often).

Devin continued placing the blocks and working away.  All that is left now are the vertical borders which I will finish up this week.  I need to work more in the design software to set those up.  This takes quite a bit of time and we were all exhausted last night.  Soon it will be finished.

All in all it was a busy but fabulous weekend. We accomplished quite a lot, chatted with friends, and finished quilts.  Learning new things is a key component of this journey and I am always pleased when things turn out well even if we have to take the long route to the finish line.

A new week awaits and another class, the t-shirt quilt class, is happening next weekend.

See you at the machine,

•Care

WIP Week Wrap Up

{WIP= Work In Progress}

Wow! The week flew past, yet somehow I was able to finish a few things. I sure hope you were able to as well. 

First, I worked on a class sample. Our first class is February 25th and it is a beginner quilt class on making a Disappearing Nine Patch; although, any skill level could join. I have set up three different sizes: a queen layer cake friendly version, a charm pack friendly throw size, and a charm pack friendly crib/toddler version. 

This is such a fun, versatile pattern. I used a Moda Grunge layer cake and grey complementary fabric to whip up this sample. I actually really like it and cannot wait for it to be my new couch quilt. I am using Ellen Medlock’s fabric line to make the throw quilt size. It will be an excellent quilt for the spring with all the bright colors. I just started this one, though, so it is not making the leap to the finished quilt pile just yet.

In addition to the Disappearing Nine Patch quilts, Millie was a go getter. This weekend we quilted about 10 quilts. It was such a great weekend spent getting to see different quilts and how the quilting pattern changed the quilt for the better. Everyone has such a unique style that I just love.

We still have a few spots open for the Disappearing Nine Patch Class and Thursday is Open Sew Night at Quilter’s Hideaway! Last week we stayed sewing until after 9pm.

See you at the machine,

•Care

Moving, Quilting, & Sew Much More

2017 is the year we unlock the doors to Quilter’s Hideaway.  Every day we are one step closer and yesterday was no exception.

 

Millie moved into her new and final home at the shop yesterday.

 

Before we moved her I wanted to play with quilting a quilt using a custom design instead of edge-to-edge or a pantograph.  I still needed to quilt Playtime in the Past, so I decided it was the perfect starting point.

I knew what I wanted in the solid squares, but I wasn’t sure what to do in the pinwheel blocks.  I really liked the secondary circle created by the design I quilted first, so I decided to play off that with a circular design over the pinwheels.  The result was perfect for this fun, playtime quilt.

Once Millie was set up in the shop, I was able to finish two more quilts.  It felt amazing to be working in our quilt shop and imagining what is to come.

This quilt is a customer’s baby quilt for a little girl.  It will be washed quite a bit, so a dense pattern-meandering circles, was chosen.  I love how it adds to the playfulness of this quilt.

 

The second quilt was a Disappearing Hourglass Quilt done in blue and cream.  It was a gorgeous customer quilt.  I quilted this with a damask pattern.  It was the perfect, subtle touch to finish off the quilt. Look at those points!

Aside from quilting and moving Millie, we were able to finish this 20 foot design wall for use in the classroom. Who wants to be first to have their blocks hanging here?

 

 

This was a full and busy weekend: moving Millie, building design walls, quilting, and so much more.  We only have 32 days until our grand opening, and many surprises along the way! Make sure you are following us on Facebook and Instagram to be the first to know!

 

See you at the machine,

•Care

 

 

Packing Away Christmas

My husband started taking Christmas down yesterday. I on the other hand retreated to the sewing machine and pretended that he wasn’t taking it down. I sure love Christmas and all the Christmas lights and Christmas trees, but I’m ready for what’s next. 

In 38 days our doors open, and we celebrate our grand opening. I am ecstatic… And a little nervous. There’s so much to do, so much stuff to finish, so many new things to learn, and I’m sure there are items that haven’t even made it on the list yet.  I’m ready to tackle it all.

Yesterday while at the machine I finished three more quilts. They were all customer quilts and they were gorgeous. I thoroughly enjoy looking at each customer’s quilt and the different techniques  they use and styles that they have. There’s an endless possibility for every quilt made, and I love seeing what different people bring to the table.

The first quilt one of my sisters made. We settled on a damask pattern and it looks lovely.

The other two quilts for a sweet lady. They were each panel quilts with cute borders for babies. We quilted a meandering, stipple pattern on both of them and it’s just subtle enough that it doesn’t take away from the panel. I love the bright colors of the fun animals and cars on each of these. 

With every quilt we quilt, my to-make list grows. I think I’m set for a lifetime with quilts to make, and I’m sure that list will just keep on growing.  I sure hope I’m not the only one with this problem. How do you keep up with making the quilts you want to make and getting them all done?
I’ve been off work for a long weekend and I have another long weekend coming up, so the quilt shop is high priority. We had another quick trip to IKEA to pick up a few last minute things and will be building those soon. 

We have lists and phone calls to make this week and fabric is almost on its way which is very very exciting. I’ll be sure to share when the first box comes in. 

Our website guy keeps asking me if I’ve done any YouTube videos or live videos on Facebook, but I’m so nervous and I don’t know where to begin with that. I might be adventurous and try some type of video when we unboxed our first box of fabric. Would you be interested in seeing a sneak peek of what we will be offering? 

We love, love all of your ideas and we cannot wait to get our doors open and welcome you into our place. We hope that you’ll share your likes, dislikes, and wants so that we can fully become everything you all are expecting. This is a new path for us and we are beyond thankful to be walking it with such sweet friends. 

We hope you each had a magnificent Christmas, and we look forward to celebrating the New Year soon! 

Now, I guess I better re-focus and help repack some of our Christmas decorations. Here is one last Christmas picture-a quilt I made years ago. I’m sure dragging my feet on getting everything packed away. 

Sew you at the machine, 

•Care

Are you Millie?

It has come to my attention that not everyone knows who Millie is.

I have been asked if I made this name up, if it is the name of one of our pups, if it is a family member… I’m surprised no one has been brave enough to ask if I have an imaginary friend.

For those of you who missed the introduction of Millie, let’s play a game: Who is Millie?

Along the way I’ll even introduce you to a few key players.  Let’s get started.

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Are you Millie?

No, this is NalaJane.  Nala joined our family about a year ago and has fit right in.  She is one smart cookie and passed puppy class with flying colors, though you have to be careful, she is part kangaroo.  We got Nala as a puppy and I think (*knock on wood*) we are finally reaching the end of all the puppy-ness.

 

 

Are you Millie?

Nope.  This is KylieBelle.  Kylie was rescued over 6 years ago. She is such a good pup and loves to model quilts even when she isn’t asked.

If you haven’t noticed, our puppies are our kiddos.  They are spoiled, loved, and think our life circles around them (it actually might).

If these two aren’t Millie, then who is?

 

Are you Millie?

Not quite.  This is the latest picture I had in my phone of my husband, Dalton, and myself.  We were on the amazing Toy Story Ride at Walt Disney World.  Dalton and I have been together since High School and got married in September of 2014.  We are both avid Disney fans and he is calm and collected while I’m a little scatter-brained and chaotic.  Most of the time he avoids the sewing room, but occasionally you will see him make an appearance.  Often he is called My Love on the blog and in real life.

Are either of you Millie?

Well, no.  This is my mom and my mother-in-law.  Also, my dad is there in the background.  I was blessed in the momma department and gained an amazing lady as a second mom too.  All the iffy stories out there about crazy mother-in-laws do not apply to me at all.  We are all able to do things together and enjoy one another.  It sure makes family get togethers and holidays fun!

 

If none of these people are Millie, and I can’t take a picture of my imaginary friend, then who on earth is this Millie person/thing I reference in almost all of my blogs?

Are you Millie?

YES! This is Millie! If you look closely under the red bow you can see her name.  Millie is one of the APQS Longarm sewing machines.  Her full name is Millennium.  APQS creatively names each of their models: Lucey, George, Lenni, Larry,  and Millennium (Millie) are just a few examples of their different machines.

If you remember, although our machine is Millennium, my brother-in-law renamed her to Millennium Falcon.  I will almost always call her Millie, except in his presence.  🙂

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Now you know.  I wonder how many were clueless in the past posts.  Looking back and reading the blog posts without knowing who Millie was sure makes them sound strange.  I had quite the giggle as I was looking over the blogs.  As least we were able to clear this up a bit.  Feel free to look over past posts including when we opened Millie for the first time!

 

Don’t forget we are making our first public appearance at Gift’s Marketplace TOMORROW at Tri County Technology Center in Bartlesville, OK.  Doors open at 5:30.

 

 

See you at the machine,

•Care

Sewing Saturday

Saturday was all about getting things done with the help of Millie.

I had several projects that needed finished up and Sunday will be a busy day (Its my husband’s birthday!) so that left Saturday.

I started with a beautiful, scrappy quilt made by a sweet lady.

 

Up next was a table runner I made this week. I used double batting and I could not be happier with the outcome. It took forever to finish due to the dense and detailed pattern but the snowflakes were the perfect addition. The cream fabric has a very light snowflake pattern on it that worked well together with the quilting. All it needs is a tiny red binding then to be rolled up and packaged.

 

Next up is a baby quilt I made earlier this year. I used the magic ruler and showed how to make each block on previous posts. I finally had the chance to quilt it. I wasn’t sure how to quilt it at first, but we had played with this ribbon quilting previously and I really liked it. The decision was made and now it is all quilted.  Another quilt ready for binding.

 

 

While Millie was handling her business and quilting away I sat next to her and worked on more planes. Three more finished, three left to go. Hopefully they will fly away this week and I can get that quilt wrapped up soon.

By the time I finished the baby quilt it was late and I needed to pack up and head out. A pretty successful Saturday in my sewing world.

 

We are nearing towards Christmas and this is the first full week of December. You know what that means? It’s WIP WEEK! Find a project that needs worked on or finished and let’s get them completed together.

 

 

 

Share what you are working on and feel free to tag us in pictures. It’s the last push to get things finished up in time for Christmas. Let’s do this!

 

See you at the machine,

•Care

Weeks are Packed Around Here

Hello! Hello!

Let’s be honest with each other for just a moment.  I never expected the last post to be read by so many people.

We had hopes and wishes and dreams, but you all rock!  

With that said, I have been at a loss for what I should post next.  Nothing is quite like announcing the opening of a quilt shop.  Everything else I could say will pale in comparison, but I love writing and sharing what we have going on, so I will do just that.  

 

Today might be a bit of a ramble and somewhat on the jumpy side, but you deserve to know.  Plus, I just cannot contain my excitement.  Here we go!

Last weekend my mom and I walked through the building for the first time with the intention of opening the quilt shop.  Walking in and picturing where the fabric will go, where Millie will call home, the classroom, the notions, precuts and patterns- it is all there.  With every step we take it is turning more and more into a shop.  My hope is that when people walk through the door they feel at home- they feel that they can create in this space, and enjoy the company of other likeminded people.  A creative, warm, welcoming place with a touch of modern and a splash of randomness (after all, I can be pretty random). 

We are continuing to work on the calendar and schedule.  Our hope is to reveal the calendar at Gift’s Marketplace– a women owned, small business fair on December 6^th at Tri County Technology Center (Bartlesville, OK).  If you want to be the first to get your hands on our calendar, make sure you stop by and say “Hi!”

 

With the calendar in mind, do you have a specific class you want to take? A quilt you want to make? Something you want to see or learn more about? Would you like to know what on earth a sewing machine even is (I’m talking to all of you newbies! You have to start somewhere.).  Let me know in the comments below.

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We have chatted about the building and the calendar, now let’s check in on what Millie has been doing.

A little snippet about something we learned this week: if Millie seems happy but is not sewing vertically, do not spend hours researching and trying everything you can think of.  Instead, check that the encoder is still plugged in.  It appears while I was cleaning and oiling her before sewing this weekend, I managed to unplug the encoder.  I spent hours trying to figure out what had happened and searching online for answers. I finally called in back up.  The dealer we bought Millie from (Brenda at Red Barn Quilting –She’s awesome!!) was able to pinpoint the problem over the phone.  Within seconds Millie was back to sewing like a dream.  If only I had made that phone call earlier on…

There are a few more quilts in line for quilting this week and even a few shopping adventures.  Opening a quilt shop brings an entire new meaning to Black Friday shopping.  I have even tried sweet talking a few of the guys in my life into coming along and bringing a trailer.  It will be quite the undertaking.  Make sure you are following along on Instagram (quiltershideaway & quiltingwithcare) and Facebook (Quilter’s Hideaway) to see what happens.

See you at the machine (or maybe in line on Black Friday),

•Care

Remember, if you want to be the first to see our Calendar, stop by and see us at Gift’s Marketplace on December 6^th!

Also, let me know what classes you are hoping to see on the calendar this spring.