Fabric + Elmers Glue + First Graders = A whole lotta fun

I teach first grade. I love it. Each month a book is chosen for a school-wide "Book of the Month". We read it several times, do an activity and display it in the classroom. This month was my class's turn to display in the main hallway. I know...exciting! This month's book is Abuela by Arthur Dorros and illustrated by Elisa Kleven.

It's hard to tell from this picture, but the illustrator used fabric and trims in her pictures. The grandmother's purse is a piece of lace, the top of the building on the lower right is ribbon, etc. Scraps of fabrics...be still my heart! I know where to get a few (bazillion) fabric scraps.

It took 3 fabric loving sessions, but the kids made pictures of themselves and their grandmas (Abuela in Spanish) or grandpas doing something special.

I present the masterpieces:

Retirement Quilt Redo

{Lady of Crafts}

My mom retired last month. For the last 15 years or so she was an Extended Day teacher. Extended Day is what our local school districts call the before and after school care held at the school. At her retirement party they gave her a satin sash with "Lady of Crafts" in glittery letters. And she is the First Lady of Crafts in my book. She has an entire room *filled* with different crafts, craft materials, craft supplies, craft books, etc., etc., etc. Tubs and tubs, shelves and shelves all meticulously organized. Need 500 safety pins? She's got them and won't even feel like they are gone. Need an I-can't-find-it-anywhere color of embroidery floss? She has 3 spools of it and you can have it. She's a crafter and a giver. They do go hand-in-hand.

{Before}

As a retirement gift, her Extended Day family made her a wonderful quilt on which each of the 200 or so kids traced their hand print and wrote their name. Really a great gift. However, it was kind of a last minute idea and her friend didn't have the time (because it needed to be done in 3 days) to make it the way she would have with an appropriate amount of time. (After they gave it to my mom, her friend whispered, "See if your daughter can fix it.")

It may be hard to tell from the photos, but this quilt was about 10' by 3'. Wonderful, but not really practical. My mom and I sat on the floor and picked out the seam around the outside and split the quilt in half. I restitched it together side-by-side resulting in a usable 60" x 60" large lap/perfect picnic quilt.

{After}

The back is blue and yellow square patches. Really cute, but I didn't get a picture of that side.

{Quilted}

I just made some simple quilted grids to keep everything in order. It was pretty fun to transform this quilt to super long and skinny to big and square. =]

Turtles, Gators and a Tipped Canoe

Deciding the encounter with the sting ray wasn't quite close enough to nature we went canoeing down Juniper Spring. It is part of the spring system in the national forest near us. The river has constant current, crystal clear water, lazy meandering, tight curves and wildlife abound.

{Building thunderstorm}

Rushing, the river can be run in about 3 hours. We took our time putting in about 10:30 am and finishing just in time for the final pick up at 4:30 pm, stopping now and then for photo opts, eating lunch and to ponder whether that rumbling was jets (Dirty's dad's hopeful guess) or a building thunderstorm (reality).

{Beautiful view from the canoe}

Near the origin of the spring the water is pretty shallow, maybe shin deep. The little fish dart around the canoe tempting us to race them down the river.

{Before this camera went for a swim}

Dirty and I took the lead down the river and his dad and A followed us. You can't see it yet, but trouble is around the bend. Dirty's dad didn't quite bend back in time to get under a tree. He mistakenly grabbed the trunk to push past it but turned ever so slightly. The canoe overturned sending he and A splashing into the water. They must not have believed Dirty when he said 90% of what you put in the canoe will get wet. Cell phone, camera and two tourist soaked to the bone! Thankfully the phone was off. It and the camera dried out in a few days without any glitches.

{Turtle with a nice reflection in the water under the log}

All the photos are courtesy of A. I didn't dare take a camera, but she chanced it for us. Some of the photos are from her camera, pre-soaking. The others are from Dirty's dad's camera that also got dumped in the water, but was in a resealable bag.

{Palms dancing the tango}

{Percy! What are you doing here?}

{Smallish black butterfly with yellow spots}

{This butterfly is clearly a Steelers fan, too}

Now for the scary photos. These jokers (Dirty's dad and A, that is) obviously do not appreciate or respect how quickly gators can move when they are pissed. I wanted to smooth on past the gators pretending not to notice them or disturb them in any way, but the wacky tourists needed photos. I got more and more frightened each time A said, "Get closer. No, closer. I need to get a good picture." Honey, that's what the zoom is for.

{Baby gator back in the weeds}

The first gator we saw was just a baby, maybe 3-4' long. He was chillin' back in the cut. He wasn't too impressive so we smoothed on by him.

{Thankfully this gator decided that sunning himself was better than eating us}

The second gator we saw looked familiar and I was not interested in revisiting the experience from our last trip here. What? You don't know what happened last time? Dirty and I usually take our kayaks to the springs, which is what we did last time. It was Memorial Day a couple years ago. Our friends Dave and Christy came with us and rented a canoe. It was a great trip! Not too hot, no chance of rain and the river wasn't too difficult to navigate. We saw deer, birds, butterflies, turtles, fish, snakes in trees and a couple little baby gators.

{Another big gator cooling off in the river}

Towards the end of the river we turned this big bend which opened onto a big, bright grassy clearing along the river. Dirty was in the front in his kayak. Dave and Christy were in the middle in the canoe. I was at the end in my kayak. Keep in mind it is a sit on top kayak that-at best- is about 6" out of the water.

As soon as Dave sees the clearing he says, "This looks like gator heaven!" Hearing this a GIGANTIC gator that had been pleasantly sitting on the bank sunning herself turns her head and looks at us. She is pissed that we disturbed her nap and decides to slide into the water to tell us off. With the current pushing him, Dirty was already past the gator. Dave and Christy start freaking out and can't decided if they want to go fast forward or try and back up. They chose back up and nearly hit and tip my kayak. Then they get in gear and race past the gator.

At this point the gator is swimming towards me all alone at the back of the line. Dirty yells back, "If he starts to lunge at you hit him in the head with your oar!" I am thinking, if this thing comes close enough to touch with my oar I'm going to have a heart attack.

{Keeping to herself}

The GIGANTIC gator swims past me eye-balling me the whole way. All I could do was hold my breath and ready my oar. Astonishingly the gator swam on past, apparently deciding I would be to grisly to taste any good. We figured that once in the water right next to me that I looked more threatening then I felt. My kayak is about 14' long and with me sitting on top I was much taller out of the water than the gator even though she was a good 2' longer than my kayak. Suffice it to say I have a very healthy fear and respect for gators now.

Thankfully all the gators we saw on this latest trip were too bored to pay us any mind. Oh, and the rain held off until we loaded the canoes on the trailer and were on the way back to the start. =]

The Penderwicks

{A summer tale of four sisters, two rabbits and a very interesting boy}

{by Jeanne Birdsall}

Always being in search of a good book that doesn't make me sad through the entire thing*, I borrowed this book on the recommendation of my mom. I was picking through her library and pulled this out. She told me that I should read it. I would love it. Mama knows best. (Who do you think bought all my The Baby-sitters Club books back in the day?)

The Penderwicks is wonderful! Maybe the Newberry award medal should have given it away. I am only about half way through and I find myself laughing out loud, gasping and covering my mouth, and talking to the characters. I would have adored this book when I was in third or fourth grade needing to stay up late to read and begging to go to the library or book store to get the other books in the series. If you are looking for a book to read to your kids or just want an easy, fun, summer read I highly recommend The Penderwicks, even if you are out of its target audience.

Do you have any recommendations for me after I finish this? =]

-----

*I once asked a librarian to help me find a book that wasn't sad all the way through. She kind of looked at me quizzically. I explained that I read for enjoyment and I don't enjoy feeling sorrow for the tragically melancholy characters all the way through the book, especially if there was not a super happy ending. I think I stumped her for a moment. After pulling several different books from the shelf (somewhat like Mr. Ollivander does with the wands in Harry Potter) she offered me the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, which at the time only had 4 or 5 books but now is up to 16. I think I stopped at 3. ;]

We had company!

I love company. I love having people stay with us and showing them about our town. Now, I am not overly in love with the city where we live. Don't get me wrong, I like it but that's about as far as it goes. Every now and then all the pieces come together to make for a great day. Luckily we had a few of those when Dirty's dad and his girlfriend came to visit. (By the way, thanks for the game suggestions. We didn't end up needing them, but I bought Blokus for my dad and it is great. I am getting one for us to. Boy, do we get the smack talk flying on that game...)

{A great day for the beach}

Lately it has been hot here. Not only hot, but humid, too. The weather people like to tell us the "feels like" temperature. The "feels like" temperature in the summer is similar to a wind chill factor in the winter. For example, growing up I would hear, "... 28 degrees but with the wind chill it is 15 degrees." Here, we get to hear, "...and a high of 98 degrees with a 'feels like' temperature of 105 degrees. 100% humidity and a UV rating of 11." That means it takes about 5 minutes for fair skin to sunburn if no protection is worn.

{Sea Gull, you may not eat our bait}

We were a little worried that our guests would be too hot to be outside longer than it takes to walk to the car. They were troopers and I think they were still unthawing from the winter and didn't notice quite how hot it was.

{Random lady wading under the pier}

Dirty, his dad and I have traditions when we visit each other. We go to flea markets (the more the better), hole-in-the-wall breakfast joints, Asian buffets with crab legs and sushi and delicious homemade dinners. It was a really great visit and we like the new girlfriend (I'm teaching her to knit!).

{Fishing and wading in the water}

We went to the beach a couple of times. First to the shell-y beach for sharks' teeth and shell hunting then to the fishing/swimming beach for fishing and swimming. Amazingly the water was very calm and clear. Usually our water is a little more murky. We could walk out to shoulder deep water and still see our feet. Which was good, because on one ill fated cast I lost my whole rig but was able to find it thanks to the clear water, diligent searching and bright orange beads.

{Surf fishing}

We didn't have so much as a bite on our lines, but we saw an osprey catch a fish so big he couldn't hold on to it in flight and nearly got attached by sting rays. I saw one swimming in the water by Dirty and warned him about it. He saw it and said there was a school of them swimming towards him. He is always cool, calm and collected so he just stood still and they all swam around him. One swam towards me and I freaked out! I screamed and tried to run away (not easy in waist deep water). Then I threw my fishing pole at it like an idiot. Dirty laughed hysterically at me and I heard his dad and his girlfriend laughing from the shore. I must have looked ridiculous! =]

Gaming Advice Needed

We are expecting company starting next weekend. Dirty's dad and his new girlfriend are staying with us for a week. I *love* having company and I love Dirty's dad so we are excited. We have some things planned--flea market hopping, a trip to the local art market, a day at the beach, etc. I am a little worried about the evenings. The four of us sitting around the TV all night is not too fun. Do you have any card games, board games or party games you suggest we play? I've heard Apples to Apples is fun, but I've never played it. Any reviews? Do you and your family and friends have a game night? What do you play?

I have always liked playing games. Growing up we played them all the time. Dirty...not so much. I think I could rope him into a couple if they are fun.

Got a yard?

Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Hoskins, the authors of One Yard Wonders are looking for submission for their next one yard wonder book. All the information is found here.

The concept of the next book is what projects can be made with a yard of a specific kind of fabric. Submit your idea online by April 1.

{Crafty Carry-Along Bag holding my sock yarn while I soak up the last bit of sun}

I put my submission in today. I made three Crafty Carry-Along bags out of lavender voile. They are all different sizes and have a loop and clip for easy transport. I hang the clip from my belt loop and the yarn slides right out the top. These were made because I got tired of sporting a nice, handmade tote bag but carried my knitting in old resealable bags. Now I have cute bags for my knitting projects, too. =]

Socks and a cat...but not a cat named Socks

That title may not be true. I don't know what the cat's name is, but I saw this on the way home last week. I was stopped at a red light downtown and saw the cat watching traffic from the window. Amazingly I had the camera with me and was able to zoom enough to see it clearly.

{Kitty watching the traffic below}

I finished my Through the Loops Mystery Socks. Although they are far from perfect I *love* them. They are the first pair of socks I ever finished. I used an alpaca/wool blend yarn that is delicious feeling on my feet.

{Pair doesn't have to mean the look the same}

With these socks I learned how to properly make yarn overs and read from a chart (love that too). Since I hadn't learned to make yarn overs I took for granted that all knitting books would explain it correctly. Not so. That's why the legs look different. The right one (in the photo) was made with incorrect yarn overs and that's why the ribs don't line up. It just looked wrong and after seeing progress photos on Ravelry I found out it was. After more research I learned how to yarn over properly so the foot looked better. Since I don't wear socks and shorts, they will look good under my pants.

{Much better}

My project link on Ravelry.

Mystery Sock pattern as a free Ravelry download which is from Kirsten Kapur (her website).

Now to find cute shoes to show them off. =]

It's a Win-Win

Yea! The Steelers handed the Vikings their first loss of the season with a 27-17 win.

And...

Random.org chose Anne's number to win the Schwartzy pattern!

Yea for Anne and the Steelers! =]

Local Quilt Show

Last weekend I attended the local quilt show...and I still don't know how I feel about it. As many modern quilters have noted, I didn't see many quilts that I could really relate to. There were several that I really liked and will take inspiration from, but sadly I got bored quickly and that's not like me.

Too many quilts were the same pattern, just with different fabrics. And not even really different kinds of fabric, just different colors or color schemes. I imagine that may be partly trends/fads and maybe what quilt groups/guilds worked on throughout the year, but seriously, 4-5 "One Block Wonder" hexagons in every row is just not all that interesting.

Fear not, dear quilty friends! I did see several quilts that spoke to me and beckoned me down each and every aisle. Some are modern. Some are traditional. Here is a smattering of those lovely quilts, the descriptions from the ID placard and some personal commentary in purple: (And please forgive some of the fuzzy pictures. My camera is on the fritz. The quilts were so pretty, I didn't want to exclude them for fuzziness.)

{No Postage Due by Shirley Pope}
Each square in the quilt was individually cut and sewn. Many of the 1-1/2" squares were fussy cut. This was so much fun to make. I really want to make another. Quilted by Betty O'Neil.

{Close up of the above quilt. Shirley Pope was one of the shining stars of the quilt show, in my eyes. She submitted several quilts and I liked all of them. You can tell by looking at her quilts that she really enjoys quilting and has fun doing it. I was amazed at how big this quilt is. It has to be 8' x 8'. There were embroidered messages such as the makers name, the quilters name, a thank you to her quilt guild and a note that read: Bunny, Thanks for looking past all the quilt droppings. Your the best. Love always, Rose.

{Ring around the Rosie by Teresa Megna}

I started this for our 50th wedding anniversary - Feb 2008. Finished it in our 51st! Quilted by Dell Dunman.

Really nice mix of black and white and yellow. The yellow is actually a little more vibrant than what came out in the photo. It also had interesting swirly quilting in yellow thread.

{Hexagon Beauty by Shirley Pope}

I love scrappy quilts so this one really taled to me. I did not duplicate any fabrics in this quilt. The hexagons told me that they wanted spiral quilting and I loved it.

Me, too.

{My Dear Jane by Louise Flowers}

Dear Jane - hand pieced and hand quilted.

Freaking A M A Z I N G. This is the first Dear Jane I have seen in real life and saying it was stunning doesn't even begin to describe it. I don't know that I would ever have the patience. Two thimbles up to all of those who make one.

{Zack by Klonda Holt}

Zack is from the pattern "Zag: by Linda Hibbert of Silver Linings Originals, a pattern company in Colorado. The pattern was enlarged 150% and is totally paper pieced.

Zack was awarded a Judge's Honorable Mention. Each of the stripes is a different white or black background fabric. Many of the black stripes were from different prints. I am really mad that it is fuzzy. =[

{Hawaii Wedding Wish for my Son by Theresa Lee}

Colors of this hand dyed fabric remind me of Hawaii. The one continuous circle design symbolized harmony and happiness. Orgids and Philodendroa leaves depict love, life and peace.

There were several Hawaii style quilts, but this was my favorite.

{Misty Mountain Flowers by The Quilting Sisters Guild entered by Barbara Meunier}

This is an original design from our member Kitty Gonzalez. It was put together by members of our guild.

{Details of the quilt. Lovely colors and interesting quilting. The flowers and leaves have soft dimension. It deservingly won the Collaborative Quilt catergory.

{Pollination by Rue Hawkins}

I love painting, so in designing this quilt I choose to paint the extreme center block. The border is pieced. The insect in the center is also hand painted. Quilted by Ivette Mitchem.

I like the idea of painting with thread and thought that the verigated brown/yellow of the center of the daisy was perfect.

{Lazy Log Cabin by Nan Moore}

Top and binding made completely from plaid shirts.

My camera is about to get chucked to the weeds. The colors on this quilt are much better in the next photo. Thought this was a great idea.

Better coloring on the plaid shirts and a nice detail of the quilting.

{Girls Just Want to Have Fun!! by Nancy Matthews}

Bikini Quilt pattern by Ami Simms. Obviously, these are the only bikinis I own! "Fannie" is having fun on the beach. Her "book" is audio!! Quilted by Cheri Edmonds

Fannie building a sandcastle. I really liked the quilting on the sandy area.

{Celestial Celebration by Nancy Martinez}

The meythological Queen of Orange celebrates in the night sky. Original design; fused and pieced applique, machine quilted, painted, dimensional. Created as a challenge for Kumquat Festival. Won Best of Show.

The oranges and rings have dimensional qualities. I am disappointed that this photos is fuzzy. The quilt is so vibrant and with fabulous movement. This was one of my favorites.

{Checkerboard Stars by Judy Wheeless}
Pattern by "Fig Tree Quilts"

{Dot-Dot-Dash by Joyce Grande}
This quilt is machine pieced, machine quilted, embellished with yo-yo's [the dots] and rick-rack[bordering the scallop edge]. It was inspired by a pattern by Mary Mashuta.

{What Were We Thinking! by Janet S. Walker}
This is the ultimate in Recycling! Only the ugliest ties made the cut for this baby! The background is Oxford cloth highlighted by butterlies fashioned from only the ugliest of double knits!

I laughed out loud at this quilt. I noticed it was different when I approached it. After reading the description it instantly won my heart. The triangles around the outside are the points of collared shirts and the ring around the Dresden Plate is made from manufacturers' labels. Love, love, love this quilt.

{From a Different Perspective by Jane Hamrock}
Original design, machine quilted, machine thread painted, hand beaded, machine pieced and machine appliqued, hand embellished.

The long hanging vines are stuffed and hanging off the quilt to give it great dimension.

{Pledge to Earth by Gretchen Jolles}

Using fabrics from my scrap box, I pieced a portion of the EArth Day pledge to demonstrate the idea that we can all "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" to hlep preserve and conserve our natural resources. Quilted by Joyce Snyder

{Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make Do, Do Without by Mary Ann Leonard}
Unfortunately my photo of the label is too fuzzy to read the description, but this was a Challenge Quilt from the show. It was made with help from the Day Quilters group. I like the saying stitched around the outside. The ladies said it is a saying that their grandmothers used, and they find themselves using now, too.

{Log Cabins by Billie McCray}

Ms. McCray is a local fiber artist. She said she doesn't use a rotary cutter and she never throws a scrap away. This quilt was made from Nigerian fabrics gifted to her by a friend. I had never seen such skinny log cabins. I love the design and the "use it all" attitude.

{Paradise in Black and White by Melanie Jensen}

Mismatched block backgrounds and appliqued palm trees. Saw similar pattern in magazine and loved the color comvinations. The quilting is unique, look for the palm trees in the border. Quilted by Shirley Robinson.

{Like Grandma's Quilt by Helen Anne Roesler}

I inherited a quilt made by my grandmother before she got married in 1980. The quilt has been used and is worn and dirty and faded into muted colors and yellow whites (I assume). I decided to see what the quilt would look like after a centruy. I chose fabrics similar to the orginal ones and friends helped me piece and quilt this including some of her mistakes!

Thanks for making it through my review of our local quilt show. I saw that Park City Girl is hostessing another online quilt show. Check that out, too. The spring show was excellent. =]