Circus Fun at the Shop Hop

On Saturday I joined my friend Becky, Gretchen and her mom on a very abbreviated (for me anyway) shop hop. I met them at Little Quilts in Marietta for some circus fun. Since I my machine had been recently repaired I was trying not to do too much fabric damage. However, I can always find something that I like at Little Quilts. I went armed with a list, and only bought one thing that wasn't on my list. Last week I got a really cute pincushion pattern, I needed pale green wool for the leaves, found it plus some really nice floral for the actual pincushion. I did buy a fat quarter bundle of shirtings. It wasn't on my list but I really really needed it. From Little Quilts I headed to Tiny Stitches, while Becky, Gretchen and her mom stopped for lunch. I bought a couple of fat quarters and a pajama pattern at Tiny Stitches. I can honestly say it was one of the few times I have been in there and didn't want to buy everything that I saw. It would have been great to do more than 2 shops but I really need to get some of my kits completed, plus all of those other patterns that I have been saving.

Fabric Found

After much searching online last week, I finally found the fabric that I needed to finish the borders on my quilt. I found it at an online only shop in Louisiana. (the fabric actually came from my friend Becky's home town. ) Thanks to everyone who sent suggestions of where I could possibly find the fabric. I have learned a valuable lesson, either make sure you have enough fabric or don't keep the project in a UFO state for so long. I didn't get too excited because I couldn't get my hopes up that it was exactly what I was looking for until the mail came on Friday. It was a perfect match. I was able to get the borders on and finish a UFO. So far I have finished one project a month. This was my project for March. I had to spread it out on the floor of my sewing room, which after looking at this photo I definitely need to clean my sewing room. You know when you get involved in a project you don't always take time to clean, however I think I need to do some major cleaning before I start another project.

Thimble Finger Salute!!

I had so much fun last Friday night at Thimbles. I was great to have our exalted Thimble leader back, she is the best even when she is on pain meds. The project for the month was her pattern for a full body pillow. I managed to get the top done, now I just have to do some quilting and make the back for it. (this is Pat's sample). I told myself I could only buy one kit a quarter, and I had already bought one, but I decided to give this to someone as a present, that way it doesn't really count.

Pat also shared with us the quilts for the next quarter. I kept my promise to myself and only ordered one kit. I fell in love with the one for June. Here are our kits for next quarter. The first one is the kit I decided to purchase. It is from one of our local quilt shops, Little Quilts. The other two kits are from Sweet Home. Which is your favorite?

Need Fabric, Help!!

Don't you hate it when you are almost finished with a project and you run out of fabric. That has happened to me. That is what I get for holding onto fabric for too long. I only need 1/2 yard of this fabric. It is called Jacobean Garden Caffe, by Bernatex. I bought it last year so it really isn't that old. Please look through your stash and see if you have any, I bought it at Tiny Stitches. If I can't find more I will have to take two borders off of my quilt and find something else to use. I would love it get more, am willing to pay for fabric and postage. Please, please look through your stash. Thanks.

Taking a break

I have been working on a project for school most of the day, and I decided to take a break and check out some fellow quilter's blogs and update mine. I had to get my hair done this morning, I was getting that "skunk look" as my husband calls it. The roots were definitely showing. After a visit with Kristine, I had to drive out to Conyers and pick up my sewing machine. I dropped it off last Saturday. Thankfully it wasn't anything too major, the bobbin case and a fuse had to be replaced. Of course since I was in Conyers I had to drop by Sweet Home, I got out of there without spending too much money. I picked up some batik for sashing, a couple of end of bolt pieces and a gorgeous piece of cotton that looks and feels just like linen. I have an Indygo Junction tunic pattern that I am going to use with it. I also finished block # 3 of the Bunny Hill baskets. Here it is.

Now it is time to get back to work on my action research project. My topic is the Importance and Benefits of Reading Aloud to students. It has been a great opportunity to work closely with two classes at my school. I am going into each class twice a week and reading aloud to them. There has been a definite increase in the number of students that say they like being read to. I just have to put the final touches on it, read over it and submit it to my teacher. Wish me luck

I have the best job!!

I have said before that I have the best job in the world, but today confirmed it. Today we had a guest author at school, Carmen Deedy. It was the most fun I have had at work in ages. Carmen is a local author so I have heard her speak several times before, but today she outdid herself. The kids and teachers did not want to leave the media center, they were begging for more. I know how they felt, I could have listened to her all day. If you are not familiar with her work you should check out her website: http://carmendeedy.com/ . We were lucky enough to get a sneak peek at her new book which will be coming out in the fall. It is the one of the most beautiful picture books that I have ever seen, 14 Cows for America, based on a true 9/11 story. I love all of her books, but my favorite is probably The Library Dragon, of course I would never, ever be a library dragon. My second favorite is The Last Dance. It was after reading this book for the first time that I made my husband he would dance with me every day, and we do. Some days our dance is in the kitchen before we eat breakfast, some days it is when I come home from work, and some days we have on our jammies and are ready for bed. Some days we don't feel like dancing but it is a promise that we made to each other so we dance and feel better for it. If you ever get the chance to hear Carmen please take advantage of it, she is a wonderful storyteller and author.

TGIF!!

I am so glad that today is Friday. This has been an incredibly long week. We did inventory in our media center this week, plus I had a huge presentation for my class on Monday night. I also had a wall hanging for school that had to be finished by today. We are doing a classroom extreme makeover. I finally finished it last night, much to the dismay of my machine. Now my machine no longer works. HAHHHHH! However the wall hanging did turn out nice. It is hard to see, but all of the students in the classroom signed a piece of fabric along with the administrators. I am really glad to be done with this project.

I also finished two other projects, an Easter bucket for my new great niece, Vivienne, and a hat for a great nephew. (believe it or not it will be a Christmas present. I am trying to get a head start on my gifts this year.

Man Plans, God Laughs!

This was a repetitive line in a book I read last week, and boy is it true.
No matter what I have planned recently, it seems like something has come along to change my plans. We had planned on driving up to our cabin on Friday night, but too much was going on, and we didn't make it up until Saturday morning. That was probably a good thing. There was a huge tree down across our drive way. We had to park, then walk in, change clothes, get the chain saw and other cutting tools. (of course I forgot my camera). It took a couple of hours to get everything cleared off of the drive, we left everything on the side of the drive to be dealt with next weekend. We headed over to my mother-in-laws house after the tree episode, we were celebrating her birthday. Most of the family was there and many of her neighbors. We had a really good time. Sunday was birthday time just for the family, which I didn't know about and had planned on getting back early yesterday to do some school work, plus laundry, and other chores. By the time we got back I didn't feel like doing too much, and I had class tonight, which cut into my time to get some other things done. I really wanted to finish my Bunny Hill block and I have a wall hanging that I am working on for school that has to be finished this week. They say we gained an hour this week, I haven't seen it yet. Every plan that I have made for the weekend, something came up to keep me from doing it. Hope all of you had better luck.

Only in Atlanta!

Only in Atlanta could it be snowing and in the teens and then 4 days later in the 70's. They say if you don't like the weather here, wait around and it will change in a few hours. Whoever they are have been right on target this year. I really like winter, but I don't like it winter one day and summer the next day. With weather like this no wonder so many people are sick. We had 12 kids sent home yesterday after they had "been sick in the hallway". I felt for our custodians. Today we celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday, I know his birthday was really on Monday, but our school decided to celebrate today. I am exhausted. I read Barthelemew and the Oobleck too many times, and made entirely too many batches of Oobleck. For those of you that aren't around kids too much, Oobleck is made from water, food coloring and cornstarch. Kids love it!! The big question always is, is it a solid or a liquid. At least it is Friday, and I can rest up. We are headed to the cabin in the morning and will be back on Sunday. I have Block 3 of the Bunny Hill Basket series to work on and will hopefully finish it this weekend. Have a great weekend everyone.

National Pig Week

Sunday was National Pig Day, however since I love pigs I decided that this week should be National Pig Week. You can do things like this when you work in an elementary school. We have a display of pig books, with some really neat fabric I found online. You might think that there wouldn't be that many books with pigs as characters, but once you start looking there are really a lot; all of the versions of the Three Little Pigs, Olivia, Toot and Puddle, plus dozens of others. I am reading pig stories to kindergarten this week and serving "slop". I tell them I have my very own special recipe for slop and it is even better with sprinkles. After one taste, the slop is very popular, because everyone likes chocolate pudding. I found these pigs playing in the snow and since there is still some snow left in Atlanta this morning I thought it was perfect. Hope everyone has a great day.

Snow Day!!

Joe and I went to Mississippi over the weekend to visit with my mom. She is doing really well, she has her next chemo treatment this Friday. If all goes as scheduled she will finish her treatments in April. Please keep her in your prayers. On Saturday night it started snowing, and snowed most of the night. When we left on Sunday morning there was about 4 inches of snow there. Driving back to Atlanta was no fun. ( I am glad that Joe was driving and not me.) We had just gone through Birmingham when it really started snowing, and snowing, and snowing. It was still snowing when we went to bed last night. Needless to say there was no school today. I know we will have to make it up, but it was so nice to have the day off that I didn't mind at all. This is our front yard covered in snow. It isn't that often that we get snow in Atlanta. I tried to make a snowman this morning but the snow was frozen and really didn't work for a snowman. What can I say, I am still a kid at heart. At least I got some sewing done today. I am working on the sashing and borders for the Pat Sloan block of the month from last year. I also started an Easter bucket for my great niece. Now it is time to hit the books and work on a project for school.

And the Winner Is!!

I know I am late in announcing the winner of my blog giveaway. I was out of town over the weekend, went to visit my mom. The winner is Anett from Oregon, her blog is House of Mouse. Anett please send me your address and I will get your goodies in the mail to you.