Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head

It's been raining here-a lot, and almost every day for a week. It seems the April rains we should have gotten are not missing, but only delayed until June. So, I guess we're catching up.

I like the rain, but it's just odd for this time of year. Yesterday, we got downpours. So much so that (get this) the school held the AM kindergartners until the rain stopped. I'm voting overcautious on this one, personally. This school called for snow days this Winter when it didn't snow, and now didn't send home the kindergartners because it was raining. I did not know this, so I stood outside in the rain, waiting for my daughter. When I had been outside quite a while, I figured something was up. I came back in, and discovered that the school had left a message that they were holding the AM kindergartners until the rain cleared. This is something I could understand if there were say, major lightning, thunder and wind, but this was a fairly garden variety thunderstorm, so I don't really understand the issue. I'm guessing they sided with over caution because of the litigious society we've become. Who knows, but that's my guess.

It is the end of the year. My daughter has 2 days left, and she's out for the summer. I am still making the plans as to what I'm going to do with my two while there's no school to occupy the one of them. We'll have to find things. The end of the year also brings about that dilemma of dilemmas--what to do for teachers and bus drivers and such. Does anyone else get hung up about this? I can never decide what's enough and what's too much? Do you give a gift to a bus driver? What if the bus driver has only been the driver for half the year? What do you get them? Do people give the teachers gifts anymore? What do they give? Does the teacher really need any more items with apples on them? Do they like items with apples on them? My vote would be no, and that teachers, if they are going to get a gift, would probably prefer something more personal or useful. But what? Does anyone actually know their kid's teacher well enough to get them the perfect gift? I don't think that's possible, is it?

I'm not going to say I'm losing sleep over this whole thing, because I'm not. But it is something for me to think about yet again. For the bus drivers, I think I will bake something (so I'd better get on it). But for the teacher, well, that's a whole other kettle of fish.

My daughter LOVES her teacher. And, though I've only met her a handful of times, and spoken to her little more than that, I really like her too. But more importantly, I like the WAY she taught. And not so much in the curriculum sense, though my daughter learned a lot during the year, it was more in the way she delivered the information. She has a very straightforward, honest approach to teaching. If she thought something was off, she told the students. She challenged them to think. In the day and age of "memorize and spit back at test time" teaching, that's not common. One time, my daughter brought home a little story they had read in class. It was basically a conglomeration of words in form of a very loose "story" to teach the words to the kids. My daughter read through part of the story and then stopped. She looked at me and said "My teacher said this story is weird". She then finished the story. And yeah, it was weird. It made no real sense. But I found it completely refreshing that her teacher would call that to the kids' attention. That makes them think. It makes them look at things that are written and challenge the ideas within. It's totally something I would have done. So I appreciated it immensely.

As I wanted to do something nice for this woman who has meant so much to my daughter, I made her this:

What do you think? Good? Too much? I hope it'll do. I think it's pretty. I don't know if it's my daughter's teacher's taste, but I hope so. That's a hard thing to judge. I thought to personalize it, my daughter could write the quilt label for the back. This is what she wrote:

I hope that will be nice for her teacher. I hope it's not too much. I never know what's appropriate in this situation, or if people give teachers gifts anymore at all. Ugh. I hope it's all right.

On Thursday, I am going to the Vermont Quilt Festival. Woo hoo! Vacation! I'm off with my mom for 3 days of fabric, fabric, and more fabric. I am looking forward to it. it'll be the start of my summer, and I'm hoping that when I come back, I'll have ideas for how to manage the couple of months my kids are off, so that we don't go insane altogether. Or at least I'll have a fresh outlook on things. I need the break, I really do.

So, until I return friends, enjoy your days! I will bring home pictures, that's a promise. I am packing my camera as I type!

I Covered a Laundry Cart

Because white plastic rolling carts from Lowe's don't look so nice in a pretty bathroom, though they are necessary for storage

Had grand plans of a sewn slipcover for this, to go over the front. Couldn't figure out the logistics, so hot glue works just as well.

These pics are for my little (big) brother, because I said I would:



I think the blue fabric softener looks especially neon in the morning light, don't you agree?

Show and Tell

Ok, I had a few minutes and the camera was charged, so I thought I'd share with you pictures of what I've been up to. Are you ready??? On your mark... get set... GO!!

First, I made two little "holders" for the tools I use next to my sewing machine. One tool is a small pair of embroidery scissors I use as thread snips, and the other is a seam ripper. They are small, and were a pain to pick up from off the table, and if I put them in a container I'd have to feel around for them. Honestly, I don't like to search for my tools, I like to reach and get them and use them when I need to. So, I was, for a while, sticking them into the tops of old, empty thread spools. This works really well, but it's not particularly attractive. So I dressed the spools up a bit. Now they are cute little bits of frou! I used some pieces of felt, little bits of trims and lace, and a couple rhinestones (just because that pink one seemed to need them). The tools are upright and easy to grasp and right within reach whenever I need them. So, if you have little tools that you use, dressing up an empty thread spool will do the trick. Just be sure you make the hole in the top again, if you cover it. Also, I would suggest putting a piece of cardboard under whatever the spool sits on, just for extra stability. These work really well!!

I also pressed that blue silk cross stitch piece I had finished while I was sick back in December.

Oooooh, flat!!

And I finished a second silk piece, this one with a pinkish silk on Dirty linen. The silk is also that Soie de Paris. So pretty!!

I made an apron for Christmas. It's a Butterick pattern, and I really like it. I finished it on the 23rd--right under the "deadline".

Sorry that it's not a picture ON a person. I put it on for my daughter to take a picture of, but she kept taking a picture of my feet--or half the apron--or the picture was completely crooked. Oh well. She's still learning.

I made a pincushion for my ginormous glass head pins that I use only occasionally but still need a pincushion for. I was keeping them in a drawer in a container, but when I did need them, I had to fish for them, and that's a pain (Did I mention I like to have my tools close at hand all the time?? I may have...).


I like it because it looks like an ottoman, and because it's flat, pulling the pins out and putting them back in is a piece of cake. I can do it without looking, because it doesn't roll away or move like the tomato pin cushions sometimes do. Also, it's large enough to accomodate the pins without being too crowded. Plus, it's got cute stacked buttons in the middle. How can you go wrong??

I also finished and then hung the little shelf I've had for over my cutting table. It took me...um... a while (ahem) to get around to it, but it's done (yeay) and now my space is clear. I put my pens and pencils, marking tools, and cutting tools on it. Before that, they were all over the table and always in the way. I used old cache pots to put the things in. The white one is mine, and the green ones were found in the house.

Found? Yep, found. Back when we moved into this house, we found a bunch of things "hidden" in the attic and the basement that I think were left by the original owners (which is interesting, since we are the third owners of this house. What were the people we bought the house from doing?? Not looking in the attic and basement, I guess). They left 4 hubcaps for an Oldsmobile (very helpful if I owned one), a bunch of 70's curtain rods (ugh), and these odd 70's flower pots that were "hidden" in the basement on top of the wall. Being as though I am a staunch recycler/reuser, I couldn't throw them out. I thought about it, because they are SO 70's, but I just couldn't do it. So I thought I'd use them in my studio instead. They've come in very handy, and don't look as 70's as they did (well, mostly--that polka dot one is still screaming 70's retro chic to me). Then when the top of the shelf was full, I thought the pegs looked naked, so I made this little crazy quilted little heart (which I really like)to hang on one of them.

Whew! I think that catches us up a bit. Thanks so much for looking, everyone! Have the greatest day!

No Pics today

Grrr. I tried. I really did. I spent all day yesterday in my sewing room, working on a new apron that I made up. I was all excited to show you all what it looks like... and I didn't finish. And today I've had to cook for tomorrow and clean for Saturday (my daughter's birthday party), so I didn't get a chance to do what I wanted to. I just have a little hand sewing (ugh) to finish it up. I think that by next post I will definitely have it done and then I will show you all!! I hope you will all like it. I'm surprised by it, honestly, because it's sort of unlike me. I think blogging "unsticks" me somehow, creatively. It seems that the more I share with all of you, the further I'm able to go. I don't know how that works, but it's lots of fun.

I will not be blogging for a few days, with Thanksgiving tomorrow, Friday a frenzied cleaning/prepping day for Saturday, and then Saturday my daughter's party, so I will say Happy Thanksgiving now for all of you who celebrate!! And to those of you who don't celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, I wish you a happy and healthy weekend. I will talk to all of you soon!

PS--Thank you all for the kind words about the cat bed. It seems Percy likes it, and Sam is happy to still sleep on whatever's been dropped on the floor. Cats!!

To my friend Pumpkin (Cathey)--Thank you for the compliment! I would be delighted and honored to make a bed for your kitty, if you would like one. I realize it will take a little while to get there, but if you don't mind the wait, it's all yours. If you would like one, just shoot me an email with what size you'd like to fit your purring friend, and what color you would like, and your address, and I will do my very bestest. :)

You gotta know when to fold 'em...

Ok, love that song. Kenny Rogers is a genius.

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,

Know when to walk away and know when to run.

You never count your money when you're sittin at the table.

There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.

And now that the song is stuck in your head, I'll tell you why it's stuck in mine. A couple of months ago, I started a Band Sampler by Long Dog that was in The Gift Of Stitching magazine. The only picture available was a computer generated image of the finished piece. I thought it was lovely, so I got together the colors and some lovely Ivory linen (love the ivory--such a pretty color), and started it. It went great until I got to the last two colors of the first band. Then the colors got all weird. Firstly, it started off with these pretty, soft colors, and then all of a sudden, there was this bright weird pink and then BLACK. It was so odd.

I finished the first band anyway, and started the second, but those colors still bothered me. So I put it aside. I went back and looked at it from time to time, but no matter what, those colors are just odd to me. I posted a query on the Wagon BB about it, and the extremely helpful ladies there sent me this link:

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2929622660046422900gbDDJw

This is a picture of the finished piece that someone did. She did a lovely job, that's a definite, but those colors just don't "sit well" with me, so I give up on this piece. That's why I know when to fold 'em. I am folding on this piece. It's not a total loss, though, I don't like the bands I did, but I do happen to like the 5th, 6th, and 9th bands, so I may at some time stitch them and make them into something. And I may find use for that 1st band somewhere, too. But the rest I won't do. I will take my lovely Ivory linen and use it elsewhere.

In other news, I've been sewing up a storm. It's gotten cool here (finally), and it makes me just want to sit down in front of my sewing machine and sew and sew. I have gotten two things done: one is SB Wish, which I stitched a while ago, but I finally made into something. I chose a pillow, and here it is:

I think it came out really nicely. It's just a simple pillow, but the fabrics work really nicely together. I am very pleased with it.

And other things I am very pleased with, I used some of those homespuns I bought to make some pumpkins.

Ok, that's just one pumpkin, photographed twice. But I made three, they are all a little different, and I am very pleased with them. They made up very quickly. I think I may make some more today. I am going to try to figure out how to make a tall one, for some variety. If I do figure it out, I will post a picture. I was also going to make a cat from that pattern I bought the other day. I'll post a picture of that, too! Well, better get crackin'.

In closing, is there anything better than a warm kitten on your lap on a cold, rainy day? I don't think so.

Thanks for stopping by to read my blog. I always appreciate it so much!