Last Year's Teacher Gifts

I am soooooo far behind that I may never be able keep up.  I have a considerable amount of empathy for the hamster I had as a child these days.  I have been brain-storming and designing teacher gifts (ahead of time for once) with the kids lately.  I then realized  I never even posted about LAST years teacher gifts!  What a slacker I am! I mean really, what DO I do with my time???  So, in an effort to be frugal about this post, they are all going here.  This is going  to be longer than most of my posts but hang in there, it will be mostly pictures. :)

First Up, Mrs. Ferguson's Laptop Case:

This is my youngest boy's first grade teachers.  She was one of those great southern ladies that always had a big smile for you and kind work to say.  My biggest memory of her is going in for a parent-teacher conference and talking about his improvement and behavior in class.  We chatted a bit about his English grade and what not.  Then she pulls out a folder with his math work in it.  She says, and I quote "Oh LORD, baby Jesus! What ever can I say about Jordan and his math work!"  Now you have to hear that said like Julia Sugarbaker and the appropriate head toss and accent.  It was beautiful!  Now don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad thing, it was actually a good thing.  See, my boy is something of a math wiz, he was doing multiplication (for fun) before starting Kindergarten.  He may be the key to my retirement!

Next Up, Mrs. Mayo's purse:

This is my daughter's second grade teacher.  She also is a sweet woman who really showed her interest in Isabel.  She was the first teacher she had that believed me that she was struggling to understand what she was learning and and suggested that we get her some medication to help her.  She made a complete turn around in the 2nd grade and yesterday brought home a certificate for A-B Honor roll!  Anyway, Isabel saw me making one of these bags and asked if we could make one for her teacher.  She found all the fabrics and helped me put it together.  She kept saying 'It NEEDS to have butterflies and it has to be blue!"

Next up, Mrs. Ferguson's Tree Wall Hanging:

My other daughter was in 5th grade last year.  It was her first year of having more than one teacher.  She LOVED her science teacher.  She was one of those people for her that really helped her see the world in a new way.  She is a self proclaimed tree-hugger!  Aubrey and I decided early in the school year that whatever her gift was, it would have to be a tree!  So we opted to make a wall hanging.  Aubrey took a stack of various green fabrics to school, gave them to her switch class teacher and asked if all the kids would sign a piece with a permanent marker.  Somehow she managed to get all the kids to sign some without Mrs. Ferguson knowing.

Then we took all of those pieces and stitched them to a lining layer.

Once they were stitched down, we cut them out and turned them right way out. and started playing with the placement of them on a 'tree'.

This is what the tree looked like with it was naked.  I simply fused some batik fabric down on a dark and sparkly background.  It looks kind of sad this way doesn't it?

 We, added the leaves by quilting them onto the tree and this was the end result.

I think she liked it. ;)

Oh and a side note, this is a picture of Aubrey getting a prize for being voted 'most likely to be elected president' by her classmates.  The fact that we are politically neutral made this an funny moment.  The irony was not lost on her teacher.

Next up, Mrs Borland's Computer Bag.

Aubrey had a harder time deciding what to make for her math teacher.  She is not nearly as open about things as Mrs. Ferguson.  So we did some spying and asked her other teacher for some hints.  We got  a list of things that she was interested in.  One of those things was gardening and that she liked the color purple. So, we opted for a purple flower set into a computer case like the one I had made for Jordan's teacher.

Did I mention that she had recently survived cancer? Aubrey always has to find a way to ad some sparkle to things so we found this blingy survivor ribbon.

We lined the inside with the same fabric that was the background on Mrs. Ferguson's quilt. Bags always look best with striped handles.

I think she liked it too:

Last Up are the big boys' teachers, aren't my boys handsome?

I had the great experience of going to a Ricky Tim's seminar about a year ago.  ONE of the things that I knew I would have to make was a Convergence Quilt.  It would be the perfect gift for a math teacher, no?  Too bad Mr. Thomspon was their English teacher, LOL.  He was one of those teachers that really stood out though, especially with Jaydin.  He loves to read and Mr. Thompson really opened his mind to new books and ideas, not only that but ideas that were positive and up-building. I knew that he would need a special gift early on in the year.  I showed the boys a picture of this style of quilt and they liked the idea.  I used two pieces of hand dyed fabric and started cutting. I liked it when the middle was done but it just needed something...

I had a few random scraps left over and just started laying them around.  I ended up with this very sort of futuristic deal going on.  I was very happy with how this came out in the end.

 They were very happy to give it to him

Last but not least, Mrs. Tomberlin who was in fact their math teacher.  The boys discovered the awesomeness of Pi last year.  What would be cooler for a math teacher than a computer bag with the Pi symbol on it? Yeah, I couldn't think of anything either.  She always challenged the boys to excel and I appreciate any teacher that goes that extra little bit to make them think!

Well there they are, all 7 of them!  That is a lot of teachers!  This year there are 12 of them!! Needless to say, I need to get to work!!

I hope that all my kids teachers know that they are appreciated and thought of as part of our family structure.  That is why we do this every year!