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!

Aubrey's Quilt

This is my beautiful girl, Aubrey....my 'mini me', poor thing! She loves horses, so her quilt is horsey inspired. The fabrics in the pinwheels have daises and horseshoes on them so they are mildly girlie but not too girlie so that she would hate it. She picked the pattern and I picked the fabrics.

The border fabrics have not only beautiful quarter horses on them but also cowgirls. Again, slightly feminine but not tooooo much,

This quilt was the first one I did with custom quilting, don't look too close. ;) It is quilted with daises and corresponding abstract block filling designs. The back of the quilt is pink with more beautiful horses and cowgirls on it. It fits perfectly on her bed...now if it is ever neatly made, I will take a pic of it in use and post it...don't hold your breath.

My Kid's Quilts

I posted already about Aubrey's quilt but didn't do any on the other 4 monkey's quilts. The reason for this was not only to show favoritism but also to show my lack of documenting skills. I simply didn't take pictures of the other ones when I made them. Hers was the last one I finished and had then started using my camera. So, here goes, starting with the first one...Jaydin and Jordan have matching quilts, I started quilting when Squish was brand new so the boys got the exact same quilt, using this pattern.

I had started decorating their room to be very pirate/beachy like. The walls were this amazing sort of caribbean blue with sandy beaches along the bottom. Their bed looks like a sail boat and there were 'hula skirt' curtains. It was a lot of fun to decorate and it was the room I missed most when I sold that house. Anyway, I had the hardest time finding surfer type fabrics, I looked at every quilt shop in Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and even online. And found very little. Then I went to the Outter Banks to visit my cousins. There was this great little LQS called Funtastic Fabrics and I tried to go there every time I would visit. (They have closed their storefront now and just have an online store). Since they are a store on the beach, I had TONS of fabrics to choose from. I had decided to make Jay a quilt but {unintentionally} got enough to make 2, that is how they ended up with matching queen size bed quilts. I put different borders and backing fabrics on them but the centers are identical.

My favorite part about making these quilts was when I was trying to pic the backing for Squish's quilt. I took him to my favorite neighborhood shop. He was about 14 months old, big enough to walk but not perfrectly. I told him I was looking for fabric for him and asked him to help me find something he liked. This would be a ridiculous conversation to have with most toddlers (that is if you don't know Squish). He walked straight past about 50 bolts and picked up the PERFECT thing. It was bright orange with fish on it. He didn't even look at anything else, just grabbed it, put it on the floor and sat on it! I was busy looking at what I thought would work and foolishly thought I would know better than him. I knew he had 'staked his claim' but didn't pay that much attention. So he finally says 'Mamma, dis one!'. That was officially it, plus there was just enough on the bolt so it truly was kismet!

Next is Isabel's quilt. I started making this before 'the man' and I were even dating. She loves anything colorful! In fact more often than not I have to edit her morning outfit so she doesn't so closely resemble Punky Brewster. So I found a pretty simple pattern and then headed off to shop. I got every bright hippie looking fabric I could find. I got just about that far and then got a 'boyfriend' and well, that sucked up all my crafty time. So I didn't actually get around to sewing on this quilt until AFTER we got married. So Isabel  helped me lay out the blocks before we sewed them together. The thing I don't like about this quilt is that I ended using it to test out the new set up on my long arm after it was moved here. So there are a few tension problems but nothing too crazy. 

Then there is Damian's quilt. I couldn't decide what to do for his. I hadn't really spent enough time with him to see what he really loved when I started it. I  did KNOW for a fact that cars would be a safe bet. I had most of this fabric in my stash because I had planned to make a lap quilt to take to the race track years ago.  So I kind of just figured out my own pattern for it and it came up with this:

And as thought this quilt was blinding enough, I put black and white harlequin diamonds on the back and quilted it with lime green thread and this great flame pattern...I think he likes it.

So that is PART of the quilts that lay around out house. I may get up the gumption to document the rest.

Aubrey's First Quilt

I know I haven't been around much lately, just too much life and not enough time.  I plan to make a bunch of posts this week so hang on to your socks....

This is my girl, I call her 'Mo'.

By 'my girl' I mean she is my clone for the good and the bad. {As much as I try to improve on my good, I am not delusional to think that the bad doesn't balance that scale.} I am fortunate enough that the quilting bug bit her when she was 9.  She may not be as eager of a quilter as I am but she will be.  It took her 2 years to finish her first quilt, but as with most things, she did it all the way.  She didn't take the easy route and pick out a panel to dress up. No, she didn't even find a pattern in the giant stack of magazines and ideas I have been clipping for years.  She sat down with a piece of paper and drew a block.  Then I gave her a piece of graph paper and said 'ok, now put it on here so you can make sure it works'.  She whipped that out with no problem too.  She doesn't have it in her to say "I can't do that". 

Here is a picture of the compete block that she designed:

This whole making a quilt thing started when she was rummaging through some scraps one day looking for some other project for school. She found a bunch of left over 3 inch squares I had cut to make this quilt.  Red is my signature color so I always have lots of that laying around and what goes better with red than black and white right?  It didn't take long for her to collect enough fabric to make a lap quilt.  True to form, she didn't want much help, she wanted to figure it out on her own.  This particular personality trait, I find to be especially endearing.  ;)  Once she figured that part out, it became a long and drawn out process of distraction.  This personality trait...not my favorite.  However, like I said, she is my clone so I can't complain too much...I have quilts that are 5 years in the making.  Anyway, those blocks turned into this:

Again, this is the stage it sat in for quite a while.  While on a shopping trip to one of my favorite quilt stores (which sadly turned out to be my last trip there because it closed down) I found the perfect border and backing fabrics.  When I brought them home and showed them to her, she was once again excited about finishing the quilt.  We put the borders on that weekend.  It is amazing to see how much her sewing skills have developed, I am sure it is simply an age thing and that whole 'doing it right the first time' thing is starting to kick in (again, good trait).  I am proud to say that even though the seams in the center are not perfect, the borders are, look how flat they lay! 

Didn't I tell you the fabric for the borders was perfect? ;)  The same black and white hearts that is in the outer border is on the back and the black polka dot is the binding.

She even tried her hand at the quilting.  I helped her lay out her pattern and load the quilt on the rack but she did the quilting.  She also did all the binding herself.  I made the hanging sleeve but she attached it along with the label.  Her final motivation to finish was to put it in our quilt show, which she did.  All the junior quilters that put a quilt in the show get a ribbon so she was proud of that.  After the show was over, she entered it in the county fair where she won a 2nd place ribbon in her category...she is even more proud of  that one.

So that's my girl, ain't she somethin'?