Baby Quilts

There is nothing so sweet as a new baby, perfect and full of potential..
And a new baby deserves a new quilt - right?

Carmel that I work with is due to become a Grandmother and so I wanted to make something for this baby.  I set out on a search for something special.

I ended up with this.

It is the cutest and brightest fabric, I just love the cheeky little monkeys - they are sure to become a favorite.

This is the underside made up of 3 layers of flannel and then cut to fluff and fray and ruffle.



This all makes for the perfect baby quilt, that will double as a play mat on the floor, not to mention snuggling with while sleeping, reading books or watching t.v.

PicMonkey

I have discovered and played around a little with an online photoshop program that allows you to do all sorts of great things with your photos.

Take for instance, this old picture of cub #3, taken about 2 years ago just after I had finished his firefighter quilt.

It's nothing spectacular.  But wait...

Ok, so I chopped his head off, but as I said, I only just discovered this site and have only played with one photo.  The best part is that it is free and I think will become my new favorite seeing as Picnik is closing on the 19th of this month.

So head on over  here and have a play...I dare you.

School photos

The night before school photos, baby bear #2 comes to me and says, "Mum.."  "Yes," I reply.  "Mum, I want a twisted rope bun for my hairdo for school photos."  As my eyes pop out of my head and my blood starts to boil, not to mention my already high blood pressure, I very calmly say, "but I don't know how to do a twisted rope bun."  And that super sweet baby bear says with all the innocence and sweetness she can muster, "Look on You Tube."

You have got to be freaking kidding me!

Anyway, being the wonderful mother I am, I go and look on You Tube and the result the next morning was...

Am I mother of the year, or what? 

She was happy. 

Can't wait to get the school photos back...if this hairdo is not a feature in the photos, Mumma bear is going to cry.

Needle cases

I love these little beauties.  Quick easy and very practical.  The D-ring means that you can clip them onto things so they don't get lost in amongst all your other sewing stuff in transit.

Sneak peek

A little something I am working on...I quite enjoy the ease of stitching - it's portable and requires  less attention than matching seams and is generally very relaxing and pleasurable.

Half Square Triangles

Ah, these things drive me insane!  I have to admit it is one area of quilting that causes me no end of grief.  All those lines to draw and then stitch either side of!  Argh...

Until now.

Simply take two squares (I used charm squares) and sew around all four sides without removing the needle or back stitching.

Then simply cut the square diagonally from corner to corner, twice.  Open and iron and you now have 4 half square triangles in next to no time and without all that dreadful ruling.

Happy Birthday Carmel

Tomorrow is Carmel's birthday! 

She gets to spend it with all of the kids, teachers, aides and office staff at our school.  She will get to go before the entire school to collect her birthday certificate and we will all sing to her. 

There will be a cake at recess for her and all the staff.

Carmel is also getting a present tomorrow, a special present.  You see Carmel is not only my friend, my colleague, my support, my inspiration, one person I aspire to be more like, someone whom I greatly admire and love, BUT she is most importantly the teacher of my Autistic son. 

She deserves a medal.  OK so we didn't quite give her a medal, it was an avocado a couple of weeks ago...it's OK, she LOVES them.

Tomorrow Carmel gets a box of chocolates and this...

Happy Birthday Carmel - I hope you know how much we love you, value you and appreciate all that you do!

Food for thought

I work with children.  I live with children.  I love children. 

I am supposed to be the one adult that they can count on to be supportive, honest, fair, genuine, understanding and loving.  Both at home and at school.  For my biological children and my school children.

I am a friend and a colleague.  I am supposed to be all these things here too...

But sometimes in the madness and chaos and busyness of daily life, I get so caught up and forget to stop...to think...to listen...to hear...to tell these children how amazing and special and precious they all are...

Then I was sent THIS.  Please sit and watch and listen and see if it speaks to you as it did me

I love the postie

I love it when the postie brings me parcels at work.  My students were so excited about the mystery package.  I let a couple of the boys take off the outer plastic bag (man those things are hard to open!).  They were having so much fun, that I let a couple more open the cardboard envelope...ripped apart like you wouldn't believe...and inside what beauties!  My students were nowhere near as excited as me - go figure!

We did then use some of the fabrics for an impromptu maths lesson on measurement (which is really funny when we use metric and the U.S.A. uses imperial, so I was doing this weird kind of quick conversion between the 2 and I think my students all know what a fat quarter is) and decided that the nice folks at Hawthorne Threads cut their fabrics generously. 

Now if I could only find enough time to put these treasures to good use...

Sunday evening

A little something that I am currently working on...just wish there was a way I could incorporate stitching into the school curriculum every afternoon for an hour, or two, or three...