Today

Today we were supposed to get up at the butt crack of dawn and drive to Colorado for the annual Quilt Affair at The Ranch outside of Loveland.

We've gone for several years and enjoyed it each time.

Afterwards, we were going to get together with the Simpleton clan.

I was looking forward to that as much as the quilt show.

So much for that idea.

Wyoming got hit hard with snow.

Library Sherrie, rest assured that we will enjoy the kraut burgers.

So instead, I worked on my next medieval banner.

 

As you can see, I still have one section to go on the knight.

This is about six hours worth of cutting and piecing.

I also did mundane stuff like laundry.

I have to go to Denver tomorrow for a training for school.

I thought it might be nice to have clean clothes.

And yes, I went and bought new socks and underwear.

Just like always.

About mid-morning when I was grumping around because 

we couldn't go to Colorado, I get a picture-text from dear Sister Two. 

It read, "What are you doing?"

 

I have to admit I was a bit jealous even though I'm not a football fan.

I can't believe I just typed that out loud .... not liking football is

almost sacreligious here in Nebraska.

Is it evil to hope they got rained on?

Medieval Times

Last week we were able to get in and see our new classrooms.

 

This is the south end of my new room.

It's very nice, but  I'm going to miss the wooden floors.

This is Vicki's classroom looking to the west ....

... and the view to the east.

Windows.  Ugh.

I love my basement classroom with the windows at the top of the wall.  

They let in plenty of natural light, but don't offer any distractions.

I've never had to contend with window distractions before.

 

Except when I was in school.  

You wouldn't believe everything that went on outside of Emerson. 

I watched Homer take Lucy out for a drive almost every day.  

Dr. Heimbouch left for the office at nine.  

Mr. Briggs took his dog for a walk after recess.  

 And I was a kid who paid attention in class. 

(At least I did in elementary school)

Now you know why I'm apprehensive about windows.

Somehow cows munching on corn stalks would seem

more interesting than doing our Colorful Language ...

which is essentially diagramming sentences.  

Can you believe we have first graders diagramming sentences?!

See how I've already digressed from the topic at hand

and there's nary a window in my computer room!

At any rate, this is a nook just inside my door that will be used for books.

I'll bet that surprises you.

Karen (my principal) watched us as we measured and muttered.

 

She missed out on the cussing and discussing how we 

are going to separate one collection of books into two rooms.

We think we have figured out how to manage all of the bookcases.

If we can fit the bookcases in, we can manage the books.

Did you notice the gross color in my room?

That's going to get changed.

A coat of paint and three or four

thousand books will make it seem like home.

Next year we are going to do a school-wide medieval theme.

Vicki and I already have some great ideas.

We're scary when we put our heads together!

We have doors that go directly to the playground.

I spent the week-end making the first of two banners to go on said doors.

I offered to help Sister Two cook for the branding,

but Martha didn't need me.

Isn't that door just boring and bland?

It will look much better with this on it!

Yes, I made that with my own two little hands.

Remember how I was teaching myself

paper piecing with the mariner's compass blocks?

Well, it sorta paid off.

I was able to take this:

and turn it into a block of a knight

and then a dragon.

 

Note, the butt in the corner:

When I put them together, I ended up with this:

Of course, I was not without help.

Lilly took it upon herself to guard my fabric.

 

But she did a lot of sleeping on the job!

Willowby (aka Momma San) kept my chair warm 

every time I got up to press what I had just stitched. 

I can hardly wait to get it sandwiched and quilted.

I'm trying to decide if I want to do the knight in red on the next one.

I'm leaning toward doing it in blue, just so that they are a bit different.

What do you all think?

Frog Leg's Quilt

Aunt Trudy out did herself once again.

She hand made another present for Dani.

This time it was a colorful lap quilt. Handmade with love.

Aunt Trudy and Dani have secret nicknames for each other.

Okay maybe not secret, but Aunt Turdy calls her Frog Legs.

And Dani calls her Aunt Turdy (it's quitled on the first quilt she made her). Turdy, Turdy, Turdy.

(if I was still six and called her that name I would have been dead meat by now).

Because I borrowed a digital card for my camera, at the last

basketball game from Trudy. I have the step by step

pictures of the quilt. So get prepared for my

quilting expertise.

First step:

Pick out the brightest fabric you can find.

That way you will be seeing double, cross eyed frogs hopping around. Sew all layers together.

and still more frogs..... aren't they cute

Step two: Cut the brightly colored stripes in perfectly straight lines. Be sure not cut completely through all layers ( or your fingers). Might not be a good time to stop for a drink.

Step Three: Finish cutting with scissors, be sure to grab the dullest pair you own. It makes it more fun when cutting.

Okay, now it's time to stop for a drink.

Step Four: Blink your eyes several times, say a few

colorful words to go with the colorful quilt. Breathe a sigh of

relief, that you only have three nieces and two nephews. Take another drink or two.

Step Five: Pull the fabric back to reveal the first layer of fabric.

Repeat many, many times until all lines are "frayed"

Step Six: Finished frog legs quilt.

Isn't this the neatest, brightest, froggiest quilt ever?

This would have been the part, where I showed you

a picture of Dani receiving the blanket from Aunt Turdy,

but somehow I haven't found the picture on my computer.

As soon as I find it, I will post it, and Turdy please feel free to

edit this post with step by step instructions.

Aunt Turdy my birthday is October 6th.

Quilt Show

Last Saturday when we went to Longmont, we took in the Rocky Mountain Quilt Festival at The Ranch in Loveland. It was a national show and there were over 500 quilts, dolls, garments and accessories. Hoffman Fabrics has an annual challenge in which quilters design masterpieces using a focus fabric. This years fabric was an Asian print that featured peacocks.

The interesting thing about quilt shows is that you always think of people and things when you see certain quilts. This quilt hanging reminded me of my cat Willowby, the mighty, mighty June bug hunter.

There were quilts that reminded me of everyone:

Sister Three had a stint as a hot air balloon chaser

so naturally I thought of her when I saw this quilt.

She sent me this photo in 1999. I still love it.

Wouldn't it make a great poster?

Whenever I think of Nicki or Andrew, I always think of Anderson and Isabella. Someday I'll get Izzy's alphabet quilt quilted and Anderson's continent quilt pieced together. I wasn't crazy about the little boy sleeping, but I loved the dreams that he was dreaming and I imagine that Anderson will have some of those same dreams.

Isn't it fitting that it has a hot air balloon as well?

Frog Legs is on there as well.

Teddy bears always make me think of Izzy.

I don't know why, but they do.

I thought this quilt was really cool

but I sure wouldn't have wanted to appliqué all of the bees.

The only way this quilt could have reminded me more of
Sister Two is if it had been hung by a quilt with a cow on it!

There weren't very many patriotic quilts displayed,

which is pretty unusual. However, this is one I would

have liked to have been able to share with my class.

One of the standards that we have to teach is

patriotic symbols, their origins and meanings.

Wouldn't this be cool way to introduce them?

Can anyone guess which animal is Krista's favorite?

The African animals were plentiful this year. This quilt had more giraffes, but I think the one above it is much more magnificent.











Then of course, there were the elephants. In fact, this elephant was the first quilt I saw and of course, Aunt Sue came to mind immediately. Once upon a time she collected elephants and made the mistake of saying this out loud. For the next few years, she got elephants of all sizes and shapes. I wish I were talented enough to create this for her --- whether or not she still collects them! I was just in awe of this.

I'd be happy to produce a quilt such as this Tumbling Block.

I have the pattern, but I haven't attempted it yet.

Maybe next summer.

Or the next. Or maybe the one after that.

There weren't many frogs on quilts, but this one definitely
made me think of Frog Legs! I still think her froggy quilt
is better even if the frogs were only done with the thread.

My friend Traci really liked lions.

Or maybe it was tigers.

Whatever it was, she would have loved these!

Here's another quilt I would like to try someday .... with different colors. I love this style of quilt, but I hate working with curved pieces. I would love to do a Mariner's Star, but I don't have the faintest idea of how to begin. Maybe I'll find a quilt retreat that is offering a class some summer. A quilt retreat in a tropical paradise. Or on a Greek island. Yeah, right. I'll probably just watch The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Mama Mia while I sew in my living room! That's probably as close to Greece as I'll get.

On a side note, I went and saw Mama Mia again last night. It was just as good the second time around. I seriously considered going again tonight.

My class room theme is oceans this year.

This turtle would fit right in.

Okay, so it's not a sea turtle. It looks more like Lucky Randolph

who moved back to school yesterday. Into a brand new aquarium

twice the size of his old one. No one can believe how much he has grown.

This is probably what I'll feel like a week from Monday.

No! I don't want to go back to school! And you can't make me!

Actually, I'm getting really anxious for the kids to start back.

We had a little guy come in yesterday .... only he isn't so little anymore.

He must have grown three inches over the summer!

Actually, this is how I'll look:

You know school is about to begin when
quilts begin reminding me of people from school.

Anjelica loves pandas.

Hunter loves penguins.

Of course I won't have these guys this year. They were mine

for four years. Now they belong to Loni.

Loni is crazy about paper cranes.

My friend and former teaching partner, Julie, would have loved this quilt:

By the way these quilts with the animals on them are not panels --- they are either pieces of material pieced together to make the images of the animals or else painted and dyed fabric.

Mom would have liked this chickadee. It was for sale,

but there wasn't a price listed. What does that tell us?

The back is as incredible as the front.

And the picture doesn't begin to do it justice.

She would have liked the swan quilt as well.

Too bad I didn't get a good picture of it.

However, this one made me think of her.

After we put up her shutters we had watched

the movie Dragonfly and so now I think of that time

whenever I see something with a dragonfly on it.

This one was done by a fourteen year old. Unbelievable.
I could live to be a hundred and fourteen and
I wouldn't be able to produce something like this!

This one was by a first time entrant.

This was one of the overall winners.

Here's a shot of the dolls. They were quite unique.

Some close-ups of them:

Dolls aren't my thing. Never have been --- unless you count the Barbie heads I lined up on the back fence and shot with my slingshot. But these just catch you ---- the detailing is incredible and you wonder just how long it must take to make something like that.

There were beautiful quilts ... front and back.

But you have to love a quilt with some humor!

Information Retrieval System

Fabric Approval Department

I'm just plain crazy when I'm in a space with lots of people.

There were lots of people at the show.

Even male type people.

Of course, I think he was there with the missus.

He doesn't look overly excited does he?

Even with all of the people, it was worth attending!