Teacher Appreciation Week

I think teacher's have one of the most important jobs on the planet. They see our kids all day every week for nearly 9 months out of the year. I am, as ever, in awe of the great job they do and I wanted to show my appreciation to my son's second grade teacher in some small way.

This year I decided I would do two gifts: one for the class and one only for her.

The first gift was lunch. So, I made her a new lunch bag, a reusable drink cup and a handmade lunch to go with it. The lunch had a chicken salad wrap, snickerdoodle cookies, banana, low fat nibble and CHOCOLATE. The lunch bag I found at one of my favorite blogs the pink penguin. Here's the link to the tutorial: http://ayumills.blogspot.com/2010/08/tutorial-lunch-bag.html

The second gift was two of my son's favorite books, Stanley's Party and Raising Dragons. We love both of these books and we are passing on two really great books that were not in thier library. I also made some book plates for future books.

Thank you Teacher's!!!!!!

Camera bag

After getting a "proper" camera last year I couldn't find a camera bag I liked. I searched the internet and looked in camera stores and found that the ones I liked were, either too expensive or too bulky. Then I started looking for patterns and found the same dilemma.  And then I rounded the corner at Houston quilt market and found the Serendipity Studio's booth. They had a great book of patterns for cameras, e-readers and gps equipment.

So, here is my new camera bag. Oh and I had this Kokka camera fabric sitting in my stash just waiting to be made into something.

Michigan Book Bag

My son's school had a fundraiser last week. The theme was made in Michigan. Parents were invited to add something to the basket. I pondered some ideas and came up with a book bag idea that was not only made in Michigan, it was Michigan.

I've seen that maps and state pride is very big right now. So, I downloaded a state map,adjusted the size to fit the size of the bag I was making and sewed it on. The final touch a red heart representing my little town.

Here's the finished bag.

The Mystery Quilt class

My first mystery class in Michigan was yesterday.The case of the adventurous quilter.  It was held at Shared Space Studio here in Pentwater. The weather was a bit snowy but, everyone made it. I met a great group of quilter's from near and far.

The ladies had three different choices of fabric kits and the quilt pattern was a total mystery. They got clues to the cutting and sewing throughout the class. It was great to see everyone having a good time. We had Italian wedding soup and salad with green godess dressing for lunch and rainbow cakes in a jar for dessert. We also played a rousing game of Clue. It brought the kid out in these quilters!

The pattern was by Debbie Caffrey with Debbie's Creative Moments, Inc.. I love her patterns they are so well thought out and go together very nicely. My hope is to do a few mystery classes a year. 

Here are those rainbow cakes in a jar! They turned out pretty cute and tasty.

Here is my version of the quilt. There are 9 different ways suggested to set this quilt. I can't wait to see what the other quilter's quilts look like.

Thanks ladies I had a great time teaching the class!!

Swoon Along

I've seen this quilt out there in the blog community and thought it was a great quilt. Here are others showing off their blocks and quilts. Please check it out.