A+ for the Teachers

  iPad Covers for my Second Grade Teacher Friends.

I can keep a secret

Sure, I can keep a secret.  I just can't keep it for very long!

Someone I know (and whom I love) is having a baby!  Not just ANY baby, but a GRANDBABY! I think the news is still hers to tell as she wants, but now that our family members know (that's YOU, Kim, Tony, Barbara, and Randy), I can post my joy!

I got the first hint months ago (well before the fact) when I was told about a cute baby blanket pattern.  I kept the pattern in the back of my mind until we got the first inkling that a baby might be on the way.  I got out my needles and went to work!

The color scheme matches their home decor with yellows and grays.

TOP to BOTTOM: Lemongrass, lemonade, stone, tulip, drift, smoke and slate

Once I knitted down to the drift color, I wondered if should I stick with grays or possibly put in some blue - just in case? (I'm going on record here saying I had a dream that the baby was a boy.)

Powder and Navy or Smoke and Slate?

Honestly, there's not much difference, but we decided to stick with the neutral gray tones.  When I first saw the pattern, I was not a fan of the chevron pattern.  I thought it would be a pain to knit, but I was sooo wrong.  It was a lot of fun!

So, no matter baby boy or baby girl, it will be a much loved BABY, just like his/her Mommy (and Daddy)  

If we get to know the baby's gender before birth, or even the nursery colors, I have another great blanket pattern I'm excited to knit.  One of the teachers at school is having a baby girl in December, so I may start knitting for that blessed event as my next knitting project.

New School Year = New Skills

I took a short sewing class about fabric art:  Stitch and Slash.  It's not really about sewing, but about working with layers of fabrics to achieve a particular style and texture to your fabric that you can then use to create something.  A lot of times this technique is used in works of art, home decor pillows, or even personal tote bags.  I've never seen it as part of anyones clothing, but I suppose you could.

The lessons were great.  They focus on color combinations, textures, and hues, no matter what the print or design.  I played around with scraps from the stash of fabric and chose 4 fabrics of black and white and prints. I layers the fabric black, black/pink, hexagons, and white on top. I saved the black and white polka dot for a different place in the project.

Next, I came up with a design and sewed it (black thread) through the layers (white on top) I kept my design super simple and used straight lines.  In hind-sight, I think straight lines might've made it more difficult.  FILE UNDER "Things to do differently next time."

Then, came the fun part.  Using a seam ripper, I just started taking off layer by layer.  The idea was to leave jagged edges to create texture and reveal different layers of the fabrics.
Layer 1:

Layer 2:

Layer 3:

And finally:

The final step in fabric preparation was to add more interest/texture with embellishments like ribbons and machine embroidery.  My sewing machine is old, old, old and doesn't have any special stitches other than zig zig, but this is what I came up with.

The ribbon and yarn pieces I attached have a slight silver thread running through them.  Good enough for this project (plus, I didn't have to buy anything else.  That was a priority!)

Now that the fabric is prepared, I decided to  make something out of it.  Again, using what I had on hand in the craft closet, I chose to make another insulated lunch bag.  I'm calling it shabby chic.

 Bring on the PBJ and leftovers.  Lunch is served!

As a final, "over the top" touch,  I added some buttons and beading in the black areas for added texture.  It doesn't show up that well in the photo, but here's the final picture.

An Apple for the Teacher

Well, an Apple iPad cover, anyway.  I don't know WHAT possessed me, but yesterday morning, I made a new iPad cover - without a pattern!!  Actually, the need came from not being able to find my iPad sleeve/cover since I used it coming and going from the wedding in Colorado.  I knew it was in the house...someplace!  That tells you more than you need to know about my organizational skills for the non-essential items.  If I need something, I know where it is.  If it's just "one of those things" not important to my everyday life or work tools, the items often end up in odd places (like the last place I used them, and then forgot!)  Yes, I end of wasting a lot of time looking for stuff...c'est la vie.

So, I measured the iPad, added some "give" for seams,  cut out a pattern from waxed paper just to be sure, then went to work.  Again...everything from the endless craft bag.  I had fusible fleece, bias tape and red plaid material left over from the placemats. The polka dot material is from the reindeer apron.  No wonder this looks familiar (and kind of Christmas-y!?)

Front with red button for decoration

Plain back

Inside with velcro closure

Kinda cute!  Now, I think I'll make some others as "welcome back to school" gifts for the teachers I eat lunch with everyday.  This is the easiest thing to do and I'm pretty proud of myself for thinking of it.  It literally is sewing 4 seams and three of them involve bias tape.  It doesn't get much more simple than that!

PS)  My original cover was sitting on the table next to the couch...Exactly where I used it last.  Duh.

Summer Projects Finished....I'm Ready for School

School starts again on Tuesday, and my first day back with students is Thursday.  I am ready!  I feel that I've spent enough time with the new textbooks and the updated curriculum that I'm ready to go.  Plus, I'm just excited and happy to see the children again and start singing!  I have some great songs to start the year.

We have a wonderful year ahead with plenty of extraordinary opportunities.  In addition to all the great stuff that goes on during a regular year, my little choir of 9 and 10 years olds (self selected, non-auditioned, public school!)  will be performing with the Northwest Indiana Symphony in December and then will travel to the Indiana Music Educators Conference in Ft Wayne during January for a performance at the convention. Plenty to be excited (nervous/anxious/worried) about and to look forward to doing.  In addition, I'm gearing up to lead a couple of teacher workshops (Chicago Area Kodaly Educators conference in September and the West Virginia Orff Association spring conference in April) and a Circle the State with Song Festival in February.  It's going to be a great school year (fingers crossed)

I feel "settled" at the end of this wonderful summer.  The wedding was lovely in July, which just makes it all perfect.

I've loved my intensive crafting time.  I've gotten to do EVERY project on my wish list, plus a couple of extra things just because projects came to mind.  One thing leads to another. More on those later in the blog, but now...the big reveal:

The Crate and Barrel Throw is finished!  This monster weighs a ton!!!  The yarn is a super bulky weight and the pattern called for 13 skeins, if I remember correctly.  Toward the end, it was almost too much to lift and it was much too warm to hold on my lap when I was knitting.  Now, it's completed (except for blocking) and I think it looks beautiful.  I'm so happy with it!.  I believe I started this right before the wedding (remember I had hours of knitting in the car on the way out and back to Colorado - when I wasn't the driver!) and finished it this morning.

So...what's next?  Well, it all starts with something like "I was thinking...."  These might be the three most dangerous words in my vocabulary because they are closely followed by "What if?" and then....I'm off on some tangent!

In this case I'm thinking about starting a fabric arts project and I'm signing up to take a class called "Stitch and Slash" where you use ripped and layer fabrics to design art projects for home decor, etc.  Stay tuned.

Mini angels

Angel food cake is my favorite, but I've never had angel food cupcakes.  What shouldn't this work? I gave it a try thinking that worst thing that could happen would be that I'd have to eat a bunch of bad cupcakes.

I used the egg yolks for making ice cream last week, so I had plenty of egg whites to give this a try.  I used my regular angel food cake recipe (probably from Alton Brown or some one on the Food Network) and filled up 18 cupcakes.  They took a bit longer to bake than normal, but there's lots of yummy crust on all of them.

I have a feeling that they might lose some of their "fluff" (as an angel cake might do, too), but the first try looks pretty good.  I'll add some sweetened strawberries on the side and this will be dessert for our special dinner tonight.  Happy Anniversary to us!

This is nuts!

We've been hearing some sort of bumping and scratching on and off at our front door for most of the summer. Each time I opened the door to see what the noise might be, there wasn't anything, or anybody to be found.  It's been a fairly loud noise, so I knew it had to be something more than my imagination.  John blamed it on the cats.  I thought it might be a loose fish tank filter or some such thing that sits by the front door. Today, I caught the culprit with my camera looking out the front window.

Okay, he's kinda cute and all, but this is NOT good.  He's trying to come in and store stuff for winter, I guess.  Squirrels can be pretty destructive, and for all I know, he's made a little home somewhere under the siding or whatever.  ARRGH.  You will not be staying long, Mr. Squirrel!

Something That's Hot/Cool

I've found another lunch bag pattern - one that I like even better than my usual zippered lunch bag. This one is insulated and will keep lunches HOT or COLD until lunch time.

The pattern is from one of the many craft blogs and web sites I continuously stalk (I mean, read)  This pattern is called Betty's Lunch Sack and it's from the Craftsy.com site.

The pattern calls for just under a yard of cotton material:  5/8 for the outside and 3/8 for the lining. I used left-overs from another purse project, so I had enough purple flower for the outside and handles and a coordinating paisley inside for the zipper panels.

I used another scrap of purple print for the lining.  I also had 3/8 of a yard of Insulbrite (padded insulation) left over from the casserole carrier project from last fall.  The only supply I needed to purchase was the zipper!

I love the new challenge, and now that I've made the pattern once, it is NOT at all difficult.  As a matter of fact, I think it has fewer steps than the other zippered bag pattern I'm been making.  It took less than an hour to sew, once all the pieces were cut to specifications.  Even that, was just measuring and cutting different sized rectangles!

Here's to some yummy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the coming school year!

I Scream, You Scream

Home made ice cream!!

Of Two Minds... the Art and Craft of Teaching

My school has new music textbooks for all 5 grades this year.  That means I have lots of new materials to evaluate; Seeing what fits into the curriculum, what's worthy of inclusion into the repertoire,what tried-and-true methods to leave in and which ones to leave behind.  

Summer is ticking away and I'm in the mental place where school MUST take a priority in my crafting world.  Okay, crafting is not exactly the correct word to use in this context, but it is a fine line between "craft" and "art".    

                                                                                                                                       

Teaching is a "craft" when all the hours of honing your skills and preparation set the stage for what happens in the classroom. I go into the lesson with a set of objectives and goals for learning, and then you get to "play" -like molding clay -  bringing your students into the shape and form you want them to be.  That sets up the next lesson, and the next, and the next.  Pretty soon (months later), you have students who can sing and learn and read and laugh and play and enjoy making music.  That's how I see the "art" in teaching. That's my job in a nutshell.  That's my 30-plus year career in a nutshell.  It's been a summer of soul searching through song.  

It makes me excited to get back to work.  Three weeks left!