Blankets, Buddies, and Brains!

My students have just finished a unit on kindness. I wanted us to share with others and I found an organization in New York (Blankets, Buddies, and Brains) that provides blankets and books for inner city children. I thought 40 sets sounded doable. It proved to be a bit too many for second grade hands to handle. I enlisted the help of some former students, now in high school, a dear friend, and my husband to make 30 sets. My second graders worked with parent volunteers to tie the remaining 10 blankets. Here is a blurry photo of the first batch to get mailed. They really did look nice! We should receive photos from the receiving class in December.

Catch Up Time

I have such good intentions, taking photos of my activities, then lack the time to get things posted. Here is an attempt to get caught up on my creative endeavors. Every year I make a quilt of some kind for our school's fundraising silent auction. This year American Doll Ruthie set the theme for "An American Doll's Christmas." I made the quilt and stocking to accompany the doll and her Christmas accessories.

What would a project be without help. My beautiful 14 year old cat Rusty is at my side and ready to lend a paw. He offered help sewing as well as checking out the final product. And all that help makes a kitty tired.

Little Christmas Houses

I took the challenge and entered a block swap! I love Christmas and have put a ban on myself from buying any more Christmas fabric, ever. I have quite a bit :) This seemed like a way to infuse my stash with new inspiration without buying anything. Here are a few pictures of my blocks. I decided to make them all the same, except for the windows, for the sake of time. Next stop, the post office!

Back to School

Every year I make new quilt valences for my classroom. This year I added a new table cloth and the very cute fabric basket. The idea came from a Quilt Taffy post.

Blessings for Peter

Peter has cut my hair for more than 10 years. He and his wife are some of the nicest people I know. When it rains, he and his brother walk the ladies out to the car with umbrellas so our newly styled hair stays nice and dry. Every hair cut ends with a hug and "Blessings!"

Number 2 is also blue!

This is the second quilt finished in July. I do really well starting quilts, not so well in the finishing department. I love to use charm squares for a quick quilt. This one took 3 packs of an April Cornell Moda collection and is for a friend who is recovering from breast cancer. I have way too many friends, parents and grandparents of students who have struggled with cancer. I started making quilts as a way to give a lasting hug and to honor the gift these people are to so many. I quilt a small gift box shape into each quilt.

Summer Stash Challenge

Using fabric from my blue tub and scraps from a Posh kit I bought from Quilt Taffy, I made this lap quilt for my sister-in-law Peggy's 50th birthday. Nothing fancy, yet these six inch squares represent the blue dishes found in her grandmother's Marthas Vineyard dining room. The colorful border looks like the gingerbread houses found in the island's historic Campground. The border and backing fabric are from Susan Branch's Vineyard collection. My husband will be delivering the quilt at a surprise birthday party this weekend.

Quilt Giveaway!

I'll do anything to win a prize, including finally working on this blog. I set it up a year ago and then walked away. Now I have a reason to figure out how to post...a quilt giveaway! Check out this lovely quilter's blog and see the details.

Day One

This is my first post and opportunity to figure out the formatting on this "easy" blog tool. The more blogs I check out, I am totally impressed and a bit overwhelmed at all the options, or lack of options due to my ability! I hope this is the first of many and that these post continue to show my growth as a blogger.