3/10/10

Day 10 - Friends and Cattails

I was thinking about how lucky I am to have such great friends: I have best friends, sister friends, book club friends, quilting friends, grad school friends, work friends, used to work with friends, live in another country friends, mom friends, family friends, friend friends, new blog friends, facebook friends, friends from here and there all collected and treasured. I feel absolutely blessed by each and every one of you - you all add to my life and make it richer and happier.





For my nature square I decided to stitch cattails. My Grama Eda loved them and I remember her having them in her house. I just love the brown and green of them the tall. slender gracefulness. I was reminded of them today when I was reading the story "The Trumpeter of the Swan" by EB White to my students.


3/9/10

Ode to the New York Crossword

Today I had to laugh when I was picking up stuff beside my bed. There were 10 poor New York Times crosswords, undone, rejected,unfilled in destiny!
Since I started the 39 squares project I haven't had time at the end of the day to answer even one clue...
Until then, I had used the crossword to sort of use the last of my energy so I could fall asleep. Since I started stitching, I can barely fit in my usual duties and stitching let alone a crossword. I fall into bed and sleep deeply.
Amazing what a little self-expression can do for you!

For my nature block I did sweet violets - don't know what made me think of them, but once I did I couldn't deny them. They were a flower in my family's yard as I grew up - we only saw them for a few short days each year. Why? you ask? Well, they would sprout up around the trees in the front yard and my dad or my brothers would mow them down (yes it was the 70s and boys did outside work), this was followed by gnashing of teeth by my mother and hopes that they would come back...they did...they were mowed. Why can't men see the beauty in front of them? Well, not all men.

3/8/10

Casey and snow

This weekend Casey went to the state DECA convention and came back with a medal. Yeah for him. What it means is that he gets to the international convention next month - big fun for him. So, I decided to commemorate it with a square and then am amazing thing happened here in the Northwest.....


it snowed... first time this season... only briefly... didn't stick... but still I got to enjoy the magic. I was at school when it started and I took my class outside to catch some flakes - I always say it is for them, but really, it is for me.
Finally, I forgot to make a block for my nature sampler yesterday - I made one today which still leaves me one behind ...




I decided on a robin - a harbinger of spring on a snowy day :)


3/7/10

Apple - Day 7

Today is the first day I had to convince myself to do a square - after a day of teacher work (thus the apple), I was just so weary. Funny thing, when I sat down to stitch I had no idea what to do, then an apple came to me and I relaxed and it felt like meditation to do the square. Does stitching feel like meditation to you?

52 PROJECTS - projects 2,3, 4, and 5

52_proj_badge_v2
Projects to do:
  1. Procrastinate effectively
  2. Cook anything from Julia Child
  3. Learn to use the alphabet on my sewing machine to create a shower gift
  4. Start the 39 square project and keep up

1. Procrastinate effectively - I have been writing report cards and it gets tedious (I am an elementary teacher). So after 16 1/2 report cards I decided to stop and make the pretzels my niece Elisabeth (13) gave me the recipe for. Very easy, a good distraction. She served hers with melted American cheese but I haven't had any for many years, so we had ours with mustard - yum - thanks Elisabeth! You rock. Do mine look like yours?
Really I am not sure if the pretzels or the report cards are the successful finished project.

2. Cook anything by Julia Child - it seems to be the thing to do! SO Toby challenged me to make something new and he proceeded to choose Coq au Vin - which he can pronounce but I cannot. SO I made it on a weeknight... a weeknight - it is complicated and it takes a WHOLE bottle of wine - luckily I got one glass and made the chicken suffer without a few ounces. It was tasty but did I say it was complicated and the chicken was purple - that was hard to get past especially without wine. Glad I tried it but that will probably be the last of Coq Auanything at my house.
BTW - this is not my Coq au Vin - I forgot to take a picture so this is Julia's
3. Learn to use the alphabet on my sewing machine to create a shower gift - so you have to be a teacher to get this gift. We have to write objectives for everything we teach and so Kalisa, another teacher came up with this idea to objectize spit rags. Like I said if you are a teacher, it is funny, if not, probably weird. I did learn after much trial how to program my machine to write words - yeah for that.

4. Start the 39 square project and keep up - so far so good - you can see my work below - I have kept up and even started a second sampler - I am loving seeing other talented people's work everyday.
SO, I am catching up - only 2 projects behind now - we will see how this week goes.