Three Day Weekend

It is a three day weekend for the kids!  Not for the teachers though, we are to report for training first thing in the morning.  Still, it there aren't any lesson plans to worry about quite yet, so I have a bit of extra time to sew.  Most of my sewing time for the last two days was spent ironing and rough cutting these t-shirts for a graduation quilt.  Still plenty of time, but I should get moving on it for sure.  I love the way she sent fun extras to include in the quilt. A pillow sham and some PJ pants are nicely blended in with all the shirts. 

We went out this morning to see Black Panther.  Kurt is a big Avenger's fan and I think that we have seen them all so far.  While we were on our way out of the neighborhood, we spotted the first baby Sandhill Cranes of the year!  It is a sure sign that spring is here.  

Summer Slendor

 I'm still waiting for it to feel like summer.  I am waiting anxiously for a few lazy home days to sew and putter around the house.  I was at work three days this week doing organizing for the homeroom curriculum.  They were only half days, but the girls are in camp this week, so by the time I dropped them off and went to school, there wasn't much time before going to get them again.  Today was a home day though, so I started stabilizing the shirts for Miranda's T-Shirt Quilt.  The blocks are about half done, but I'm out of stabilizer.  I thought I had plenty, so I'm wondering if it is hiding somewhere?  I'll have to go and dig a bit more after dinner.  There is a lasagna in the oven that should be ready any minute now.

On the way home from the morning drop off today, I spotted this family of Sandhill Cranes.  So sweet!  Tomorrow is the last day of drama camp, so the evening will be the performance of Annie Junior.  Sydney is one of the orphans, Anna has been volunteering as an assistant and Ryan will run a follow spot for the technical crew.  The weekend looks wide open though.  Anna has started painting her room, so finishing that up will be first on the list.  Hopefully sewing will get to be second though.  

The T-Shirt Quilt

A friend of mine has a son graduating from high school this year.  She wants to give him a T-shirt quilt as a graduation present.  I tried to convince her that she could do it with a little help, but she isn't crafty at all.  Instead she asked me if I could please make it for her.  What could I say?  I'm about 8 hours in so far -- stabilizing, cutting and laying out the shirts.  I cut them as rectangles this time and I am really liking the way it works.  Each shirt is cut at 14 by 18 which seems to work well for maximizing pattern placement.  Some of the shirts were a bit smaller, so I used the sleeves and pocket emblems to fill those out.  I'm waiting on fabric decisions next.  She wants masculine blues and greens.

Take a look at how big our neighborhood Sandhill Crane is getting.  He is almost as big as Mom now.  There is another family down closer to the main road with a tiny new chick.  It is so much fun watching them grow up each spring.  

Day at Home

Kurt has taken all three kids off for their Odyssey of the Mind competition. It is an all day affair, leaving me at home to entertain myself. I've been happily cutting and sewing since the car pulled out the driveway this morning. Right now I'm in the midst of ironing strip sets for another round of spinning star blocks. I've worked all the way through the last batch and I'm learning that it takes lots of small blocks to make a quilt. I may end up with these blocks in the center and then a big border of the extra four patches from the cutting process.
Spring is trying to happen, but it has still been unusually cold. It doesn't look much like spring with all of the dead foliage from the winter cold snap, but some of the trees and bushes seem to still be alive. I think it is late enough now that we can start to get rid of some of the dead stuff.