Cupcake Delight!!!

I'm heading out to visit Erin and Everett in July, and since Erin and I will be playing a lot while I'm out there I thought I'd try to come up with a few activities for us to do.  As I was hopping from blog to blog the other day I came across a blog called Rose Hip that suggested the following book as a good source of crafts for young children just learning to sew.  This blogger had a sewing themed birthday party for one of her daughters and each attendee got to take home a cupcake that they made themselves.  

I thought it looked like so much fun, so I ordered the book Sewing for Children: 35 Step-by-Step Projects to Help Kids Aged 3 and Up Learn to Sew.

It came in the mail the other day, so I looked through the book and decided to start with the felt cupcakes.  

The directions were incredibly simple to follow, and I put together this cute cupcake in no time.  Plus, the sheets of felt were 4/$1 at Hobby Lobby, and that and the stuffing were the only things I had to buy! I had everything else at home.  

I really think that this simple running stitch will be so easy to teach Erin, and since you use an embroidery needle, no worries about little fingers getting pricked.  

All you do is sandwich the layers together, stuff with a little pillow stuffing...

put a cherry on top...

and tada!!!  A delicious cupcake, perfect for tea parties!

(I might also use mine as a pincushion, although I've got my eye on the cutest ladybug pincushion in the book that I think I'll have to make for myself as well.)

This might also be a good activity for my Knowledge Adventure Camp kids!!!  I'll let you know how that goes.  :)

Lone Star Dreams

A few days, okay... weeks, OKAY... months! ago one of my mom's friends sent me an unfinished, hand-pieced quilt top that her mother began a long time ago and never finished. She has several of her mother's quilts and would love to be able to use this quilt top as well, so she asked me to finish it for her. It's a gorgeous, scrappy Lone Star.

Problem: I don't know how to find the measurements for the setting pieces. 


I posted a question to my favorite forum Quilting Board and received so many helpful answers from fellow quilters!  One member even offered to send me a sample block to see if it fit my Lone Star!  I've been "lurking" on the site for several months, but I feel so encouraged by the response that I received that I plan to keep asking questions, and maybe even answer some when I feel that I can help.  


I think I know what you're saying...


"Don't give anyone your name/location/personal information!!!"  That's what my mom would say.  :)  Which leads me to my next point/soapbox...


As a future English teacher, one of my main goals for the classroom is to teach students to communicate more effectively using up-to-date technology.  I feel that it is far more important to give students access to things like online forums and social networks and show them how to use them responsibly and safely than it is to block them entirely.  If they're cut off from these forms of communication, they'll never learn to use them effectively and to navigate the world we live in today.  


That being said, no Mom, I will not give out my name/location/personal information.  :)

Baby Blues...

I'm so excited about traveling to Arizona in a few weeks to see Mere, Matt, and Erin, and to meet Everett!  I've been working on his baby quilt lately, here are a few pictures of the work-in-progress.

Below is a picture of the pattern and fabric that I'm using (I pulled all of the fabric from my scraps and stash, I was so excited!)

And here are a few shots of my work-in-progress:

A few of my pieces laid out on Momo's sewing machine (yes, it will always be "Momo's," I'm just borrowing it :)

Starting from the left, the strips turn into the triangles turn into the blocks.

I love the blues and whites...

Hopefully I'll have a picture of the completed quilt top for you soon!

Resume Building or Character Building?

Or maybe a little (lot) of both.  I do love my summer job, but I'm entirely too type A sometimes.  I'm totally okay with going with the flow when it comes to schedules switching around, but I cannot STAND grownups whose every thought changes as the wind blows.  This is the curse of the overachiever.  Also, the supply closet bothers me.  I have 6 Leapfrog pads, and only one charger.  Those numbers don't jive.  So it looks like I'll be picking up some batteries tomorrow afternoon.  

That said, I'm having a great time with the kids, and hopefully it'll be something that principals will be interested in when they read my resume.  I'm also finding it really interesting to see the progression of reading levels.  I'm teaching K-7 Reading, and I think this experience will be very helpful to me when I begin teaching high school English.  One of the main concerns in secondary education today centers around students not being able to read on grade level.  Hopefully some observation of the process from the very beginning will give me some insights that will be helpful as I begin teaching.  

I went over to C's house this evening and helped her with a colorguard routine.  She did me a huge favor by taking over the Southeastern Music Camp after I had to pull out, so I want to help her out as much as I can.  We had a blast, but the mosquitoes got after me.  I seem to be one of their favorite treats.  

La, la, la la la la

Week 1 of Knowledge Adventure Camp at Vinemont is officially over.  We went to the Aquatic Center on Thursday and the kids had a blast.  I wish I had some pictures, but of course I can't post pics of the students and without them it would be pretty boring. :)  The zoo is coming up though, and I can't wait to post a few pics of that if I have the opportunity to take some.  

Funny story:  So I'm standing in the breezeway at Vinemont the other day, and W. is already lined up while we're waiting on the other kids.  He starts asking me questions as we wait, and one of them was how old was I.  So I said, 22, and then he asked if I was married.  So I said no, and THEN he said, "You're too old to not be married!"  I almost fell down, guys, it was so funny.  I'm just glad I didn't laugh until later.  :)