Teacher Appreciation

...& the blog I forgot to post...


Last week was teacher appreciation at my son's school.

 I made these

 ('cause in case you don't remember, there's a moratorium on sending in home-baked treats...)

Now, there was a teacher who'd moved away in the middle

of the year. Two of our boys 

had him for percussion

& band the past 5.5 years; but the rest of our family loved him & his tribe, too. (A few years ago I made a quilt for his baby girl & blogged about it here.)

 
Well, baby girl now has a baby brother, & of course we had to make a quilt for him! Last fall I found out the nursery was to have a woodland theme, so I bought a set of appliquéd forest animals from Bunnycup Embroidery.

Next came the arduous task of finding the perfect backing fabric. None of my local shops carried something that would coordinate with the embroideries; but a shop on Etsy had some yardage I loved!

Then I heard the baby would be a "he" so I had to make sure my fabrics for the appliqués were boyish.

I had plenty of help from Duncan, who has lots of experience with quilts...

I quilted by using a double needle & "stitch-in-the-ditch" -- I like the way it turned out, for the most part.

Next big decision was what to bind with & my friend Cindy gave me the best advice, "Orange Minkee" she said.

Perfecto!

Then all that was left was to stick it in the mail...

Another monogrammed hankie...

This weekend I had to use a hankie I stitched for the hubs years ago...

It was not for a sad occasion, but for a joyful one!

I've embroidered 3 handkerchiefs for my friend -- the first one was for the day her beautiful d.i.l. became part of her family:

The second one I made for the day of her husband's memorial service:

...but for this day, I needed to use "something old" & "something blue" so I figured this delicious old crocheted-edge linen would do!

Her new monogram:

posted from Bloggeroid

…some recent “makes”

Life whizzes by at lightning speed sometimes. I’ve been wanting to show some projects, but never really have time to sit down & write a blog post…

So, I’m just going to throw a bunch of pictures out here:

 

Quilts made for my friend’s grandtwins born the first of the year.

 

A headband andladybug tutu for a newborn(with hand-sewn yo-yo “spots”)

 

A tray for vintage letterpress blocks (plus a few “faux” blocks)

 

Some magnetic owl Post-it® note holders for teacher appreciation week

 

Assisted in applying htv to a canvas for a Mother’s Day gift

 

Etched a cookie jar

 

Helped with a GCU grad cap

 

A few graduation money holders

I shamelessly copied Sara @spinningwheelantiques #windchimes today! #secretgarden #addictedtocobaltglass #musictomyears

A video posted by mshing (@4mshing) on Jun 17, 2016 at 3:09pm PDT

And a windchime for my garden

 

 

 

Quilt cat

See the cat.

This cat loves quilts.

The cat is on the quilt.

The cat naps.

The cat is in the way!

This cat loves vintage quilts.

The dog naps on the chaise.The cat naps on the quilt.

Silly cat.

Silly, silly cat.

A little giftie ~

I took a breakie between quilties (oh! and I guess houseworkies, too…) to stitchie up a goodie from Reen at Embroidery Garden.That sweetie fox’s face is toooooooo adorable with his long lashes!

I made the taggie blankie out of cotton (the better to absorb spitties) and a soft stretch satin (the better to snugglie with…)

I embroidered Baby Boy’s name on the back of the removable collar, and inserted a musical button. (hmmmmmmm -- mama might wish to removie the collar if this gets played too often: )

Little foxxie’s head snaps off so the blankie can be washied as needed.
Love my KAMsnaps (although it was a booger to get all the blankie fabric smooshied in the pliers to set the snap!)Such a fun little project -- now I gotta get backies to the big quilt…

Some heroes wear NG tubes & cannulas…

Once upon a time a beautiful princess found her handsome prince. They were married in a splendid wedding.

But the prince had to travel for long months at a time. He carried with him a little sock monkey to pose for pictures in ports of call to send to the princess when he could. After a time his travels were ended and he was home to stay.

On the day it was announced the princess was having a baby, I knew exactly the quilt I would make to celebrate the child. Julie had an adorable appliqué set of a sock-monkey alphabet. I bought it! Instead of using both the boys & the girls, I wanted to make the quilt according to the gender of the baby. In the meantime, the search was on for fabric with small figures for each of the letters.

Finally it was revealed that the princess was carrying a man-child. Oh! the excitement! Now my big rush was on to find just the right “boy” fabrics to complete the quilt.But then the heart-rending news came that all was not well with the baby, he was found to have a congenital heart issue that would require extreme measures to correct immediately after birth and for years after.

At this juncture I could tell the quilt-making was going to extend beyond Teddy’s baby shower & birth; so my goal was to finish by the time he was able to leave the hospital.

From the very start of his life on the outside, this plucky little guy was a fighter. He bravely jousted with every procedure his condition required of his caregivers. His Grandma would keep us updated on facebook. Every morning/evening we’d look for news of Teddy’s latest victory. She’d relate to us his conversations with the world he was about to conquer.

Then one day came the wretched news that the villain CHD had overpowered our hero Teddy. We. were. crushed.

I was roughly halfway through embroidering the blocks. But in a conversation with his bereft mommy, we decided I’d go ahead & finish the quilt to honor his memory.

It was tough! I’d cry over the fabrics I’d chosen for appliqué because I would remember this one was picked up for Dad’s favorite sport, or that one because Grandma loves gingerbread men…

But with a little help from a friend(actually, very little help…)I got to the point where I could piece it all together.

THAT was fun

but not as fun as binding.

There was just SOOOOOOOO much “help” to be had!

After all was stitched, bound, clipped & laundered, I even got some assistance removing all the lint…

Anyhow, here is my tribute to a brave lad. Stitched with love & prayers for his mom & dad - his grandmas & grandpa - his aunt & uncle - his extended (extensive!) family…

If you know a “heart baby”, pray for him/her & the family.Sometimes they almost live at the hospital. Sometimes they live separately because there are ones to care for at home. Thank you Teddy, for reminding us to live life with our whole heart.