Memory Quilt

October 21, 2014

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This t-shirt quilt was made for a customer whose father passed away in April.  Although Dad had several t-shirts, she selected the ones that meant the most to her.  My favorite t-shirt is the one she made her Dad featuring photos of the two of them.  (It’s top row, middle block).  The center block includes an English translation of a special verse from his funeral program.  I used a stylized Old English font and printed it on Electric Quilt’s printable fabric. The verse was then framed with cornerstone and outer border fabric.

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Blocks on this quilt are 15″ and quilted in a wave pattern to mimic the sashing fabric. Most of my quilts call for a solid-color sashing.  This customer wanted to select her own fabrics. She prefers brown tones and loves batik fabrics, so we met at a local quilt shop to find the just right fabrics.  I think her selections work quite nicely.  That’s the beauty of a custom quilt – you can make it your own.

Look what we did in school today!

October 18, 2014

Pom pom spiders just in time for Halloween!20141017_134230

Both the kids and club sponsors had a blast!  We made one incredible mess of the classroom we use for our club meetings, but today’s experience definitely fit the definition of learner engagement.  Club members learned to do quick division in their heads the old school way (sorry Common Core) to figure out roughly how many spiders we could get out of a skein of yarn.  Students learned how to measure 10 yards of yarn using yardsticks and using the 12″ floor tiles.   Real life experience!

This is why I love teaching.

Crafty S.T.E.M. is a reality!

October 7, 2014

20141003_130218Amazed.  Grateful.  Humbled.

Those three words describe how I felt as I prepped for our first Crafty S.T.E.M. discovery club meeting last Friday afternoon.

Amazed that the flash of inspiration I had during a seminar on e-textiles at the ISTE conference in Atlanta back in June was about to become a reality.

Grateful that administration had enough foresight to let me do something I am totally passionate about (and NOT library related) for my club activity.

Humbled by the friends, family and anonymous donors who so generously gave to completely fund my request for soft circuit supplies on donorchoose.org.

All I can say is, “Thank you.”