Preschool Teachers Rule
Our kids attend a local preschool two full days a week. I tell you, it’s good for all parties involved.
They each have two teachers and I think the world of them. During a fall with so much transition, it has been wonderful to know that these teachers are a steady presence and that they learned the little ins and outs of our kids quickly. We’d just moved back from San Diego but my husband was still traveling there every week to finish up a work assignment, our house wasn’t quite finished yet so we were living at my parents’ house (bless you, Mom and Dad) and 95% of our belongings were elsewhere. Because preschool started September 1st, it meant a 40 minute commute twice a week to Kansas City get them there. I became very good at killing a day in Kansas City. (Thanks for the free WiFi, Panera!)
Long story short, these teachers were an essential piece of the puzzle in our move. The kids LOVE this preschool (so do we), so it was a mostly uneventful transition. But there were moments where I could tell that the hectic stuff was getting to them. Thankfully, we’re back to ‘normal’ (whatever that is!) and our 40 minute commute is now a mere four minutes door to door. It’s pretty sweet.
With kids of my own in ‘school’, I find myself on the flip side of teaching. In the short 7 years that I taught, I think I got over 20 coffee mugs. They were all cute and whatnot but…fun fact… I don’t drink coffee. Ha!
I knew I wanted to make something for them for Christmas and picked the Zippy Strippy bag pattern from Atkinson Designs (I found mine at Pink Chalk). The pattern includes directions for three sizes and I made the medium size. It’s super easy and fast to make these. And, I could stand in the button section of the store picking buttons for hours. Don’t tell me that hasn’t happened to you, too.
The kids each took turns sitting on my lap as I sewed these together. Graham loves to put his hands on top of mine, thinking that he’s pushing the fabric through. There was a draft of sorts once I had them all done. I let the kids pick which one each teacher would get. It was funny watching them decide!
Will they be used for makeup? Car essentials? Who knows. I’ll tell you what my kids think they are…..
M&M holders.
Not a bad idea, really.
Somber Sewing, Comforting Quilts
Today I am sharing three quilts that were made in the summer of 2011. I have not shared them until now because, honestly, I didn’t know how I was going to sum up my thoughts enough to be able to write about them.
These are comfort quilts, made for a friend and her two young children. Sarah is a friend, our family photographer and, most recently, the photographer behind my pattern covers. She and I met when we taught at the same middle school. We were paired together for our school’s SSR reading program and each morning she’d sit in my classroom reading a novel. It was my first year of teaching and her last before leaving to stay home. She taught art and every. single. kid. LOVED her.
Though it was eight years ago when we met and neither of us are teaching anymore, we have remained friends and see each other for photography sessions. My husband and I have amazing images of our kids thanks to her. I call her “the kid whisperer” because she can get them to ham it up and captures their sassy personalities so well.
Sarah is just one of those people that is simply cool. Kind, caring, creative, faithful, friendly, loyal and funny. Think of the nicest person you know. Then double it and you’ve got Sarah.
Sarah’s husband lost a very long, nine year battle with cancer last summer. It was heartbreaking to hear her updates. They are one of the most faithful families I know and they never once lost hope that a miracle would happen. It was in those final weeks that I started these quilts. There were a lot of late nights spent sewing and thinking about them (and a whole lot of KLOVE on the radio). It was by far the most intense and somber sewing I have ever done. I had the quilts for her kids done and was working on hers when I heard the update that he had passed away.
All of the quilts are roughly 60×60 so that they can be big enough to cuddle under for many years, not just now when they are so young. I pieced the kids’ names into the backs of the quilts and I hope they like having something with their very own name on it. The one for her son (pictured first) is my own improvisational layout. The one for her daughter (pictured second) is the Strips and Stripes design from Malka Dubrawsky’s book Fresh Quilting. I made it from Art Gallery solids.
I finished two of them (for her kids) in June but knew that the third, the one for Sarah, needed a little something that I couldn’t do. There is a verse that is special to her and I asked my friend Angela Walters if she could quilt the verse into Sarah’s quilt. Having met Sarah before and knowing her for just a few hours, she immediately agreed. She actually proposed the idea of quilting the verse so that it would read correctly from the back of the quilt. I thought it was an incredible idea. Angela has written a post about how she did the quilting, because it was quite the process. You can read it here.
The verse reads: ““Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7)
You can see a bit more of it in this image, especially if you click on the image and zoom in:
Sarah’s quilt is made from my Seeing Squares quilt pattern, made in shot cottons and modified a bit by adding a row to the smallest size. Since I’d pieced the kids’ names into the back of theirs, I wanted to do something similar for Sarah’s. I didn’t have to think very long about it before deciding on the word: Loved.
———
I think about their sweet family every day. Through it all, they have handled everything with an incredible amount of grace and faith. It is difficult to know the right thing to say to her, so I could only think of one thing to do. I could sew for them.
Recap, Review, Renew
2011 was a big one around here. Both personally, as we spent the year soaking up all that San Diego had to offer before moving back to Kansas City, and professionally, as it was the year I officially launched my pattern business. The business has grown by leaps and bounds since its start in February and I am excited to see what 2012 holds.
In looking back at completed projects, I am SO glad to see that the number of quilts and other projects sewn for my family and friends outnumbers those made for my business. That has been a goal for me… to not let the pattern business take over my sewing world so much that I loose sight of why I love sewing in the first place. Let’s hope that continues in the new year!
I am also incredibly thankful for the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild. Without that guild, I would not have finished (or even started!) a few of these quilts. I love the inspiration and motivation that our group provides!
Thank goodness for the handy dandy treasure that is the Flickr mosaic! Quilts made in 2011 (all but one bee quilt is shown!). If you haven’t read a blog post about one of these, hang with me. I’m working on catching up!
1. Zigzagged, 2. No Prints Allowed Challenge, 3. Seeing Squares- large quilt size, 4. Seeing Squares- baby quilt, 5. Oliver’s Zig Zag, 6. Wonderland Christmas Tree Skirt, 7. Wonderland Christmas Tree Skirt, 8. Table Runner, 9. Seeing Squares for Sarah, 10. Abbie’s Bright Stripes, 11. NICU Quilt, 12. Seeing Squares in Silk, 13. Wonky Little Houses, 14. Two quilts in Robert Kaufman booth, 15. Habitat Challenge Quilt
And sewn projects!
1. Sleepover Pajamas, Oliver + S, 2. Popover Dress, 3. Zippy Strippy bags, 4. Jumprope Dress, 5. Popover Dress, 6. Doll sleeping bags, 7. Stockings for the Kyrie Foundation, 8. Doll sized PJs!, 9. Christmas Stockings, 10. Oliver + S Sleepover Pajamas, 11. Bucket Hats from Oliver + S, 12. Cover Up Sewing Machine Cover, 13. Claire’s pillowcase, 14. Alex’s pillowcase
It is so much fun seeing everything in one place. It helps with the “what have I actually accomplished this year?” reflecting that we like to do around here. Love it!
The Best Kind of Christmas Gift
As the clock ticks closer and closer to Christmas Day, I wanted to share a little Christmas-Sewing-Family-Handmade Gift Giving story that sums up my feelings about this time of year.
We are blessed to have large extended families that we celebrate with each year. This year, in an attempt to simplify things a bit and refocus, we asked each of our aunts and uncles to forgo purchasing a gift for our two kids. While celebrating at my aunt and uncle’s house on Sunday, my Aunt JoAnn handed each of my kids a gift bag and (looking at me) said, “This is not a gift. It’s a keepsake.” I was inwardly laughing, thinking that she’d found some clever loophole in our ‘no gifts, please’ request. Then I saw what was inside.
She and my uncle had given our kids the stuffed ornaments in the photo above. These aren’t just any ornaments mind you. They are ornaments I made for them with my own mom when I was three – just about my daughter’s age. I stuffed them and my mom stitched them closed. Then we gave them to my aunt and uncle and they’ve been decorating their tree ever since.
My aunt and I both explained to Eleanor how the ornaments were made and I could tell that she thought it was pretty special. She’s been “helping” me sew a lot lately and even said, “Maybe someday I can ask for my own sewing machine!” Graham is a little bit young for the history lesson, but he was quite excited to know that there was an ornament on the tree that he could touch without being told “No, Graham!”
To know that these will now be a part of our Christmas tree is a wonderful feeling. I love the whole circle of Christmas, family, giving, sewing and passing it all on.
I’m quite confident that no other gift could top that one.
(I know you’re reading this, Aunt JoAnn. Quit crying. You too, mom.)
I’ll leave you with my favorite photo from this season (so far!). Our kids whispering wishes to Ginger, our Elf on the Shelf. (Yes. Totally on their own, my red headed/strawberry blonde children named their Elf Ginger. We think it’s funny, too.) It was the first time she’d dared to be in a place where they could potentially reach her. I love the expressions on each of their faces. So full of wonder!
To all of you, Merry Christmas.
