A little bit of quilting

 I did manage to get a bit of quilting done over my break.  Not as much as I had hoped for, but a little is better than none.

 These first three are really big ones, big enough for a full size bed.  They take more than a day to complete because each row takes more than 30 minutes to stitch out and then I will get busy and forget to go back and move the quilt on to the next row.

 I do love these super scrappy quilts where all of the leftover pieces are used.  They are probably my favorite quilts.  They are easy to pick a quilting design for and easy to choose a backing fabric.  Anything goes with these guys and they are great for a guy or a girl.

 The bold colors are beautiful on this quilt too.  These quick strippie quilts are easy to make and fun to quilt up as well.  They make the perfect lap size quilt for an adult and are great for kids.

Someone donated some really fluffy batting so this quilt will be really puffy and warm.

I managed to get all of my grading done over the break, despite having a 4 day migraine.  I still can't figure out what is triggering them sometimes.  I had grand plans to get more done, but managed to clean the kitchen a bit.  I have two weeks until my kids are home from college and need to get the quilts out of my daughter's room so she has a place to sleep.  I guess having a deadline will motivate me to get moving on some of the projects that must be finished.  Or at least that's my hope!

winding down

 I know you aren't supposed to have favorites, but this dog is my most favorite dog ever.  He actually fetches and loves to play with toys!  I found a free stuffed dog bone pattern online and made him his very own squeaky toy.  I have a feeling I will be making many of these with all of the fabric scraps I have around here and how much he likes to squeak them and then proceed to try and destroy them.

 He's quite the clown too.  My son will get him excited and throw a toy up the stairs or on top of the railing and Spot will twist his head around and try to figure out how to get the toy down.  Yesterday my son put the toy on top of the quilt rack, thinking it was too high.  He turned around and Spot had jumped up about 4 feet on top of the quilt rack and was squeaking the toy.  He looked like he was laughing at my son.  They play together for a couple of hours every day, which is great for the dog, but even better for my son, who needed a friend :)

 After grading three boxes of lab books in the last two days, I figured I should reward myself with making a little doll.  I know, my husband is a grown man and doesn't need a doll, but he does love his super heroes.  I love making these little things.  I'm not exactly sure why, but taking some fabric and a little time and coming up with a smiling doll at the end just makes me happy.

I think my husband enjoyed the little break from grading papers for a couple of minutes.  If only I could break this migraine cycle.  I've had a terrible headache for the past three days and I'm not sure why.  Surely it can't be from stress...maybe anti stress?

Happy Thanksgiving

 It's Thanksgiving week and I've been grading papers and making finger puppets.  My daughter who teaches English in Florida asked for some character puppets so I've been working on lots of different ones.  I guess I'm wishing I had grandkids :)

 There are days I love my embroidery machine and days I wish I could throw it out the window.  Sometimes the thread breaks every 5 minutes and other times it works without trouble.  Just when I think I have the problem figured out, the thread starts breaking again for no apparent reason.

 Yesterday we had our Thanksgiving meal.  My son is home from UC Davis and wanted to spend today with his girlfriend's family.  I'm learning to accept my new place of importance.

 I also got a flu shot and tetanus shot on Tuesday this week.  I figured I'd take a chance this year with the flu shot.  Every couple of years I get one.  Working with teenagers I have less of a chance of getting the flu then when I worked with the little ones.  At least the bigger kids can usually make it to the bathroom before they throw up, but now always.  One of my teacher friends just had a kid puke in her room last week.  There have been lots of kids out for a week so bad things are going around.

I just wish I could multi task a little faster.  I got a couple of patterns for some cute little stuffed animals made with the embroidery machine.  My youngest loves penguins.  I have so many little bits and pieces of fleece and felt and want to make a bunch of these little guys for him.  I'm also working on some dog toys.  Our newest dog actually likes to fetch and play with squeaky toys.  He's pretty funny.  The first thing in the morning, he will go out to the bathroom and then run to his toy hiding spot and pick out a toy and start squeaking it.

Only three days of vacation left and still so much grading to get done.  But at least there are only three more weeks of school until break again.

more superhero finger puppets

 So today was supposed to be Binky Sunday and I totally forgot about it until almost 11am.  It starts at 1pm and so I hadn't sent out an email to everyone.  I figured there wouldn't be a lot of people show up, but I really did need to cut out those Christmas stockings for the Veterans that we've been making for the past five years or so.  So, I loaded up the car, sent an email to Carla to see if she had remembered and headed out to the quilt shop after lunch.

 When I got there, the ladies looked at me like I was crazy.  They said we had agreed to move it to last weekend and they wondered why I hadn't shown up.  I couldn't remember having the conversation and wondered why they hadn't called me last Sunday, or any time this week to remind me that we had moved it.  So, with an extra 3 hours on my hands of course I came home and cut out those stockings right?  No!

  I decided I'd try and get this finger puppet set done for my husband.  Every time I'd finish another one, he would act just like a little kid and get so excited.  It was just the motivation I needed to keep working on them.  They take about 30 minutes each to stitch and cut.  I do have to admit, they are pretty adorable.

 Of course, he had to sort them into the DC and Marvel sets and put them on his fingers as to who is friends with whom.  I wasn't even sure who the red and yellow guy was.  He appreciated the break from grading papers and is looking forward to taking them to school tomorrow.  I haven't told him about the villains yet.  Those will be next weekend, or maybe one a day this week instead of grading papers :)

The Hulk made us both laugh, It looks more like the Jolly Green Giant.  He has no muscles, so maybe he is baby hulk.  Who says you have to grow up just because you get older?

Me time

 This school year has really knocked me on my butt.  Every weekend and day off I've been grading papers and I haven't had time to do anything fun.

 This weekend I decided I wanted to do something for myself and decided that I would stitch out one embroidery design.  I've been eying these superhero finger puppets for a long time.  They are from Gracefully Geeky and right now they are having a 60% off sale.

 While I don't have grandkids to make them for, I do have a husband who is just a big kid at heart and who still loves comics and superheroes.  I knew if I made them, my husband would love them!

 As you can see, one turned into four.  I have seven more to make from this set and ended up purchasing the villains and a couple other sets as well.  My husband teaches high school and has several little toys that decorate his desk.  Kids have given him these trinkets over the years.  He will add these finger puppets to his collection.

It felt really good to do something just for fun.  Tomorrow I will have to get back to grading papers.