School is Cool!!!

Hi there,,,,

I had the best training tonight. I teach kindergarten as you might remember....and we adopted a new reading series this year. We are teaching Read Well and we had a follow up training tonight from our training over the summer. The instructor we had was amazing. She gave us such great ideas that I can't wait to go to school tomorrow and try them out......

I also have some extra work coming in this weekend and that will help pay the bills. So things are looking up a little .....

I hope to get some quilting time in this weekend too. I have a couple of quilts of my own to finish and I would like to get a birthday stars quilt basted this weekend. That way I can hand quilt it. I have had the top done for a while and need to get this basted!!

Talk to you soon!!

Marie

Christmas Stockings for our Troops!

Last week I made 11 Christmas stockings for our troops. Another quilter is making them and she fills them and sends them to our troops overseas. I wanted to make these last year and never did have time. Since I am only working at my teaching job now (no part time sewing or quilting anymore with the economy so down) so I get to do things I want to do. And I wanted to make these stockings.

I couldn't wait to show them to you all. I am showing you these 5 because I was so excited to actually get something done and ready to mail that I packed them all up before I took a picture of the last 6. I had a couple of plaids and then some Charlie Brown fabric. I think they are going to be well received.

I also made a baby quilt for my new nephew. He was born early and I didn't even have the quilt started so I had to move fast. I haven't heard from the new mom yet so I hope it was received ok. Ok I have to get that one off the camera. I took the wrong picture off. That will be done next time. I hate taking stuff off the camera. It takes me forever to remember how to do it because I take lots of pictures but have to think about how to get them off.

I am still trying to finish some UFO's. I got some from my friend a while back and she has some really interesting stuff so I am working on a Christmas wall hanging one now. Tonight I will do some buttonhole stitching on it while I am watching tv.

Speaking of TV I hate all these political shows and debates and all the repeats of really awful shows. So I have been borrowing some movies and dvd's from the library. Last night I watched Laverne and Shirley. I got Mission Impossible for my hubby. The original show from the 60's and 70's. They are so much fun to watch. I also got some Simon and Simon and JAG. I will be watching some tonight. Then at 10pm I will watch the weekly episode of ARMY Wives. Tomorrow and Tuesday nights are for Dancing with the Stars. I love watching that show. I was rooting for Misty May Treanor from the Olympics Beach VolleyBall team but she had an accident during rehearsal last week. I have shifted my votes to Warren Sapp from football, sorry I can't remember what team he is on....but I love to watch him glide across the floor....He is a big man but moves really well and I love his smile. GO WARREN!!!

Ok time to get dinner going.....so what have you been doing??

Marie....waiting for cooler weather.....its october but its in the 90's!!!!

The good and the Bad!!!

The bad is that I haven't had much extra work to do. The quilting and mask business has slowed down to a halt with the current economy. So what else is new. Thank goodness I am still teaching and have a job for the whole year.

The good is that I am finally getting to do somethingthat I want. I have been making Christmas stockings for the troops. I have 4 done and I am in the process of making more...I have pictures of the first set on the camera and I will ulpoad them tomorrow. I am also using up parts of my stash and that is a wonderful thing. I have a ton of Christmas fabric and this is a great way to use it and help make our service men and women have a great holiday while they are keeping us safe.

The hard part is finding my Christmas fabric. I have so much I can't get to it. So now after I make one more pieced part of the stocking I have to go fabric hunting in the stash.

I will post again this weekend. I already have my lesson plans done for next week so I just have a little school work for the weekend and I plan on playing and cleaning the house (just a little on the cleaning part....LOL) this weekend.


Marie....the Christmas elf!!!!!

I am who I am!

I got a message last week telling me my blog might be spam! What? How does that happen? I had to do some things to do to fix it and now all is well.

I have been working many hours in school and even on Saturday's for many hours. I don't have to go in any more on Saturdays since I am slowly getting into a routine with my paperwork at school.

My part time job of sewing has slowed down too so I am taking advantage of the down time and working on some UFO's. Right now I am hand sewing the binding down on a charity quilt that has been quilted for some time. I have anothe one sitting here that needs binding done on it and will get that done this weekend.

I haven't been working on many things at night. I am so worn out from the kids at school that I have spent time reading email and getting to bed early.

I have been watching Dancing with the Stars this week and can't decide who I am really rooting for. There are many good dancers this season and I don't have one favorite. Last time I was rooting for Kristi Yamaguchi and she won!!! If you watch it tell me who you are voting for!

Time for ER to start....can't believe this show is in its last year......its my favorite show!

Hugs,

Marie

Getting the routine down!

I think I am getting into the routine of school and my kids and my own teenagers schedules. It's been a hectic couple of weeks but I am finally getting organized. Now I just need to quit waking up 30 mins before the alarm goes off. That has been happening for two weeks now and it's not fun.

I need my sleep. I haven't been sewing much or getting things in the mail like I should. I have 4 quilts that need to be sent off but I haven't had a chance to do that. I am thinking of just waiting until Saturday morning and then going to drop them off. At least that is the plan but who knows what will happen.

I finished reading all the Elm Creek Quilt novels I could get my hands on. Now I have to wait until the author writes another one. Maybe in between time I can finish reading A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon. I have been trying to finish reading this book for a while now and always get side tracked. It's not because it's not a great book I just can't find the time to read it. I did read those other books but they were a little smaller. Now I am ready to read this book (well I just need to finish it) and then I will be ready for the next book to come out by her by the year 2009.

So what are you reading? Anything good? Any great quilt patterns I need to know about but missed? I seem to spend most of my online time looking for worksheets for my kindergarten kids or reading email.

I have also been de-stressing by playing Roller Coaster Tycoon. We have it on the lap top and the large computer and it's a blast to play it and forget your worries. If you haven't tried it I strongly suggest finding the CD at Best Buy or Circuit City. Great price for a great game!

Later,

Marie

School in IN!

I know today was Saturday but we ( the kindergarten teachers at my school) are so behind we all went in today. I spent about 4.5 hours and now I think I have a handle on the week ahead. We have a great reading program and I get to start teaching more of it this week and the kids start learning to read....its going to be a blast....

I am still working on bindings here. I also need to get pictures done....after I came home from school today I spent another 5 hours working on stuff for school. Tomorrow I am going to be putting laundry away and taking pictures of the quilts I have finished so far. And I will post them here.

We are still waiting to hear where Ike is going to land. The last report was that he was going to Texas but I am not really sure. Have to watch the news tonight.

That is all from here!!

Marie

Finishing projects and preparing for the Storm of Ike!!

OK well....more time has gone by but it was useful time I think. I have been getting use to working with kindergarten and getting our routines down both in the classroom and at home. I think we are ok with everything now. It's been interesting having two kids of my own in high school and teaching 5 year olds all day. It's like shifting gears going uphill...... I sometimes don't know if my brain can move so fast....LOL

I also quilted two UFO's last weekend and also put on the bindings by machine. But they have been sitting in my studio for a week waiting to be finished. And they are still sitting here. I had 2 customers quilts to finish and tonight I am going to work on the binding on the second one. I have one done already. It's been fun finishing my own things and I have about 5-7 more ready to be on the machine. Maybe I can do more quilting this weekend. I am also using some leftover batting for these too. Eventually I will have to start buying batting but right now it feels good to use large pieces for these smaller quilts.

I also finished the baby quilt for my new nephew and also have the label sewn on. I am going to box it up this weekend and get it out in the mail. I hope the baby's parents like it and use it often. It's a tossed 9 patch quilt from Eleanor Burns and it's a super easy pattern to make. I bought the pattern at my local Joann ETC store. It's a great pattern for using up scraps. I used blues and off white for mine. I will post a picture this weekend. I have to charge the camera again.

That is about it. We are all watching Hurricane Ike to see where he is going to hit. We missed Hanna but I think she is heading towards the Carolinas so if you are in her path please listen to the media and move if they tell you to. I hope Ike just moves out into the Atlantic and blows himself out. We really don't need anymore rain. I had to move part of my classroom again so when it rains the roof won't leak all over my stuff.....

I will post again. Tell me what you are working on!!

Marie in soggy Southwest Florida