Stretching Art 2012

This week has been filled with a lot of sewing for a change.   Finished up the top for a signature quilt for a friend that ended up being a king-sized top.   And it's off in the mail to them.    Am looking forward to hearing that how the recipient likes it.   Am glad to have it finished up.

Today i started working on the thread painting on the challenge quilt that I need to have finished by the end of the month.  I haven't done as much thread painting as some peopel would do, but that is for two reasons - one, because this is the first time that I've done anything like this, and second - because I just wanted it to give the idea of what is there and not fully "color" the picture in as it were.    I've finished the thread painting for all but the background of the quilt center - but am still debating on what to do for the tan background fabric.      Basically all that is left

now is just the binding and adding  sleeve and label to the back.    I'm planning to get everything finished up this weekend so that I can get it in the mail for the exhibit that it will be in later this summer.

And last week, I finished off another UFO block into a pincushion.   It went out in the mail as my final Pay-It-Forward gift for 2012.  

Gratitudes -

1. The school board approved my contract for next year.

2. The new pain med has made a world of difference in how the arthritis in my knee feels.

More pincushions and a couple of boxes

Have still be working on getting pincushions made for Pay-It-Forward gifts that I need to get made and into the mail.     The two that I finished yesterday were made from scraps and orphan block sections.     The purple one will be headed off to a new home once I pick up mailing envelopes.

The orange one may end up living with me for a while because I really like how it turned out.   I made up the pattern I used for it and I'm considering making it into a bigger size and using it as the basis for a quilt.   That'll be a while down the road tho because I won't have time to do anything like that for a while.  I have one more pincushion to make for a Pay-It-Forward gift and have pulled another orphan block for that.   I plan to sew it up today and then everything will be ready to mail off to their new homes.  =)

In student teaching this past semester I ended up having 3 prep periods.   A lot of the time I used those periods to not only get ready for the classes that I was teaching, in addition to working on my homework, but all to refresh my skills in making things from wood.   I knew that there was  a possibility that I could end up having to teach a wood shop/materials processes type of class and my skills have pretty much line dormant since way back in junior high except for one class here at Purdue.     The main wood used in both was red oak.   Also used was poplar (in the bottom box) and small amounts of black walnut, white oak, and cherry in the top box.

My enjoyment in working with wood as I've been working with these boxes is but one of the  things that has confirmed I'm teaching what I should be.   =)   I've even thought about in the future about getting some tools so that I can make more stuff......lol.....or maybe I just need to find someone who already has it all that will let me use the stuff.  

Gratitudes:

1.  for the abilities and enjoyment that God has given me in making things - both quilted and in other mediums.

2. For a prof who is willing to work with me so that I can complete both his class this summer and still take the 2-wk training class that I need to take for the teaching position that I've offered.

Normal what's that?

Student teaching has finished up as of this past Friday, hard to believe that 10 weeks has flown by so fast.   I truly will miss the kids that were in my classes and will miss being at South Newton HS.    I have accepted a teaching position and am getting ready for a crazy summer to come.   There will be 3 summer school courses at Purdue, a 2-wk PLTW training session over in the Urbana area, a crazy hunt for somewhere to rent in the vicinity of where I'll be teaching, and then moving before the end of July.   Will have two weeks to get moved into whatever I rent and get my classroom set up and ready to start teaching the middle of August.   Normal......I don't think so.............insanity is more what it seems like to me...lol.

I have the month of May technically out of classes, but have to get a good chunk of the work for the final class this summer finished up in addition to getting a lot done in preparation for my move.    Have started on the homework, but have to retrieve my jump drive (left it as SNHS this past Friday) before I can get it finished.   Ah well..........

Have started working hard on the commissioned sewing again, and took a few minutes to finish up three pincushions that started with itty-bitty, leftover half-square triangle blocks from a long-ago project.   these will all be used as gifts - perhaps for the Paying It Forward gifts that I owe.....need 5 (or was it 4?) for that....

Next up quilt wise is continuing to work on my quilt top for the Stretching Art Quilt Challenge 2012 that I'm in.     The quilt isn't due to the end of July - early August, but with everything going on I need to get it done this month.  Top is fused together, and next step is to baste everything together (backing, batting, top).   Then I'll start with the thread painting/quilting.   The theme for the challenge this year is "Foundations".   And I chose to go with the theme of 'foundations of education' with a nod to transitioning to a career as a tech ed teacher.   I used a rendition of the one-room school house in Strawberry Arizona that I found on the 'net as my inspiration for the piece.   Seemed fitting since I'll be teaching in a rural school, albeit not in a one room school house.

Gratitudes -

1. A good student teaching experience at SNHS.   Great teachers to work with, Great students in the classes.
2. The strength of God to get everything done that I have to do before the end of July.