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.

Stretching Art Challenge

I've been a part of an online group for a number of years now that does an annual art quilt challenge. The purpose has been to grow the skills of those that participate and I've enjoyed being a part of the group. The finished quilts and dolls are then displayed at one of the large quilt shows back on the east coast of the US. We'd love to have more people join us this year....all info is below. If you're interested in joining in leave a comment and I'll send you the name of the Yahoo group for you to join so you can join us.

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Announcing SAT14:

Foundations of ---------- For Stretching Art and Tradition 14, create a quilt, garment or dollinterpreting the theme "Foundations of __________________". You mayinterpret the theme as liberally or strictly as you like. Please, no foundation garments. Other than underwear, you might choose Foundations ofQuilting, Foundations of Faith, Architecture, or a good breakfast. We would like to encourage you to consider our original challenge intention, which was and still is the growth of the individual artists, through stretching yourselves by attempting a new form, technique, or material.

Stretching Artis an annual, un-juried fiber arts challenge which is displayed at thePennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza in Philadelphia, PA. If you would like to join the challenge, or would like more information, please join our yahoo group: StretchingArt.

Adminstravia:
Size of quilts must be no smaller than 18" and no larger than 30" in any direction.

Dolls must be a minimum of 18" tall and must come with a stand or be self-supporting.

Garments must come with a means to hang them.

Quilts must be delivered by August 17, 2012. (Delivery address will be given after signing up on Yahoo).

We are required to provide mailing info to PNQE2 weeks prior to ship date(the Friday before Labor Day).

Deadline to commit is March 1, 2012

* Note - if we do not have the minimum of 15 participants, PNQE will not accept our exhibit, so the deadline to commit is important.

Gratitudes -
1. Warmer temps mean the snow is almost melted.
2. Made progress with rewriting my resume today.