Signs of Summer...

A few signs that summer is almost here...

1. I was finally able to hang a "summer" Snoopy flag outside my classroom!

2. Last round of prayer cards for teachers! I love the flip flop scrapbook paper I used for these envelopes:

3. One hot kitty!

Only 10 more school days! Woo hoo!

Teacher Appreciation Week

In our mailboxes this morning:

Pretty cute, eh?

May Currently

A new Currently!

Listening - it's pretty quiet inside and out right now, but I can hear the birds tweeting outside. Finally, Spring!

Loving - there are only 20 school days left! Hip Hip, Hooray!

Thinking - my students carry an egg "baby" for two days during the Child Care unit. I don't trust middle schoolers with raw eggs, so the eggs have to be hollowed. I just finished blowing out my last batch of eggs for the year! (And, since I'm designing a rotating two-year curriculum, I won't have any at all next year!)

Wanting - I've been working on cleaning out the clutter from my new classrooms all year long - I very, very, very much want to have this accomplished by the end of this school year!!!

Needing - this is the time of year teachers are holding onto their wits by their fingertips! Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

Bucket List - Gotta replace the curtains that came with the house! Also, tons of sewing projects to work on. And of course, that pesky second year curriculum isn't going to write itself. Beyond that, plenty of fun things planned for this summer! Trips to visit family, a DCI contest, a Yo-Yo Ma concert (yes, another), and several other events I'm looking forward to.

20 more school days!

Great Minds Think Alike!

My fabulous SIL (who lives many hours away) posted the following photo of her kitties "helping" her with a sewing project:

If you look closely at the fabric underneath the cat on the left, it is the same fabric that I used for my second tool belt! Crazier still, the black and white fabric on the far left was what I almost used for the contrast - I just thought it might be too overwhelming for its intended purpose. Great minds think alike! And as she said, we obviously both have great taste!

Tool Belt 2 - Tutorial

A few people have emailed asking for a pattern or tutorial for the tool belt, so I whipped up another one today and tried to keep track.

For this one I skipped the bias tape and added a backing, you can of course do whatever you would like. Again I used home decor fabric - I like that it is stronger and will put up with more abuse than regular cotton fabric.

MATERIALS:

.6 yd Fabric A
.7 yd Fabric B (unless you don't mind making the backing out of separate pieces which is what I did, then you only need .5 yd)
thread
belt

If you want to add bias tape or anything else to fancy it up, have that ready as well.

Step 1 - Cut the following pieces:

Fabric A: 14.5" x 24" (main piece)
              6.0" x 24" (lower pocket)

Fabric B: 14.5" x 24" (backing, optional; piece together if necessary)
            10.5" x 24" (middle pocket)

Note: 24" width was ideal for me; you should measure yourself to see where you would like it to fall on your waist/hips, wherever you plan to wear it.

Step 2 - Hem one long edge of both pocket pieces. I chose to use a zigzag stitch.

Step 3 - Align non-hemmed edges of both pockets with one edge of main piece, and pin.

Step 4 - I decided to add writing utensil pockets to this one. Figure out where you would like to carry your pens, etc, and mark them with pins.

Step 5 - Sew a three sided rectangle around the outer edges, then divide down the middle (sorry for the terrible lighting). I've photographed the back for the next few steps because the black thread on black fabric does not show well.

Step 6 - Mark where you would like the pockets to be divided, then sew lines to divide. If you would like a different number/size pockets between the two layers, sew down the middle layer first. I divided both into equal thirds, so I was able to do this in one step.

If you are not going to add a backing, this is the time to finish your edges with bias tape. Or good ol' fashioned hemming, or whatever you would like.

Step 7 - Pin front and back right sides together, and pin.

Step 8 - Sew around outer edge, leaving a gap to turn the tool belt right side out. The top is the best place, as it will be folded over for the belt casing. Remember to switch to a straight stitch if you were using something more decorative.

Step 9 - Clip your corners and trim.

Step 10 - Turn right side out, press edges flat, then stitch all around the outside with your stitch of choice.

Step 11 - Fold top of tool belt over to the back, allowing enough room for the belt of your choice to slip through; pin and stitch.

Step 12 - Add belt, take photos, admire. Then put it on, fill it, and get to work on another project!

I have received several compliments from coworkers since I've started wearing my tool belt, both on the cuteness of it and the usefulness of the concept. A few have even asked if I'll take orders - can't even think about that until summer, but hmmmm, a little pocket money never hurts, eh?

Enjoy!

Customer Appreciation

As someone who worked in the pizza delivery industry for over five years, I find the card we received in the mail today to be very odd...

Really, Aurelio's? It's pizza. I understand when I get a card like this from, say, the guy who sold us our living room carpeting - you want to make sure that if we eventually need more carpet we feel warm and fuzzy enough about you to come back. But pizza? Unless you intentionally run over my cat or eat part of my pizza I am going to be a repeat customer, card unnecessary. Especially if you're not going to include any coupons. But okay, thanks for the thought. Bizarre.

File Cabinet Upgrade

Got any hideous file cabinets? I sure do! Fixing this issue has been on my agenda all year, but naturally there were plenty of other things that took precedence. This week I just couldn't take it anymore! So with some gift wrap, contact paper, shipping tape, a screwdriver, and Dawn dish soap, I finally did a quickie upgrade of the worst one. There are about 79 more sophisticated ways to do this you could find on Pinterest, but for my mental health I needed to get this ugliness covered and covered fast. My apologies for the lack of a decent "Before" photo; I forgot to snap one before beginning, the one below I found from the photos I took last May during my initial viewing of my new classroom.

  

Ahhh, that's better! Now I just need to paint the outside and the handles, and it'll be quite the looker!

And you better believe that those ridiculous stencils will be dealt with this summer!

Tool Belt!

This past weekend's project: a tool belt to wear during my sewing classes!

Those who know me well know that I LOVE to make aprons. This guy's a little different, as it has six pockets, is made from a sturdier home decor fabric, and (my favorite part) instead of making straps I'm simply inserting a real belt through the casing so that the "tool belt" doesn't start slipping down with the weight of six pockets full of sewing notions. This will free me from constantly having my hands full of supplies, running back and forth, or (worst of all) allowing seventh and eighth graders to get out of their seats constantly. Can't wait to try it out tomorrow!

Tutorial added here.

Caudill Update

As I've previously mentioned, I'm reading my way through the 2014 Rebecca Caudill list in preparation to be a "Book Champ" next school year. Here are my latest reads:

These were all excellent and I would recommend any one of them. "Breaking Stalin's Nose" is a very quick read about a boy growing up in Stalinist Russia - if you read no other book for this age group, read this one! Such an interesting look into a critical time period in Russia often overlooked by US history classes due to the overlap with the Great Depression and entrance into WWII.

I must say I've really enjoyed reading all of the Caudill books so far - such a departure from my usual fare, but incredibly informative in addition to entertaining. These books introduce 4th-8th graders to a wide range of different cultures and problems faced by kids their age around the globe - quite the perspective-changer! I encourage you to check 'em out - if you have doubts, start with the shortie "Stalin's Nose" - you'll be hooked!

Currently April

Time to join up with Farley again!

"Oh Canada" - hubby is watching the Blue Jays game downstairs. Don't get me wrong, we are White Sox fans, but all baseball rules this time of year.

Sunshine - finally, the sun is out again! Hopefully the temperature catches up soon - it's so disappointing to look outside at what appears to be a beautiful day, then step out into the cold : (.

Lesson plans - always thinking about what happens next, what needs to be put in place, what the backup plans are, etc.

8 1/2 weeks - now that Spring Break is finished, the kids are too! Ugh! Hopefully the time flies by!

Bedtime - I always want to go to bed early, but always wind up immersed in some school-related project.

"Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good" - this one I stole from Gretchen Rubin, author of "The Happiness Project." This piece of advice really stuck with me, as I tend to get hung up on making everything just so when good enough should be good enough.