A quick crochet for a newborn. Can you tell what it is?
It's one of those little blankets with the stuffed animal parts attached, for the kiddo to drag around with her when she gets a bit older. There are a few translated patterns and wonderful inspiration from Brittas Ami. I love how it turned out.
I've got so many irons in the fire, sometimes it's hard to concentrate on one thing at a time.
1. Embellishing bracelets to pass out during the class party.
2. Putting together treats and decorations for the teachers' lounge.
3. Making costumes at the last minute, with input from the designer.
4. Attempting to knit up ghost necklaces, to add to a growing collection, but realizing that was one thing that just wasn't going to get done. And letting it go.
Being able to focus is so important. And my little lady can certainly vouch for that... she got glasses last week! It was inevitable, and certainly no surprise to me. She took to them very well, and now Jessie laments the fact that she's the only one in the family without them. She can't wait until she needs a pair, too. Silly girl.
At the beginning of the school year, I finally decided to relinquish my beloved Box Tops to another volunteer, and took on the position of Hospitality Coordinator at my girls' school. I was in charge of the Welcome Back luncheon for the teachers and staff before school began, and will hostess the Teacher Appreciation luncheon during their special week in May. But on top of that, I acknowledge all the staff birthdays, holidays and generally try to keep up morale and show them how much they are loved and valued. Due to some ah... unbelievable occurrances... at the school last year, I have no budget.
So it's a good thing I'm a crafty lady with lots of stash!
I've been making all the birthday cards, a dozen so far, and last week I whipped up this coffee cup cozy (or tea cosy, since that's what the recipient drinks) for a beloved teacher's birthday. She loves Hello Kitty, and is one of the best teachers Rebecca has ever had. That's really saying a lot, since Rebecca has lucked out and had some amazing women come into her life.
It's been challenging, trying to come up with cute little gifts to include with a heartfelt card, something that is meaningful and fun, but won't break my household budget (since that wouldn't be fair to my own family). I think I've been creative and effective so far, and aside from feeling like I need an extra few days in a week, it's been fun.
Tomorrow I'm going to try to come up with some decorations for the teachers' lounge that don't scream Halloween, but are still fun and festive. We'll see what develops!
No, I haven't forgotten about my blog. Actually, I think about it all the time, about posting, about whether or not anyone is still out here, reading. But the fact is, I hardly ever turn on my ancient computer anymore (it's my iPad all the way!), and when I do, it crashes every three and a half seconds (there it goes again!), is slower than molasses, and takes for.ev.er to boot up. Sorry, Computer, but those are the facts. Anyway, I need something in between my iPad and old desktop... something with a quick bootup time, but has an actual keyboard and where I can download my photos so I can post. And doesn't cost a fortune. Hmmm.
Anyway, I made some birthday gifts last week, sort of following this free pattern and using some stash acrylic yarn. For my husband's brother and bride-to-be, whose birthdays are just a day apart. They both love owls. Hope they aren't checking my blog, I haven't given them their presents yet!
Can't believe today was the first day of school.
And this was the only photo I got! It's back to work for me soon, too, and even though I love what I do and where I work and who I work with, I realized how much I could get done at home just by myself, all week long, during school hours. Today was a luxury, going grocery shopping and running errands on my own schedule, with just me to worry about for a few hours. Next week it will be back to constantly rushing around, dropping off the kids, racing to work, then trying to squeeze grocery shopping and laundry in between school pickup and homework, cooking dinner, getting the kids ready for bed, and finally taking a breath when we read our bedtime story. Makes me tired just thinking about it! But we really did savor the summer days, I don't think we wasted a single one. Even when I locked us out of the house last week in 100 degree weather, we managed to make the best of it and had some fun.
Today I sent them off with backpack snacks, for them and their past and present teachers, and made my traditional softies - reminders for the girls that I'm missing them, thinking of them, and waiting to hear all the stories and details from their first day in fifth and second grade.
Rebecca's last year of elementary school. Mind boggling.
Remember the angry crochet I did last summer? I can't believe it's been that long, and I also can't remember if I ever posted about the one I knit for my mom this past Christmas. Must be old age creeping up on me (tomorrow is my birthday and I'm less than enthusiastic about it). Anyway, Jessie had a birthday party to attend, and since the invitation was Angry Birds, she wanted me to knit one for her friend just like I did for Grandma.
I used the awesome free pattern from Knitterbees again, but this time I sewed on some felt eyes instead of doing that tedious duplicate stitching. The unibrow is a little strip of single crochet that was sewn on, and I'm happy to say that the birthday boy loved it. I do, too, especially knowing that everything came from my stash.
She turned ten today. And we had a science birthday party, which I was anxious about for no reason. Everything turned out just fine, no one was bored, there were no failed experiments, the timing of it all was just perfect, and there was enough food and fun for all.
We had exploding volcanoes, magic marbles and instant snow. The grand finale was when the kids made their own dessert - ice cream in a bag to go with the birthday cake.
Look at my big girl. So appreciative of the cake, the party, all of it. Even the second-hand bicycle I got for her from a co-worker. Double digits, amazing to me. I remember my own 10th birthday so well, it's hard for me to comprehend that I now have a daughter that is old enough to have her own 10th birthday memories. I hope that they will always be as vivid and full of energy, happiness and love as today was.
Made this for a baby shower gift for a coworker. While I don't think *he* appreciated it overmuch ("That's cool - what is it?"), all the double X chromosomed people at the shower just loved it, and I hope his wife will think it's cute. I got the pattern here and pretty much followed it as written, though I left off the tails (under time pressure, of course) and changed the wings slightly for the dragonfly. Oh, and I used safety eyes instead of French knots.
The frog's neck is kind of giraffe-ish, isn't it?
Summer vacation started last week, and we're already staying up late, getting up late, and packing in as much as we can.
Of course, we wasted no time in signing up for the summer reading program at our local library. Rebecca is a voracious reader, and I've got quite a few books I'm looking forward to diving into, too. You can see what's currently on our bookshelf over in the left sidebar.
Anything you think we need to add?
Two weeks ago was teacher appreciation. I took a few days off work so I could help with setting up posters and decorations at the start of the week, and the faculty luncheon on Wednesday. It was wonderful to be back in the classrooms, and I was surprised at how easy it was to fall back into the volunteer thing!
I sewed some ruffled streamers for the decor, made Jessica's Chinese Cabbage Salad (again! I love this dish), and baked three dozen devil's food cupcakes, decorated to look like apples. I saw the idea on a blog some time ago, but I can't for the life of me remember where now. Anyway, I thought they turned out quite well, and even though it was super hot, there was a minimum of frosting droopage. I used mini pretzel rods for the stems and fresh spearmint for the leaves. The cupcakes turned out quite moist, too. I love my two-tiered cupcake carrier that I bought years ago.
For our past and current teachers, I crocheted some pencil bookmarks with perle cotton and a steel crochet hook (one I inherited when my grandma passed away, I thought about her as I was crafting), and knitted an i-cord pencil keychain charm. No patterns, I saw the bookmark online a while ago but just winged it, and then made up the keychain pencil as I went along. I made five gifts in all, but forgot to take a group photo.
We only have one more Monday left of this school year, and by the end of this month, we'll officially be on summer break. It's been a very difficult year for me personally at home, at the girls' school, and adjusting to work. I'm really looking forward to slowing down, enjoying my girls, and clearing out the clutter in my house this summer. Well, maybe not the last thing so much, but I'm sure I'll be happy *after* it's clean.
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |||||
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| 31 |
