T-Shirt Quilts

Our youngest  son will be a Senior in High School this year.  T-Shirt quilts are quite popular here at high school graduation time. I've saved his favorite T-shrits since he was in kindergarten. Sunday, I pulled all the t-shirts out of their hiding place. I had Michael go through the shirts to begin choosing the ones that will be in his quilt. He found it hard to believe that he actually wore some of those tiny shirts. We smiled at the Rugrats shirt with Tommy and Dil. Harrry Potter, The Ninja Turtles, and lots of videogame shirt were chosen for his quilt. Now, you might think I'm starting this a bit early. Michael's quilt is not the only one that I need to make this year. I have three to make before the end of May. Friday, I took him to Intown Quilts to choose background and border fabric. He wanted really "bland" fabric, but I think what we choose will work great. He told me " that what seems like five minutes in a quilt shop for me is really a long time."   He brought his Ipod and was very patient :)

I also have to make a T-shirt quilt for a friend's daughter. I had her do some of the cutting of the T-shirt. We've chosen fabric for her quilt. Her T-shirts are a bit boring so  we chose bright fabric, blacks, pinks and greens. 

The third quilt is for a teen who is a gymnist. She wants to use her competition leotards. That should be interesting and different.

This is the first T-shirt quilt that I made. It was made  for my previous elementary school. I collected T-shirts from the years that I was not at the school. The pattern designer Sharon Henderson taught a class at my LQS so I was blessed to have her quidance on this quilt. It remained at the school when I moved to my new school this past year. 

This quilt was made for my friend's son. He had almost too many t-shirts. He had some interesting shirts so it was fun to work on. 

French Exchange Student

My neighbor  Deb has an exchange student from France visiting with her family for the month of July. Deb's daughter had another commitment this morning so my son and I were asked to fill a couple of hours with Marine.  

Michael and I thought it would be fun to take Marine to eat a Southern Breakfast. We chose a small one-of-a-kind restaunt in our Old Town area. The restaurant is called The Blue Rooster. I had lunch there several times, but never had their breakfast. The place was packed with local folk. We had eggs, bacon, hash browns, biscuits (wonderful) and "grits." When you are in the South, you must try "grits." Marine was totally polite and cute about trying everything.

 Next, we took her to our local branch of the Public Library. She had read many popular Young Adult titles in English and was excited to see them on the library shelves. As a school librarian, I just had to talk books with her. On the spur of the moment, we decided to stop at a Garage Sale so she could have that experience too. Too bad, it was a dud sale. It was fun anyway.

 Afterwards we return to our house, Michael relished showing her his Ninetndo Wii. Ever the gentleman, he still beat her at Donkey Kong. Marine  asked to see my quilts and sewing room. What a precious girl:)  She "ooed" and "ahhed" at all the right places. 

Definitely a fun educational morning for all of us!

Home Again

I can't believe that we've been home a week from our grueling trip to Louisiana. It just wasn't a Fun trip.  Dad and my MIL are each  in an assisted living home in different parts of South Louisiana. They have very limited mobility. Each has some ageing issues. It's so hard seeing our parents so alone. They want to stay in Louisiana, but there is so little family/friends around for them. I know our trip did them some good. Wish it wasn't so far to visit.

I had Homework when I returned home that I needed to do. Yes, teacher/librarians have homework in the Summer. I am scheduled for a "professional learning" (new term for staff development ) class next week. I had to read 4 middle grade novels and write questions for each book. The questions are for our annual Reader's Rally held in early Winter. I had four wonderful books.

 My favorite was The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. It's actually a fantasty/adventure series. Once our class meets, I'd like to read the others in the series. Percy Jackson discovers that his father is a Greek god. The human portrayls of the classic Greek gods was amusing. I loved that Area, god of war, was a biker on a Harley motorcycle. My favorite was probably Poseidon as a beach bum. My fourth and fifth graders who love fantasy will like this title.  I also enjoyed The Amazing Flight of Darius Frobisher.  I loved all the bicycles in this book.  

My son swims in a Summer swim league. The past two days we've been involved in swim meets. We've had wonderful thunderstorms to help our drought, but the storms made swimming difficult. It's made for lots of wet towels and laundry, packing ice chests with drinks and meals. Finally, the folks in charge had to call the  event off. Our event was at another neighborhood pool. It happened to be in the neighborhood that my principal, my boss, lives. I am so blessed to have this woman for a "boss" - for a friend. She spent a couple of hours with me in my car while we wait for the thunderstorms to end. 

We changed cell phone providers this week. Thankfully, we have a teenage computer geek at home. He is helping us "learn" our new phones. I think I can check for messages:)  It's been fun choosing new ring tones. I chose "Summon the Heroes" for my main ringtone. Of course, I've missed more calls because I can't remember that means to answer the telephone. We found a sound bite with the LSU Fight Song for my husband. My son, the passionate videogamer, is using snippets from his favorite videogame. Fun:)

After "lots of togetherness" on our trip, in the hotel, in the car, I jumped at the chance to attend a quilting class on Saturday. My hubby seem glad to have me gone, too.  Melisa, at Sweet Home, had a Stash Class. She provided the stash and taught us a new technique. It was sanity for me. It doesn't matter if I ever finish these blocks. It was fun being in a different quilting classroom. I met some new ladies. I was even pretty restrained around all the luscious fabrics. I do hear that she has the new Portugal line by April Cornel. Oh no.....  I still haven't use the Maypole fat quarters that I purchased at Quilt Market.