exploratories

This is the third year I've helped out at A's school with their exploratories. Every Thursday afternoon, the school almost shuts down and the kids do fun things. As they go higher through the high school, the fun stuffs get a little harder/more serious. In Grade 7, they do skiing/snowboarding. Grade12s do an overnight winter survival hike.

February and March are the Home Economics exploratory. They get their choice of interior design, cooking, sewing(they make pj pants), hand-sewing or quilting. The first year, I helped with the hand-sewing. This is the second year I've done the quilting along with my helper/assistant Cindy.

The project isn't quilting at all; the kids make a pillow. The exploratory is 5 weeks; last year we finished in 3 and we even had the kids quilt the pillow(stitch in the ditch). The 4th week, I took them to work so they could see a longarm quilting machine.

This year, we finished faster. Maybe next year they will listen when I tell them that the project is too easy? lol.

One of the girls' took her pillow home and finished it on the weekend so it's not quilted. Love the fabrics she used.


Biggest problem the kids encounter is their machines unthreading. We spend more time in the 2 hours rethreading machines. That and reminding them again and again AND again to put the pressure foot down BEFORE you sew.



Snacks provided by Cindy. Bribery works well ;)



Rethreading. Again.



Pining their pillow tops for quilting.



They try so hard. Or in some cases, not hard enough lol.

snack saturday

Black Forest Mousse Dessert

1 pkg. (4-serving size)Chocolate Instant Pudding
1-1/2 cups cold milk
2 cups thawed Whipped Topping, divided
16 Oreo Cookies, coarsely crushed (about 1-1/2 cups), divided
1-1/2 cups cherry pie filling


BEAT pudding mix and milk in medium bowl with whisk 2 min. Stir in 1/2 cup whipped topping.

RESERVE 1/2 cup cookie crumbs; stir remaining crumbs into pudding mixture. Spoon half into 1-1/2-L serving bowl; top with layers of 3/4 cup of the remaining whipped topping and 1 cup pie filling.

COVER with layers of remaining pudding mixture, whipped topping, pie filling and reserved cookie crumbs.

card friday

easy as 1, 2, 3

Pieced by Paulina.

My favorite, paper-pieced stars. Quilted with Shooting Stars.



I loved her Tumbling Blocks. Quilted with Morning Glory.



And her paper-pieced tulips complete with hand embroidery. Quilted with Medium Meander.



Chai likes this one too.

out with the old

And in with the new.

As a longarm quilter, I am on my feet basically all day long. When I first started longarming, I bought these runners so standing wasn't too bad. These beauties cost $8! And with the color, I was never worried about wearing them out in public. No way would I leave work with these still on lol.



Yesterday I realized that my shoes were probably part of my back problems. And wouldn't you know it, they are dead. The support in them is basically totally worn away.

I ended up lucking out and finding these on sale for $20. Will try them out today. And no one will complain about the color of these lol.

happy birthday Jim

Inside the card reads, Mine is a secret.

wordless wednesday

wonderful

I really love this layout. Love the colors; all of it!