Um…remember how excited I was when this guild started back in October? Well, that was the only time I went. Holidays, work, babies, drama. I just never made it back.

Until last week, when I finally made it for the May meeting! I showed my Dr. Seuss quilt and got more inspiration from fabulous crafty folks.

I’m so glad I went, you guys! There were more great projects, but they were small quilts and I got terrible photos of them. This is a really nice group, and it was nice to be back. Looking forward to June!

I kind of decided that the beach quilt I made last year is really more of a park quilt. The laminated back is great for wet grass, but less ideal for dry sand. It slides around.

However, the giant size and quiltiness of it are, I still maintain, perfect for family beach time. So, I’m using some of these prints from Dear Stella’s All Hands on Deck collection to make a new one this year.

I picked up most of the prints during our spring break road trip through New England and then ordered more to make sure I had enough. My plan is that this quilt will be 72″ square. It will be all strips, divided into 4 columns. I cut up about 21 fat quarters worth of fabric to make 144 strips that were 18.5″ x 2.5″. So when the top is finished that will come out as 4 columns each made up of 36 strips that are 18″ x 2″ when sewn.

Some of the fabric was actual yardage cut up, but that gives you a rough idea of how much you need. Every fat quarter yielded about 7 strips, so after I went through the fat quarter yardage I’d bought I started in on the half yards I had (which yielded about 14 strips each).

I divided the strips into “light” and “dark/bright” piles, then I spent time pinning lights and darks to each other.

Then I chain pieced the 72 pairs together.

They have all been ironed with seams facing the same direction, and I have pinned those 72 pairs together again to make 36 sets of 4 strips. And I’ll go on and on that way until my columns are ready and can be joined.

It’s coming together pretty quickly.

Other posts on this project: Dr. Seuss Quilt Pt. 1, Dr. Seuss Quilt Pt. 2, Dr. Seuss Quilt Pt. 3.

I finally finished this quilt! It’s a horribly belated first birthday present, but I love this quilt to pieces. I hope Hannah loves it, too.

It’s that time of year again, that most joyous of seasons, when I start my Mo Willems author study with the kindergarten classes! We started today with the Pigeon books, and I am pretty elated.

Mo Willems Season doesn’t fall on the calendar at the same time every year, but every Mo Willems Season is like Second Christmas to me. Everyone seems a little nicer during Mo Willems Season; a little wittier, a little more delightfully absurd. There’s an extra spring in my step the week I teach the kids how to draw The Pigeon. I am almost deliriously cheerful the week a new crop of kindergartners is introduced to Reginald Von Hoobie-Doobie. And I always need to take a moment to collect myself during Knuffle Bunny Week, when Knuffle is passed on to the next generation. Elephant and Piggie, Cat the Cat, Leonardo, Amanda, Goldilocks. This year I have decided to extend the festivities into June.

What makes this year’s Mo Willems Season even more awesome is the fact that April is the 10th anniversary of the publication of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Mr. Willems’ first book. I know I’m down to the wire here with one day of April left, but I am still celebrating the start of the festive season during anniversary month. And there are some pretty great ways for anyone to be celebrating the big anniversary.

Like this new anniversary set, with smaller editions of 3 Pigeon books in their own bus box:

How cool is that? The books are perfectly Hannah-sized, and since the Pigeon was her very first read aloud, and her collection of autographed books began with The Pigeon, I thought she should have a set.

There was also last week’s release of the latest Willems adventure, That Is Not a Good Idea.

And really, the thing I am truly geeking out over this April is the release of Cloud9′s collection of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus fabrics! I cannot believe this is really a thing!

I have been stalking fabric sites all month anxiously awaiting the release of this fabric. Since tomorrow is the end of April, I’m guessing it will go into May before I can order some. But when I can, look out…I have already warned Adam that my fabric budget will be blown on this collection. A Pigeon sundress for Hannah? Another lift-the-flap quilt? A bag for me? All of the above.

It’s the (second) most wonderful time of the year!

Other posts on this project: Dr. Seuss Quilt Pt. 1, Dr. Seuss Quilt Pt. 2.

It’s been more than a month since I’ve sewn anything, but last week I finally started getting back to myself around here. And I made the backing for the Dr. Seuss quilt. And took really terrible photos of it, this was the best in the bunch. I will post better photos next time I have a chance to lay this out in good lighting, I promise.

It’s kind of a quick and dirty job with whatever fabrics I had left from this collection. But I actually think it looks cool on the back of the quilt.

I have also sandwiched and sewn the layers together, but I’m in the process of taking out some really bad quilting stitches and trying again. I haven’t taken any other photos of my progress, but I’m really hoping to have this finished by the weekend. We shall see, then it’s on to a beach quilt!