Pigeon Pictures!

Monday, May 20th, 2013

Here are some of this year’s crop of Pigeon drawings! I think I have done this activity every year since I became a librarian.

So far in our kindergarten Mo Willems unit we have read the Pigeon books, drawn the Pigeon books, and read the Knuffle Bunny books. This week we move on to Elephant and Piggie!

Dr. Seuss Quilt Is Finished!

Saturday, May 4th, 2013

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.

My New iPad Mini Case

Friday, May 3rd, 2013

I am so in love with this. I bought this from Life Geekery a while back, and I’ve had it for about a month now. They’re made to order, so you do have to be patient for a few weeks until it ships. But they have some other amazing character interpretations (Dr. Who, Star Wars), not just Harry Potter. And you can order for a Kindle, iPad, Mini, etc. You do have to get used to carrying Harry upside down, the opening is at the bottom. Small price to pay for greatness.

This is probably my favorite purchase for myself so far this year.

 

It’s Mo Willems Season!

Monday, April 29th, 2013

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!

Dr. Seuss Quilt Pt. 3

Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013

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!