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.

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!

Portland, ME

Friday, April 12th, 2013

I’m taking forever to get these road trip photos up, but life keeps getting in the way.

After we left Boston and Plymouth, we headed to Portland, ME. I loved Portland. Really we spent most of our time in Maine eating, and that’s a pretty perfect vacation as far as we’re concerned. We’d heard about the food scene up there for ages but finally got to experience some of it.

Our first night in Portland, Monday night, we made a pilgrimage to Duckfat, a place we’d heard of any time the Portland food scene was mentioned. It was behind our hotel, so as pilgrimages go it was pretty lightweight, but I could have eaten every single meal here. The duckfat fries are everything you’d think they would be, with amazing dipping sauces to choose. And there’s just something about a perfect bowl of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich on a chilly night that nothing else on earth can rival. They do it right here. Ugh, it’s pouring here in NJ today…now I want that meal again.

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Dr. Seuss Quilt Pt. 2

Thursday, March 7th, 2013

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

I finished the top! And I did it in time for Dr. Seuss’s birthday on Saturday, which seemed fitting.

The sashing was a little tricky to sew on once I’d assembled the blocks with the flaps…I had to be really careful not to sew the flaps down. But once I got the hang of it things moved along pretty easily. I’m surprised how quickly this came together, and how much I love the look of it.

The flaps aren’t perfect, but who cares? Hannah is going to have a blast with this when it’s all finished.

I’d originally invited some mom friends over for Dr. Seuss Day on Saturday. I’ve had this idea of starting a Mommy and Me book club for a while, so Dr. Seuss Day seemed like a great day to start. (Really, I thought it would just be cool to get the young moms and kids I know together, and I love anything with a theme). But, Saturday turned out to be horrible for everyone. We will try again next month, but my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew CJ did come over to hang out for a couple of hours. So I put the quilt top down and let them test drive it.

CJ approves.

Hannah gives him the side-eye. Sassafras.