Near the finish line

Happy Memorial Day to all of my American friends!  Let us never forget the sacrifice that so many American soldiers and their families have given that we might enjoy the freedoms and rights we are accustomed to.  Without our fighting men and women, our lives would be so very different.  Thank you to each of you that have served or supported a family member that served our great country!

Now...there are 9 days of school left for us here.  Nine days!  And to add to that, there are 4 days until my little Miss turns 8!  That is an even bigger revelation around here, but for right now, I'm concentrating on those 9 school days left.  We are so near the finish line of the craziness that has been our life these last few months!!

In those 9 days I have to turn 15 blocks made by my friends in the Nubees Blocks swap into a quilt for Oren's kindergarten teacher.  Background--as I've mentioned before I was a kindergarten teacher myself in a previous life...the one before I had two kids of my own.  And I had a wonderful mentor teacher who taught me how to be a kind, caring second-Mama to these little ones I cared for and taught for 6 hours a day.  She listened when I was unsure of myself and celebrated two pregnancies and two special babies being born into our family.  In other words, she was there for me and a dear friend.  When Oren was born, this teacher and I both left the school we were working at.  She moved to a school about an hour away and I began my journey as a stay-at-home-Mom.

Fast forward 5 years and this wonderful lady moved to the town I live in and began teaching at the elementary school...and became Oren's kindergarten teacher!  So now she has had the "privilege" of teaching us both!  ;)  She loved Oren before he was ever born and has been a wonderful influence and mentor to him this year.  She has taught him so many wonderful things that he wouldn't listen to if they came from me.

I volunteer weekly in Oren's class and we often talk about blogs and the online community.  Of course, she reads education blogs and I read quilting/sewing ones, but we both love the community and support these online worlds create.  So, I could think of no better end-of-the-year gift for her than a quilt made for her from my friends in the online quilting community.

For three months, I asked my Nubees group to make me red, blue and yellow blocks.  I figured these primary colors would be great for a primary teacher.  :)  Once they all arrived, I decided to sash them in gray to provide a neutral background for all of those variations of the same colors to come together.

And here it is all laid out and ready to sew.

I have 3 more blocks for the back (well, one is on the way) to tie it together.  I think it's gonna be great!  I'm off to sew...wish me luck on getting this one done!