The end of the school year!!

I don't know if everyone else is as excited about school being out, but let me just say, I was DONE with the 2011-2012 school year.  I crave flexibility.  The non-scheduled life.  Being able to wake-up early if that's what's happening.  Or being able to leisurely get out of bed at 9, if that's on tap for the day.  The 6:30 alarm clock, packing of lunches, clothing, feeding, shoe finding for four kids was making me utterly exhausted.

But, with the end of the school year comes birthday parties, end of my quiet house, and thank-you gifts for teachers.

As I watched the calendar days zoom by towards the end of May and into June, I knew that my Patchwork Prism Quilt needed to be finished before the school year ended.  I'm dying to get out and do some sort of proper photo shoot to commenmorate the accoplishment of it all, but here is a sneak peak, just to prove it got finished!

(Blurry Iphone photo)

We had a birthday party fall on a super busy weekend.  Though for some that means picking up something quickly from a store, we actually live far away from the big stores, Target, Walmart, a mall, etc.  So I turned to my sewing garage.  Thank goodness for Liz's crayon bag tutorial.  I finally got to make one.  I think I increased the size by about an inch on all sides.  And I thought it would be cute to add a felt monogram.  Also, with the bigger size, I figured I'd better just make some handles.  Other than those changes, I followed Liz's instructions.  It took just barely over an hour!  Perfect amount of time.  We filled it with a few treasures, and of course some crayons and called it good!

Right as the school year was coming to an end, and I was getting daily emails about group gifts for teachers, I realized we had just used our last check!  I had to opt out of all group gifts!  Never fear, my fabric stash seems to be full of surprises.  And little scrappy make-up bags hardly take anytime at all.  I followed Anna's tutorial over at Noodlehead.

And then finally, I was struck with some last minute inspiration for a pair of great first grade teachers!  Remember the library skirt from last year?  It became a favorite among the teachers as well.  I figured if I made them library tote bags inspired by the same design, it might be a cute way for them to remember the girls through the years as well.  I loved making these bags.  The bags themselves take no time at all to make.  I used some super thick leftover canvas type material that my living room couch is upholstered in.  I had to use my leather needles to make it through all that canvas, but it certainly means there was no need for any lining.  Of course, the handles were the biggest pain.  After making one set with the canvas, you see I changed my mind about that idea!  It was just too many layers of thick canvas.

I hope the teachers have fun with them over the summer, and find time to relax and read some books.  

Once these were done, I'll admit they were kind of hard to give away.  My girls and I both thought we could love them very well ourselves.  But those are the best gifts in my opinion.  I love giving away something that I love so much myself.  Makes me feel good about the giving.
 

Not like these teachers haven't given my girls SO MUCH throughout the school year.

LONG LIVE SUMMER!