Preschool Teacher Thank You

I wanted to create something special for M's preschool teachers, to say thank you for such an awesome year. Aprons are pretty easy projects, and I came up with a way to let the whole class participate in making them. Patchwork! I started out by cutting a whole bunch of 6"x6" squares of cream denim. I gave two pieces to each child, with a note asking parents to have their kid decorate the squares and return them to me. Note - if you do a project like this, don't forget to add a "return to me" date.
Now, I haven't done many projects with patchwork in the past. It seems to me, you have to be absolutely meticulous in your cutting and stitching, and while I am a bit of a perfectionist, I'm just not THAT perfect. Anyway, once I collected all the patches from the kiddos, and made a couple to represent students who were previously in the class but who had moved, I laid them out on the floor in the order I wanted.

 

After I had my layout, I started sewing pairs, going across. Then I sewed two pairs together, and then sewed each row together. I think that's the way patchwork works. That method worked pretty well for me, anyway. There is only one mistake and I'm pretty sure no one noticed.

Here are some of my favorite squares:

 Originally, I backed the aprons with the same denim, but found they were way too heavy. I picked up some quilters cotton in the teacher's favorite colors to make a waistband and ties. That worked much better. Here they are, folded and ready to give to their teachers.

I wanted the kids to give the aprons at their graduation. Then they could all see their teachers reactions, and show them their squares. Rather than waste wrapping paper, I just folded the aprons so that the patchwork was inside and tied them with pretty coordinated ribbon.

I think they went over pretty well!

Thank you, Miss Betsy and Miss Michelle for a super year! We will miss preschool, but will see you around the museum!

Gratuitous Graduation Shot.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Finally! Some dry weather! Yeah, yeah, the rain is good, it makes the green. But plants need sunlight too, and my garden is LOVING it!

I had to thin the radishes. I think that thinning is my least favorite part of gardening. I feel like I'm telling those poor little plants "sorry, guys, you're just not good enough".

Now, I could wash them, trim the roots, and eat them. But... I have MICROGREENS! Yum.

If you've never had microgreens, you should. As Marley and I say, they are delicious and nutritious! I'll be having a microgreen salad for lunch today. They are also great on sandwiches and burgers. This time I bought a packet of microgreen seeds, but you can cut baby lettuce, radish, bok choi, pea sprouts, sunflower sprouts and more. Speaking of pea sprouts...

Reason 236 that I LOVE Burgerville. If your in SW Washington or NW Oregon, you know what I'm talking about. On a recent trip South, my parents took Marley to Burgerville and got her a kids meal. No crappy toy in there. No sir. Only a biodegradable bamboo pot with a packet of Oregon Sweet Peas.

And then, finally, just to do a little bragging...

That's right. Tomatoes. These were actually grown from seed in my neighbor's greenhouse.

Also ready to eat today - wild strawberries!

On my "To Do" list today - planting potatoes (3 kinds!), sunflowers, pumpkins and gourds! Have a beautiful day!