Busy, Busy Beavers

School is finally out and I can relax...or so I think. Actually, I have several projects lined up to occupy my time this summer. I have about 101 things to paint this summer including a bench, chair, bedside table, various mirrors, a window, plant stand and knick-knack holder. Then there's the quilting! I just got a bunch of beautiful silk fabric sent to me from Japan by my mother-in-law. I'm scared to cut it, but I'm going to have to get over that fear and make something beautiful with it. I've got fabric piling up everywhere. Time to get a move on!



The last few weeks of school I was already busy doing quilting and painting. My good friend and fellow 1st grade teacher, Diane, roped me into making a quilt for our school's Dean of Students (aka, vice-principal) as a gift for her first baby. Diane has made several quilts and I was honored that she asked me to help. We made the cutest quilt, though it ended up being about twice the size of a baby quilt. Each class made a picture and colored it for one of the quilt squares, and then signed it with their class' name. It turned out great.



Then Diane came up with another good idea for something to occupy my time. For several months Diane and I have secretly been giving out little treats and trinkets to the other staff members and teachers at the school. It's been a tough year for all of us, and Diane thought that a few random acts of kindness might help lift everyone's spirits and boost the morale in the school. As our final anonymous act, we wanted to do something nice for the staff. Diane found some unused terra cotta pots sitting in her classroom and she asked if I would help her paint them. I love painting, so off we went. Diane had in mind doing some polka dots and squiggly lines. I guess I think differently. I got to teach Diane how to do a little bit of One Stroke Painting, and now I think she's hooked. It was a lot of fun, though it took several days to complete the project. We painted about 60 pots, stuffed them with a cute little note and some flower seeds and snuck into all the classrooms and left them for the staff members to find on the Monday of the last week of school. I think they liked them. A few people who knew I could paint discovered that I was part of the sneaky team leaving gifts behind, so my cover was blown. But it was a lot of fun, and it spurred me take on the chairperson position for the Social Committee for next year. It sure did help to boost my morale to do something nice for someone else. Maybe everyone should give that a try sometime.