Handmade Whiteboard Erasers!

And so begins my attempt to actually post about some cool things I've been working on...well, at least I think they're cool...and this one wins teenager seal of approval!  (A very hard thing to earn indeed ;)

Somewhere, and I forget exactly where, I got the notion of using flannel as a whiteboard eraser.  I use little individual whiteboards in my classrooms.  Recently, I've found myself having students use "big" versions of the showerboard whiteboards for group work.  And, I've started using those old printable transparency sheets as cover sheets so that students can "write on" my multiple choice tests without actually writing on them!

All of these things seem pretty popular with my students, but they left my little erasers (essentially felt glued to a piece of wood) really, really disgusting!  So, it was time for a change.

Washable flannel whiteboard erasers!  No more waste...and they're cute and cuddly.  My students love them.

To make your own:
Cut long strips of flannel 6.5 inches wide, fold right-sides together hot-dog style, and sew a 1/4" seam to create a really long tube.   Press the seam open down the center of the tube and trim to 5" long.

 

Chain sewing, sew across the bottom of each.  Be sure to backstitch at the beginning and end of each pocket.  Cut the threads, turn right side out, and you'll have these :)

Chop up scraps with a rotary cutter...

 Until they look like this..

By the way...chopping up the scraps was fun for awhile...as I dug through the waste I was reminded of lots of old projects.  However, if you're going to make a class set of these, I recommend doing your wrists a favor and chopping over an extended period of time.

Gather the scraps in a bowl.

Use your scraps to stuff your pockets.  Pack the filling in there pretty good because the kids will take the loft out of them once they get their hands on them.

Use clips or pins when you turn the edges under.  I just did this by hand.

Once you have a bunch queued up, sew a straight seam close to the edge.  Don't forget to backstitch!

Et voila!  (As my French-speaking husband would say)  Your erasers are complete! 



Please comment or share pictures if you make your own :)

Why do we create?

I was thinking about this question a lot today...what is it that makes us LOVE to create? To keep coming back to it even when we've been frustrated by a project or busy with every other task on our to-do lists?

I don't really have much of an answer, but as I watched a bunch of worn-out, chatty students dive into a DNA origami project that involved coloring nucleotides (one student deemed it "color-by-chemical") I knew it was a universal trait.  I've never seen such a happy group of students--these are brilliant ninth graders, their work could pass for senior work most of the time--but, they're kids, and they love to color.  Some of them even came to study hall today just to finish (we're supposed to finish in class on Friday.  But they get to choose their afternoon activity, and they chose to come color and fold paper--it warms my heart.)

Meanwhile, I passed the time during their test knitting up the second in a pair of socks.  My love of knitting is keeping me sane during test days.  I want to keep my eyes on them so that they aren't tempted to let their eyes "wander," but I'm just not cut out to stare students down for four hours a day two days in a row. 

I also dove into yet another project requiring tedious cutting and pasting.  I love finding new classroom activities that require massive amounts of prep.  This is a DNA sequencing activity, requiring many segments of "code" all cut to different lengths.  Tedious yes, but there's really nothing else I'd rather be doing while monitoring a study hall.

Cutting the strips and gluing or taping them into one continuous sequence.

Laminated "sequence" ...enough for 6 groups.

So what is it that makes us love to create?  Is it using "dead" time for something productive?  Is it knowing you made something beautiful, enchanting, cool or amazing?  Does it free our minds from worry?  Is it the desire to make something for someone else--to be able to hand over love or care in the form of a tangible object?  Is it an exciting endeavor, a workout for your brain? 

It does all of these things for me.  What's it do for you?

Quilting AND Knitting Again!

Oh my goodness...I've moved many, many times in my life.  But our short, local move that started one week before school started and extended three weeks into the start of school was TOUGH!  And, totally worth it.

I spent the week after we closed on our first home painting rooms and installing shelving.  Five fully painted rooms later, we started building IKEA wardrobes, then shortly thereafter the furniture was moved in.  We did everything except for major furniture ourselves--and in short, my husband is my hero...he did so much of the heavy lifting while I was packing, unpacking, or painting.

Meanwhile, I started my second year teaching at the Sci and Tech Governor's School where I teach Biology.  I may have set myself up with too ambitious a plan for the year--I've decided to "flip" the classroom by creating online lessons that are annotated with voice recordings so that we can do more Q&A, activities, and review in class.  Our pace is ridiculous since I basically am teaching AP Bio and Research/Stats to high school freshmen!...and they are awesome...and we all work really, really hard--which generally leads to AMAZING results.

All that is to say that I haven't really been generating a whole lot of crafty things lately.

During the first few weeks of school I did try to finish up my "Entropy" sign for my desk.  I picked it up one morning before work--and boy, did I show how LONG it had been since I quilted.  I needed to add a few inches to the binding, so I cut and ironed one more bias strip and sewed it on--at a 90 degree angle.  I didn't even rip the stitches...just cut off the seam and tried again to remember how to attach strips together so that they form a straight line.   I should've stopped there.

I started decorative stitches along the seams to attach the binding and reached the point where the binding needed to be joined.  And I joined it twisted!

That was it for me for the day, although I'm happy to report I did finish it later that week.  My students love it--nerds that we all are, they love to knock one corner down so that it hangs crooked (entropy is the law that says the world descends into random chaos, after all).

The whole episode also gave my mom and I something to laugh hysterically at over the phone since I used FaceTime to show her my sad, twisted binding.

After a few really LONG, hard weeks I've reached some sort of equilibrium.  During their first test I knit to my heart's content (I can look up while knitting in the round--allowing both test monitoring and sock/sweater knitting!)  I got most of the foot of this sock done and reached a point on what felt like an ENDLESS sweater where I could put the stitches on scrap yarn for the sleeves.  I'm almost ready for waist decreases because I can also knit and read technical articles on my Kindle app.  Life for me is GOOD when I can both knit and read :)

Yesterday was my first "free" day in a long time.  So I pulled out the charm packs of Aspen Frost by Moda and started setting up for the Lil Twister tool by sewing squares together.  Have you used the Twister tool line?  So much shrinkage!  But so cute.

The fabric scraps are also quite extensive.  Ideas for dealing with bias scraps anyone?

The pattern is Stocking Sweet Stocking by Bean Counter Quilts.

Now I'm back to making a lesson on macromolecules.

Science Olympiad, School, and other things that keep me from having the time to blog...

Wow...it's been a long time.  I'll jump right in.

1.) Science Olympiad--I've been heading up our school team this year.  They've been passed from teacher to teacher and I stepped in with the hope that I'd enjoy it enough to be their sponsor for more than one or two years :)

Well, the year is nearly over, and I do LOVE this team.  If you're not familiar with SO, it's a competition that involves a team of 15 competing in 20+ science and engineering events (Anatomy,  Boomilivers, Robot arms, Chem lab, and Experimental design to name a few.)

Here we are at States with our 1st place trophy!!!

They did so well, and I'm so glad I can be there to support them.  At dinner, they went around the table and thanked me individually.  Apparently the things they appreciate most are my organizational skills, care and concern, and my cookies (I'm not surprised they like the cookies...who doesn't love cookies?)

Now we're headed to Nationals next weekend.  SO exciting and overwhelming!  I helped design our t-shirt and am in the progress of working on a banner.  Any tips on easy ways to finish off the edges?

2.) School.  The life of a teacher...let's just say that Teacher Appreciation Week falls in May for a reason.  We need it.  Personally I'm trying to deal with some ethics violations (cheating).  It's really unfortunate and very disappointing and is totally NOT my favorite part of the job.  Overall, I LOVE this new job and TJ and know that next year will be so much easier.  I can't wait to be able to focus on adapting my lessons instead of creating new ones. (Actually, I should be typing up a new "body systems" project right now.)

3.) There are some fun projects in the works.  I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

John took me to Needle and Thread in Gettysburg for some shopping therapy just this weekend.

Jumping back in time, we went to my cousin Emily's wedding in Austin, TX.  It was SO great to see family and they had the most hilarious photo booth.  Steph and the other bridesmaids were beautiful.

Over spring break (in March) we also went to the George Washington Hotel in Winchester.  If you can catch a Living Social deal like we did--it's an unbelievable deal!  That was the same weekend we went to the quilt museum. 

Then Mom came to visit.  Here we are on a House tour.

Somewhere between spring break and now we went to Greenwood, SC for a wedding.  It was a short weekend trip, but we had a great time!  I'm always amazed how many people I still haven't met in this very small town.  They all know John and have great stories from his childhood. :)

I also got to spend an afternoon at the zoo with Cynthia.  It was my first time at our National Zoo, and I'll definitely be back.  We had a great time.  If you haven't, be sure to check out their Amazonia exhibit.

I have had time to get a few projects underway...

 

Over spring break I finished the charity top (finally!) and made this "Sweetheart Chic" apron.

Started the cosmos sampler to get some practice at embroidery.  I believe I took this picture while I was quarantined in bed with some kind of vicious bronchitis...winter in a room full of sick kids with unfamiliar germs was not kind to me this year.

Spent one morning rearranging fabric.  Now I'm ready if our guild hosts another scrap swap ;)

And finally started a project with a beautiful jelly roll Mom bought for me in Florida.  More of this to come as soon as I can get back at the sewing machine.

For now...I'm going back to fixing fajita bowls (YUMMM) for dinner, studying up on immunology, and grading the statistics part of the kiddos' research papers.

We're all a work in progress...

Reading everyone's 2013 blog posts and surviving the past few days at work has got me thinking a lot about people and development.  I've learned that even very bright students need to have skills modeled to them and then have time to practice those skills in a useful context.  Actually, my teaching philosophy lately has been all about skills--what can I teach them as people, as learners, WHILE they learn biology.  I've also been trying to have a good attitude through an insane amount of responsibilities (I'll spare you the details...but I love my job, and I don't mind giving 150%, and I was still pushed to tears and delirium in the past 48 hours).  However, I've come out on the other side (for a brief gasp of air) and people seem to be responding to the good attitude...who knows, maybe it will even catch on!  My hope for 2013 is to continue to keep growing--as a wife, a teacher, a friend, a knitter, a quilter...

And on that note...on to the quilting!

Still working on the charity quilt for QuiltCon with DC Modern.  Here's some of my favorite shots:

Here's my plan for the rest of the quilting:

Of course, with limited free time these days, there's no other projects currently in progress.  But I'm itching to finish:
-The Owl Quilt (Hooterville) for UFO Sunday
-The pink floral quilt just needs a border for a finished top
-My t-shirt quilt needs two sashings and borders for a finished top
-One charity quilt is waiting for binding
-One charity quilt is in pieces...might be a while for this one

And I really want to start working with these beauties:

I have a special plan in store for them...my first design!

What's your current personal or quilting WIP goal?  How do you want to grow in the new year?

I'm linking up with WIP Wednesday and Free Motion Quilting Friday!