Believe

It's been a hectic couple of weeks at my house - nothing out of the ordinary, just busy.  I'm working part time right now helping out at school in the preparations for next year.  Sounds crazy but the scheduling for high school students begins in the spring before they even finish the year they're in.  It's fun to go back for a little while, see some of the kids I grew to love when I was working last year, and get my brain back in gear.  Not that I don't use my brain when I'm away from school, but I for sure use it in a different way.  Several people asked me today if I missed working and the answer is NO.  I first retired in 2003, then worked for a year at church a few years later, re-retired, then worked at a local high school last year, then re-retired again.  I'm the only person I know who can't seem to retire and make it stick.  :)

I'm mostly working on some hand projects but I have finished a couple of things.  This pillow was a free pattern from Bunny Hill Designs.  I changed it just a little bit but basically it's the same letters except they used a star as the dot on the i, which I left off.  I used a green ticking fabric with a scrap of a civil war reproduction print that I found in my leftover basket.

And this lap sized quilt is a pattern I saw on Carol's blog, Just Let Me Quilt.  You can find the pattern here.

I made this quilt for a very dear friend who has a monkey named Katie.  Yes.  A real monkey.  And she's precious and funny and cute and I love her.  Oh and I love my friend too.  :)  She is a special blessing in my life - one of those neighbors (one block away!) who grows into a friend and then into just-like-family.  I mean she has a key to my house....that kind of friend.  Do you have a friend like that?  Count yourself lucky if you do.  And maybe make them a monkey quilt.  :)