Back to School and a Quilt

It's Back to School tomorrow in my little part of the world.

Coloured Pencils...

Yes, there will be a quilt in this post, but bear with me for just a minute...

I've always loved going to school, and the whole "back to school" process.  Even years after I had been out of school, I used to feel so nostalgic every September.  The smell of freshly sharpened pencils.  The new clothes - remember the agonizing over the first day outfit while in high school?  New beginnings.  And longing for that elusive new box of 60 coloured pencils, which I never got - always using last year's pencils plus the occasional new set of 8.

I don't feel as nostalgic now that I have kids to send back to school every year.  It's like am living the whole thing all over again!  I love shopping for supplies, and they still let me pick the first day outfits.  But as a mom, before I buy new coloured pencils, I have to be reasonable and check if last year's are still good to use.  This year, one got a new box of 24 - not bad - and the other ended up with this: 


Selection of last year's pencils.  Such is life...

 And guess who got this fresh box of 60 coloured pencils ?
 

If you guessed me, you'd be correct!  And not only did I buy myself a box of coloured pencils, I even bought myself a colouring book to go with them:

 

On a side note, I have also learned it is very difficult to use your left hand to take a self-picture of yourself colouring with your right hand...

 
Do you ever colour, just for the fun of it?  Or ever wanted to, but never actually sat down to do it?  I have coloured with my kids many times, but this is just for the pure fun of it. 

Shhh... don't tell my kids!  Happy back to school to me!

Chocolate Quilt

Back to quilting talk... 

Let me introduce to you a quilt I made last fall, but only had a chance to take decent pictures during my recent vacation.  I present to you the Chocolate Quilt.

 

I did not chose these fabrics.  My husband bought me this layer cake (42 pieces of 10" for the uninitiated) and since he loved the fabrics, I decided to make a quilt for him.  Perhaps it was his plan all along...  I made simple hourglass blocks, and used it as a canvas to practice some new free motion quilting.  See my flowers:

All quilted in Aurifil, in one beige or another (I never remember exact colour names).  I am glad I thought of quilting one row in black, just because.

I love the way the almost-solid back shows off the quilting:

Especially when you look at the whole thing:

Even if I was not crazy about the colours, I was super pleased with the result.  I especially love the way the quilting turned out.   The recipient loves it and I was happy to make a quilt for the man in my life who encourages my quilting habit (and acts as the occasional quilt holder).

On that note, happy back to school to all of you teachers, educators, and those of you with boys and girls who are off to school !