She Did It!

Our daughter, Elise McClure, just finished her Master of Arts in Educational Media from Appalachian State Unv. in Boone, NC and we celebrated! This is a degree that focuses on using technology in the classroom and Elise is certainly doing that! This was a great area for her to study! It's been a long couple of years, wrestling with technology that sometimes decides not to cooperate at the very second it's needed and meeting countless academic deadlines, but it's finished and she's done! Yay! She teaches Kindergarten and now with all of these added technology skills these kids will really be starting off to a great future!

Here are a few picture highlights from our week-end of celebration!

Graduates receiving a Masters Degree don't flip a tassel, instead they get "hooded." Here she is getting ready to receive her hood.
This is one happy graduate! We're so thankful the College of Education hood color was a nice blue color! Some were, brown, dull green, tan, pink, etc. (She would have liked the pink, but not the music degree required to get that color.)
The back of the hood shows the school colors of Gold and Black.
My husband and I are so happy and very proud of her! While thankfully we didn't have a monetary investment this time around, we did support her all the way!
And the rest of her cheering squad at the Graduation Ceremony, Elise's husband, Josh and Morgan Shupe. Morgan was a member of Elise's very first Kindergarten class and they have grown very close over the last 6 years. We all had a great time and certainly lots of fun marking this milestone in our daughter's life!

Doodle Embroidery Piece

I took a workshop with Susan Sorrell this past Friday. It was lots of fun, but the results are slow! It's lots of handwork and with my hands that means a good deal of pain too. So I have to pace myself. But I'm having fun. Out of respect for the teacher (who has online classes as well) I won't be able to completely explain the process. But here is my first step completed, outlining my elements. Whew that's basically done, but new elements can be added as I see fit. The back ground fabric is some I made from another workshop. I thought I'd do something else with it, so I cut it up in four pieces, then I rearranged them and sewed them back together. That was an extra step I perhaps didn't need, but I don't think it hurts the piece too much. (Please forgive the rather wonky photo, it's late and I'm tired.) Next I'll be adding more stitches of various types and eventually perhaps some beads. I'm looking forward to that step! You may asking yourself, "What is it suppose to be?" It's just a doodle design, no labels, just shapes and placement. So I'm just trying to document the transformation as I go. Stay tuned.

Instant Art Quilt

I take lots of online art and quilting classes and the most recent one was with Ellen Lindner. She's a fantastic instructor and definitely did a great job with feedback and helpful information. While her methods really do produce very instant results, for me it took about two months because I have other activities that I'm involved in besides quilting and art.

So here is my quilt and currently it remains untitled. I am not good at coming up with titles, but I would like to come up with one soon so I can get the label made and sewn on. So I am taking suggestions and the person with the winning title will receive an art postcard or small piece of fiber art. Please leave comments and you can suggestion more than one title! I'll choose the one I think fits the piece and send you a customized little piece of art from the leftover fabric from this piece.