2010 teacher gifts completed!

My last post generated plenty of comment, much of it empathy and encouragement that I am not the only one to leave things until the last minute at this time of year! The 'pencil roll' gifts were completed and delivered to respective teachers. At least I know that they won't 'double-up' with this gift!

Kirsty at You Had Me at Bonjour rather cheekily commented on my last post: "Ha, ha, yes I seem to remember a post like this last year??" Hmmm, well yes :), last year, and the year before and the year before! You have a good memory Kirsty! Each year, they vary just a little depending what pens/pencils I can source. The thing that doesn't vary is my last-minute stitching! The pens I have used this year are Stabilo fineliners, in lots of colours, perfect for easing the drudgery of marking for primary teachers. 

Cherry Red Quilter asked how long it took me to find just the right colours to match the pens. Dare I say, they are all from my rather extensive stash?! I have been quilting in some form or another for 15 years, and have a fabric collection to match!

Quiltilicious of Little Island Quilting has excellent eyesight, particularly when it comes to fabric! She said, "Great to see someone with fabric that goes back as old as my collection...I can spot some Jinny Beyer '2000' fabric in there ;-)" Great spotting! There is a piece of bright blue Jinny Beyer 'Millenium'. And there is a story that goes with this fabric. It was purchased originally for this quilt. Never again will I purchase fabric with a date on it, in this case '2000' printed all over. When I presented the quilt to my son in 2004, he quick as a wink calculated just exactly how long it had taken me to make it!

I had two pencil rolls to make this year, the 'cow print' version being for a man, the spotted one for a woman. I recently had an email from someone lovely hoping that I would be writing up a pattern for 'my' pencil rolls.  While I would absolutely love to be able to do a pattern for these, they are unfortunately not my original idea. I would be treading on thin ice from a copyright point of view. I can point you in the right direction though. The idea originally came from the lovely Kathy Mack at Pink Chalk Studio and she has some simple instructions on this post.

I jazzed the pencil rolls up with some very cute downloadable tags by Amy Moss at Eat, Drink, Chic.

Naturally Carol commented on the amazing job that teachers do, 'teaching all those kids, day in day out'! Absolutely!! I am married to one, and I know the inordinate number of hours devoted to this most admirable of professions. A pencil roll at the end of the year is small recompense really, but given with sincere gratitude!