Spring is in the air!

It is still frigidly cold here, but this weekend our house was warmed up by a visit from a family friend and her lovely mother Margaret.  Margaret is a great quilt enthusiast -- and a little quilt she made for my littlest one (Miss F) was the nudge that got started in the quilt world to begin with, so I feel a lot of gratitude to her!  We had never met before, but she had seen some photos and this blog -- and her wonderful energy, her contagious enthusiasm lit up my day!!  Margaret: I will have more photos of WIPs very soon.  For now I just wanted to say thank you for your visit.  It was a pleasure to finally meet you in person.

Today the sun was shining (although the thermometer barely peeked over freezing), my students were fun and responsive (and having a blast discovering for the first time Angela Carter's wicked naughty, lush fairy tales), the semester is drawing to a close -- it's hard not to feel that sense of lightness and anticipation that is SPRING!

I always celebrate the end of the semester with a burst of...something or other: 4 novels read in quick succession, uncritically, without taking notes (gasp!)...rooms rearranged...walls painted...the purr of the sewing machine.  This spring I am (finally) going to be able to participate in two sew-alongs, and they are hosted by two of the most charming and talented sewing bloggers out there: Peter of Male Pattern Boldness (I have been reading his blog for months, and I adore it!), and Tasia of Sewaholic (a more recent discovery for me, but she is great -- and the Crescent skirt is her own beautiful pattern).  I just picked up the Kwik Sew jeans pattern that Peter will be sewing, and my Crescent skirt pattern is on order.

It's going to be great fun for me to be a student, a follower, a novice...hooray for spring!