moving

I’ll be leaving the city where I grew up and moving to the city where my mother grew up in July.  To commemorate this big step, I’ll be starting a new blog to keep up with my adventures.  You can follow it here: little city big love.

travels

In just a few days I will be heading out to Ethiopia to do work on project-based learning, student inquiry, and teacher action research with local schools.  I”ve decided it will be easiest to keep everyone updated via blogging about my adventures, so please check out ethiopia project to keep up with my journey!

spring planting

I started some seeds in a little greenhouse last week.  It is such a simple joy to have growing things in the house to jumpstart a feeling of spring.

school life

Although I’ve kept this blog even while teaching, I realized in looking back through older posts that it’s not often I’ve posted about life at school.  As I was looking through photos on my phone from work, I found this stunning photograph that a student took earlier this winter when we were out walking in the neighborhood.

I also found this photograph of a student question, which I just love.  My work at the school continues to inspire me every day.

virtual craft fair exhibition

My work has been accepted into a virtual craft fair hosted by Cafe Handmade.  Some of my pieces will be featured for the month of March.  Here is the link: petit leaf on Cafe Handmade.

Please spread the word (and you can also vote for me, if you like!).

etsy shop update

I’ve been working away the last few weeks to get new prints and illustrations ready for my etsy shop (petit leaf on etsy).  Here are some of the newest items listed in my shop—please check it out!

projects in progress

I had been in such a creative slump earlier that I’ve made a concerted effort in the last week or so to get back on track.  I’m trying to get enough pieces finished to submit to a local arts show, as well as to update my etsy store (petit leaf on etsy).  I finished this necklace yesterday, and my sister was kind enough to model it for me.  The elephant cut-out will either be stitched onto a pillow or a child-sized tote bag.

a winter walk

A few weeks ago, we got a ton of snow in Indianapolis (as they did everywhere).  On my day off from school, I hiked around the gardens at Butler University along the canal.  It was incredibly beautiful and peaceful, although because it was so cold, I couldn’t stay out for long.

on linen

I’ve started a larger embroidery project on linen.  I took traditional pysanka designs typically used on Ukrainian-style Easter eggs and sketched them onto the linen.  I think it will end up as a table runner when finished.

re-emerging

It’s been so long since my last post, but I had completely sunk into work and homework for graduate school.  I started back up with my master’s in special education this semester, and although I’m only taking one class, it’s taken me some time to get back into the swing of things.  Here is something I turned in just recently:

We had to create a visual presentation of our philosophy of education for early childhood.  Rather than completing my assignment on the computer, I decided to hand-sketch my assignment.  I’m quite pleased with how it turned out.  I worked on it while talking to a dear friend for almost three hours on the phone.  We were collaborating long-distance on a logo for his tech/mathematical modeling group.  I’ll post pictures of the design later on (first I have to make sure he’s already presented the idea to his coworkers…).  In addition to work, I’ve also taken up yoga, which has been great, especially as I’ve not been able to dance currently given my recurring hip injury.