Toads and Quilts

From the way I complain about my colleagues stoic nature, (I can't believe I said colleagues) you wouldn't know that I'm currently taking the BEST CLASS EVER. This would be Museum Education and Interpretation, in which graduate students are encouraged to act like preschoolers and get muddy. A few weeks ago we took a field trip to the Delaware Art Museum where we created cardboard houses using massive amounts of glitter, and today I hung out with 3rd graders at the Delaware Nature Society. We caught a toad! It looked like this:

I didn't take this picture, of course, but I did get to hold a squirmy toad. (I snatched him up when one kid shouted "Hey guys I found a snake I found a snake!!" (It was a black stick.) Of course after holding him, I dropped him back into the marsh (the toad, not the kid), and wiped my hands off on my pants. In the distance I heard an 8-year-old boy say "EWW I can't believe I touched a toad! I'm totally using my hand sanitizer when I get back to the bus!" Then I took my hand and laughing maniacally, rubbed it all over his face. (All right, I didn't, but the story would have been SO much funnier that way.)

In a completely different vein of events, this weekend I interviewed quilters for an awesome project, Quilters' S.O.S. (Save Our Stories.) There are currently about 500 interviews online of all types of quilters, all who have amazing stories. I interviewed Eileen Lauterborn and Julia Pfaff, both who put me to shame with their creativity. Then I rubbed a toad on their faces. Ok FINE, but can you tell I really want to do that to somebody? I was inspired enough to finally finish my group quilt, started last summer at Carlsbad. A group of us crafty girls got together and swapped squares, so I can't take credibility for all of them. Here's my quilt out on a lovely afternoon walk: