Retirement Gifts
Love's Celebration Quilt
When Glenna Clark said she was going to retire from teaching, her friends decided to make her a quilt. Squares were pieced in a classroom on January 6, 2001 and then signatures and well wishes were gathered from her many friends. The blocks were assembled, the applique was added and the machine and hand quilting was finished...all by her friends. She was presented with her quilt at her retirement party.
At the same retirement party, another teacher, Jerry Watts was retiring and was presented with this "Healing Hands" quilt. His many friends had traced their hands and added their signatures to his retirement quilt. He will be able to heal quickly from upcoming surgery as the border print fabric is from the Quilt for a Cure line of fabric and titled "Healing Garden."
Healing Hands Quilt
Leatha King, June 2003
(Note: same squares as those used in Love's Celebration shown above.)
Frank Blizman, June 2005
Jim Dally, June 2005
Rachel Curran, June 2006
Jerry Thoman, June 2006
Glenna Clark, June 2001
Jerry Watts, June 2001
Linda Knowles, June 2007
Sidne Gray, June 2007
June 2008
This is the year of the 'mass exodus.' Teachers retiring from Paradise Elementary School are Pam Baker (K), Susie Bor (2nd) , Connie Huitt (speech), Dianne Morton (1st), Debbie Mullens (art), Gary Ray (1st), and Helga Ryer (1st). For each of my fellow retirees I made a special pillow.
Love's Celebration
retirement quilt
for
Laura Dearden
June 2008
It had been so much fun having a "quilt in" to make Glenna Clark's quilt (see above), I could not pass up the chance to do the same for Laura when she said she was retiring. I gathered together in my classroom, some of her many friends (see label below) to create the squares. We divided and distributed them to sites around the Paradise Unified School District and mailed many to people who had retired or moved away, asking for their signatures on a square. Once the squares were signed, I collected them, arranged and sewed them together into the quilt top. (Joan Dresser and I had done the applique). Once I assembled the top, batting and backing, I hand quilted the center square and machine quilted the rest of the quilt. Lorie Hahne and I presented the quilt to Laura at a school board meeting, May 20, 2008.
For Connie Huitt the speech and language teacher, a pillow with vocabulary pictures and words labeling them.
For Debbie Mullins the art teacher, a creative, free form pattern with applique of leaves.
For Dianne Morton a first grade teacher who enjoys travel, a pillow with travel related squares appliqued to the top.
For Gary Ray another first grade teacher who enjoys model railroading, a four-patch with train engines.
For Helga Ryer another first grade teacher who always had the students paint flowers, floral patterned fabric in a garden trellis pattern.
For Pam Baker a kindergarten teacher who has filled her home with antiques, an antique quilt square hand-quilted to a background fabric.
For Susie Bor a second grade teacher whose class was the 'Panda Class', a pillow with panda and bamboo fabric.
SURPRISE FOR ME!!!
As the other retirees opened the pillows from me, I was given a gift to open. To my utter amazement and joy I was given a quilt with children's art work on the back and staff photos on the front. OH, what a JOY! Thank you goes to Joan Hasek and Lori Rounds.
