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Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Back To School Blog Hop & A Giveaway

The summer seems to get shorter and shorter the older I get.  School has started for almost everyone already.  Since I no longer have children in school, it is not as stressful/joyful for me as it used to be. "Back in the day" I used to look forward to family dinners when school started, since during the summer we hardly ate dinner together with every one's active schedule.  It was great to hear what transpired during every one's day. Do you have a favorite Back To School Memory?

As an Island Batik Ambassador, I'm participating in a blog tour to celebrate Back to School and to showcase their new lines of fabric that will be arriving in the local quilt shops any day.  I was given "Country Dozen".  As soon as I opened my box filled with these wonderful batik fabrics, I thought of my DIL. She has a bunch of chickens and loves to cook their eggs.

The Country Dozen fabric comes in several colorways and the prints feature roosters, eggs, chicken wire, lemons and kitchen utensils.  Perfect for my DIL who also loves to be in the kitchen.Ask for it at your LQS.





 With that in mind, I thought I would get a jump on the holiday season and make a gift for my DIL. Shhhh - don't tell.  What would she get a lots of use from? Something for entertaining!  I created a tabletopper and a bunch of napkins for entertaining.
 The napkins were like potato  chips, I couldn't stop at just one.  They were so much fun to make.
I dug deep into my old blog posts for a technique that I used a while ago.  It was perfect for this. Click HERE for details to make the self-binding napkins.  I love how the miters come out in the corners:

I also enjoy napkin folding, so I've played with these:


Or just a plain fold
If you want to impress your guests with some fancy napkin folding, head to YouTube.

As part of this blog tour, I am having a giveaway of lots of the Country Road batiks. Island Batik has been so generous and I'd like to share that generosity.  Here's the stack:
It's a bunch of very generous fat quarters and assorted pieces of the Country Dozen fabric line.  The giveaway is open to anyone in the Continental US.  To enter the giveaway, leave a comment here about your favorite Back To School memory and for more chances head over and follow me on IG @CherylLynchQuilts and for even another chance, like my FB page @CherylLynchFiberArts. The winner will be chosen next Tuesday, Sept 12.
MY GIVEAWAY IS OVER

The blog tour has just begun.  There are lots of other blogs, fabric lines and GIVEAWAYS!!!    Here are the dates and links:

WEEK 1

Tuesday, September 5 – Country Dozen
Cheryl Lynch Quilts • Inspired Layers
Wednesday, September 6 – Bonsai
Little Bunny Quilts
Thursday, September 7 – Sakura
Masterpiece Quilting

WEEK 2

Monday, September 11 – Fresh Pick’ins
KISSed Quilts
Tuesday, September 12 – Lotus Blooms
Kathys Kwilts and More
Wednesday, September 13 – Olivera
Joan Kawano • Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting
Thursday, September 14 – Rise & Shine
Den Syende Himmel • Sally’s Quilting Corner
Friday, September 15 – Diner Days
Ark Angel Creations • Karen Overton

WEEK 3

Monday, September 18 – Seas the Day
KISSed Quilts • Whispers of Yore
Tuesday, September 19 – Vineyard
The Inquiring Quilter • Inchworm Fabrics
Wednesday, September 20 – Abalone
PamelaQuilts • Yellow Cat Quilts
Friday, September 22 – Captain’s Anchor
Purrfect Spots Designs • Beaquilter

WEEK 4

Tuesday, September 26 – Lobster Bake
Seams to be Sew
Wednesday, September 27 – Solstice
Bejeweled Quilts • heARTs Creations
Thursday, September 28 – Sour Apple
Seams Like a Dream • Kauffman Designs
Friday, September 29 – Zen
Lizard Creek Quilting • Quilt’n Party



107 comments:

  1. I hate to say this but lunch. We were very poor growing up and at school we got the best 2 meals

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  2. Wow Betsy - School programs are important. Thank you for sharing this.

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  3. Opening a new box of crayons, I still love to do this.

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  4. Super post, I love the napkins they turned out awesome

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  5. My favorite back to school memory was getting to wear all of the new clothes my mother made for me. I can still fell how proud it made me!!

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  6. I haven't made napkins in a while, but these fabrics made some really super cute ones. Thank you for the giveaway.
    My favorite back to school memory is getting all the new supplies.

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  7. I was the oldest of 3 girls growing up so I always got the new shoes and clothes for the first day of school. WooHoo!

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  8. I just loved looking forward to all of the new school supplies and some new outfits and being with my friends again! It was always bitter-sweet, as I hated for summer to be over! Also, Fall was in the air!!

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  9. I love those batiks! My favorite memory is going shopping for new clothes for the new school year.

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  10. I am a retired teacher and my favorite back to school memories involve those few weeks before school started--getting my classroom ready, receiving the new textbooks, the class lists. It was always so peaceful. Then school started, the kids came, and it got pretty crazy!

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  11. I love back to school shopping, fresh pencils, crayons, folders etc.

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  12. I would have to agree it was shopping for new shoes and clothes for the new year. Thanks for this giveaway!

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  13. It would be college for me because that was a wonderful time. Great experience and I learned so much about everything.

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  14. love those! plus I love Batik's compiling mine for us a quilt

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  15. This is a great idea for this line of fabric...I know your DIL will love it!

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  16. I always loved getting a new lunch box each fall. Thanks for the giveaway.

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  17. Perfect for that country kitchen. Love the potato chip and napkin association! LOL!!

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  18. My favorite back to school memory is all the new books every year. So fun! angielovesgary2 atgmail dotcom

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  19. getting to pick out supplies for the new school year

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  20. Every year before school started we would each get a new box of crayons. I love the smell of new crayons.

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  21. I loved going back to school shopping for new clothes.

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  22. My favorite back to school memory is getting to see the friends I missed seeing all summer. And of course, buying all those great new supplies!

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  23. My favorite back to school memory is walking the neighbor to kindergarten, I think I was 8 but felt really grown up to be in charge!
    cork@pa.rr.com

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  24. I remember getting my very first lunch box..it was pink, and had slots across the bottom edge that you could insert letters they provided, which you would use to put your name on your lunch box...carried that for many years!!

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  25. My favorite memory is when my mom was out of town for back to school shopping and my dad let me get the most flowery wild colored loose leaf binder in the store! I loved that binder for many long months.

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  26. I love those napkins - and the cute chickens! My favorite back to school memory is shopping for school clothes when we did not have to wear official uniforms anymore!

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  27. My favorite memory was receiving new textbooks and making covers for them so the books would stay looking like new.

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  28. I loved getting new school supplies and new clothes.

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  29. I always took a picture of my son on the first day of school. It is fun to see how he grew over the years. In his kindergarten first day photo he has his arm in a cast. I didn't know it then, but it foretold the future -- too many trips to the ER!

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  30. Mom making us mic muffins in the morning. ...happyness04431@yahoo.com

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  31. I always loved back to school as a parent, teacher and now grandparent. My Grandson is starting Kindergarten tomorrow and I am so excited for him.

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  32. I always loved the new school supplies. I still do.

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  33. I loved getting new school clothes. When I was young my mother use to make a lot of my clothes.

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  34. My favorite back to school memory was my daughter's first day of kindergarden. I remember how small she looked compared to the big backpack she was wearing. Thanks for sharing your beautiful creations!

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  35. Riding the bus and seeing all of my friends again was one of my favorite parts of going back to school. School bus drivers are an under-appreciated part of school. They can be a huge support system and reinforcers of values, standing up for the underdog kids and being interested in daily happenings. I have such warm memories of our bus drivers and those fun rides home after school.

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  36. Buying school supplies. Something exciting about picking out new notebooks, pencils, and crayons!

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  37. My favorites were the snow days. We didn't have many, but they were always great. grinnie1961 at gmail dot com

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  38. I loved it when my friend would treat me to ice cream from the ice cream truck during recess. She would put a dime in each of her penny loafers. Best of times.

    Happy Birthday Cheryl & hubby!

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  39. My favorite school memory was getting to sit in the back of the bus. We had a bumpy ride into town and would bounce to make the bounce over the bump even higher. The higher the bounce the more we would laugh.

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  40. I took a niece on a back-to-school shopping trip and we stayed in a hotel's newly-opened addition, where a chipmunk was darting up and down the corridor. My thought was that kids probably have similar anxiety to "escape" school after summer break!

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  41. LOVE the napkins. What a great idea.

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  42. Just the excitement of the first day. Nothing like it. Waiting to see who was in your class and meeting your teacher.

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  43. I love this fabric. My favorite back to school memory was shopping for supplies when I was a kid and picking everything.

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  44. My favorite school year was when I was not the new kid. We moved around a lot. PS The German Chocolate Cake looks delicious (My Favorite cake)

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  45. I think what I loved the most was going back to school shopping and looking forward to the sewing classes. They were my favorite. I remembered me and mom looking for fabric because she wanted me to make her a dress and when I had the sewing class, I brought it in to work on and the teacher loved the material so much that she went out and bought some and made a dress for herself. This was in 7th grade. I still remember the fabric, it was olive green with huge white palm leaves on it, linen blend.

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  46. Happy Birthday. Hope it is super special.
    What wonderful fabrics. I know your DIL will love these. I love these chickens and such. I grew up on a farm and we had a lot of chickens. Even when we moved back to Illinois, mom still kept chickens. When all of us 5 kids where married, mom still kept chickens. So they are a part of my life. LOL
    quilting dash lady at Comcast dot net

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  47. Making and decorating my book covers is one of my favorite memory.

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  48. My favorite memory would be seeing all my classmates again after not seeing many of them over the holidays,

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  49. My favorite memory was making book covers.

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  50. When I was younger: I remember the new clothes, new school supplies, and wondering which teacher I would get. As an adult with school age children: Dropping them off at school and having 5+ hours of freedom!!

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  51. Oh what fun you are having out west. Favorite from school was getting my photo taken by Mom or Dad on that 1st day. Look back now laugh at hair & clothes but some I even stitched up. Now might make a top with those beautiful fabrics and do something charity for help for Harvey or Irma. thanks luv your energies!

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  52. We didn't have much money for new school clothes when I was a kid. One year, the rich girl in town gave my Mom a bag of clothes she no longer could wear. It was like Christmas! I vividly remember a pink and green ensemble--my favorite. I couldn't wait to show off my "new" clothes the first day of school.

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  53. I can't remember any favorite back to school memories.

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  54. I remember making book covers out of brown paper bags.

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  55. I wish I had a favorite memory to share. My family moved all the time and I was always starting a new school every year. Love you batiks and thanks for the chance to win them.

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  56. Such cute fabrics from Island Batik Fabrics. Very different. My memories of back to school is getting all new supplies! Fresh notebooks, markers, and pens. So nice to start with everything new!

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  57. My best back-to-school memories are coming back to see and reconnect with friends. Making new ones was also a big plus. Marge

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  58. My favorite back-to-school memories are meeting up with old friends and getting to know new ones. Marge

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  59. What beautiful foodie batiks!! I love your table topper and napkins! My favorite back to school memories are taking a first day photo of my boys at the front door every year. Looking at at yearly changes now brings a tear to my eyes. I miss those days.

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  60. My favorite memory is the new books I met when I returned to school. Still love to read.

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  61. As those before me have written, I, too, always enjoyed getting a new lunch box. I loved the smell of new books, and getting a new pencil case. We had to use fountain pens which was challenging at times because of the ink -- quite messy, I remember. My favorite memory, though, is my very first day of school. I can still see the dress I wore: it had a little bumble bee button. The class size was very large by today's standards and some of the children were crying. I had no idea what I was in for, but that little bumble bee was comforting.

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  62. Really cute prints! My favorite back to school memory was going clothes shopping before the new school year started.

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  63. Before retiring, I was an elementary school librarian. I always looked forward to seeing the kids after summer break & ordering new material for the library.

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  64. Cheryl, look at the glasses with napkins in them: my first reaction was there were two dog heads floating about the table!! It took me a while to get it right. Pretty funny! My favorite school memory was getting new shoes and covering books with grocery bag paper.

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  65. Back to school always meant a picture on the porch; it's hilarious to see how styles have changed through the years!

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  66. Nancy A: rangerer@sbcglobal.netSeptember 6, 2017 at 3:42 PM

    Something happened to my post, and I may have published before I finished. Anyway, as I was saying, my birthday is September 5th, so I always associated the beginning of school with my birthday party. Before I left for college, mother took me shopping for sweaters to go with the new skirts she had made. That was the only time that happened.

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  67. Nancy A: rangerer@sbcglobal.netSeptember 6, 2017 at 3:42 PM

    I am one of your followers.

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  68. Fresh notebooks, new pencils and pens and most of all new school clothes! Aaaah, the good old days 😍

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  69. i follow you on instagram and btw adore that rooster fabric

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  70. Lovely Batiks! My favorite memory is the yearly photo my mom took of us standing outside in our new outfits on the first day of school.

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  71. Lovely batiks! My favorite memory is the photo my mom took of us standing outside in our new outfits on the first day of school.

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  72. Back to school.... back to a schedule.... no more freedom to sleep late or early which ever I desired. But then also a schedule is nice as then you get things (and play) done around the schedule.

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  73. I loved going to school that first day in the Fall crisp air wearing my new clothes.

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  74. I loved going shopping for school supplies - all those clean pages!

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  75. We were poor growing up in Queens, NY. On cold winter mornings we would get dressed in front of an open oven door for warmth. Sometimes the simple things in life are the best.

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  76. Waiting at the bus stop hoping the bus wouldn't stop to pick us up for school and of course, wearing the new sneakers & clothing on the first day of school

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  77. My favorite back-to-school memory was meeting up with all the friends again that I hadn't been able to see all summer long.

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  78. A new lunch box (we called them dinner buckets) and a brand new box of 64 crayons! Oh, and Chief writing tablets. I'm aging myself!

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  79. My favorite back to school memory is one my mother has told me. On my first day of kindergarten, I told her she could go now. I was comfortable at school, having older siblings, I had been there many times before. I must have really liked it. I became a teacher.

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  80. My favorite back to school memory is how we always had to write an essay about how we spent the summer vacation. I loved that because it was like bragging

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  81. One memory is wearing my new "school" outfit.
    I love those napkins you made for your DIL.
    Thanks for the chance to win some batiks.

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  82. My favorite memory of back to school was a sock sale. 1 of our stores in Utah, used to have a huge sock sale. It was fun. Love your napkins, I will try them. I need some.

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  83. My best back to school memories are those involving getting my own classroom ready for a new crop of students. As far as I was concerned, MY summer vacation ended August 1st because mentally I began preparing to go back...thinking of new bulletin boards, anticipating the new kids, thinking of possible new ideas to incorporate into the coming year's activities....and a couple of weeks before the actual first day, I would get my new class lists and then prepare the name tags, and my grade book and the first day(s) activities, including puzzles incorporating their names....Oh my, this is my 14th September retired and those pleasant memories of returning still exist.

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  84. I was always excited about the new books for each class and in the library. Now, as a school librarian, I am still excited about the new books I get to share with our students.

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  85. Oh my, favorite back to school moment has to be taking my twin girls shopping for new clothes. It was always fun to see how different, yet alike, they were. I could always tell who was left their clothes in the washer or dryer because their personalities were so evident..,at least they were to me!

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  86. Getting new clothes and shoes

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  87. I always loved Home Economics class. We made clothes and had fashion shows.

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  88. My favorite back to school is walking into the classroom on the first day of school and seeing all of the smiling, dressed up children waiting to learn.

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  89. I don't usually comment but I gotta state thanks for the post on this one :
    D.

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  90. Love the napkins !! and the fabric line...too cute. My fav back to school memory was for first or second grade? my sister made me a new dress, I got to choose the fabric, it was a wonderful green calico :)

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  91. To this day I love fresh new notebooks, new pens or pencils and learning something new. I'll be attending a workshop with you at the end of the month and look forward to that experience "going back to school" too.

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  92. I have 2 favorites, the new outfit for the first day and fresh new school supplies. I still get excited when they are put out in stores.

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  93. You've given me several new ideas for making and folding napkins! My favorite back to school memory is picking out school supplies. I always loved school (so much that I became a teacher), so I'd start playing school the minute I got my new supplies!

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  94. Wearing a new outfit for school and my new box of "64's" I still have a box of "64's" from grade school which are in pretty decent shape...so let's see...that makes this box of Crayolas about 50 years old.

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  95. I loved getting a new book at the library.

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  96. On my first day of kindergarten, I of course dressed myself for school, and when I got home, my mom realized I had worn my shirt backwards all day! :( :( Haha!

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  97. Getting some new clothes, many of which were made by my mother.

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  98. My favorite back to school me.ories include shopping for new school clothes. cknapp3626(at)sbcglobal(dot)net

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  99. Getting my new crayons and tablet--maybe a new pencil box--putting them on a trunk upstairs and waiting excitedly for school to start!
    barbkaup(at)yahoo)(dot)(com)

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  100. Being in a one room school for the first time in second grade. We did not have public kindergarten and I went "to town" for first grade. We had no running water and it was not a big deal because all of us were in the same situation when we were at school. I'd love to win the batiks as I have zero. I'd love to try them.

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  101. I taught fifth grade for 33 years and back to school was a blur of preparations of the classroom and beginning school activities. Loved it all. Jkestevens@aol.com

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  102. Such a creative use of fun fabrics. I just love the citrus print in those napkins! So cute.

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Thanks for stopping by. I'd love to hear from you.