What is this?....

Here are some hints:

A few months ago, I made this.

 Today I made this:

Here's the exterior:

 As usual, quilting was a lot more fun than choosing fabrics and piecing.  It's pieced from more leftovers, mostly from Sweet Teen's college quilt.

Here it is with a couple of the Velcro dots in use:

Here's a side view:

Now you know, don't you?  It's a keyboard cover and stand so Sweet Teen can use her Kindle and Keyboard instead of hauling her laptop to class.  (She's also in the market for a new, smaller laptop. She says she has never once used her laptop for spread sheets--and that's why the "experts" she consulted suggested she buy the larger laptop in the first place.)

She did figure out that if she could take Chem II this summer, she could save a semester of college.
Unfortunately, the only class she could get into is 50 miles from home; so two days a week we are arising at 5:00 a.m., and I'm constantly reminding myself that saving the expense of a semester of college is definitely worth it.  (Secretly, I'm also praying she stays in materials engineering so that we don't end up with that extra semester anyway.--She's still hoping to do research in the field of nano-medicine.)

Second question:  What are these?

These are several pieces I'm likely to use in the American Made Brand 50 States American Blog Tour that began May 19 with a visit to two states each day.  My entry will appear here June 19 since New Mexico was one of the last four states to become part of the United States.  You'll find links to all the blogs here: http://americanmadebrand.com/blogtour/

Please let me share why I am so happy to be part of this tour.  These fabrics are made from cotton grown in the United States, processed in the United States, and milled and woven in the United States.  (We do grow cotton here in my state, but I don't think that's where AMB cotton is grown.)

I love the hand of this cotton, and I think all users will feel that way.  My secret hope is that one of these days they will weave some "shot-cottons" too.

I'm shocked that it's been so long since I've posted.  Life has been busy (but good), and today, Memorial Day, is my first official non-work day.  Since my next school year starts August 6, I'm going to try to be very productive this summer.  I love having time to sew, quilt, and have choices about my time, but of course, I love being a special ed teacher too, so I do have to make trade offs.  One of the trade-offs for the last two or three months is that there has been no time to read blogs.  So I'm sneaking some peaks at some today--how I've missed my blogging friends!!--and am hoping my own readers haven't forgotten that I exist! (There will be some prizes when my day on the American Made Brand blog tour happens!)

Oh, we've had 1.17 inches of rain!  That makes me very happy too!

I'm linking to Judy Laquidara's Design Wall so you can easily access her blog and that of other wonderful quilters.

Happy quiltmaking and knitting,...