Autumn's Song

I'm still squeezing in time for quiltmaking, knitting, tatting, etc. between therapies for my knee and teaching full time, although that would be difficult to discern from my blog posts.

Yesterday, in addition to physical therapy, I made a quick run to Busy Bee Quiltshop at Edgewood, NM to add some oranges to my supply for autumn quilt blocks. This may be somewhat shocking since I absolutely do not like orange (except in my juice glass and a few other things).

Over the last several weeks my sweet students Maddie and Isabella have worn a some very distinctive clothing in these colors to school. (Isabella even has a pair of amazing heliotrope shoes.)

So, I had to come home and piece some blocks in honor of autumn.  The little quilt below was made mostly from stash.  Some of you may recognize one of Jinny Beyer's Palette  fuchsia blenders, from the late 1980s, I believe.  It's one of those fabrics I treasure and occasionally add to a quilt.

 I have a good friend with a birthday later this month, so I need to get the binding on this so she can use it to celebrate autumn.

 This was so much fun to piece and quilt!  However, since my happy heart has not yet had enough of these blocks, I've revised it as shown above in the second photo. I'm thinking of making another revision as well.

 The border is adorned with happy feathers and vines, and the next little quilts are expected to receive the same kind of border treatment.

I'm still carrying my tatting with me for when I get stuck in other people's time warps, and since I started a sweater, via Myra Wood's Craftsy class, The Perfect Fit Seamless Crazy Lace Cardigan,
 I usually have some knitting with me.  I seem to get caught in those other-people's-time-warps whenever I leave my knitting or tatting at home!

My daughter has decided to pursue her master's degree in materials science and engineering with an emphasis in metallurgy.  Nineteen years ago today I was in China, frustrated by the things my agency had decided I must see and do before I could actually meet her and hold her in my arms.  She has come far in countless ways.  I admire her determination, her intelligence, and, most of all, her fine character and inner beauty.  In many ways she is a Phoenix. She's beautiful on the outside, but it's the inner beauty that is the blessing she brings to the world.

Happy quilting, knitting, and creating,..

Question: Quick Tutorial for Patriotic Wallhanging?

Anyone interested in a quick tutorial for a Patriotic Wallhanging?

This is very fast to piece so it could be pieced and quilted in the ditch in two or three hours.

I used these fabrics, but any fabrics of the maker's choice would work as well.
It requires 2 red fat quarters, 1 blue fat quarter, and 5/8 to 3/4 yard white. I'm using the second red fat quarter for binding. I used a backing and batting cut 32" x 36", and a scrap of white batting to back the stars.  I think I used either white Quilters' Dream Request or white Mountain Mist Rose (left over from another quilt).

This could be a project for someone staying home on the Fourth (or the day before) or be made for the next patriotic holiday.

Please comment below if you think I should write this up.  I could try to have it posted by 5:00 a.m. MDT Thursday a.m.

Happy quiltmaking...and knitting,

This post is linked to Connie's Free Motion Tuesday,
Fabric Tuesday
Esther's WIP on Wednesday
Freshly Pieced

Design Wall: Independence Day Project

I picked these up last week at Busy Bee Quilts in Edgewood, NM for a door hanging.

 Blue, red, and white Michael Miller Fairy Frost.  The white is so reflective, it almost looks like it isn't there, but it shows up better near the bottom of the photo.

The design is still floating around in my head, but when I saw my sketchbook right next to it, I knew it would deserve some fun quilting.

I'm going to take a break from other projects today and work on this one--as soon as I go to the fitness center and finish exercising and stop by Busy Bee for their birthday sale. Their little shop has been open for five years and is the only quilt shop on this side of the mountains.  There have been other nearby quilt shops that have opened and closed because they were oblivious to the fact that the only thing they really had to sell was service. Busy Bee's owners understand the importance of friendly, high quality service.  Probably their biggest area of business is their block of the month clubs.  I'm going in for some of their $2.00 fat quarters (Monday and Tuesday), some 20% off fabric, drawings, and, maybe, some birthday cake!

I'm linking to Judy's Design Wall Monday, here, because this is what I'm designing.  Clicking the "Home" button just beneath the header will take readers to posts that are probably more inspirational than this one!

Happy quiltmaking and knitting.....

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,...

Kindle Case for Sweet Coed

My Sweet Coed and I are in need of cases for our Kindles.  I made hers today.

Back of cover on the left; front on the right.

Here's a detail of one of the fancy feathers.

The fabrics are scraps and pieces left over from her music quilt and her college quilt.

The inside includes her scraps and a butterfly print left over from a baby quilt that I made last summer. 

I put a full pocket on the left and strips to hold it while in use on the right. I was going to just make triangle corners to hold it, but those seemed even more fiddly.  Maybe I'll use triangle corners when I make mine.

Of course, the screen caught my camera reflection... 

so I took a photo of the back. 

When I was much younger I loved to spend hours creating all kinds of fiddly things like this cover.  While I had fun doing this scrappy piecing and quilting it, it did take hours to make it. I think that may be one of the reasons I prefer quilts over projects.  It also seemed very strange to be quilting something so tiny.  Interesting.

Sunday night, while watching Downton Abbey, I cast on the ribbing for my beret. 

 Imagine, all these decades of knitting, and this is my first attempt at twisted ribbing...Well, first conscious attempt, since I did some rather strange stuff when I knit as a child.

Finished the cabled socks. Somehow, I started at the toes with the exact same spot in the yarn, but by the time I got to the tops, the stripes were off.  Fortunately, they'll be up under my slacks and no one will notice--at least, not unless I get brave enough to wear socks with skirts.  It's too cold for skirts anyway.

Loved my day off.  Sweet Coed phoned that she needed  some more homemade detergent, so this evening I grated one bar of Fels Naptha soap, added one cup of Borax, one cup of Washing Soda, and 1 teaspoon of  lavender essential oil,   and packaged it up in a quart size ziploc bag inside a gallon bag. (I unwrap the bars of soap so they can dry out before I need to make a new batch--they grate finely and quickly if they are dry.) We use just one or two tablespoons of detergent for most loads of laundry and have clean, pleasant smelling clothes for less than a nickel per load--definitely worth the little bit of labor.

I made a big pot of tortellini soup and put it in containers.  The Coed was jealous of the soup--but I can't stick that in the mail with her detergent and her Kindle cover.

Happy quiltmaking...and knitting...,