She crosses the finish line...

with about an hour to spare before the deadline.

This is the quilt that will be "unveiled" at our LQS Strip Club meeting tomorrow. I am having lots of fun with these strip quilt patterns. (I'll post the publisher info later) They are made from 2.5" strips. They go together quickly and they are contemporary designs.

Although, I think my next quilt will be soft pastels or neutrals...I am on overload after my last three quilts having bright colors!

If I could live long enough to make all these quilts...

Last night I went to a lecture at Cotton Fields and met Marilyn Doheny. She talked about using her 9-degree wedge ruler to make fans. WOW. The basic technique is to make strata of at least 3 different fabrics, then use the ruler to make a variety of cuts, which will give you different fan patterns. She uses the fans to make butterflys, flowers and abstract spirals, in all different sizes. You could spend the rest of your life making quilts with this one technique. I totally understand how artists create a "series"...an idea is so intriguing that you come back to it over and over again.

Another pattern I've had that feeling about is Crazy Eights, by Mary Sue Suit. Tropical Screamer has a sample on her blog. (I'll try to post a picture of my version this weekend!) Mary Ellen developed a special ruler (I'm sensing a trend here about breaking into the quilting world with tools...) to make the eight-pointed stars. Her blocks end up pretty big, 16 inches. I'd like to make a smaller version, but I haven't figured the math out yet. (I take more of a sew-first-measure-later track when I'm designing something!)

Low Fiber Content

Well, my foray into blogland has been rather dull, hasn't it?!? My problem is that I surf the web during free time at school, so I don't have my picture files. Plus, I'm waiting for a new camera battery!

School's out in 2 weeks, and then there will be much rejoicing and posting and lots of cotton-related pictures!

I have been quilting and knitting. I got about 8 rows done on my sweater at a church meeting last night. Last week, I tried a pantograph on the longarm. That was a quick project! This week I am doing some custom work. The deadline is Friday afternoon...I hope I make it!

History

...found as I was surfing the Stash Quilts webring

What was I up to:
20 years ago ... Enjoying springtime in Washington D.C., just before my junior year of high school
10 years ago ... Planning a move from Rapid City SD to Mountain Home ID, little did I know I would be in for a year of emotional divorce-related turmoil!
5 years ago ... Happily engaged, finishing my first year of teaching
1 year ago ... Trying to get pregnant with fertility drugs
1 month ago ... Heavy duty choir practice for Easter services
Yesterday ... Got fingerprinted to start the adoption paperwork
Today ... TGIF! Giving tests in my algebra classes and looking forward to quilting time this afternoon
Tomorrow ... helping at the monthly church workday, working at my LQS, and watching the Phoenix Suns advance to Round 2 of the NBA playoffs!

In Memory

Walter came to live with me in January 2001, when his former owner moved away. His name at the time was "Simba." I wasn't overly fond of that, so I spent a few days calling him "Kitty." Then, I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of crunching. I said to myself, "That's just my cat Walter." And so he had a new name.

Walter loved to have his tummy and his chin rubbed. He enjoyed being brushed at night, and he would jump onto the arm of the chair for petting. Occasionally, we called him "Whiny-butt" because he got extremely vocal if he saw the bottom of the food dish.

Sadly, Walter's kidneys gave out and now he is in kitty heaven with all the salmon treats he could ever want. I love you buddy!

Handwriting Meme

I saw this first at Chez Chaos, and Cara has a beautiful version too.

The rules were to write a pangram and sign our name. I suppose I thought about it too much, and used my best writing...usually it's more a mixture of print and cursive. Two distinctive parts of my signature - 1) the "A" was copied from a 6th grade classmate, much cooler than the single loop cursive A! and 2) the ending "i" evolved at a sleepover as we practiced our "autographs" for when we grew up and became famous!

See? I do quilt!

This is the quilt on my longarm right now. I used an "Elements" stencil (Grace) in the square blocks (you can almost see it in the pink area), and I am practicing meandering in the green triangles.

Charity Knitting

I needed a fix, so I popped over to Cute Overload. They had this image from the Salt Lake Tribune:Just what I needed to boost my mood after a day with teenagers who love to be difficult! These penguin warmers would make a great charity project!

TA - DA!

I decided to transfer from yahoo to a "real" blog address. Please be patient as I learn the html to update my sidebars :-)

In the meantime, visit my LQ/YS - Cotton Fields, especially if you like Kaffe Fasset fabric! They have an online store if you are in the mood to shop.