Silva Rhetoricae - Crumbs quilt finish

Silva Rhetoricae - The Forest of Rhetoric
60.5 x 77", big enough for a twin-size quilt.
Otherwise known as the "Crumbs" quilt.  Jo's Country Junction sponsored the quilt-along, and it was an idea I just loved, so I ran with it.  I got every student and almost every staff member at Cedar Tree to sign it, and it's been donated to the fundraising auction scheduled for May 11.  Here it is, actually at school, where I hung it up on the bulletin board known as "Verbland" for the photo shoot.

It has a pieced backing, and you can see a little of my quilting this way: I did free-form meander quilting with occasional loops around signatures and outlines around trees and stars, and the angular "tree" quilting along the inner border is supposed to suggest the forest theme without being too literal.  I also put in a hanging sleeve, in case whoever buys it wants to display it.  I do that for all my quilts unless I'm sure they will only be used on beds.

A mid-range shot so you can see a variety of blocks together.  I tried to stagger my tree blocks throughout the quilt, to give the feel of a nice little park where all the schoolkids are having a picnic.

Senior boys hanging out under one tree...

The Free Parking spot was very popular.

Proof that it's really finished -- the label!

Here are some of the kids who will benefit if there's a bidding war... 7th grade taking a practice National Latin Exam.  You can see Verbland without a quilt in front of it.

The seniors use room 202 for their working lunch each day.  Wouldn't it be nice to send one of them off to college with a one-of-a-kind memento of Cedar Tree?

I'm thinking a lot about my late mother today.  She died of breast cancer on Groundhog's Day 8 years ago.  My teaching, my parenting, my crafting, and my writing are so much influenced by her that it's hard sometimes to tell what is uniquely my own.  I think she would be pleased with what I'm doing in life and on the internet.  But then, she was always an easy sell!  I know she would be pleased to learn that the Susan G. Komen foundation has stopped funding Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the country.  It should go without saying that fighting breast cancer and killing babies should have nothing in common, but I'm glad Susan G. Komen has recognized that officially and I can support it in good conscience now.

WIP Wednesday: Progress photos across the spectrum

Seriously.  I have way too many irons in the fire.  But I think I like it that way.  So this Wednesday I took photos of everything that I worked on, even if just a few stitches, in the past week.  Here goes.

Knitting: Nautilina shawl, my second in the 12 in 2012 challenge: about 75% done.

Knitting: Argylefest 2012: about 25% done with one sock.

Spinning: 4 oz. Blue-Faced Leicester, dyed and mostly spun last summer; I wound off the second skein and measured the total yardage at about 492 yards of heavy laceweight/ light fingering.  That will have to be added to my stash totals next week, but it doesn't count as buying new yarn!  And I began spinning some Wensleydale last night, also dyed blue.

Machine quilting: The Crumbs quilt, the one with signatures from all the Cedar Tree kids and staff, is on the Megaquilter; about 25% done.

Farmer's Wife quilt block #85, Square Dance.  Yes, I used some of the scraps of the vintage donated fabric that I used in the backing for Crumbs.

Block #86, Squash Blossom.  Kinda busy, isn't it?

Piecemaker's 1996 calendar quilt: half done with the applique on the 2nd of the setting blocks.  It's so satisfying to take out those little applique pins and put them away!

Another quilt for the Cedar Tree auction: I'm sashing it and sewing the rows together: 85% done.

Not pictured because I haven't done any more since the last photo: Orca Bay quilt top, about 25% done.

Now I'm tired, it's Finals week, and I still don't have any projects finished.  Linking up to Freshly Pieced so you can see what others are up to.

Design Wall Monday and Stash Report

Full disclosure: my design "wall" is too small.  I tend to use it as a staging area for whatever project(s) I'm working on at the moment.  It's right behind my ironing board and the clutter is really bad, even after my marathon ironing session Saturday night.  This is exactly how it looks right now.  At the top is 1 1/2 strips of the sports-themed quilt I'm trying to throw together for the Cedar Tree auction.  Top right peeking out from under that is one of the Farmer's Wife blocks (they stay on the design wall until they're blogged, then they go into the pile).  In the center and partially covered by the sports are two of my Piecemaker's blocks, with applique complete on one and partial on another.  Draped over the ironing board is Orca Bay, which is about 1/4 sewn together.  I can't really use the design wall for it because it's too wide, so I'll really have to vacuum the carpet and use the floor for layout.  Behind and under the ironing board is pinned a Jack's Chain block, one of my long-term UFOs.  Just so I won't forget about it! 

To make my design wall more usable for the size quilts I tend to make, I've decided I need to get a 72" dowel rod to stretch between the two window frames on either side (which are 68" apart) and add a few more strips of batting to increase the width of what I've got now.  It would be fine if I only made baby quilts, but most things I make are at least twin size.  Right now the batting is supported by a "clothesline" strung between two nails, and it's not terribly sturdy.

The Crumbs quilt is on the Megaquilter frame!  I chased down every last kid at school and almost all the staff to get their signatures.  I did a test swatch with green variegated thread and it's looking okay... no thread nests so far.  I'll start quilting as soon as I stop blogging today.  I'd like to get this finished and off to the school.

Stash report:

Fabric used this week: 3.25 yards (pieced backing for Crumbs quilt)

Fabric used year to date: 3.25 yards
Added this week: 0 yards
Added year to date: 0 yards

Net used for 2012: 3.25 yards
Yarn used this week: 0 yards
Yarn used year to date: 414 yards
Yarn added this week: 0 yards
Yarn added year to date: 0 yards
Net used for 2012: 414 yards

I'm linking up to Judy L's Stash Report and Design Wall Monday.  I hope it's okay to link to both.

WIP Wednesday: a little progress on many projects

We had a beautiful sunrise today.  Heavy frost made the ground look almost like it had snowed, but I had to dash my daughter's hopes for a snow day.

Some of the same colors are in my Farmer's Wife quilt, block #81, Snowball (and I didn't even plan it that way).

I also did block #82, Spider Legs.  This one was a pain: drew it on graph paper and paper-pieced it, and it's still on the small side.  I purposely chose colors that do NOT remind me of spiders.

I'm still working on the Orca Bay mystery: about halfway done with making the units that will be used in the border.  If I wanted I could start piecing the body, but I like to do the steps in order.  I'm hoping to get several hours at a time this weekend to piece: for the last few weeks I've just grabbed 10 or 20 minutes here and there, in the cracks and crevices of the day.

I've made a little progress on my UFO project of the month, preparing half of the applique pieces for the 1996 Piecemaker's calendar quilt.  This is the quilt I began when I was pregnant with Secundus, and figured that if he was a girl, it might be done by the time "she" was in a big girl bed.  Tertia and Quarta came along, and moved to big girl beds, and the quilt is still not done.  It's time to git 'er done.  I have all the stems for the floral setting blocks, all the leaves, and maybe 10% of the flower petals and flower centers.  It's fiddly work, lots of standing at the ironing board with a paintbrush and spray starch, but it's been progressing, and that's something.  I'd like to get all the pieces prepared now that I've started, and that would leave the actual applique for another month's challenge.

I have my finished crumb-along quilt top in at school, where I'm almost finished collecting signatures from all the students and staff.  I still have Kindergarten and 2nd grade to collect, and a few absentees from other grades.  Yesterday, two 1st graders asked me how to spell their last names.  I told them to just use the last initial.  I hope to have all the signatures collected so I can begin quilting soon, maybe even this weekend, but I'll need to piece a back first!

I did some spinning last night and plied a bobbin full of this Blue-Faced Leicester that I dyed and spun last summer.  I'll have two skeins of light fingering/ heavy laceweight, but still need to skein the bobbin I spun last night, wash both skeins and count the yardage.  I should have enough for one of the shawls I'm planning on knitting this year.

My two shawls are progressing nicely, even though I don't have new pictures.  I'm in the last section of the Age of Brass and Steam, past the part involved in the yarn barf incident.  I'm planning on making it a 5 section shawl instead of a 3-section kerchief.  Might even finish it this weekend.

Okay, one thing did get finished last week: this photomosaic Charlie Brown puzzle we picked up at Goodwill.  None of the 1000 pieces missing: it's a keeper!

Once again I'm linking up to Freshly Pieced, where you can see lots of other progress from lots of other bloggers.

Crumb quilt top complete

I kicked it into high gear over the weekend and the last few days, and I now have a completed quilt top in the Crumb-along hosted by Jo's Country Junction.  I really fell in love with this technique, and had a lot of fun rummaging through my teeniest scraps and seeing what I could do that was crazy, but not too crazy.  I used up a lot of scraps, made a big mess, and have started cleaning it up again and wondering about what the next project will be.  As part of the cleanup I've considered using Bonnie Hunter's scrap user's system, which I also learned about from Jo.  Seems like a neat idea and I certainly have a lot of scraps to organize, but what might keep me from doing it is that secretly, I like to dump all the scraps out and rummage through the mess.  I believe there are scraps from every quilt I've ever made in this top, and that's saying something. 

About half the blocks are free-form log cabin or crazy quilt style, and of the rest I made lots of tree blocks and stars, and 3 little heart blocks.  Dark green was my unifying color, but there's a lot of everything else in there too.

I have big plans for this quilt top.  Since I work at Cedar Tree Classical Christian School, and since we have an auction coming up in the spring, and since I've done two previous tree-themed signature quilts for the auctions in earlier years, I'm going to get every single student at the school to pick a patch on this quilt and sign it.  I think it will be the perfect size for one of our graduating seniors to take off to college.  I hope it's the subject of a bidding war.  It's always fun travelling around to all the classrooms to collect the signatures.  This quilt is much more informal than the others I've done, but I think that makes it even more fun for the kids to find a special spot for their signatures, and then find them again later on.  I think I'll call it "Silva Rhetoricae" (Forest of Rhetoric).  Quilts always sound better with Latin titles!  Maybe I'll even have it quilted and bound by the beginning of 2012.  A big thanks to Jo for hosting the quilt-along and giving me the inspiration to do something with all those scraps!

The Friendly Yellow Moth, and a Farmer's Wife Update

Back when we were painting our house Friendly Yellow last summer, we had no idea we would be providing habitat for this little critter, who parked itself against the siding most of the day yesterday.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but it's pretty much a perfect match, better than the first attempt to match the paint chip anyway.  I have no idea of the species, but you've heard of peppered moths?  Maybe this is a butter moth.  Sadly, Secundus swatted it yesterday evening.  He hadn't gotten the memo that moths OUTSIDE the house are okay, it's just the interior ones we worry about.  Somebody tell me it came from one of those big ugly cabbage worms, and then I won't feel so bad.

 But anyway.  I've got a few new Farmer's Wife blocks: this is #69, Practical Orchard. (What's more practical than plaid?)

#70, Prairie Queen. Scraps from little girl sewing projects.

#71, Puss in the Corner.  Wow, I got adventurous putting strange things together.

#72 Railroad.  That green calico is from my very first quilt, circa 1983.

#73, Rainbow Flowers.  More like rainbow sherbet... raspberry, orange, lemon, lime.  Mmm!
I pieced most of those Saturday evening while working on sewing together my Crumbs quilt top.  It's almost done, but I'll wait a day or two for the reveal.  I'm excited about it, though.

WIP Wednesday: A New Quilter

Here's a finish to start off my WIP Wednesday post.  My 9-year old daughter Quarta (her blogname... I don't like to give minor children's real names on the internet) made this quilt all by herself with lessons from me.  Actually, she did most of the work on it when she was still 8, over several Saturday quilting get-togethers at the church, with fabric donated by some of the other quilting ladies.  She had the idea of doing the appliques in the alternate blocks; teapot and teacup and a cupcake.  After she picked up the idea of applique she really took off and designed the table and chair and candle all by herself.

I quilted it for her and showed her how to do the binding and sew on the label, which she did all by herself after that.  It's a great quilt for snuggling under, and the cats are already making themselves at home on it.  She brought it to school with her today for show and tell.

I did 5 Farmer's Wife Quilt blocks this last week.  Here's #64, Peace and Plenty.  Lots of HSTs.

#65, Peaceful Hours.  I had been dreading this one, but after drafting it out on graph paper and paper-piecing it it really was not that time-consuming to do, and I LOVE how it turned out.  The solid gray and yellow were good choices; I would hate to have done all the paper-piecing with busy prints and then not have the design pop.

#66, Periwinkle.  After Peaceful Hours, Periwinkle was a cinch to paper-piece.

#67, Pine Tree.  I've decided I really should make my HSTs slightly larger and trim them to exact size for these small blocks, and that pays off in blocks like this.  I've been making a lot of tree blocks for the Crumb-Along quilt, so it was kind of funny working on this one and being really precise.

#68, Postage Stamp.  Just because I easily could, I chose 36 different fabrics for the squares for this block.

And the Crumb-Along:  I am almost ready to start sewing together.  I have more than 120 blocks and plan to make a twin-sized quilt.  Maybe I'll have something to share on that link soon.   I'm getting really antsy to clean my sewing area and put away all those crumbs soon, but they're still there for now! I admit, it's kind of fun to dig and rummage through the huge pile and just see what I come up with. But seriously, the cat slept there last night. One or two more days should do it, and then we'll get back to just mildly messy.

WIP Wednesday

My various piecing projects are inching along this week.  This is block #62 in the Farmer's Wife Quilt: Old Windmill.  The pink print is from my daughter's quilt, soon to be revealed, and the others are scraps from all over.  Lots of HSTs on this one.

And block #63: Ozark Maple Leaf.  I would never ordinarily have put these two fabrics together: oak leaf print leftover from my Tree of Life quilt and vintage sweet pea fabric from an old nightgown.

I now have a total of 107 blocks for the Crumb Along quilt.  I can't remember exactly how many I need, but I'll start laying it out when I have 25 more.  That could be as early as next week at this rate!

This week I started and finished machine-quilting my daughter's quilt.  She sewed down the binding yesterday and today, and tomorrow maybe we'll get the label on and take some pictures.  Now I need to decide what's next onto the Megaquilter... I have a couple to choose from!

On the knitting front I've started a new pair of socks and a baby item.  No pictures yet.

Linking up to Freshly Pieced, where you'll find lots of other quilty progress to look at.

Wip Wednesday

I'm in a holding pattern this week - still making a bit of progress on my two most active quilt-alongs, but not much more because last week was parent-teacher conference time and this week is finals week.  There is an insane amount of grading in my immediate future.  I'm not much farther along on my knitting projects, either.

Farmer's Wife Quilt block #59: Night and Day.  This one was definitely only achievable for me by paper piecing.  I chose scraps of a light blue ocean fishing print for the Day (I mostly cut around the fish!) and scraps of a dark blue celestial chart print for Night.

Block # 60: Noon and Light.  This one is a wee bit smaller than 6.5", I've been doing the Crumb-along and wasn't as careful as I should have been with the seam allowance.  But I ripped and resewed three seams and I think it will work.

Block # 61: Northern Lights.  Okay, I guess.  At least I'm past the halfway mark now.  This quilt is going to happen.

Another quilt past the halfway mark is the Crumb-along quilt.  I made a bunch more blocks this week, bringing the total to 71, I think.  I kind of want to finish all the crumb blocks and then have a big cleanup of my sewing area.   But it's fun.

I have the Megaquilter back but still haven't reconnected it.  I need to get busy with that, but it will probably have to be after finals week.  Be sure to check out all the other goings-on at Freshly Pieced, and also take a look at the Bloggers' Quilt Festival if you haven't already.

Crumbing along nicely

I now have 63 blocks and counting for my Crumbs quilt.  Whenever I have a few free minutes I go and make some more and get threads all over my black skirt.

There are 12 star blocks...

...14 tree blocks (I'm seriously thinking this could be a good signature quilt for the upcoming Cedar Tree auction; just let the kids pick a light patch to sign on)...

...3 heart blocks, and the rest are all free-form, mostly log-cabin.  I figure I need about 140 for a dorm-bed sized quilt, but if I get tired of making them before that I can always make a generous lap-size quilt.

Most of my little triangles come from a bag of leftovers I've been saving forever.  I came close to tossing them during my last cleaning session, but I just couldn't do it.  And I've been cutting up some of my failed experiments or extra blocks, too.  Maybe I can give myself permission to toss them all after this project... goodness knows I've got enough new fabric I've been waiting too long to get to!