“Skies Above” done, I needed a little something simpler and quicker. So yesterday I headed over to my folks house for a little R&R and postcards. Brought my machine, brought my bag o’scraps, brought my little travel bag o’threads, brought my big bag o’stabilizers and wonderunder, brought my bag o’pre-cut batting bits and postcard backgrounds and backs…

Now my bag o’scraps, well, it’s impressive. It’s one of those new BIG bags, the XL size, not the biggest. Inside is one bag that remains apart. That’s my bag o’reds and glitzes for making hearts. The other bag is the ziplock bag o’threads. That’s all the ravellings from washing fabrics, some shredding of odd silks and other fabrics and some leftover thread from bobbins etc.

Quick like a bunny, there was one big mess o’scraps and stuff and machines all over the kitchen table. And not long after that – postcards. Soon, my mom had called Joan and despite the mess and all that glomming of fabric and threads followed by sewing everywhichway – Joan had made two postcards of her own!

I came home with five postcards including one little landscape that needs some help.

Tonight I decided I knew a new baby that needs a nice new little quilt so I rummaged until I found two cool fabrics and spent awhile tonight layering and pinning. Not your average whole cloth quilt but that’s what’s gonna happen! Just have to oil up the sewing machine and get it done.

What are you doing?

Skies Above

Quilting done. Applique done. Binding done. So here are the first completed photos of this quilt, titled “Skies Above” because the rest weren’t working for me.

Skies Above

60″W X 36.5″H

I’m always watching the sky. It is our constant companion. It is ever-changing and many-colored once you get to know it. Go look for yourself and then keep looking.

Machine pieced, appliqued and quilted.

white background

black background

My job involves working with a lot of people who know varying amounts about computers. Sometimes they’re just nervous, sometimes they’re hostile. Sometimes they take direction pretty well, sometimes not so much.

So tonight, after I’d done my software updates, my Mom called. We were chatting and suddenly the little bell goes off in my head – parents, new DSL connection, software updates! OK, Mom, here’s what I want you to try. Here’s what’s going to happen… she takes some notes. No phone calls afterwards so I was sort of wondering.

Awhile later, instant message and an email – we think we did it – took awhile. let us know what we updated!

I’m so proud!

And it’s gotta be a pretty wonderful thing that updating your software, including your operating system is such a pretty straight-forward thing that it could be triggered by a short phone call, a few notes on a bit of paper and a little time. Good job, Apple! A little confidence goes a long way for sure but why should it be any harder than that?

And have I mentioned that my Mom is busy learning how to get all the cool stuff out of iPhoto while my Dad is preparing his genealogy research to be put up on the web so others can share it. Whoa. Makes a quasi-geeky daughter mighty proud. High-fiving ya Mom and Dad!

Head down, pedal to the metal

Thanks to my readers who have been following along in this final push to finish my “Why is the Sky Blue?” challenge quilt. (Still waiting for a title to appear….) I got a week’s reprieve to finish the quilting which I appreciate and I’m determined!

I’m not complaining either — all the ruffl-i-ness — going away. Inch by inch as the edges get quilted down. Flat. All good.

And in other news, I thought I was sort of stretching things doing all this quilting all over my “sky”. Every day I’d look up at the clouds and well, the only thing that was feathery looking were the old contrails. Until yesterday, as I drove west in the late afternoon. Looked up to the northwest corner of the sky and there was a line of natural clouds with big loopy, well, feathers. Individual feathers. Big loopy ones. Bordering on sawtooth sort of things. Could I pull over and take a photo? Of course not, so you’ll have to take my word for it.

And you’ll have to just believe that I was bouncing up and down behind the wheel going – yes! yes! yes!