Wedding presents

 A dear former student of mine has gotten married.  I knew her over several years of high school and have kept in touch getting together usually at Christmas. She is such a sweetheart . 

I like to make a tree skirt for wedding gifts. ( great idea from another amazing quilter) . So I pulled out my Christmas box and patterns and found just what I needed for the project. A couple of days later and ta da: Tree Skirt done;  about 42 inches round.  The pattern is from 30 years ago when I made mine.

( I also cleaned out my Christmas fabrics throwing scraps away and preparing a donation bag of leftovers.)

A pretty poinsettia print, a red fabric with white snowflakes, and a green print ( not black)

The second part of the present are 2 Christmas stockings, personalized and trimmed by me.

2 finishes and a trip to Chicago

While I have not blogged in a while, I have been busy.  In fact I am not sure how the time has flown by so quickly.

First, my finishes:

This was my rainbow scrap challenge from 2017.  There are 99 blocks made, no 2 of them the same fabric.  Each month was a different color: and I made country shades rather than bright colors. Most, but not all the fabrics are Thimbleberries or similar.

Here are a couple that I made so you can have an idea what one 6 inch block is like: ( These are 4 put together.

Taking pictures has been a challenge due to the reoccurring rainstorms we get.

The top was put together in January, and the border in March. 

I finally sent it off to a quilter and got it back this month: a beautiful feathery all over pattern.

My back is a Kansas Trouble red as is the binding. 

TA DAA!!!!!

Second, I quilted and bound another tree skirt. 

It is almost identical to the one I made for the wedding in March.  

And I am so glad to get it off my plate, much overdue. 

It is mostly made of a batik jelly roll called Jingle. 

Drum roll:  Crash (can't you just hear the cymbals!)

Here is some of the back with it: 

A  gold polka dot on bright red background

And for my trip to Chicago. My daughter had a business trip and offered her room to share right downtown near Grant Park.

We walked lots, had fun seeing the sights and ate good food>

 This is a reflection at Millennium Park on the Bean of my spouse and I who just had our 39th wedding anniversary.

Here is the Apollo space craft that returned to earth following the moon landing. 

We toured the Adler Planetarium and saw lots of history and loads of information:

astrolabes, telescopes, pieces of the moon, and more.

 Perspectives by important astronomers and how they were proven. 

Additionally we toured the Art Institute of Chicago. Amazing pieces of work from paintings to sculpture, jewelry to swords, modern to ancient and all across the globe.

My favorite work though was found in the Chicago library: 

This is merely a portion: but is was a huge display hanging from the ceiling. 

Little did you realize until you got to the top floor that it is all recreated dog tags of soldiers who died in the Vietnam War: some 68,000 of them. 

Retreat weekend

I feel like I have been out of commission as far as my quilting. School is in full swing and I do enjoy my new position. I don't seem to have energy to do any sewing or needlework after I make dinner and sit down.  

This is the only thing I have to show for 2 weeks.  I have done other sewing last weekend. I had a wonderful time at a retreat on a lake with my guild.  The weather was in the low 80s, a big change from the cooler days we have. But inside the air conditioning was running, and I was cold.  So hard to plan for clothing.   

But... I did put blocks together for a small baby quilt that had been leftover from my grandson's big boy quilt.  And I left it with one of the members to practice quilting on her long arm machine. 

This is my stash bee block for September.  ( We did another like it earlier in the year.)

We of course, went to the local quilt store and I purchased some Wisconsin red Bucky Badger fabric along with some blacks and whites.  I am planning to make a throw for my daughter's boyfriend.  He did graduate fro UW Wisconsin.  So I hope he will like it. I plan to use the Yellow Brick Road pattern from Terry Atkinson. 

I also started a tree skirt for my nephew whose wedding will be the end of October

These are the colors turned 90 degrees.  I have a few other strips to add to it and then cut wedges and assemble. I had a friend there who had the beautiful red tree fabric left over from another project. It is perfect to go with my Tonga strips of reds and greens.  I was so appreciative to find just the right fabric.

School's out for summer!

Today was my last day of school for the year. There is a half day for everyone else tomorrow.
It is so hard to see some of my seniors for the last time even some of my younger kids that I have enjoyed working with for the year.

However, my spouse and I are leaving for North Carolina for my niece's wedding. So I am not going.

And yes, I did get the tree skirt completed... even the label.  O.K. I ironed it on.  But that counts, right?  Hooray!





And now the fun begins.
We look forward to getting all the family together. But it will be a little bittersweet with Grandma Huber now gone. And one sister and her spouse can't attend because they will be at the  Mayo Clinic for some tests.  But having a wedding is special. The bride is the same age as my daughter and a really neat girl.

But it will be hot and  in the Smokey Mountains and a great getaway. I'm leaving on a jet plane!

And then,  project time:  quilting, cleaning and more.  I am really looking forward to it.

Summer!  Funny,  we teachers enjoy the break for summer just as much as the kids!