An LSU Weekend

I may have mentioned that my guys are LSU fans. Not that anyone in our family has attended LSU, but because, well, everyone in Louisiana is an LSU fan. 

Regardless, we have many friends, students and colleagues who are LSU alumni. And who doesn't love Coach O? That's the thing about Louisianans--we welcome everybody and love 'em with all we've got. A die-hard fan told me once, "We love every LSU coach even when we don't." Oddly, that makes perfect sense.

Saturday was one of those important LSU games (aren't they all?) and for some reason I pulled some purple and gold from the stash. Oh, wait, I know why I pulled those colors: Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation inspired me with her LSU quilt for her son. I read about it on Friday and loved her quilt. The next thing I knew, I had my own LSU quilt in my head.

And you know how that goes, right? Saturday morning I had to figure out that pattern in my head. I wanted it hang in this particular space so I oriented it sideways, but it can hang either way. (A grand took this pick. Wasn't she smart to open the pantry door just a bit to hide the mess behind? My girls know.)

Before the game started on Saturday evening, I had this sweet little banner hanging in the family room. It's been the center of attention since. A little like LSU, don't you think?

BUT...

I had those colors pulled, right? And a few scraps. And a bit of time. And a thing for pincushions. 









"Make the thing, already!" the fabrics said. And, of course, I listened. It may be my favorite pincushion so far. I added a few additional shades of purple, and I really like the modern vibe and the easy quilting. 

I quilted both projects on the Bernina. The wall-hanging has edge to edge curvy lines that criss-cross over each other, but the pincushion has overlapping straight lines quilted on the diagonal. 

Rather than make the lines evenly spaced, I moved the needle all the way over to one side and used the presser foot as the guide, so there are two close lines separated by a larger space. 


My favorite part of the pincushion is this one little corner of gold. Don't you just love a happy accident?

Linking up with

Crazy Mom Quilts
Busy Hands Quilts
Love Laugh Quilt

 Cooking up Quilts
Mel for Fiber Tuesday
Quilt Story

Can close count in quilting?

I've been working on this big ole quilt for weeks now. I know, I know, it's taking me longer than I anticipated forever, but what can I say? I have a full time job that does not include time for quilting. 

For some reason there's this idea in places (where there are no teachers) that we teachers work from 8 to 3 and then we go home to eat bonbons do nothing.  Well, let me dispel that lie myth: I start work at 7 a.m. and, while I may not get paid after 3 p.m., it doesn't mean that Elvis I have left the building. 

In fact, on Monday and Tuesday I worked until 4:30, still teaching-- but at that time teaching the teachers. Some of our new people and a few of the older retired people who have returned don't know how to use the computer programs specific to education. Somebody has to help...it's said I'm a sucker patient mentor.

Then I spent an afternoon helping to repaint the big panther and letters on the front of the field house. I was there to support my art teacher/friend and our Betas. I was there for forever less than an hour, which was about five minutes of hell heat more than I can handle. But we survived and somehow finished the job. 
The panther is nothing short of ferocious. 

And last night. Well last night was my night to work slave at the football game. It was the first game of the season and our jamboree. The jamboree just happens to be the one time that all three high schools meet up on one field and play ten two games each. Sort of a tournament for the parish schools. Sort of the biggest night for the ticket booth. Sort of the longest night, too. Sort of includes some algorithmic math. Oh, the luck! (Who even knows what algorithmic means? Is it really a word? I may have to look into that.)

You know how hard it is for an English teacher to do math an entire night for four hours? Hard. No, real hard. Difficult. Herculean. So I decided to make a cheat strategy sheet: something to help me remember how much to charge. Multiplying 8's is not easy, especially when I don't have time to count on my fingers. 

I found an old bag and tore off a chunk, used my metallic Sharpie to write the algorithms multiplications and taped it to the wall where everyone could see it. Turns out that I wasn't the only one to conceal take a peek.  (Also turns out that algorithms is a word--meaning a set of rules for solving a problem in a finite number of steps. Yeah, I don't believe it either, but it's in the dictionary.)

Me...don't let the smile fool you! I looked
like a Mack truck had run over me at the end.

And that's my work week...a few extra hours at regular no pay. According to my algorithm, the total number of hours is nine, and then there are the two hours of grading papers. But who's counting, right? I'm a sucker a teacher...what matters is that I have summers off.

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: F O O T B A L L

I think today is Sunday.  It's difficult to keep track. We've been away for a few days, playing with the kids at Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX, which is just outside of Dallas. In fact, visitors can watch the planes fly into DFW.  More on that trip later.

                   

For now, it turns out that not only is it Sunday, it's Super Bowl Sunday for most Americans. I figure that means we can use football as inspiration for a few quilts.  First, some ideas for your next football game or party.

And, are you ready for some football quilts?

Rather than just look at blue/orange Broncos and red/blue Patriots quilts, here are a few quilts representing other sports.  Just because.

I'm going to play one the long-arm but you enjoy the game. 

Gavin's Memories ~~ complete!

All the way complete!  Yes, indeed.  Done. Finished.  
Edited to add: Another memory quilt for this family can be found here.

Last Friday I wrote about finishing the top, which was a bit of a struggle because the shirts that Gavin's mom brought in are not all tee-shirts.  The knits on the football jersey are different from those on his sweats and different from the tee-shirts.  Not only are the knits made differently, but they are different weights.   All of that made for some slow, careful sewing.  

Then I got to the binding.  Oh wow!  Because I'd been asked to incorporate Gavin's karate belts into his quilt, I started thinking about how I could applique the belts along the edge.  After playing around with a couple of ideas--but nothing I liked--I asked Richard to take a look.  Together we finally decided that rather than bind the quilt and add the belts after, I needed to use the belts as the binding.  That meant removing two to three seams from every belt. 

It also meant figuring out how to connect two belts together because the belts were not long enough for the long sides of the quilt.  I eventually settled on ripping out all of the seams on the very edge of the belt to expose the burlap belting material.

That allowed me to peel back the fabrics, then I cut down the burlap by about an inch and flipped the fabric into the belt to form a clean edge.  

In the example in these pictures, I slipped the navy belt into the white one.  

Keeping the folded parts down I hand-stitched the two belts together using a clear, mono-filament thread.

The corners proved to be a bigger challenge. I sewed down the sides, then moved on to the top and bottom.  I had to sew the binding/belting down almost up to the binding. Again I peeled the fabric back and cut the burlap down and folded the fabric into the belt.  Using a whipstitch I sewed the opening closed and continued sewing the belting on as binding.

Once the belts/binding was on, I turned my attention to the baseball cap that would be the final touch.  I zigzagged the edges of the cap and then added a few tailor tacks to the top of the cap.  That held the cap in place fairly well.  It could be removed so that someone else can remove it and wear it as is.

And there you have it! A memory quilt made with lots of Gavin's personal items--from tee-shirts, to jerseys and tees, to karate belts and a baseball cap.

The belts that I used as binding.

The weather was perfect (hot but not too bright) for a photo-shoot.  However, the ladder is broken.  Richard insisted that I not climb the ladder, but he gave no suggestions as to what I could climb.  In the end I used the front porch swing and then the fence around the puppies' yard.  They worked okay but if your screen has a blurred picture, I apologize.

 A few close-ups and linky parties

Linking up with:

Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts 

Fabric Frenzy Friday for Fourth Worth Fabric Studio

Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Janet at Simply Pieced is the hostess for TGIFF for Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday