Square on Square – OccasionalPiece

So glad Lee is back from Freak-Out Land (her words) and is hosting WIP Wednesday. Thanks, Lee. You don’t look the worse for wear.

Grading has arrived with a vengeance (see previous post), but I started putting borders around my autumn-colored Square on Square quilt.

Some have a nice contrast, and others disappear. It’s hard to know if I’ll like those in the end, but I know how to disguise them in a quilt: put them at the corners, or along the edges in the middle. I believe that sometimes it’s okay to not have all my blocks be the same: same style, same fabric, same contrast, as the variety can keep my eye moving around a quilt. Last night I went to see Kaffe Fassett speak and he showed a red and white quilt that had multiple reds and multiple whites. I love the punch of a two-fabric quilt, but multiple fabrics can be interesting as well.

And I decided I needed a new purse for fall. I’ve had a “Think Freddy” purse pattern for ages, and today was the day I dragged it out and started making it. I love her designs, but did remember that sometimes her directions really make you work hard for your results.

I finally had to stop tonight and clear away the sewing as I have to get back to grading tomorrow. This day of playing hooky has been fun. Here’s one finished side. I used my new pieces of Children at Play for the sides and scraps for the pocket. Inside is another piece of Children at Play — the soft aqua background with the paper airplane directions.

And here’s what I’ve chosen for the handle: colorful modernish art design. I’ve already got the lining already made (with 4 pockets, including a zippered one for my phone). So tomorrow after class, I’ll finish the handle, stitch it on, insert lining and sew it all up. I’m thinking I may put some buttons on here and there, but then again, maybe I won’t.

Click *here* to return to Freshly Pieced and see more WIP Wednesdays.

I’ve been in the Grading Galaxy for the last three days. It was a pretty arduous trip this time.

This top paper had over 50 errors. Which made me really cranky. Chocolate helped as did a whining phone call to a colleague, who had just finished her trip to the Grading Galaxy last week and had another stack to grade (she has one more class than I do, which puts her into saintly territory).

But last night, after I entered in the last grade and said to myself that I’d do the prep for Monday’s class—much, much later—my colleague sent me an email saying look what I’ve been working on!

And she’d sewn 9 squares of her Christmas quilt. Inspired by her, I started working on the centers to my Square on Square quilt, and this morning I finished them up.

I did have a flash picture, but I prefer the warm glow of no flash, even though you are all squinting and saying things about my photography skills. Now on to the vacuuming, and if I finish that and the bathrooms, I’ll work on the rusty red triangles, working my way toward that one completed square on the right.

My daughters says her favorite months are the “bers.” That’s September, October, November and December. It’s those months of the year when we plan things, give things, change is always in the air (although more for those in colder climes than for us SoCal folks). It’s a time of anticipation, of making Christmas gifts (I’m already seeing early birds in the blogosphere working on them), of remembering that first day of school, or funny Halloween costumes, or when the turkey didn’t cook, and when the newest baby was there for opening presents under the tree.

It’s such a rich time, these “bers,” and like my daughter, I look forward to them every year and am sad when they go. I remember my mother telling me a story about my grandmother. My grandmother had been a school teacher for many many years but then finally retired. And every fall when she’d hear the school bell toll, she wished she were there, back in the classroom, greeting students. My father is a teacher, as is my husband, and my sister. Teaching runs in our blood, so even though I may have been cranky about students who want me to do their work of finding the errors, I am happy that this September found me in a classroom. And that October will find me making a fall quilt and seeing fall foliage up in Canada. And November has me in New York with my daughter, and we’ll meet my son and see a Broadway show and the Ground Zero memorial. And hopefully, if all goes well and there’s no major health crisis (I always get sick in November), by December I’ll be putting the final touches on my newest Christmas quilt, welcoming the holiday spirit to our home.

I hope you enjoy the “bers.” It all begins today. It all begins now.

Dive in.