I finished another quilt top. (And I realized that if I want to take outdoor pictures, I have to change the settings on my camera. Yeah, it's been a while since I took "serious" outdoor pictures, like for research...)



This is "Avalon," from the Material Obsession quilts book.

It's a super simple pattern - just big squares with sashing - but with the right combination of fabrics, it's very effective. I am really happy with this. I used the Jennifer Sampou "Folklore" fabrics that had been hanging out, loved but unused, in my stash for some 10 years.



The colors in it make me think of Scandinavian folk art, or perhaps something Heidi would have on her little bed up in the Alp-Uncle's (that's what he was called in the translation I first read) loft.

It makes me happy.

It is, as I said, a very simple pattern - it would be good for any fabric you love but don't want to cut into tiny bits, because the squares are so large. (The pattern calls for 18" squares, but I wound up doing 17", thanks to the wonky way some of the fat quarters were cut. I suppose you could also re-configure doing more 12" squares, or you could do a child's-bed sized quilt using 14" squares).

This quilt would also be nice made out of flannel. I've never done a flannel quilt (I get warm enough with regular fabrics) but I do know that flannel is stretchier (and ravellier) than plain cotton and so simpler quilt designs work better for it.

I think this pattern would also be cute done in Christmas fabrics with either a coordinating color (red, green, or gold) as the sashing, or perhaps a plaid sashing.

And this would be a good first-quilt pattern - either for a beginner-adult (it goes fast, and the seaming isn't that hard) or for a child learning to make quilts.

I also think it would make a good 'simple' top to be done for Project Linus. (I should dig in my stash and see if I have any packs of 12 fat quarters that are too juvenile for me to want to use for myself - having now set the precedent that the ONLY baby for whom I am going to make a quilt is the hypothetical baby of my brother and sister-in-law, and that hypothetical baby may never actually happen...)

But anyway: it delights me that these fabrics have now found their purpose. This may just be another quilt top I keep to hand quilt for myself. (I really do need to get back to the quilt in the frame, now that I'm stacking up "next projects" to hand quilt)

***

I'm writing up the final stuff on the chapter this afternoon. It was generally OK save for a few really awkward places (Apparently it's not only scientific journal articles that can be bastions of opaque writing) and a few places where more clarity is needed (Type II diabetes is NOT solely the fault of "poor diet" and that kind of thinking frustrates me; it's just part of the OH NOES OBESITY idee fixe, IMHO).

But hey. About 8 hours of work....it's about $25 an hour, which seems pretty fair. Not quite "consulting" wages but considering that I was able to do most of it sitting at home in my comfy armchair listening to Brahms on the stereo...

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I did a bit of shopping along with getting the quilt tops on Friday. I had one of those 10% off Target coupons that you get for using the Target visa card (which, I hasten to add, I pay off in full each month to avoid the rather high rates of interest such cards can carry).

They already had school supplies out. I'm sure it makes kids groan about it being too early, but seeing the school supplies made me feel a bit better, thinking of a time when it would be below 105* outside and when the rain comes back.

I did buy a new lunch kit. My old one, which I'd been carrying since grad school, was really battered and had reached the point where washing it, while it might improve its hygienicity, doesn't do much for its appearance.

I briefly considered one of the Hello Kitty kits on display; they had one that was actually in the shape of her head (the zipper ran from ear to ear). But I decided against it, on the grounds that it was really too small to accommodate the cup of yogurt and cup of fruit or salad and crackers and boiled egg or cheese stick and bottle of water that I carry. (Oh, yeah, I suppose it probably lacks sufficient gravitas for someone who may be bucking for Full Professor in the coming year).

So I bought a plain one in a similar style to what I have now. (Except the new one is pink. I have to make SOME concessions.)