Friday, July 8, 2011

Matriculation

After many years out of academia, I have returned to school in pursuit of my master's degree. It's been something I had wanted to do for a long time, but as a mother of young children I wanted to wait until they were all in school. I'm taking a nontraditional approach too. It's actually the scariest part to me since I'm somewhat of a ludite when it comes to technology. I will be completing my degree online. I didn't see how with working fulltime and being a mom attending classes on campus would be feasible. I'm so excited about the emergence of online programs. It's been two weeks and I have to say it's a lot harder than a brick and mortar school. I probably spend about 2-3 hours/day working on assignments. I never spent that much time in undergrad. I'm really excited about the opportunities that grad school will offer. As a nurse I feel like the ability to physically provide bedside care is limited. I'm getting older and I'm very interested in community health. I'll keep you posted on my progress, but so far, so good!

Monday, July 4, 2011

A fitting quilt for the 4th




I may have mentioned that as a quilter I'm not very precise. I love the free form style of the Gee's Bend quilters. A little bit wonky is good to me, a lot wonky is even better. Anyways I love a wonky star. I've been participating in online quilting bees for the past 2 years and have really enjoyed them. They've definitely challenged me and forced me to step outside my box. However, when it was my turn I quickly returned to what I love. I asked for a wonky star. I had seen them first in this book and fell quickly in love. I used a great tutorial from here. I provided all the fabric from my stash. I used shades of teal, blue and aqua and Joann's quilter's cotton in natural for the background. The block are 12" finished. I bound the quilt in robin egg blue kona and free motion quilted it myself on my Brother pq1500. That brother has been the best money I've spent. I have already quilted about 5 quilts on it and it works like a dream! I love the pieced back and the reversed star adds a bit of interest. I did an all over meandering stitch to quilt it and I love how turned out, just the right amount of crinkles when washed.
What do you think? Does it make you think of the 4th of July? I call it Starry Dreams.