Manly Quilted Netbook Case

My husband headed back to school this semester to finish his degree.  He's been out of school for almost 6 years now, and it's been an adjustment for both of us with him going back.  The good part is he's attending classes at the university I work for, so I get to see him a few times a day and usually we have lunch together.  

He had been carrying his netbook around in his backpack, or in an old over-sized laptop case that he had to strap it into.  That just wouldn't do!  So I let him pick out some fabric from my stash and set about making him a hopefully "manly" quilted netbook case. He picked out some antique map fabric, which I had bought when making steampunk potholders for the my awesome swap partner Wulf, in the Potholder Swap earlier this summer.   I'll have to remember to post those quilted potholders I made him soon.

The quilting, which is done in purposely wonky stripes, is actually on the inside, so that the outside is nice and sleek looking.  I had originally planned to do buttons and button holes on it, but when we were in the fabric store looking around, DH picked out these antiqued bronze clasps instead. 

Melissa's Mini Art Quilt - The Reveal

Melissa got her art quilt in the mail today!  So, after all this teasing, we have the reveal...

Detail of beading

Detail of the whole constellation.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with it.  I spent many more hours beading than I had planned, but I like the gently sparkling effect the dark blue, black, and purple seed beads give.  I wasn't going for a direct copy of the night sky, but rather an impression of the sky.  Let's hope Melissa likes it!

"Here's Looking at You"... Or, "Here's Looking at Melissa"

Again, another week goes by with me silent.  I fear this may have been a poor semester to choose to start a blog.  But as I am doing this for myself alone, and the Quilt List looms ever over me, I press on.

Tonight I completed my Mini Art Quilt!  It is all wrapped, packed, and addressed, ready to be mailed to Melissa tomorrow.  For tonight I leave you with some detail shots of the embellishing, which I admit took me many more hours than I had anticipated.  But I ask you, is there such a thing as too many stars in the sky?

The constellation, Leo.  Beaded with black river shell bead frames, pink Swarovski crystal, and glass bugles and seed beads.

Beaded starburst of black glass bugles and black freshwater pearls.

Detail of quilting, done in multiple colors to suggest various nebula.

Hidden Among the Stars

I know I've been quiet all week, but I have been working on a few projects, the MAQ among them.  This semester, in addition to my full time job, I'm also teaching a college history course, and the first week back was a bit rougher than I had anticipated.  As for the art quilt....

While looking for inspiration, I found some great bead frames in my jewelry stash.  Dark grey-black star shaped shells, with a hole in the center for another bead.  I knew they would have to be worked into Melissa's quilt and decided that I would use them to form the constellation Leo, with a light pink crystal in the center of each one.  I decided to then "hide" the constellation among other beads, so you would have to search for them in the quilt.   

One of my inspiration images.

After getting the front together, and knowing what I wanted to do with the beadwork, I tried to figure out what to do with the borders.  I considered borders on just two sides, either opposite or adjacent, but couldn't seem to make a decision.  So I did what I always do in that moment and asked my husband for artistic advice.  When I explained that my inspiration was the night sky and how I was going to bead in the constellation, he asked if I had something grey, that would look like stone.  His idea was to make the borders appear to be the walls in an astronomical observatory, as if you were standing inside it looking out.  I clearly married a brilliant man. 

I wanted to post some more progress shots, but find I only have one to share.  I must have been too wrapped up in quilting to take more last weekend! 

Quilted & bound.

I did manage to get the constellation beaded in this week, along with some more stars beaded into the top quarter.  I'm hoping to finish all the beading this afternoon.  Wish me luck!