Science and sewing (or: any excuse will do)

Sometime nearly two months ago, we put up a design wall in my studio. Within a week I had it covered with these scraps. The wall was perfect for playing with the arrangement of the quilt bits. (Because this was a commissioned quilt for my most loyal blog reader and her family, I didn't dare feature a sneak peek here at the time. ) I thoroughly enjoyed making this picnic blanket. It includes a pack of handprinted fabric scraps from mikodesign (featuring kokeshi dolls and babushkas) as well as some of my own handprinted scraps (including some periodic table bits for the science nerd, I mean, whizz in the family).
Speaking of science nerds, we were amused and intrigued by a recent article in Time which suggested that since there have been more women in maths and science disciplines, there has also been an increase in the number of autistic children. To quote:

The same decades that saw a vast increase in the prevalence of autism witnessed an unprecedented
movement of women into math and science professions. This meant that future parents with
similar talents and temperaments - not just like-minded but like-brained - began getting
together to a greater extent.

This article is highly speculative, but seeing as Phil and I both have Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Engineering degrees to our name, it caught our attention. Phil's flippant response to me was: "you better keep working on that art of yours".
Flippant it may be, but I'll run with that!