Strings Attached

Row Robin during Quilting (strings attached)

For the past week I've been working on quilting the row robin.  It seems like each time I try to work on this quilt something else happens to make me upset over it.  First it was to long for the wall that it is supposed to hang on which I didn't discover until after I'd made the back to match.  So I removed one of the rows and made a Christmas valance with it.  Now that I'm quilting I have found two holes in my row.  Yes holes!  It looks like someone put a pin in it and then tried to open the quilt up after sewing without removing the pins and tore to matching holes in it.

Holes

As posting about such things has always helped me find the answer here I am, posting.  The holes are on the block photographed above center bottom of the dark blue fabric and the teal to the left of the seam where I have marked the red circles?

I'm planning on doing echoes around the applique and embroidered blocks and as I'm not certain about the scrappy blocks I haven't quilted them either.

Sunset

This evening I couldn't help but notice the night sky.  Before I went outside the entire sky was covered in clouds like these.  As my feet touched the ground outside I saw first one and then two - a double rainbow - of course by the time I had the camera in my hand all that was left to take photos of were the clouds.  Next time I'll be more prepared. 

I worked on the quilting Christmas Row Robin Quilt today and I should have all the stitch in the ditch that I want to do done either tomorrow or Monday.  After that my other machine will be home from the repair shop (it's third trip in two weeks) so hopefully I'll be able to wrap up the job with a bit of echo freemotion quilting.  Only time will tell of course.

DD had a great birthday and this was by far my favorite photo.  Those little hands are growing up so quickly soon all the of the babyhood left in them will be gone forever. 

Of course some of you might like this jumping for joy photo better, and be certain to check out my great new windows behind her!

It's Today, It's Today!

Yes today is indeed the day. The day my little one turns 5. Her father pointed out that means she's been around for half a decade; of course he said this before any morning caffeine.

Last night I needed a project to put my newly repaired - but as yet still not fixed sewing machine - through so I made another dressing gown. I love these, they go so easy and the gussets are so much easier than gathers. It's of course for the birthday girl. The photo was supposed to have her in it, but she was in such a hurry to get dressed this morning, you'll have to settle.

Then DH, my newly 5 year old little girl, her aunt, and uncles and off they went to see Toy Story 3, I stayed home and basted that Christmas Row Robin. Surely that must be against some sort of Quilter’s Code staying home to baste a quilt, after all I've had the supplies for a long while now. But it was more restful this way and hopefully it will mean (regardless of my spur of the moment quilting choice) I'll have plenty of energy for our little party this afternoon.

Speaking of parties check out the cake I baked. It's Funfetti inside and whipped frosting on the outside. I was able to find the Wilton butterfly pan at Michael's and use a Joann's coupon so the pan was only $7.80 after tax. The sprinkles are mostly all sugar, which are DD's favorite with some palm tree sprinkles on the leading edge of the wings just in case you weren't certain it's hot here.

Now while I was writing to you I realized it's been a while since you've seen Lady Bird, the same cannot be said for us. We've been seeing her nearly everyday and often more than once. DH had to clean out the feeder due to a wasp invasion, which caused Lady Bird some trouble for about a day (no seed in the bottom to eat) but as she seems terrified of wasps I'm certain we've been forgiven the inconvenience.

Good Deeds for the Week

I wanted to take a minute to tell you what I did this morning.  As a long time member of Disney Movie Rewards I donated 100 of my points to their "Family Movie Nights DVD Donation".  By doing this I donated a movie to Gifts in Kind International and as Disney is matching the donation to them right now they get two DVDs with my single donation.  As just one Disney movie comes with a points card in it for 100 points that means I bought one movie and donated two all for the price of one movie! 

Do you have any Disney DVDs?  If so check inside them for the points card all expiration dates have been extended so don't worry if it says it's expired, then just follow the directions on the card.  You can donate trees or DVDs or simply sit on your points a while to see what you can earn.

Sometimes donating is hard, I know I've felt that way; "What can I do?  I'm just one person," but every little bit helps.  I switched all of my Ebay auctions to donate 10% of my sales automatically to the ASPCA, which means at least a $1 from every sale goes to help them. I say take that - you sad commercial with all the weepy puppy dogs and cats that I can't afford to adopt. Truly, I hope next time I see that commercial I can smile at least a little bit instead of cry knowing that I helped out too.

I just received a thank you note from Quilts for Kids in the mail the other day as well. I collect thank you notes that I receive for the quilts I donate. I have this idea that one day I will frame them all and decorate my quilting studio with them. You know- for the day when the Studio moves out of the kitchen.

What have you done lately? Oh I know you've done something nice, a donation of old clothes or a quilt perhaps. I happen to know that everyone who stops by this blog is great at donating things. I know you don't talk about it, but you do it all the same. Maybe you feel you could give more but truly every little thing you do helps someone somewhere. Take a minute and tell me about it.

Tennessee Waltz for Patisserie?

We have a new DVR, which really means that I'll be able to watch quilt shows when I want to and not 8 am when my life is the busiest.  The first program having the honor of being recorded is Eleanor Burns Tennessee Waltz Part 1.   I had no idea what that meant when I told it to start recording but now I do.  This is a 54-40-Fight Star Block coupled with the Snowball block.   Don't you love the way the apparent curves grace this top?  They only look like curves, they aren't really in case you were worried. 

I really wanted to bring out the green in this print, where as dd wanted me to bring in pink and purple.  To be honest I'm not even certain that the print has any purple in it at all, but it does read that way a tiny bit in the areas where the blue trails around the pink.  So when I was finished I added the ribbon border for a bit of whimsy.  I promise by the time I'm done playing with this quilt, no matter what the mock up looks like, all the math will work for a ribbon border.  Is the lilac a bit to light?  I'm not certain.  To keep the chains calm I went with a blue on white version of the Patisserie from the same line.  They have that as a yellow on white, a pink on white, and then the above blue on white.  Don't hesitate to click on it to see it closer, I know I'm going to.

Yes, I have been working on the Quilt Challenge: If you were a quilt what would you look like project.  Above is what it looks like so far.  I'm at the wait and see crossroads for now.  I think the echos should come out off the red center.  Perhaps using more red or even royal purple.  I'm not certain if these echos should be quilting, beadwork, or embroidery.

This next little ditty is a wall hanging for a friend of the family returning from his tour of duty.  The blocks are friendship star and card trick, I selected the patterns and fabrics based on what the US means to me.  The card trick is Las Vegas, the mask fabric is New Orleans, the fireworks are for 4th of July, denim for Levi Straus, the lighthouses are of course for the coasts, and just to be special I selected the layouts from my Quilt Pink for Hope book.  This one won' grow much bigger but I have a winter tree line fabric that I'd like to include.