all sorts of (sarcastic and quilty) stuff

First up: Anna's quilt.

Sunday I decided enough was enough with the cross stitch project.  I'm not going to make my deadline and I'm frustrated that I'm not QUILTING anything.

And Anna's quilt needs to be done.  Just because.  She's not getting any younger and I want to meet her before she learns to talk...and ask where HER quilt is like her big sister's and big brother's!

So I sewed.

Block quarters into blocks.

Blocks into rows.

I had lots of help.

All my girls.

Lexie

Skitter

(Guardian of the Foot Pedal)

(sometimes she guards it too well and I can't sew)

Emma

And then I had a top without borders!

Which promptly attracted the boys.

Luka

Tucker

(Yeah, yeah, you can't tell them apart.  I can.)

And then it was time to shoo the cats off and add borders.

Fussy cut borders.

The length of the fabric, of course.

(Emma says hi.)

I wasn't so sure about that stripe.  It screamed 1980 calico to me, but seemed so perfect in the store.  I cringed with every slice to get those strips cut (particularly the one where my hubby distracted me and I got the end of my fingerNAIL...not finger thankfully).

But now that it's together?  Love it!

Particularly good timing, this was, because my friend e-mailed Tuesday wanting to get together Saturday.  Of course, at this point it wasn't quilted, but the back was pieced and the binding made, so do-able, right?

Right.

Home tonight to neglect weeds (I started on them last night and whew...what a ton!) and get this quilted.  It's about 50" square, so not huge, but definitely not tiny either.

I scratched my head a bit over what pattern to use, but when I saw the butterflies in the Pajama Quilter Rethreaded book, I knew.  I doodled a bit for practice on paper and I was off.

An hour later, done!  (Plus setup time, but we won't count that okay?)

I don't have good lighting (getting late) and the hubby is still sleeping (yep, he could sleep through a train running him over I believe), so noone to hold it up.  But I hope this counts as proof that it IS done!  (Not that anyone is checking!)

And here's a closeup of one of the butterflies.

Not perfect, but good enough to suit me.

I'll bind in green.

Maybe I'll get the machine-sewn half done tonight.

Or maybe I'll pass out on the couch from exhaustion.

(I did work 8 hours today, too!)

And then there's the matter of the cupcakes.

Key Lime Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream Frosting

I changed the recipe just a bit (and okay, okay, the name too, but her name had too many words in it and mine aren't filled) but they were yummy!  I took them to work and they disappeared quickly.

Finally, there's the Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long that A Left-Handed Quilter introduced me to this week.  Of course I had to join.

Basically you save all your threads in a jar and take a photo every month.

Useless?

Yep.

OCD-ish?

Yep.

I'm in!

So I started my jar today, but forgot to take a photo.  So if you go here (and no, I'm not trying to sell anything, these other people did and happen to have the same jar and I'm too lazy to go take a photo, download it onto my computer, edit it and then upload it to my blog - remember I'm exhausted?) you can see what I have.

Mine was dusty and yucky from residing in my basment (remember this adventure?), so I washed it.  And saw there was a price sticker from Mr. Bulky on there for $3.95.  (Well look at that...they're still around...no, they didn't pay me to say anything about them, but if they want to send me some free jelly beans for mentioning them, I won't complain!)  It was a bulk food store in the area I grew up in.  A trendy one.  My friends and I liked to go there and buy candy we could smuggle into the movie theater.

No, wait, we didn't do that.

That is wrong.

You should buy the candy at the theater.

(Make sure to give up your non-dominant arm so you can still drive home, though.)

(Or have a designated driver who you share your candy with in exchange for them getting you home safely - driving with both arms and legs.)

Anyways, the store left probably 20 years ago.  So that's how long I've had this jar.

Finally found a good use for it.

So now monthly I'll be sharing photos of my thread bits.

Because I'm sure you all want DESPERATELY to know how much thread I waste.

Anyone want to join us?

(Yes, us.  I'm not alone in this thread-saving persuit.)

Now...should I sew down binding or pass out?

I think the kitties are voting for me to sit down.
I think I'll humor them.

Happy quilting,

Katie