Favorite Fabric

Yesterday I worked on the new quilt. I finished cutting all the pieces with my rotary cutter (2nd favorite invention in the world) and I sewed together all the bias rectangles. Of course Molly had to "help" at one point. She is sitting to the right of my sewing machine. (She is "asked" to leave when I'm actually sewing or cutting. She is definitely a curious cat.)

Here are closeups of the bias rectangles. I bought a wonderful tool that makes cutting and piecing these types of triangles a cinch. This is one of my favorite piecing shapes. At some point I'd like to make a Tennessee Waltz quilt which includes bias rectangles also.


My favorite fabric in the quilt is the purple floral. I love how the flowers seem to dance on the background.

Purple is one of my favorite colors, so it's no wonder this kit caught my eye.

Birthday Wishes

Thanks for the birthday wishes!! I celebrated my birthday "week" with a wonderful conversation with my mom on Tuesday and a special birthday song from my father-in-law that same day. (My in-laws were traveling on my birthday, and they were so sweet to wish me happy birthday the day before.)

My dad called early Wednesday since I didn't get a chance to talk to him Tuesday, but I missed his call. I love voice mail simply for the reason I get to listen to the special ones over and over again. My middle sister and family called later in the day while I was at work and left a sweet singing Birthday-gram.

When I got home from work, I opened my presents and then B and I went to dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant. They have a wonderful sampler plate and their marinara sauce is so YUMMY! At 10:30 p.m. the phone rang and it was my oldest sister. She and her family also sang happy birthday to me as well. It was really sweet.

The last few things I'm including in my birthday celebration were seeing 5 beautiful roses in my side yard on Friday. I planted this rose bush two years ago, mostly for my neighbors to have something pretty to look at since we don't see that side of the yard much. New blooms are a beautiful vibrant yellow. They change to pink after a few days and finally a light pink as the petals fall off. This bush bloomed all spring and summer and it still has about 4 more buds. (I took the photo with my camera phone. It's not a very clear picture, but hopefully you can see the pretty yellow petals. Yes, that's a bee in the bigger bloom.)

P.S. While running errands this afternoon, we might by go Bed Bath and Beyond so I can get a candle for my final celebration. I have a weak spot for Yankee Candles (thanks to my nieces!). It's a serious addiction. :) Our newest favorite is Vanilla Lime.

TV and Speakers Gone, Too

I just posted my previous entry about Big Trash Day when I heard more voices outside. A mom and kids were looking at the stuff and one of the school-aged girls came walking up to the door. She asked if the TV still worked and I told her not very well. The screen takes about 2 minutes to warm up, but said she's more than welcome to take it.

I went to unload the dishwasher and then peeked out at the curb. I saw the little girl and likely her little sister sitting on the lawn. My guess was their mom would soon return with a car to take the TV. Just then the thought occurred to me to find the remote. I was pretty sure we hadn't thrown it away. I found it, checked the battery and had just enough time to find the instructions in the file cabinet (B will be pleased). I hurried out to the curb and handed them to the little girl just as the mom was loading up the TV. She looked at me and said with a smile "Thank you!"

I'm saying a prayer that the TV will keep working at least another 10 years.

Big Trash Day

Twice a year our town has a "big trash" pickup for things like mattresses, couches, refrigerators ~ essentially anything you can't throw away during normal trash pickup. The great thing about Big Trash Day is it's like a city-wide garage sale, but no preparation and no price haggling. One year we put out a bunch of stuff and by morning the only thing left was an old stinky rug I hoped no one would take.

Just now I put a bunch of things out including an old bicycle I bought in college. It was in pretty good shape, but needed new tires and a grease job. I've been hanging onto it for way too long for sentimental reasons to be sure. We decided to put it out, but if no one took it then we'd bring in back inside and donate it. B didn't like the idea (and neither did I) of it being in the landfill.

I walked into the house to check my email and I heard the dogs bark and a car door slam. Guess what? No bike. It was on the curb less than 5 minutes. Ha!!

Now I just hope someone will take the old TV, speakers, chairs, and toaster oven.

"Flutterbye Kisses"

I ran some errands this afternoon and decided to stop by the quilt store since it was right on the way. I looked through the new books and of course wandered through the fabric collection. (All the colors sure make me smile). About ready to check out, I found more fabric along another wall and then noticed several quilt kits hidden back behind a display. I've never bought a kit before, always putting together my own fabric and colors.

This little gem jumped right into my arms (well maybe not exactly like that). I just fell in love with the colors and the design. Something about it just spoke to me.

After looking at the price I put it back, but I swear it jumped back in my arms again (grins). I wandered around the store another 10 minutes wrestling with my frugal side, but I finally decided to buy it. It was then I noticed the title "Flutterbye Kisses". I think it fits perfectly.

(If you click the photo, you can see the sunflower border. It's from fabric shown at the top of the photo which has a line of sunflowers along the length of the fabric. Perfect for a border. It's hard to see in the photo, but some of the small print fabrics also have little tiny sunflowers .)