Just Another Day

Ok, after much deliberation (procrastination) I finally had to dig in to do something with 'the bag'. I avoided it as long as I could - but this was a commission work - it had to be finished. Normally, it would have gotten thrown in the 'to be discontinued' stack for a garage sale (or worse). Just to remind you all, here is the bag as first presented.




Now, it's important to remember that she saw it at this point and loved it all except the handle (which I didn't like either but didn't know what else to do with it). So with lots of deliberation and advice from my blogging friends - here is the finished product to be delivered to her tomorrow.







Much better but this will never make my list of favorites. I fought it from day one. I should have stopped and regrouped but wanted to use this fabric (and of course this was the last I had). We'll see what she has to say tomorrow.

Tomorrow the quilting frame comes out of storage to sandwich and stretch the queen sized quilt that will go on our bed. I'm thinking I will hand quilt the borders and tie the inside. I only need about 150 chocolate buttons (cheap). This is only a small portion showing the corner of the borders. (I can just see the quilting police turning up their noses - but I am not a traditional quilter or anything else for that matter.)



I have decided to use my disappearing nine patch table topper as my 'first' free motion quilting project. I'm not sure if I'm quite ready but if I don't jump in the water, I'll never learn to swim. Speaking of which, I'm ready for summer and the pool.

Big T and I went to see Celtic Woman in concert on Sunday. It was our Christmas gift from both daughters and families. What a great Christmas gift. If you haven't had a chance to hear them, make the opportunity if possible. When it was over, I called our two daughters to say thank you and wish them a Merry Christmas (it was our Christmas present, remember). The daughter in California was out and I left a rather lengthy descriptive message of motherly appreciation and ended it with "Merry Christmas" from Mom and Dad. Then turned to Big T and said that wasn't D#2's voice mail message, they must have changed it. Following a strange look from him, I rechecked Caller ID and found it was one number off. So somewhere in San Diego is someone trying to figure out this weird Christmas message from some crazy lady.

Hugs - Marie

Life's Little Lessons Continue

The Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show was Saturday and it was absolutely fantastic. I loved every minute and step of the show. I oohed and aahed all over the convention center. For the first time the mix of traditional and contemporary art quilts was about 50 / 50. It was great because my friend likes traditional and I love the contemporary. Couldn't ask for better than that.


And now for the photos - WRONG! No photos - you can all hate me now. But I did learn a valuable lesson. You cannot take pictures if the little thingy that holds the pictures is full. Duh!! (How old do you have to be before you quit learning the basic lessons in life?)


And the vendors - oh my goodness, the vendors. For every quilt hung, there had to be a vendor booth somewhere. We were there for about 6 hours and only walked once around the entire show. No time to go back for repeat visits. I now have enough projects to last me the rest of the year (or more).


Back to current day - this is a great idea, plan and idea that went wrong. I have a commission to design and create a special tote bag (envelope style) for a beautiful soft leather covered Bible. The fabric, quilting, style - all is fabulous! But the handle destroyed the whole look. A BAD IDEA!




So now it is back to the drawing board to see if I can resurrect the look with a different style handle. She loves the bag - just not the handle (and I can't blame her one bit). More on this in a day or so.


The appointment to find out the results of the sleep study and some other tests is tomorrow morning; book club in the afternoon; and Mahjong on Thursday morning. Lots going on this week.


Hugs - Marie