Flannel goodness!

I have very exciting news! I'm now working and teaching classes at Quilter's Corner in Midlothian! I'm so excited to be a part of this shop, and looking forward to learning a lot more about the behind the scenes details!

Oh, yeah, sewing.... Okay, I made this quilt for Molly for Christmas. I even had it mostly finished for her to unwrap on Christmas day; I just had to add the binding. It took me forever to get it on the blog, though. Oh well, baby steps, right? There's really no pattern to it. I just cut pieces that were 3, 6, 9 or 12 inches (finished) and pieced them randomly. I bought the flannel at a shop in Michigan a couple of years ago when I went up there for my aunt's funeral. I'm hoping to make a small version for my newest great-niece (who is well past her first birthday) from the fabric I have left over.

The circle of life...

Our cat, Simon, died a couple of years ago. We buried him in the back yard. Molly has been curious lately about what he might look like right now. We've been telling her he'd mostly be bones and some fur (we buried him wrapped in a towel and then put inside one of those heavy duty Harry and David fruit boxes). I assume that's about right. (Anyone know for sure?)

This past weekend we ended up cleaning up the yard. It started with picking up sticks and eventually involved some raking. Most of the leaves were late stragglers that had been caught up next to the fence and house. As I'm raking next to the fence, I kept thinking, "Now where exactly did we bury Simon, anyway? I must be getting close."

More raking; more wondering.

Then, my foot drops about 12 inches into the ground.
Huh. I guess I found out where Simon had been buried. Or, rather, the empty space where Simon used to be before he became fertilizer. The weird thing is, I didn't see anything in the hole. Maybe I had just packed the dirt on top of anything that might have been visible. Whew. Dodged a bullet there. We filled the hole with fresh compost.See it there along the fence?

Shopping, shopping, shopping!

Oh, sure the Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival had plenty of quilts on display, but we all know the real reason we go: shopping! Truthfully, I didn't buy much. Being an employee of a quilt shop means I see so many fabrics go by that if I had $1,000 to spend on fabric, I know right where it would all go! And tools can be ordered. No, for Mid-Atlantic, I had my eye on things that I couldn't get at Quilting Adventures. I only bought two things of note (other things I purchased were stocking up on things I could get for a bargain).

One is this ingenious kit. It's laser cut! Such perfect little pieces, down to the notches! It's tiny; it will finish at 16 x 20 total. The blocks finish at four inches. And those curves would be a bear to cut myself. Totally worth the 20 bucks.
I also bought these shoes. Yes, shoes at a quilt show! They are a little dirty in this photo as we were doing some yard work yesterday. But they feel awesome. I have to stand for long periods at work and I've been having some plantar fasciitis in one heel, and these shoes help a lot.
Also, you may have heard that Borders is in bankruptcy, so we did a little shopping there this weekend, too.

Books, 25% off!
Magazines, 50% off!
Good thing my birthday is this month!