Bee Happy

You know what 38 degree air temp and 78 degree water temp is? Heaven, that's what. Oh swimming, how I have missed you...

Out of the water, I finished assembling the Bee Quilt top. I am not going to quilt it this weekend because Bee Girl knows that the pool is up and running and she (along with her sister, Ladybug Girl) will certainly show up this afternoon for a season inaugural dip (that's the problem with finishing Christmas presents early- you have to keep them hidden for a loooong time). But it's going to be adorable, I think. I also think I will buy some black quilting thread, because I don't feel like sharpie-coloring the quilting stitches on the entire border. I'm going to bind it with the lime green strips.

I found a couple more Super Hero fabrics, and have a few more coming via eBay. I am going to have to use bigger squares for this quilt because many of these prints have fairly large motifs.

And my local quilt shop/sewing machine repair store, the one that has Moda fabrics in stock, calling me... tempting me... making me spend yarn money on woven goods... has a scrap barrel with reduced bits and pieces. In it, I found some selvage ends that came directly from Moda (left from cutting strips, or squares)- the strips are the proper length, but are of varying widths, but the price is oh so right. I got 2 sacks, with the entire assortment of Frosty Memories (Christmas themed prints) for $9.99@. This is enough fabric for some kind of quilt top or table cloth or something. I also bought a couple of magazines, and a book, Save the Scraps, by Gayle Bong (http://www.amazon.com/Save-Scraps-Great-Quilts-Patchwork/dp/1564775992/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241964820&sr=1-1 ) with tons of good ideas and patterns and basic information on quilting. I think I'll run out of fabric and enthusiasm long before I run out of quilting ideas.

And I started work on the Moda Tranquility Nest quilt. This is my first time doing folded corners, and that is truly a nifty procedure. I could not bring myself to discard the leftovers, so I just drew a line 1/2" from the main sewing line, and made some triangle blocks, which I assembled into pinwheel blocks, probably to be used on the whatever quilt. On the other hand, I could make a baby blanket with the leftovers as well. The Nest blocks are huge (approx 14" square), so I'm definitely going to have to work on *pretty* machine quilting because it's really going to show.

But first, I'm going to mow, and then I'm going to swim some more.