Seinfeld fans will immediately recognize the quote, "these pretzels are making me thirsty!" This has nothing to do with quilting or crafting, but I guess it does refer to my tv habit. I have not finished the big 8" square quilt. I did take the pieces from another quilt, a block of the month, that I did not finish, and assembled a table runner. I need to back and bind this piece. The big news is that I did complete a small photo quilt as a graduation gift for my great-niece. I designed it myself. Simple blocks, with centers fussy cut out of some fabric with crazy farm animals at a party. She is going to major in agriculture and wants to own a cattle farm. She raises pigs, sheep and goats. I had a hard time finding the farm animal fabric I imagined in my mind, so I found this whimsical fabric and fussy cut the critters out. After those blocks were assembled I moved on to the photo squares. I gathered pictures of her with her family, as Citrus Fair queen at the local fair, with her farm animals, and wearing her prom dress. Once those blocks were assembled I put the quilt together using 4-H print fabric to make borders. I wanted to back the quilt with pink camo fabric, which I was unable to find. My daughter was able to find some pink fabric that had a similar look, and I was able to finally assemble the quilt and bind it before graduation. Of course I did some quilting on the piece and decided I did not like the way it looked. So out came the seam ripper. I spent one Saturday sewing and one Sunday tearin gout everything I had sewn. Then came the binding. I made the binding from fabric my creative daughter found, and sewed it on, realized it was not wide enough and spent the next hour or so with my friend the seam ripper taking it off. New binding and I was back in business. Not only did Caroline love it, her sister squealed with delight, and I relaized I have 3 years before I have to make one for her, too.
It's amazing how wonderful it feels to complete a project.
And this weekend I pulled out one of my dog earred magazines and started making a purse/bag that I have been thinking about making for months. I have it nearly done. I already know I need to redo the strap and make it longer.
One of the most useful things I learned when I took my first quilt class so many years ago was how to properly use a seam ripper. That is currently my favorite tool of choice.
Sew on friends. Sew on.
