Happy Therapy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The corned beef's in the crockpot and the veggies will be added in a couple hours. This afternoon, I'll make Irish soda bread. In the meantime, since this table topper doesn't look like it's going to be finished in time, I thought I'd share an in-progress photo anyway. The day is beautiful and my photography abilities are less than, so I thought I'd take everything out to the patio for a photography session. Dappled sunlight makes everything look better, don't you think?

Yes, I did take a very brief opportunity to stop at the quilt shop when we traveled up to Chico yesterday to try to sort out my parents. I couldn't resist! The quilt shop was just a block from the hospital and we had to drive right past it--well, that would be assuming I had the will power drive right past it and I'm rarely ever credited with will power, especially where fabric's concerned! I'll share some photos of my "finds"--I had to be quick because my husband was left behind in the car and I promised I'd only be 15 minutes.

The two "bundles" on the left are a heavier home dec fabric that I thought I might use to recover a desk chair I plan to move into the Sweat Shop. Or it would look equally great in my daughter's former room. I'm sure it will find a home somewhere in mine. The fabrics on the right are cotton velveteen--wine, black, and brown. Each year during our annual shop hop, I pick up a yard at this store; these are only half yard cuts but at least I didn't accidentally duplicate what I already had--something I've done before. I don't think I'm going to participate in the hop this year, so I wanted to grab these while I could. One of these days I want to use them in a quilt--they've been telling me they'd like to be in an applique quilt. We'll see!

And speaking of applique quilts, I picked up a pattern by Late Bloomer Quilts/Elizabeth Scott. She's a Northern California designer. I think this pattern is really cute. I'm also looking forward to reading the Australian Homespun magazine--it looked like there were a few fun things in it. Also in the photo are some black and white FQs in 1800 repro fabrics and a couple small pieces of wool in spring colors. Not bad for a rushed shopping trip!

Time to retreat to the Sweat Shop for a little happy therapy!