Better Late Than Never!

Today was a better day--today I got the things done that I wanted to do yesterday. First of all, I finished my house cleaning. I'm counting it as having been finished today since it was about 12:30 a.m. by the time I finished with the kitchen, which was the last bit I didn't finish earlier in the day. But it was worth it since I could wake up this a.m. and know that I didn't have to do anything but "play" today.

Yes, and I finished the quilt top, Jo Morton's pattern for Emma's Quilt--that's it up there at the top. I changed the colors a bit in my version and made my geese slightly different; I also made a slightly wider final border. I'm pleased with the way it turned out, even if I did end up with more than a gaggle of small, extra geese!

And yes, yes, yes, I did make a blueberry "something"--I made a blueberry cream cheese coffee cake. Someone--and I apologize for not remembering who it was--mentioned making a blueberry version of the raspberry cream cheese coffee cake in Kelli's blog. The other blogs' photos are better than mine, but I'm posting mine anyway in case you don't want to go chasing down a photo. But Kelli has the recipe on her blog, so it's worth visiting--just click on her name up there. In my version using the fresh blueberries, I sprinkled about 2/3 cup of fresh blueberries on top of the cake layer and before the cream cheese layer. Then I mixed the remaining 1/3 cup of blueberries into the blueberry jam and spread that over the cream cheese layer. Turned out yummy. I should note that this isn't an overly sweet dessert, so it allows the flavors of the fruit and almonds to come through. It's also not as hard as it may appear from the ingredients and steps and is well worth the effort. Yum!

Finally, I spent the rest of my time today working on my first applique block for the red, white, and blue semi-patriotic quilt Patty and I are designing together. Somewhere I have some black iron on bias tape that I thought would work nicely for the flag poles--now if I can only find it, I'll be set! You know, I can usually find most everything in my sewing room because it's pretty well organized, but occasionally I'll be stumped when it comes to finding the "miscellaneous" type of things like this tape. Somehow, I have a feeling it will be much faster to just make a couple bias strips the regular way, but I'd like to try out this bias tape. I just hope this doesn't turn into a flying geese type experience!

Oh, and gratitudes! Although I like reading those blogs that list gratitudes at the end, I haven't adopted that idea for my blog. I often write my blog entries late at night, and while I think that's an excellent time to think back on the day and the things--or people--that I'm grateful for, I'm afraid I'd never get to bed if I had to think about them and list them in a post. But I wanted to mention today that I am extraordinarily grateful for my dear husband who came home from work today carrying a Starbuck's iced grande percent latte for me without even being asked. Isn't it just the BEST when your spouse anticipates your needs and burning desires? I guess after 26 years, all those lessons are sinking in!