Happy Birthday Vicky!

Before I forget, I want to wish Vicky a very happy birthday! Hers was one of the first blogs I read on a regular basis, long before I had my own. I hope you have a wonderful day, Vicky! You deserve it!

And speaking of bloggers whose blogs I've read for a long time, look what came in the mail yesterday! Yes, Judy Laquidara's new book, Nine-Patch Extravaganza. There's a quilt in there made from the same block pattern my online group used for a swap this past year, and Judy's given me a new idea for setting those blocks. Wooo-hooo Judy!

Yesterday I went to one of my local quilt shops to pick up some Scaredy Cat fabric to border two placemats that I was working on using the leftover charm squares. I was a little disappointed in their fabric selection because the shop had not bought the whole line, and what they DID buy didn’t appeal to me quite so much as some of the other prints. I ended up buying the crazy-quilt type border print, but I think the placemats ended up looking a little more “busy” than I would have liked. This got me thinking about what quilt shop owners face in ordering fabric for their shops.

I decided that if I owned a quilt shop, I would DEFINITELY have ordered bolts of the polka dot prints and the almost tone-on-tone prints in the blue, lime, and purple shades along with just a couple of the obviously Halloween prints. Many of these fabrics could be put into the store’s regular stock once the holiday was over. Sure wish I owned a quilt shop!

The other day, I was standing in Trader Joe’s with a package of Tex Mex veggie burgers in hand, pondering whether my husband and I could possibly stand to eat such downright healthy food, when a young woman came up to me and told me how great these particular burgers are. Into my cart they went. Well, can I just say BLECH?! I think I’m going to have to hunt that girl down and shoot her. Now these “burgers” are probably just fine if you like your veggie burgers to taste strongly and overwhelmingly of veggies, but I don’t. If I’m going to make myself eat something this healthy, I want it to taste bad. Bad in a good way, as in “dude, that’s some BAD quilt you’re piecing there!” Or as in naughty bad–like something that tastes that good can’t possibly be good for you. On the up side, though, I guess if you’re on a diet and serve food that’s not good enough to choke down, you’ll lose weight faster. There’s always a bright side.

A couple of you have asked about my new “kids,” so I thought I’d tell you that today’s picture day. They’re all spruced up and ready to go get their school firm photos taken. I’m sure I’ll have an urge to spit on my hand and smooth down any wayward hair, but I’ll resist. I don’t think they’d like it. But they’re coming along fine, both of them.

Finally, I wanted to mention that my post yesterday about Marcie and Sharon–and even Darlene!–was all in good fun. I know I can give these gals a hard time and they can take it. In fact, I think they like it! I’m sure most of you realized that, but I just wanted to be clear. As to “Automaton,” though, that’s still a mystery!