Play Time

As I'm writing this, I'm almost too tired to stay awake, but I suspect there are a few of you who check in every morning and would probably wonder what happened to me if I didn't post something. I'll try to keep this post short though so I can crawl into bed. Too many late nights are finally catching up to me, I think!

I gave myself permission to "play" today. After all, all work and no play makes Kim a dull girl! (Not to mention the sore muscles and aching back.) Besides, this IS my vacation, right?! So no decorating and no cleaning happened here today. Not even any arts and crafts, unless you lump quilting into the arts and crafts category--which I guess it probably is. So, okay, yeah some arts and crafts took place.

This morning I made this little quilted gift bag. Kind of cute, huh? Now I just need to figure out what kind of gift to give myself that will fit in the bag. What? You think a gift bag ought to be given? Well, okay, you win. I actually DID make it for someone else, but maybe I need to make myself one or two someday. But not today.

Today I made this for myself:

This is the It's a Wrap pattern by Sandy Gervais/Pieces From The Heart made with the Holly Jolly fabric. No, don't look too closely at my points and sashing/cornerstone intersections. They're not horrible, but they aren't perfect either, and I know that at least ONE OF YOU--and you know who you are!--likes to check to see how I do on my points. (The back, however, is simply stunning--come on over and take a look if you don't believe me! Lovely pressed seams all over the place!) I do like to be fairly accurate, but I'm not going to have a cow if it's not perfect. I'm a student of the "back of the galloping horse" school of quilting--if something looks okay from the back of a galloping horse (theoretically speaking, you understand--I don't really get on a horse and test it) and I don't have the patience to fuss with it, then that's okay with me! This is actually a very forgiving pattern, though, since there aren't a lot of pieces to line up. I made mine a little smaller than the pattern with 16 presents instead of 25 because I have a specific place in mind to hang it and a limited amount of room.

I have another two days before I go back to work, and I'm planning to spend all the time I can in decorating and cleaning--play time is over! I would like to try to get this quilt pinned this weekend, though, so I can get it quilted next week and up on the wall before long.

Finally, I thought I'd share this with you. You know that pesky younger cat of mine, Spike? Well, I went into my bedroom this afternoon and closed the door so I could have a few uninterrupted minutes of time on the computer. Lately she's taken to trying to climb onto my lap while I'm on the computer and I was trying to avoid that. I guess she must have tried following me but had to settle for opening the door of the linen closet that's outside my bedroom and climbing up into there instead of my lap. Silly cat!

It's long past my bedtime, so I'm heading to bed. Hasta la vista, baby!

46?

Whew! I'm exhausted! Bet you're wondering why. But even if you're not, I'm telling you anyway. Here's a clue:

Hummm. 46. What does that mean? No fair peeking ahead! What are you guessing? Here's another clue:

Have you figured it out yet? I bet you're close--getting warm! What if I open the bag for you? I'll go ahead and do that. But don't peek yet!

And just so you don't have to get up and walk over here to look inside, I'll go ahead and dump it all out on the table.

There, how's this?

Are you starting to see why I might be pretty tired? Shopping's such hard work! Funny how you can get up at the crack of dawn (7 a.m.) to go shopping and it's a whole different feeling than when you get up at the crack of dawn (7 a.m.) to go to work, isn't it? And, of course, since I was already there, I had to make the whole shopping experience complete and the drive across town worthwhile, so I had to pick up these goodies too:

One of the quilt shops here in town had Fat Quarter Frenzy today, and they sure got the "frenzy" part right! By the time the doors opened at 10 a.m., there were probably about 15 or more of us standing outside. Well, of course, you know me (sort of)--by 9:55, I was inciting the other gals to storm the doors; I figured there were more of us than there were "them." Luckily--for "them"--they opened the doors right about then and started handing out bags. If you bought 25 fat quarters or more, they were $1 each. I was the fourth person through the doors and by the time I checked out, I had filled nearly two bags with these little bundles of joy and possibility. That's what the "46" is--the number of fat quarters I bought.

Oh, and then I just HAD to buy some yardage of two of the prints from the new Roman Holiday line by Three Sisters. And a couple of those addictive charm packs. Oh, yeah, and two spools of YLI thread for the back of the quilt I'm working on. One spool would probably have been enough, but they only had two left, so I figured what the heck. I'd rather have too much than run out. In fact, I think that would be a good motto: I'd rather have too much than run out. Yep, that fits me pretty good. Well, except when it comes to money. I just can't seem to end up with too much money but then I suspect I'm not trying real hard either. Other priorities, doncha know.

And just in case you wanted another photo, here's one of those same fat quarters kind of losely grouped into categories: Thimbleberries (buy-in for my online group's monthly bingo game), reproductions (for my Jo's Little Women Club), sort of "bright and cheerful" fabric, miscellaneous red/white/blue fabric, and miscellaneous fabric from lines I have more of. (Hey, doesn't that almost make it seem like I had a PLAN rather than just wildly elbowing people aside and grabbing up fat quarters and shoving them into my bags?)

Oh, and just so you don't think I'm a flat, single-dimensional kinda gal who does nothing but mess around with fabric, I want you to know that I also read to improve my mind. So on my way home, I ran into Borders with a 40% off coupon and picked up Janet Evanovich's new book:

What IS it with numbers today? First 46 and now 13!

After that, with all the hard work out of the way, I stopped at La Bou for a jumbo iced latte (shopping works up a powerful thirst) and an almond croissant (shopping works up a powerful hunger). Now it's time to go into the Sweat Shop and quilt. Or take a nap. Or both! My husband's working today and playing poker with the "boys" at my friend Lisa's house tonight, so I have a day to play. Woo-hooo! Don't you just LOVE weekends?!