Finished by Friday

In a previous post I told you that shallowthoughtsfromiowa had suggested we post about everything we finished this week - small or large - and I thought, "what a great idea - if I tell people I'm gonna' write that then maybe I'll actually finish something!" So here are this week's finised accomplishments:

1. Mystery quilt top is complete! Yippee!!!! At our next guild meeting the committee will be showing us how to trim the edges and, I assume, what border to put on it. I'm not saying that I "unsewed" more on this top than any top I've ever made in my quilting life, but it was close. Who woulda' thought getting those last three rows on there would be so tricky! It might have helped if I hadn't tried to talk on the phone, check on my e-mails, do the laundry, and eat some lunch while sewing. And by the way, I wear glasses on a string thing around my neck (so I won't lose them) and I keep glasses on my sewing table, my cutting table, my telephone table, my bedside table, my desk table, oops. You get the picture - they're everywhere. I buy them at the Dollar Tree for a buck apiece so if they break it's no big thing. I only need glasses for reading - it's an aging thing" according to my doctor. I coulda' slapped him. Anyway it happens that sometimes I have a pair hanging on my bosom (love that word!) and a pair perched on my head and a pair on my face. Well, you get the picture. If you do that too I advise you not to eat Peco de Gaya for lunch because it drips - either on the glasses or the bosom. I was gonna' say it's a hassle to have to clean it off your glasses but that's easier than cleaning it off your bosom, especially if God blessed you indeed like He did me.

2. GingerPatches posted this week about a purse she made from a pattern in the newest "American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine" (remember the two magazines I told you I got this week - well this was one of them!) She bragged about how easy it was to make. The pattern uses two tea towels and store-bought wooden handles to make a simple little summer purse. Well Ginger was right - it really did take less than an hour and that included starching and ironing the tea towels. Here's my version! I don't like wooden handles so I used a third towel to make straps and added the little flower pin to the front. The pin was made by my friend Jo. If I make another I would want the straps to be a little longer and, I'm thinking of using a nice heavy fabric instead of the tea towels. I'd also like the purse to be a little larger so..... I know, I never do anything exactly by the pattern, but what's the fun in that!

3. The holly block for Winter Wonderland is done and ironed. But not trimmed, 'cause I won't do that until all the other blocks are finished. I put these pictures on in order left, center, right because this is such a long block but I feel sure the blogger elf will separtate them by the time this post is actually out there in cyberspace so try to picture it as one looooong block.

Now there are a few other things I did this week but they don't have anything to do with quilting. I made 15 bean soup and chicken salad and Peco de Gaya. All that from a gal who hates to cook! I finalized plans to keep four, yes four, of my grandchildren next week and to take them camping for a couple of days. I think I might have been temporarily insane when I agreed to camping with four children, and if I wasn't I will be by the time we get home. And I confirmed the due date for grandchild #8 (January 8) so I can clear my calendar after he/she is born. My daughter-in-law is a teacher and when she goes back to school I'll be babysitting until school is out for summer. Oh, and I got a haircut. :) Whew! It was a busy week....