Katelyn made a baby quilt this week for her new baby brother or sister. Calm down, calm down. I'm not pregnant! This baby factory is closed and Dave has been informed that if he wants more (he does), he's going to have to grow his own uterus. And I don't know just where he thinks we'd put another kid. My house is tiny. I'd have to shove it in a drawer or something. Anyway....Katelyn's step-mom is having a baby in September and the baby shower is today. In case you're curious.... Once upon a time, Bridget married her high school sweetheart and they had a wonderful daughter a few years later. Bridget's high school sweetheart didn't mature much past his high school days and their marriage ended while Katelyn was young. Bridget and her ex are still friendly and have each moved on to much happier marriages with other people. (No seriously -- we still get along and talk all the time -- heck, I even share plants with him from my garden.) Actually, Bridget really likes the "new wife" and Katelyn likes her step-mom. The nice step-mother is good to Katelyn and seems like a genuinely nice person. So I think it was Thursday when her dad told me the shower was this weekend. And that's when Katelyn decided she needed to make a baby quilt. No pressure! Well, TQS saves the day again! That technique that was shown on the "Roadtrip" show was the perfect solution!  Katelyn picked out all the fabrics herself -- she had already seen the nursery colors and theme so she matched them. We washed the fabric, pressed it, and I did the strip cutting. I also spray basted the layers for her (There was no way I was gonna let her use spray baste! She'd have it everywhere!). I started her off by showing her how to do the first two strips, but she did the rest of the "piecing" herself! At first I put on the 1/4" foot for her but that was not easy. The walking foot was a much better idea!
The nursery has a frog/pond theme so she found some cute little frog clipart online that she wanted to use for the applique. I traced -- she attached the fusible and cut it all out. She fused it on just how she wanted and it looked so cute! Mom had to be in charge of the blanket stitching around the applique, the binding, and embroidering the label. I would say it took about 3 hours total to make. She was so proud of herself! And I was just as proud. Actually, Katelyn said that it looked like something from the store and I think she's right! She's really into that "brand name" thing right now. And her bed was even made when I took this picture! Wow! That's an accomplishment in itself! 
And 5-year-old Brooke got in on the quilting talk this week too. Except not in a good way! I was joking around on the forum and telling how I think Brooke has joined the Quilt Police Force. I was finishing up the July BOM and Brooke came up to me and said, "You're still working on that?" Now ain't that a kick in the pants? And I did finish my block -- but not because of some little blond girl on a power trip! If she makes herself a badge then I'll start to worry! This was the last weekend for the pond tour. My mom was out of town yesterday, so I went with my brother and sister-in-law and Brooke. It was pouring rain here all morning. Not the best pond-touring conditions! We got back to the car after one of the stops and my driver's side window was down and of course it was all wet inside. I thought, "Wow, that wasn't very smart -- I thought I rolled it up before we left." I had rolled it up. Or at least I thought I had. The window fell off the rollers and it is now stuck all the way down. So it's off to the shop on Monday! Darn it! But I tell you that story so I can tell you this story.... There was a chance of rain last night, but did Dave put plastic or anything on my window? NooOOooo. (But don't worry -- the race car was safe inside our one-car garage!) Well, a nasty line of storms was due to come through around midnight and I remembered that my driver's side window was wide open. So I trudged outside with some tape and garbage bags all worried that either the police or my neighbors would see me outside -- in my pajamas -- messing around with the car. As I opened my gate and headed to the driveway, I saw something. Something potentially bad.  It was a skunk. My mind was not very sharp at midnight and I couldn't decide whether to try to scare it away and risk having it spray or sneak over to the car and pray that it didn't happen to head my way -- 20 feet away. I finally decided to shake the garbage bag at it to make some noise and quietly said, "Shoo!" (Like a skunk knows what "shoo" means.) It looked up at me like, "Can't you see I'm busy eating spilled bird seed? Back off lady!" And then it continued to eat while I taped up the window. I kept peeking to make sure he was still within eye shot. So he kindly let me finish my business and even let me take a couple of pictures of him. I know they're stinky and he could've had rabies for all I know, but they are pretty cute. So I will beware when I let the dog out at night. I'm sure I don't want to have to clean up that smell!  My mom was back in town today so we hit a couple more ponds. I thought you might enjoy seeing this 25 pound koi. The owners named her "Goldie" and they've had her for 15 years. She's like the family pet -- she'll eat right out of their hand! If you want to see the rest of the pond photos, I've added them to my webshots album.
Well now I can get back to my pond quilt. Maybe I'll actually have something to show next time! Have a great week everyone! | 
