This post is brought to you by the number 2.

I missed Finished For Friday last week, which is hosted by Lit and Laundry every week. I was trying for a quilty finish every week this month, but missed it. I did have a finish last Friday- I finished being 33! My birthday was Saturday, and not one, but TWO of my aunt-in-laws offered to babysit for us, so we got to go out on both Friday and Saturday nights. (TWICE in a row!!) Happy Birthday to me!!

I did (finally) get the TWO baby quilts bound this week so they are ready to go to their new owners on Monday.

For my birthday Paul went with me to TWO new-to-me quilt stores in Green Bay, and I chose a yard of fabric at each. (See how good I was? Only TWO new yards of fabric!)

Jane Sassaman designed this one for me:

Amy Butler kindly thought this one up just for my birthday:

THEN we went to Joann's and I got a new cutting mat! Yay! Paul was quite a good boy during our outing, although he did try to borrow my scarf to hang himself at one point.

The boys spent Saturday night sleeping over at their great-aunt and uncle's house, so during my peaceful quiet morning with NO CHILDREN I made myself a present- a new bag like the one I made for my cousin.

I used a bright green (thrifted) linen tablecloth to make this bag:

The lining is polka dots of course, and I put pen pockets in again. Loving those.

I cannot believe how much more I can get done with no little, mmm, helpers we'll call them.

I addition to binding the baby quilts, in the past two weeeks, I finished TWO quilt tops. Well, finished the centers anyway. This is my Cherry Checkerboard quilt I am making to use up the cherry applique squares left over from Cherry Surprise. I finished making all the blocks and stitched them together, but I still need to put the borders on. It turned out very narrow, which I don't like, but in order to get the Irish chain to look right, this was the layout I had to use. (It's about 60" x 84" at this point with no borders added.) I think as I add each border I will make the side ones an inch wider than the top and bottom ones to kind of fix this issue.

This next one has been sitting in my WIP box for FAR too long. I finally stitched the petals down on all the flowers. (It took me a while to collect the right thread colors.) I am not quite sure what I will do for borders on this one. It will be a play mat/blankie for my newest niece, Baby Autumn, who is just the cutest thing in the world. She loves to stare at my Mom's ceiling fan, so I think she will like this.

A closeup of the satin stitch holding the petals down.

My SIL should be able to wash this a hundred million times with no problems. These babies are ON there.

So that's what I've been up to. If you have a finish to share, head over to Lit and Laundry and join in! Be sure to compliment her beautiful hexagon quilt. It's gorgeous!

Can't I have anything NICE without you guys breaking it? Part 2

Does anyone else's cat CLIMB their design wall? Mooch has been literally climbing the walls lately. He tears into the room, gets a flying start and can reach the ceiling on a good leap. My nice taut tablecloths are now hanging and droopy looking. Tiger-E is polite with her claws, but not Mooch. I think he needs to take a trip to the vet. (I always feel bad getting them declawed, but I think he will ruin too much of our stuff- like our box springs!!- if I don't.)

Speaking of trips to the vet, Mooch also has a new, er, friend. He appropriated one of the kid's stuffed bears. He LOVES this bear a lot if you get what I mean. (The kids think he is "fighting" with the bear so we leave it at that.) No one else touches the bear and when I have to move it I pick it up with the dustpan. It looks really ragged and the stuffing is falling out. I have heard of dogs doing this, but never a cat... leave it to Mooch.

Today Brady "fixed" this plate.

I'll just go throw that in the dishwasher now.

This little pile can make a BIG impact,

if you spread it out!

This is for Future Niece. This is what I ended up with for a color wheel idea. Now I want one for myself! Lukey added that tiny purple circle in the middle. He said the green circle was the "mommy circle" and then added the purple one and stated, "This one Lukey." So of course, it's staying! :0)

I tried it on white, too, but it just doesn't have the impact. I am working on hand quilting the purple and green heart quilt and want to try a scalloped border on it. We'll see how that goes.

(I think you are supposed to use a plate to trace your curves for a scalloped border... but my plate is broken! Whatever shall I do?!)