Whirly Giggle Done!

Well, I got the Whirly Giggle quilt done last night. I still want to throw it in the washer and dryer to get some of the stiffness out (and let the batting crinkle up a little) and sew on the label, but its now a quilt by all other names.

Here's some close ups of the quilting. I machine quilted it free hand. I drew all the lines on using templates and then just followed the lines. I don't know if I'll ever get good enough to machine quilt without the lines.

Yesterday was great. DD and I played hooky all day; we didn't go to church and we stayed in our PJ's all day. That's probably why I got the quilt all done. Then at 11:30pm last night when I finished it, I went and did my taxes on line. So that's another thing taken care of.

Saturday was a busy day for us. DD had a friend spend the night Friday night and she had to be home for her piano lessons at 8am. So we were out of the house early. Ran a few errands and then had a pedicure (DD had her fingernails painted). The weather was great, so we picked up smoothies and then I dragged her to two quilt shops (in all fairness, she did have her DS - that's a game boy, not a son - with her). I was looking for one fabric of each of two lines that I bought earlier last week and hopefully, quilting stencils for the border of the Whirly Giggle quilt (I didn't find any of the fabric or stencils that I was looking for) Did quite a bit of damage at the first one and only bought a coordinating fabric at the second shop. We had a quick lunch in Cedarburg where they were having their winter festival with ice sculptures being carved on the sidewalk. I felt sorry for them as it was 50 degrees and everything was melting. We drove back home and ran more errands (WalMart and oil change). Then Saturday night we went to a 50's Sock Hop party with the Wisconsin Camping Association. DD was dolled up in a poodle skirt, saddle shoes, and a flip hair-do. She was soooo cute and had such a good time running around with the other kids (they had games for the kids). They had a DJ for after dinner and she danced and danced and danced! So much fun!

Well, I need to get back to work and take care of business.

Laurel

Whirly Giggle and the Tooth Fairy

Sorry I don't have a picture of the Whirly Giggle quilt here today. I got all of the figures outline quilted and last night I started on the open white spaces. I decided I wanted to show movement with my quilting and thought of all those windmills turning. So I'm quilting circles in the white spaces as if the windmills are spinning. I had half of my kitchen dragged out to the family room auditioning plates, saucers, cups, bowls, lids, etc to make the right sizes for the concentric circles. I actually am using the top to a Phily Cream Cheese container for the smallest circle. Last night I got 6 of the 12 blocks done, so I should be able to get the last six done tonight. Then I'll just need to figure out how to quilt the borders. I'll post a picture when I get a chance.

I've been very busy at work this week traveling to visit suppliers. These are 3-6 hour trips (including travel time) so I haven't had a lot of time in the office getting that work done and now its piling up.

On Monday evening, DD lost a tooth while we were eating dinner. She had mentioned that she had a loose one earlier that day, but I figured we had a week or two before it would come out. But no! While we were discussing the plans to put the tooth under her pillow, she told me that some of the kids at school said that there was no Tooth Fairy and that it was just parents leaving the money and putting the tooth in the bottom of the garbage can. I asked her what she believed and she said she wasn't sure. So anyway, we did the whole ceremony with the tooth in the Tooth Pillow under her pillow. After she went to bed, I got a one dollar bill out of my purse and put it on my dresser so that I could swap it out later. Only I forgot to make the swap before she got up. The next morning she came running into the bathroom where I was getting ready for work and said "The Tooth Fairy didn't come!" She was nearly in tears. I said that maybe the Tooth Fairy had a lot of teeth to take care of last night and she just didn't get to our house. DD replied "No, I think she heard us talking about not believing in her and so she didn't come." So I suggested that we both say really loud "I DO BELIEVE IN THE TOOTH FAIRY" and maybe she would come after all. So we did and the Tooth Fairy came last night. So funny. Its only a matter of time before DD figures out that the Tooth Fairy, Santa, and the Easter Bunny are all the same person. She's 9 (okay, 9 and a half) and I've been waiting for that magic to disappear. So far, so good.

Have a great rest of your week.

I Love Saturday Mornings...

It used to be that you would find me in bed on a Saturday morning until 10 or 11am (pre DD). But now I find its my favorite time all week. I can sleep in until 6 or 7am, get up and do whatever I want until DD gets up (yesterday that was at 10am). I had 4 glorious hours of uninterupted sewing time.

I got the Whirly Giggle top done and this morning I took it to church to baste (they have such nice, big tables there). So its already to begin the quilting process. I have two weeks until the shower at work, so I have plenty of time to quilt it and put the binding on. I'm so ahead, I've shocked myself!

Have a wonderful weekend all. We're on our way to a Super Bowl party for the evening (even if we don't care who wins).

Laurel

New Whirly Giggle Quilt

Well, folks, its been a busy week here in Wisconsin. Still very cold, but no snow at least.

Work and life have been very hectic this week with something going on after we get home from work every night. Tuesday night was Girl Scouts and last night we had a chili pot luck at church (yes, yours truly took a big pot of chili and a pan of corn bread). So I have not had a lot of quality time for quilting.

Sunday I started working on the Whirly Giggle baby quilt that I mentioned in my last post. Given all of the problems that others have had, I thought I would piece a few blocks using scraps before I started cutting out my Butterfly Fling (jelly roll). Here's my first attempt.

I wasn't too happy with them, the arms seemed so stubby and I had to trim a bunch. I went back to some of the instructions and decided to add the extra 1/2 an inch width to the white fabric and try it on another fabric (maybe if it was one that I might use, I'd do a better job at it). Here's what I got.

I had to trim about an inch off of each side. Too much waste. So I looked at the other examples and the instructions again and realized that I was putting the wrong side in the middle; the other blocks have the narrow edge in the middle. So, okay, let's try that, and readjust the white fabric one more time. This time it worked and I've made 6 blocks total.

I like them on point so I think I'm going to go that route. I need to make a bunch more and then decide if I'm going to put plain blocks inbetween or not.

Have a great day.

Laurel