I finished sewing the border on the top for mum's Bento Box this morning before jumping in the shower. {I'm geeked!} I couldn't resist, even though I ended up running 10 minutes late to work. It's really coming together and I have great plans to finish it up tonight. My parents are in the process of building a handicap-accessible house because of my dad's limitations following the '06 accident. He'll turn 57 on Thursday, but his body has aged at least 10 years because of all the damage done. The entire process of building this house has been an emotional and physical strain on my folks and my family. God's grace is sufficient, and much more to us than simply words spoken out of habit. Between the holidays we'll be helping mum and dad move in partially --- I'm excited for them, and breathing a sigh of relief that the construction is finally coming to an end! My mum has always been a builder's beige/white kind of gal. A couple weeks ago she surprised us all by choosing GREEN for her walls. Mind you, she tells me, it's a very, very, very neutral green. But, says me, green all the same and my motivation for the colors in the table runner.
I'm a bit overdue on this next project, but only because I had horrific tension issues last week. I'm rather embarrassed to admit the source of these troubles --- I put my bobbin in backward! I felt pretty stupid troubleshooting over the phone with the machine repair gal. *grin* This is the beginnings of Linda's Dresden Plate runner:
I used Bloom's technique for cutting the blades/petals out of a charm square. I've never done a Dresdan before and I would definitely consider myself a novice quilter ---- but I had the easiest time of putting this together. It's a little tedious, I'll admit; the results, however, are well worth the effort! I'm zig-zag appliqueing it to my background squares....
...and will cut up the rest of my charm squares to make a scrappy border around each block. {This is the Aviary line by 3 Sisters for Moda.} I have a bit of white left over to add a final border. Tomorrow is my last day in the office until well after the New Year so I'm hoping to finish this up the early part of next week and deliver it to Linda. I meant to give it to her along with a cookbook last week at our gals' gift exchange... *grin*
Now this, this I'm really excited about --- I've been hearing all over blogland about a new book: One-Yard Wonders.
The previews and all looked really neat, so I got myself on the library's waiting list. I waited and waited and waited. Patiently, I think. Then I got an email...from Barnes & Noble. From whenever I got the email until Christmas Eve every B&N user gets 15% off any one item. I'm savvy -- and I'm also a member of AAA. If you go through AAA to the B&N storefront, you receive 10% off every item you purchase....regardless of the time of year. It just so happens that you can combine the B&N offer with the AAA deal! *grin* It gets better though -- with my two discounts, the book came to around $11 and change before tax and shipping. I realize you can probably find One-Yard Wonders elsewhere and score a great deal, but...did you catch this?
B&N has a special edition with FIVE extra projects --- that's 106 instead of 101! And, the projects are pretty cute:
A Baby-Doll Tote...
A Clothespin Bag (which reminds me of Jacquie's "On the Line" mini quilts)...
A super neat Duffle Bag for your bike...
Olivia the Owl Pillow Pal...
And, a Crinkle Sack for your cat...
Before you go kicking yourself for buying it elsewhere, if I'd really been savvy I would've called my brother before hitting "Purchase" --- he had two books on his wishlist that'd have put us up over $25 for free shipping. *grin*
