Oregon in January DQ Complete

The past two days were spent quilting and binding my January Doll Quilt Swap.  I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out.

I'm hoping to get this into the mail to my doll quilt swap partner today.  It all depends on how energetic I'm feeling.

I used straight line quilting in the mountains (obviously).  There is a sort of elongated meander in the snow at the bottom.  I wish it showed up a little better in this image.  You'll have to take my word for it that it's a pretty effective pattern for giving the impression of little snow drifts.  (Or don't take my word for it.  I have been known to fib on occasion.  But, honestly, would I lie to you?  And how often do you see "honestly" and "lie" used in the same sentence?  Imponderable, I know.)  Then in the sky, I used a swirling pattern to give the impression of swirling snow.

My sewing machine wanted to give me a little trouble on some of these areas.  I'd be sewing along to beat the band, and then for no apparent reason, my top thread would stop picking up the bottom thread.  Then the top thread would hook around my open darning foot, and I'd have a mess.  At first I thought it might be because I was sewing over seams or seam allowances, but that didn't seem to explain the problem all the time.  Then I thought it might have something to do with the direction in which I was sewing.  That seemed to explain it some of the time.  Or it might have had something to do with the speed at which I was sewing.  I never really did figure it out.  It might have been a combination of the three.  In any case, I was getting frustrated with it at times, but I managed to get it done.

I used a motif from Leah Day's website called Pine Needles in the borders.   I was a little worried how this was going to work out, but it seems okay to me.  It sort of blends in with the snow-covered trees in the fabric.

Okay, now because I wrote "to beat the band" up there, I had to look up the origin of the phrase.  Here's what it says on The Phrase Finder:

[Beat the band.]  Banagher, an Irish town on the Shannon, was in the mid-19th century a notorious 'pocket borough' where most residents were employed by the local lord and voted as he directed (were 'in his pocket'). It became a standing joke in Parliament at the time to quip, 'Well, that beats (or bangs) Banagher!' whenever someone mentioned a pocket borough where every resident was employed by the local lord. Either via this route, or because of an Irish ministrel (sic) named Bannagher who told amazing stories, the saying 'that beats Banagher,' for 'anything amazing or superior,' became an English favorite. It's reasonable to suggest . . . that the later phrase 'that beats the band,' derived from it. The alliterative expressions do sound alike and 'bang' (from both the alternate version of the English phrase and Banagher) would suggest 'band' - that beats something louder, bigger, better than a great brass band. Attempts to connect 'that beats the band' with several real bands have all failed." From the "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997)

Capiche?   Just leave it to me to supply you with a daily dose of useless information.  I know it's important to you.