This and That

Today is a mid-month link-up day for A Lovely Year of Finishes.  My goal for the month is to finish quilting and binding the Two Grandmothers quilt that I've had in the works for quite some time.  My sewing machine has been in the shop for the past week, and its operation is still a bit iffy, but that didn't stop me from getting the quilt sandwich made for this quilt.  And in my sewing room, getting the sandwich made is about 75% of the battle in finishing up a quilt.  I hate making the sandwich.  If I were given sodium pentothal, put under the lights, and forced to pick, I would say that making the quilt sandwich is my least favorite part of quilting.  Who's with me on that?

So here it is:

When I posted this image originally, I asked for opinions about the yellow stripe fabric I'm thinking of using for the binding (on the left in the image below).  The fabric on the right is what I'm using for the back.

Everyone who opined agreed it was a good choice, and since there were no naysayers, that's what I've decided on.

I want to do a couple of other things in the sewing room first, but I just might get started on the quilting for this today.  That should give me plenty of time to have it finished by the end of the month.  I'm starting to get excited about seeing it all finished.  There is a story behind this quilt, and if you haven't read it already, you can find it right here.

It was a pretty easygoing Valentine's Day yesterday.  I made biscotti for Mike, and he came through with a pretty bouquet of flowers.

Toward the end of the day, I spied the first signs of life in an otherwise barren seedscape.  Check it out!

This morning, I saw this little guy, still wearing his little seed cap.

My knee is causing me problems, and so I couldn't work out yesterday, which vexed me significantly.  By yesterday evening, I still couldn't walk without limping, and so that meant this morning's walk with Sue was out.  It's feeling better this morning, but I'm still going to give it a day of rest.  Maybe I can get in a workout at Curves tomorrow morning, although I hate leaving the house on weekends.  Hopefully, another day off will be enough for my peevish knee.  (I think it was annoyed at the broken sewing machine getting all of the attention.)

So that left me plenty of time for sewing (because, goodness knows, I couldn't possibly do any housework with a sore knee).  I was able to get the "hump" pieces of the hearts completed for the Heart of the Home tablerunner I'm making.

Today I'll be making the nine patches for the rest of the heart block.  I'm not sure how much more I'll do on this one before I set it aside for a while.  I want to finish up my purple scrappy little ladies for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and then I want to start quilting the Two Grandmothers Goose quilt.

Also, I want to fit in a little housework since I'm not able to work out.  At least that will give me a little bit of activity for the day.  And it's a rare sunny day in February in Oregon, and so I'm going to go out and spend a little time on a photo shoot with Smitty.  (His audience is clamoring for more Smitty pictures.)  We might even drag Gracie out with us, although Gracie much prefers a warm seat by the fire downstairs.  We need to fill the bird feeders too.  Smitty really, really, really likes taking care of the birds.  They might just be his new best friends.

And I can't end without remembering to tell you about the Living Water Quilt that Quilting Babcia over at Amity Quilter told me about.

(image source)

She's done such a good job of explaining it, that I'm going to quote her directly.  All the links are intact, so click on anything that interests you to learn more.

Pam at Learning to Be Me has put her heart into creating a magnificent quilt of love and life over the past several years.    Her quilt was begun, intended as a gift for her Dad, who had asked her to make him a king-size quilt.   Pam decided to make his heart's desire, using a lot of his favorite color-orange.  She even hand quilted this gorgeous quilt!  Long story short, during the interim, her Dad has suffered some serious medical issues and is now residing in a nursing home where he will be unable to use the quilt.  After much thought Pam decided the best way her quilt could honor her father would be if she used it to raise funds for a mission that has been on her heart for some time.  And so, Pam's Living Water Quilt is being raffled in an effort to raise funds for Blood:Water Mission, a group dedicated to providing clean potable water to rural African villages.    The raffle will run through March 31, with a goal of raising $7,000 which is the approximate cost to drill one new well for an African village, where residents often must walk for long distances daily to fetch water from streams that are frequently contaminated sources of drinking water, leading to illness and high child mortality rates.

You can read more of Pam's story, see her gorgeous Living Water Quilt (and her second project currently underway called Project 40) by clicking here and here; and more information on Blood:Water Mission is available here.  

I am touched by Pam's generosity of spirit and hope that other bloggers who read her story will be similarly inspired to spread the word to help her reach her goal of turning her wonderful quilt into a gift of pure, clean, living water to people who have never known this luxury.

Thanks to Quilting Babcia for spreading the word about the Living Water Quilt and the Blood:Water Mission.  I'm heading over there right now to see what I can do to help.

So that's about it from this end.  I hope you have a great Friday in store for yourself.