Bring on the Year

All the May birthdays are over for another year, and we can all get on with being another year older. Yesterday I spent a good part of the day preparing Mike's birthday dinner, including these little Apricot Cherry Upside-down Mini Cakes. So yummy. There are two more for us to eat tonight.

In between everything else, I've been plugging away quilting the blocks for the We are the World quilt. Just before sitting down here, I finished pulling off the little bits of paper for the sixth block. The two middle rows are quilted now. This is going much faster than I thought when I first started. I think next...just for some change...I'll quilt the sashings and cornerstones above, below, and in the middle of the quilted blocks. After that, I'll finish up the remaining blocks in the top and bottom rows. I wonder if it's overly optimistic to hope I'll have it all quilted by the end of the day on Sunday.

No matter how careful or precise I am, I still end up with the tiniest bits of paper stuck to the block. That coupled with muddy Smitty footprints means that I'll need to wash this quilt before I can give it to its intended recipient. Since it's going to a child, that's probably a good idea anyway, but I'm always apprehensive that something will happen to it. I guess if something's going to happen to it, it would be better to know it before giving it away. 

Also today, I spent some time making a label for the Intel Underneath quilt. Since this is a graduation quilt, I chose this mortarboard from a quilt label database I have and added the wording to it. I have grown so frustrated with the difficulty pulling the paper backing from the Printed Treasures product I've always used for quilt labels. Today, my frustration reached the breaking point. I've always doused my labels in lighter fluid to pull them free of the paper and then, I have to rinse them with water to get rid of the lighter fluid. It's always worked fine until today when the ink decided to run near the tassel. Why today and never before? Nothing has changed. And why only near the tassel and nowhere else? 

So that was clearly ruined. It worked out okay, however, because it gave me a chance to try a new-to-me technique of printing on fabric using freezer paper. I cut a piece of white fabric to 8 1/2 x 11 inches (the size of a standard sheet of computer paper), and then cut a sheet of freezer paper the same size. Then I ironed the freezer paper to the back of the fabric sheet, and then I ran it through my inkjet printer just like a sheet of paper. I'll admit to holding my breath, hoping it wasn't going to ruin my printer. It turned out great!

The Kona solid white fabric is a lot nicer than the crappy fabric used by Printed Treasures. I'm happy to say that I've fought with Printed Treasures for the last time.

And since I've finished the hand-sewing for the binding on Intel Underneath, I was able to get started on my Retro Camper stitchery.

And that's all I've done for the past two days.

Just now Mike called to say he's on his way home. Guess I'd better get dinner started. It was a rainy, nasty day here. I hope things were nicer at your end.