Fair Enough

You probably thought I'd be working on those hanging sleeves through the night before they were to be delivered to the fair, didn't you? Well, I'm happy to say that both are finished now. I was happy to have enough fabric from both quilts to use their own fabrics for their hanging sleeves. I could have used muslin, but I kind of like the sleeves to match somehow. The shoe fabric was all gone for Snips and Snails, but I still had the green stripe used for the snake and the binding.

If I'd been thinking, I might have matched up those stripes with the stripes on the binding, but then...I didn't want to start any fires on such a hot day. The label is stitched on too.

The only thing left on this one is to write a little card with the story of this quilt. We have the option of submitting a 4 x 6 index card to be hung with the quilt so that folks know of any special meaning behind it. I'll do one for this quilt.

Smitty had some thoughts about it.

Purrhaps you could explain how this sleeve enhances the life of me, your little cat.

I didn't notice his dirty feet until I took this image off the camera. Somebody's been digging for gophers.

Also yesterday, I got the label sewn on Gingerbread Square.

The sleeve was pinned and I was about a quarter of the way with the sewing when I quit for the day.

The rest was finished this morning. We are limited to two quilt entries this year.

There was some fun stuff in yesterday's mail. It was probably a mistake to follow the blog for the Sketchbook Project. They send some interesting little stories about sketchbooks that have already been submitted. They also send advertisements for products one might purchase. This little pencil pouch, for example.

My "One Word Wonders" project requires some additional supplies beyond the sketchbook. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've already purchased a little mini photo printer so I can print photos while we're traveling. Also, I'll need some sort of writing implement. I haven't decided yet what kind of pen or pencil to use. Perhaps some of you have suggestions for something that will not smear or fade, but has a fairly sharp point. Also, I'll need adhesive squares to affix my photos to the pages of the sketchbook. Finally, I've purchased a roll of postcard stamps so that I can mail picture postcards to friends and family made from my own photos. As long as I'm printing pictures, I figure I might as well print postcards while I'm at it.

So, you can see there's quite a lot of foofaraw involved in engaging in this project. I decided the pencil pouch was a good way to keep it all in one spot. Obviously, I seriously needed this, as I'm sure anyone can understand.

Also, I added one more embroidery project to my travel take-along list. I figure I'll finished Wine Country and/or the Bag Ladies eventually, and then where will I be? Clearly, one can't be too careful about packing along enough projects to work on. What this really means is that I had a brain fart and remembered one from Crabbapple Hill that I wanted to do when it was still a BOM. This is the Snow Globes quilt.

The BOM didn't appeal to me, and so I didn't purchase it that way. Instead, I decided to wait until the whole thing was published, and then I completely forgot about it. Until a few days ago when I remembered it and snapped it up along with its floss packet. The floss is very pretty and includes variegated colors as well as some different colors of sparkly metallic floss.

And so you can see that my life depended on having this too. I'd noticed my pulse becoming faint and that, occasionally, I was breaking out in a cold sweat. All better now...and having the heat wave pass on hasn't hurt either.

Speaking of the heat wave...I read about us in the Washington Post. Impressive, eh? You can read it at that link I've given you. The article mostly focuses on our neighbors to the north in Seattle, and honestly, who cares about them? We here in Portland were undoubtedly far more miserable. After all, we live here, not there. Heat in Seattle? That's a whole state away! We didn't feel a thing of Seattle's heat. Portland heat, on the other hand...well, it was just plain murder. 

It was nice today, however. Erik, Mae and I headed off to the Beaverton Farmer's Market where I scored a box of peaches. Aren't these pretty?

These will be on tomorrow's agenda. The plan is to make some Spicy Peach Barbecue Sauce. The Sweet Cherry Barbecue Sauce I made a while back is so delicious that now I'm itching to try it with peaches. There is absolutely no reason why I need both, but there you go.

Also, I'm going to make some Peach & Brandy Sauce, which I'm told is good over vanilla ice cream, on pound cake, or basted on pork tenderloin. These are both new recipes to me, and so I can't vouch for them. You know I'll get back to you though, so stay tuned. No doubt, there will still be peaches, and so we might sway from our diet discipline long enough for some peach cobbler or peach crisp. And if there are still peaches leftover...then maybe some peach jam or something. The mind reels at the possibilities.

Edited to say I forgot to choose a winner for the Bag Ladies Stitch-Along. I've spun Mr. Random and come up with:

#3--Lynn!

Congratulations, Lynn! I've sent you an email, so check your inbox!