Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo, my friends! I hope you have something fun planned for yourself today. Yesterday I read a rather argumentative meme that claimed Cinco de Mayo was a made-up holiday...that people in Mexico don't celebrate it...that Americans made it up as an excuse to drink margaritas, etc., etc., etc. (Some people are just no fun at all.) My fellow meme-readers were quick to point out that many of the holidays we celebrate are made up by some group trafficking in celebratory merchandise. Think Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Flag Day. The list goes on. 

What I know from having lived in Hawaii is that the Japanese celebrate "Boy's Day" on May the 5th. For each son in the family, a carp is hung on a flag pole. 

(Maybe they're known as "koi" now, but we called them "carp" when I lived there.) And before you ask, Girl's Day is celebrated March 3rd, although nobody really celebrated insofar as I could see. You know how it is: girls don't get no respect. Well, here's what I have to say about this whole kerfuffle: May 5th is my birthday, so party on! I have my 25% off coupon from my favorite local quilt shop, and I'm going shopping.

Setting the party-talk aside for the moment, here's what happened yesterday. My stitching time was extended by a few lengths of floss so that I could finish stitching the fifth block for The Story of My Day quilt. It just needs sashings sewn on now.

There's one more to stitch before I move to the next project, and I'll get a start on that today. 

I finally stopped dragging my feet on the Tiny House and went to work. Smitty was helping Mike change out lightbulbs in other rooms of the house, and so he begged off from sewing duties. (I really think it was just an excuse to avoid paper-piecing.)

The Tiny House took the rest of my sewing day, but I got 'er done. I give you wonky Tiny House #16.

Here are all the Tiny Houses I have so far.

When I went back upstairs, I found two lazy kitties. Sadie had somehow slipped into Smitty's space on the top rung of the scratching tree.

That meant Smitty was relegated to the rumpled quilt on the couch. He doesn't seem to be losing any sleep over it. Sometimes the fight is worth it. Sometimes napping is purrferred.

Okay, and I've already changed my mind about my challenge piece. I remembered something I'd seen a couple of years back. I always thought I'd make a quilt from it, and I even got permission from the artist to use her work in my quilt. I can use the one I showed yesterday when the prompt for "Vintage" comes up, and so I decided to do this one instead. I know...clear as mud. Colorful mud, but still mud.

Just to be sure, I contacted the artist again. It had been at least two years since I got her permission. She wrote back right away and said, "Ahhh wonderful!!! I’m really so excited about this! Please keep me posted! 😁😁😁." Okay, then. I won't start on this for a while, but it will be fun to do.

Okay, so next up is to start quilting Dancing Chickens and Flying Pigs. I am going shopping today, though, so I might not have time for any sewing today. Mike and I have reservations for dinner out tonight. I'm looking forward to that. And let's just assume I'm looking forward to a good day all around. I hope you have a good day too. It's Friday. What could be better than that? Feel free to have a margarita to celebrate!