Slumbering? Not So Much

These are the doll quilts for our slumber party. Anna chose the colors and laid out the blocks. She requested that they be sewn into sleeping bags and come with coordinating pillows. Two of the quilts use a pinwheel pattern that I like to call whirly fences, because it was insired by the whirlygig quilts that I am seeing everywhere these days. I'll definitely have to put that one on my list. The two light quilts are a woven ribbon kind of pattern. The pictures were taken before I did the quilting last night. I should have taken pictures of the finished product before it was rolled up, but I always think of those things too late. The binding is a little frightening. I fininished both sides by machine and then zigzaged two sides to make it into a sleeping bag. I thought that way they could be unzigged later if someone would rather have just a quilt. (So much prettier spread on a little doll bed).

Here are the finished sleeping bags all rolled up and waiting to hop into gift bags to become party favors. I had to promise both Anna and Sydney to make more for them, but I ran out of time so it will have to wait until after the party.

Here are several overly excited girls ready to open presents. I am thankful it is a small group. One of our guests is having a sleepover soon with over 20 girls. Yikes!

Anna chose an American Girl Tea Party theme. Everyone brought their dolls and then set them at a table decoratively and ignored them the rest of the evening. I am posting lots of photos because my mom reads this blog (Hi Mom). She can never get enough of kid pictures.

Now they are all doing origami and I am trying to stay out of it. Soon there will be more running and screaming. Eventually I hope to quarantine them all to the toy room and let them destroy that instead of the rest of the house. I hope you all have wonderful plans for the weekend. I'm going to be picking confetti out of the rug and proofreading finals. Makes you want to have my life, doesn't it?
Happy Friday everyone.

Sunday -- Gotta Get it Done Day

I wanted to putter the day away, and I managed to do a good bit of that, but I had to fit in all of the usual weekend things as well. Laundry, grocery shopping, children, you all know the routine. Girl Scouts are tomorrow so I had to reassemble the dining room. Rather than grabbing everything up and dumping it back into the study, I organized, folded, sorted, and sewed a little along the way. I downloaded a podcast of Pride and Prejudice and listed while I worked.

I had a moda bake shop box that I picked up while my mother-in-law was here for the cruise. I always have trouble cutting into jelly rolls and charm pack and such. They just look so cute all tied up in their ribbons that I don't want to wreck them. I think this one was called a honeybun and was made up of 1.5 inch strips. How cute is that?

I carefully divided the strips in half and organized them into darks and lights for nine patches. I do love the way the colors all go together and blend so perfectly. I think I'll get some of the pink polkadots to go in between and turn it into an adorable little doll quilt. I don't know if I'll be able to let the girls play with this one, I may have to hang it up instead.

When Anna wasn't busy with play dates, she helped me with the rail fence quilts for her slumber party next weekend. She had some definite ideas about how she wanted them to look, so the patterns continue to evolve. I'll post pictures after we decide on the final designs. Each one will be a little different, but they will still be similar. She and Sydney both helped me stuff the pillows, which they thought were highly adorable. I'll make the cases after Anna picks the border colors for the quilts.
I'm having that familiar Sunday evening dread as I start to think about the work I should be getting done to be ready for school tomorrow. Finals are due on Wednesday for approval and I'm giving a test on Tuesday. I think there is a lab tomorrow, but several of my student will be gone for AP testing, so if I spread it over two days they can catch up again. I think my grading is up to date, although I need to enter some stuff into the gradebook. Just three weeks to go until I can stay up until all hours and sew and sew.

Scallops

I have scalloped. My edge isn't perfect, but I think it is acceptable. I am ready to attempt binding my Welcome quilt. Probably not tonight, 'cause we are theme parking it tomorrow and I need to get a good nights sleep.

Two New Toys

I stopped on the way home from work yesterday to pick up a new iron. They were on sale at Joann's for $20 off. I didn't get the top of the line, but it seems pretty good, and it even has a retractable chord. I think they should make more appliances with retractable chords. Then when I got home, my birthday/anniversary present was waiting. It's not my birthday/anniversary until next month, but Kurt was in need of a new phone and ordered us both new iPhones. Mine is white and his is black. So obviously, last night was spent playing with both of my new toys. I've downloaded some cool apps and organized my songs and basically had all sorts of fun. It was a nice diversion after a painfully bad day at work. I'm trying to delete it all from my memory and move on with my life. Deep breath.... moving on.

I whipped up this little doll quilt in order to practice doing a scalloped border before I attempt finishing my welcome quilt. Today I will learn something new! I hope it will all work out well.
This afternoon the Girl Scouts are going ice skating and if all goes well I will have a quilt to finish and an iPhone full of new games to play while they skate. Not a bad day at all. I'm feeling better already.