Heat wave!

It’s a whole 17 degrees outside and the sun is shining!  Heat wave going on!  Okay, well relatively speaking it is and that meant it was actually warm enough for me to venture out to the grocery store this afternoon.  Eating healthier is a good thing but it means I have to go to the grocery store much more often and I soooo do not like grocery shopping.  But the fridge is restocked, there’s a little pork loin that I found hidden in the back of the freezer yesterday that will be going in the oven shortly, a load or two of laundry has been done, finished off the pattern for Hoffman California Fabrics and emailed that off to them and then did my taxes and efiled them.  Whew! a busy day so far.

But I shall be anxiously awaiting those tax refunds because there is a new box spring and mattress first and foremost in my immediate future.  Mine has turned into a hammock.  I knew it was time to replace it but didn’t realize how bad it was until I was at my parents and slept on a good mattress.  Yep – it definitely needs replacing soon.  And after that I’ll be replacing my living room sofa and chair which also have a major case of the saggy uncomfortableness too and we won’t even mention that the big ottoman is more U shaped than flat across the top.   Hmmm I don’t much like furniture shopping either but I will just have to deal with that after the bed is done. I tried to convince them at work that I really needed to bring one of the new chairs we have in our office lobby home to my house but that plan just didn’t work!

For the rest of the afternoon – despite the fact that things could use a bit of straightening and vacuuming around here – I think I’ll just be sitting and knitting.  My sweater front is done and I have the cast-on row done for the first sleeve but think I will knit both sleeves at one time so need to go find another hank of that yarn to get it wound so I can cast on the other one.

And, the my second Dog Pound block

 which is this pattern design, I want to get cut out this afternoon.  These are the fabrics for the dog and his ear (they are a little darker rust than the photo shows) but I need to decide about the collar yet.

And the winners are – Quiltmaker March/April issue

Okay  you people who entered the giveaway for the extra copies of the March/April issue of Quiltmaker that has my Spinning Pinwheels quilt in it, I have had the random number generator pick some winners .

  Cindy, Roxanna and Susan I have emailed you privately to get your addresses.  Congratulations.

Thank you to all who left comments and in response to a couple of them — Cindy said she couldn’t quite figure out how I designed them.    The interesting thing is when I drew them, I had in mind a specific way on how I would put them together.  However, Quiltmaker’s magic elves write the patterns up the way they would make the quilt which in this case is very different from how I would do it – and a very interesting way to put it together.

Thank you for the comments about loving the colors, etc.  — I can’t take any credit for that.    I didn’t make that quilt – the deadline between when I would receive fabrics to make the design out of and the time they need it completed and sent back for photographing is just way too tight for a person who works a full time job outside the home. 🙂  So the fabric line that gets used and who makes the quilt are chosen by Quiltmaker.   So it’s always a great surprise to see what one of my designs looks like in the magazine issue. 🙂

I love the fabrics that got used in this one but it’s a very different look from the colors I used in EQ to color the image in with.

 

Here’s what my original image looked like.  And rather than Spinning Pinwheels, my name for this design (which doesn’t always get used in the magazine) is “Button, Button”  (as in Button, Button who’s got the Button) since they remind me of sewing buttons.

 

And more fun news — I just found out one of my most favorite blocks I’ve ever designed is going to be in the next Quiltmaker 100 Blocks issue so I’m thrilled to have another block included.