The tipping point

Torry wins the prize -- well, there is no prize, but her answer was correct, and a couple of people were close. It's all in the name. 

Remember the mystery tool from yesterday? 

The mystery kitchen utensil

While some people will call this a tomato/lemon/egg slicer, it's, in fact, a HOLDER to slice those items. You put the roundish food in the claws, then put your knife through the tines and cut away -- no accidents. There's a bottom lip that holds it flat on the table, and you can even buy plastic ones. Personally -- it's one more thing to wash -- I'll take my chances with the knife on its own!!

If you want to see it in action, check out this video. The video uses a plastic one, and quite frankly, the knife was DULL. It was painful to watch, and I kept waiting for the person to cut her fingers, which the holder is supposed to prevent. Anyway -- it's good for a laugh. If I were going to buy one, it would certainly NOT be the plastic one. That video is a good reason why!

At least some of you knew what it was -- we had no clue, and I think I said egg slicer, but again -- WRONG -- only a holder for the egg to be sliced. 

I had a great day sewing with the Monday group! So much fun, and I was very productive. Time is short, and I must make the most of it. 

But can you tell me why I do things like this?? These blocks were made several years ago, and this piece has selvage on it. Sometimes I do that if I'm short of fabric. But this white section is larger than ¼". Did I expect it to disappear if I left the block long enough? 

Too much selvage showing

I dug through the scraps in the box and found the same fabric, and now it looks a lot better. Duh!!!

Much better

This is what the quilt looks like right now. I managed to get the sashing in a couple more rows this morning, besides what I did yesterday. There are only three rows left in the top right-hand corner. 

Farmer's Wife 

Now here's a puzzle -- there are 111 blocks in the book, and I need 111 blocks for my setting. I have 111 blocks on the wall -- I counted them this morning. 

So can you tell me why I have an extra block? 

An extra block?

I thought I would discover that I made a duplicate of one block, and by adding the sashed names to the blocks, I would find which one was the duplicate. Nope -- I have ten sashings left, and there are ten blocks -- 9 for the quilt and this extra one. Did I goof up in my layout?? Well, I guess this will be a mystery until the quilt top is together. Hmmmmm.....................

And there must have been a ghost sewing with me this morning. A block fell off the wall. OK -- I get that. Then I had put three small booklets into the front of my basket that holds the sew-along projects. About 30 minutes later, it tipped over. 

My project basket slowly tipped off the shelf

Now how did that happen? I guess the three little booklets added enough weight to push the tipping point! It's all back in place now. 

Back in place

I found some more teeny triangles when I was sewing enders and leaders. OK -- be reasonable -- those do NOT need to be saved, and they got relegated to the scrap box. 

These triangles are too small

Here's that Storm at Sea quilt that is in the current issue of McCall's Quilting. 

Storm at Sea quilt

I finally unpacked it yesterday. 

Here's the border print, a neat pattern that begged to be mitered on the corners. 

The mitered corner on the Storm at Sea

And I had another parcel that needed to be packed. Two more pairs of running shoes, and I ordered them when Mark's had a 30% off sale. They were ordered one day and delivered the next!

Two new pairs of running shoes

I now have three, but it's well past time to switch up, so I get to wear a new pair today! 

Three pairs in the closet

The girls saw me bustling around getting my stuff prepared to sit and read after dinner. Look who was waiting for me when I arrived at the chair? Yep -- she's no dummy. She wants to be the closest to Mom, and well, she got there before Murphy did! Ah, sweet Lexi!

Mom -- I'm waiting for you!

I'm browsing through some old applique magazines, and look what I found. Does anyone remember this quilt? I know Helen Anne does as she recently finished hers and mine? Well, it's downstairs. I think one block is done, and I wasn't happy with it, so it got put away. Now I know how to finish it properly. Maybe that will make the UFO list one day. 

Stained glass applique quilt

I got some writing assignments done or rough drafts completed. There's more of that today. I didn't get as much done as I would have liked -- there are still five follow-ups to write. But I'll get through them today and tomorrow. I've got to try and have them ready BEFORE the presentation to quickly send them out. 

And I worked on the Master To-do List for March! I just need to compare it one more time to my calendar to make sure that everything is there. 

Do you want to have a laugh? Read this article about some stolen sewing machines.   Look at what got stolen and the value put on the items. They don't know that the EXPENSIVE machines can cost up to $25,000 EACH!!! 

And a big Happy Birthday to M. Gosh -- they grow up so fast!! 

On that note, it's time to walk the girls. Can you believe that it's warm (minus 3 and light outside)? I'll be positively giddy the entire walk!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!