Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

Sorry to be so ungramatical, but it just doesn't sound as good without the ain't :)

All three loads of laundry are washed and put away, and I have dinner figured out for the rest of the week - still need to get out my Irish Chain quilt - I'll get busy and get that out tomorrow!

I've been working hard to get the roman shades I've been working on finished.  I ran out of rings yesterday, so will have to hopefully pick up more tomorrow.  Then all I have to do is get the screw eyes into the boards and attach the blinds and strings.  Whew.  I've been working on these for a while, and it is time to get this project completed.

I worked at Threads That Bind today, spent part of the day figuring out how to make a lap quilt into a queen size quilt!  We came up with a good idea, and I wrote up the instructions and got the yardage cut.  This is something we do for our customers pretty regularly.  Another good reason to shop at your Local Quilt Shop!  We offer great customer service!

The rest of the day was spent working on a pattern for a barn block with a quilt on it.  I drew up an original pattern and picked out some fabric for the sample.  I will need to work out how to make it and write instructions tomorrow, but that should be a fairly quick task.  I taught an EQ7 lesson, and learned something myself!  I've been trying to figure out how to create a diagonal setting in the custom block mode and today it clicked!  That was super exciting - teaching other people how to use the program has really increased my proficiency greatly.

When I got home I spent a couple hours working on the March quilt!  I finished all my corner triangles and sewed the strips on a few.  Then I had to put one block together - so pretty!

I still need a few more fat quarters of background fabric, so will look for those this weekend.  Only 79 more blocks to go...I guess that means I should make around 4 a day to finish this top by the end of the month.  We'll see!  It's a good goal, and I should be able to sew that many in an hour or so.
Setting a goal really helps push me to get things done, how about you?  I am looking forward to seeing these multiply on my desing wall!

Le Rouvray Quilt Shop

For the greater part of last year I designated all the money I earned on Thursdays to go towards my trip to Paris. It really inspired me to be diligent, and was also fun as I would spend time researching various aspects of our trip in my free time. Since my trip is over now, I have been missing the anticipation of planning and researching, so I think this year I will make Thursdays my day to remember my trip, share some of my pictures and write some notes about the things we did and saw so I won't forget some of the smaller details!

One of the fun things I wanted to do besides seeing all the usual tourist places like Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, and the Louvre was to visit a real Paris Quilt Shop. I did some research and found just the thing, right across the Seine from Notre Dame. We had planned to visit there on Tuesday during our exploration of Notre Dame, but ran out of time. So after a full morning at the Louvre on Wednesday we sat on a bench and decided to go have lunch near Notre Dame and visit the Cluny Museum, the Conciergerie and Le Rouvray - the one quilt shop in Paris!
We stopped by the shop first thing after lunch, but it was closed, so we popped over to the Cluny museum, admired the gorgeous Tapestries there, and the historic ruins and exhibits, then headed back to the (now open) quilt shop! Le Rouvray is a delightful place - not at all large, but full of lovely fabrics and patterns. I had set myself a fabric budget, but it did not go very far here - we are lucky to pay the prices we do here in the United States, fabric is much more dear in other places. I chose to buy some pre-cut pieces in a variety of rich colors, then set my budget aside when I found a wonderful french quilt book!


tout ce qui est Petit est Joli or Itsy Bitsy Pretty Quilts was just too perfect for me to pass up! I love miniature quilts, and it was just way too great that the book is written in french and english. It was more than I ordinarily like to spend on a book, but I figured it did double duty as a souvenir as well as a quilting book! I haven't made any quilts from the book yet, but I'm sure I will be pulling it out as soon as I have some free time. I love the colors and the patterns in this book which are different from my usual choices, and definitely have a french flair to them. They will be a lot of fun to make and a great way to remember my trip. I very much enjoyed my short visit to Le Rouvrey - I would love to visit again sometime, hopefully with a larger money stash (and suitcase!)

Bon Nuit!

Pamela