This week’s finishes

I have two finishes for this week.  I finally put the binding on this quilt and blogged about it here.

And then I made a special little fishy mat for my daughters’ room.  They have an ant farm (which has lasted much, much longer than the 5-6 weeks as stipulated in the directions—more like 4 months now).  The deal was they could get a betta for their room after all the ants died.  It looks like that is never going to happen, so we went ahead with our fish plans.  (ps.  If you ever get an ant farm and the ants happen to be harvester ants which can bite/sting, tell your babysitter NOT to let the kids go to their room without supervision.)

I used just various fabrics from my stash.  The solids are quilter’s linen (not really linen) by Robert Kaufman.  I got a rainbow of colors from Fabric.com a few weeks ago and have been trying them out.   I didn’t measure it, but the finished dimensions are about a foot square.

I fmqed all over (because I still have not bought a new walking foot) and binded and backed it with el cheapo fabric from Joanns that I bought when I was first starting out sewing.  The quilting is done in light pink thread, but it pretty much just looks white against the top fabrics.  My oldest daughter wanted to know what all those squiggles are supposed to be.  She thinks they look kind of like coral, so I told her that’s what I was aiming for…lol!

We got a new fish on Wednesday, dubbed him “Feather Fin,” and he is doing well, enjoying his much more spacious home.

I am linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts today.

Trying New Things Thursday

So far this week, I’ve tried three new things.

The first is Robert Kaufman’s Quilter’s Linen (not real linen, just cotton look-alike).  I ordered several colors just to give them a try.

And then I started making some granny square blocks.  I actually have 12 done at this point.  I am aiming to make 20 for a small quilt and Bea has already claimed this one.

I also bought some Presencia hand quilting thread that was shipped today.  I might either try using the size I bought in my machine as the top thread (not in the bobbin) or possibly doing some hand quilting which I have never tried for outline quilting in this granny square quilt.

I have another new non-quilty thing I tried this week…I got my super-long hair cut.  I donated a 12-inch braid to Locks of Love.   This new haircut feels light, breezy, and very liberating.  I love it!

I’m linking up to Trying New Things Thursday.  Thanks for checking in.  Have a great day!