Gourmet Kleenex

I am recovering nicely from my rather significant summer cold. All the same, both husband and I have been going through kleenex like there is no tomorrow. Pearl has been giving us fits because she LOVES paper of any kind, but clearly thinks used kleenex is gourmet stuff. I've been wrestling with her for several days to get the stuff out of her mouth. She steals it from the bathroom wastebasket (for some reason, the door keeps being left open) and seems to enjoy letting me know that she has it. She has all but waved it in my face and getting it away from her has been like wrestling a pig. She obviously thinks that is great fun.

This morning, I switched to offering her a treat when she complied with "drop it!" Before I knew it, she was fetching used kleenex from the bathroom, racing to the den, tossing them in my lap and sitting back waiting for her treat. UUGGH!

I managed to to do four more Sylvia Blocks since yesterday:

Mother's Favorite:


Nine Patch (took less than six minutes):


Ladies Aid Album:


Star of the Orient:


I just love the Star of the Orient pattern although I am not as wild about the center as I thought I would be.

I picked up some fabric at the LQS (Blank Quilting) from a line that resembles suede. It comes in many colors and I understand a lot of people like it for applique flowers because the colors are vivid and the four colors compliment each other. It is called Shade Cascade.

Here is a picture of it showing the four colors in this particular colorway:


Here is a strip of it showing the colors:


One of the reasons I am enjoying doing the Sylvia Bridal Sampler project is because the smaller blocks let me use up scraps that are fairly useless in most twelve inch blocks.


See what I mean?

My beloved Janome has been acting up a little bit, recently. It created some bird's nests and got jammed. Very unusual for that little workhorse. I think she is due for a checkup but am not sure if I want to drop her off here (driving 25 miles and picking her up a week later) or just waiting until we get back home to Oklahoma where they have a dealer in town and I am not going to be set up for quilting right away, anyway. I cleaned her up and she seems to be back to her sweet self but I still think she needs a tuneup. I ought to drag out my little Bernina and use her, anyway.

The blocks always look pretty terrible prior to squaring up.

Here is Mother's Favorite:


Here is the Star of the Orient:


Actually, Star of the Orient looks good even UNsquared!

Did I mention that I really like that pattern?

Here is the whole group, to date:


Another beautiful day, here. We have a dinner out planned for tonight and I am half starving, saving up to gorge myself.

UUUGGHHHH!! I had to take a quick break because Pearl just dragged out the WHOLE WASTEBASKET from the bathroom and I had to pick it up and take it out. She is not getting a treat for that!

Enjoy the late summer day.