I got up early this morning to play pickleball at 8:30. It was just above freezing when we started but the sun was out and it was a glorious two hours. I played the first two games with winter gloves on. I had taken a light down jacket with me but was comfortable playing in just a turtleneck and a fleece.
This was the first day I played after officially raising my skill rating from 3.5 to 3.75 and joining in with the higher level open play. I play with a lot of the same people regularly. But it was kind of a big deal to officially declare that I was worthy.
I wasn’t nervous about it because I felt pretty confident that I could hold my own with that group. And I had a great day! Every game I played was close. Not one game was a blow out. And I think my team mates and I won half of the games I played. So that’s a darned good showing!
One guy who is a pretty decent player said that I had improved A LOT since we had last played together! He said I had a wicked serve! That was pretty nice to hear.
I’ll meet my pickleball coach at 8 am tomorrow for a lesson and then we’ll play with a group in Oregon City, OR. I think it’s supposed to be cold tomorrow too.
After pickleball this morning I tossed the ball for my dogs in the park until they almost stepped on their tongues, then we headed off to visit my long arm quilter to pick up the quarter log cabin quilt for my brother and his wife. I also grabbed the three quilts my friend left there when she was here last month.
I’m really happy with how my quarter log cabin quilt turned out! I just love how a quilt top is transformed when it’s quilted and bound. And this one is a real beauty! And it only took three years from start to finish!

This is a queen size quilt and measures 96×96. I made a pretty substantial border to bring it up to the size I wanted.

This is the second quilt where I’ve used one of the Kaffe Fassett Collective wide backings and I’m a huge fan. The prints are large and vibrant, and the feel is so soft and luxurious.

Isn’t that incredible!!! And the best part of it is that I don’t have to piece a backing! Have I mentioned that I don’t like to make backings?
The quilting pattern is large spirals. I love all these circles with all the angles and strips.

Here’s a really contrasty photo to show the quilting really well.

This photo shows the big old border and setting triangles really well.

I’m so glad I went with that lotus leaf in wine! It’s so gorgeous and one of my favorite Kaffe designs.
Here’s a quick look at my friend’s quilts that I picked up today.
First off is this Australian Aboriginal fabric sixteen patch quilt that we made when my friend was here in March. I love this one!

It’s almost impossible to see the quilting on this one.

The backing is a wide back in Brandon Mably’s Onion Rings. I love it with this quilt top! The quilting pattern is called Vidalia. You can sort of see that it looks like onions.
This little quilt is bright and fun and each block is a unique piece of fabric.

This photo shows the quilting pattern really well.

And now this one… I just love it!!! This is the one my friend and I made when she was here in September.

The quilting pattern on this one is Called Malachite and is sort of a wobbly spiral. I used the same design on the Aboriginal fabric quilt I made for my brother a couple years ago. It’s really perfect!

It doesn’t show up much. It’s very subtle, but I love it and I love this quilt!!!

You can’t see the quilting on the backing at all.

I had to get gas this afternoon so I decided to make a stop at Costco while I was out. It was nuts there! When I got home I made a nice hot dinner.
After dinner I headed back to my sewing room to start adhering little pieces of fabric to my lamp shade. I first cut up a cardboard box and put it on my cutting table to keep things clean. And then I just dove in.

I put a little LED lamp on the inside so I could more easily see the overlap of the fabric pieces.

In about an hour I had all the little fabric pieces adhered to the shade and then went over the whole thing with a coat of the Fabric Mod Podge.

I still need to figure out how I’m going to finish the top and bottom, but I put it on my lamp in it’s current state because I want to see what it looks like.

I just love it! Now I want to cover all the lamp shades in my house!!!































































































