Sunday Sundry - Vol. 23

Progress continues to be made on the Climbing Lanterns quilt project.  Today I stitched down the Chinese lanterns and stuffed them lightly.  A chopstick just happened to be the right tool for the job.  

It wasn't as difficult as I thought it might be to machine applique the top of the pieces down, being gathered and all.  I just stitched over that area first and left an opening for the stuffing along the side instead of at the top.  I used a stabilizer on the back for the zigzagging around the lanterns, which helped.

Next step:  Basting and quilting.  Again, there is some trepidation (how am I going to quilt it? and what if the quilting sucks?), but I'm trying not to freak myself out and just put one stitch in front of the other.  So far, it's working.
 
The Eyes Have It
"Your retinas are gorgeous."

I blinked and leaned in slightly until my forehead made gentle contact in the dimly lit room.

"Thanks," I replied.  "I guess I've never heard that one before."

It wasn't a pickup line.  It was a comment by my examiner in the Eye Study I participated in on Wednesday.  And I bet she says that to a lot of people.  Still, a compliment's a compliment, and I'll take it.  Good to know my peepers are healthy!

Nifty Thrifties
It was a good week for thrifting at Goodwill.  There were useful household things, like new-with-tags kitchen towels, an oven mitt, a vintage muslin sheet (potential quilt back?), as well as a yard of stars and stripes fabric.  

There were some other things too, including a vintage card shuffler, which may be heading to eBay.

Found a pretty piece of pink Pyrex! Blogged about at The Pyrex Collective.

And look what my friend Marie gave me today, in lieu of throwing them away!

Can you believe it?  How sweet is that?  I just love them!

Speaking of Pride and Prejudice...
Which is how my friend Kathy segued into a discussion on the topic Saturday morning.  Subtle, is what she is.  And funny.  Two of the many reasons I like her so much.

I have posted here before about Pride & Prejudice, one of my favorite movies, the 2007 version, mostly because I am not-so-secretly in love with Matthew Macfadyen.

As are a whole lot of other people, apparently.  If Google Analytics can be trusted, this post continues to be my most popular one of all time, racking up a couple hundred hits a month.  Who knew?

Anyway, Kathy received for Christmas a copy of the movie I had blathered on about and, after watching it, was sorely disappointed!  Over breakfast with Marie and I on Saturday morning, she cited her objections, including characters and storylines that were altogether missing, a butler who wasn't even the right sex (!), and so on.

She proposed that we rectify this by watching the BBC version of P&P, and so we have set a date to do just that.  I am so looking forward to it!  According to Kathy, it runs very true to the Jane Austen novel (not that I would know).  This is the one with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy and takes about 6 hours to get through.  Actually, I think I saw it on PBS many years ago, but most of it has since fallen through the fine sieve that is my brain, so it'll be like seeing it for the first time.  Yay for middle age!

Clap On, Clap Off
This had me laughing out loud today!

And Finally
Thank you to Sarah of Confessions of a Fabric Addict for mentioning The Way I Sew It on the Surfin' Saturday blog feature this week.  I am so very honored.  I had to laugh at the picture she had of me in my jammies—eek!  Sarah's a dear, though, and one of the most prolific quilters I know.  She turns out such beautiful quilts week after week for her quilt ministry and is such an inspiration.

That about wraps it up for this edition of Sunday Sundry.  Thank you all for visiting!  Stay warm and think spring (it's never too early)!