It’s a CIRCUS around here!

Yesterday the guys showed up to finally sheet rock in our sun room! COVER up that eye sore mess of insulation and old broken wall board from the remodel and removal of the heinous sky lights that always leaked!

I have never been so happy to see someone pull in my driveway in my life. Okay, that’s an overstatement, but you get the idea. We’d been dealing with this BAD ROOM since the day we moved in.

In walks our contractor…and a couple of guys to do the drywall….and hammers were flying, and dust was swirling and really, it didn’t take long at all and things looked so much better already!

And before I knew it…they were ALL gone….and I thought that was “IT” for the day, that they’d be back the next day --- but here he comes again, with a different crew this time, a couple short little guys who were here to mud and tape and do all that sort of thing.

And I really got a huge smile on my face when I popped upstairs to see how things were going…and spied this:

Do you see this little guy on STILTS?!? AMAZING! I wanted to try them…lol! It reminded me of the time when I was little and we made “stilts” out of old coffee cans and strapped them to our feet….fun. And I think he could run a marathon in these things! I’d probably fall over in 10 seconds flat.

His buddy, up there on the scaffolding, could MOVE the scaffolding simply by shimmying side to side to side to get it to roll with his own momentum. Another acquired skill I am sure, I would have tipped the whole thing over.

So --- needless to say --- yesterday was fairly hectic around here, workers coming in and out, and me trying to get the pattern directions written for the Cruise that is happening in August….COMING SOON! I’m so happy to say that it is FINISHED and will be mailed out to my cruisers on August 1st. Get ready girls!

I finished the binding, hanging sleeve and label on the quilt for the German magazine last night also….

Here’s the back, hanging on my stand outside! I admit, my photography isn’t great, and if they don’t like the photo, I’m going to just have to pack the quilt up and send it off to Heidelberg or wherever—but I’m hoping it doesn’t have to leave me. Can you see the gently scalloped edge?

I even made the hanging sleeve out of the trimmed off left over backing! We use it ALL, baby!

I have had SO many questions asking me how to keep the whole thing centered, do I worry about block parts being chopped off or uneven in the quilting/trimming process. Does it look like I keep it centered or worry about chopping off bits? ;c) NO!! And that's the fun thing about being RANDOM. Truly random does not mean "EQUIDISTANT" You can't spread things out evenly and call it random. I just make it big enough to do the job, and let the edges fall where they may.

It was a surprise when I had applied the binding, and then went to trim 1/4" past the binding seam to start to turn the binding to the back to hand stitch down ---just WHERE those curves had cut into! And I like it that way. To me it's more interesting this way, than it would have been to make a backing, frame it with a huge wide border simply so I could "attempt" to center it on the long arm ((which is nearly impossible anyway, those of you who long arm know that!)) and have everything perfectly symmetrical.

Did you ever do those tie-dye shirts or little picture canvases at the fair? They go into that spinner thing and you squeeze the dye or the paint and you don't know what it is going to turn out like, but you can't wait to see it? That's what piecing this back was like. I had no control over where the edges were going to be...I just went with it. It's fun! Try it! Give up control just a little bit, and see what wonderful things can happen.

Here’s a close up view! I was told that the Magazine should be released at the end of September – and they are sending me a few extra copies, so yes, we will be doing a giveaway when I get them in my hot little hands, so stay tuned! I know it’s a couple months away yet, but I know you can hang on that long!

Today more of the same will be going on around here. The workers should be back to sand and prep the room for painting. So I’ve gotta stick around. I’ve got today and tomorrow to prepare for my trip to Storm Lake Iowa on Thursday! This week is already flying by way too fast. I did my laundry at Randy’s before leaving to come home….and my suitcase is still sitting in my room packed. I’ll repack a few things for Iowa, but at this point I’m still living out of a suitcase!

My dream for today?? Kit up some of those cheddar bow ties! ((I linked the post up in the pattern tabs above at the top of the blog if you are looking for it)) I’ve seen scads of people just knocking them out like crazy and I haven’t had time to even cut into my cheddar yet! So….with any luck…I’ll get to press and cut and fondle and maybe piece some today. :c) Think I can use those as my leader/enders while I TRY to get some momentum going on my Floribunda? We’ll see!