Where has this week gone?

Really!  Where did it go???  I did a bit of blog reading but obviously not a lot of blog writing.  :-)

After the grands left on Monday I started on a memory quilt for Patchwork Memories.  It was a first for me and took quite a bit of time.  Cutting lots of the pieces out of baby clothes is a bit tricky, to say nothing of the sewing.  Knits, velours, corduroys,  soft "baby" denim, twills, and lots of appliques to fussy cut around.  But it's done, and ready to go back to Julianne for the border and quilting.

Stardust has turned two-months old and I'm hoping she may be coming for a visit soon!  Oh my.....that means I have a baby quilt to finish!

They are a very photogenic family.  Though I admit to being a bit biased. :-)

No less photogenic is Charlie.  The Sailor Son gave me the Grands little cereal boxes and I filled them up with colored paper, Cheerios and peanuts for Charlie to forage.

He had a blast ripping it apart and finding the goodies.  A parrot pinata?

Our latest fun with Charlie is taking him in the shower with us.  At the recent bird show we bought a suction cup gadget that sticks nicely to the shower wall.

Then I move the gadget to the vanity mirror while I complete the rest of my toilette.  Oh the indignity of it all!  Taking his picture while he looks like a drowned bird. Charlie isn't sure about that other bird in the mirror either.   As I snapped photos I suddenly realized my own just-showered self has a reflection too (duh) and quickly moved myself out of camera range. LOL

Those feathers hold a lot of water.  When he shakes it's like standing next to a shaking dog!  But we had a nice cuddle in a towel.  Well I thought it was nice, Charlie didn't have much of a say in it.

This quilt is finally getting basted and ready for quilting.

Of course when I got almost finished I discovered the batting is a few inches too short.  Sigh....I'll fix it tomorrow.

A while ago I bought this magazine with an article by Helen Stubbings on her method of coloring quilts called Colourque (culla-kay).

I've been fascinated with the technique ever since I first heard of it and today I finally bought the Derwent Inktense pencils Helen uses.  The local Michaels was out of stock, primarily they said because of a rash of shoplifting.  The clerk said they lost a lot of stuff.  :-(   But they gave me a rain check so I could still use my 50% off coupon and even phoned me when the pencils came in.  Very nice!  Now I need to quilt up a whole-cloth something so I can color it in.  :-)

The other purchase of the day was this issue of Quilting Arts I had browsed through yesterday at Barnes & Noble.  I actually stood there and took notes on my phone because of a particular article on quilted portraits.  Today on a fast trip through JoAnn's I saw it again and decided what the heck.  Just buy it....and it was on sale....and I had a coupon.  Works for me!

Last night I played with the Photoshop technique shown in the article (from the notes on my phone...gotta love them phones).  I spent a couple of hours going through the nearly (GASP!) 20,000 photos on my computer trying to find some to play with.  Apparently I don't take very many "portraits".  One of these might work to start with.  What I really need to do is find my Photoshop book.  :-)  Hmmmmm.