Friday, February 14, 2014

Maci's My Sunshine Quilt

One of the best things about being a dog trainer is all the wonderful people and dogs I get to know. Many of them become dear friends. Last year I began working with a very nice young couple who have one of the coolest Yorkies I have ever known! I was delighted when they called to tell me that it was time to get the dog ready for a new baby sister!

I had just finished making my first Sleepy Jean Crib Quilt by Springwater Designs available on the Moda Bake Shop, using the pastel portion of two Baby Talk by Benartex charm packs and I really enjoyed the pattern! It is easy for a beginner (me) yet looks complex and much more advanced than I am. So, I found a My Sunshine charm pack on Missouri Star Quilt Company's Daily Deal @ www.MissouriQuiltCo.com for some ridiculously cheap price, like under $2 and using leftovers of the Moda Porcelain yardage from the Baby Talk quilt, and some backing and border fabric, I whipped out a new Sleepy Jean Crib Quilt for baby Maci. They loved it! I got more creative with the quilting this time, doing each section in a slightly different style. I had just gotten a walking foot and had to play a bit!

I wasn't super happy with one of the sections quilting design, but my friends loved it. In fact, the hubby remarked that he liked the different textures that the quilting made... I hadn't thought about this from the view of stimulus for the new little lady and how they like that sensory feel. I definitely learned something valuable from that!

Today I am going to work on the next baby quilt for a friend, whom we shall call Velvet, who I know from AMTC. He and his wife just just welcomed a new baby girl into their lives. Velvet is an incredible man, and while I have only just met his wife once, I am delighted for them. I hope they like the colors I used this time! Velvet is a great actor and musician, funny, spiritual and just an all around excellent guy. I have no doubt that he will make it big and that God is doing great things through his life. I am just privileged to have gotten to work with him and to call him friend!

I am also going to hang the design wall I got and can't wait to start using it! Well, I am using it, but it's not convenient... it's draped across a desk and stack of fabrics! I was hoping to get some of the wrinkles out after I opened up the package yesterday.

And I have to say, aren't the Olympics, in Sochi for the Winter Games right now, incredible? I love how it makes it a small world again. It was heart wrenching to see Evgeni Plushenko have to make the decision to not skate yesterday after injuries. He may be Russian, but everyone was pulling for him and sad to see him go out without getting to finish the competition. And then the whole thing with the Russian Cross Country Skier who had broken a ski and a Canadian coach who came out to give him a replacement, who's wife won gold after her teammate in a relay, it turns out, had been helped by a Norwegian coach in her Olympics in 2006. It's the Spirit of The Games! 

From my experiences racing, every racer I have ever met would rather beat you on the track, even if they have to push you to the starting line themselves, or give you parts, and even help you install them! Why can't we help each other out more off the track? Keep the spirit alive!

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