Little Quilts and Stitches

I went to a general store but they wouldn't let me buy anything specific.
~Steven Wright

What a weekend!  Saturday turned into one of those go, go days.  Our venture into Walmart was even worse than expected.  I think everybody decided to go shopping at the same time as us.  The parking lot was packed and finding a handicap parking spot was almost impossible.  The store is going through a renovation - they are turning it into a small Super Walmart.  Almost everything had been moved around.  A third of the store was totally blocked off.  The already narrow aisles were even narrower.  We did manage to find almost everything we had gone in looking for but what a nightmare.  Thank goodness we don't have to go back for another four weeks.  Hopefully by then they will be done with the changes.  If not, we will go to a different Walmart.  The rest of the day was spent running to a bunch of different stores.  My DH told our daughters we logged 300 miles on Saturday, 200 of those on foot.  Of course, he really exaggerated stretched the story a little.  But we were pooped at the end of the day.  I'm ready to start a new week!

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PHOTO FACT OF THE DAY

National Yo-Yo Day falls on what is believed to have been Donald Duncan Sr.'s birthday (even the Duncan Company isn't quite sure if June 6 is the right date). Donald Duncan Sr. was an entrepreneur who in 1930 got into the yo-yo business.  Yo-yos have been popular toys for over 2,000 years. Early forms of the toy were called different names, such as quizzes, bandalores or Jou-Jous. The earliest recorded account of the word yo-yo is from an 1860 Filipino dictionary.  In 1923, Pedro Flores, a man of Filipino descent, began building yo-yos in America. He built the yo-yos by hand, and discovered that America's youth were fascinated with them. In 1928, Flores built the first yo-yo factory, mass producing the toys in California. He also began to hold yo-yo competitions to promote the toys, which started the first round of yo-yo mania in the United States. Donald F. Duncan Sr. first saw yo-yos in action around the time Flores began to hold competitions. In 1930, Duncan bought out Flores, who was then hired to run Duncan's promotional campaigns. More competitions and exhibitions followed, and the company did well in its first few years. For the next 25 years, all of Duncan's yo-yos were made of wood. In 1955, Duncan partnered with a company called Flambeau to produce plastic yo-yos. In 1968, Flambeau purchased the Duncan name and continued to produce plastic yo-yos. The famous Duncan wooden yo-yos were discontinued and remained out of production for more than two decades.  In 1996, the craze spread worldwide. It was fueled by exciting commercials, partnerships between the Duncan company, science programs in schools, and a wave of nostalgia as Duncan reintroduced the 1955 wooden yo-yo model.

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LOVING HANDS

Friday I was able to make a quilt for Loving Hands.

Loving Hands gives blankets to the neonatal unit at one of our local hospitals to put over the isolettes.  The quilts are to measure 32" X 32".  The gal that heads up this division in the guild stated that they are in need of boy quilts and I thought this one could go either way.  I plan on making at least one of these a month.

I don't know if you can see it, but I used a blue and green variegated thread on the top for quilting.

This little dog and cat print has been in my stash for quite awhile.  I thought it made a cute backing for the quilt.

For the back I used a primary variegated thread in the bobbin for quilting.  Now it's time for it to go into the wash and then put in a plastic bag to keep the dog hairs off of it before taking to the guild meeting next week.

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BIRDIE STITCHES

Last Tuesday, on the first, the next block for Birdie Stitches was released by Little Miss Shabby.  On Wednesday, I cut out and added the border blocks and traced the pattern.

Sorry about the shadow - I didn't notice it until I uploaded the picture.  With all of the words on this one, I thought the straight line border worked well.

This is the stitching that I have completed so far.

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TODAY'S GOAL

Today I plan on working on at least one swap block.

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GIVEAWAYS

The Intrepid Thread is having a giveaway.  You could win a charm pack of Hoo's In The Forest.  This giveaway will end Friday, June 10.

Hawthorne Threads is having their weekly giveaway.  This week you could win a Lila Tueller Lola's Posies layer cake.   A winner will be selecting Wednesday, June 8.

Cat Patches is having her Fun Fact Friday Freebie.  You could win a specially selected fat quarter.  The winner will be announced next week (Friday I think).

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FINAL THOUGHT

I have tons to do this week.  I have to make some swap blocks and I should start a mug rug for another swap.  I have a little quilt I want to make before the grandsons get here on Saturday.  Already I'm feeling the time crunch.  What to do, what to do?  I'm just going to have to concentrate on keeping focused  - using each day to its fullest.  One thing at a time and they will get done.  I just have to keep reminding myself that everything doesn't have to be done in one day.  And if something doesn't get finished this week, it can always be completed before the end of the month.  Just keep focused.....no distractions......mind on what I'm doing.....I can do this!
Oh, and by the way, I spent very little time on the computer this weekend so I missed reading a lot of my favorite blogs :(  I'm sure I also missed a lot of giveaways so if you would like me to post your giveaway tomorrow, just send me a quick email :)

How am I going to live today in order to create the tomorrow I'm committed to?
~Anthony Robbins