Break Wrap, and a bit more Quilting

Well, I found the camera. Now I can't find the cord. I even had a nice little photo shoot with some of my favorite quilts. But, alas...cord missing. I'll continue the quilting thread (heh heh...quilting thread) when I can. I did finish the whole top and border of Baby Frankie's quilt. I bought the batting and backing and, once I figure out how I'm going to assemble the back (the front is about 4" too wide, so I've got to seam the back and I figure that as long as I've got to seam it, I might as well make it look intentional), I'll start quilting it all together. I'm pretty happy with my progress for this week. I think that it's come out really nicely. It's not a traditional baby quilt color palate, but it's quite nice, if I do say so myself. Mary (Frankie's mom, Matt's sister, my sister-in-law) prefers more contemporary muted earthy tones, so that's what I chose. I like it, and I hope that they do too.

I was chatting with another friend this weekend about all of these baby gifties that I'm creating and chuckling about them. I've got one knitted blanket (for Baby S) done. I checked my Ravelry notebook and discovered that I started that January 15. I finished April 15. I bought 6 skeins of yarn at about $3.50 each. Not too bad. Although, I did discover that I'm developing arthritis in my right index finger (which I'm particularly ticked off about). Monetary costs were pretty low, but the time factor was pretty significant. Baby Frankie's quilt, on the other hand, I've managed to whip together mostly this week. I figure that I've put in about 12ish hours. Granted, I've got more experience sewing than knitting, I feel more confident about my steps with a machine, and I'm using a pattern that I've used before, so it is coming together quicker than it might otherwise. But, I've also got...more than $20 into it. That would be an understatement. Matt says that I should sell these things on Etsy. In order to make any money on them, I'd have to sell them for more than anyone would want to pay. And, it's more fun to just give them away. But, it all reminded me of a sign that an old friend's dad used to have in his printing shop, "You can have it cheap. You can have it fast. You can have it good. Pick two. " This rings so true in so many ways.

And, vacation is over. I read a book (complete mind candy). We went to the beach. We took the blue car out. I got new shoes. I baked banana bread (which was the initial thought for this post...I meant to do a Jackie-esque posting of my food products, but I've digressed). Make it yourself, if you'd like. It's good. I made a quilt top. I started Baby H's blanket. I paid some bills. I played lots of cars. I played lots of trains. I read lots of kid books. I might have even taken a nap one day...maybe. I don't remember. I did some laundry and some dishes. It all worked out well. And now we head back for the end. I start the uber-lab with my AP kiddos in a couple of weeks, and the end is in sight. It's good to have a break, but it's even better to have something to go back to.