Elsie, Janice's quilt finished, new strata strips

I know that baby quilt from yesterday might not be everyone’s cup of tea for a baby….but I LOVE it…..it’s so bright and cheerful and makes me think of a party every time I look at it  :~).

Michael left before 8 AM on Monday morning (10/17) while I headed to my studio and got Janice’s quilt off the frame and all of the ends tied in before leaving for my Volunteer meeting.  Elsie is still loving Cookie’s bed….it’s definitely her new favorite spot...I almost always have her company now when I'm downstairs:  

By the time I got home from my Volunteer meeting, I had a message from Mary Jo and we got to talk for a nice long time  :~).  After that I decided to make binding for the orange baby quilt….I’ve decided to try to do the binding right away when the quilt top is finished and I still have the fabric laying around…we’ll see how that goes…but it IS a great idea if I can only follow it.  Usually I’m so excited to be able to start a new project that I move on to something new right away…then it’s time to quilt the original top…and I can’t find fabric for binding… or I’ve already used it all up in something else  :~(.  I’m hoping to train myself to make it RIGHT THEN…as soon as the top is done…I have a convenient storage space for bindings (on the inside of my closet door):  

and it can live there until the quilt is quilted.  After that I got Janice’s quilt all trimmed (a Christmas present for her nephew): 

and began to cut strips for another baby quilt.  I need several baby quilts and am trying out a variation on the Hidden Wells pattern….stay tuned :~).  Donna stopped by in the afternoon for some knitting help and we sat and talked for over 2 hours!!!  It was so delightful….I haven’t seen her in forever and it was really good to catch up.  Michael came home while we were talking….very pleased with his 84.  I told him he had a choice for dinner….either eat out at Firebird’s or I would make the butternut squash/pasta dish…he said how about neither since the guys had all stopped for a late lunch on the way home.  That worked for me especially since when my dinnertime arrived, he made me a fabulous and perfectly cooked grilled ham & cheese sandwich :~).  Anyway, once Donna left I headed back to the studio and Michael came with me to watch TV, and work on his golf scores, while I continued to cut out my strips.  I got all of my strips cut 

this will be my strata with white in between

my focus fabric

before we headed upstairs around 9 to watch a bit of TV before bed.