Finished Quilt and Blech

Why did I write Blech in my post title? Because today we went to the local town fair and carnival and I stupidly went on one of these... Hmmmm the Super Loop wasn't as much fun as I remember it being as a teenager. In fact, it required an immediate trip to the bathroom where - well you can guess the rest. Yes, blech. Throwing up is not much fun! Does this mean that I am officially getting old?!

Onto much nicer things, I finally have a photo of my finished quilt. I did get it finished to be in the show, but unfortunately I didn't get it finished in time to be judged, so it was hanging for exhibit only. In a way I was glad. I have a love-hate affair with the judges critiques. It's always scary to get the judging sheet back - of course you always presume the worst, and mostly they have nice things to say, but still there are the criticisms, which are actually a good thing because it helps you to improve. But I didn't have to worry about that this time since it wasn't there in time for them to judge!

I put the borders on and I immediately knew, and my MIL confirmed, that it needed some applique. My favorite quilting word! So I sat down and drew up some shapes for the applique. Since I used a lot of polka dot fabric in the blocks I decided to do round flowers, which I thought were also a nice juxtaposition to the pointy pineapple logs. I am pleased with the result and can't wait to get back home to NH and hang it above my red couch!

There were some other lovely quilts there - I will show just a few...





And this picture is very special - it is my son and my MIL standing in front of a quilt she made him for his birthday last week. Today was the last day of the quilt show so he was finally able to take his quilt down from the show and he is sleeping under it tonight!
This is another neat photo... my MIL taught my 7 year old Sofia how to crochet a baby hat. My MIL makes a lot of them for the neo natal unit at the local hospital. Sofia was just so excited to make one, and to have it in the quilt show! These weren't judged, just on display, but Grandma made sure Sofia had a ribbon on her hat. I can't describe how excited Sofia was to see that ribbon on her hat! And even more excited that a tiny little baby would get to wear the hat she made.

Back to the carnival, we had a blast watching the annual Steel Days Parade... and I discovered today that my kids have zero fear of heights. Zero, zilch, nothing. Even my 3 and 5 year old boys were begging to go on the scary rides, and the look on their faces was pure joy and excitement! My 7 year old Sofia went on the 'blech' Super Loop ride with me - there I was sitting at the top upside down (they leave you there waaaay too long in my old lady opinion!) wanting to puke my guts out and she's screaming, "I want to get off RIGHT NOW"! Poor thing - she loved the ride but the upside down part scared her too! But she did go on the worst ride ever - you know, the one that spins around really fast (OK I know they ALL do lol) and you can hardly move - and in my opinion is worse than the 'blech' one, and she loved it. Go figure.

So that was our day. A fun time with family and the reality of getting old.

Oh, and just to show you that the son who likes to lick ice-cream off his shoe can be cute and not always gross, here's a photo from today - butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, right? Ha! Butter might not, but we all know that ice-cream would!