Weekend Update

My *new* ALQS quilt is already a top, and I've assembled the backing. I was truly stunned to find appropriate thread in my bin, so I just need to get it layered and quilted. I'm a little surprised at how much I like it, to be honest -- not that that's a bad thing!

Plus, I spent half the morning at the DMV and on the phone with GMAC -- again. After phoning their call center many times over two weeks to request a copy of the lien release letter so I can title my car in NJ, and getting the same "you'll have it in 24-48 hours" answer, I had a fit on Friday. I called, and refused to speak with anyone but a supervisor... I did relent on that point when I could hear that my call finally got routed to someone in the United States. She explained that there was no request in my account for this paperwork. I guess that's why I never got it! Twenty minutes later, she called me back to say it was being faxed at that moment to the DMV and my office (for my reference, and as a safety net!). Since I was already on the way home (we have half-days on Fridays in the summer), I decided to go to the DMV this morning. Where they did not have my fax. I went to the office, and I didn't have it either. Luckily, the woman I talked to in Kansas yesterday gave me her number, so I called it. Someone else answered, but she was able to get the paperwork off the other person's desk (where it had the fax receipt attached, mind you -- where do lost faxes go, anyway?) and send it again while I waited for it. Back to the DMV and HALLELUJAH we got the job done! I've got plates and my registration; just need an inspection and I'm set.

In some ways, that feels better than getting my (second) ALQS top done ;)

What's red and white and pink all over?

I've been debating whether I should talk about this... and decided today that I might as well! My red and white flying geese ALQS quilt isn't as red and white as it once was. For those who have been coveting it, I'm afraid I won't be sending it to anyone.

See, being such a traditional quilt, it really wanted to be washed so it would crinkle a little. Plus, the leave-in foundation "paper" I used (not the nice stuff Kate has, trust me!) felt a little stiff. I made a sample to be sure the ink from the printer wouldn't come off if it got wet... since the sample passed the test, I simply doused the quilt in cold water and tossed it in the dryer.

You know what happened, don't you? One (or more, I guess) of the beautiful reds from my scrap bin apparently isn't colorfast. It. bled. like. a. bitch. And then went into the dryer for 45 minutes. I cried when I pulled it out and saw it was now red, white and PINK.

And every time I look at it, my heart breaks again. I loved how it turned out. My feeble attempt at removing the pink wasn't successful, and I can't bring myself to try anything more drastic in case it makes it even worse.

So, I've started on Plan B, which is actually coming together quite nicely, given I just dreamed it up this afternoon! It's quite different from the original quilt -- and my blocks are almost finished... a little math, and I'll be on my way again tomorrow. I like how it looks so far... too bad you can't see it ;)

Sunburst is Mine!

I must be one of the luckiest swappers! Lorraine's amazing Sunburst quilt landed on my doorstep today. The mailman did NOT force it into my teeny-tiny mailbox, thank heaven, as the package was practically overflowing with goodness already ;)

First things first: Lorraine, this is an amazing quilt. I love it. It's perfect (even if it does have pink in it!). I've been coveting it for quite a while, and I'm thrilled it's mine.

Second: You all know my camera is broken (had hoped to get down to the repair center today, but I had to fight with GMAC for a while instead). I borrowed (OK, copied!) this pic from Lorraine's blog in order to show it to you. Once I'm able, I'll take more pics and show all of the details.

Third: Lorraine also sent an assortment of postcards, a magnet, a little tasty treat (I've never had Koala!), an Australian quilt magazine and a DVD. Totally too generous. Pictures, oh, for pictures. I'll try to keep all the goodies corralled until such time as I can show them off properly!

Fourth: Thanks to Kate a million times over for organizing this swap and everything else she organizes.

Now, I must go work on *my* ALQS package for my super-secret partner...

Bronx Zoo

Continuing my weekend recap -- and I'd better hurry, before the week is over! Yesterday's field trip apparently drove me to napping -- I fell asleep on the couch for almost three hours in the evening. Yup, got a ::great:: night's sleep, complete with wacky dreams.

Luckily, my non-quilty sister had a better day plan, and she sent me some pics from our day trip on Sunday. We went to the Bronx Zoo. If you didn't know, we always try to visit a zoo on our summer vacation. Pictures from last summer's visit to the National Zoo are in my flickr album; we actually got some good panda pics if you like that sort of thing.

Anyway, getting to the zoo meant getting up early to catch a 7:45 NJTransit train New York Penn Station. Two hours later, after a transfer to the subway and a three-block walk, we were at the zoo. It was a horribly humid day, but we had fun. We saw some gorillas in the mist (literally), took a monorail ride through an Asian area, saw a giraffe family and generally enjoyed our visit. Too bad the new Madagascar exhibit wasn't open yet...

There are a LOT of peacocks at the Bronx Zoo. And it's mating season -- we did see some displays of their beautiful feathers, but we also saw a lot of males and females just wandering around. We were looking at something completely different, when Lisa looked down and noticed a female practically at our feet and really within touching distance. When we started talking about her, she got annoyed and got up to walk away -- and revealed...

Two little chicks! You can see she's walking away, and the chicks are right behind her! They hopped right up on the rock and toddled off. We were so surprised we just stood there and watched -- and got this picture ;)

For amusement, here's Lisa with a rather statuesque rhino. See more of her Bronx Zoo pictures here.

The zoo trip took much of the day... we had leftover pizza for supper and watched 27 Dresses. The funniest part is her trying on the dresses (including some interesting thematic numbers)... had they cut the movie to about 27 minutes, it might have been funny. Ah well... no rhinos were harmed in the making of the movie, so I guess I won't worry about it ;)

Paisley Toy for Zoe

Lisa sent me some pics today... most importantly, let's show off Zoe's new toy, which is this cute bone-shaped softie, complete with squeaker. Love the fabric!

Saturday...

Lisa and I had a great weekend... we went "down the shore" on Saturday (I don't understand why it's said that way, but it is!) by way of a Sonic Drive In (YUM!) and Quilting Possibilities. I swear I didn't know they were practically across the street from each other, but I also didn't turn down Lisa's invitation to visit the shop! Lovely store, too far away to be my LQS (although justified, surely, by proximity to Sonic)... and we did a little damage in a short amount of time!

Lisa picked out a pretty lime and purple and blue paisley, which, with the addition of a squeaker, became a new toy for Zoe. This one's shaped like a bone (hmm... should have taken a picture of that!), and hopefully it will last longer than 54 second! Lisa has a real knack for putting fabrics together -- I'm good, but she's better and faster with color. I knew I had to buy some things for the new birthday block swap on quilting.about.com, so we got the only things I could remember -- three ocean colors for Joy's New York Beauties, and some three hot batiks for Margaret's. I'll need a couple more things, but several of the blocks should come at least mostly from stash. Whew!

Now, I've spent FAR too much time writing this post (and getting distracted by other things while doing it!). I'm about dead on my feet, and tomorrow's a "field trip" day at work, so I need to get myself organized for a decent bedtime ;)

Delayed (aka Friday the 13th)

My sister is coming for a visit this weekend... maybe ;) I always love those flight plans that require one to fly west in order to fly east (or vice versa)... she went from a small airport in Michigan to Milwaukee, where they canceled her flight to Newark Liberty. It's the airline's fault, so they tried to find her a spot on another carrier, but there weren't any. She's on her way (in a few minutes, I hope!) to LaGuardia instead, where the airline will provide some kind of ground transportation to Newark.

Call me chicken, but there's no way I'm driving to LaGuardia! That's multiple bridges, plus going across or around Manhattan. In the dark. Without a legal auto registration. Yes, I'd have Jill, but no, I'm not going. The car service or bus or whatever will have to sufflice.

For the record, before we know the airline would do the ground transportation thing, I did offer to take the train in and meet her somewhere so she didn't have to deal with public transportation alone at night with luggage. I'd say I'm happy I don't have to do that, except that Lisa will probably read this, and that wouldn't be very nice ;)