Mmm Hmm

I don't really have anything spectacular to write about, but today is the last day to get a post in to keep up with the two post a month goal...

This weekend I was finally able to get my motorcycle up to Mankato. We had a couple days in a row of good weather, but the next few days are going to be pretty ridiculous for May. Soon enough though it will be nice enough to ride on a daily basis. I am still getting used to the bike being so much bigger than my last one, but I think it will all be good with a bit more experience on the bike. I'm currently looking into getting a new front tire which looks like it's going to set me back a sizable chunk of change.... sigh.

On Saturday I ran my first 5k race of the season. It went fairly well. I finished in 28:43, which is slower than the first one I ran in October, but given the abrupt change in weather and my lack of reconditioning in the warmth (it was in the upper sixties. A lot warmer than the 40-50s I have been running in) I'll take it. My foot and ankle have been fairly ok, but I'm still going to have to take it easy. The short run I went on tonight seems to have brought back some of the old pain. However, since it's going to rain and or snow for the next five or so days, I won't be running and it can get the rest it needs.

The fruit of four years of work

When I first joined quilt club, a lady named Brenda (who I haven't seen at the guild in a couple years) taught me something called English paper piecing. Since then, I've brought part of this project to work on at nearly every guild meeting. After all this time, I finally finished this quilt.

There have been a lot of ups and downs. I would get SO bored with it and not want to work on it at all. Other times I would work on it seemingly non stop. I set myself a goal of getting it done in time for the quilt show, which is coming up on April 20th and 21st. I got the top piecing done in February. My super awesome aunt Tracy did the top quilting in less than a week for me. She did a fantastic job. My other aunt Ali hand delivered the quilt to me at work so I could finish it up.

Putting the edging on this was probably the worst part of the whole process. I had to sew around the jagged edge of the blanket two times. It took a painfully long time. Then I had to carefully trim all the extra fabric and batting off before turning it right side out. This also took a painfully long time. Hand sewing the rest down was the easiest part of the whole finishing project.

In the end, I am really pleased with the outcome despite the quilt being so small for four years of work. It's about 56" x 68". It will be proudly displayed at the quilt show, and I would love to have everyone come see it. I'm also showing my two challenge projects. They are just two smaller wall hangings.