Hey pals! I had a great day today! I attended a quilt show with a schedule of quilting classes (quilting more than piecing) and I got a lot of great ideas on how to use templates to design patterns for my quilts. I can see that I'm probably going to need a lot of practice to get good at this, but now I've got the ideas to try and some visuals to aspire to. I took two classes: one from Patricia Simons of Quilter's Rule, Inc. called "Unlocking Your Creativity, Templates are the Key!" and the other by Sheri Wood called "Not your Grandmother's Feathers." Both taught me a lot and I'm so glad I attended. And then there were the fat quarters that needed to come home with me.

I'll show you some of the sketches from those classes later, but I did actually get something creative done today! I had a special Valentine dinner with My Favorite Three Year Old and her folks. But while I was up in West Bend after the quilt show, I found the PERFECT gift for the Wee One--fleece fabric printed with Curious George! She adores George and with my penchant for the music from the movie, we talk about George often. So I bought two yards and fringed the edges using my rotary cutter, Shape Cut ruler, and mat. And that's it--less than an hour later, a fringed Curious George blanket! I thought about doing two layers and knotting them together, but she gets pretty toasty when she's bundled up in my two-layer fleece blanket, so I figured one layer was better for her. That monkey is SO cute that I almost wished I was keeping it for myself. But she was so fascinated with the process, since I did all the fringe-cutting at her house. She was right there next to me while I cut the fringe--her Mom said if she got any closer, she'd have had to be tattooed on my arm. I love the idea of teaching her to make things when she gets bigger. I got her the little stitch-around shapes for Christmas (Disney Princesses), so I'm already helping her out with her fine motor skills!

I'm going to do a little more work on my afghan tonight while I watch the end of The King & I. I've been working on it in the carpool (when I'm the passenger, of course) and I can get one complete two-row pattern done on most commutes--four rows or two fans each day. So I'm making some good progress and I'm excited about that.

Tomorrow I'll finish the cards for my One World, One Heart winner, finish the laundry, and go to the gym after Mass. I'm so looking forward to a quiet day at home tomorrow. But I figured you'd all want to see my not-excessively-creative creativity for today.