the grand finale.

hoot! hoot!

for most of the world, christmas is long gone. but we are in our own little world in miami. i promised the darling ms. pumpky that i would have a gift for her, but it had to wait until after the overwhelming pre-christmas days. we agreed to exchange gifts shortly after the new year, but well, i am a giant stinker and was not ready until yesterday. see, i had this brilliant plan to make her a lovely bag for school. sadly, the "perfect" bag that i made was lovely, but totally not perfect for her. time for a new plan, but i was completely stumped. and then i remembered the last time i visited her home and froze on her couch, because she has lost her throw blanket. not sure how you lose a throw blanket, but she did. and i was cold. so i thought to myself, the lass needs a couch blanket!!! and i had the perfect idea, because not too long ago i was trying to convince mrs. nipper knapp that she could indeed quilt a quilt and it did not have to be scary (she has since made and quilted a perfectly lovely quilt...bravo!). as an example i showed her this positively genius quilt by katie did. of course, ever since i found this design i have wanted to make one and now was the perfect chance. so i wasted nary a minute and headed promptly to joanns to procure the materials.

now this quilt was intended as a one-day project. but, well, i am six months pregnant and there is only so much i can do in one day. plus, although i have done little bits here and there, this was my first true experience with applique. i could not resist adding some cute-as-a-button owls. but, ummm...fusible interfacing? what's that? oh right, you need it to applique and apparently if you do not follow the directions rather precisely, things do not work out so lovely. anyhow, long story short, this turned into a four day quilt, but i am pleased as punch with the results, so the time spent was well worth it. oh and ms. pumpky was quite simply delighted.

my first experience with fusible interfacing. it took a few hours, but i finally had the two little owls ready to be appliqued.

the finished quilt. ready just in time for christmas in february. yahoo!

i am completely enamored of this binding fabric.

the back. pretty purple is pumpky's preference.

nasal irrigation?

went to sleep at 9:30 last night. little early for this night owl. but then i woke up in the middle of the night congested and sneezing, which instantly explained the early bedtime. i then spent a miserable day at work as my congestion increased and a fever took hold. this got me thinking about neti pots, which lately seem to be appearing in my reading material with increasing frequency. more than one celebrity has stepped out to say that they swear by these little gems. what is a neti pot you ask? why, it is a nasal irrigation device of course. sounds disgusting? it is.

cute little bugger, eh?

it is kind of like giving your sinuses a bath. strange concept, but when you are congested, it sounds like a dream. so i stopped by the local drugstore and picked up my very own neti pot. i have to admit that i was a bit wary the first time around. but i read the directions and with a little encouragement from the mister i filled up the pot and set it to action. not necessarily disgusting, but definitely weird. weird. weird. and then instant relief. holy crap, this thing might be the greatest cold remedy ever! it made my poor head feel so much better that i could not wait to use it again. we will see how i feel tomorrow, but for the moment, i have to give the pickel stamp of approval to this genius invention. don't knock it until you try it. just do me a favor...whatever you do, do NOT go to google images and look up "neti pot." yikes.

pickel stamp of approval.