I spy something cuddly

Hi all! This has been a very busy week for me, how about you?  I did get a lot done, but somehow I still have more to do.  How does that happen?  It's like the scrap basket--the more you take out, the more there seems to be left.  Do you know what I mean?  On the upside, the heat broke for a bit, so I have been unable to fry eggs on the driveway for a few days. (Has anyone ever actually tried this?)  It's been lovely and pleasant, which is a nice change.

This week I did finish up this little lovely:

I quilted up the I Spy quilt!  When I went to take pictures of this little quilt, I planned to go to a very pretty park a little ways away from us.  Lots of shade and it's well watered so it's still really green.  On the way there it started to sprinkle, so I stopped at a different park that was closer to take pictures before the rain showed up in force.  I took some pictures on the playground equipment, and they turned out pretty well.  There were no children there because of the rain, and if there had been I probably wouldn't have done it, but it was great for a children's quilt.

To keep this little quilt cuddly, all I did was stitch in the ditch (or near the ditch) of all the blocks, including the diagonals.  It was quick and easy and felt like I made a lot of progress really fast.

In the setting triangles, I free-motioned some words! I hope they show up okay in the pictures. These are a few of the things found in the quilt, like cows, frogs, cats, etc.

I chalked in the first three words just to get started, but then I just "wrote" the words in each triangle as I went.  It was pretty easy and I was actually kind of sad when it was over.  But now my favorite tiny human will not only have a cuddly little quilt but also some of my "handwriting." I will definitely try this again on another quilt, too.  Maybe a stripe so I can keep the words straight.

I used a stripe for the binding and some cute owls on the backing.  The quilt was a little too wide for one width of fabric, so I added a strip of polka dots to fill it out.  The binding is Susie's Magic Binding, which is still awesome.  I messed up somewhere, though, in either the binding or the setting triangles, because I ended up losing most of the points on the edges.  I'm thinking that I trimmed the edges a little too closely on the sides.  Live and learn.

So that's my happy little finish, done just in time for taking to our tiny grandson.  I'm not sure he actually needs another quilt, especially at the height of summer, but what's a grandma to do?  I guess I could hang on to it for a while, but it's much too cute. I wouldn't want him to be deprived!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!  I am seriously looking forward to packing up and getting away from the construction zone that is the house for a little while.  I'll also be looking for some ways to eat all of these:

These are my tomatoes and a small zucchini, which is what I've gotten so far from the two plants that I have. (Those are fingerprints on the rim, not dirt!)  I'm amazed by the tomatoes, which taste like fresh air and sunshine.  I've never grown this many this early.  Hope my neighbors like tomatoes!  I've been pinching back the zucchini, too, so I hope not to get too many of them, but the first one is always great!

Sharing at Finished or Not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and crazymomquilts.