Short...in so many ways

Short seems to be my life's theme these days.

Short on time. 
I finished hand quilting the pinwheels in the Good Fortune Lil Twister quilt top, along with two stitch in the ditch lines in the borders, but that is it.  I was out of time, and it was going to have to be enough.  And since I had so little time, I decided to bind the quilt by folding over the backing. I've never done that before, but I knew I had to try, because it was the only way I would finish on time. 

I'll probably do it again on select projects, and it turned out very neat and my corners are nicely mitered, but I will continue to bind with a separate fabric(s) on most projects.  I'd seen someone bind this way using a decorative stitch (was that Cheryl, perhaps?) so I tried that as well - I like the result.

Short on fabric.
Once I decided to bind with the backing, I started trimming the excess batting off, and squaring up the backing fabric.  Once I got to the 4th side of the quilt, I discovered the backing fabric was too short by 1/2" on that one side.  I proceeded to go around and trim 1/2" off all sides of the quilt and the backing to make it work.  So the quilt is 1 inch smaller in length and width than I had anticipated, but you do what you have to do.

Short on ink.
Since I didn't have a seam on the back to sew my label into, I decided to write my label directly on the front of the quilt.  I chose a purple pen.  As I was wrting, first I misspelled the baby's last name - yikes!  So I transformed the misspelling into a heart.  Then the pen ran out of ink halfway through the last line.  It looks shabby, especially with my less than pretty handwriting, but I wrote the last two lines in blue. (It turns out, they've picked out the name Maya for the little girl they are expecting, but I don't trust that you always get what the ultrasound technician tells you you will be getting.  My cousin calls me "Cuz" all the time, so I wrote "Baby Cuz" on the quilt, just in case.)

Short on sleep.
I finished the quilt at 2 AM.  I had to wake up at 7:30 AM to get the kids fed, get the campout stuff out to our campout site, and then get into town with our bikes for the Cub Scout bike rodeo that started at 9 AM.  The bike rodeo ended at noon, at which point I handed my kids over to a friend for the day, hopped in the car, and drove the 4 hours to the baby shower.  After 4 hours at the shower, I had to leave if I was going to make it back home for any part of the cub scout campout that had started without me.  I was so tired, however, that I had to stop twice on the 4 hour drive home for power naps in random parking lots.  I made it home at 1 AM, changed clothes, tended to the animals, brushed my teeth, and was at the campout by 1:20 AM.  Some of the parents had kept the fire going and waited up for me, worried.  Even though I was exhausted, it was so nice to sit and chat, gazing into the fire, that I didn't go to bed until 3 AM.  But it is a campout...all the boys, and therefore I, was up by 7 AM.  After a fun morning fixing our breakfast over the campfire and doing a scavenger hunt, we were home by 11:30.  I got done a couple of tasks around the house, sat in the sun with a book for a while, and then gave in and took a nice long afternoon nap.

This was my view until I finally came in to take a nap.  I love sitting on my porch!

Short in stature.
Here is my cousin and his pregnant wife.  They are over the moon about this pregnancy.  They are both in their 40s, and have been trying to get pregnant for most of the past decade.  Those smiles were on their faces all day yesterday.  I am so happy for them!

Seeing this picture made me feel really short.  It also made me realize that, if I hang out with pregnant women, it will make me feel really petite.  I'm filing that away for those days when I feel dumpy...

The quilt seemed to be well received.  There were the usual Oooohs and Aaahs, but then someone said, "Wait, is that HANDMADE???"  One woman attending the shower hugged me, said she was a cross stitcher and knew how much work must have gone into my quilt and was brought to tears that I would make such a gift for my cousin.  I hope they like it.  I hope they USE it.  I hope the rest of the pregnancy goes smoothly.  I can't wait to meet and hold my new little cousin.