Paperwork Aggravation

We're going through all sorts of aggravation right now trying to properly fill out the beaurocratic overload of paperwork needed for our upcoming move. Most of that is for the kitties, but I'm also trying to remember all the places I need to do change of address forms for.

The trip to the vet's yesterday was the best one we've had yet. The sedative that the previous vet gave me helped with the big boys, altho Howler still managed to get loose and run around the office. At least his first instinct is to always run into the cage when it's on offer. I don't think the paperwork we have is done right - need to go back for the vet's signature - and then next week it's a drive to Miami for the U.S. Dept of Agriculture to sign off on. Stupidest system ever.

My husband is still sickly and pathetic, tho he held it together yesterday for kitty roundup and transport. I would love to get him out of the house so that he's not here while I'm cleaning, but no such luck. Yesterday we watched the first disc of Stargate Atlantis Season 2. I don't love it as much as the original SG-1, but it's entertaining. Loved the episode Duet in which Rodney gets a woman stuck inside him ala the Steve Martin/Lily Tomlin movie All of Me (which I also happen to love).

I finished quilting the fans all around the Crumby Lost Love border. I also did individual quilting in each of the L-O-V-E letters - I wanted them to stand out from the rest of the quilt. My plan was to then quilt around each of the letters, continuing to do the fan pattern. This is how it looked (notice the past tense):

I didn't like it, so I took out the fans in the middle of the quilt. I'm now going to do each little bit separately and do lots of quilt in the ditch. That's how the quilt wanted to be quilted. See, Atet, some of us have fabric and quilts talking to us too.

I can't believe that some of ya'all actually thought I'd appliqued Elvis on the quilt backing. I can only imagine how much work that would be and remember, I am LAZY. It's a piece of V.I.P. fabric I bought to make gift bags and maybe for interest in crumb quilts, but further reflection made me realize that it would have to be used in bigger pieces to took at all interesting. Since I had the fabric, it was fun, and I didn't pay a lot for it, it ended up on the back.

You may notice that I don't worry about where I start quilting. None of that starting in the center and work out to the edges. I quilt in whatever order suits me and the quilt. For instance I positively KNEW this quilt needed fans in the border so I did that first. I don't know if this method works in a hoop, but I've never had a problem since I'm hoopless.
Melinda asked me about the crumby log cabins. This little block was pieced in the same manner as a log cabin, starting in the center and going around and around. The difference from a true log cabin is that the strips are different widths and I didn't pay any attention to lights on one side of the block and darks on the other. Oh, and it started with a rectangle, not a square. The center rectangle is a piece of Bonnie's chicken fabric, although only the eggs showed up in this bit.
And when playing like this, you can sew the logs on to any side of the center bit you want to. This one went from that terra cotta log on the left across to the dotted greenish tan log. And then the next log sewn on had a triangle pieced onto the end of it. You don't just have to use a whole bit of fabric.
So that's the basic idea. There are some crumb blocks in Crumby Lost Love that get even wonkier than this one. Just play and have fun - you can't go wrong.
Have you made it over to the latest issue of the blogozine The Bent Needle? Go, go. It's all about April In Paris (and other european destinations). Thank you, Sassenach.
I'm not sure how much posting I'm going to get done for the next couple of weeks. Think smooth-sailing thoughts for me and cross those fingers.