Appointments and Disappointments

Well, I finished my row by row.. got it quilted, bound, labeled and embellished on Friday night.  Saturday, I went to play Pathfinder (a roleplaying game, similar to D&D) with friends... I was gone all day, so unable to take my quilt to a shop to try to win a prize.  This morning, I rushed off to one of my favorite shops, to find out they'd already had a winner on Friday!!!  So I went to another shop, and discovered that they'd had a winner on Friday, too.  My next nearest shops were both closed on Sunday, so I guess I'll find out tomorrow if they are still open to a winning quilt.  Sigh... I'm very disappointed.  I really wanted to win closer to home, especially at the first shop because they let you choose your own fat quarters instead of giving you a pack of Kona solids (which are cheaper fabrics, and ones I don't use... I rarely use solids, except black, and I don't like Kona solids, as they fray too easily imo).  We'll see what happens tomorrow, when I visit other shops.

Here's how it came out (with the final borders, though this picture doesn't show the buttons that I added):

Today I spent the day doing a little driving and shopping...  came home to start blanket-stitching some appliqued blocks I made before this challenge started.  I've got them maybe 1/3 of the way done... still plenty to stitch, but I think I'm done for the time being... time to relax a bit, recover and recharge my creative batteries.  I'm a little upset and disappointed in the events of the day, and need to remember that it's not about winning, but about doing.  I'm glad I made the quilt, even if I don't win, or have to travel far afield to find a shop that has no winner yet.  It's important to keep things in perspective. 

Tomorrow morning, my dog goes in for grooming...  I have some trepidation at the process even though I know everything will be fine (my older dog got groomed 2 weeks ago.  She always found grooming stressful, and her heart failed later that day).  My younger dog doesn't have a heart condition, and he doesn't stress over groomings, so I'm sure it will all be fine, but the wound is still raw and I miss my girl.  Here they are together, Maggie on the left, Chewiee on the right... RIP, Maggie-girl.