Mom, can you make me a sword like my brother's?

My 10-year-old made this today--well, he made the handle and blade parts, and stuffed them, and I stuffed them some more and hand sewed them together. His brother just came upstairs and asked for one of his own. I'll have to get right on that.

I got this done last night, just in time--day camp started this morning! The colors are a bit off because (a) it was still slightly damp but I had to take the photo before I delivered it to Megan, and (b) it was starting to get dark. And I forgot to get a picture of the back. Partway through stitching the second "8" on, I remembered that my machine came with a knee lift bar, and I went and found it and attached it. It made it so much easier to get through all the pivoting required for sewing on the curvy numbers. The number seven is super easy to applique, by the way.

I love how it turned out--the slight fraying of the wave curve looks so cool, if I do say so myself! Wouldn't this design make a cool pool bag? Or picnic blanket? (Without the pack numbers, of course!)

And, guess what? I got the circle quilt top finished today too!

I used this piece of batting as my portable design wall--I was able to keep all the pieces in order once their placement was decided, and I just rolled it up when I wasn't working on it. It did make the pieces get a bit more wrinkled than they would have otherwise, but it was really helpful for this particular project.

Now I need to decide if I should piece the back or not. The back will be made from (mostly?) the large floral on a brown background that's in the very bottom right corner. I could do a simple pieced strip across the back, but I don't know if this quilt needs it or not. Maybe I'll start something new while I think about it.