Project completed...and a visitor

I finished the A∆K state banner a few minutes ago. Hooray!

Now I can pack away all of the paraphernalia that goes with a project like this and get back to my knitting.

Yesterday, as I was about to sew together the three sections of the banner, I made a last-minute change in the arrangement of the sections. I like this one much better.

Then I added the three border strips. I was dubious about the use of the purple, but it's an official color of A∆K, so I felt it needed to be there a little more prominently than solely in a few of the violet blossoms. Now that it IS one of the border strips, I like it. It gives the overall design some "pop."

This morning I attached the cotton batting middle section of the "sandwich," added the backing, then made the bias edging to machine-sew to the front edges and hand sew to the back edges. (That's the bias edging underway in the first photo.) That's now done, and I've added a little patch on the back with my name, my A∆K chapter, and 2010, for history's sake.

So, it's done.

And speaking of violets, my favorite little Violet paid us a visit on Sunday.

The first thing she wanted to do when she got here was go out to my flower garden to check on the fairy houses she and I made in August.

She was pleased to see the houses are still standing and in good condition. Best of all, though, is that she could tell the garden fairies have been in their new houses. She could tell, she said, because "the beds have been moved a little, so that means they've been sleeping in there."

Here Molly the Dog and Violet check on one of the fairy houses.

If I didn't already know Violet had paid us a visit, I'd be able to tell by this scene on my coffee table: acorns and an oak leaf.

The last few times Violet has visited us, she has left acorns behind.

She must have been a squirrel in an earlier life.