Adventure Day!

Today was one of those rare days that we decided to do something...different. Ya know, live a little. We decided to visit the aquarium! I hadn't been to this particular one before, and neither had my daughter, so it was the perfect summer adventure. I wish it hadn't been so hot, though. I was sorely tempted to jump in with the sea lions to cool off ;D Dulcie had a fine time, too. She was only too eager to show me that she was a big girl, and walked up and down the steps by herself. Any time I tried to help, she would wave me off with a, "I do it, Mama. I do it." That didn't stop me from hovering encase she did, in fact, need me!
When I came home it was to find a lovely gift from my mail carrier :D More Tula and a splash of Amy Butler. I'm actually not a huge fan of Amy Butler. I have a few pieces of Midwestern Modern (1 & 2), but I can never figure out what to do with them. I have seen some remarkable things made with her designs, though. I guess her stuff isn't completely my style, but not *not* my style either (considering I keep buying things by her!).
I also started (and nearly finished) my block for Rosemarie's quilt. I rummaged through my fabric and found that most of my larger pieces of pink and purple were dog-eared for other projects, but I did have some 1/8 yard cuts of pink. Then a light went off--Hey! Didn't I buy an Eden charm pack? And yes! I did. Eden has pink and purple together. Eureka. The blocks needed to be 9 inches square unfinished. Since I was working with such small pieces, one large block wasn't really possible. I mean I could have made multiple cuts and sewn it together to make one large coherent piece, but I didn't (it didn't even occur to me until just this moment! This is what makes process pieces fun.) So I decided to do multiple small blocks, kind of what I did for Trudy's quilt, but larger.
I wanted to fussy cut one of the Eden birds, but a moment of inattention on my behalf when I was resizing the center block led me to trimming the wrong side of the square so that the bird's beak was lost in a seam. I waffled back and forth between ripping my seams or not, but I didn't have another square with the same bird, and I was already using the the other piece in the second half of my block. So it stayed. The second half of the block is a patchwork plus block. I originally was going to use more of the pastel polka dot for the plus/cross, but it made the block look too washed out. I then opted for the punch of some pink Soiree that I had lying around. I had some trouble with the top plus/cross block. Originally, it was dark pink and more of that pink Soiree. It just didn't look right with the other fabric choices. It was too bold, I think.
I just need to finish the block up, and off into the mail it goes!