But this morning, I got a call. The caller ID said "Banks Motor Co." and at first I groaned, going "The spoof-'bots are back" and it was only when it had rung a third time (and so, was going to voice mail) that I realized, "Wait, that's also probably the little quilt shop." But they left a message
And yes, it was them.
My quilt was ready!
So I went and picked it up. I'm super happy with it. This wasn't a favorite top at first, but I think the quilting really improved it:
I bought a piece of fabric for binding (you can kind of see it on there). I probably have something that would have worked, but I want to support the shop (in addition to paying for the quilting) and also that means I don't have to dig quite so much. (And it's nice soft fabric, it will be nice to work with.)
I really like the loopy flower pattern she used; I could see having another top done in this same pattern. It's really nice to have access again to someone who does longarm quilting.
I also joined their "quilting bee" which is like a loyalty program - I think I get 10% off notions and apparently they send a coupon on people's birthdays.
I also had to smile - one of the young women who works there (I think they are sisters, and I suspect that's their mom who's also helping) says "Okie Dokie!" to everything and it makes me think of Pinkie Pie. (But in a good way. And I could almost see Pinkie Pie, if she didn't do the bakery thing, running something like a quilt shop)
So one of my weekend plans is to make the binding for this and put it on.
Also, I have a few new (well, new to me but made in the 1980s) Ponies. First up: Baby Sweetsteps, another one of those ballerina ponies. (Not to be confused with the similarly named Baby Softsteps, which I also have):
She was a good deal from the Etsy seller - the seller suspected her tail had been trimmed a little (and she doesn't have her comb, but that doesn't matter to me). I like that her hair is still curly; a lot of these ponies the curl has kind of gone out of their hair over time.
I think Rapunzel likes baby ponies too. (And Pascal looks a little jealous):
(That's really a big part of the fun of having these things for me: being able to pose them in different ways. And of course I can imagine an AU or a timeline where Rapunzel and the Little Ponies would co-exist, just like I can imagine Mabel Pines loving hanging out with Ponies.)
And here are all my ballet ponies: big sister Silky Slipper, little sister Baby Softsteps, and, now, I've headcanoned: Baby Softsteps' same-aged cousin Baby Sweetsteps:
These amuse the heck out of me because can you imagine a real horse in ballet get-up? It would look super awkward. And yet, these are so cute and Silky Slipper actually looks a little bit elegant.
And the most recent, most recent:
Milkweed and Tumbleweed! These are identical twin ponies (and therefore, I guess, both girls: at first I thought maybe Tumbleweed was a boy but the copy of their "backcard info" I found on the MLP wikia refers to both of them as "she," and anyway, if they're identical they have to be the same sex.
They have subtly different poses, so you can tell them apart: Milkweed is the one with the leg slightly extended. ("I stick m legy out real far"?).
I wanted these for a little while, for several reasons:
1. Baby ponies, and identical twins at that. (The G1 baby ponies are THE BEST, at least in my opinion)
2. My favorite pony color-combo (yellow pony with pink hair - this is "fading pink" so I will have to be sure to keep them out of the sun)
3. The names. I did research on milkweeds (mostly green milkweed, the most common local species) for a while, so of course it's hard to resist a pony named Milkweed for me.
But I wanted the set, and you don't often find matched sets (this one is; apparently they were originally from the same package so the same production run and their coloration matches). They're also in pretty good shape - again, no combs, but I don't really care about the combs. I collect these for my own happiness (as I've said before: if you want investments for the future, buy stocks or bonds or real estate. I bet once the generation a half-generation behind me is gone few people will care about these any more. And I kinda sorta suspect that Millennials and later generations, with their reduced emphasis on the material, and their by-and-large worse financial prospects, won't be into collecting stuff.)
But yeah - I figure I can afford to throw away $10 or $12 a couple times a month on something like this. (Milkweed and Tumbleweed were a little more, because of their condition and being a matched set, I think I paid $20 for both of them). I don't go to movies and I rarely eat restaurant food - this kind of thing is my indulgence.
And heh, yesterday afternoon my piano teacher asked me, "So, how many My Little Ponies do you think you have?" and asked me when I started collecting them (I was a little evasive on that....) She remembered them from when her children were small - apparently they are about 10-12 years younger than I am, and so would have been of an age during the middle of the run of the G1s. I did laugh and say that I was "too old" for them when they first came out but when I got a little older I decided I wasn't "too old" after all.
And really, they do make me happy.
And, because this is kind of a thing I do now, here I am with my new ponies.
And
Milkweed and Tumbleweed (and I keep wanting to call Tumbleweed "Silkweed" even though there is no such plant):
Part of the reason I love these is how tiny they are.
1 comment:
YAY ponies!
The quilt is GORGEOUS. I am glad they did such a lovely job for you.
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