Good Vibes Only H2H Quilt Finish

My third quilt commitment is fulfilled for H2H 2019, and I have also fulfilled another of my Q2FAL goals. My list is here.
This lap quilt is destined for a boy, and is made using Allison Harris's 'Positive' pattern she recently released. She blogs and sells her patterns at Cluck Cluck Sew. I own a few of her patterns, as well as her book, Growing Up Modern, one of the first modern quilt books I bought. This is, again, another quilt with a clever block construction. I named my quilt 'Good Vibes Only' and I filled it with positive words and thoughts of healing as I made it.

Autumn Winds Winner and H2H Update

First of all in case you haven't checked the Autumn Winds post where the widget has the winners displayed, I am happy to announce that Susan S. won the bundle of eight fat quarters of Thankful by Amanda Murphy, and Dawn K. won a copy of my pattern, Blue Skies and Sunny Days, which is still on sale for half price, at $4.50CA, and I'll leave it there for a couple more days. Here it is again, in Thankful and in the original two colourways.

Thanks to those who did purchase a copy; each sale pays for one month of linky parties, no lie! Both sizes are included within the pattern. The Autumn Winds one is the bigger one. Speaking of the purchasing patterns department, there may be some notifications of a couple I've bought this past week, so feel free to leave now if you don't want any temptation because I'm about to throw a couple more squirrels your way!

Hands2Help Check In #1: Fern

Once again this year, I committed to making two quilts for H2H at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. I'm happy to announce that one is complete and that I've made a third commitment! This completed quilt is on my Q2FAL List. Oh! I actually am ecstatic that I won a prize in Q1! I've been part of the FAL since January 2015, and have never won anything, so when I found out I won a $50 gift certificate to Mad About Patchwork, I might've said 'Oh YAY!!' aloud. Too funny: last year this great little shop curated a beautiful kit for the Plus Playtime QAL, as well as offered a prize, both unsolicited, so kind of them, and this year they are once again offering a prize! I love small quilt shops, and try to support them as much as I can. This Wednesday the cutting instructions come out for this year's QAL, Beothuk Star. 😊
Anyhow, back to the subject of the post:

Sorry for not the greatest photo, but it has poured all day.

Hands 2 Help Check In

I haven't written much about my Hands2Help quilts, but trust me, they are in production, both of them. I wanted to do a quick post to show you the flimsy of the first one.

Here's how it evolved:
Last year Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts won a $25 gift certificate to Sew Sisters Quilt Shop (big sale this weekend, no affiliation, just enabling, as per usual). Well Preeti gave the gc to me because she said the postage would take the majority of it. I said well, I'd put it toward some Canada fabric that I wanted to use for a Syrian refugee quilt as one of my 2017 H2H charities. She approved! So I spent it and then some ha, and got a bunch of Canada fabric. However, the quilt didn't get made last year; I made the originally planned one for refugees.

So this year is the year. I just hadn't decided what pattern to do, and was letting it percolate, and getting a few ideas.... Then came the Humboldt bus crash tragedy. I made a half dozen blocks for the call for quilts. That pattern was it!

I played with arrangement: all the same orientation, or twist and turn?

Not only are mine and Preeti's fabrics in here, but also there is the Canadian cities fabric my brother sent me, leftovers from a jacket he had made for a Canada 150th Sesquicentennial thing at work. You will also see more Canada fabric he sent me which I'm using for the backing, in my finish post. Or maybe it will be an added pic or two to this one as it's about to be loaded onto Avril my longarm.

I settled upon alternating every other block and sewed up the twelve blocks in no time at all, entirely pieced on Tillie my little '51 Featherweight. It's her turn right now to work; Billie, my little '47 girl, is resting, but wanting to come out to play and keep in gear, nice and oiled and smooth too!

Oops, I see I have it upside down there; I aimed to have the big blocks of text fabric all one way.

Here is a funny outtake that I wish you could see 'live' in the Photos app, typical of often windy days here by Lake Erie.

I might not be on top of responses to comments this next little bit, so I hope (well I know) you'll forgive me. Brady will be 'in the house' in a few hours! I made him some new pj shorts as he's grown right out of his Frozen ones I made him a couple of years ago.

They turned out great! Sure hope they fit him okay but I made size 12 hoping they'll be baggy, as pjs should be. This is some of the fabric I bought off my friend who is de-stashing.

Speaking of her fabric, here are two pics of some more of it, 'Woodland' by Natalie Lymer of Cinderberry Stitches for Lecien Fabrics.

Please shoot me an email ephdra(at) gmail (dot) com if you are interested in buying any of this. It has been pre-washed, but is from a non-smoking home. $4/yard, minimum half yard cut. Postage extra!

A quick note:💥💝🎉🎊Starting today, this weekend is a free Watchathon at Craftsy (no code necessary) that I know I'll be partaking in... well, I hope to, here and there, especially when MacGyver and Brady are pounding away in the new garage that is now complete, well, inside it they'll be putting up drywall...

All done but finishing off the inside!

Linking up with the last check-in at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Oh, and one more thing: this is the final day for Week 3 of the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop. Go here for the links to the blogger in my hive and the co-hosts, and the giveaway. Winners will be announced on Sunday.

Almost Off Course Already

I posted my Q2FAL list in my last post, and two days later, I'm admitting I've already had a DrEAMi!

It's a necessary DrEAMi! (the next linkup is May 3) and here's why:

I quite literally dropped everything that was in the queue and made six of these fast and easy blocks for the Humboldt Broncos hockey team. I'll be sending them off to Saskatchewan tomorrow where they will be made into quilts for the many many people affected directly by this horrific tragedy. I'm so glad people now think of first responders when they think of how they can help and who needs it. Our good friend John, Brandy the pibble's dad, is a volunteer firefighter and he says some of the accidents he has had to go to have left him sleepless for many a night. You can see it in his face when he talks (rarely, like twice) about it.

I put the first four blocks on Instagram Friday night, and added two more this afternoon. All six have a Benartex 'Wheat' fabric I've had for some time, supposed to go into a deep teal and golds quilt. When they said gold as one of the colours, and I started going through my yellows/golds, I spied this, and knew in my heart it was perfect. Saskatchewan, for those who may not know, is one of the three prairie provinces of Canada, with Alberta (my home province where I used to live) and Manitoba, the other two. Alberta and Saskatchewan's vast flat southern parts, as well as more than half way across Manitoba's southern lands, is perfect for growing wheat. I tried for a more masculine flavour to the fabrics as well.

When I came across this gold in amongst my plastic baggie of small yellow and gold scraps, another poignant, but oh-so-perfect moment happened: I'd include this piece of Laurel Burch's Mythical Horses fabric line with its selvage attached.

No explanation necessary as to why that's significant

This weekend was slated to catch up on some serious stitching, but taking an hour or so out to do these, is fine by me. If you want to help, you can go to the Saskatoon Modern Quilt Guild, who is helping the Humboldt Quilters organize this on social media. There is also a GoFundMe campaign which, at the time of writing this Sunday evening, is closing on $12 million. Takes my breath away.

I did work more in my yellow/gold scraps for my RSC2018 blocks, and I'm happy to keep keeping up with this project this year. Bright yellows and rich golds are this month's colours.

And yes, there is a scrap of wheat in my blocks now. A reminder of what was happening around me when I made these blocks. I love my yellow taxi scraps that worked into these two blocks, mementos from my 2007 trip to NYC.

LOOK what happened with the making of these two blocks!

I used every last 2.5" square in my 2.5" squares tray! I was as surprised as anyone; I thought they multiplied at night because I have not emptied any of the colours yet.

Don't worry; I have a Rubbermaid plastic container of smallish (under a fat quarter size) white/off-white etc scraps from which I was able to cut more, as well as several 3" squares to make the HSTs. (Gotta point out that arrow😁 I made that on my iPhone in Markup. Cool!)

The other serious stitching that happened resulted in a FFF!--not the FFFtt! that a cat hisses, but a finally finished flimsy!

Sorry for an inside shot, but it is pouring down and blowing, well blowing a bit less than the past 48 hours, but the rain hasn't lessened one bit, and we are under all kinds of flood warnings...but OH! how I love this top! Oh, how glad am I that I have finally made the first-ever-I-downloaded pattern from Craftsy, before these Postcard from Sweden QALs were a thing. Now to quilt this puppy and get it done for the linky that happens on April 18 right here on the blog. I'm thinking wavy organic lines, but I may veer off the perceived plan of action a wee bit, you know me... Pressure is good though to make me follow the KISS rule.

I ended up with several extra HSTs, which is to be expected when you cut squares and then cut them in half and you use an odd number. However, I do have four triangles left from Lake...as well as some other colours whose names escape me. A cushion cover or pillow shams might be in order methinks. I made the smaller size, by accident, menopausal brain short-circuiting again on anything math or numbers-related. I hate that! nvm I will take it to yoga as well for my students to ogle...bringing quilts to sit upon has brought out the several quilters in our yogi midst! I've told them more than once, I'm going to make quilters out of 'em all eventually...ha!

When I pulled out my Bright Pink to cut another square, that I believe was my own fault... that, or the wee ghosties that muck around in my sewing loft have hidden it because the right number are cut from the 1/2 yard I had... Anyhow, this happened:

Kona cat!

She has to perch on any and all fabric piles. Put her stamp of approval on, so to speak!

Hope you will check back in tomorrow, Monday, for the start of the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop! Eight new bloggers will be introducing themselves and their blogs to you, and I hope you'll pay them a visit. There are lots of great prizes to be won each week of the hop as well. Say a prayer to the Rafflecopter gods that I've set it up right...

My hive made some really fabulous buttons! It was a hard decision which one to pick, but they voted, and here it is:

All four of us co-hosts have made landing pages (here is mine) for the hop which will be updated throughout the hop as posts go live. See you tomorrow!

Linking up
with Angela at soscrappy

Dog Gone Cute Blocks OMG

I needed to keep the October goal simple and sweet because I'm away for a part of the month. I do have another goal to complete by the end of October (a long shot is TWO quilts) but I put them on my Q4 FAL list, so didn't want to double up here. So my OMG goal was to make two 12X18" Dog Gone Cute blocks. The original post is here.

They are going to Karen at kaholly for her to take to Texas this winter. You can read here about the wonderful plans she has to help raise funds for Second Chance Farm who is helping take care of animals whose humans can't take care of them with the devastation of Hurricane Harvey.

I came up with the colour scheme based on our two beloved dogs, Naala

who is a Rottweiler. This one is all batik fabrics except for the background.

I did Dog 3. I've made Dog 1 already.
The second one is for Rocco.

He is grey and white, and when he was a baby, he had the most gorgeous blue eyes. This one uses cottons, the swirly grey is a great one from Connecting Threads, and the eyes are a bit of turquoise left from the Meadow Dance fabric I used in Ribbon Stars.

As a few bloggers have said, these are like potato chips, betcha can't make just one! Lorna sells the complete pattern but you can also find the instructions in her blog posts. Dog 3 is here.

I don't think a week has gone by for some time that my heart swells and I have a lump in my throat (called 'moral elevation' by psychologists, in Option B by Sheryl Sandberg) at the good that is being done in the quilting world. I wish I could do more, but doing the little bits here and there that I can, I know, all adds up, as they say.

Since I wrote this post, just this morning I've learned of another cause, that of remembering the 70 273 physically and mentally disabled people who were murdered by the Nazis between 1940-41.

I had a DrEAMi! and yep, literally dropped everything to make a couple of blocks to send away. You can read more about this project here at The Barefoot Heart.

From pulling fabric to taking the photo, these two blocks took half an hour, a very quick way to help.

On a final note, please send some healing vibes and good thoughts via the big dog in the sky to our darling third daughter, Naala, pictured below with our second daughter, Dayna.

Just a month ago at Dayna's

She was hemorrhaging internally; we came very close to losing her. She had to have an emergency splenectomy on Friday, and although she is such a trooper, doing very well despite her 10 years 7 1/2 months of age and after major surgery, she has a long road ahead. We should know results of the histopathology in about a week, so if you have a moment, please pray she is in the 25% of dogs whose tumours on the spleen are benign.

48 hours after surgery, Sunday morning:

Smiled for the camera though:

Today, Monday, MacGyver is out cutting grass, and Naala cannot, nor does she want to, be left alone, which means I can't sew because my studio is upstairs. So 'If the mountain will not come to Muhammad....'

Lots of rugs on the floors to help with her traction

Reason #333 why I love my Featherweights, this one whose story I have yet to tell you! So I'm sewing in the kitchen, cutting and pressing station set up to the right on the counter!

Love portable sewing equipment.

We've been stalled on the last stage of the kitchen reno for various reasons, this latest, Naala, who must be kept very quiet for the next while as she adjusts to having no spleen, and has to make rather a lot of blood. Her PCV count was dangerously low, but it had risen one point, to 18, the morning after her surgery, so she's heading in the right direction. A high protein diet with extra chicken, liver, etc. is helping her on the road to recovery.

Linking up
Cooking Up Quilts
Elm Street Quilts

One Monthly Goal - October

Somehow October is shaping up to be a busy month; two weeks ago and I'd have said, na, not much going on...  Therefore, I am keeping my OMG very simple, complete two Dog Gone Cute blocks for Karen at kaholly. For her birthday she has asked for anyone to send her a block. Once she goes to Texas for the winter, she is going to make them into placemats, wallhangings, and quilts to auction of. She plans to send the money to a nonprofit agency who helped keep the pets safe until they can go home with their humans. Details are in that link.

Here's the start, all cut:

Any idea why I've chosen these colours? 🐶

Here is a link to Lorna's blog, Sew Fresh Quilts, where you can find several tutorials for free for these sweet blocks. I made one into a cushion for our dear friend John last Christmas:

Linking up
Elm Street Quilts
Sew Fresh Quilts

Welcome to Canada!

So glad that the quilt finally read red (lol get it?) in these outside pics! This is my second finish in the new sewing space, second Hands2Help finish.  Let's toss it over a bush, shall we?

I am SO excited to tell you that this quilt was pieced entirely on my Featherweight girls.  They shared it.  💕 The backing was pieced together on them as well.  It went from a pretty cool flimsy to a perfectly cuddly finished quilt!  Love the texture.

DrEAMi! Linky #5

I can't believe I am about to write this, but I am glad that May is drawing to a close, and it is usually one of my favourite months of the year. This year it has been colder than normal, with 4" more rain than normal, and gloomier as well. I would definitely not make a good vampire: for one, I'm vegetarian, so drinking blood ain't gonna happen, and for another, I need and crave sunshine and blue skies, and finally, I am most definitely not a night person.

All right how did I go from starting a DrEAMi! post to talking about vampires? (shakes head to clear it)

Two months in a row. TWO MONTHS! and no DrEAMi!  The only time I think that has happened in my quilting life is when I had to pack up my sewing stuff before we made the big move from Alberta to southern Ontario. I'm staying focused on two projects, the 150 Canadian Women and my two charity quilts for Hands2Help.

I'm behind in both.

Sigh.  One quilt is complete and written about in the previous post; the other has made it to flimsy stage and is currently on the frame and will be quilted this weekend.

Apologies for this horribly-lit photo, but it was raining and gloomy outside that day, and so this is an indoor shot. The solid is really a gorgeous rich burgundy, not brown!

I am pretty pleased with how it turned out.  I am even more pleased that the entire quilt, top and back, was sewn on my two Featherweight girls. This will be going to Windsor for a Syrian refugee family. There are some very old fabrics and some very new in it, something I love even more about it.

I apologize for the tantalizing teasers for post topics for this past week, and not one of those posts written.  I've covered extra yoga classes for the other instructor all this week with one more to go on Monday night, so it's been a bit more hectic, with disjointed days.

If you aren't on the Connecting Threads (affiliate link) email list, then be aware that all this weekend, Memorial Day for my neighbours to the north in Michigan and to the south in Ohio, (take a look at a map where Kingsville, Ontario, is if that makes you go, 'say what?') they are giving an extra 20% off your entire order.  That is pretty sweet. They have some pretty nice patriotic fabrics for $6.96/yard.  Minus 20% of course. Just in case.. you know...you might need a squirrel for a certain July holiday.

All right, let's see what has turned your head, made you stop what you should be sewing, and dive headlong into a new, all-consuming project this past month!

Kringle Trees - H2H Charity Quilt

Woo hoo! First finish in the new house, new sewing loft!  This quilt fulfills two obligations: Hands2Help at Confessions of a Fabric Addict and my May goal for OMG at Elm Street Quilts.

I won this fabric, the post is here, "Kringle Krossing" by Shelly Comiskey for Henry Glass Fabrics, in December, right before Christmas.  So far, I've made 3 projects using the fabric: Holly the Christmas Hound, Jingle, and this one, all three given or to be given away.  This one is one of two quilts I pledged to make for Sarah's Hands2Help charity quilt drive.  It will go to the Windsor Sexual Assault Centre, a quilt for a child who should not have to ever deal with such trauma.  Hopefully, holding onto and keeping this snuggly quilt will help comfort and heal.

OMG for May

I haven't done a One Monthly Goal in forever, so I am working one in this month, finally!  I need to get this flimsy quilted:

and bound and ready to take to the Sexual Assault Centre in Windsor as one of my Hands2Help quilts.  That is my main goal!

I also need to finish this barely-started flimsy and get it quilted up:

I'm hoping for a third one which will have white as the background and stripes in a different layout.  Then my two quilts, one red background one white, will have a bit of a Canadian theme since I plan to donate these two to Syrian refugees.  Windsor has quite a few, since we have quite a few opportunities for work for them down here as well as a cheaper cost of living.

Wish me luck!

Linking up with (sneaking under the wire!)
Elm Street Quilts

 and
Confessions of a Fabric Addict for H2H (see button on sidebar)

Hands2Help Quilts Now Donated

This morning after my Mysore yoga class, I stopped in at the Sexual Assault Centre in Windsor to drop off the two lap quilts I've made for Sarah's Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge.  I just love these two cuddly quilts; carrying them in felt like carrying a small child or a small animal somehow. 
I don't know what it is about these two, but my heart is in them like no other charity quilt I've made.

April 22 - I got mine done really early this year

My sister, Linda, gave me the idea of making a quilt for a child who has been sexually abused.  Here I am earlier this morning:

Hands 2 Help Quilts Done

I am early to finish these two, but they may have spawned a third...

Hanging between Bacchus, or is it Dionysus, and another tree spirit, maybe a dryad? Jude's additions to our beloved American Black Walnut trees

A couple of days ago when I was looking for that perfect backing I knew I had in my stash for the No Bake Jolly Bar Shuffle, I came across a few other novelty prints that would be so great for kid quilts. Two of them, the fish one, and the camping one, struck me as great for boys, and so I know another quilt is asking to be born.

camping fabric left over from backing of nephew #'s baby quilt; fish bought with kaleidoscopes in mind

But let's take a look at these two sweeties, destined for two traumatized sweeties.
The first one I made is No Bake Jolly Bar Shuffle.  I saw this on Pieced Brain Denise's blog.  It was probably her pretty turquoise and grey combination that attracted me, but it was one of those "DREAMI" moments, a term I'm coining right now.  "DRop Everything And Make It."  I blogged about the flimsy here.  Interesting, because I mentioned in that post how this quilt talked to me during piecing!  It told me it was going to go to a child; I had definitely not started it with this in mind.

I knew I had a 10" stack of Amanda Jean Nyberg's Good Neighbors line from Connecting Threads, so I cut the stack in half to make my own Jolly Bars and this little quilt grew up in no time.

Here's the back:

I had no idea how I was going to quilt this baby, just had a vague meander idea, as I find meandering so relaxing.  (quilt meandering as well as brain meanderings, ha).  Loaded it, and realized I just had to do some custom quilting in those delicious blank white rectangles.  Couldn't let that go to waste, right?

And again, the quilt whispered to me...maybe I'm becoming a quilt whisperer, lol.  I seem to do better when I don't have a solid plan but let the quilt talk to me as I'm working on it.  Words.  Vibrations of love and hope and better days ahead, even though scars from sexual abuse remain.  Deep.  For a lifetime.  Some Dot to Dot in the alternating rectangles.

The sun was out, and then went in, grrr, but that lower left word is snuggle; "hugs" is visible at the top of the photo, and "play" is mostly cut off but lower right.

As I quilted the words, writing them first with a blue water soluble marker, I put my feelings into them.  I may be considered a little flaky, but I truly believe those vibrations of care and compassion will be in this little quilt for a little person.  I felt that child crumpling this quilt, snuggling with it, wrapping herself in it, saw her finding the words, maybe getting help from a caregiver to read the cursive writing.

Here is laugh and hugs

I bound this one with the Green Daisy print.  I hadn't planned on that, but serendipity struck again: the leftover backing got placed on top of the leftover green daisy print, I saw how closely the two greens matched, and that decided it.  I also stitched it down with the wonderful variegated thread that Preeti gave me a while back, and I absolutely loved it.  I tried stitching the binding to the back of the quilt and turning it to the front, trying to see which method I prefer for machine binding;I think what I did on No Bake.


Quilt Stats:
Pattern: No Bake Jolly Bar Shuffle by Pieced Brain
Size: 31 7/8 X 39.75" after quilting; 30.25X38.25" after laundering
Fabric:  Good Neighbors and Kona Snow
Batting: 100% polyester
Quilted: on my Avanté
Threads: pieced and quilted with Essentials thread in white; So Fine in the bobbin



The second quilt is Kimberly Jolly's No Bake Jolly Bar.  Tish and I made this quilt together this month.  Unofficially.  I love sewing with her.  It's really wonderful sewing with friends.  Period.  In person as well as virtually.  We each are giving our quilt away to someone in need.  I made mine smaller than the pattern because I wanted it to be the partner to the Shuffle, and I wanted it kid lap quilt size.  The link will take you to her version, also with Connecting Threads fabric.  Cat Lady!

I gave you a peek of this one fresh off the frame a few days ago.  It's meandered with three flower motifs, a daisy to echo that in one of the prints, a flower from years ago I saw in American Patchwork & Quilting, and Vicki's flower motif I saw last week, and loops.

Here is the back:

I bound this one, also by machine, with the Short Lines print from Good Neighbors, available at Connecting Threads (no affiliation).  I love the effect, but then again I do love a striped binding.

Remember I mentioned that Lotta Dots was not as soft a hand as Kona?  After washing, the same: lovely and soft.  I'm glad because I have more of it, as well as another one of their Quilters' Candy fabrics in white.

I plan to donate these to the Sexual Assault Crisis Centre here in Windsor to be given to children.  I have to call them today to find out if they do accept quilts.  For kids.  Failing that, I will give them to Children's Aid.

Quilt Stats:
Pattern: No Bake Jolly Bar from Fat Quarter Shop
Size: 36.25 X 44.75" after quilting; 35.25 X 43 3/8" after laundering
Fabric:  Good Neighbors and Lotta Dots from Connecting Threads
Batting: 100% polyester
Quilted: on my Avanté
Threads: pieced and quilted with Essentials thread in white, binding stitched down with Essentials variegated in greens; So Fine in the bobbin

Linking up with:
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Crazy Mom Quilts
TGIFF at Fleur de Lis Quilts
A Quilted Passion 

PS I also washed and dried Blue Skies, and love how it came out.  Still no Etsy shop, but I hope to have a not-taken name and shop by this weekend!

You'll have heard about this in QBL already, and I did mention it on my last post, but there is another great deal or a hundred to be had at Craftsy this weekend on classes.  So many are on sale at 50% off or more, both recent and not-so-recent ones.  I am a self-taught longarmer, and all I learned I have learned through Craftsy classes, along with Leah Day's Free-Motion Quilting Designs. 

From these two quilts I've posted today, I would highly recommend Angela Walters' Dot to Dot, her Free-Motion Quilting With Feathers (Blue Skies), and her Small Changes, Big Variety, both of which I reviewed here.   I'm hoping to find time to watch my latest addition to my classes repertoire, Christina Cameli's Wild Quilting.  If you are just starting out quilting and would prefer to use your walking foot, Jacquie Gering's Creative Quilting With Your Walking Foot is also on sale.  Go to Midget Gem Quilts for a great review on the class.  Remember there are a ton of free classes too; one I particularly love is Mandy Liens' A New Look At Longarm Quilting.  Lots to choose from, right?  And remember there is way more than just quilting....gardening, cooking, scrapbooking, knitting, etc. etc.

Speaking of cat lady....or rather cat servant to Bella...

She is downstairs at the moment, calling me.  That's what she does at various times throughout the day...and night, erk!  Yowls.  For a 6.5 pound cat, she has one set of lungs in her tiny chest.  This was yesterday, calling me at 5:33 pm precise (date/time stamp on photo), to come upstairs and feed her.  Other times, like right now, it's, "Come down and sew, Sandra!" or "Come down and let's play!"  How can I resist?