Fun-a-day 26: Streaking! And WIP Wed.

Sorry, I just couldn't resist!  I was brain storming for ideas today, and I don't know, I guess I stepped back and tried to think of other "circles" in the lab.  Then BAM!  (as Emeril likes to say), it came to me!  One of the "circles" we see the most in the lab is the Petri dish.  In microbiology, we use them a ton!  I didn't regularly work in micro.  Most of the techs who work there are "specialists", even in small labs.  In a smaller lab like where I worked though, most techs regularly do "STAT" (tests ordered to be done immediately) gram stains, and "streak plates".

In a microbiology lab, "streaking" means taking an inoculation loop (the straight line with a circle on the end of it), and streaking it across a petri dish in a way that isolates individual bacteria, that go on to grow out pure colonies that the microbiologist can then identify.  It's a bit complicated, but basically you wipe a sample swap on the dish, which has nutrient-rich growth media on it, spread it out one way, turn the plate a bit, spread it out in another direction, and so on.  On my quilt block I deiced to make the streak lines yellow, then add my interpretation of the bacteria colonies in green.  This is what it looks like for real:

I don't know why, but I LOVED streaking plates.  Maybe it was because it was kind of like drawing.  Maybe it was heating up the loop to glowing orange in our modern Bunsen Burner each time we changed directions of the streak.  Maybe it's just 'cause I'm a bit odd.  But I loved it!

Besides my fun-a-day quilt block, I also spent some time today getting my "New Orleans" art quilt out and finally pin basted it.  I'm trying out "Hobbs batting" for the first time.  My favorite is "Warm and White" up "till now.  What's your favorite?  It's ready to quilt now!  Any suggestions?  I'm linking up with "Freshly Pieced" WIP Wed (yes, I'm really late, AGAIN) to share what we're all workign on today.  Feel free to offer suggestions on how to do the quilting (hint hint).  I'm thinking "simple", but have had others tell me to "quilt the *^&% out of it"! (hee hee).  I've been asked to enter it into our local quilt show.  We're a small town, so it'll be no big thing, but big for me!  Any tips on how to do a "show quilt" are appreciated too, as it'll be my first "show quilt".  And don't worry... I'm a pretty mellow, type B personality, so my aim is more to share than win LOL!

Anyhow, thanks for reading!  I've been really having a lot of fun with this, and am ALMOST sad to be seeing it come to an end in just a few days.  But all good things must eventually come to and end!