Four Down

Good morning, my friends, and Happy May Day to you!

May Day is made more special here at the Three Cats Ranch because it's also our DIL Mae's birthday. Happy Birthday, Mae!

It was an exhausting day yesterday. As you are probably well aware, I started the arduous task of sandwiching 17 quilts for quilting over the next several days. My goal is to do four per day. Day 1 finished with four down, 13 to go. And if you're good at math, you know there's one extra in that calculation. If I haven't done five in a day before the end of tomorrow, then I'll do five on the last day...Sunday. As I go, I'm moving from the largest among them to the smallest. The smaller ones are easy enough that five in a day should be no sweat.

First of all, I think it's important to be properly attired regardless of the job at hand. For canning, I always don my special canning t-shirt:

For sandwiching quilts, I donned this t-shirt I picked up when we visited Missouri Star Quilt Company several years ago.

The funny thing about this t-shirt is that people often notice it, especially quilters. I've actually had people (complete strangers) ask to stand beside me for a picture on two occasions. 

Okay, so now that I was properly attired, I could get going on this. I started with the Merry, Merry Snowmen. It'll be the first one I start quilting. If I can finish early enough today, I might start quilting it today. It would ordinarily be farther down the line for quilting, but a friend has asked for this one, and so I want to get it finished up for her.

And since it's time to choose a goal for May's

I'm making it my goal to quilt and bind the Merry, Merry Snowmen this month.

Starting with the largest, the Cats in Pajamas were next. This was my 2024 Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. The yellow cat with the striped tail is Smitty. The red cat to his right is Sadie with her stubby tail.

Next was this Homestead quilt. This was my project for the 2023 Rainbow Scrap Challenge. These blocks were inspired by the Discovery Quilt Trail pamphlet I was given when we visited the Homestead National Historic Park in Beatrice, Nebraska. This is my oldest WIP, and so it'll be next under my needle when the Merry, Merry Snowmen are finished.

Fourth and last for the day, the Raggedy & Friends project that was finished just recently. Of the quilts I'm sandwiching, this will be second to last on the list to be quilted. 

Okay, and so I'm ready to get started again today. The next four are also large quilts, and so the day will be tiring again. It might have been an easier day yesterday had I not decided to take a walk on the treadmill first. Also, the garage is on the ground floor level (obviously), and my sewing room is in the basement. Since all the quilts are in the basement, and since they all needed to be ironed before they could be sandwiched, I'd estimate I ran up and down the stairs about 4,176 times yesterday. It was just one more reason to be completely worn out at the end of the day yesterday.

There's less on today's schedule: one easy housekeeping chore, watering the annuals, and doing my PT exercises. I've been doing my other tasks between each quilt to give myself a little break and to allow my body to move in different ways. Happily, I had almost no shoulder pain while I was doing this yesterday. The PT really is working. 

So next, I'll get busy with my slow-stitching. After that, I'll get busy with the quilts again. I'm hoping it won't take the whole day as it did yesterday.

Too Late and Too Early

Good morning, my friends. It was a no-sewing day yesterday. This PT business is getting in the way of my sewing. On the other hand, I can't deny that it's helping. If it can help me avoid a surgery, then it will have been worth it.

My morning activities included some time outside. I filled the hummingbird feeders, and then took a walk around. The azaleas are working hard at taking over as the stars of the garden.

They're going to have plenty of competition from the rhododendrons. They too are started opening.

This is one of my favorites of the rhodies. It looks like an orchid to me, and I love that delicate lavender color.

We're seeing plenty of lilacs now.

And our dogwood tree is blooming now. It's the slowpoke among the blooming trees in our yard.

In the greenhouse, I have five lettuce sprouts in this window box. In the one to its right, there are four. I dug up the fifth seed to see if it was showing any signs of life. It wasn't. I was going to plant a different seed, but then I couldn't remember which kind of lettuce I had in which box. If it hasn't sprouted by the time they develop some true leaves, I'll be able to switch it for one that is viable.

Also...look at this teaser. It is loaded with big fat buds. This is when I start checking it obsessively, and it will hold out for days...even weeks...before it opens a single flower.

So it was too early to leave, and too late to start anything. Earlier in the morning, I'd attempted to sew the Velcro onto the headrests. 

It became apparent almost immediately, that I had the wrong kind of Velcro. I had the kind that is sticky on both sides. It gummed up my needle terribly, and the thread was stuck to and wrapped around the needle. Back to the drawing board, I ordered some sew-on Velcro. I'll use the sew-on half on the headrest side. We can still use the sticky backing on the backs of the recliners. Probably, I'll be able to finish them by tomorrow.

While I was gone to physical therapy, Mike readied the garage for setting up my sawhorse and plywood tables. When I was home and able to help, we set up the sawhorses and lifted the plywood sheets into place. And now...it's ready for the quilt sandwich-a-thon that will start today.

I've also carried all my other supplies out to the garage, and I'm ready to go. Hopefully, I have enough batting and spray baste. I ordered another can of spray baste. I figure it's insurance. I probably won't need it. As for the batting...possibly I could run out. I'll just see how it goes, and I can get more if I need to. Once I start, though, it's hard to break stride.

So that's what I'll be working on today. I'm hoping to get four finished. I'll start with the largest among them and work my way down to the smaller ones. Also, I want to get in a walk on the treadmill, and I have one quick housekeeping chore to do. Before any of that can start, though, I'll do some work on my slow-stitching. 

We're expecting some lovely warm weather today. I'll be able to have the garage door open while I work. Possibly, we'll be able to have dinner outside this evening. Things are looking up weather-wise. I hope your weather is improving too.

Headrest Final Steps

Good morning, my friends. We're back to sunshine this morning. We're expecting temps in the 70's today, and even a day in the 80's by this weekend. It's going to be good weather for making quilt sandwiches. That won't start until tomorrow. I've been anticipating it long enough that I'm ready to get started. As I've mentioned, my goal is to do four per day until they're finished. If there's time for other sewing, I'll work on finishing off the small quilts I made while we were traveling last time.

Yesterday, I took the first stitches on Block 7 for Le Jardin. It was mostly satin stitch and French knots, and so it doesn't look like much.

In the sewing room, I still had one headrest to quilt. Having done this once already, this one went faster.

With both of them quilted, I needed to mark a line all the way around where the stitching would be. This was in preparation for squaring up the edges and finishing the back.

To make sure everything was centered and even, Smitty manned the calculator and rulers. (He's very good at math.)

It seemed a good idea to stitch all around the outer edge. The quilting went all the way to either side, and I worried when I cut that, the stitching would come loose. A stitch all the way around would help to tack it down until I could sew the final seams.

When the stitching was finished, I made the "tabs." This is where the Velcro will go. I needed a minimum of 2-1/2 inches to accommodate the width of the Velcro. I made these by cutting two 7-inch strips, folding them in half, sewing around three sides, and then turning them to the right side.

And just to satisfy myself, I measured what I had with the Velcro. This will work nicely.

Next, I pinned it to the top of the headrest. From there, I was ready to trim all around the outside.

So, I first laid the back under the top, as I would if I were sandwiching any quilt.

Then, I trimmed both top and bottom together to ensure an exact fit.

From there, I moved the bottom to the top...face down...and then stitched all around, except for

 a few inches at the bottom.

And then, I could turn it right side out and finish sewing the bottom edge. And voila! It is finished, except for the Velcro.

Here's how it looks from the back.

They're both to this point now, and I'll be able to sew on the Velcro today. Velcro can be tough, but I think I know how to do it. I'll use a heavy duty needle and some 40 weight thread. Hopefully, it'll all go smoothly.

We took them down to the RV just to see how well they would fit. They ended up a little longer than expected, but we can simply move the Velcro a little lower on the back of the chair and it will be fine. While we were out, I noticed the Poet's daffodil has bloomed. It's always the last of the daffodils to show itself.

So my highest priority today is to finish sewing the Velcro to the headrests. It's a PT day, and that will pretty well take up the whole afternoon. We're going to mop the floor this morning...oy...and then I'll be able to get back to my sewing. I should have time to finish the Velcro before I need to leave for PT. 

I'm in a good stopping place with my sewing projects for taking several days to sandwich the next ones for quilting. Usually, I start with the largest quilt first, but one of the quilts is taking cuts in front of everything else, both for sandwiching and for quilting. A friend has spoken up for the Merry, Merry Snowmen. Ordinarily, it would have six quilts ahead of it in line for quilting, but I'll start with this one.

As I've mentioned to a few of you, each time I set aside time for sandwiching quilts, I have more than the time before. Over the next year or so, I'm going to try to do some quilting every day and finish off this backlog of finished flimsies. I'd like to go into my next sandwiching operation with fewer quilts. And since my wrists and hands have the final say on how much time I can spend quilting, I'll limit my sessions to a certain number of blocks, or else a full hour. 

When I'm not quilting, I have several small projects to finish off. These were some I made while we were traveling last time:

Hawksbill Honu:

Vintage Valentine:

Tulip Time

and Bunny Bait.

Also, since we've been home, I stitched up this Cozy Quilt:

The others are ready for sandwiching and quilting. As small quilts, I'll do them on my domestic machine. Cozy Quilt still needs to be turned into a little quilt top. So, you can see there's plenty to keep me busy when I'm not sandwiching or quilting. 

So, off I go. It's a busy day ahead, and I really want to finish off those headrests today. Before I can do anything else, though, the day commences with slow stitching.

Head Rest Headway

Good morning, my friends. The sky has turned a little gloomy both yesterday and today. It works for me because it's a grocery shopping day. We were just there last week, and so our list is relatively short. Also today, I need to feed our hungry birds. I know they're hungry because they can empty our feeders in two days. Also, it's that time of year when I need to remind myself to water the flower pots. I'll check on those while I'm out and water them as needed.

As for yesterday's comings and goings...there was no coming nor going. We stayed home all day. It was a good day for sewing. First, as expected, I finished off October's block for A Year in the Garden.

There are just two more blocks before I can add this to the list of large quilts to be sewn into flimsies. (That list happens to be empty just now.)

After that I did my PT exercises and a little bit of housework. After lunch, I was ready to move along with the head rests I'm making for the RV. When I arrived in the sewing room, Smitty was Johnny on the spot to help out.

With his help, I drew in all the lines as I wanted to stitch them. I'm making both head rests at the same time, and so I drew lines on both.

Sadie held the second one down while I stitched on the first.

I'll admit to approaching this with a bit of trepidation. Could I really draw all those lines and keep them straight and evenly spaced? And if I could draw the lines, could I really stitch those circles nicely rounded? And could I really stitch all those straight lines and keep them parallel? As it turns out...Yes! Yes, I could! Yay me! It's working!

Here's a little different angle to give you a better look.

And that took the whole of my sewing day. I haven't started on the second one yet. With the lines already drawn, it'll go faster. Probably, I spent at least an hour just drawing the lines yesterday. That'll be today's project, and then I can make the tabs I'll sew to the top where the velcro will be attached. It's confusing to try to describe in words, but I know exactly what I'm going to do. I'll show you the whole process as I go along.

It was nearing dinner time by then. I had in mind to try a new recipe for Chicken Piccata Pasta. This was pretty easy, and we liked it. (Mike likes anything with capers, and so I knew he'd like this.)

As a side, I served each of us a breadstick from Seattle Bakery. I'm really liking these. They're so easy. I spray a little olive oil spray over them, then sprinkle lightly with some garlic powder and Italian seasoning. Then, I can bake them in the toaster oven for four minutes, and voila! An easy and tasty side dish. These are available with the rest of the breads in our grocery store.

A couple of notes about the recipe: First, it calls for radiatori pasta. Our grocery store doesn't carry that shape. I used trottole, and that was a good choice. The recipe suggests fusilli, rotini, or rotelle as well. Second, it tells you to add a quarter cup of pasta water. I thought it thinned the sauce more than necessary, and so I'd hold off adding the pasta water in the future until I see how the rest of the ingredients go together. 

So that brings me to this morning. As I've mentioned, we have grocery shopping to do. Before we go, I'll take the first stitches on Block 7 for Le Jardin. 

Originally, I thought we'd set up the sawhorse and plywood tables in the garage today. With grocery shopping on the list, and PT tomorrow, we're going to wait until Thursday. The weather will be nice and warm that day, and we're expecting warm weather through the weekend at least. It'll be a good time to be out sandwiching quilts, and I'll be able to keep the garage door open. Probably, I'll get some kitty help. You can't beat that.

Okay...so off I go. Stitching awaits.

Something New

Good morning, my friends. It was another lovely day here at the Three Cats Ranch. Mike and I gratefully took the opportunity to get outside and spruce up the yard a little bit. There was a gangly three-quarters-dead azalea that needed to be taken out. We’ve talked about it for at least two years. Finally, I was inclined to cut out the dead stuff and see how it would do. As we discussed what should be cut and what shouldn’t, Mike went and got his tools and dug the thing up. (There’s more than one way to get a beast to his burden…or something like that.) While he was working on the dead azalea, I pulled weeds all around him. He’d sprayed most of them, but there were some that could not be sprayed because of their proximity to other things.

When all the sit-on-the-ground work was done, I took a walk around to see what’s up. I’d totally missed that the purple Clematis Roguchi is blooming. This was planted by the original owner of our home, and it’s been a reliable bloomer every year. I’m surprised it has survived the cold and ice all these years, but it just keeps coming back.

Also, I noticed some of the rhododendrons are showing their colors. This one is at one end of the herb garden..

And this one is at the other end of the herb garden.

Out front, the apple tree is in bloom.

And you might recall I’m trying begonias in this mostly-shady area. The begonias seem to like it here, and have produced more flowers since I planted them. It’s good to know since I have two pots in shady areas that have been hard to plant successfully.

The kitties joined us, and let me just say that kitties feel no compunction about helping out when we’re working outdoors. However, they are very good at warding off any marauding mice, squirrels, gophers, moles, voles, shrews…the list goes on.

Smitty meowed out orders as I weeded the peony bed. He sat on the wall above me where he had a good view of things.

Our work outside complete, it was time for some sewing. My first task was to make a back and cut binding strips for the Land & Sea quilt. As of now, I have 17 quilts for sandwiching. I’m hoping to get those tables set up tomorrow.

And then it was time to go to work on those head rests for the RV. We measured the space. They’ll end up 23 inches long and 18 inches wide. So I gave myself two extra inches in both dimensions and then cut four pieces…a front and back for each of the two head rests.

Next, I dug through all my batting scraps to find strips wide enough to piece together. I cut those about 1/2-inch smaller all around, and spray basted them to the top.

That’s as far as I got with that. My plan is to quilt them with just the top and the batting before adding the back. There will also be a tab at the top end where I’ll sew some velcro. The velcro will stick to the back of the chair, and then we can add the head rests that way. They’ll be machine washable that way. (Frankly, I can’t think of any other way to attach them.) I’ll get busy with the quilting today. I know what I’m going to do. I was inspired by an image I saw on Pinterest…this one…

I’m going to do something like that. I need a good circle template. I’m thinking the lid from my oatmeal carton will probably be the right size.

Okay, and the only other sewing I did yesterday was to make some progress on October’s block for A Year in the garden. Possibly, I’ll finish this up today.

Knowing that, I traced Block 7 for Le Jardin. Some of these blocks are supposed to have applique, but I’m doing them all in embroidery.

These are the blocks I have so far. I’m going to have to redo a couple of these borders. I was supposed to add more of the red cornerstones, and I didn’t do that. It won’t be hard to change them.

Okay, and so that’s about all I have to tell you about yesterday and today. I’ll get busy with the head rest quilting, and I’ll do some slow-stitching. I want to get in my PT exercises today, and I have a couple of easy housekeeping chores to do. Mainly, it’s going to be a sewing day. I’d like to get well-along on those head rests before I start the arduous task of sandwiching 17 quilts for quilting. Yeesh. It makes me tired just thinking about it. My plan is to do 4 each day. I work from the largest to the smallest, and so on Day 4, I should be able to finish five small ones. 

It’s my least favorite part of quilting, but I’m going to love having all those quilts for quilting. It’s like having a full gas tank. And I’m old enough to remember when gasoline was rationed in the mid-70’s. Remember those odd-even days? If not, then be thankful you missed out on the fun back then.