Eight is Great

Good morning, my friends. We had a little bit of excitement here this morning. Mike saw a single lightning flash followed by a boom that sounded as if someone had set off a bomb outside. It was just that single "cracken-boomer," followed by a short downpour. It scared Smitty right out of his comfy chair. That seemed to satisfy the thunder gods. The rain has stopped now, and things are back to normal. Ya gotta wonder what got into the weather just then. Even Smitty has resumed his sleeping position, but on my desk now. I gave him a quilt to calm his kitty nerves.

Okay, so I got an earlier start on my quilt sandwiches yesterday. As I go, the quilts are getting smaller, and so yesterday's bunch wasn't as exhausting as the first day. It's been a bit of a treasure hunt as I uncover some of these old projects. I started with the Scrappy Plus quilt.

And then moved on to Grandpa's Bridges.

I'll bet you forgot all about the "Seasons" quilt.

And this late-to-the-party "Gumballs" quilt. This is my newest WIP. It'll be the last to be quilted of all of the quilts I'm sandwiching in this round. Sorry, Gumballs. It's nothing personal.

It was nearly 4:00 p.m. by the time I finished those four. I've given up thinking I'll be able to accomplish anything else as long as I'm working my way through the pile. Nevertheless, I was gratified to see the Merry, Merry Snowmen draped over my quilting machine, waiting for its turn to go under my needle.

And I'm happy to say that despite all the movement of my left arm in this process, I've had virtually no shoulder pain. There's no denying the PT is working. I'm very happy about that. The one movement that still causes me grief is reaching behind my back, but even that has improved. 

So, I'll make it my mission to get four more done today. If I don't wear myself out on those, possibly I can fit in one more. It would be nice to start the last day (tomorrow) with just four to go. There are a few things to do in the kitchen to get ready for tonight's dinner. Also, I have a denuded orange in my refrigerator. I took off all the zest for another recipe, and now it sits there in a zip-lock bag looking all sad and naked. Maybe I'll put it out of its misery by baking an Orange Upside-Down Cake for Two today. Despite the quilt sandwiches, I should have time for that.

It's time for my slow-stitching. I'm getting close to finishing the current piece, and so I'll need to ready the next one soon. Certainly, I don't want a stitching emergency right in the middle of my sandwiching effort. As I'm writing, I'm thinking I'm probably being overly optimistic with all these non-sandwiching tasks. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? Okay...venturing off now.

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.