Last Cats

Today I very nearly finished the last of my cat blocks.  There is just a little top-stitching left to do on the darker cats' faces, but I was tired of working on it.  I'll probably finish it tomorrow or the next day, and then I can start sewing the blocks together.

Also my hot fix crystals came in the mail today, and so I was able to put the finishing touches on my Christmas swap project.  I put crystals on the tree to make ornaments, and (although it doesn't show up very well in a photograph) there are also red ones on the red berries of the wreath.

Here's a close-up of the tree:

I really love these Swarovski crystals.  They add so much to a piece like this, in my humble opinion.  I can also highly recommend this internet company I've been doing business with, Glitz Hot Fix Crystals.  They ship FAST!  I barely step away from the computer, and the crystals are already in my mailbox.  And I swear that is no exaggeration!!  It's positively amazing.

Tomorrow I'm going to the Northwest Quilting Expo, which I've been looking forward to for more than a year.  Here's the blog post I wrote just about one year ago when I got terribly sick and couldn't go.  I didn't buy my ticket in advance this year in order to preserve the good health I've been enjoying.  I'm very much a person who believes in the Law of Opposite Expectations.  (I just now made up the law.)  It goes something like this:  Buy your ticket in advance, and you will definitely get sick and be unable to attend.  Give up on your laughable annual tomato harvest and buy tomatoes from the farmer, and your tomatoes will ripen in abundance (which is just about to happen here at the Three Cats Ranch). 

All of that aside, I've been in touch with a blogger friend, and there's a good chance we'll meet up tomorrow.  She just happens to be flying in from Salt Lake City to attend the expo.  Cool!  That will be nice since none of my in-the-flesh friends are quilters.  I was planning to go alone, but now I may have company.  Wouldn't that be nice?