About Monday

The floor guys were here and gone in a couple of hours.  I'm not sure what made the original guy think they could finish the job in one day.  They couldn't.  Today they filled, sanded, and sealed, and made a lot of noise.  Tomorrow they will be back to put down two coats of whatever it is they put on wood floors.  Stain?  Varnish?  Don't ask me.  I'm just glad that the cracks are all filled in now.  Things are covered with a thin layer of dust, and so I'm glad I didn't get too carried away cleaning last week.  I can get carried away next week.

That meant all the doors to the main part of the house were closed, which was vexing to Smitty.  How could he get his beloved cat treats?  How could he jump on Gracie with wild abandon?  (Yes, wild!)  How could he get on top of the china cabinet?  Just what the heck was going on anyway?  And now his kitty door is shut so that he doesn't drag in all sorts of, you know, stuff.  Nothing left for a guy to do but give himself a good tongue-lashing.

By the way, that comforter there?  The one that was abandoned to this chair when I made a quilt for our bed?  That's his.  He claimed it.  Kitties do like their comforters.  And that's his little pillow there too.  Don't get any ideas about it.

Poor little Gracie made herself scarce, but once the guys were gone, she made a bee line for the potty box.  I could swear she was holding her knees together as she went.  She's back in her usual napping place now, so pretty much business as usual.  Napping.  Yawning.  That's our Gracie.

So deciding how to arrange the literal "ins and outs" today meant walking outside to go from one floor to another.  While I was out, I snapped some pictures of the latest yard goings-on.  We planted the raspberries from my quilting buddy Pat this weekend.  (Thanks Pat!!!)  They are looking marvelous in their new home next to the garage.

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I'm pretty sure I could hear them squealing in delight at the luscious dirt around their toes.

Also, my chive blossoms are open now.  I think by Friday (when all the floor/carpet work is done), I'll go out and pick enough to make chive blossom vinegar.  The vinegar bottles are waiting impatiently.

Also, the bearded iris have started blooming.  Only the white ones are open so far, but the others are very close.  Those water droplets might give you a clue that the rains have returned.  Hopefully, the rest of the iris won't be ruined by the rain.

It was windy today too.  A lot of the rhododendron blossoms were blown off the rhodies and are now littering the yard.

I checked the greenhouse to see how things are coming along and spied my first tomato blossoms.  Cool!  Come on tomatoes!

Then I went back into the house to sew.  I put the inner border on the Love Me, Love My Cat quilt.

And then the outer border.

And now it is officially a flimsy.  It requires quilting and binding.  I'm going to use that same fabric from the sashing for the binding, and I had plenty of the outer border fabric for the back.  The quilt finishes up at 39 x 49 inches.  I haven't measured yet, but I think it will easily fit into the space I have scoped out for it.

Then I set up the machine for free motion quilting...

and I got going!

I just did this middle block, and then decided I'd had enough.  I've decided to stitch in the ditch around the blocks and then stipple the interior.  That seems the best way to be able to quilt all around the words.  Then I have a sort of heart leaf motif that I want to use in the sashings and borders.

I'll work on this some more tomorrow since it'll be another day of forced sewing.  Sewing all day again?!?!?  My misery knows no bounds.