Four Star Day

The marine layer has returned to our mornings in Portland.  This morning was gray and chilly, but there was no rain.  I noticed the sun finally broke through around 2:30 this afternoon, but it didn't matter one iota to me.  I was sewing almost all day.  The only interruption was the half hour or so I spent cleaning up after the robin Smitty brought into the house.

We have determined that he is getting the birds that are stunned from flying into the windows.  He hasn't brought anything inside for over a week, but previously, I noted that his feather piles were all confined to one area...in my sewing room.  Thank you, Smitty.  It occurred to me that the birds were already dead when he brought them inside.  So imagine how startled I was when I was sitting sewing and heard the unmistakable squawk of a bird behind me.  There was Smitty with a large robin in his mouth.  It was alive, and when it got away from Smitty, it flew all over the downstairs.  Smitty, for his part, made death-defying leaps into the air trying to catch it, knocking anything down that got in the way.  Oy.

Finally, I was able to get my hand around the bird and throw it outside, to Smitty's great consternation.  We had a consternation contest going on, Smitty and me.  Much to my consternation there were feathers and, um, guano everywhere.  Every time I thought I had all of the feathers cleaned up, I found more of them.  They were deposited floor to ceiling in every crook and crevice in the basement.  Sigh. I suppose we'll still be finding feathers when we sell the place and move out, but for now, they seem to be contained.

Eventually, I was able to get back to normal and return to my sewing.  On Monday evening, I finished the little embroidery block I'd neglected to do along with the others.  It was tiny:  only 2 1/2 inches square.

Then I was able to finish up the third section of the quilt.

So with that, I have sections A, B, and C completed.  D, E, F, G, H, and I still to go.  Obviously this is a long term project.  Here's what I have so far.

Also, I wanted to say that I may have given the mistaken impression that this pattern by Anni Downs was confusing.  

It is actually very well written, with clear instructions and excellent diagrams.  I only meant to imply that it is necessary to follow along carefully, step by step, with a minimum of distractions.  Any problems I am having are due to my old age and resulting dimwittedness.  And my cat.

So once I had those sections complete, I cleaned up the sewing room...this time from having thrown bits of pieces of fabric all around while cutting all those little pieces for the Gardener's Journal quilt.  I like a clean work space, but I seem unable to keep it that way once I get going on something.  Once things were cleaned up and organized again, I was able to do the remaining cutting for the Love Me, Love My Cat quilt.

All of the embroidery is finished for this quilt, and my next goal was to make the four stars for the corners.  They went together much faster than I thought they would.

So originally, I planned to put this aside and make it into a flimsy next time around, but I'm kind of excited to see it all finished now.  If I have time to sew tomorrow, I think I will get started on that.

For now, tomorrow's agenda includes going to the grocery store.  I'm cooking this weekend in order to celebrate Mike's birthday with his favorite birthday dinner.  The kids are planning to come up Sunday.  Yes, it is Mother's Day that day too, and so it will be nice to have the whole fam close at hand.  Also tomorrow, I simply must remove all the dead stuff from the refrigerator to make way for new science experiments to get under way.  You know what I'm talking about, don't you?  I've always said that the refrigerator is simply the first stop on the way to the trash at our house, and it continues thus.