Blossoms, Cats, and Birds

We've had a lovely fall here at the Three Cats Ranch. Nevertheless, fall always gives way to what Mike calls the "fat lady" who sits down over Portland for the entire winter. It's been raining for days. There are days of rain ahead in the forecast. It looks like it's here to stay. With so much of the country in drought, we've learned to appreciate our rain more than ever. It keeps everything green, but it can depress as well. Sue and I had a good long walk this morning after first meeting at the South Store Cafe for oatmeal. We got very lucky and had a rain-free walk, but it started up again this afternoon.

All that rain made it sort of refreshing to work on the Wind in the Whiskers quilt today with its dogwood blossoms, its bluebirds, and its kitty lazing on a branch.

Today was the day I needed to piece together the template for the right side of the block. It took me about eight tries and lots of trimming to get it all pieced together. But now it's done, and I can continue on with the applique pieces.

I had a few of the flowers done when I last wrote to complain about this pattern.

Yesterday, I finished the rest of the flowers.

Only the centers are fused down, while the petals still retain their backing with each one lettered for identification. These McKenna Ryan patterns demand organization to keep everything straight.

Once I had the flowers finished, I was ready to piece together the cat sleeping on the branch. 

Interestingly, I was only provided two colors for the cat while the cat in the image above, clearly has three colors. Also, the applique templates provide no indication which pieces are to be done in which color unless one refers to the tiny image on the pattern cover. We got it figured out and punted with the fabric. I had some fabric left over from the dogwood petals, and I just used that. I think my cat is a fair approximation of the one in the picture. Its face will be embroidered on when I do the quilting.

Finally, I pieced the little birds together. Some of those pieces are so tiny that they are hard to maneuver, even with tweezers. The one on the upper right will be partially hidden behind a branch, and so it looks less complete than the other two. If you look at the image at the top of this post, you can see it in the lower right corner of the completed block.

And with that, I had pretty much used up my quota of patience for one day. Time to do something a little less fiddly.

We have a wet weekend ahead with nothing on the calendar. I'm hoping to make quite a bit of progress on this piece.

What's up at your end for the weekend?