Furry Cats and Cat Quilts

The grocery store was a madhouse yesterday, made worse by the elves that populated the aisles, nooks, and crannies doing their restocking. The greater madness, liberally seasoned with sheer panic, is yet to come. I'm glad to have gone yesterday and escaped to the safety of the Three Cats Ranch. I won't be venturing out again until after Santa has come and gone.

When I got home from the grocery store yesterday, I had a few housekeeping tasks to do before getting to work on my sewing. I finished the rest of the applique on the Quilter's Helper mini.

The top-stitching was all marked and mostly stitched when I had to stop for the day.

Today I need to finish stitching the eyes and nose, and then the spools of thread and the pincushion. The cat was the most detailed part, and so I'm thinking this one is close to being finished. I still need to add borders to it as well.

This morning, I finished all the embroidery on the stitchery I've been working on.

We're heading over to Bend on Saturday where I'll give this as a housewarming gift for some friends, and so I need to finish this up today as well. It shouldn't take too long

Smitty had the worst day of his life yesterday. He brought in a mouse yesterday morning, took it downstairs to the sewing room (as is his very bad habit), and then immediately lost it under the doors to the utility closet (also his very bad habit). He sat  there all day, taking an occasional break to come beg for kitty treats, then returning to this very serious mouse-monitoring mission of his.

He worked all day until he'd practically worked his paws to the bone.

Then, wouldn't you know it? Dad came home, caught the mouse and took it outside. All that work...all day long...and not a thing to show for it. Rats! I mean, Mousies!

Today I'm baking a cranberry cheesecake for our dessert tomorrow, and I'll probably make a white bean dip too. We are a Christmas Eve celebrating family, and so our dinner is tomorrow. The tradition originated with my family. We always opened gifts under the tree on Christmas Eve, and when I still believed in Santa, there was more loot the next morning. That, of course, was the stuff Santa and the reindeer brought during the night while I was sleeping. It's worked out well for the adults of the family because it makes it easier to divide one's inlaw time.

For our dinner tomorrow, Matthew and Valerie are bringing an appetizer and Erik and Mae are bringing a salad. I'm making some roasted root vegetables, mashed potatoes, and a prime rib roast, as well as some Burgundy mushrooms that will stew on the stovetop all day tomorrow. Since we are all gainfully-employed adults now, we've given up the gift exchange for the first time this year, opting instead to plan a family weekend together. It's an experiment, and so I'm hopeful we can make it work.

How are your Christmas plans shaping up?