It all starts this Sunday, so be there! We might have to show up a little late since we're going camping this weekend. Still, I didn't do all that work for nothing. I have to give you a peek.
Before I did that, I was forced into baking a loaf of zucchini bread from my baseball bat zucchini. Even with the bread, I still had enough zucchini left to make up and freeze two 2-cup portions of shredded zucchini. That will make two more loaves sometime this winter when I'm craving zucchini. And here's the thing: Zucchini is fine, but I never crave it. Zucchini bread is my favorite way to prepare it. Just sayin'
The fusing is always the most difficult part of these pawtraits. Once that part is finished. The rest goes pretty quickly. First I used a 60/8 microtex needle and some smoky monofilament thread to top-stitch the edges of all the applique. Then, I switched to regular cotton thread and a top-stitching needle to shade with thread. When it was finished and ready for quilting, it looked like this.
You'll have to wait until the Pets on Quilts show to see the quilting and the back, but I'll give you a little peek at the binding. I used a number of fabrics for the pawtrait, but there were a few I'd set aside that I didn't use. This one isn't a part of the pawtrait, but I liked it for the binding.
After that, I got to work making the most delicious corn chowder I've ever eaten. I saw this recipe online from Bon Appetit. It looked delicious in the picture. The corn is so good right now I knew I had to make it. We'd eaten all the corn from this week's CSA share, but our local vegetable stand had some fresh local corn at four ears for a dollar. So I spent some time on it yesterday afternoon. You first make a broth with the leftover corn cobs and the rind from a wedge of Parmesan cheese. I've been saving my rinds in the freezer. It seems to be the latest thing (to me, at least) to toss those into a soup, and I'm all for that. When it was all said and done, it looked as pretty as Bon Appetit's version.
I only made half the recipe, although I wish I'd done the whole thing. It was that good. The only other change I made was to use a half a jalapeno pepper in place of the Fresno chiles. I've never seen those locally, and so I sliced the jalapeno in half the long way, removed the seeds and ribs, and then minced it up fine. There was virtually no heat, and so if you like it a little spicier, you might want to leave some of the seeds. Another idea would be to substitute some red pepper flakes.
Smitty was acting so strangely yesterday afternoon. He was on his kitty pole, when he stood up suddenly and turned to look at me with eyes as big as saucers. I looked outside, but didn't see anything. Then, he started to head downstairs. The next time I saw him, he was lying in the laundry room window that looks out onto the catio. Whatever it was, he was so spooked, he didn't even want to go out onto the catio. A little later, he was gazing out the living room window that looks to the south. Then, I saw it. Far off in the field beyond the wind turbine was the bobcat. That's the second time we've seen him there in two days. He's hunting squirrels, no doubt.
At least he's predictable, if two days makes a pattern. It'll be interesting to see if he shows up there this afternoon.
For today, I'm behind on housework since I've spent every waking moment for the past several days either sewing or making applesauce. It's a CSA pick-up day, but I'm going to get caught up on housework too. Then, I need to get sleeves sewn onto the two quilts I'm entering into the Northwest Quilting Expo. Also, I need to add labels. I'd already added a label to the Quilting Snowladies, but I didn't include my phone number, and so I'm redoing it. Here's the label for that (with the phone number blocked out):
The snowmen at the top and bottom printed too close to the edge of the fabric, and so I'm going to trim those off and leave just the ones on each side. Here's the label for Seating for Two:
The rain moved in both yesterday and today. It saves me from watering, and it turns a day of gardening into a sewing day. No complaints here.
17 comments:
I can't wait to see the finished pawtrait. It always amazes me how you get them to come out so close to life-like.
I am also amazed that there is a bobcat that roams around-in daylight, too-so near populated areas.
Look forward to the pets on parade, always fun to see the final reveal.
Love your labels, I really should make better ones. I know we have bobcats but not sure if i saw one, one night, but it was big and slinked like a cat. Have fun camping, we are expecting rain, so no plans as of now.
Debbie
You cheeky gal - can't wait to see Sadie in fiber. You might want to carry an air horn or other noise maker when you do your outside chores or your walking.
You have the knack for the kitty pawtraits. I gotta say-that is spectacular! I had my doubts that sadie could be transferred into a successful pawtrait but you excelled yourself on this one. You really captured her black calico fur and her expression.
It's amazing how much each pawtrait is changed with the initial stitching. Fantastic!
WOW! You nailed it! Or her, I should say. You really are perfecting your skills with each pawtrait. We have bobcats that roam around in my townhouse community. Coyotes, also. Always fun to see the wildlife!
It's amazing how much life a little topstitching gives her pawtrait.
Is Pets on quilts at a venue in Oregon or is it an online quilt show?
Poor Smitty! To him that is one giant cat!
I think Sadie's pawtrait is your best one yet. It looks fabulous!
Sadie looks great just like that, you really pulled this together. I can't wait to see the finish.
Great rendition of Sadie! Seeing that bobcat gives more credence to having the catio. How scary for Smitty. We live in a highly populated area. The wildlife uses creek beds and other green space to come in. During droughts (such as our current condition) the larger predators come in. Bobcats and mountain lions are the most frequent but we've seen coyotes and fox, too. They come after the smaller animals such as squirrels, mice/rats and unfortunately smaller pets. Writing this reminds me we haven't seen any possums, skunks or raccoons this year. It has me wondering why.
Sadie's pawtrait looks fabulous. I can't wait to see it in the Pets on Quilt show.
I agree with the comments above. Sadie's paw trait is stunning and probably the most difficult pet portrait you have done given Sadie's beautiful but variable colouring. You will have my vote!!
Just a request. I was very impressed with your labels. I'd love to know how you make them - perhaps you've set this process out in a blog post?
Jenny, I'm sorry to say you are no reply. I'm hoping you will see my answer to your question. Also, thank you for your kind comments. Regarding the fabric labels, I wrote a little blog post about it right here. Let me know if you have questions after reading it. Please email me using the link in my right side bar.
http://catpatches.blogspot.com/2015/01/a-finish-and-start.html?m=1
Sasie's pawtrait is beautiful. Your bread has my tummy rumbling.
A bobcat! Wow! I get kangaroos, wild pigs and then odd ding. Swap you?
Great labels for your quilt entries! Looking forward to seeing the finished Sadie pawtrait.
Hope you've been having a lovely weekend - it was my quilt guild's Boutique & Tea yesterday. I was the "head cashier" and barely had time to take a potty break!! Lucky for me, my compadre Barbara (she has to be great, right?) got our tea/lunches for us & we ate at our cashier table. Oh my was lunch tasty! Our Tea Chef, Hiromi, did another fantastic job!
Love Sadie's pawtrait! It's amazing how all the thread work and the fabric choices work out. The corn chowder looks good too. That's a favorite of DT's, but she only gets the canned stuff. Maybe we'll have to try the from scratch version sometime this winter.
Here I am a week behind again. I will have go over and at least look at the Pets on Quilts!
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