Boy, Oh Boy

The scariest part of the quilting is finished on the Snips and Snails quilt. Yesterday I took a couple of practice runs on the design for the face. Both were terrible. Then, I decided to forge ahead, and it turned out okay. Sometimes I surprise myself.

While there's certainly value in making a few practice runs, I can sometimes psyche myself out. Probably I'm being a little too careful and trying too hard to achieve perfection before moving to the "real thing." Knowing this, it sometimes makes sense to just go for the gusto...hit the big time...or, Nike style, just do it. Sometimes it actually works out.

From there, I moved to the arms. The same design didn't seem quite right for the arms. I considered wavy lines going in different directions for different parts of the arms. Then I thought about quilting in some knuckles and bones for the backs of the hands. When I tried it, it didn't look right, and so I took it out before going very far. In the end, I decided to stitch in the seams to give definition to the fingers, wrists, and crooks of the elbows. 

It works, and it's enough, I think.

From there, I moved to the hair. Here, I did a variation on Leah Day's "Hair Filler." Her video tutorial can be found right here.

That was pretty easy. From there, I moved on to the shoes. There isn't much to show here. Mainly, I used black thread to outline the black stripes on the shoe laces to give them some definition, and then I outlined all around the outside of the shoes. I'm using a white Bottom Line thread in my bobbin. Although I worked diligently adjusting the tension, I couldn't get rid of those little white dots of bobbin thread. I'll probably take a Sharpie and just put little black dots on those. You won't tell the Quilt Police, will you?

Finally, I finished off by switching back to the metallic thread and finishing off the tops of the clasps. It looks better now.

There are four buttons to add to the overalls when everything is said and done, and I'll glue those on last.

The only thing left now is the background. I've known from the get-go what design to use there. A while back I did a YouTube search for something like "snake quilting" or "quilting snakes" and came up with this video from Whirls and Swirls quilting. I like this, and it'll be perfect for the remainder of my quilt. If you can't see the video, click right here.

So, I'm hoping to have some time to get started on that today, but there's much to do...as always. There's some housework, but also a big grocery shop. We're doing great on the Cooking Light Diet. I've lost 6 pounds, and Mike has lost 8. We don't expect to continue to lose so rapidly, but it's a great motivator when your food sacrifices actually produce results.

The squirrels are keeping all of us entertained. These two are often seen tussling outside.

They're enjoying the strawberries. Having finished off the ripe ones, they're starting in on the green ones. This morning when I was out, I found the place littered with green strawberries, each with just one or two bites taken from it.

Smitty feels outnumbered by them, I think, and so he just watches them. They ignore him.

Yesterday was Miss Sadie's "Gotcha" day. We've had her for a full year now. You might remember that she wasn't doing very well health-wise when we brought her home. She had some kind of intestinal infection that eventually required antibiotics, and it gave this sweet little girl the worst gas! She'd pretty much run you out of the room with her, um, exhaust fumes.

Also, she was infested with parasites, and it took a couple of rounds of worming to free her of a lot of nasty buggers. Her fur was coarse and seemed coated with some kind of residue. With a lot of TLC and brushing, it's now glossy and soft as velvet.

Smitty tried to act all badass when we brought her home,

but even he gave in to her charms fairly quickly. 

Now, they are the best of friends. It's nice to see this once anxious little girl so comfortable one year later.

 Also, I wanted to tell you about something I learned yesterday. I Found a Quilted Heart is a website that promotes leaving little quilted heart "ornaments" around randomly for folks to find.

When a heart is found, an attached note encourages the finder to post their find to the website. It's a random (and anonymous) act of kindness. Not only would it be fun to leave one for someone to find, it's a great way to use scrap fabric, ribbon, and batting. Suggested locations are public places such as a park, coffee shop, hiking trail, rest stop, amusement park, library, community center, hospital, town square, foyer, beach, nature trail, museum, tourist attraction, etc. Places where they should NOT be left would include personal or private property, airports, national parks, retail stores, or bathrooms. Check it out at that link I've given you. With the traveling we're going to be doing, I'm kind of excited about leaving them all across the country.

Finally, I moved the hoop on Hocuspocusville today. The bulk of the stitching is finished on this one since there is a lot of open space on the remainder.

Mike has gone to have a window replaced in our truck camper this morning so that we can use the catio. We haven't yet tried taking the kitties in that much smaller space, and so we're looking at making some short trips soon just to see how it works out. As for me, I'm going to do a little housework, and then we'll head out to do our grocery shopping when he gets back. I'm hoping I'll have time to do some quilting today, but sometimes the grocery store wipes me out, rendering me useless for the remainder of the day.