If you've been reading this blog for a while, then you've seen the view of the mountains from our window many times...like in this image below.
There are no mountains visible today, nor were they visible yesterday. Instead, we have an eerie, pinkish, gray haze that makes our throats scratchy. The poor air quality is expected to continue into next week. It's supposed to cool off a little by tomorrow. By "cool off," I mean it will only be 98°F instead of 108°F, but let's not split hairs, okay?
With such warm weather, the kitties turned to tiger butter. They spent the afternoon inside in the air-conditioned house, snoozing it off.
Sadie likes the new quilt. She likes pretty much any quilt. It seems to me that when one is applying to adopt a cat or a kitten, touting one's pastime as a quilter should be a mark in the plus column.
Mumm's the word has been washed now, and I have to say that I like it a lot better. The added puffiness it got from washing was kind of the final touch it needed. It looks rustic now, and the many flaws in the quilting are well hidden.
When the pain of hand-quilting this one wears off, I might be inclined to big stitch hand quilt the Mulligan Stew quilt. It won't be finished for at least a year, and so that should give me some time to take leave of my senses again.
The sewing room was a good place to spend a hot day. It was nice and cool. We turned the air-conditioning up a couple of degrees and that melted the icicles on my sewing machine. It was possible to be in the basement without putting on a hat, gloves, and a coat. So, anyway, I finished sewing together the Welcome Home mystery quilt. It finished up at 30 x 30 inches.
It's never going to be my favorite quilt, but it's starting to grow on me. I do wish there was better contrast in the middle, but oh well. The piecing is pretty good. Using my smallest scraps and practice were always the point. Plus...it was a sew-along, and I hate to feel left out.
When I finish a flimsy, I've taken to always making the back as well so that it's ready to go when I'm ready to sandwich. If I don't create the back for a flimsy right when I finish it, I've realized that it quickly moves to the bottom of my priority stack, and it's path to finishing is much longer. With it being a small quilt, I was hoping to find an appropriate one-yard cut of fabric in my stash. This one should do the trick.
Most of the time, I cut the binding strips as well. This is the one I chose. I have several yards of this fabric, and it's been washed, as if I were planning to use it at one point in time. For whatever reason, I must have changed my mind because both ends of the yardage were pinked and then frayed from washing.
So that one will sit now until next spring. There are two quilt tops in the quilts-to-be-sandwiched pile, but there are still three on the quilts-to-be-quilted pile. When those three are done, I'll sandwich the tops. It's a kind of FIFO organizational strategy, which makes me sound real business-like about my quilting, doesn't it?
About that time, someone woke up.
Excuse me. My treat bowl has a problem. Also, I would like some catnip, please.
So, I serviced the cat, and then made the third of five 36-patch blocks. Yes that is a cat hair there in the middle.
Three down, two to go. These have not been as awful as I anticipated. Today, if I have some time to sew, I'll cut the little squares from the leftovers of Welcome Home.
Also today, I'm getting my monthly pedicure, and then I'll head to the grocery store. If I can get my butt in gear, I might stop off at a pet store first and try to find some collars for the kitties. They need collars for the tags that go with their microchips. I imagine they'll chafe at having clothes on. Young Erik referred to the kitty flea collars of many years ago as the kitty's "belt." It makes total sense.
Then I'll get back to sewing. Except for the two 36-patch blocks, there are no more distractions keeping me from sewing hanging sleeves on my quilts for the Oregon State Fair. That will be next. They have to be delivered to the fair a week from tomorrow, so time's a wastin.
17 comments:
Not only a "cat hair" but also a "cat eye " ?? in the mix. Our air is really bad up here in WA too
Feeling your pain here in Montana! We are having our worse fire season in years. How reference for how bad it is...how much of the mountains around Helena can we see. Lately, it has been none. Stay cool
Wow, your weather is hotter there than it is in NC right now. Crazy. I'm glad you have air conditioning. My family outside of Seattle does not. My brother's inlaws live at Lake Sammamish and they do have air conditioning and a little beach and lots of room to swim and play in the water, so hot hot days they spend at the lake in their beautiful house.
Last November when the wildfires were ravaging East Tennessee and western NC we got a lot of the smoke here in central NC, so I understand that poor air quality. Keep cool and hopefully some better air is on the way!
I love Mumm and the effect of the washing is visible even from this distance -- it is beautiful. Once I forget about your suffering,which I've taken on as my own, I will be tempted to try my hand at hand quilting. Assuming I ever finish any of the flimseys that I've bought fabric for, that is. Although not every quilt would benefit and I'm not sure I've even considered the appropriate quilt pattern yet. Mumm is perfect, and I am certain that your Stew will be, too. Like childbirth, once you want that baby, I suppose, you'll forget the rest.
thinking of you , stay as cool as you can
The Mumm quilt looks great, and is obviously snuggly.
I am in southern BC and knew the smoke had drifted down to northern Washington but didn't know it had drifted as far as Oregon. Yikes. It is super hot here, for us, and I am not a fan of the brown air. Neither are my lungs. If it is this bad here, I can't imagine how it is closer to the fires.
It is nice to see how many countries are sending firefighters to help. We are, after all, one planet.
You at least got yours done - I have two quilts waiting for handquilting, but I'm thinking during the winter when a quilt in the lap will be better appreciated. I am surprised after all these years and the high tech, they haven't found a better way to fight forest fires. Get some masks and damped with water - that helps.
We get bad air days, but it is from the pollution of the other states, coming our way, seems unfair to me;)
I hope they get rain soon and it quells the fires. Love your quilt and the material, has a nice look with the textures.
Debbie
The Welcome Home quilt looked better today. Perhaps different lighting helped--but now I like it.
Your photos makes the smoky haze look pretty. And Molly is hoping that Smitty will provide a "smoky eye" tutorial, and is impressed that he uses it for his daytime around the house look.
We are having cool, fall-ish weather here. I'm soaking it up, knowing that in less than a week, I'll be driving in hot southern climes. Sorry about the air quality for you and for those having to deal with the fires in British Columbia. What a great feeling to have a stack of quilts ready for quilting or to be sandwiched! Yay for you!
I love the way the camera makes those hairs really pop, I would never know my quilts had dog hairs if the camera didn't tell me.
The Everglades burn every few years and the smoke comes here, you can see it hanging in the streets and yards, be careful and stay inside as much as possible. Keep an eye on your sunsets though, they should be gorgeous.
I read somewhere that cat intelligence is somehow connected to the number of whiskers they have. 30+ is suppose to show high intelligence and Smitty has them in spades! And they are beautiful whiskers, too. Meow!
That's pretty warm for you isn't it. Mother Nature must be doing a switch it up, our temps are in the low 80's. That's pretty unheard of for the first week of August.
Hope you got in lots of stitching time after all your errands.
My sewing room is in the basement too. I always make sure the air vents are shut so no air conditioning can blow down there.
We have really enjoyed our cool snap! 89 in August is unheard of in Texas. Oh, Well, It will be back in the 90's next week!
I got the first 4 weeks of Marvelous Mini Monday. That means I am still 6 weeks or 10 blocks behind! I know what I will be doing this weekend!
Those teeny 36 patch blocks are coming along quite nicely indeed! I'm so proud of you!!
I would love to be taking a nap with the cats, but alas, I'll be here at work for another 3 hours. I hope the smoke has cleared out for you. I do know just what that is like.
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