4/25/18

Starting to Finish

It's another sunny and warm day here at the Three Cats Ranch, which means it's another day of weeding for me. Yesterday I took the day off to run some errands. There were groceries, of course. It seemed like a good day to pick up some annuals for planting in the outdoor pots. I skipped this task last year because of traveling. We weren't home until June, and then we left again in September. It seemed a waste of time and money. And I mention this only because I've missed the annuals, and I want them back. So here's what I picked up:


In all of that, I forgot to get some petunias for the hanging pots. That will have to wait for another day. In addition to the flowers, I found some catnip, tarragon, and basil. The basil will go into a greenhouse pot. The tarragon will go into the herb garden, and the catnip is for reviving the Gracie Memorial Catnip Garden. Here's an image from when I revived it last year. Last year's crop of catnip came back, but not this year. I'll have to replant.


In my wanderings yesterday, I noticed the blossoms on the clematis are beginning to open. It should be a mass of purple within the next day or two.


Speaking of flowers, Mike texted me the image below of these pink evening primroses. He was driving through Texas near Dallas, and the wildflowers were in bloom all along the roadway.


When I spoke with him last night, he was at a seedy Motel  6 in Birmingham, Alabama, and he was fit to be tied because his smoke alarm was beeping every minute. He'd driven 800 miles, and he just wanted to go to bed, but he'd been waiting 20 minutes for someone to show up to put in a new battery. He told me he was giving them five more minutes, and then demanding a different room. Then, while we were talking, someone showed up. Disaster averted. He'll reach South Carolina sometime today, and I know he'll be happy to have that RV in tow so he won't have to sleep in any more motels.

On the sewing front, I've filled the first hoop's worth of stitches on the latest Heart & Home block. I love the sheep.


Now I'll move the hoop to the right and get started on that side.

Also, my goal was to get a start on finishing up the Wine Country flimsy. Six of the 12 blocks still needed trimming to size. Here they all are together.


Long ago, I purchased some fabrics for this quilt...the cork one on the right, and the wine bottles on the left.


I had in mind to frame the blocks...thus...


It was hard to decide how much I wanted to do with this. The blocks are trimmed to 8 1/2 inches square, and so this could be a small quilt or a larger quilt depending on how fancy I want to be. Now that they are framed, the blocks are 13 1/2 inches, so I guess it will be a relatively large quilt. I like that middle strip. It has a little bit of metallic gold, and so it seems a little celebratory to me...to go with the wine.


But now I have a fabric emergency, my friends. I could continue with that green for all of the blocks, but I really want to do half of them with a burgundy to match this wine fabric. It's going to be kind of dark if I do it all in green.


My plan has always been to use the cork fabric for sashing, and then the green for a stop border. I could go on with just the green, but I know I'll always regret not using more burgundy. So that settles it. I have a coupon for a local quilt shop. I'll take a swatch so that I can match the color just right. The coupon won't be good until next week, and so I'll continue with the green blocks for now, and then pick it up again when I have the red fabric.

And that brings me back to my categories of quilting. The only thing left for this go-round is an art quilt. I have at least two art quilts on my agenda. One is for a challenge for the RV Quilters group on Facebook. (I'll say more about that soon.)


Another is for the class I'm taking from Ann Shaw next month in Vancouver. I've changed my mind about which photo to use for the class. I'm going to do these flamingos we saw at Homosassa Springs while we were in Florida.


Finally, I feel I must comment on how this little cat has gone from being a rambunctious kitten to being a lazy bones middle-aged cat. He celebrated his sixth birthday on the 11th, and he's beginning to show his age in the form of a lot more sleeping and a lot less running around.

Hey! Who're you calling old?


This morning he put on his best kitten face for me, but you'll notice he's lounging in the sunshine, rather than getting out and hunting squirrels.


You might recall that just before we left on our trip, he spent the night outside. We thought we'd lost him until he showed up hungry and cold the next morning. It makes me wonder if he's nervous about being out now. He has his catio, and he's enjoyed the last few nights outside, safe and comfy on his kitty bed.

We've worked out a routine with the kitties. They get their treats in the morning, and then they spend some time in their Clubhouse (the space between the basement and the main floor of the house). Then, they get more treats, and go outside. We've been getting them in early in the afternoon, and then they spend the rest of their day on the catio.

Would you mind if I just keep prattling on here all day? There's weeding to do, and I'm procrastinating. Apparently, those weeds aren't going to pull themselves, and the annuals aren't going to plant themselves. Time to get at it. When I come back, my bones will be aching.

10 comments:

DeeDee said...

Oh that picture of Smitty relaxing in the sun is so great! I melt when my three look at me like that.

I love the wine bottle fabric you picked for the quilt. The finished project will be fantastic.

Happy weeding. It's been rainy and soggy here in central NC for the last couple of days. But by this weekend it's going to be gorgeous. Can't wait.

NancyA said...

Love your 'prattling'--so go on. But I understand the procrastinating; I am doing the same thing here. But if I don't get those weeds under control before summer, it won't get done!

Dorothy said...

We should all look as wonderful as Smitty "when we get old" !!! You could prattle on forever as far as I'm concerned. :-)

QUILTING IS BLISSFUL, DI said...

I do think that first photo of Smitty--he is asking you something--great expression on his little face--love cats!!!
Great wine blocks and fabric--will be anxious to watch this one come together-
and I wished I had a garden with weeds to pull--so enjoy it for the both of us and please don't forget to take a photo of the Clematis when it is in full bloom!!!
enjoy, di

Quilting Babcia said...

Happy Birthday to Smitty! Hard to believe you're six years old already. I love the fabrics you've chosen for your wine country quilt.

Kate said...

Smitty is six? Happy birthday Smitty! It sure doesn't seem like it should be that long ago that you came along. You got a great start on the wine blocks. Love your fabric selections for that one. It's going to be another beauty.

WoolenSails said...

We had the smoke alarm in the trailer doing that and it drove us crazy, Bill finally pulled the wires out, till we could get home and fix it. There was also one in the system that did that, so hopefully the fix will keep it from happening again. Can't wait to see the new trailer, wish we could go bigger, I really need more space, but hate buying a new truck right now. The flowers are beautiful and I see you are keeping busy with all your stitchery.

Debbie

Susan said...

I really like how you are framing the blocks. Looks like it will be an elegant quilt when finished.

Happy birthday, Smitty. You are not old yet. Wait until you are 18 like my cat, Patches. I figure you got used to being "lazy" living in the RV for so long. You are very photogenic. I always enjoy the expressions on your face.

piecefulwendy said...

What a fun post! I had to stop mid-read and go find the pictures of the new RV to show my husband (he was boggled at all the cool stuff in the RV). Then I came back to see lovely flowers, fun embroidery, and that handsome kitty. My cat is in the double digit age, 14 maybe? I need to go check his records, because I can't recall now. He sleeps quite a bit. It's hard to see them get older.

Brown Family said...

Angel will be 12 and Kirby is 11, They both know how to take it easy. However, Angel still has a lot of energy to run and play!