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.