Oh My Darling, Clementine

It took most of the day yesterday, but the Pawtrait of Clementine is finished. The hand-sewing for the binding was completed by late yesterday afternoon. Here she is:

Here's how she looks from the back.

When I started yesterday, there was still quite a bit to do. I used an 80/6 microtex needle and monofilament thread to stitch down all the edges of the applique pieces.

It's quite a job to do that, but it's also very forgiving. I'll be adding some "fuzz" in just a little bit, and so it's okay to travel to and from in areas that are close together. The monofilament thread is barely visible.

I do this with the batting in place, but not the quilt back. It's a little easier to see the stitching from the back side.

When that was finished, I used a metallic needle and the Bernina Stitch Regulator to sort of free motion embroider some fuzz onto the cat. I use the original image as a guide for where to put fuzz. Any place that shows fuzzy on the image, or any place that might need lightening or darkening is fair game. By the way, you don't need a stitch regulator for this. If you ever want to give this a try, just set your machine up for free motion quilting, and you'll be good to go.

When I was finished with the fuzz, it looked like this:

From there, I just needed to add eyebrows and whiskers. For that I continued with the same needle, but switched to a rayon thread for a little extra shine. Also, I added some French knots to the eyes for the "eye spot." Adding in the reflection to the eyes brings them to life.

From there, I added the quilt back and then quilted the area around Clementine and also the outer border.

As you might guess, I was getting a lot of help with this process. Now how did that can end up on the floor? I could swear I left it there on the table near Smitty. Weird!

Finally, it was ready for binding. I was getting kind of tired of sewing by then, but I sat upstairs and finished it off.

Ta-Da!

Earlier in the day, I took a cue from a few of you and tried enticing the kitties onto the ladder and cat walk with some kitty treats and some dried catnip.

That worked like a charm. Within an hour, I caught Sadie through the laundry room window.

Yes? Is there something you need?

This turned out to be a bad idea though because the squirrels found the food too. One of them was able to flatten himself out and crawl into the catio via the little holes we put for drainage. While there, Smitty caught him and brought him into the house. Fortunately, Mike saw the whole thing happen. We were able to corral Smitty in Mike's office. I picked him up and removed him to another part of the house. Then, we left the door open and the squirrel skedaddled. Later, I removed the chair from the catio and rearranged the ladder and cat walk. Smitty is still boycatting it, and he was totally bummed about losing the squirrel. He hasn't had a good meal in weeks.

Coyote Man left me a message yesterday, saying he'd been sick all week and that was his reason for not coming out. He said he would be here tomorrow to set some traps. Let's hope so because my patience is running on empty about now.

Mike and I took a little trip into town yesterday. As we were leaving home, I noticed these wild tiger lilies blooming at the edge of our driveway.

After dinner, it was a nice evening, and so we sat outside for a while. I walked around and took pictures of every blooming thing. It took about half a dozen shots to get this bumble bee in focus. Even then, I was only partially successful. But look at the color of the lavender. Oh my gosh...it is so pretty!

And check out the calla lilies. There is still one more blossom. You can barely see it to the right of the large blossom on the left side of the image. (To the right of the left...got it?)

Also, there are blossoms on the zucchini now. It's looking a little mud splattered after the rain a couple of days ago.

Okay, so the orangy-yellow echinacea turned out to be pink after all.

This one is supposed to be purple...but not quite.

The daylilies are blooming with wild abandon.

And the hydrangea are working up to taking their place as the stars of the garden.

Their neighbor is also getting started.

In slow-stitching, I stitched up the left side of my hoop yesterday.

I hoped I could encompass the last of it when I moved the hoop, but I wasn't quite there. This morning, I stitched the feather and zigzag stitches. Those are kind of fun.

And now I've moved the hoop to encompass the last of it. I should have this one finished by tomorrow.

So that means I'll be making up the next barn quilt block today. Also, there's one day left in June, and all of my goals for the month are complete. I'll probably get a head start on July's monthlies by making the two CTC sew-along blocks today. Tomorrow will be July 1st, and so it'll be time to start back at the beginning with those monthly blocks.

It's a pretty and sunny day out. Probably it's a good day to get out and do a little weeding. For sure, the birds need feeding. What's on your list for Sunday?