7/23/19

Sewing with Friends

It was mid-afternoon before I made my way into the sewing room yesterday. There will be more time today, although it is a CSA pick-up day, and so I'll have to quit early. On yesterday's agenda, there were errands to run and grocery shopping to do. The grocery shopping was supposed to be a half-way quick trip, but it ended up taking much longer than expected. On the other hand, we have food now, so never mind about sending in the Red Cross. Imminent starvation has been canceled.

Before leaving home, I took a little walk around the garden. I realized with horror that I hadn't checked the zucchini plant in over a week, and I was fearful of what monsters might be lurking. As it turns out, the largest was just barely ready for picking. I decided to leave it for a couple of days. The echinacea is what really caught my attention. It is so beautiful right now...blooming to beat the band.


Also, I wanted to check on the status of these unwanted neighbors. Some hornets got a mind to build a nest in the vents of the greenhouse. I found them there before we headed off to the lake. The nest is about the size of a softball. Mike went out night before last and sprayed them with hornet spray. As you might guess, these matters must be handled delicately (to quote the Wicked Witch of the West).


There was no activity when I checked yesterday morning, and so he went out last night and poked the thing again. There were still a few live ones, and so he knocked the nest to the ground and tore it opened, spraying again. I believe they are history now. Thank goodness, because that was going to seriously impede my desire to enter the greenhouse to harvest any ripe tomatoes.

So, please pardon me now while I drive into town.

Okay, I'm back. Groceries are put away, and I've had my lunch. Let's finish off that Beach Hut, shall we?


The little number sign over the door was supposed to have just the number 4 written on it, but that made no sense here at the Three Cats Ranch. Ours says "3" followed by a finger-on-a-steamy-mirror drawing of a cat. 

And speaking of cats, my little friend stopped by to help out about then.


I know she thinks she's providing moral support, but it's a little awkward doing paper piecing this way.


Still, I'll admit having a kitty helping me kept me from shedding any tears over the paper piecing. The sections of the zebra are lettered A-O, and I was able to complete Section A yesterday.


It's the section I've circled in pink below.


As I look at this, it might be the most complicated section, and so the rest should be easy, right?

I'll get into the sewing room earlier today, and I'm hoping to get well along with the rest of the zebra. My goal is to have it finished by the weekend. I'm not sure that's realistic, but I'm going to give it a shot.

10 comments:

Sandra W said...

I think the zebra looks lovely--and a bit complicated--but it will be beautiful when complete.

Julierose said...

Whoa--what a mysteriously, seriously hard to find Zebra lol--boy--you surely have patience to tackle that one...But i think it will be beautiful.
[I'm cancelling the Red Cross food truck right now...;)))]
i thought I might be done making snowballs...but I actually discovered a smidge more teal and pink solids hiding in my stash--so cut a few more sqs and triangles and will add enough to add up to a snow fort..;)))
Hugs, Julierose

Quilting Babcia said...

Hmm, that looks like a mighty tiny zebra! My fingers cramp up just contemplating all those miniscule pieces. It's a really cute pattern though.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

That zebra pattern is a bit tempting. Hornets are not fun and glad you got that demolished with no injuries (I hope). My battle is with wasps constantly nesting on the porch - hardy, nasty things.

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

We usually don't see our hornet nests until the leaves fall off the trees and there one is....WAAAAAy up high. Too high to get at. Once my grandson stood on the top of the truck to reach up with tree trimmers to knock it off. Glad you got yours GONE!!

I've never done paper piecing. I think I want to try. We'll see.
xx, Carol

piecefulwendy said...

Oh, that hornet nest definitely needs to be history. Glad Mike could get it taken care of. They like to find little nooks and crannies here too, so we keep an eye out. The little mini is so cute, and your zebra is coming along really well. I'm sure Sadie's presence was just the thing!

SJSM said...

Hornet nest, ick. There was a huge wasp nest in our attic when we moved in. The wasps were killed when the house was fumigated. A workman went into the tiny access hole to do some electrical work and found it. He used a black 30 gallon trash bag to cover and pick it up then smashed it to get it through the tiny access. He said it was about 4 feet by 3 feet when whole. He had seen nothing like it before and I never did. Wasps kept coming back to the house for years but we religiously knocked the nests down. We haven’t seen any wasps trying to build for the last 5 years or so now. We’ve lived in the house 28 years now.

We are on a road trip to the Portland area for a wedding on Saturday. We will be there tomorrow for a long weekend with all of hubby’s side of the family. It will be a relief to hand off the veil to the bride intact. I made it 3 times. First was the mock up, second was the finished veil but I discovered a hole in the tulle on the final pressing so a third was made. It is 9 feet long so the second one must have caught on something when I moved it around. The last one was made on the dining room table and carefully transported to the machines for the sewing work. It looks perfect and is well done. It amazes me that veils easily go for $300 or more of this kind yet they are really simple and do not cost much in materials. The specialty threads cost more than the tulle.

Okay enough about me. Your paper pieced zebra is coming along nicely. The blank space in the camper is perfect! I love the personalization of the 3 cats, metals and window. Enjoy the CSA and garden harvest.

quiltzyx said...

Yep, the zebra is working out just lovely! I will keep the vibes coming.

We were talking about zucchini the other day & my friend Marlene said that she had one that hid until it was pretty enormous. She ended up cutting into about 1" thick "sticks" and grilling it - sounded really good to me.
The echinacea are wonderful!
Oy! Glad Pest Control Agent Mike took care of that hornet's nest. Yikes!!

kc said...

Zebra and cone flowers both look awesome! That's my favorite color pink!! Glad to see your wasp exterminator is doing a better job than your coyote flake!!

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

The nice thing about dogs is that they don't get on my quilting stuff. Of course, they do lay in the middle of the room so that you trip over them trying to get to the iron. The zebra is looking good (yes, I'm behind in blog reading).