A Finished Feline

It took quite a while to blast myself off the couch yesterday. I woke up so tired yesterday morning. After writing my post, I did some slow-stitching. Slow-stitching can make me sleepy in the same way reading a boring book can, and I could hardly keep my eyes opened to finish off the last bit of floss. When that was done, I slid down and took a morning nap. It was nearly noon before I got going.

The first order of business was to get out for a walk with Smitty. He's been doing really well staying beside us, and so we'll continue with these little walks. We're keeping an eye on the cherry trees right now. It's a little hard to see in this image, but both trees are loaded with cherries. They are turning red, and close to being ready for picking. We might actually get some this year, although I haven't checked the trees yet this morning.

They're up awfully high this year. Mike gets into the bucket of the tractor, and I lift him up for picking. I'm not actually sure we'll be able to reach the ones in the tippy top of the tree. Of course, this all depends on whether the critters clean the tree before we can get to them. It's one positive about the coyotes. They may have cleared out the raccoon population.

Smitty wanted me to be sure and show you the second blossom on the calla lily. It didn't do as well this year as last. It was late making its appearance above ground, and the flowers are small.

The potted geraniums are looking really pretty right now. I love these intense colors.

Back inside, I went to work making three more masks. The ones at the bottom of the image are for children. The bird mask is for a friend from junior high and high school. 

I'll let you in on a little secret: this friend sat behind me in 7th grade, which meant she was checking my spelling tests. I've always been a good speller. I once heard a teacher ponder the question of whether spelling can actually be taught. She said it seems people are either born good spellers or they aren't. It's anybody's guess, but either way, this friend drove me crazy. She'd raise her hand and ask questions like (no exaggeration), if the dot over the "i" isn't over the top of the "i", is it misspelled? And the teacher was just as bad..."Oh, that would be a misspelling," she'd answer. And I'd sit there fuming. 

So one day, my friend left her desk to do something...I forget where she went...and I casually opened the notebook she left on her desk to find her locker combination. (Her locker was just above mine.) Then I excused myself to go to the bathroom, and went to her locker and stacked it so the books fell out when she opened it next time. Let this be a lesson to you: don't mess with me. And my friend has no idea to this day. Fortunately, she doesn't read this blog. And, by the way, she grew into a delightful adult woman with a big sunny smile and a positive attitude to match.

Okay, so back to the masks...six down, three to go. I'll get the last three made today.

Next up was to finish up the shading and adding details to Luna. I used blue thread to add details to the iris, and also French knots to create the all-important "eye spots."

When that was finished, it just needed a little bit of quilting. Gina wanted Luna's name on the quilt, and so I quilted it in below her paws.

I did some pebbling in the tan parts of the background, and then switched to a blue thread to quilt a little feather up the side in the blue section. You can see the feather begins with a heart.

And then she was ready for binding.

So I cut off the excess, and she was ready to go.

About that time, Mike and I went outside for a walk through the woods. Mike and Matthew have been toiling away at clearing the paths through the woods. If you've been reading for a long time, then you might remember that kitty George and I used to walk through the woods almost daily. George even wrote a blog post about it. Toward the end of his life, George quit going into the woods with me. He seemed to know something I didn't, and so I never encouraged him when he balked. I've never been able to get Smitty to walk with me either, and so I kind of lost interest in the woods.

Now, with Mike home full time, I'd kind of like to get back to the walking. It's lovely there in the spring when all the wildflowers, and especially the trilliums, are in bloom. Here's a picture of one of the trilliums from a walk of many years ago:

So yesterday, we found most of the flowers bloomed out for the season, but there were wild violets in abundance.

I thought we might find the wild tiger lilies in bloom, but they'd already bloomed themselves out. Here's one from a previous walk:

But here's an old friend. This Douglas fir is one of the largest trees on our property. I'd say its trunk is about four feet in diameter. 

It is growing on a nurse log. It's a little hard to pick out what's what in the image below, but in the lower right quadrant, you can see the horizontal log where the big fir got it's start.

Using a combination of cutting tools and by riding the ATV over the paths throughout the past couple of months, Mike and Matthew have made the pathways navigable again, and so we'll be spending more time down here.

Okay, so that was a nice little break. Back inside, I finished off the binding on Luna. Just at the last possible moment, I remembered to add a label to the back.

And then she was finished! It ends up 15 x 16 inches.

Here's how it looks from the back:

Luna was my goal for July's

so I'll be joining the party at the end of the month.

Mike offered to take me out for dinner last night. We went back to a restaurant we visited several weeks ago where outdoor seating was available. We were a little dismayed to find the outdoor seating "closed for maintenance." [What?] We hesitated for a minute, but then went inside. Tables were spaced well apart, and so we felt good enough about it to stay. Next time we'll call ahead to make sure outdoor seating is available. I'm still not entirely comfortable being in confined spaces if not absolutely necessary. It was a nice way to end the day anyway.

Today is a bad day for kitties. They're both getting a trip to the vet for annual physicals and immunizations. Mike and I are taking them in together. We've been instructed to wait in the car when we arrive, and that way, we avoid sitting in their waiting room with others. Such weird times. After that, I'll get back to my mask-making. I'll be picking up Eliza this week, and getting back to my quilting. My goal is to finish off three quilts this month.