Nearing a Finish

We were home from the grocery store before 10:00 a.m. yesterday. Heck, on any other day, I'd still be sitting on the couch in my PJ's, and so it was like it never happened...except now, we have food! Cool! Okay, so that gave me plenty of time to get started on my newest embroidery project. These are the first stitches on the first block for Heartland Barns.

When I considered starting this project, I worried those satin-stitched leaves might be tedious or that they might make my thumb hurt. Actually, they're just fine, and it's going to be very pretty when I start adding more colors. I'm not fond of doing satin stitch. More often than not, when I'm doing embroidery, I'm separating two strands of floss from the six strand bundle. For satin stitch, I separate three strands. It gives better coverage and makes the whole task a little less tedious. 

When that was finished, I moved into the sewing room to try to finish up my challenge quilt. There were two borders to quilt, and then I needed to add the binding. Of course, my stitching cat was there throughout the process, making sure I did everything right. And, yes, that is my Stitched Inchies quilt, nearly falling off the wall behind him. It was hung using two bent pins from my discarded sharps container, and obviously, one of them has no life left.

When the quilting was finished, and I was squaring it up, Smitty asked for a cosmetic procedure wherein his tail could be made to look like Sadie's. I discouraged him from making this permanent change to his magnificant stripes. 

And here's a little peek at the quilting.

Now the binding is on, and I've turned the first corner. By then, both my shoulder and my thumb were giving me grief, and so I stopped for the day.

My helper cats were 'zhausted by that time too.

We all joined in solidarity for a nap.

While we were watching the news, I noticed the hummers at the feeder. It's hard to catch them when they aren't in a blur.

So far, we've only put out only one feeder, but there are enough fighting over the feeder now that it probably makes sense to put out the second one. I put one out of sight of the other so one bird can't hog both of them.

Today I'm getting my hair cut and permed. Hol-ey Mol-ey...it's Hair 911. My hair is driving me absolutely crazy. I tried to get an earlier appointment, but my hairdresser requested I "quarantine" for two weeks after returning home. Her reasoning was that if I'd gone to another state, she wanted me to wait two weeks before coming in. Okay...fine by me...and I complied without complaint. Much. But those two weeks have been painful in more ways than one. I've had to try styling my increasingly recalcitrant hair with my broken arm and thumb. It's made me even crabbier than usual when it comes to my hair. Fortunately, help is on the way. I may never complain about getting my hair permed again.

So, I'm writing fast this morning, and it's time for breakfast. I'll finish up my challenge quilt today, and then I'll have some time left in the month to work on quilt blocks for my other WIP's. First up is City Bank. 

This was how it looked the last time I worked on it. I posted this image way back in November when I was threatening to work on it right before the Bike Ride from Hell. Finally, it's time has come. Hopefully, nothing will happen to me in the meantime.