Spacy Smitty

Smitty had the worst day ever yesterday. He had his teeth cleaned. Admittedly he now has a dazzling smile, but he was pretty well lost in space when he came home and well into the night. I'm not sure the poor guy is right in his head yet this morning, although he is acting a little more like himself. When we got him home, he sat by the door gazing out, possibly seeing things the rest of us couldn't see.

He's no worse for wear, except for a little shaved spot on his right leg where an IV was inserted. All of his teeth are intact, although we're told he's at risk for losing three of his lower teeth next time around. He has Feline Tooth Resorption, which is apparently a "thing" with cats. He's in his 10th year of life, and so I imagine, like the rest of us, his teeth have seen better days. All that crunching of gopher bones, doncha know. Well, I've linked to some info about it back there, and it has nothing to do with gopher bones, but we'll blame the gophers anyway. Fortunately, we've not noticed any of the signs or symptoms noted in the article, but we'll keep a look out for them now that we're aware.

When we got home yesterday, I went straight to work finishing off the third of the Heartland Barns quilt blocks. 

There is one more in this size, and then one larger one to finish off all the blocks for this quilt. Here are the three I have so far:

After that, I went to work finishing off the top-stitching for my challenge quilt. Here's another peek. 

I did all the top-stitching through the batting, but without the back. Now, I've added the backing fabric, and I'm hoping I'll have time today to do a little bit of quilting in the background. When that is finished, it will be ready for binding. Reveal for this quilt will be November 1st, so there's a pretty long wait before I can show it to you.

Recently, I pulled one of the sewing room stools up closer to the sewing machine. I think I was just moving it out of my way, but Sadie thinks this is an excellent observation post. When I turn around, there she is, chattering away. She clearly has a lot to say about my sewing. If I had a better grasp of Catonese, I might be able to understand her.

 

When I had the quilt ready for quilting, it was time to stop for the day. Fresh garden veggies were on the menu last night. I roasted the last of the beet harvest and added just a little butta. They were so tasty.

The green beans are just barely getting started, but I've already harvested a little more than half a pound. I prepared those from my adaptation of one of the recipes on our diet called Charred Green Beans. They're so good this way, and it's fairly simple. I've always boiled the green beans within an inch of their lives when I cook them, but I really love this simple stir-fry method. They probably retain a lot more of their nutritional value. We had the veggies alongside this Apricot-Lemon Chicken, which is another easy recipe from our diet. I really hate how large chicken breasts are these days, but I've discovered it's pretty easy to slice them in half the long way to make a thinner breast. They cook better that way. 

Today we're having lunch with a friend who is visiting from out of town. This morning I need to harvest some more veggies and water the flower pots. Also, I have one housekeeping chore on the calendar. Before I do any of that, I'll get a start on my next slow-stitching quilt block, this 8th plate from Pieces of the Past.

Right now, it's time for breakfast, and then I'll get a start on my Wednesday.