A Kitty Finish

After considering my lack of sewing mojo in yesterday's post, it seemed like a good day to finish something. Part of my sewing malaise has to do with indecision. With several quilts nearing a finish and needing quilting, I was having a hard time deciding what to work on next. When I tackled yesterday's projects, I decided a finish was just what the sewing doctor ordered. Since I was still waiting for buttons on the Get Well Kitty project, it seemed the best choice was to work on the Kitty Cat Alphabet. It was already sandwiched, and so no time like the present, right?

So, I set up my domestic machine for quilting, and then went to work. There wasn't a lot of room for quilting in among the letters, and so I kept it simple with some wavy lines, echoing the vine border as much as possible.

I wanted to use one of my machine's fancy stitches in the narrow pink border, which meant changing the machine around...switching out a presser foot and a stitch plate. I decided to quilt the outer border first. For that, I did a motif similar to the embroidered vine. I didn't want to cover up those little kitty faces on the fabric if I could avoid it.

Then I used one the kitty stitch on my Bernina 750 QE...if memory serves, this is stitch #938. Kind of fun.

And then the quilting was finished.

When I did my original fabric pull for finishing this off, I pulled a striped fat quarter, thinking it could be used for the binding. This is a small quilt at 20 x 21 inches, and so a fat quarter was more than enough fabric for creating a binding. The next step was to machine sew it.

And then I spent about an hour hand-sewing it, and my little quilt was finished.

Here's how it looks from the back.

At my urging, Smitty checked it one more time for warmth and snuggleability. He purrnounced it acceptable, and then he bit it.

It's sitting on the dining room table as I'm writing this. Today, it will take its place on the wall of the Mewseum.

So a finished quilt energized me a little bit. It occurs to me that with this change of seasons, the darkness and rain are what have me drained of energy. It'll pass, but I'm going to try to get a little more light in my life today. As for the end of the day yesterday, it seemed like a warm and soul-soothing pot roast was a good idea. My recipe database notes that this is Mike's favorite pot roast of all time. It's called a Spanish Daube. 

At 291 calories per serving, it has the added advantage of being on our diet. The original recipe was published by Cooking Light, and you can find it right here. I served it up with one of those par-baked focaccia breads available in our grocery store. I really like those par-baked loaves. They're so simple and tasty, and almost as good as homemade.

Before sitting down here today, I did my morning slow-stitching. This was my view.

So, I think for today, I'll stick with my let's-finish-something theme and work on finishing up the Get Well Kitty quilt. The buttons arrived yesterday, and I'll say that was quick work by that Etsy seller.

Once I finish sewing on the one button I was missing, I can get at the quilting. 

First, I need to make a quick trip to the grocery store this morning. We have food to take us into next week, but we're out of some of the perishables. It'll be good to get out into the light for a bit, even if the weather is kind of nasty today. We're under a high wind warning until 4:00 p.m., and the wind has kicked up quite a bit. Mike was hoping we'd get a big wind to blow the remaining leaves off the trees. He's been keeping them raked up, but they just keep falling and ruining his efforts. With this wind, he'll probably get his wish.

To quote the great Walter Cronkite: "And that's the way it is" at the Three Cats Ranch this morning. Maybe I'll have another little finish to show you tomorrow. What's happening at your end?