She Lives!!

There was a little more activity here yesterday. The planning of the summer trip continues. I'm getting a little tired of looking at it. Yesterday I had to cut some portions, and that involved some hard selections. While I was sitting at the table, I noticed this little sparrow out pecking seeds near the front sidewalk. It reminded me I needed to fill the bird feeders.

I tried to get the kitties to go outside with me, but they refused. They're waiting for some warmer weather. 

On my way by, I noticed the clematis is still trying to bloom. We could really use some warmth. And, for goodness sake, it's May now! Get with it, Sunshine! There are gardens to be planted!

Grabbing the seed and peanut feeders, I headed back to where the seed is stored. Along the way, I passed by this guy, looking all hurt that I hadn't taken him with me.

We have two seed feeders. I always fill the first one, and then switched it for the second feeder before heading back to where the first one was hung. As I walked back with the second empty feeder, Sadie had taken her place in the window. It was her turn to look pathetic over me not taking her along. You guys were invited...now live with your bad decision-making. It's like having teenagers again.

Back inside, I noticed this squirrel was wasting no time scheming to climb the peanut feeder pole. You can see at the top of the image below where there is a "skirt" that prevents them from climbing the pole.

It doesn't stop them from trying though.

And after so much effort, a guy really needs to wash-up.

Here, he's employing a method of hiding behind his tail to avoid detection.

Okay, so for the first time in several days, I headed into the sewing room. I was determined to accomplish something. Already, I'd selected this little fat-quarter sized piece of Duponi silk to finish off the Give More stitchery.

It's been in my stash a long time. The only other time I've used it was when I made the Vintage Miniature Sewing Machines quilt. That was one of my earliest embroidered quilts. It was a block of the month that came as a kit. The Duponi silk was included in the kit, and it was used to sash all the embroidered blocks.

When I finished the Give More piece, I added the silk to the project box to use as a first border. The first step was to trim it, and mine was trimmed to 6-1/2 inches square.

Sadie was considering how best to help. She thought her finest contribution might be a nap on the quilts to be quilted pile.

While she was deciding where to take her nap, I added the first narrow border. When I made the sewing machine quilt, we first added stabilizer to the silk to prevent fraying, and I did the same thing here.

You might think it would be easy to choose fabrics for such a small piece. I probably selected at least half a dozen fabrics before settling on this Kaffe Fassett scrap.

It was equally difficult to settle on a fabric for the back. In the end, I selected this fabric. 

It was made from the cut-off sides of the Sundress quilt when I squared it up for binding.

When it was sandwiched, I turned my attention to the quilting. I decided to use stitch #104 on my sewing machine to stitch a row around the perimeter of the stitchery.

That turned out pretty cute.

And then I decided to add a row of straight stitching in the outer border.

And then it was ready for binding. And, again, it took me forever to decide on this aqua polka dot.

Fortunately, I had ample help hand-stitching the binding.

Before the afternoon was over, I had a little finished quilt. It's 10 x 10 inches. I'll use it as a wall-hanging or else as a hot pad in the RV.

Here's how it looks from the back.

So...yay! I accomplished something!!! Maybe today I'll even take a shower! (Do you think that might be too much? Am I getting carried away with all this activity? Pondering the questions as I write.)

Okay, so today I'll probably spend a little more time planning the trip. But mainly I want to get a good start sandwiching and quilting the Purrs & Paws quilt.

I'll quilt it simply with a diagonal straight line grid in the center, and then a kitty paw motif in the outer border. I doubt I can finish it in a single day, but tomorrow wouldn't be out of the question. It'll be good to finish it off and send it on its way to Quilts for Kids.

If you're looking for more quilty entertainment, today is the reveal for the no-prompt art quilts on The Endeavourers blog. I'm heading over there right now to take a look at what my fellow Endeavourers have cooked up.