Penny Power and a Giveaway!

Good morning, my friends. Welcome to Wednesday. It's been a slow couple of days here at the Three Cats Ranch. I've been sidelined from my quilting project, but my wrist is improving slowly. The pain in the back of my hand has settled down. There's still some stiffness in my wrist, and so I'll just cool my jets for another day of not-quilting. There's plenty to do on my art quilt to keep me busy. On today's agenda I have one housekeeping chore and I want to walk on the treadmill. Also, I need to make up a grocery shopping list. Aside from that, it's leftovers for dinner, and so I have the whole day to work on my art quilt. I might finish the main subject today. I've been puzzling over the background, but I think I have that nailed down too.

As for yesterday, I spent some time on my slow-stitching before heading out for my blood draw. The cat's face was finished...

allowing me to move my hoop to the bottom of the cat. And don't you know it drives me crazy when the last little bit of the design won't fit inside my hoop.

So I decided to stitch the duck and the little bit remaining of the cat's paw. That allowed me to move the hoop to encompass the last of it. Now there are just two different shades of gray left to stitch.

And then I could put off my flirtation with death no longer. I'll admit to being a bit of a needle weenie, and my veins don't always cooperate on these forays along the path leading to my final exit. When I got out of the car at the doctor's office parking lot, I noticed a penny on the ground. At first I walked past it, but then I turned around and picked it up. I figured a lucky penny in my pocket would go a long way toward getting my blood drawn with a single stick.

And I'm hear to tell you that it worked!!! Never pass up a lucky penny. Lucky pennies have saved me from getting a speeding ticket, and they've also saved us from mechanical problems when we're on the road. Mike keeps that particular penny in his truck all the time now.

It was relatively warm when I arrived back home. The bird feeders were empty. Again. It was a good time to fill them. The Steller's Jays find the peanuts almost immediately.

They can empty this feeder in less than an hour.

Back inside, I decided to avert an impending stitching emergency by making up the next block for the Domestic Affairs quilt. I'll start on this one when the kitten is finished.

And then I made a little more progress on my art quilt. Here's your peek:

Any thoughts?

As I mentioned a few days ago, we're in the planning stages of replacing the carpet in the upstairs part of our house (including the stairs). Two carpet samples were delivered yesterday. Mike picked the one on the right. I picked the one on the left. We both want the carpet on the stairs to blend in with the carpet on the main floor. The one on the right seems too gray, and so we'll go with the one on the left.

The carpet we have now was the original carpet from when we bought the house. We've lived here going on 22 years, and I don't know how long the carpet was down before we moved in. There are some places on the stairs where I can poke my finger through a hole that goes all the way through to the wood below. Yes, it's time. No matter how much I dread it, there's no getting around the expense and the hassle. If that lucky penny were really any good, it could transport us through time to a point where this job is already done. Oh well. 

Okay, so I'll get busy with my slow stitching again, and then I'll get on with my day. But before I go, I have a little giveaway for you. A few weeks ago, my friend Darlene sent me a link to this quilt pattern that happened to be on sale and with free shipping. And wouldn't this be cute as next year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt?

Well, Darlene knows me so well. Of course, I jumped on that. Only...without going into the whole sad story, I'll say I ended up with two of these patterns. I could send one back, but I decided to offer it up as a giveaway. So, if you're hot to make a cat quilt or a cat pillow, here's what you need to do.

1. Just leave a comment...any comment will do. If you can't think of anything, then tell me about whatever project you're working on right now. Please leave your comment here on the blog. If you are an email follower, simply click on the title of this post to be taken to the actual web page. You can leave your comment there.

2. You don't need to be a follower, but if you want to become a follower, you can find lots of ways to do it there in my left side bar. Also, I will ship internationally, so all residents of Planet Earth are welcome to join in. 

3. If you're no-reply, be sure to leave an email address. You can't win if I can't contact you.

So good luck! I'll leave this giveaway open through Sunday, November 19th and announce the winner sometime on Monday, November 20th.