At the Top

Good morning, my friends. It's a Red Letter Day. I believe I'll finish the quilting for Calendula Patterdrip's Cottage today. My binding strips are already cut, and I'm getting ready for a good old-fashioned sit and stitch binding session. The kitties really like it when we can stitch a binding.

Sometimes I'm lucky enough to get two cats on my lap.

It was time for my monthly pedicure yesterday. My appointment was at 11:00. With the drive to and from, it took up the best part of the day. Of course, an outing any longer than about half an hour requires a nap when I get home, and so it was late in the day before I did anything sewing-related. Sadie really wanted to sew.

The only thing I did in the sewing room yesterday was to rifle through my fabrics looking for something I liked. Another friend from high school is expecting a first grandchild, and so I offered to make a baby quilt. The quilt is for a little girl, and they prefer greens and beiges. And, really? Beige for a baby? I guess it takes all kinds. 

In any case, I had a pattern selected. I even ordered some fabric since I didn't have anything appropriate. This fabric should be arriving from an Etsy shop soon.

My plan was to use it for the border and the back. But then, I couldn't find anything in my stash I liked to go with the pattern I'd selected. Also...the pattern was going to take some time, and I wanted something I could do faster. So, I went online and found this free pattern called "Pinwheel Pals." It'll go together fast, and I can still use the fabric I've selected.

Also, mine will be smaller than this...probably five blocks across and six blocks down.

So I spent about an hour digging through fabrics, but then I wanted to make some more progress on the quilting. Heading upstairs, my focus was mostly on this block. I just outlined around much of the embroidery.

That was the last major section I needed to finish. From there, I quilted the remaining pieced blocks on the left side of the quilt.

And there were a couple of pieced blocks above the embroidered block.

There were a few open areas where I thought it needed a little more quilting. I gave this spot another spider.

And another bat in this area. I was stitching this bat upside down, and so it didn't turn out as well as the others. That's a big Oh well.

And then, there was just one more pieced block on the left side of the quilt.

Now, all that remains are the pieced blocks across the top edge of the quilt. Probably I can finish these off today.

So that took me to the end of my quilting day. A couple of you asked questions of me yesterday. You folks are no-reply, and so I can only hope you'll see my answers here.

My friend Carrie asks: "What do you use to copy the design of the embroideries into the fabric? Everything I use seems to rub off in no time at all." 

My answer: I use a Pigma Micron pen size 01, brown in color. The marks are permanent, and the pen gives a fine line. Also, I prefer brown no matter what color floss I'm using. I've used different colors, but brown seems to disappear the best.

My friend Peggy B asks: "I have Smitty’s doppelgänger and was curious..how much does he weigh? No offense meant Smitty, you look great!"

My answer: Smitty is not offended. He's purroud of his macho physique. Smitty is overweight...no doubt about it. But he's also a big cat. When he was a kitten (just look at this little squirt), 

he had big paws and big ears and a long tail, and he has grown into all of them. So he weighed 18 pounds at his last vet visit. He could stand to lose a couple of pounds, but he'll always be a big boy.

And as long as we're talking about Smitty, he's given us something to ponder. We noticed when we returned home from our trip at the end of May, he seemed to be having trouble jumping up on things. It was probably from lack of exercise, but he's also 12 years old now, and so age is probably catching up with him too. And so he's completely ceded the top rung of the kitty pole to Sadie. That was always his exclusive domain, but now he shares it freely. He hasn't jumped up on it for months.

On the other hand, he jumps up into their clubhouse with no problems at all, and that's a much mightier leap. So the past couple of days, we've been lifting him up to the top rung. He looks around as if to ask himself, "Hey...why don't I get up here more often?" Yesterday, I watched him leap from the top rung to the arm of our couch...a distance of about ten feet. He did that with no problem. And so this morning, I put him up there again, and I watched him jump down the usual way, but jumping to the lower rungs. Here...he's doing is yoga practice. It's important to stay limber, doncha know.

So we're not clear why he's avoiding the top rung of the kitty pole, but maybe it's like me and the Bowflex. Maybe he has a sore muscle he's resting. And the cat's not talking. Mumm's the word from him.

Okay, so I'm picking up a prime rib from the grocery store today. We're hosting Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve this year, and prime rib is on the menu. I haven't seen many in the stores, and none in our usual grocery store. When we were in last time, I ordered one just to be sure. Also MIA have been their usual spiral-sliced hams. For the past couple of years, I've been doing a ham dinner on New Years Day. We've invited two of our neighbors up for that, but I still need to find a ham somewhere. If I don't find any today, I'll order one of those too. But I need a few other things for our dinner, and so we'll pick up whatever is on the list. I'm sure it will be madness, and so we're going early. "Early" is the operative word in that sentence. And so, I must be on my way if the word "early" is to define our visit. Have a good day, Everybody!