A Finished Flimsy

Good morning, my friends. Things are looking up weather-wise here. The critters are out in force to enjoy it. Of course, you already know about the squirrels.

We're seeing several of the California ground squirrels, known as "gray diggers" in these parts. Smitty is keeping an eye on them. They're keeping an eye on him.

He watches them both from inside and outside the house. He's enjoying being able to take up residence at his favorite corner spot on our deck outside. He can keep an eye on his terrortory from this spot. I tapped on the window to get him to look in my direction. "Oh, it's just you, pestering me again" he seems to say.

While I was bothering Smitty, a deer strolled across the field.

Lots of wildlife...it's gotta be a good sign, right?

Back inside, I stitched to a near finish on this block for A Year in the Garden. I expect to finish this today.

I couldn't have done this without the assistance of my trusty stitching cat. The cats were thinking I was terribly boring yesterday morning.

So I got in a Bowflex workout in the morning, and then went to work finishing off the Kittens quilt top. It ends up a 63 x 53 inches. A good size.

I used all but about a half yard of the background fabric, and so I selected something else for the quilt back. I had three yards of this one, and it had all the right colors. I don't remember purchasing this fabric, which makes me think someone gave it to me. If it was you, then thank you.

Being a directional print, I had to keep everything facing the right way, and that meant, I didn't have quite enough to make a large-enough quilt back. I added in that center panel. It's not ideal, but this is going to be one of those times when finished is better than perfect. A darker color would have been preferred, but I'm not changing it.

From there, I looked at pretty much every fabric I own looking for something to use as a binding. I really need a nice rich brown for this binding, I think, and I don't have anything like that. This won't be ready for quilting for quite some time, and so I'll look for something when we make our trip to Alaska this year. I've noted quilt shops along the way, and I still need fabrics to finish off my current Shop Hop quilt. No doubt I'll find something in our travels.

Knowing I would finish my embroidery block today, it seemed urgent to trace out the next one for the Girls' Getaway quilt. This time, I'll be stitching the narrow "lace" sections of the quilt center. Here's the picture from the pattern cover.

When I started this project, I cut all the sections I'd need for embroidery backgrounds, and this is the last one. It's cut wide because I'll need to stitch two rows of this design, and then cut them apart.

I fear this will be boring to stitch, but a little each day will get the job done. If it becomes too tedious, I can always do another project at the same time. For now, I'll just stick with this one. It's traced and reach for stitching now.

It's a beautiful day today. We're expecting the warmest day so far in 2025 with highs in the 60's. I don't know if it will get that warm at our place, but it hardly matters. The sunshine is very nice. It's a treadmill walking day for me, but I'm going to get outside and go for a walk at the top of our hill. No doubt, I'll find some blooming things...or at least their beginnings. Besides, I'm hoping that getting outside will give me some relief from the doom and gloom scenarios currently playing inside my skull. You know why.

Also, I want to bake something for our pre-breakfast snack today. We've devoured the biscotti from last week. Today I'll use the last of the frozen shredded zucchini from our 2023 garden. (It's about time, don't you think?)

In the sewing room, I have the "Snow Happens" runner cued up for my attention. It needs to be sandwiched for quilting, and then I'll go to work on it.

Right now, though, it's time for some breakfast, and some slow-stitching. It's going to be a good day. I hope you have a good day too.