Cool Down

Good morning, my friends. We had a cooler day of weather yesterday, although it was still plenty warm. It finally started to cool off in earnest after the sun set. We were able to open the windows when we went to bed, which made for a better night's sleep.

Earlier in the day, I made good on my threat to get out and cut back the rose bush and a half-dead azalea. The rose was easy enough. If we'd been home, I'd have been pruning it all along, and so it needed a haircut badly. The azalea has been more of a problem child. The center of it died, although it's still very much alive around the edges. I cut out that dead center and found new growth toward the bottom of the plant. Now that the dead stuff is cleared away, I'm hoping more sun exposure will help it to fill in.

Of course, none of this could have happened without the purrtection afforded me by my steadfast attack cat. He kept those marauding gophers, moles, voles, shrews, and mice away, and so I felt completely safe.

Taking a little walk around, I noticed about half a dozen apples on our sad little apple tree. These are about the size of a tennis ball. They aren't really very good for eating, although I seem to recall making an apple crisp from them once. The deer usually enjoy all of them before we get a chance.

Also...the plums are purpling! This is a good sign. I am so ready for some yummy plum desserts.

Heading into the sewing room, I cut the centers for the Land & Sea blocks. I'm using my blue and green scraps for these. This is my version of a "Duckworth quilt." My version starts with blue centers cut relatively square or rectangular. Then I'm sewing green strips around the centers, but those are cut wonky.

Smitty was planning to help, but he doesn't like working with scraps. All those threads get on his furs and he has a heck of a time removing all the detritus. It gets caught in his murder mittens and in his vicious fangs. When he tries to lick it off it gets caught on his sandpaper tongue. So when he saw we were working with scraps, he suddenly remembered an important appointment.

Oh, would you look at the time! Gotta go!

That's okay. Sadie was on standby. She doesn't mind working with scraps as long as she can snuggle with them.

By the end of my sewing day, I had the fifth of six rows completed. I just keep sewing strips around until they're large enough to trim to 10-1/2 inches.

Here are the five rows of blocks I have for this quilt so far. One more row, and then I'll start sewing them together.

Some happy mail arrived yesterday. You might remember I'd finished sewing together the Girls' Getaway quilt top just before we left on our trip.

I didn't have a good backing fabric for it, and so I was going to look for something while we were traveling. And I didn't find anything, although admittedly, I didn't really look. It's been on my mind since we got back. I get weird, nervous, and thirsty when I have quilt tops sitting around with no backs.

Recently, I went searching online for something that would work. I found something in an Etsy shop, and ordered four yards of it. The bundle arrived yesterday.

It was kind of fun to unwrap. I first untied the ribbon and freed this little button.

Also included...these little prezzies.

There was a little hard candy. Thank you. I popped that into my mouth while I looked at the rest.

And there was a little fat eighth of this fabric with a birdie pin.

I even saved the ribbon (as I always do).

So that was fun. I purchased it from this shop, and I'd definitely shop there again. I had a question about my order, and she answered my email question within just an hour or two.

So...wanna see what I got? It's four yards of this "Let's Go Camping" fabric from Michael Miller. 

So I'll make a back for that quilt today, and I can settle down, knowing everything is as it should be. We all need that right now, am I right?

When that's finished, I'll be starting a new scrap project. I found this "Gumballs" pattern at the Stitchin' Heaven website. I'm making an effort to work with more of my overflowing scrap bins. For this one, I'll use pinks, reds, and purples.

It's created with six rows of five blocks each, and so I'll work on this one row at a time.

And all's well at the Three Cats Ranch except...WTF is that? 

SECURITY BREACH!!!!

Holy Murder Mittens! Who is that scalawag daring to walk across Smitty's field?!?

I'LL KICK YOUR TAIL UP AROUND YOUR EARS!!!

Good grief. This is a serious invasion of the sanctity of our propurrty. We must go investigate now. (Except we'll wait until that cat clears the area. We don't want any cat fighting.) For now, we'll just have some breakfast and try to unsee this unfolding travesty.