Driven

Good morning, my friends. It's a sunny morning and the weeds are beckoning. I was off to a good start on Monday, but I've not pulled a single weed since then. Tuesday we did our grocery shopping. I thought I might pull some weeds when that was finished. By afternoon, I'd lost my motivation. Then it rained most of the day on Wednesday. I might have gotten out and done some more yesterday except I spent a good three hours of my day driving back and forth to the glass shop where they fixed the broken windshield on our truck. So, no. No weeding yesterday either. The weeds should be frightened by now. There's nothing standing between them and my little shovel of doom.

So with all that going on yesterday, there wasn't a lot of time for sewing. Between runs to the glass shop, I took the first stitches on the latest piece for Grandpa's Bridges. I'm starting on the most densely-stitched side. When I've filled this portion, the piece will be mostly finished.

When the prompt was announced for the latest art quilt (Sashiko), I went online and purchased some templates for creating stitching patterns. These are made from plastic, and each one is about 4 x 4 inches. I chose the item that had the most variation. This is what arrived.

Between ordering and receipt, I changed my mind about what I'm going to do for this project. Now I'm not sure I'll be using these at all, but I haven't ruled it out completely yet. Looking at them motivated me to get my project to where I can actually start to work on it.

Smitty was my helper cat yesterday.

Sashiko is traditionally done on an indigo blue background with white thread. I'm breaking with tradition for this project. Smitty helped me select this fairy frost white for my background.

The best way I can think of to do this piece is by using Sticky Fabri-Solvy to create a pattern. I've printed it, and yesterday I peeled the backing off and stuck it to the background fabric. Here's your peek.

Aggravating, isn't it? But here's an honest-to-goodness peek at my first stitches.

Since this piece will be almost entirely hand-stitched, I've decided to work on it a little each day as a part of my slow-stitching time. There is a dedicated Sashiko thread, but I'm using embroidery floss from my stash. The major difference is that Sashiko thread is more twisted and doesn't divide, but is one single strand. Also, it doesn't have a sheen like embroidery floss. Nevertheless, I've selected a gray and four shades of blue to complete my project. And now, I just need to stitch and stitch and stitch. My idea might not work at all, but I'm forging ahead. (Some might say I'm "blundering" ahead, and I would probably agree with them.)

From there, I cut and labeled all the pieces I'll need to complete August's kitten in a teacup. These are the pieces I'll be using.

When he saw how nicely I had them organized, Smitty decided to help by lying down, effectively holding them in place. How could I ever accomplish anything without the help of my cats?

I encouraged him to find a different job, and then I covered all those pieces with rulers. And then I went to work creating the face for the next cat. I managed to do this without any errors nor any swearing. 

And that's where I left it for the day. I'll get back to it after I've picked the day's bucket o' weeds. It's going smoothly so far. If I can finish it up without generating any swear words, I might get brave and start on July's kitten.

Aside from the things I've mentioned here, there's nothing else on the day's agenda. We're expecting warmer weather going forward with a heat advisory for Sunday. I expect I'll spend most of next week on the weeds, but there should also be plenty of time for sewing too.