Something New

Good morning, my friends. It was another lovely day here at the Three Cats Ranch. Mike and I gratefully took the opportunity to get outside and spruce up the yard a little bit. There was a gangly three-quarters-dead azalea that needed to be taken out. We’ve talked about it for at least two years. Finally, I was inclined to cut out the dead stuff and see how it would do. As we discussed what should be cut and what shouldn’t, Mike went and got his tools and dug the thing up. (There’s more than one way to get a beast to his burden…or something like that.) While he was working on the dead azalea, I pulled weeds all around him. He’d sprayed most of them, but there were some that could not be sprayed because of their proximity to other things.

When all the sit-on-the-ground work was done, I took a walk around to see what’s up. I’d totally missed that the purple Clematis Roguchi is blooming. This was planted by the original owner of our home, and it’s been a reliable bloomer every year. I’m surprised it has survived the cold and ice all these years, but it just keeps coming back.

Also, I noticed some of the rhododendrons are showing their colors. This one is at one end of the herb garden..

And this one is at the other end of the herb garden.

Out front, the apple tree is in bloom.

And you might recall I’m trying begonias in this mostly-shady area. The begonias seem to like it here, and have produced more flowers since I planted them. It’s good to know since I have two pots in shady areas that have been hard to plant successfully.

The kitties joined us, and let me just say that kitties feel no compunction about helping out when we’re working outdoors. However, they are very good at warding off any marauding mice, squirrels, gophers, moles, voles, shrews…the list goes on.

Smitty meowed out orders as I weeded the peony bed. He sat on the wall above me where he had a good view of things.

Our work outside complete, it was time for some sewing. My first task was to make a back and cut binding strips for the Land & Sea quilt. As of now, I have 17 quilts for sandwiching. I’m hoping to get those tables set up tomorrow.

And then it was time to go to work on those head rests for the RV. We measured the space. They’ll end up 23 inches long and 18 inches wide. So I gave myself two extra inches in both dimensions and then cut four pieces…a front and back for each of the two head rests.

Next, I dug through all my batting scraps to find strips wide enough to piece together. I cut those about 1/2-inch smaller all around, and spray basted them to the top.

That’s as far as I got with that. My plan is to quilt them with just the top and the batting before adding the back. There will also be a tab at the top end where I’ll sew some velcro. The velcro will stick to the back of the chair, and then we can add the head rests that way. They’ll be machine washable that way. (Frankly, I can’t think of any other way to attach them.) I’ll get busy with the quilting today. I know what I’m going to do. I was inspired by an image I saw on Pinterest…this one…

I’m going to do something like that. I need a good circle template. I’m thinking the lid from my oatmeal carton will probably be the right size.

Okay, and the only other sewing I did yesterday was to make some progress on October’s block for A Year in the garden. Possibly, I’ll finish this up today.

Knowing that, I traced Block 7 for Le Jardin. Some of these blocks are supposed to have applique, but I’m doing them all in embroidery.

These are the blocks I have so far. I’m going to have to redo a couple of these borders. I was supposed to add more of the red cornerstones, and I didn’t do that. It won’t be hard to change them.

Okay, and so that’s about all I have to tell you about yesterday and today. I’ll get busy with the head rest quilting, and I’ll do some slow-stitching. I want to get in my PT exercises today, and I have a couple of easy housekeeping chores to do. Mainly, it’s going to be a sewing day. I’d like to get well-along on those head rests before I start the arduous task of sandwiching 17 quilts for quilting. Yeesh. It makes me tired just thinking about it. My plan is to do 4 each day. I work from the largest to the smallest, and so on Day 4, I should be able to finish five small ones. 

It’s my least favorite part of quilting, but I’m going to love having all those quilts for quilting. It’s like having a full gas tank. And I’m old enough to remember when gasoline was rationed in the mid-70’s. Remember those odd-even days? If not, then be thankful you missed out on the fun back then.