Fast Flimsy

Good morning, my friends. I sewed fast yesterday, and now the Kittens in Cups quilt is ready for sandwiching. Before I could get to that, though, I finished off Block 5 for Home is Where My Flock Is.

Here are the five blocks I have for this quilt so far. There is still a long way to go on this, but these blocks stitch up in just a few days.

And that meant I needed a new stitching project. The ninth block for the Snowmen and Reindeer is traced and ready to go. This one is called Snowmen, Reindeer, and Birdie Friends.

From there, I was ready to sew the Kittens in Cups blocks together. But first, I took time to press and trim the leaders and enders I'd accumulated. I'm getting better at remembering to use them. And since I don't want to end up with a bunch of HST's for trimming, I'm trying to keep up with them as I go. There were a lot of those orange ones leftover from when I abandoned a certain quilt block I was making.

From the Fantastic Felines, this was the block that gave me so much trouble. I created these triangles from triangles...

To frame these panel blocks. Only, I had to stop because I was considering using my rotary cutter to slit my own throat by the time I had these finished.

And so I abandoned the effort, leaving myself with all of these triangles for my leaders and enders box.

Okay, and with those trimmed and sorted, I was ready to start sewing together the Kittens in Cups. When Smitty heard I was going to be making a cat quilt, he was all about it. It's good to have expurrt advice.

And that was pretty cinchy to sew together. I just needed sashings and an outer border. Everything fit for a change. No fudging. I laid out a couple of fabrics to give it an outer border. After consulting with the Resident Engineer, we agreed we liked it just the way it is. This was my Rainbow Scrap Challenge project for 2025.

From there, I cut a backing for it. The quilt ends up at 36 x 48 inches, and so my fabric was wide enough. I just needed to measure and cut enough for the length.

Smitty appurroves of this fabric. We briefly discussed when he was small enough to fit in a tea cup.

Then, I went digging through my stash for an appropriate binding fabric. I had only about a quarter yard of this one, and so that seemed like a good choice.

Okay, so I'm checking those finished block sets off one by one. There's still one more to go...this one I'm calling "Land and Sea." 

This is what's known as a "Duckworth" quilt. I first heard about these on a scrappy quilt Facebook page I follow. You can see more examples at that link I've given you. All the ones I've seen were made with straight cuts. Rebel that I am, I decided to make mine wonky. Also, I'm engaged in a desperate effort to pare down my blue and green scraps. This is the second of at least three blue and green quilts I have in the works. I still can't see even a dent in my scraps. So, I haven't thought a lot about how to finish this off. I'm going to sew the blocks together without sashings. Then I'll decide whether I want to add any borders. Time will tell on this one, and I'm hoping to have it sewn together by this afternoon.

Okay, so I'm ready to take the first stitches on the ninth Snowmen and Reindeer block. After that I'll grudgingly do my PT exercises. There's one housekeeping chore on today's agenda, but then there will be plenty of time for sewing. It's going to be a good day. I hope you have a good day planned for yourself.

A Raggedy Flimsy

Good morning, my friends. It's another sunny day here at the Three Cats Ranch. We've had our typical spring weather with a little bit of everything during the day. A few days ago, we even had some hail. No snow, thank goodness, although we do sometimes get snow in April. 

When I left you yesterday, I was on my way to fill the birdfeeders. Along my way, I saw a few little things going on in the garden. For one thing, I'm seeing colors on the Lavender Whisper peony. I'll admit I'm anxious to see this one bloom.

The plum tree is gaining more flowers, mostly at the top so far.

The stargazer lily is poking its head above ground. Sometimes we get to see its flowers. Sometimes the critters eat the flowers before they have a chance to open. Still, it keeps trying.

I brushed away some of the dead leaves to reveal the greenery of the echinacea making an appearance. We won't see any flowers from this until fall. The bees love it.

Also, the lilac is showing signs of flowering soon. 

In my wanderings, I caught Smitty surveilling his happy hunting grounds behind the garage.

Sadie was enjoying a zen moment in the shade of the cypress tree. Black cats to not spend a lot of time in the sun.

Speaking of Sadie, it's Tortoiseshell Cat Appreciation Day. Feel free to celebrate Sadie in whatever manner you feel is appropriate. She purrfers plenty of treats.

Back inside, I went to work sewing together the Raggedy & Friends blocks. The first row was finished. I sewed together the second row and then sewed the two rows together.

About that time, Sadie showed up to help.

Purrhaps I may be of assistance.

The remaining blocks were stacked up in order. Sadie held them in place for me while I sewed.

I knew that I'd need to add sashings to both the top and bottom of one row of blocks. I decided to do that with the smallest of them.

When the bottom row was finished, I could sew the bottom half together...

And then I sewed the top half and the bottom half together. 

The last thing I neeed to do was to add the yellow border...

And I had myself a finished flimsy. It's a big quilt at 81 x 66 inches. 

There was still time left in the day to piece together a back for it. Happily, this was a wide fabric at 45 inches, and so I just needed one seam to get the size I wanted.

I didn't want just a plain binding, and so I pulled this long-time resident of my stash and used it to cut binding strips. It'll zazz up the edges of the finished quilt a little bit.

Okay, so that brings me to today's sewing. I'm very close to finishing the current block for Home is Where My Flock Is. I expect I'll finish this today.

And that means I need to trace the ninth block for the Snowmen and Reindeer project.

When that's finished, I'm going to start sewing together the Kittens in Cups. I don't know if I can finish it in a single day, but I'm going to give it a righteous try.

Also today, I want to get in a walk on the treadmill, and I need to do a couple of easy housekeeping chores. Possibly, I'll get outside for a bit and plant the tarragon that's been waiting it's turn inside the greenhouse. Mike and I are going to repot the tomatoes tomorrow. Also, I have some lettuce seeds to plant. All of that lives in the greenhouse. We'll be planting a smallish vegetable garden this year as well, but we're still a couple of weeks early for that.

Okay, so it's a long list of to-do's. Time to get going on my day. 

A Finish

Good morning, my friends. It's a sunny day today, but don't let that sunshine and clear sky fool you. It's very cold out. Looking at the day's forecast, we won't even break into the low 50's until later this afternoon. There was a frost warning last night, but it didn't get that cold. My flowering plants and trees were thankful for that.

Thanks to those of you who wished me well for my first day of physical therapy yesterday. It went fine. I've been given a series of isometric exercises to do. I'm still skeptical that it will help, but I'll be a good sport and go along with it anyway...starting today. I'll substitute in the PT exercises for the arms and still do the leg workout on the Bow-flex.

Before I left, I had some time to spend in the sewing room. The boss joined me there.

He helped me lay out the blocks for the Raggedy & Friends project.

When we had them properly arranged, they looked like this.

All of the vertical sashings were added as I made the blocks. To sew them together, I'll just need to add horizontal sashings and cornerstones. I went digging through my stash of red solids. I'd hoped to find a brighter red, but the best I could do was this brick red. I needed 20 of those, and I needed 20 black sashings.

There was time to sew together the first row before it was time to head out.

I'm hoping I can finish sewing it together today. There's also a yellow border to add, and I think I'll have plenty of time to finish it today. The yellow border was pictured in the pattern, but it so happens that my backing fabric has plenty of yellow too.

When I got home from my appointment, there was plenty of time to finish off the binding for the Amish Sampler. I turned all four corners...

And then there was just about half a side to go to finish it off. And Ta-Da! It ends up at 61 x 61 inches.

Here's a peek at the back.

I thought I'd need one more day to finish that, so it's nice to have it done ahead of schedule. This was my project for April's

And so I'll link up there when the party starts at the end of the month.

Today, I'll work on finishing off the Raggedy & Friends quilt top, and I'll make a back for it. If there's still time in the day, I'll start sewing together the Kittens in Cups. This was my project for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2025.

Mainly, it needs sashings. I'll use the same background fabric used in the quilt blocks. Already I have a backing fabric for this one. On a recent quilt shop outing, I found the perfect fabric for them. I saw this one in the fabric store, but I wanted a different color.

Going online, I found this one in an Etsy Shop, and so there's no excuse for not getting this quilt into the quilts to be sandwiched pile.

Okay, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Before I can do anything in the sewing room, I'll get back to my slow-stitching. After that, I need to feed the birds. Despite the cold weather, it's a good day to walk around and see what's going on in the garden. It's been nasty and wet the past couple of days, and so I need the check in on things and dispense attaboys as needed.

So, off I go. It's going to be a good day to stay inside and sew some more quilt blocks into flimsies.

A Full Day

Good morning, my friends. It was a day for a little of everything yesterday. We had grocery shopping to do, but I had time to take the first stitches on Block 5 for Home is Where My Flock Is. When I take the first stitches on a new project, I always first use the bits of leftover floss from the last time, and that's what I did here.

At the grocery store, I was on the hunt for some wheat bran. I had some wheat bran flakes in my freezer, but The Google told me the two could not be used interchangeably in baking. So, okay. Picky, picky, picky. And all of that to say that with my wheat bran in hand, I could try this recipe for Honey Date Bran Muffins. I used golden raisins in place of the dates, and so, technically, mine are Honey Raisin Bran Muffins.

The recipe was a little unusual. When the muffins were taken from the oven, I was to allow them to cool for five minutes. Then, I poked eight holes in each one, using a toothpick. Already I'd made some "syrup" using orange juice and honey. I boiled mine for 10 minutes, and never got it to syrup consistency. In retrospect, I was using a small pan for that part...a little 2-cup pan I use for melting butter. Probably, if I'd used a larger pan to give it more surface area, it would have been easier to boil it down and thicken it. In any case, we liked these. Even with the not-syrupy syrup, they were a nice texture and had a nice orange flavor. I'd make them again.

From there, I was ready to do some sewing. I wanted to get a start on this new project, "Across the Wide Missouri." As I mentioned in yesterday's post, this first block was to honor pioneer woman Luzena Stanley Wilson. Just now I Googled her name and found this blurb about her on Wikipedia.  (I think I would have made a terrible pioneer woman.) 

So, this is the first of 11 blocks for this quilt. The pattern book tells us that baskets were an essential household item for women on the frontier. Made of varying weaves and textures, baskets were used for many purposes such as gathering eggs and garden produce.

Paging through the book, I came across this image. There was no explanation for why it was included.

It's a corn husk doll, and it reminded me of the one I'd picked up at the Folk Art Center at the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

I fell in love with these little dolls when I saw them. This one was created by artist Anne Freels of Tennessee. You can see more of Anne's corn husk dolls right here.

 Here's how she looks from the back.

Okay, and with the block finished, I moved back to the living room and went to work hand-sewing the binding for the Amish Sampler. When I needed to stop, I'd turned the first two corners.

It was time for dinner by then. I was trying a recipe for some Quick Orange Chicken and Broccoli. I took a picture of mine, but it was kind of boring, and so I swiped this one from the website. (Here at the Three Cats Ranch, we just say no to sesame seeds.)

Originally, I was going to do a different recipe, but then it seemed overly complicated for what amounted to a stir-fry dish. Instead, I made this one. And because I'd had that false start, I was using white meat for the chicken rather than the dark meat suggested. It was good, but I think it might have had more flavor with the dark meat. Either way, it was tasty and easy, and I'd make it again. In our family, we call a dish like this "gunk over rice." 

Okay, so I start the dreaded physical therapy on my shoulder today. I have no expectation whatsoever that it will be helpful. I'm also wondering if I'll even be able to participate in a meaningful way. I guess time will tell, and I'll do my best not to be snippy with my therapist. He/She has nothing to do with the insurance company jacking me around before they will agree to pay for the needed MRI. My appointment is at 2:40 p.m., and so any sewing will have to be done this morning. It'll be close to dinner time by the time I get home, but I'll probably have a little time to make more progress on the quilt binding.

As for other sewing, I've committed to finishing up the final three quilt tops. Looking ahead at the forecast, we're in for coolish weather for at least the next ten days, and so it's doubtful that it will warm up enough for me to set up the sawhorse tables in our garage. Also, I found a good deal on some batting at Michael's yesterday, and so I picked up another king-sized sheet. Hopefully, I'll have enough to sandwich the many quilts on the sandwiching pile.

So, off I go. I'll admit to being curious about what will happen at physical therapy today, but know this: I am not a happy camper about it. It's best to avoid pissing me off today.