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.

Lots of Sewing

Good morning, my friends. The morning is "good" despite being a grocery shopping day. The sky is clouded over and we're expecting more rain, but it's good sewing weather. That makes the day "good" by definition.

It was a productive day here yesterday. I stitched up the 48th Tiny Treasure. This one has stem stitch, fishbone stitch, and satin stitch.

And that was the last one for this go-round on the Tiny Treasures. It'll come up twice more before I have them all finished. Here's the batch I stitched for this go-round.

And here are the 48 (of 72) I have so far.

With that finished, I got busy top-stitching the first of nine blocks for Where the Cows Come Home. This block is called "The Milking Parlor."

After that, I squared up the Amish Sampler to ready it for its binding.

I gave it a black binding. I know I'm going to hate sewing on black fabric with black thread, but it's the best choice for this quilt.

With that finished, I made backs for two finished flimsies. The flimsies have been sitting on my table ever since we got home, and they've been pointing and laughing at me every time I come into the room. Time to make those backs and shut them up. Smitty helped with this.

We had a brief discussion about whether purple was a good color for him. I told him it was. He wasn't so sure.

The purple was added to another print to piece together a back for the Gumballs quilt.

This one:

And you might remember when I purchased this one in Henderson, Nevada.

It's destined to be the back for the final Shop Hop quilt.

From there, I had to decide what to do next. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I wanted to sew together the Raggedy & Friends quilt. But then, looking at my white board, I realized I had three quilt tops to sew together.

Okay so...Raggedy & Friends. I have all the blocks and a back for this. I could finish it off and put it in the pile to be sandwiched.

But then...what about the Kittens in Teacups? They've been getting into mischief as kittens will do. Probably, I should finish them too. I have all the fabrics I need for this, including a backing fabric.

And what about Land & Sea? All the blocks are finished for this scrappy quilt too. Perusing my stash, I'm sure I have enough fabrics to piece together a back as well.

Okay, so I'll make it my mission to finish all three over the next week or so. (I hope I have enough batting for all these quilts.)

Today, though, I'm determined to get a start on this new project. Yesterday, I spent some time reading the book.

Here's a portion of the introduction from the book. I was even more excited to start it when I realized it was about the women who crossed the plains in covered wagons.

The first block was about this woman, Luzena Stanley Wilson. Her husband had planned to leave her and their children behind on their Missouri homestead, and she basically said, "F*ck that!" She wanted to go too.

It was an arduous journey. Below are two journal entries she wrote.

And this will be her block. The pumpkin in the lower right will be added when the whole quilt is sewn together. For now...just the three baskets. That should be pretty quick, and then I can start sewing together the quilts listed above.

It was late in the day by then. I filled the birdfeeders. On my way, I noticed the Bleeding Heart is blooming now.

Also, there are blossoms on the plum tree.

And the azaleas are starting to show some color.

Okay, and so grocery shopping is next. For sure and certain on today's agenda, I'll get a start hand-sewing the binding for the Amish Sampler. It's clipped and draped over the arm of my chair.

Also, I'll start working on Block 5 of Home is Where my Flock Is.

With all of that going on, there won't be much time for getting into trouble today. What are you doing to stay out of trouble?