Chickening Out

Well, if the day had been any busier yesterday, I'm afraid I might have been done in. Today will be much the same. Thursday I'll get a pedicure, which will be salve for the soul. 

It started out easy enough. We hung the Summer Holiday quilt on the 2nd floor of the Mewseum. That makes three quilts on the second floor collection.

The quilt on the far wall isn't a cat quilt, but oh well. Mike likes it, and so it stays. It's this Happy Village quilt I made some time ago. No doubt there are feral cats wandering around there, don't you think?

So once we had that hung up, I did some slow stitching on the "I Believe in Snowmen" piece. That one will be finished by this morning, and so I made up the final block for the Snowflakes quilt. This one will be stitched in blue and metallic gold. There will be a little blue bead everywhere you see a black dot.

And that's when the trouble started. I went through a bucket of apples to produce 12 pints of applesauce. I'll do this all again today with the apples I have left. 

I have more apples than I need, and so we'll give the rest to our neighbor. His horse and mule will appreciate them.

After that, I made some coleslaw for dinner. I had bunches of cabbage in my crisper in red, green, and Napa varieties. It was a good way to use it. I don't have a picture, but I can highly recommend this Asian Coleslaw recipe. It's a lot of chopping if you do it by hand, but a food processor will do it in no time at all. Also, I buy the julienned carrots at the grocery store. It's truly the greatest thing since sliced bread.

And then, I figured I needed to stand on my feet a little longer, so I made this cherry pie for two. The filling is from the cherries I canned last month. 

This is a Pillsbury pie crust. If you've ever worked with them, then you know they come two to a box, one for the top and one for the bottom. With pies for two, I only need one crust, but it's always a question how to make the top crust...and then what to do with the scraps leftover from the bottom. So I'm trying to get a little fancier using them. And sheesh...quilters know their way around scraps, don't they? So that's my laughable pie art. Kind of fun.

And then, I really was done standing for the day, so I sat and finished stitching the binding for Chicken Buffet. I started this quilt on February 27, 2015, and it was my second-oldest WIP. (The oldest is still Mulligan Stew.)

I started this quilt as a part of Sharon V.'s "Let's Book It" challenge, where we were challenged to make something from one of the books languishing on our sewing room book shelves. I think I'd had the book pattern for this quilt for about five years at that point. Here, you can see the chicken wire quilting that surrounds each block.

And here, you can see my chicken foot "feather" in the border. You can also see the big chicken foot in the cornerstones.

The back fabric was a gift from Sharon. I was trying to recall our conversation to Mike yesterday. I think we were talking about a different fabric, and Sharon allowed as how she had this one she didn't think she'd use. And I said something like, "I have the PERFECT pattern for that fabric." And, thus, the Chicken Buffet WIP was born. And, thank you, Sharon.

Can a quilt really be finished without first being kitty tested and appurroved? I don't think so. Smitty likes this quilt.

Okay, so it's back to the applesauce for me today. I need to harvest more beans too. I'll do that first before the sun gets too high in the sky. And there are a lot of other little things on my list for the day. Canning season keeps me hopping. I didn't think I'd be doing much canning this year because we don't have a CSA share to deal with. Silly me. I'm way over 100 lids used so far this season with more to come.

So there's no time like the present. It's time to get going on the day. 

Almost a Finish

It was kind of a lazy day yesterday, and a slow start for me. Grocery shopping was on my agenda, and I'll do anything to avoid the grocery store. While I was making breakfast, I happened to glance over my shoulder at some glasses sitting on the counter. They had an interesting pinky glow about them.

Heading to the window, I saw that the sun is obscured by smoke from the fires in Northern California. We probably have fires burning in southern Oregon as well, but I haven't really been paying attention enough to know. It's been like this for days.

After breakfast I went outside to water the annuals. Look at what a show stopper this Red Sun sunflower is. I'm going to plant more of these next year. There's a place along the exterior wall of the greenhouse where they would be a great addition to our summer garden.

Nothing makes me more nervous than a zucchini that's almost ready for picking. I'll most likely regret not picking the one on the right. It's probably achieved baseball bat size by now.

Also, I noticed this bumblebee sitting in the same spot on the echinacea. Do you suppose this is his crash pad for the night? I'll admit it...I tried petting him. It just seemed to piss him off, and so I stopped. Nice Bumblebee. Nice Bumblebee. I'll just go away now.

It occurred to me to check the plum tree. The plums should be ripening soon. For now, they're still mostly green.

A few are starting to turn, but they're also shriveling. It's not unusual for the tree to shed quite a few of its plums about now.

Indeed. Looking at the ground...

After that, I did some slow stitching. I've almost made my way all across the bottom of this piece now.

After that, I could put off grocery shopping no longer. When I got there, the parking lot was full, and I regretted not getting an earlier start. It was kind of nuts inside, and at one point, the power went off. My fellow shoppers and I let out a collective "Ohhhhhhh!" when that happened. Within about 30 seconds the back-up generators came on, and there was a quieter and more high-pitched collective "Whoooo!" When I was about halfway through the store, the power came back on full steam, and there was an even higher-pitched and louder "Wheeeee!" Never a dull moment at the grocery store, let me tell you.

When I got home, Smitty showed up for treats. There was quite a haul to put away. About twenty minutes later, it was time to get the kitties in for the day, and so I checked inside the house first. The kitties have taught me to do this since I can go outside, walk all around the property, calling, and calling, and calling, only to find them inside napping. Sure enough, when I went into my office upstairs. I found them both sound asleep.

They're always ready to come in for naps around noon. Sadie has co-opted the spot where an old book bag lies on top of the bookcase situated on my desk. George used to sleep here too.

Looking in the lower left-hand corner of that image, the book title there gave me a chuckle. The Zucchini Cookbook. I must have stashed that there last summer. Might be a good time to get it out again.

With everybody safe inside, I was ready to get back to my quilting. It was well along, with two embroidered blocks and borders left to do. It was a bit tedious doing that straight line grid around the blocks. I'm just OCD enough to be bothered by crooked lines, and so I was using a ruler...back and forth...back and forth...to keep them straight.

When the blocks were finished I did this motif Lori Kennedy refers to as a Sweetheart Border. It seemed a good choice for this quilt.

In her tutorial, Lori Kennedy doesn't show how to turn a corner, and I couldn't figure it out. I used another motif I'd seen on Pinterest to make that turn.

When the first border was finished, I did some more straight line criss-crosses in the outer border.

When I was this close to being finished with all the quilting, I ran out of bobbin thread. Who couldn't see that coming?

Then, I took it downstairs and laid it out to have its picture taken.

Oh wow, Sadie. Mom finished a quilt. Let's have a look!

You say you're finished with your post for the Pets on Quilts show? Well then, I'd be happy to sit on your quilt. You're welcome!

You know, Smitty, there's nothing I like better than a quilt.

Me too, Sadie, and lying on them has the added benefit of preventing our mom from taking pictures of it. Being a furry obstacle is one of a cat's most impurrtant functions.

It's so soft and squishy...just the way I like, Smitty. It feels so good on my cheeks and whiskers.

Wait just a darned minute, Sadie. There's something furrightfully wrong with this quilt!

Holy Pawstompers! It has WOOFIES on it! 

Really? Did you put woofies on our quilt? I can't believe it!

Avert your eyes, People of Blogland. Here...I'll cover it up. It's much too hideous to behold.

Once they discovered the woofies, they cleared the decks so I could show it to you. I love this quilt. It's a design from Lynette Anderson. Just possibly I started this for one of the "Let's Book It" challenges, but it's been so long, I can't recall for sure.

The individual blocks were so much fun to make.

They're a combination of hand embroidery and raw-edged applique.

The blocks were quilted simply with just a few details and some outlining added in.

The little checkered border around the blocks was made using a leftover strip I'd used in another quilt. I simply added a few fabrics from this group.

It makes me think of our travels with kitties.

Here's how it looks from the back. The back was pieced together using some scraps from this quilt and from another Lynette Anderson quilt I made back when I first started quilted. Also, a couple of orphaned quilt blocks I pulled from my closet.

Now, it just needs binding.

When I looked out the window just then, I noticed one of our squirrel pets. What do you suppose he's eating?

Today I have the distinct pleasure of heading to one of our westside quilt shops (one I've never actually visited, if you can believe that) to take a class from Meg Hawkey. She's the Crabapple Hill Studio queen of embroidered quilt patterns. My friend, Annette, informed me of the class, and she's going to be there too. I'll be taking the class from Meg and meeting a new friend of the blog. It doesn't get much better than that, does it?

As for the class, we need only bring our embroidery hoop, some scissors, and our lunch. Everything we need will be provided in a kit that comes with the class. From what I understand, she'll be showing us how she colors her quilts with crayons and pencils and she'll also be showing us some stitches. Maybe I'll finally have someone show me how to do the dreaded cast-on stitch.

So that's my day. You can bet I'll be taking plenty of crappy iPhone pictures during the day, and I'll be back tomorrow to tell you all about it. It's cloudy and cool today, a welcome change from the heat wave we've been experiencing.

Starting to Finish

It's another sunny and warm day here at the Three Cats Ranch, which means it's another day of weeding for me. Yesterday I took the day off to run some errands. There were groceries, of course. It seemed like a good day to pick up some annuals for planting in the outdoor pots. I skipped this task last year because of traveling. We weren't home until June, and then we left again in September. It seemed a waste of time and money. And I mention this only because I've missed the annuals, and I want them back. So here's what I picked up:

In all of that, I forgot to get some petunias for the hanging pots. That will have to wait for another day. In addition to the flowers, I found some catnip, tarragon, and basil. The basil will go into a greenhouse pot. The tarragon will go into the herb garden, and the catnip is for reviving the Gracie Memorial Catnip Garden. Here's an image from when I revived it last year. Last year's crop of catnip came back, but not this year. I'll have to replant.

In my wanderings yesterday, I noticed the blossoms on the clematis are beginning to open. It should be a mass of purple within the next day or two.

Speaking of flowers, Mike texted me the image below of these pink evening primroses. He was driving through Texas near Dallas, and the wildflowers were in bloom all along the roadway.

When I spoke with him last night, he was at a seedy Motel  6 in Birmingham, Alabama, and he was fit to be tied because his smoke alarm was beeping every minute. He'd driven 800 miles, and he just wanted to go to bed, but he'd been waiting 20 minutes for someone to show up to put in a new battery. He told me he was giving them five more minutes, and then demanding a different room. Then, while we were talking, someone showed up. Disaster averted. He'll reach South Carolina sometime today, and I know he'll be happy to have that RV in tow so he won't have to sleep in any more motels.

On the sewing front, I've filled the first hoop's worth of stitches on the latest Heart & Home block. I love the sheep.

Now I'll move the hoop to the right and get started on that side.

Also, my goal was to get a start on finishing up the Wine Country flimsy. Six of the 12 blocks still needed trimming to size. Here they all are together.

Long ago, I purchased some fabrics for this quilt...the cork one on the right, and the wine bottles on the left.

I had in mind to frame the blocks...thus...

It was hard to decide how much I wanted to do with this. The blocks are trimmed to 8 1/2 inches square, and so this could be a small quilt or a larger quilt depending on how fancy I want to be. Now that they are framed, the blocks are 13 1/2 inches, so I guess it will be a relatively large quilt. I like that middle strip. It has a little bit of metallic gold, and so it seems a little celebratory to me...to go with the wine.

But now I have a fabric emergency, my friends. I could continue with that green for all of the blocks, but I really want to do half of them with a burgundy to match this wine fabric. It's going to be kind of dark if I do it all in green.

My plan has always been to use the cork fabric for sashing, and then the green for a stop border. I could go on with just the green, but I know I'll always regret not using more burgundy. So that settles it. I have a coupon for a local quilt shop. I'll take a swatch so that I can match the color just right. The coupon won't be good until next week, and so I'll continue with the green blocks for now, and then pick it up again when I have the red fabric.

And that brings me back to my categories of quilting. The only thing left for this go-round is an art quilt. I have at least two art quilts on my agenda. One is for a challenge for the RV Quilters group on Facebook. (I'll say more about that soon.)

Another is for the class I'm taking from Ann Shaw next month in Vancouver. I've changed my mind about which photo to use for the class. I'm going to do these flamingos we saw at Homosassa Springs while we were in Florida.

Finally, I feel I must comment on how this little cat has gone from being a rambunctious kitten to being a lazy bones middle-aged cat. He celebrated his sixth birthday on the 11th, and he's beginning to show his age in the form of a lot more sleeping and a lot less running around.

Hey! Who're you calling old?

This morning he put on his best kitten face for me, but you'll notice he's lounging in the sunshine, rather than getting out and hunting squirrels.

You might recall that just before we left on our trip, he spent the night outside. We thought we'd lost him until he showed up hungry and cold the next morning. It makes me wonder if he's nervous about being out now. He has his catio, and he's enjoyed the last few nights outside, safe and comfy on his kitty bed.

We've worked out a routine with the kitties. They get their treats in the morning, and then they spend some time in their Clubhouse (the space between the basement and the main floor of the house). Then, they get more treats, and go outside. We've been getting them in early in the afternoon, and then they spend the rest of their day on the catio.

Would you mind if I just keep prattling on here all day? There's weeding to do, and I'm procrastinating. Apparently, those weeds aren't going to pull themselves, and the annuals aren't going to plant themselves. Time to get at it. When I come back, my bones will be aching.