Homeward Bound

Good morning, my friends. We have one more day of time traveling to do, and then we'll be caught up. It seems a good way to start a Monday, doesn't it? So, let's start with what happened here at home yesterday, and then I'll tell you about the final day of our camping trip.

It was time to fill the birdfeeders, and it was time to water the flowers. Of course, my mornings lately have all start with me checking in on the green beans. They're doing a pretty good job of climbing their poles at this point, but there are still a few stragglers that need redirecting. Two plants have started flowering. Can eensy-weensy beans be far behind?

Also in that image above, you can see right below the flower where a critter took a bite out of the vine. This worried me significantly. There are several other areas in the garden that have been similarly gnawed upon. A few leaves were bitten on the zucchini, and one of the zucchini had a bite out of it. Also, a few leaves were bitten on the cucumbers. We believe raccoons are to blame for this, but they have not been back after the one night when this happened. Apparently, they were unhappy with the items on the menu.

Also, a few more sunflowers are opening. I forget the name of this one, but I have it marked, if I'm not too lazy to bend over and find it. Maybe when it opens all the way.

I believe this next one is called Ring of Fire. When it opens, it will have a dark red ring in the center. And if you're like me, just reading that name will give you an ear worm.

Gazing out across the bee garden, I'm pretty happy at all the new color I'm seeing. The bachelor buttons are blooming in profusion, and this red flower is a newbie. The bee garden is planted by broadcasting a wildflower mix over the prepared ground. Next year, I've decided to be more selective about what seeds I choose. I'd really love to get some California poppies growing here.

Before I came back inside, I harvested another zucchini and four more tomatoes, including the first yellow tomato.

On the sewing front, I stitched up Tiny Treasure #69. This one has stem stitch, stem fill, satin stitch, and straight stitch.

Also, I finished the binding on Shop Hop 3.0, and that makes a finished quilt. It ends up at 65 x 53 inches.

Here's a look at the back.

And this was my project for July's 

Also in yesterday's sewing, I was able to finish the top-stitching on the "Glacier" block for the Northern Wilderness project.

For this, I'm using a monofilament thread and a microtex 60/8 needle to stitch right along the edges of the applique.

Okay, so let's turn our attention to our drive home from our camping trip. We'd always planned to eat breakfast in Cathlamet, Washington, on our way out of town. We broke camp and headed back to the mainland. We parked at the City Dock, which was kind of fun. Everything in this little town is very old.

Okay, and you guys have been really good about staying out of trouble this trip, but I feel I must warn you about this. Here's how you could die today. Please stay out of the water.

From where we were standing, we could get a good look at the bridge out to Puget Island.

Turning in the other direction, I liked how this boat looked. But those of you with sharp eyes might be able to see the bird's nest just above and to the left of that letter "B" on the boat.

Zooming in, it turned out to be an osprey nest.

As we walked up the hill to the restaurant, this sign gave me a chuckle.

We had a very filling breakfast and then headed for home, paralleling the Cowlitz River most of the way.

Eventually we crossed back over the Interstate Bridge and into our home state. 

Traffic was heavy getting home, and it seemed as if it took forever. Actually, we were home around 1:00 p.m. Greeting us was this red-tailed hawk sitting far out in our field. I've seen this bird a few times. These must be its happy hunting grounds, and there are plenty of small furry mammals to choose from.

And that pretty much brings us up to date.

Today is a grocery shopping day, but that's the only thing on the day's agenda. My next quilting project is queued up. I'll be quilting the "Kittens" quilt next. This one should be pretty easy. I already have some ideas about how to quilt it, and I'm hoping to get started on that today.

When time ran out yesterday, I left the "Blueberries" block needle down, and I expect to finish this today, for sure.

When that's finished, I will reach the "Quilter's Choice" section of my white board. I've decided to make an art quilt this time. These are always approached with some trepidation, but I'm going to attempt to make a quilt from this image of some lemurs we saw when we visited the Florida Aquarium in Tampa, Florida some years back.

When we visited a quilt shop in Lawrence, Kansas, during our Eclipse Trip in 2024, I purchased this fabric in anticipation of making this quilt.

It seems the lemurs' time has come...ready or not. I'll build the lemurs on a teflon pressing sheet, and then I'm kind of at a loss what the background will be. I'll figure something out. For now, I'll just focus on the lemurs. It's best not to get too far ahead of myself on this kind of a project.

All right then. Grocery shopping is next. Our list isn't too long, and so I'm hopeful we can get in and out pretty quickly. I hope your week will get off to a better start than ours. I realize some of you are probably getting weird, nervous, and thirsty waiting for some news of the kitties. Everyone on the kitty front is just fine. Hopefully, I can get them to help me with my sewing today. 

Bittersweet

Good morning, my friends. Yesterday was a day of things getting between me and my sewing. As much as the day tried to keep me fabric free, I was able to get in a little bit of slow-stitching and a successful FART (Fabric Aquisition Road Trip). It was a day for physical therapy. I was in need of a couple of fabrics for different projects, and so I sweetened the bitter trip to PT with a trip to the fabric store. 

Before I needed to leave, I took the first stitches on October's block for a year in the garden. Mainly, I was using up bits and bobs of floss from the last time I worked on this.

I made dinner yesterday morning, so I wouldn't have to cook when I got home from PT. After having some lunch, I gave myself an extra hour ahead of PT to visit the fabric store. I was on the hunt for a backing for the Land & Sea quilt:

There were several I liked, but I settled on this one:

Smitty appurroves.

Also, I was on the hunt for some fabric for this pattern. I forget where I saw this. All I have is the picture. I can figure out how to make it myself. 

It seemed a good choice for these two long-time residents of my stash. I thought these fabrics were so beautiful when I bought them, but I've had a hard time figuring out how to use them. They are large scale prints. I left the rotary cutter there for scale.

Also, I remembered these as being Kaffe Fassett fabrics, but they are not. The first one is called Flutter Bright. (It might be a good name for my project.)

And here's the second one. I don't think I ever intended for these to be used in the same project, but it could work.

And again...not a Kaffe fabric. 

So, I was on the hunt for a solid in that little pop of green. I neglected to take anything with me for matching, but my eye was able to pick the right one.

Looking again at the picture...

I'll use the butterfly print in the larger squares. I'll use the begonia print in the smaller squares. I'll use black where it appears in the picture, and I'll use that green wherever the light blue appears. When there's another opening on my WIPs dance card, I'll start this project. 

Okay, and as much as I love whining and complaining, I'm afraid I'll have to admit that I think the PT is helping. I've noticed more strength and stability in my shoulder, and it's easier to get comfortable to sleep at night. I have a whole new and more challenging set of exercises to do, and I'll keep doing them. It's easy to stay motivated when I think they're actually working.

When I got home, I did a little more stitching on my block. It looks like this now.

It's a grocery shopping day. We'll need to make several stops, but our grocery list is relatively short. (It just means we'll have to go again early next week.) As for today, I'm hoping to have time to get back to my top-stitching. Mike and I are going out for dinner tonight. It's a planned wine tasting and pairing event, and I'm looking forward to it. 

Tomorrow, I'm walking with Matthew. The forecast looks great for spending some time outdoors. Knowing I'll have an early start in the morning, I'm taking tomorrow off from blogging. I'll be back Saturday to tell you all about it. 

Loony

Good morning, my friends. It's another gray day here at the Three Cats Ranch. We're expecting better weather tomorrow and Friday. It would be nice to have good weather on Friday. Matthew and I are planning a walk down by the Willamette River. If the weather is uncooperative, we have an alternative plan, but the walk would be nice. Fingers crossed.

It was a busy day yesterday. Honestly, I didn't think I could get it all done, but I did. There was laundry to do, treadmills to walk, housekeeping to do, bread to bake, and the list goes on. Regardless, I always make time for my morning slow-stitching. Yesterday, I finished off the ninth block for the Snowmen & Reindeer project. (I might have said it was the tenth block in yesterday's post. Actually, it was page 10 of the pattern.)

These are the nine blocks I have for this quilt so far.

When I was finally able to make my way to the sewing room, I found my helper cat waiting. When he heard I was going to make a bird, he was all about it.

I like purrds!

The background was ready to go. And after all that discussion of this "Return of the Swallows" block...

I realized I'd turned it 90° from how it's pictured in the book. Doh!

Oh well. I'm not changing it. There's a similar error in at least one other block for this quilt. Don't tell anyone, okay?

So, I was ready to start tracing and fusing the applique. Smitty held the template sheet steady for me.

The first one was the water. Probably, I should have chosen a lighter color here, but I liked this fabric for the water.

Looking at the placement diagram, I realized the loon was a bit complicated placement-wise. There were a lot of small and overlapping pieces. I decided to use a teflon pressing sheet to build the applique, and then fuse it to the background.

So, I started with the second part of the water, and then created the loon and her loonlets.

We didn't actually see any loons in Alaska, but we did see one as we drove through Canada. It's not a great picture. I was standing far away and zoomed in to capture it.

Okay, and when I had the loon and the loonlets created, I moved them to the water...

And then I could move the whole thing to the block background.

All that was left then was to add the rocks and grass, and the applique was finished. This took the whole of my sewing day.

I'm not sure if there will be time for sewing today. If there is, I'll get started on the top-stitching for these two blocks. I don't expect to finish them today, but maybe by tomorrow.

For dinner last night, I tried another new recipe. This is Spicy Peanut Noodles with Shrimp and Snow Peas. You'll need a subscription to America's Test Kitchens to open that link. If you can't open it, and you really want the recipe, please don't hesitate to email me, and I'll be happy to send it to you. I made the recipe mostly as written, except that I made just half. I needed 8 oz. of shrimp, but I could only find a 12 oz. bag. I used all of it. Also, the recipe suggests spaghetti for the noodles. I had some udon noodles, and so I used those. It was very tasty. We liked it. For sure, I'll be making it again.

So, it's a physical therapy day. (Boo! Hiss!)  Actually, my therapist seems like a very nice man. He's a Nigerian man with a pleasant accent. I'd really just rather stay home and sew. And with that on the agenda, I'm making our dinner of Cottage Pies this morning. I'll just need to put them in the oven when I get home, and that will make an easy dinner after PT. Whenever I make mashed potatoes, I always make extra so that I can make Cottage Pies from them. It's one of Mike's favorite meals. I like it because there are leftovers for another night, or I can freeze them for future RV travel.

Also, I have a trip to a fabric store planned for today. Happily, my PT is just down the street from one of my favorite quilt shops, and so it'll ease the sting of the forced PT appointment. (Please be sure to note how down-trodden I am from all this PT business. Honestly, I'm surprised I can stay upright under the weight of so much oppression.) I'll be looking for a backing for the Land & Sea quilt.

This particular quilt shop, Boersma's, has a great collection of sale fabrics in their basement, and I always look there for anything else I might like. So, it's a busy day, but the quilt shop will make it all worthwhile.

Before I do any of that, though, I'll get started on October's block for A Year in the Garden.

Okay, then. Off I go. Time's a wastin'. Have a good day, Everybody. Be sure and bow your heads during the 3:00 p.m. hour. (That's Pacific Daylight Time.) That's when I'll be at the chamber of horrors. I'll need your positive vibes.