Owl Month

At least that’s what it seems like around here.  And what fun I have had.


This is what I worked on for the last two days.





I drew all the little pieces and cut them out












Three owls and lots of pieces.  I had them in separate baggies so they wouldn’t get mixed up.









Then out came the layout plan.









And I started putting them together.  With almost every piece I found my smile getting bigger and bigger.








And now I have three owl blocks done.  I know that I have at least one more that I haven’t done and possibly two so I am really behind on this BOM. 

The hardest part of this BOM is picking the fabrics.  In my mind the owls will be mostly brown but I want each owl/block to be different.




I also have gotten this embroidery/applique done.  This picture shows the tiger sewn on the shirt back and half of the background clipped away.  Since the picture was taken it is finished and packed away for the summer.






This is my picture of Summer.  I bought this gardenia plant at Walmart 5 years ago.  The first winter we had freezing weather and I was sure it was dead.  It has come back a little more each year but until now it has only had one or two blooms a year.  Now, all of a sudden, it is blooming like crazy and, wow, does it smell good. 








As of today we are cat/kitten free.  It has been quite a job moving four adult and 5 feral kittens out but they are finally gone.  The only problem we are seeing is that our dogs are bored when out on the deck.  They were used to chasing the cats and/or watching them through the spaces between the deck boards.  Now there is nothing and they just wander around and occasionally bark at a bird.  But on the other hand it is peaceful for us as the deck is a great reading space.  And, if someone has to be happy it needs to be the two of us.

Tomorrow I will finish the pool opening ready for a fun Memorial Day weekend.  We are a little behind because we had some really cool nights earlier this month.  It seemed to take a little more time for the water to warm up enough for me to get into it but now we are ready for rest and relaxation floating in the water.



Today was our great grandson’s last day of pre-K.  It is so hard to believe he is old enough to be going into Kindergarten in just 2 months.  He has been in a wonderful program that has him well prepared for his next few years in school.  We are all so proud of him.

And now we are ready for the rest of the week.  DH is teaching summer school and I have a to do list that should keep me busy.  Yea!

Mid Week Lack of Sewing

This has been the week of tying up loose ends.  We finally got our income taxes done and in the mail.  I always feel so much better when that task is complete.

Then today I had an appointment with my doctor.  I have put off seeing him for a time but since I have experienced a few episodes with my heart I decided it was time to get back with him and get back on the medication I had kind of stopped taking.  Actually I started back on the meds a couple of weeks ago but needed him to renew my long overdue prescriptions.  And the news today was that my heart sounds great and all is well, if I do what I am supposed to do.

As a reward I took myself to the Village Inn for eggs benedict.  And, luck me, it was “free pie day” so I came home with a piece of lemon pie to share with DH.  Maybe I need to do the right thing more often.







Then, as a further reward for good behavior, I visited the largest fabric store around.  Here are two pieces of batik (on sale) that will go into the stash, probably for applique.  But look at how many colors are in the bottom piece.  I can feel the little gray cells working on how to use this.










These two pieces, also on sale, were purchased especially as backing fabrics for two quilt tops I already have completed.  Backings seem to be what keeps tops from getting quilted so now at least two will have no excuse.













We are making progress with the cats.  Here are three, of 5, that now quickly jump into the cage to eat.  I think we are going to have success carting them off soon.









Lastly I submit my blooming Christmas cactus.  I am so impressed: one full bloom, one almost bloom, one large bud, and, as of now, two small buds.  Every day I get more excited about this little plant and what it is doing to brighten up my life.


Now, after half a week with no sewing, I think I am going to have some dedicated studio time.
Gari

Design Wall Monday

Here is what is on my Design Wall this morning.  I started making these scrap blocks several months ago and then they got put aside for more organized projects.  But right now I am between projects so out they came.  I hope to have another comfort quilt ready to quilt by sometime next week.  The blocks still need to be squared: some even need an additional strip or two.  But I think they are going to make a fun little quilt.











I put this on the frame last week and there it sat until yesterday.  I had a terrible time coming up with a quilting plan.













I played with my plexiglass and finally came up with a plan so the quilting started yesterday afternoon.













Even though this is a small quilt, it really took me a long time to get started on this.














I am liking what I am doing in the borders and the large triangles.  We’ll see how I do when it comes time to stitch on the star.












We have been overrun by wild cats.  We started out with a couple and even got two, who chose to be sociable, spade.  However the others shy away from us but not each other.  Right now we have four dark gray cats and a light gray older kitten.  AND this past week we saw two small gray kittens come out from under the house.  It is time for them to go.  We have tried to think of how to get them together and off to the shelter and just this past weekend an idea came.  This is a birdcage we haven’t been using.  I have put it on the deck and we will be feeding the cats in there for a few days.  Also I will be sitting on the deck while they eat so they get used to me being around. 





Two of the cats went in to eat but the rest refused.  Here is one who is hiding behind the Norfolk Pine, peeking out at me to see what I am doing.  I don’t think he trusts me. 








Anyway, for a first day I think we made good progress.  I don’t want to harm these cats, I just want them to live somewhere else.













One thing that is living here and making me very happy is my Christmas Cactus.  We now have 5 blooms coming.  Two are very big, one is ready to begin growing and two are just starting.  They weren’t open for Easter but I am just so excited to see real blooms.


I spent a lot of the weekend repotting plants and attempting to resuscitate some of the plants we had wintering in the house.  I think all but one will live (looking a little rough) so we will have hanging baskets and a few deck plants.  I do not have a green thumb but I do like the look of healthy plants decorating my house and deck.


I will be linking up with Patchwork Times where creativity lives on Mondays.

Break Time

I sat down to take a break, read a few blogs, and perhaps even work on a couple of EQ designs.  And look what happened.  Everyone else decided it was “break time” too.  With a lapful like that, who can get anything done?  And who would want to?  So we clicked on the TV, watched a little HGTV before returning to housework and quilting.











I won’t share pictures of my housework (boring) but here are the completed February, yes I said February, blocks for the Carol Doak Mystery 2012-13 quilt.  If I read her right these are the last blocks and soon we will get her plan for the layout.  I am all caught up with this one so I am ready for the next step so I can have another UFO to guilt me. 





The quilting on my feathered star is coming right along.  I only do a row a day but I am very happy with what I am seeing.









I did draw out, on a sheet of Plexiglas, my quilting design plan and then I took pictures.  I printed them and that way I can make sure I am quilting the same thing in each of the stars and/or star points.  I have two star points and then the final border row to do and the quilting will be done.  I guess I better start looking for some binding fabric.


I am also still chugging away on Bonnie Hunters Easy Street.  I am 1 block away from being on the last row which includes 4 blocks, 5 large triangles and 2 small triangles.  And then, of course, I still have to sew all those blocks (and intersections) together.  I know what I am going to use for a small stop border around the center but I have no idea about an outer border.  And I don’t think I have anything in my stash that is jumping out and saying it is ready to play with this very bright and busy quilt.  What fun it will be to be taking ES to the quilt stores to look for the best playmate.    But I don’t think that is going to happen quite yet.

Have a great weekend, I know I will.

Mid-Week

Early this week we had rain:

Heavy rain and sunshine at the same time.

We even had hail.  And I learned something: hail makes a lot of noise when it hits a tin roof.

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This is what I woke up to on Wednesday.  What is it, you ask?  This is the container for cat food.  And you probably can see that it is completely empty.  I have to tell you that I was not a popular person when I walked right by the hungry cats.  I tried to tell them I was on my way to the grocery store but it didn’t seem to console them, at all.

When I got home I was faced with this.  This is my Weight Watcher’s paperwork and I usually

make a mess of 1/2 of the dining room table while I complete it.  But after a little while it was all done and ready to get in the mail.

Then, finally I could spend a little time in the studio.  Here I am showing the completed Block 4 for August of the Carol Doak BOM.  I am really enjoying her foundation paper piecing a lot and may have to make more of her blocks on my own.  Of course, I also really like the fabric I chose for this BOM.

Today I finally began the piecing on the second set of swap blocks.  I thought I had all the pieces cut but soon figured out that I hadn’t cut at least half of the parts.  Here I am chain piecing flying geese parts.  I did figure out that I really do not like chain piecing, just sewing the same thing over and over again.  However, I will continue sewing these since they need to be done SOON.  With luck, maybe, I can have all the blocks done by Monday.

Saturday, after my WW meeting, DH and I are going to Pensacola to do some serious shopping.  I need a new pair of shoes (oh, yes I do), the birds need seed, and DH wants some new pool toys.  We have been making a list because when one lives in a small rural area, one needs to use her city time wisely. 

But, before that, I hope to spend a great deal of tomorrow sewing, swimming, sewing, reading, and sewing.

Have a great weekend everybody.

 

Non-quilty Pictures

This is what I woke up to one early Spring morning.  We live surrounded by trees and on all of the leaf trees there were these “webs.”




Some were small and loosely woven.















And some quite dense.
















And some were quite pretty, like this one. 

I originally took these pictures to see if the camera could see what was in them but I still don’t see anything but the web fibers.  However, I have decided they were spun to house babies.  Now, I’m not fond of insect/spider babies but I was impressed with the security they were given.  Also to be noted, these webs were gone within 24 hours.









While I am on our nature posting, I will show you our outside cat.  We are not really cat people but living out in the woods, we tend to attract passing, and not so passing cats.  This is “Stubby.”  She has a 3” stub of a tail.  She lives on our deck and considers it her private domain.  We wondered how she lost her tail until she had 6 kittens last year.  Three had long tails and 3 were stubs.  Interesting, huh?  Anyway, we had her fixed and now there will be no more kittens from her.








However, we don’t seem to lack for wild cats and they continue to have babies.  This is the latest litter: 5 completely gray kittens.  They are just starting to eat away from mom so if we can catch them, and mom and dad, they will be transported to the shelter.  We hate to do that but we have “fixed” two cats, both living with us, but can’t afford to do that for everyone who stops by.  But aren’t kittens the cutest things?









And speaking of cute, here is Momma’s little helper.  Notice that her paw is right on the curser pad.  It isn’t that she wants to do anything on the computer (see her lack of attention to the screen) but she seems to want me to not do anything, too.  It’s a good thing I think she is so cute or she would be bumped off in a hot minute. 

Well, the clock needs winding and the studio needs some sewing attention so I will get off this computer and get busy.

Design Wall and finishes

I didn’t have a design wall post last week.  Somehow, with a very long holiday weekend, I didn’t realize I had missed it until Monday night when I was getting ready to write and suddenly realized the day had passed.  Oh, my, do you suppose I am getting old?  No way!  I just don’t pay attention to the calendar as much as I used to.

So, here is my design wall for this week:

 

This is my 16 patch quilt top, ready for backing, batting, and quilting.

 

And here it is with the backing fabric.  I hope to be getting the backing ready this morning and maybe even get it on Mildred, too.

 

I also finished quilting JR on Friday, sewed the binding together on Saturday and on Sunday completed sewing on the binding.  I always love it when a quilt or project is finished.

And now another kiddy picture.  As we were getting ready to leave for our morning walk this morning, this was the scene that greeted us, Pewter, the momma, and her two growing kittens, basking in the sun.  We have two small families living around our deck: anyone want a kitten/cat?

Almost Finished & Nature

The quilting is finished.

And I am pleased.  However, today was supposed to be the day I put the binding on so I could be really warm tonight.  BUT, in order to do that I would have to clean off the cutting table (two BOMs on there) to cut the binding strips and then clean off the sewing table (strip blocks on there) in order to sew them together and then on.  So I decided to spend the day doing laundry and reading instead.

I did take some time out to watch this.  Here you see our cat watching a bird at our smaller birdfeeder. 

 

However, the birds seem to be at the smaller tree to the right where the larger birdfeeder is.  Each time the cat changed trees, so did the birds.  It was really funny.

 

And this is our new birdfeeder.  I found it in a shop for only $27.  The top is fused glass and the birds really seem to love it.  The cats, not so much.  The seed is easy to get to and the birds can fly away quickly.  Nature is so much fun to watch.