Sleeping arrangements

Someone discarded an Asian fabric star project at Thimbles, so I picked it up. That was at least 3 months ago. 

 Yesterday I got it out, took it apart, flipped a couple of the pieces upside down, added my Sashiko scraps and replaced her inserted pieces with blue ones, stitched it with red perl cotton thread in a running stitch. I thought I would use it for the sides of a bag, but now I am thinking of something else. It will decide for itself what it wants to be. I'll wait.

The livestock and I have settled into a bedtime routine. I bring Joey indoors, and, once he figures he cannot beg me to let him out again, he settles on the bed.

Joey curled up on the bed.

Rosie (a sixteen pound "Maltese" really?) watches my every move. She won't believe it's bedtime until I turn out the light and remove the extra pillows from the bed.

Rose watches, from the back of the loveseat,  for offical bedtime.

 Little Scooter (at 9 pounds still big for a Maltese), is 14 years old. He is a little blind, a little deaf and somewhat vicious when disturbed in his sleep. He has been exiled from the bed, but curls up and sleeps in his own little bed.

Scooter in his little bed, on the floor, where he cannot bite anyone.

 Rocky (same size as Scooter and 9 months younger) is a snuggler and cannot rest until I am close to him.

Rocky watches to see when I will settle down to sleep.

He will crash when he knows I am settling down for the night, but once I am in bed he is right next to my arms. He makes it difficult for me to turn over, but we work it out.

Sweet slumber for little Rocky.

 Kitten is missing. Two nights in a row I have gone from front door to back door calling for her to come in. I finally go to bed worried about her out in the dark night all alone and wondering whether she is safe. Last night I swear I looked all over the house, and could not find her. Two mornings in a row she showed up, from somewhere within the house, ready for her breakfast.

My scarred back yard. Huge white pine is reduced to a stump.

I had some trees removed. Crit (my deceased husband) had contracted the work before he had his stroke, so I went ahead with it. Now I have a scarred backyard. I have planted no flowers this year and the yard has major drainage problems. I am putting off dealing with it until fall. I don't know if I'll ever feel like doing yard work, but at least I can use the heat as an excuse.

Faded, but still fragrant, gardenia blossoms in a birdnest.

I appreciate all of your comments and concern for my welfare. Things are going well. I have contacted all the folks I need to. Now it is just a matter of going to court, completing all the various paperwork and going to the Social Security office. Thank goodness he had an Advance Directive, Power of Attorney and Will. I recommend, if you or your spouse do not have these important documents, get them prepared NOW. Save your loved one the mental agony, on top of all the stress, of having to guess what you want done. As soon as the probate process for my husband it complete, I will do the same for my loved ones.

Sunny in Atlanta

Joey found a sunny place in the kitchen this morning while I did chores (fixed the lights in both garage door openers). He will pose for a hundred photos. 

This is a picture of the awful stitching from the Bernina.

I was cruising along; then I turned my work over to the back. Bad, bad, bad. 

I got the machine back from repair yesterday but have not given it a test drive.  I am sure it will be fine now. 

This is Joe watching me leave (Kitten is in the crate in the background) to have lunch with Adam at Pappadeaux. Sadly he and his wife are separated, so I want to get more information about the situation. Then tonight is dinner at Tam's Backstage and Steel Magnolia's at the Cumming Playhouse. I have been looking forward to this show for several  weeks. Color me spoiled this weekend. Maybe I'll sew tomorrow?

Up, Down, All Around

The Hexagon Hip Hop quilt with Brannock & Patek's Audra's Iris Garden  (Moda) is a finished quilt top.

I struggled with the fancy border, so it doesn't exactly match the pattern in Layer Cake, Jelly Roll and Charm Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott, but that's what quilters do: improvise!(I like it well enough for all the pouting I did about my mistakes.) I was having a snit-fit over sewing, unsewing and screwing up when Joey knocked over my "design wall" and ironing board. Inspiration hit me as I was cleaning up the mess: unstitch the ends of the remaining two borders and add more triangle units and recut the corner pieces. Fine!

The board Joey knocked over is a heavy duty ironing board I found at an estate sale. A young man carried it to the car for me and asked "does it work?" Well heck. I never thought an ironing board wouldn't work, but I answered I would find out when I got home. Driving away I thought why wait, so I pulled over into a cul-de-sac, pulled the board out of the car and set it up. Good deal; works fine. Wait. OMG, I can not fold it back up! I jiggled, felt around, turned it over, banged on it; I was about to have a panic attack thinking I would just have to leave it there in the middle of the cul-de-sac when whomp! Down it went, and I didn't even know what I'd done. (How freaking embarrassing.)

Here's Joey down on the floor on the quilt top seeing if I resolved the problems I was having; it passed his inspection.

Joey went up on the top shelf to snooze on the fusible stuff I need to cut for the bag.

Looks peaceful. I hate to wake him up and move him.

'Cause now he is down on my cutting table thinking he'll give a hand at cutting out. Some help he is, too. I had to put him out in the hall and close the door so I could work.

While I was working and moving things around in the sewing room, I discovered one of my Goodwill purchases will make a wonderful back to my Bento Box quilt. (I love when that happens!)

I got all the outer and inner parts of the bag cut when I noticed it was 2:45 a.m. I lose track of time when I play in my sewing room.

Joe knew it was time to go to bed. I found him down on the floor in the cat crate all curled up on an old quilt. (The cat crate was out because I took Kitten in to the vet to have her eye looked at; I was not sure if it was infected or not, but all is well. I certainly don't want to take chances with the only eye she has!)

Thank you and Joey mischief

I had a request from Diane for a copy of one of Mom's (Linda Brannock's) old patterns (Dresden Hearts).  It took me a lot of digging in the studio attic, but I finally located the pattern and sent it to Diane. I didn't expect her to send me these beautiful fat quarters as a thank you. They are so my palette.

Thank you Diane!  I love these fabrics.

While I was in the attic, I found a "vintage" Angler. You see the date?  It says 1993.  That's probably when Mom bought it. It finally got used this weekend.

I got a couple more blocks done on Scrappy Nines from the book Spotlight on Neutrals by Pat Wys. You learn a lot about color value and print scale as you work on this quilt.  I always learn better hands on.  You can tell me something until you are blue in the face (I feel my mother nodding as she reads this), but put me to work on it, and things finally make sense. They call it kinesthetic learning (from Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Theory).

I think cats learn the same way.

I was cooking when I spotted something out of place in the dining room.

Okay, my dining room has lots of stuff out of place; it is a mess, but do you see what I am talking about?

Joey has decided his favorite daytime hiding place is on top of the china cabinet, and I caught him readying to jump up there. Sheesh. I think the Tiffany Lamp needs to be moved; his return trip could affect the lamp. I've already moved the figurines from atop the sconces.  All glass and ceramic items that can be damaged are sitting on the floor waiting for Joey to grow up.  I learned not to take a chance with breakables when Kitten broke that precious bowl the Arts & Sciences division gave me as a wedding present.

Joey is a good companion when I am sitting and reading though.

The doctor's office called me twice last week to come have another blood test.  The one I had December 2 showed my kidneys are messed up again and my potassium level is too high.  I am now keeping a health journal to see if I can identify things that are harming my kidneys and to keep an eye on my blood pressure.

Cat's paws (still attached to the cat) are good luck.

I can believe that if I want too.

It is the season of believing.

"As in mind, so in manifestation."