It's National Cat Day!!
Can you believe they created a holiday just for me??!! The bestest cat in the whole cativerse??!!
Hold that thought while I practice my pose for when they crown me...
Friday, October 27, 2017
Feline Friday - 10/27/17
Do you know what Sunday is?
It's National Cat Day!!
Can you believe they created a holiday just for me??!! The bestest cat in the whole cativerse??!!
Hold that thought while I practice my pose for when they crown me...
It's National Cat Day!!
Can you believe they created a holiday just for me??!! The bestest cat in the whole cativerse??!!
Hold that thought while I practice my pose for when they crown me...
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Wednesday Weather Report #23
Hello! hello! Fall is finally digging in her heels here in Western NY. The temperatures are all over the place, blue-gray skies mean rain is on the horizon and the trees are still deciding what to do with their leaves (a late heat wave means not much color yet but a good rain storm can knock them all to the ground).
One would assume that I should be able to keep up with such a simple project but I have a grand excuse today!!!
I was much more interested in sharing skritches and making sure he was comfortable last night than stitching. Eventually I did have to give him the boot since I just couldn't stay awake any longer. He was on my lap nearly 75 minutes. His personal record!!
Even better - he was on my lap another 30 minutes this morning. Janet and I were joking that Zorro has finally realized how good he has it at my house and that he's getting a little soft in his old age. I'm sure the cool weather has a little to do with it. Fingers crossed that I will have the same "delays" tonight.
In the past several weeks I needed a change of hexie pace so I pulled out a stack of pieced hexie rosettes and added the green 50/50 hexies to the ends. I nearly have the white added to these two. Once these are done this will probably go back in it's box so I can get back to what I'm "supposed" to be working on.
Monday night I had a dinner meeting at the Glen Iris in Letchworth State Park. Dinner and the program were good but getting to see the Middle Falls lite up was fascinating. For the locals, it was easy to tell how low the water levels are. In early summer, we were drowning with so much rain. That rain has nearly stopped and we are now considered "abnormally dry", just one step away from "moderate drought". We are supposed to get torrential rain starting this weekend (I'll believe it when I see it) so maybe it's nothing to worry about...
Happy Stitching!
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| 67 - 66 - 65 - 73 - 72 - 66 - 61 |
One would assume that I should be able to keep up with such a simple project but I have a grand excuse today!!!
Do NOT adjust your screen - YES, that is Zorro on my lap!!
I was much more interested in sharing skritches and making sure he was comfortable last night than stitching. Eventually I did have to give him the boot since I just couldn't stay awake any longer. He was on my lap nearly 75 minutes. His personal record!!
In the past several weeks I needed a change of hexie pace so I pulled out a stack of pieced hexie rosettes and added the green 50/50 hexies to the ends. I nearly have the white added to these two. Once these are done this will probably go back in it's box so I can get back to what I'm "supposed" to be working on.
Monday night I had a dinner meeting at the Glen Iris in Letchworth State Park. Dinner and the program were good but getting to see the Middle Falls lite up was fascinating. For the locals, it was easy to tell how low the water levels are. In early summer, we were drowning with so much rain. That rain has nearly stopped and we are now considered "abnormally dry", just one step away from "moderate drought". We are supposed to get torrential rain starting this weekend (I'll believe it when I see it) so maybe it's nothing to worry about...
Happy Stitching!
Friday, October 20, 2017
Feline Friday - 10/20/17
Last Friday Momma had a sew day at her house with her friend Cathy.
I helped Momma sew...of course!
Aren't I helpful to keep her chair warm?
Don't worry, I let her sit on the chair too - that's her red sweatshirt.
I can't wait until the next sew day. Auntie Cathy wants to learn how to make Seminole Quilts.
 |
| Can you believe they took up all the table space? No space left for me!! Auntie Cathy used the right paw table - where the snacks were handy! Momma spread her zipper bag parts on the left paw table. |
I helped Momma sew...of course!
Aren't I helpful to keep her chair warm?
Don't worry, I let her sit on the chair too - that's her red sweatshirt.
I can't wait until the next sew day. Auntie Cathy wants to learn how to make Seminole Quilts.
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Wednesday Weather Report #22 - 10/18/17
The weather lately has been cool and crisp - very fall like. As in perfect for my fav season of the year.
A bonus of this cooler weather is that someone (and Z shall remain nameless) has been a little more social and cuddly. I therefore had big expectations when he seemed interested in helping me photograph last week's weather rosette.
We got off to a slow start. I really would have been happy with just toes as I have pictures of other cats over the years with just toes. Except it's out of focus.
I tried a different angle.
He tried a different angle at the same time.
In the end, I just went with this photo. It's on "my" trunk. It's really Mom's trunk and I borrow it for trunk shows but after the penultimate trunk show she never put her things back in it. I told her when I borrowed it this time that I wasn't giving it back!! She didn't protest very much.
She actually told me to keep the smaller green flat-top trunk I borrowed a while ago. I also own my great-grandfather's trunk which is 1.5 times as big as this one. Both this and GG-pa's are barrel top trunks - do you know why people had barrel top (~hump back) trunks? I'd be happy to share more trunk photos if anyone is interested in them...
And just because I was pleased as punch -- check out my new socks!
Jelly? Aren't you?!
A bonus of this cooler weather is that someone (and Z shall remain nameless) has been a little more social and cuddly. I therefore had big expectations when he seemed interested in helping me photograph last week's weather rosette.
We got off to a slow start. I really would have been happy with just toes as I have pictures of other cats over the years with just toes. Except it's out of focus.
I tried a different angle.
He tried a different angle at the same time.
 |
| I finally got to use a new color!!!! 51 - 62 - 63 - 70- 76 - 45 - 59 |
In the end, I just went with this photo. It's on "my" trunk. It's really Mom's trunk and I borrow it for trunk shows but after the penultimate trunk show she never put her things back in it. I told her when I borrowed it this time that I wasn't giving it back!! She didn't protest very much.
She actually told me to keep the smaller green flat-top trunk I borrowed a while ago. I also own my great-grandfather's trunk which is 1.5 times as big as this one. Both this and GG-pa's are barrel top trunks - do you know why people had barrel top (~hump back) trunks? I'd be happy to share more trunk photos if anyone is interested in them...
And just because I was pleased as punch -- check out my new socks!
Jelly? Aren't you?!
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
HeLP for Hexie-aholics - 10/17/17
Hello my fellow hexiologists!!! For today's Hexie Linky Party I'm going to finally reveal my secret-for-now project!!!
Background: several months ago I was asked to do a trunk show for Patchwork Gardens in East Amherst. Their store has a monthly hexie class and they tend to focus on one paper shape each month. I was asked to pick my favorite shape that I could demo after the trunk show. After stating that picking a favorite shape is worse than picking a favorite child, I quickly picked the jewel which is the main element in my Salt & Pepper project.
Once we had picked a shape, I thought maybe I should have some other projects to share with the same shape. I really like to have more than one purpose once I've spent my money on the papers - I was sure the girls would agree.
That's when I put out the word that I was hoping people would be willing to share a couple scrap strips with me. I really wasn't expecting more than just a few strips from each person, something that a 49cent stamp would mail. Instead I was overwhelmed with generosity!! Here's the last packages:
Phew - that's a lot of fabric for everyone to share!!! And can you believe that there was not a single duplicate among the donations or my own scraps? That's unbelievable.
So - did you figure out what I'm working on? Maybe this give you a clue?
I'm making jewel hearts!
The original idea was to make a "large" size quilt using just the hearts but I decided that it was just too busy to "see" all the scrappy fabrics.
I decided that I would separate the hearts with neutral honeycombs so that the hearts would be more defined. On Friday, I was laying out some of the hearts with the honeycombs for a friend and realized the honeycombs won't fit - they are the same 1" sides as a hexie but different angles. I'll need to use hexagons. Thankfully I only had 6 or 8 honeycombs finished. Oopies.
I've tried to see if I could create a box type shape with the hearts but I haven't gotten it to work yet so it appears I'll be doing my first strippy quilt.
What do you think?? I hope everyone who donated fabric is happy with the project!
And now it's your turn. What projects are you working on? Secret or otherwise?
Any paper shape or vintage project is fair game.
Background: several months ago I was asked to do a trunk show for Patchwork Gardens in East Amherst. Their store has a monthly hexie class and they tend to focus on one paper shape each month. I was asked to pick my favorite shape that I could demo after the trunk show. After stating that picking a favorite shape is worse than picking a favorite child, I quickly picked the jewel which is the main element in my Salt & Pepper project.
Once we had picked a shape, I thought maybe I should have some other projects to share with the same shape. I really like to have more than one purpose once I've spent my money on the papers - I was sure the girls would agree.
That's when I put out the word that I was hoping people would be willing to share a couple scrap strips with me. I really wasn't expecting more than just a few strips from each person, something that a 49cent stamp would mail. Instead I was overwhelmed with generosity!! Here's the last packages:
 |
| These little beauties came all the way from Jo in Australia!! I've cut into some of the strips but not the larger cat or Australia fabrics yet. |
 |
| These came from Janet O. I just had to make up the Star Wars heart ASAP because it's so NOT Janet. She's since sent me a couple more pieces of SW fabric. |
 |
| This large package came from Donna in Florida - she apologized to having to delay their sending until after the hurricane passed. Not. A. problem. Donna - I hope you'll post a comment sometime!! There is actually yardage in this package - I'll cut the bits I need for this project and use the rest for Kennel Quilts. |
Phew - that's a lot of fabric for everyone to share!!! And can you believe that there was not a single duplicate among the donations or my own scraps? That's unbelievable.
So - did you figure out what I'm working on? Maybe this give you a clue?
I'm making jewel hearts!
The original idea was to make a "large" size quilt using just the hearts but I decided that it was just too busy to "see" all the scrappy fabrics.
I decided that I would separate the hearts with neutral honeycombs so that the hearts would be more defined. On Friday, I was laying out some of the hearts with the honeycombs for a friend and realized the honeycombs won't fit - they are the same 1" sides as a hexie but different angles. I'll need to use hexagons. Thankfully I only had 6 or 8 honeycombs finished. Oopies.
I've tried to see if I could create a box type shape with the hearts but I haven't gotten it to work yet so it appears I'll be doing my first strippy quilt.
What do you think?? I hope everyone who donated fabric is happy with the project!
And now it's your turn. What projects are you working on? Secret or otherwise?
Any paper shape or vintage project is fair game.
Friday, October 13, 2017
Feline Friday - 10/13/17
Iz ok Momma...I'll guard your box-o-kennel quilt fabrics!
They needed pretesting anyway...
Happy Friday the 13th!
They needed pretesting anyway...
Happy Friday the 13th!
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Wednesday Weather Report #21 - 10/11/17
And here we are...done with week #21!!! Woo hoo!!
And that means I am now done with three full rows of my temperature quilt!!
There is a definite yellow-green tinge creeping into the later blocks. I think fall is finally thinking of making an official appearance. Today is a good example...when you are woken up by your fav furchild at 6am and it's already warmer than the day's projected high, you know it's all downhill from there. It's currently 51 and raining - yet again so close to a new color. Next chance looks like it could be Monday...
I've got a little catching up to do on the machine applique but it won't take more than half an hour to get the last row together and attached to the mothership. It's on the agenda for my sew day on Friday.
Cathy and I were going to take a Bonnie class with a guild up in Rochester but when the guild attached an *additional* $35 fee since there were sooo many students in the class we said thanks but no thanks. We can sew at my house for way less than $100 each, even if we order an extravagant lunch somewhere. We have both taken Bonnie classes before so we weren't totally heartbroken.
Happy Hump Day!
And that means I am now done with three full rows of my temperature quilt!!
There is a definite yellow-green tinge creeping into the later blocks. I think fall is finally thinking of making an official appearance. Today is a good example...when you are woken up by your fav furchild at 6am and it's already warmer than the day's projected high, you know it's all downhill from there. It's currently 51 and raining - yet again so close to a new color. Next chance looks like it could be Monday...
I've got a little catching up to do on the machine applique but it won't take more than half an hour to get the last row together and attached to the mothership. It's on the agenda for my sew day on Friday.
Cathy and I were going to take a Bonnie class with a guild up in Rochester but when the guild attached an *additional* $35 fee since there were sooo many students in the class we said thanks but no thanks. We can sew at my house for way less than $100 each, even if we order an extravagant lunch somewhere. We have both taken Bonnie classes before so we weren't totally heartbroken.
Happy Hump Day!
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Bibliophile Files - 10/10/17
So...I recently upgraded my iPhone to an unlimited plan which included a personal hotspot. I was excited to finally have internet at home, which is hard to do without a land line phone or cable. Sadly, I still can't get it to work properly. The first time I tried, it wouldn't connect at all. The second time I tried, I connected but the pages wouldn't load. There are 2 directions this is going to go: I'll try again, this will be 'third time is the charm' and all will work fine or I'll just decide that it's finally time to upgrade the laptop. The laptop is ancient but without internet, I wasn't using it much at home other than EQ7 and to type a few Word docs here and there. If I could finally blog at home, I would be thrilled.
Anyway, welcome to this delayed, yet quickie version of the Bibliophile Files - my monthly list of
finished books. This is an abbreviated version since both jobs are cray-cray again this week and I'm squeezing this in between jobs and fire meeting.
BTW - I'm still 7 books ahead of schedule!! 76 down and 14 to go. Easy Peasy!
FINISHED
16th Seduction
In my Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer - Memoir of a Polish girl saving Jews during WWII. Fascinating.
Our Family Quilt
Mangrove Lightning
Hard Truth - not my fav Anna Pigeon book. I love the series for the national park info but this had very little park info.
Between Shades of Gray - a sad WWII story based on true events. The authors note at the end of the audiobook was heart wrenching as she recalled family info and stopped the recording mid-sentence in tears. She wasn't the only person in tears...
IN PROGRESS
at home - The Couple Next Door
on my phone - The One Safe Place
Your turn!! What have you read recently? Novels, magazines, quilt patterns and cereal boxes all count!
Anyway, welcome to this delayed, yet quickie version of the Bibliophile Files - my monthly list of
finished books. This is an abbreviated version since both jobs are cray-cray again this week and I'm squeezing this in between jobs and fire meeting.
BTW - I'm still 7 books ahead of schedule!! 76 down and 14 to go. Easy Peasy!
FINISHED
16th Seduction
In my Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer - Memoir of a Polish girl saving Jews during WWII. Fascinating.
Our Family Quilt
Mangrove Lightning
Hard Truth - not my fav Anna Pigeon book. I love the series for the national park info but this had very little park info.
Between Shades of Gray - a sad WWII story based on true events. The authors note at the end of the audiobook was heart wrenching as she recalled family info and stopped the recording mid-sentence in tears. She wasn't the only person in tears...
IN PROGRESS
at home - The Couple Next Door
on my phone - The One Safe Place
Your turn!! What have you read recently? Novels, magazines, quilt patterns and cereal boxes all count!
Friday, October 06, 2017
Feline Friday - 10/6/17
I am the luckiest cat in the whole Cativerse!!!
How do I know? Cuz Momma made me my very own fur-coordinated place mat (she says I'm a messy eaterer) and I don't know any other cat who has such a thing.
I mean she put her whole heart into it and every thing!
As a reward for her hard labors, I slept in her lap for 31 minutes and not a second more!
Well, there was also that pigeon I brought her but I don't think you wanna see those pictures...
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| Yipp - I have a crystal bowl! |
How do I know? Cuz Momma made me my very own fur-coordinated place mat (she says I'm a messy eaterer) and I don't know any other cat who has such a thing.
I mean she put her whole heart into it and every thing!
As a reward for her hard labors, I slept in her lap for 31 minutes and not a second more!
Well, there was also that pigeon I brought her but I don't think you wanna see those pictures...
Wednesday, October 04, 2017
Wednesday Weather Report #20
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| 84 - 56 - 56 - 50 - 58 - 67 - 75 |
I'll try to get back on schedule with blogging next week. My office is closed Monday for the holiday but I've got a new Verizon plan that is supposed to make my iPhone a hotspot for my laptop. It's worth a shot. Bibliophile Files will be next Tuesday. And then I have to share about my last camping trip to the Adirondacks, my trunk show yesterday and I can finally reveal my secret project along with the latest squishies that have arrived!
Zorro will be here on Friday eager to show you his newest possession.
We won't talk about the gift he brought me for breakfast this morning and then proceeded to eat it himself, ending in him sitting on the porch in a food coma. Ick.
Monday, October 02, 2017
Good news, Bad news
Always start with the bad news...
--Sorry no post again today and I'll have to delay tomorrow's Bibliophile Files.
Then follow with the good news...
-----Today I got to meet Barbara and Mike who were passing through my area on their cross country road trip!! Tomorrow I get to do a hexie trunk show and bed turning!
Be back soon...
--Sorry no post again today and I'll have to delay tomorrow's Bibliophile Files.
Then follow with the good news...
-----Today I got to meet Barbara and Mike who were passing through my area on their cross country road trip!! Tomorrow I get to do a hexie trunk show and bed turning!
Be back soon...