ufos I don't want to admit I have...

I wasn't sure if I could keep up with the Very Vintage Christmas sew-along, but so far, so good!  Each block has its challenges (and I'll share the next batch later in the post), but I'm enjoying it.

While I'm sewing these blocks, I pulled out an OLD batch of project leftovers.  When making my Garden Variety quilt (which apparently I haven't blogged about actually finishing - like quilted and everything finished), I had a LOT of lost corners.  So I saved them.  I stuffed them in a bag with the extra fabric from the kit and then...the end.  I had pressed them, but never did anything else.  So I decided I would trim a few at a time and use these as leader-enders for sewing the Christmas blocks.

They live in the little set of drawers on my cutting table right now.  And I only have enough half-square triangles to make two more pinwheels!  I think I'll have 42 pinwheels when I'm done and already have an idea to make a little bag with them.  They finish 5", so they're a good size and the bag pattern I think might work uses charm squares!  More seams, yes, but I think...I think...it might work!

As you can see, though, there is still a bag of other fabrics in there.  I'll see what I can use up for bag parts and then decide what to do with these fabrics.  I have this urge today to just give a bunch of bits and pieces away instead of having them in my sewing room any longer.  We'll see how that goes...

So that's ONE UFO I didn't want to admit I had when I made my list for 2018.

And here's another...

Back at the end of 2012, I decided to try to make the block of the day provided by Quilt Pro via e-mail.  Some of the blocks were actually quilting diagrams or applique, but many were not.  I decided to pull some fabric and make blocks with it until it was gone.  Add in colors as needed and get myself into the sewing room every day.  It lasted a little while...maybe a month or so.  And I ended up with a fair number of 12" blocks.  Twenty-four, to be exact, and they were turned into two quilts that were donated to the local VA hospital in 2014.  But there were fewer 10" blocks to be had and I petered out with just 5 blocks.  I chose lighter colors, planning to make a smaller baby quilt to donate, but these got stuck in a corner and "forgotten" for quite a while.

Earlier this week, they started hollering at me from their neglected corner.  Why couldn't I make a few more, sash and border them and have another quilt (top!) for Jack's Basket?

So, once the Christmas blocks (they're coming, I promise!) for the week were done, I was free to play.  I went to Quilter's Cache, knowing I could find a list of blocks sorted by size, and looked until I found four that didn't seem too difficult.  (The goal here was to finish, not challenge myself further!)  The first five block patterns were from Quilt Pro - those pictured above.

While I was pulling fabric for the Christmas quilt, I decided I would find these fabrics, or fabrics that would play well with them to keep the color scheme going.  I found the green and peach, but no blue.  That's okay - my stash of blues is the biggest...well...maybe greens are bigger right now?  Anyways, they sat there, staring angrily at me while I sewed away on the UFO for the month and the Christmas blocks, but their turn was coming!

Yesterday I made two.  Today I made another two.

Please pardon the slice of sunlight in the corner, but I am NOT going to complain.  Sunshine in the winter here is wonderful, even when it's so bright in your sewing room you consider finding some sunglasses!  (And the colors here are more true than the first photo.)  I think the new blue plays well and was running low on the peach, so I added that stripe.  I think it's fun (and wish I had enough to use it for binding, but I don't) and adds a little punch.

Next up was to add sashing and borders.

I put this strip on the floor to make sure I was lining up the upper half of the quilt correctly (making sure the upper border was on top and the cornerstones inside) and Gabby came tearing into my sewing room from who-knows-where and flopped here.  This is the second quilt this week she has done that with...

...my stack of blocks that conclude the Arcadia Avenue adventure (well, the block part) after I finished the last one - the UFO for the month...

...you see, this quilt is obviously hers.  (I have about three more shots of her on this stack from different days.)  (You can also see big sister Emma's shadow on her rear end!)

And you can see her short tail in that first photo.  The fur is growing back, but it does look a little goofy.  But she continues to do well and doesn't seem to mind it at all.  But it's funny because usually you see a cat gracefully flipping their tail around.  Gabby has a stump that she wildly flips and it kinda reminds me of someone flipping me the finger!  You know she's gracefully waving her tail at me in her head and I'm not going to tell her it's anything else.

Okay, Katie, back to the quilt.

In no time at all, I had the top finished!

I even made binding!  (With one of the selected blues that will play nicely because I didn't have enough of ANY of the fabrics for it - not even the white!  Yay stash reduction!)

So this top is the second UFO I didn't want to admit I had when making that list.  And this one is finished...well...a top!  And I plan to get it quilted sooner rather than later.

Okay, on to the Christmas blocks!

#9

(this one looks kinda plain...might add bead-ornaments or something later)

#10

(smoke has been embroidered in a darker grey)

These are the end of last week's assignment.  On to this week!

#11

(this one feels very spring-y to me!)

#12

#13

(I am glad I don't have to many any more of these!)

#14

(this one still needs the laces embroidered)

#15

And that's it for this week!  More will be assigned on Friday and I'm hoping to get the skate laces done before then.  It's not easy to trace the lines onto the fabric and I probably should have done it earlier while the sun was shining brighter, but maybe I'll ask the hubby to help me?  (Ha ha, that will be amusing...)

And we can't have a post without an actual photo of Emma, right?  (Shadow Emma doesn't quite show how helpful she is...)

This day she followed me.  If I was sewing, she sat here.  If I was cutting, she tried to sit in the middle of that.  If I was ironing, she walked across the ironing board.  Wherever I went, she was there.  I tried to pet and love her, but that wasn't what she wanted.  I tried to get her to sit on my lap while I sewed.  That was not what she wanted.  I never did figure it out, but finally I finished sewing, so she quit being a pest.  (Maybe she just didn't want me to sew?)  And she looks angrier here that she was.  She usually looks pretty angry with me when I take her photo (unless she's sleeping), but she's not usually that angry.  Just hungry.  All. The. Time.  Oh, Emma...

Time to go make dinner and the requested apple pie.  (Spoiled hubby...maybe he WILL have to help me hold that book to the window so I can see through the page to trace?!)

Happy quilting,

Katie

christmas blocks!

In my last post, I shared the acquisition of my new book and fabric...

...and fabric pull...

...and then it was finally time to start sewing!

With five blocks per week being the "assignment" for the quilt-along, it's easy to get behind quickly.  And getting the book 5 days "late," I was already at a disadvantage.  But I've been working on them and only have a couple left to be totally caught up!

First up was a block with 45 pieces.  Yep, that's a lot.

I'm making the 6" blocks.  All 42 of them for the sampler quilt on the cover of the book.  I'm not using a green background for some of them, as indicated in the book, so sometimes that is making color choices change.  Like here - baby Jesus has a blue blanket in my version, as the white one in the book wouldn't show up!

But for scale...some of the pieces...

Yes, that is the 1" grid on my cutting mat.

And if those weren't small enough...

...yes, I have to do the stitch-and-flip lost corner with them.

But I'm being very careful and trimming each unit as its sewn to help keep things lining up correctly and keep my points pointy.  (So far, so good, as you'll see.)

With that one done, I pressed on to block 2:

...and again some creative fabric choices to keep the stripes standing out from the background.  Both of these blocks required a few additions to be made to my original fabric pull, but I think I'm doing okay.  I haven't changed it too much!

On to block 3:

This one went very fast compared to the first two.  And look at my points!!!

Next up, encouraged with my awesome points, block 4:

This one, too, had a LOT of pieces and there are buttons needed to mimic holly berries, but even if I had them, I would wait to sew them on until after quilting.  But I had fun cutting the chevron print for the flames - they came out perfectly to look like the inner cone of a flame!  (That wasn't entirely on purpose.)

On to block 5:

This star doesn't look very Christmassey to me, but if I want to balance out the other colors needed in some blocks, this one seems like a good place to start.  Though being a Michigan State grad (green and white), it was very hard to put those colors together, as they are our arch nemesis (University of Michigan) colors!  But I do know they are wonderful colors to put together and play so nicely.  So it's okay.

And block 6:

This was another quick one and I had fun with the fussy cut center.  Again, not super Christmassey colors, but it's a pretty block!

Block 7 (holy cow, 7!):

This one also had some tiny bits (though not as bad as that first block), but with trimming and careful sewing, I nailed the points!  I'm hoping to keep this up throughout the quilt, but we'll see!

And last so far is block 8, with a whopping 50 pieces.  And some of them as small as the first block.

Holy cow she's cute!  I had a little trouble with one of those ankles being a little fat (a cankle, if you will), but a little wider seam took care of it well enough for me to be happy.  Though looking back, I wonder if maybe her shoes should have been blue to match her hair ties or green to match her belt?  Ah well, I'm not changing it now!

The book has an "x" embroidered for her eyes.  I did NOT like that - isn't that what they do when something is dead?  So I thought on it last night and decided she'd be sleeping and have eyelashes!

It does look a bit like she had some trouble with her mascara, but if you consider the lines for her eyes are less than 1/4" long, I think it's pretty good.  And when it's all done in the quilt, your eyes won't be drawn to it like here when it's front and center.

So that leaves me two blocks to get caught up for this week.  I can do that.  The next one is a Christmas tree, which looks fairly simple.  I'm not sure what the last is, but I'm kinda hoping to get both done today.  I have a list of other goals for the month, including my UFO project, but I have 3 days in a row off (including today), so that's promising!

I've started a box of bits, as sometimes these blocks require tiny pieces that normally you'd throw in the trash.  Like strips that are less than an inch wide.  But it's served me well, as the hair ties on the dolly as well as a few other parts used up some bits already!  They live in this box for now...

I'm also sewing and saving any "lost corner" triangles from squares that started out 2" or larger.  I'll probably make some little pincushions out of them now that I've bought a huge bag of "lizard litter" (aka crushed walnut shells).  Perhaps even in time for Christmas?  HA HA HA HA HA!

Little Gabby went to the vet today for a follow-up to her tail amputation.  As expected, she's doing just fine.  But that official word from the vet was needed.  She is now the Angriest Cat in the World and hiding from me FOR.EVER.  Of course, I had to upend a sofa and bed in my bedroom to eliminate enough hiding spaces before I could catch her.  And then suffered some nice gashes on my hand (I put on a heavy sweatshirt prior to trying to catch her, knowing it was a good safety measure, but my hands were exposed!) before I did finally get her into the carrier.  So now we just have the period while she decides I'm not the evillest thing ever and will come back out.  In the meantime, I'm going to go about my business (I'll hold off with the vacuum until tomorrow at least - she hates that!) and let her be.  She'll come around.  It will just take time.  Patience.

So that's it for me.  Not as much sewing as I might like, but these blocks are taking a while (well, some more than others - as expected) and I'm taking my time with them.  If I get behind on the quilt-along, it's okay.  The goal is to finish and I will.  No excuses!

Happy quilting!

Katie

the longarm has been busy!

It's cool enough to use the heat-producing light bar on my longarm without trouble!

First up, I decided last Thursday that it was a good day to work on my Summer Fun quilt along top.  Last time I mentioned it, it was a finished top (with alternations made) and ready to be quilted.  I dug through my stash of larger pieces (leftovers from other quilt backs) to find something suitable.  I thought it would be harder, but this piece presented itself quickly!

(okay, okay, I just took this photo...after quilting)

I had only one seam to sew and found a piece of batting just a little bigger than the top - perfect!

I loaded it up and took stock.  What to quilt?

OOOOHHHH!  My brain said crosshatching in the checkerboards would be fun.  It will be easy, my brain said.  You'll get a little practice with your ruler, my brain said.  Stupid brain.

About halfway through is where they are best, but they are messy at the beginning and sloppy at the end.  And I'm not sure I'm any better.  Also, they took FOR. EVER.

Next up, my brain said that wishbones in those white sashing strips would be good.  It's a nice filler, the brain says.  It will go fast, my brain tells me.  So I do them.

Can you see them here?  Neither can my EYES.  My eyes now are mad at my brain.  The rest of this quilt is going to be interesting...

But I did manage to finish it, even with some motifs I would not choose if I had it to do over again.  But I'm not ripping it out, either.  It's done.  And will be donated, so hopefully whoever gets it won't be too critical.

I took my hubby outside this evening, but it turns out that semi-setting-sun light is not good for photographs.  Also not good for getting close to said subject...

The colors, with much tweaking, are still way better in the inside shots.  But whatever.  You get the idea - it's a finished quilt.  36x36.  Or so.  I didn't measure after quilting.

Then, at guild Thursday night, there was a pile of quilt tops we made at a charity sew-in a few months back.  I don't think I posted any photos, but I do remember sharing the pattern.  But can I find that now?  Nope.  Anyways, the finishing part had stalled out because one of the gals coordinating had a family health issue that needed her full attention.  (And thankfully is fully resolved now!)  So the finishing came back and our guild president was asking for volunteers to longarm the 17 tops we made.  I sewed two tops at the sew-in, so thought quilting two was a fair number.  There are quite a few members with longarms and if we each do a few...

So Friday morning, I loaded up #1!

I didn't take many photos other than this one of it on the longarm.  But you can see both the quilt motifs (kinda) and the backing fabric (aren't those jacks just perfectly cute!).  It took a few hours, but not bad for an overall edge-to-edge hand-guided pattern.  I had to load it "right-ways" - quilting top to bottom.  I prefer to load them "sideways" which allows me to quilt longer passes, but fewer.  But the size of the backing determined my direction and it really wasn't that bad.

I trimmed it and, by the time it was done, thanks to our guild facebook page, had a volunteer to complete the binding!  I'm happy because that's something pretty much all of our members can do, thereby lightening the load on those of us with longarms!

(I've learned my lesson - no sunset shots...)

A few more days passed, but I decided I wanted to try to get the second top finished by the meeting tomorrow.  I promised them by Christmas, but this way, maybe I can have a second volunteer to do the binding and not put them in a pinch!  Today was the day!

After some procrastination and a trip to my local quilt shop (more on that soon), I started the quilting.

A use for that U.G.L.Y. mauve thread I bought years ago for the Motel 6 quilts.

And on the longarm.  You can't really see the quilting in this photo because I took it right after rolling it, but again you can see the back fabric (I think it was a sheet...that wasn't nice to my tension) and I used the same motif as the other quilt.

Again, it took a few hours, but wasn't terrible.  This one was loaded the harder way as well, but again, the back fabric makes that decision for us and it WAS bigger enough to work with, so I'm not complaining too loud!

And, as I posted a photo on the guild facebook page again while quilting, I had a taker for binding by the time it was done on the frame!

Outside with this one, too, for one more poorly-lit shot...

The colors, again, are far better in the indoor shots.

Between the two charity quilts, I did spend some time in the sewing room.  I made a batch of tiny stars (I think 15?) and pulled the pile of binding leftovers from its place on a shelf to see if there were any fabrics I had not yet cut for tiny stars (sometimes you use the last bit of something for binding, right?!)...

This giant disaster is where I started.  It seemed endless, but I tidied them as I went and managed to cut 14 new fabrics for tiny stars.  And then, I ended up with this neat little stack...

...I'm not sure how long it will stay this way, but they're sorted by colors and rolled up neatly.  I can now see what I have - at least in a color family if not easily what exactly it is - and maybe will be better about using them for scrappy quilts?

While reading blogs this week (probably procrastinating doing something like dishes...), I came across the Lori Holt Vintage Christmas quilt-along.  I did her Vintage Farm Girl quilt along a few years ago and enjoyed it.  Lori's blocks often have a LOT of pieces, but her instructions are very clear for every single block (no assuming you did the block on page 1 for instructions how to make something on page 34) and they're so cute!  So I decided right then and there to do it.  I dragged a friend into it with me and contacted my local quilt shop, asking if she had the book.  (Because I'm too lazy to drive the 3 miles down there!)  It was on backorder and due in this week, so I asked her to put my name on one when they arrived.

Today, after I loaded the mauve charity quilt, I decided to take a quick lunch break before starting stitching.  And while I was eating, I got the call that my book was in!  I wolfed down the rest of my lunch and scooted out the door to get my new treasure!

I also picked up this fabric, intending to use it as background for the blocks.  And then realized it's Lori's fabric...and the one she used for sashing in the quilt I'm making!  So, upon further evaluation, I have decided to use a solid white for background and this for sashing.  I'll have a lot extra, but it's super cute and I'm sure will find a place in a quilt somewhere in the future.

The quilt-along started last Friday and they're doing 5 blocks a week.  The last quilt-along we did 2 a week and I was able to keep up without a problem, but 5 is a lot...even for someone only partially employed!  I'm sure this pace is to get it done before Christmas, but we'll see if I fall behind...okay, well, I am behind already...sorta...

While flipping through the book (Lori always provides a lot of options for her many blocks!), I sorta fell in love with this one...

(And I'm not getting any kickback from promoting this.  I just love her colors and patterns and stuff!)

So, after that little bit of procrastinating, I started pulling fabrics, using the new fabric as a guide for color selection.  Sometimes that is hard to narrow down a whole color spectrum to the hues you want, so having that fabric was super helpful.

I'm not sure if I'll need all of the colors (purple?), but I decided to pull all the ones that would play well together at once and isolate them in their own box so I don't have to go through this process again later.  (But now that I look at this, those lighter blues...hmmm...)

And now, instead of starting the blocks (the first block has pieces labelled A through T!), I'm blogging about it.  Tomorrow is a fresh day and other than the cleaning chores (vacuuming and the bathroom) and a quilt guild meeting in the evening, I have the day to myself.  The last quilt-along, the blocks took an hour or so each to complete, so I expect the same here.  Some will be easier, some will be harder, but it will all be good.  And I'm going to have an AWESOME quilt in the end!

Also while reading blogs, I noted the Bonnie Hunter has released her colors for her mystery quilt.  I'm on the fence about doing this quilt, but I guess I have about a month to make up my mind!

But just so you don't think I'm getting too far ahead on my holidays, I did bake these to take to work yesterday...

...I didn't work today (obviously, since I was longarming and making trips to the local quilt shop!), but they were appreciated yesterday.  And I'm sure today, as they didn't all get eaten yesterday.  Wednesdays they have a super early shift to get all the stuff that came in on the truck on Tuesday out onto the sales floor.  I'm sure the guys appreciated a burst of sugar for an early-morning snack!

And last but not least, little Gabby with the shortened tail, is doing very well.  She poked and licked at it some at the start, but about two days ago she seemed over it and was back to normal.  I know she's fine now because last night, after we went to bed, she went stomping over the piano keys.  I can't get a video of her doing it, but she seems fascinated with it making noise when she steps on it, so she walks up and down the keyboard happily.  (She's the only cat I've ever known to LIKE toys that make lots of noise...jingle balls are her absolute favorite.)  I'm glad she's healing and am confident she'll pass the follow-up exam early next week with flying colors.  (Sorry for no photo, but it would probably just be blurry anyways because she's a spazzy cat!)

So that's what I've been up to.  Among the other less-fun things like grocery shopping, washing laundry and cooking meals.  But life, you know?!

No trick-or-treaters at our house tonight - our road is far too busy.  So the hubby and I will settle in for a nice evening of movies here shortly.  And this is the first year in over 20 that I didn't "dress up" at work as a "mad scientist"...it started out as a joke, since I've worked in many labs, that when I didn't dress up, I just claimed my lab coat made me a "mad" scientist.  This year, I guess I dressed up as a quilter?  I probably have a few threads hanging from me and earlier did have a needle stowed in my shirt!  (But if I had been scheduled to work, I might have asked the hubby to borrow a lab coat from his work for me so I could continue the tradition...even if it was at a retail store!)

Happy quilting!

Katie

...since my last post...

I know it's been a few weeks.  I have reasons.  I do.

In the next few days following the last post, I loaded the Christmas squirrel on the longarm...

...and quilted it in just a few hours.  I did an overall meander with holly leaves, free motion.  Originally I had thought to do swirls, my go-to, but with the fabric being all swirly to start with, I felt that might be overkill.  And both my hubby and a quilty friend suggested the holly.  The back is plaid with holly bunches, so it made sense.

And I sewed the binding down by machine and dug right into the hand-sewing portion.  I got about halfway around before my guild meeting that Thursday...

...but not without help from Lexie.  She may be deaf, but she still knows what a good snuggle looks like!

Friday and Saturday I worked.  Saturday I headed in to work with a dry, scratchy throat, but thought little of it.  The furnace has been running a lot and I chalked it up to that.  By 10am, I knew it was NOT dry air.  I had a fever and chills and was alternating between freezing and sweating just standing at a cash register.  But the boss-lady at work did a poor job of scheduling, plus the closer cashier called in sick, and I was stuck there the whole shift - despite my hopes to leave even a few hours early.

The next week was spent mostly sick and in bed.  I went through more fever and chills, nausea and vomiting, stuffy nose, headache, body and bone aches, coughing and no appetite.  The boss-lady is Patient Zero at work - she came in sick and coughed all over everything.  Yes, I say she coughed on everything because she did.  (And I'm still angry about it.)

(Please folks, if you are sick, STAY HOME.  Not all of us have a robust immune system.  Not all of us can down just any cold medicine we want to feel better.  Not all of us can afford to stay home and not get paid.  If you come in sick, you put EVERY. SINGLE. COWORKER. at risk.  And end up with  more work on your plate as your coworkers call in sick.  Never mind the families of coworkers and, if you work with the public, every single person you come into contact with.  I may or may not fit into all of those categories, but I'm angry enough to get up on my soapbox here on my mostly-quilty blog.  And now I'll get down.  But I'm still angry that I'm STILL sick.)

I finally regained my appetite the following weekend, though it's still spotty.  I still, 11 days later have a hacking cough and a stuffy nose.  But I feel like a person again.  And am not so bad I have to call in sick to work.  So I'm celebrating that!  Today, when I'm done with this blog post, I'm gonna go make tiny stars...if the hubby is home or not!  We're doing leftovers for dinner, and I did chores earlier, so it's my afternoon!!!

When symptoms finally subsided enough to think, I got back to the quilt binding.  I wanted to turn it in at the meeting this past Thursday, and didn't have THAT far to go...

...Emma helped with round two.  And I tried to be very aware of not touching my nose or face while doing this.  (Or getting up to wash my hands if I had to!)  I ran it through the dryer for quite a stretch after to get any stray cat hairs off and hopefully kill off any germs before I donated it.

But Thursday evening rolled around and I was tired.  So I decided, also because the cough was getting worse instead of better, to just drop the quilt off at the meeting and head out again.  There are many older ladies in my guild and NONE of them need what I had.  If I was that miserable, I can't imagine someone nearly twice my age having it!

First, though I had to get photos.  It was rainy and cold and getting dark, so I asked the hubby to help and our messy back room has the best lighting for this sort of thing.  He's a smart-aleck...

...first he held the quilt out, folded, at arms length.  I missed that shot.  Then he held it up backwards, acting like he couldn't tell the front from the back.  He's a goof and I think was just glad I was feeling well enough to get up from my bed to do anything.  (He'd been going out every night and getting us food from the local fast food places - getting me a kids meal that I barely touched - just to help in one of the few ways he truly could!)  (And I thought about blurring out his face, but he so rarely smiles in photos - he prefers the "mug shot" grimace - I just left him there.  He's much better looking when he smiles!)

Anyways, I dropped off the quilt and felt some relief that this one is done.  One more deadline met!

But I still have the Rack of Shame...

...these are mostly tops I've completed in the past year.  Many of them have backs and even bindings ready to go.  This is my to-do list for the cooler weather.  (Now I just need batting to go on sale!)  Maybe I'll load one tomorrow?  (But which one!?)

In the middle of all this illness, our little kitten (who is a 9.2 pound cat now, at just over a year old) had gotten her tail smooshed and was worrying it excessively.  We tried some painkiller/anti-inflammatory meds earlier, but they weren't working any more.  So she went to the vet this past Monday.  They shaved the end-half of her tail and x-rayed to assess the damage, as she'd been chasing, catching and crying/growling at it for weeks, and it was awful.  Bloody slashes and cuts all over, but not broken.  The vet offered two options: 1. attempt to bandage and antibiotics or 2. amputation.  Since she is still fairly wild and decides when she is going to be a housecat (instead of a beast running rampant through a house), I figured the first option would not go well.  So we went with more drastic option 2.

I know it's kinda gross, but they took most of her tail.  I know they took what needed to go and it's okay.  She's young and resilient and will bounce back.  But last night was rough.  We confined her to my bedroom because she was still quite loopy from the anesthesia and were warned against stairs.  The bedroom has cat beds, a people bed, a couch, a window seat and a litterbox.  All I needed to add was water and a little food and it was perfect.  Plus, all night there was a human momma to snuggle, if she chose.  She struggled with how to set the tail down and not have it hurt and I heard her pacing a lot of the night, but finally, at some point, she figured it out and I woke to find her sleeping on my legs, peacefully.  Eventually she moved to one of the cat beds and was crashed out when I woke up this morning.  But the anesthesia has worn off and she's no longer wobbly.  Still adjusting to the pains of setting it down wrong and the lack of claws (they trimmed them up aggressively, but she was not declawed), but she came home with pain meds and has her human momma home with her for a few more days, too, to help her remember to not pick at it.  She's sleeping peacefully in one of her favorite spots - about 5 feet up on a platform in the cat tree.

BUT!!!

I did sew a little Monday night - something to keep my mind busy instead of feeling guilty at making a drastic decision for my cat and then leaving her with the vet...

...three Christmas pillowcases for the three nieces on my side of the family.  This has become a yearly tradition - sometimes they wrap the gift, sometimes they're just folded neatly and given.  I know they already each have a few from past years, but things wear out and sometimes it's nice to just have something new like this.  They went quite fast, even with me messing up how to do French seams and having to unsew a bit.  (It seems this year I've been doing a fair amount of unsewing...)

So that's why I've been gone.  And where I've been.

I hope you all are well and quilting away.  I look forward to feeling truly myself (I think I should buy stock in the companies that make tissues with as many as I've been through lately!) and getting back into the swing of quilty things.

And with that...off I go to make some tiny stars!

Happy quilting,

Katie