31

A week ago, I was spending time with family, gaining a large bag of unwanted fabrics intended for cat hammocks.

Monday, I shared this first set of six:

I worked on Tuesday and Friday, but the other days this week, a good chunk of each day has been spent working on more hammocks...

I didn't take many photos, but I did stop often to pet my kitties, as I had a lot of "help" during my sewing episodes.

I worked through some pretty ugly fabrics, though in their heyday of the 70's or 80's, they were the best that was out there.  Before the big names we all know now were doing big business.  Before they bothered with fancy selvedges - or even dating them!  Back when fabric was actually 45" wide.

As I worked with each fabric, I cut what would make best use of the fabric and strayed from the original sizes listed in the request I found.  One of the volunteers indicated larger was okay and I expect these folks are no strangers to making things work, so I hope they will employ the same efforts used in catching these unfortunate kitties to get the hammocks to hang appropriately.

My two "pastel" rescues love each other very much.  Finn will let you scratch his face for the rest of eternity, grabbing your hands if you stop, so he was very pleased that big sister Gabby was in a mood to tidy things up.  This went on for quite a while and ate into my sewing time because I was trying to get a good photo of her with her tongue out!

Today, as I finished the last stitches, I realized I went from what pretty much filled my washing machine to this:

I supplemented a few long, skinny strips to make the hanging loops for a few, but on the whole my stash remained untouched for this batch.

And then I counted...

Thirty-one hammocks.

And in these last two photos, you can definitely spot the 70's and 80's fabrics.  (That top one is actually a Lori Holt print, dated 2013, but my mom didn't much like it, so into the pile it went!)

I sewed six hammocks each day I didn't work this week, except today, where I made seven.  Six seemed to be a good number that wasn't too much time, but also enough to make a dent in the stack of fabrics.

In addition to the hammocks, I of course made meals and cleaned things and read and all the other normal things one does in life.  My hubby may claim to have been feeling neglected, but he would have been planted in front of the television, playing a game on his phone, whether I had been upstairs sewing or sitting next to him.  The bonus of sewing was that I got to listen to what I wanted to listen to, not his sitcom of choice.

One night, though, we made a "run for the border"...

Toby was fascinated with the bubbles in my pop from Taco Bell.

I'm not sure what he thought was going on here, and this is definitely not the first time we've brought drive-thru food home since he came to live with us last September (until just a few weeks ago, that was about all we could get that wasn't cooked ourselves!), but that night he was fascinated.

I love his curious face.

As usual, Freddie has been camera shy this week.  And generally stubborn.  He gives loves when HE wants to give them, but don't you dare think you can take his picture.  How RUDE!  But he is still here, creating his own brand of derpy mayhem, usually with his tail puffed up as big as a raccoon while tearing through the house at top speeds and his eyes popped open as huge as can be.  We have no idea what he is chasing - or running from - but it is Serious Business.

Since the hammocks took all of my sewing time this week, there is no quilty business to report.  But with the stash of fabrics busted, I suppose I'll have to get back to the projects I abandoned a week ago.  Tomorrow I'm meeting with a guild friend to help her lay out a wedding quilt and then we'll head to lunch.  It is so nice to be able to do some normal things again, but it's still a little scary that so many people don't want to get vaccinated and I'm worried those folks are going to send us back into lockdown.  (99% of folks ending up in the hospital now are NOT vaccinated...that seems like ridiculously good odds for the vaccine!  But I'll stop there.  This blog is about quilting, not scientist Katie going on a rant about virology.)

Time to go plan the coming week.

Happy quilting!

Katie