a top and the usual

Let's start with the most exciting part of the week...a quilt top!

As you've seen over the past few weeks, I've been working on the Two Colour Mystery quilt from Canuck Quilter.  Last Thursday the latest clue came out and it was the layout and borders!

She had some very specific pressing instructions, which made me believe there might be a fancier layout than this basic one, but all the seams nested nicely this way.  And seeing the borders, the straight layout makes complete sense now.  Of course, I sewed the blocks rotated 90 degrees from the pattern instructions/photo, which meant those "mitered" corners (shhh...it's a secret she told us how to do in the pattern!) were backwards.  I quickly realized it was wrong (before sewing the LOOONG seams down) and with a little seam ripping and head-scratching, I got my diagonals to go the correct way.  (Thankfully Lily was sleeping at this point, so my design floor was a safe place to be.)

While I had everything out, I also cut and pieced and pressed the binding.  I think the instructions had us at least cutting the binding at the start, but I was lazy and didn't.  But in an effort to clean off my shelf of unfinished projects, I wanted to get that project box cleaned out and stashed away.  Also, later Katie will thank me.

I plan to give this quilt to a great niece, so it needs to be finished sooner rather than later, but life around here is a bit chaotic with the hubby's new (temporary, thankfully) work schedule.  Soon, I hope!

Since the mystery has been "solved," the pattern is no longer free, but if you want to make this beauty, you can find it in her Etsy shop, called "Half 'N Half."  Some folks in the quilt along did the dark fabrics scrappy and it looked cool.

Next up, the 100 day stitch book project is nearly done.  Today is day 95, which means I'll be finishing up the second to last page.  It's gone pretty fast, though it has just dawned on me that this means the 100th day of 2024 is nearly upon us.  Apparently the year is also going fast!  I missed yesterday, so you'll only get through day 93.  I'll catch up tonight.

Day 88

Day 89 - more of the same

Day 90 - I realized some of the edges and corners weren't stitched down well and ran out of room for bigger circles, so if you look close, there are some smaller circles echoed inside the larger ones.

Day 91 - Page 19!

Day 92

Day 93 - I'm getting better at planning ahead, but also  sometimes not.  This page is a good planning ahead page, as I thought to stitch the diagonals first, before sticking on other elements or stitching around the block.  I guess some pages I just have a better vision of what they'll be from the start?

And last on my sewing agenda this week was FINALLY finishing up the smaller (fat quarter size or so) pieces of fabrics from Saved By Zade, the cat rescue (and more) group that I work with.  I contacted my volunteer to set up a meeting time, but also mentioned if they had any other sewing projects (or wanted more of what I've already been working on), we could chat about that.

Well.

She had a project.

The group does a lot of spay and neuter work.  Sometimes it's what's called "Trap, Neuter, Release" which means they catch (often in live traps) kitties who are part of a feral colony, spay or neuter them and then, once they've had a bit of time to heal, release them back to their colony.  Often these colonies have a human caretaker (think barn cats), but there is just not expertise, time and sometimes funds to control the population.  They'll be fed and looked after, but if you've ever tried to pet a feral cat...well...you've probably never even gotten close enough to try, if you've seen them at all!

Anyways.

There are also the rescued kittens and mommas.  They also need to be spayed or neutered, too, to help control the populations.  There are so many kitties in need of homes, reputable rescues will not adopt out a kitty without making sure they will not be a part of the overpopulation problem.  And usually when you adopt from a rescue, that adoption fee is a lot less than getting that surgery on your own.  (Case in point - we adopted Freddie for a fee of $100 and we only had about a $70 vet visit for his second round of vaccinations after that.  Lily cost me over $500 for all her vaccinations and spay.  For a healthy cat.  I'm not complaining, but if you are - this is easy math.)

Back off the soapbox, Katie.

Okay, okay.

What this means is that there is a lot of transport involved.  Kitties go in a carrier (or trap in the case of the wild children) and then into a car.  Sometimes the back of a minivan is packed a few carriers deep when doing a spay/neuter day.  Towels and blankets and whatnot are used to drape the carriers and keep kitties from seeing each other.  They can smell each other, but this does decrease the stress.

But towels and blankets are generally heavier.  Bulkier.  They take up a lot of room in a washing machine and a longer stretch in the dryer than something like a sheet.

Enter Katie the crazy sewing lady.  Can I make covers?  Just flat with a hole for the handle?  For three sizes of carriers and live traps?

Of course I can.  I'm crazy!

My volunteer had a bunch of fabrics for me, including a fair amount of Christmas fabrics, and I came home with an idea.

After some videos about how to make that hole for the handle (it's faced inside) and some measuring and math, I had the cover you see above.

This is a "medium" carrier and takes just about a yard of fabric.  So these are going to eat up a fair amount of fabric, but more will fit in the washing machine and the dryer will be able to work faster.

Lily, of course, helped.  I brought the carrier up to my sewing room because I figured that was easier than running up and down stairs to measure and test and whatnot.  She climbed right in.  The other cats gave it the side eye or hid.  Not Lily-No-Brains.

So now I have a few covers made (and a couple more to go) and plan to meet with my volunteer later this week to hand over the trial pieces.  If they're too large or too small or whatever, I'd rather find out before I make dozens.

If you're still reading (thanks for hanging in there on my tangent), I'll mention that the Bramble Blooms quilt has not been touched, nor have the yellow squares for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  The excitement of a new project took over a bit these last few days, but once I get the trial cover business done, I'll probably move back to those a bit.

Maybe.

Happy quilting!

Katie