a top, a top!!

Though this week has been about as busy as last week, I managed to get some sewing done!

Last Sunday, after posting, I headed up to the sewing room and didn't let much of anything distract me.  The result?  The remainder of the wedding quilt blocks were finished!

In whatever order Blogger decided to upload them, not necessarily the order they were finished.

You can see Freddie (stretched out Sphinx-like) and Salem (you can see the white on her belly) joined the parade of blocks as I photographed them.

It felt really good to get these all together, but then came the dreaded task of long seams.  I guess not ALL were long, since the blocks going into rows wasn't bad, and the quilt isn't THAT big, but still.  Long seams.

Thursday it rained, so no chance of weeding the garden (it looked sketchy when I got up and as I was doing a few chores, the rain started poring down and I was both thankful for the opportunity to sew guilt-free, and sad that the weeds would need to wait another few days) and I dove into the quilt assembly.

The colors are almost true here, which is odd since it was a grey day and the lighting is awful in my house of many windows shrouded by many ginormous trees.  One day I'll get a photo with the true colors, right?

I sewed and sewed the morning away and had about half the top together.  A quick break for lunch to recharge and I was off again.  The hubby has shifted his hours to go in later, but also come home later, which means I have more of my afternoon to sew.  (Not that he stops me, but I do like to have things nearing completion, if not done, when he gets home so I can spend time with him.)

After lunch, I dug back in.  I dreaded the continuation of long seams, but leaving this in the middle of the living room floor is not a good option for a number of reasons.  (Five of them have fur.)

This photo definitely leans towards orange, more than the quilt, but I guess if we could combine the layout above (tending a little blue) and this one, we'd have it just right?

Anyways, proof of top with help from the terrorist, Lily.  (I am currently hoping the wounds she administered to my left wrist earlier this morning will scab over well enough that I don't have to bandage my whole wrist to go to work...  But I love her and these wounds weren't intentional...she just panicked and I was right there.  I have no idea what scared her, though, since she is usually fearless!)

So this is where I stopped and haven't gone back to the sewing room since.  Of course, that was just Thursday and though I had yesterday off (GASP - a Saturday off?!?!), I spent it doing some errands with the hubby and it was nice.  (Except for the part where the boss called and texted, asking me to come in to close because one of the guys is out sick...nope, not gonna do it!)

I did press another large piece of fabric for the cat carriers this week and cut out eight more from this adorable stuff:

Yeah, it's Christmassy, but the kitties won't mind.

I cut the pieces for the handle hole facing as well, but that's as far as that went.  I'll get back to them soon.  I hope?!

And I forgot to mention a few weeks ago that the gal who is getting the wedding quilt is going to be a grandma...again!  Her daughter has gotten quilts for her firstborn, a boy, and her second, a girl.  Number three will be another boy, so I had to decide on a pattern...  Though I can't find the actual quilt with all the blocks together, this post from Lori Holt shows you how to use her Farm Girl Vintage and Farm Girl Vintage II books to make adorable animals in pickup trucks.  (Scroll down a bit.)  I'll be making nine blocks.

And the fabrics are pulled from the stash!

I have yet to cut into them, and this is just for the trucks, not the animals, but I'm getting there.  (And some of the fabrics in the first quilt are in this stash to be used again - I wonder if she'll notice?!)

And finally, just one book this week:

A classic, and in true classic form, it took longer to read than more current literature.  (I cropped out my bleeding wrist here...)

Zorba is an older man who lives life to the fullest and never seems to say no to anything.  He seems a bit of a drifter, as he meets up with the narrator and goes along on a project to mine for coal in Crete, but the narrator makes sure we know he works hard and gets the most out of the people he manages at the mine.

The narrator is a younger man and a writer, who seems to try to make life into poetry, but doesn't do much of going out there to live it.  He observes a lot, whereas Zorba's life seems to BE the poetry the narrator wants.

The people behave as expected, the projects end as anticipated and such, but it was an interesting read.  Written in the 1940's, it's not as old as some other classics out there, but it does have the slower paced writing style of them.

I've started another (of course) that is okay.  It's definitely historical fiction, but seems more focused on the history than the story right now, so we'll see.

And Friday this week is the BIG BOOK SALE!!!!!!  I look forward to this all year and cannot wait to fill a bag or two with new-to-me books!  Of course there will also be celebrating with family, but let's be honest...the books are the star!

Time now to finish a few more chores so I can work this afternoon.  (I'd rather stay home and sew, but bills need to be paid, so if I want to continue living the way I do, I need to keep working too.  And the job isn't all that bad...)

Happy quilting!

Katie

PS I weeded my garden yesterday morning after days and days and days of rain, which made the grasses encroaching on the fence easier to pull, so it was a productive, yet dirty, endeavor.  And I have a single bell pepper about large enough to pick already!