January's projects update

Well that first month went by fast! I have been working on the projects I planned to, but didn't get as far on some as I'd hoped. We started out the new year being sick.  Bruce and I both were sick, from the Saturday after Christmas to the first weekend of January.  I used that week of sitting in my recliner, finishing up my mermaid blackwork project. So I started the year with a finish. Here's Marina

 

  The second week of January, we were feeling better and the forecast was calling for some cold weather. Quite nasty cold for us. People don't realize what a factor the humidity is down here. They call us wimps when we say it's cold. Granted we don't have feet of snow to deal with, but the dampness goes straight to your bones. Anyway, I was worried about my little stray cat, Diva at our shop.  I've been wanting to get her to the vet and tested for months and I decided (and somehow convinced Bruce), that she wasn't going to spend another day outside, especially with the cold coming.  Turns out, we got her on the right day. It got pretty bad the day we "adopted" her. When we got to the office, it had been raining and was windy.  I called for her, not really expecting her to come, but she did. As soon as she got to my feet, I hugged her and tried to stuff her in a carrier. Let's just say she wasn't real keen on the idea. But I didn't let go. As scared and confused as she was, she never hissed, clawed or tried to bite me. I stood there for a minute hugging her, near to tears, begging her to let me take her. Bruce came out and we managed to get her in the carrier. She yowled and meowed, but if I stuck my fingers through the door, she would rub them. The vet visit went smoothly. She was healthy and disease and pest free! And the Dr. shaved her tiny 7.5 lb belly to check if she was spayed. Her left ear is tipped, which is a sign of Trap Neuter Release programs. Isn't she pretty?

 

 Once home, she spent a few hours in the bathroom, while I readied her "apartment" (a covered dog crate with a nesting box, litter box and food bowls), in the living room.  This method has worked with all the other cats so far, in getting them accustomed to the sites, sounds and smells of our family. At first, all the other cats were hissing at her, but after the first two days, she was the one doing all the hissing. And still is. She now has complete free run of the house and is learning all the routines. The smallest furball in the house and she's got everyone afraid of her. She's living up to her name.

She's still learning to trust Bruce, so here he is, trying to bond with her. 

And another shot of her in the "cat and craft" room. She's settling in.

 

#1 Arnie Quilt

          Applique -  cat feet, flower centers 

          Finish embroidery - mouse eyes & tails, cat nails

          Assemble top

          Buy backing and batting

          Sandwich

          Quilt

          Add eyes and embellishments to cats

There was a lot more to do that I originally realized, but I'm plugging away at it. Usually at night, after dinner, in front of the TV.  I have decided that I want to try to use hot fix crystals for the eyes of the mice. I've never used them before, but I went and bought the tool and some crystals.  Here are some of the mice. Oliver and Riley make excellent lap warmers while I work on projects in my recliner.

 #2 Mom's Pot Cover - I've decided that I need to go make a pattern. I saw Mom last weekend, for her birthday, but we both forgot about it, so next time I go, I will trace it.

#3 Dog Vests   COMPLETE (x3)       

          

           

I'm linking up to Cat Patches for the January NewFO Linky party. 

#4 Hello Moon 

I'm using this as my NewFO for January.  I made the last four blocks for this free BOM.  I still have to finish embroidering the details on them, but the rules just say you have to START something new!  

The September block, had a dog (more likely a wolf, but I saw a dog), so I cheated and used one of my favorite breeds. I cut the Dalmatian out of some scrap fabric I saved.

  October's block had an adorable little gray cat, and since I too, now have an adorable little gray cat, I kept it as it was.

For November there was a cute little owl. I am pleased with myself for finding the flower fabric in my scraps, that I used for his body. Don't they look like feathers?

 

 December's Block had a cute little fox. I thought it should have been something more holiday or new year related, but the fox was a good challenge for me. I think he turned out pretty good!

 

#5 Kitchen Renovations

          Install new door

          Repair walls

          Paint walls

          Prepare floor

          Install new floor tiles

So, not much got done in the kitchen, with being sick, bringing home the new girl, Bruce's new toy (he bought a radio controlled quad copter), and the icky weather, neither one of us has felt very inspired to work on it. We had planned on putting in the door, the day we brought little Diva home, but it got cold fast that day and we ended up waiting until the weekend, which turned out to be a good thing. Instead of a 2-3 hour job, it took us all day and into the night. The removal went fast. We cleaned up the opening. It's really disheartening how they did thing when they built this house. I guess in 1972, they were just throwing stuff together in this neighborhood, to get all the snowbirds to buy their seasonal houses. It explains a lot. Each time we update something or try, we discover some shortcut or cheaply done workmanship.  In the end, we get it fixed and are happy with our work, so I guess that's really what matters.  I guess this is a NewFO too!

Here's the opening after we got the old door out and the edges nice and clean and level. 

 Here's the old "Battleship" door. It's hollow aluminum with jalousie windows.  It did it's job for 41 years. Can't ask for more than that. 

 

 The new door, ready to be installed.

TA DA!! Yeah, I know, it's not finished (still isn't), but it took us forever to get it to hang properly and close without getting stuck. It's amazing that even when you follow the instructions and have someone handy, like Bruce doing the work, how sometimes stuff just doesn't want to go right. The opening was much larger than we expected, considering it's a standard 32" wide door (that's what came out). We are still trying to figure out what kind of trim we want to put around it, but it's sealed, warm and quiet. So much more so than the old door, that we didn't know what was happening a few nights after we installed it, because we heard a sound from our front windows and were shocked to discover it was raining.  With the old door, we could hear the rain hitting the patio and the difference is amazing. I can't wait until we can do the windows too! Unfortunately, I have to. But this is a nice start.

So, now that I've bored you to sleep, oh wait, that's Oliver. Yes, he fell asleep like this in my lap the other day, and I couldn't resist taking pictures.

I'm hoping to get more work done on my projects from my January list. February is going to be short and we're starting to get busy at work preparing for March events, but I am determined to do my "fun stuff" a little every week.

 

Thanks for stopping in! ~Amy

January Goals

As mentioned in my previous post, I have a few items I am planning (hoping) to work on in January. 

First, there's the "Arnie" quilt. I started this quilt in 2009. I checked with my parents, and that was when my StepDad had his shoulder surgery. I would work on appliqueing the Cats when I took him to his physical therapy. So it's been sitting patiently in it's box, waiting for me to get back around to it. Speaking of boxes, I am a nut for boxes and bags. It comes from being a pack rat, born of a line of pack rats. Not to worry, we don't reach the hoarding stage, but we can cram a lot of stuff in what space we have.

 Anyway, I was saying how much I love boxes. I really like these super satchel cases, for organizing and storing some of my sewing projects. They stack nicely and come in pretty colors and you can see through them to see what's in there. I also started labeling mine, just to make it easier.

 

I have a very small space for sewing, so stacking these up is a great way for me to keep some of my WIPs a little more oorganized. 

#1 Back to the Arnie Quilt. It is a Bunny Hill Designs pattern. When it's finished, it should look something like this.

 I have all of the cats appliqued

 

 And the mice appliqued on all the sashing pieces.

Thankfully, I left everything pretty well labeled, so I would know what is what. 

What's left:

          Applique -  cat feet, flower centers 

          Finish embroidery - mouse eyes & tails, cat nails

          Assemble top

          Buy backing and batting

          Sandwich

          Quilt

          Add eyes and embellishments to cats 

 #2 Mom's Pot Cover - this should be fairly simple. It's just a padded bag with a drawstring closure. I already have the material picked out of my stash, just have to sit myself down, plan it out and sew it!

#3 Dog Vests

These are for Dalmatian Rescue of Tampa Bay. I've been a volunteer for 10 years. Sometimes I make things and donate them for the rescue to auction off. I also make vests for the adoptable dogs to wear at events. Here's one I made in the past. 

 

 I have 3 purple ones in various stages of progress. I need to get them finished for upcoming events. 

          Finish Painting letters

          Sew on Pockets

          Sew on binding

          Sew on Velcro

#4 Hello Moon 

I have the last four blocks to make for this free BOM. I'm not sure for how long she will keep them up for free, but here's the link to the site. Hello Moon

          Print out patterns

          Pick fabrics

          Fuse pieces

          Stitch edges of applique

This isn't an unreasonable amount of stuff.Of course, a lot depends on work and the kitchen renovations we started in the beginning of December. Guess I should add that to the list. Originally, we were just going to replace our 1970's linoleum with updated, vinyl, adhesive tiles. After removing the molding, Bruce decided we should take down the old paneling too. There was some question as to whether there was drywall behind the paneling or not. Turns out there was, and it was painted, which would have saved us a lot of work, had the installers not glued it as well as nailed it. I'm not complaining, I hated the paneling, which is why I painted over it's ugliness, when I bought the house, but I'm still not sure how we got from "lets recover the floor, it'll be easy, we can do it a day." to "let's rip down the paneling".  We also bought a new, much needed door. The house was built in 1972 and was geared towards snowbirds as seasonal housing, which accounts for the small closets. Also, the building code back then apparently wasn't the greatest. I'll post pictures in a separate post.

#5 Kitchen Renovations

          Install new door

          Repair walls

          Paint walls

          Prepare floor

          Install new floor tiles

So those are my goals for January, not in any specific order.  Hopefully, with my posting this, it will compel me to get them completed. At least that's what they said on the Today show for helping people keep their New Year's resolutions.

Thanks for stopping in! ~Amy

New Year Ambitions

I hope that whomever stumbles across this sad excuse for a blog (I don't post often), has a prosperous, happy and healthy 2014, filled with everything they enjoy and deserve (and then some)!

Sometime in November, Diamond and I worked a spot at Holidays in the Park, for Dalmatian Rescue of Tampa Bay, and Mrs. Claus was there!  She was very sweet and delighted to let me take her picture with Diamond.  I have a picture from a few years ago with her and Diamond and she remembered us (well at least Diamond).  

We had a busy December. It seems that we were busy from October 1 - straight through to Christmas, between work and the holidays. I don't really know where the past few months went. I'm relieved they are over and am looking forward to a slower pace for a bit. I got slowed down, all the way to a stop for all of last week. Some nasty bug hit me and Bruce and we literally spent almost the whole week in our recliners, sneezing, coughing and dozing. Thankfully, whatever it was seems to have been banished by lots of vitamin C, soup, liquids, cold medicine and rest. 

On December 14, we participated in our first boat parade. When I was growing up, my Grandmother had a house on the water, on one of the inlets along the inter-coastal waterway of Madeira Beach, FL. Almost every year until I was 17 or 18 (and was working in retail), we would go to her house and watch the boat parade. I never knew how many others had the same tradition. Some people throw huge parties to coincide with the parade. It's really a big deal. So here's our boat in the parade. 

This picture was taken by a friend of ours who, unbeknownst to us, was throwing one of those parties. Apparently all of the party guests were chanting "BRUCE BRUCE BRUCE" as we went by, but because of the noise of the motor, generator and Christmas music, we didn't hear them.  It's hard to see, but I'm actually driving the boat at this point, Bruce is in the white shirt, my StepDad, (who is also a Bruce) is Santa, hidden behind him, is our friend Gary (who was grilling burgers for us at the time), seated are Bruce's mom and my mom.  We invited my grandmother to come as well, but at 97 she wasn't up to the 4 hour ride and chilly temperatures. We had a lot of fun. The picture doesn't do the lights justice. On the top of the boat is Santa in an airplane, and we had lights mounted on our outriggers that flashed in sequence, like a runway. It was pretty neat.  

The parade route started out at John's Pass, which is a big tourist attraction around here with tons of shops and a waterside boardwalk. There were literally hundreds of people on the boardwalk watching the parade. I tried to get a picture of it, but because it was so dark, you can't see anyone. We were really shocked at how many people were out on their docks, or in their yards, even in waterside parks, waiting for the parade. Here's the parade route.

It's hard to see, but the line that is thinly highlighted in yellow, is the route. We went in and out of all the inlets. Some of the larger boats, like one of the sailboats, didn't go down some of the narrower inlets. It took nearly four hours from start to finish. Thankfully the weather was just right. We also didn't know it, but along the parade route, certain houses had judges and there were little boats out in the water every so often that had judges as well. There were two size groups and we won 3rd place for small boats (24ft and under)! We won $400 and a bottle of wine and a gift certificate to a local seafood restaurant. Not bad for first timers. Bruce is already scheming up next year's theme. 

Here is Bruce (on the right), accepting his prize, being presented by the Mayor of Madeira Beach (center) and the organizer of the parade from the Madeira Beach Municipal Marina(left).

I apologize for the crappy cell phone image, but the lighting was bad and I had to take it fast. 

Christmas was good. Christmas Eve, we finished last minute shopping and wrapping. In the evening, we headed up to my StepMom's sister's house for their traditional celebrating. Here's me, receiving a gift from my Dad and StepMom.

 

 Yes, those are shocks for my truck, I'm kind of low maintenance (according to Bruce). And that is Bruce, photo-bombing.   I just realized that my "silly" grin looks a little demented.  Ha ha. 

I am spoiled and loved and received a lot of lovely things. I actually had forgotten that I asked my Mom for these.

I was so excited to get my needle nannies!  I've been trying for a year to win one. Now I have my own! While I was sick I finished a Black work Mermaid, but I am going to be starting a new cross stitch, and working on a couple of quilt applique projects where I can employ these little cuties. 

Speaking of little cuties, I just have to share my adorable, 97 year old, Grandma. Here is how she showed up on Christmas at my Mom's house. (I'm blaming Bruce for the fuzzy shot, because I asked him to take the picture and didn't check it to get a better one). I'm upset that I didn't get a better picture of her all dressed up.  I was calling her Cindy Lou Who all day (from the Grinch).

 I've gained enough wisdom and self knowledge to know that me making resolutions is pointless. I never stick to them. I am not above setting some goals for myself though.  This year I'm getting a little ambitious (or optimistic).  

One thing I would like to do is start posting more. I doubt it will happen, but I'm going to try. I've gotten rather lazy about it, figuring that no one reads this anyway, and so I've only been posting at the end of the month to link up with sensational Barbara over at Catpatches. She hosts the monthly NEWfo Linky party. 

 For January, I'm going to attempt to:

Finish the adorable "Arnie" quilt that's been sitting in Limbo in the UFO pile for I'm not really sure how long. I am afraid it may be since 2008. YIKES! So I really really need to finish it.

 I don't have all that much left to do to it.  Then there's the last 4 Hello Moon blocks, which I can do in a weekend, or a couple of week nights. My Mom asked me to make her a cover for an special pot lid for Christmas, but I didn't have the time. That should take an afternoon or a couple of weeknights to do. And then there's my dog vest for the rescue I need to finish. I'm ashamed that I started these in late September or early October and then we were so busy with work, that I completely pushed them aside. 


As for the rest of the year, here's a quick list of items I hope to get finished, in no particular order.

Holly's quilt - WIP
Scotty Quillow -WIP
Paper Piecing  monthly wall hangings (x10)
Dog quilts for Dalmatian rescue auctions (x3) - need quilting
Sheep quilt - needs quilting
Quilts for Blake, Luke, Samantha, Alaina
T-shirt quilt for Bruce
Cross stitch Mermaid
Frame finished mermaid cross stitch (x2)
Embroidery gift project (it's a secret)
Kitchen renovations

All of that, and of course, start some new things. I used to make a resolution (until I got so very wise), that I wouldn't start any new projects, until I finished the old ones.  How silly. It's impossible to not start new things, when there are so many tempting projects out there, just beckoning to be made!

If you live somewhere cold, I'm sending you warm wishes and hope that you have your very own lap warmer(s) to keep you nice and toasty this winter. 
 

Thanks for stopping in! ~Amy

Eleven down, one more to go!

It is amazing to me that this year is coming to an end so quickly. While I am glad that the hectic and hair raising, October whizzed by, I am not thrilled that there are only a few weeks until Christmas. I dread Christmas. I don't really have a really good reason why, I just get stressed out about it. I know that it comes every year and that somehow, I survive it, but every year, I get stressed anyway. I know I stress about the money issues, the time issues, the what do I get everyone issues, and there are some family issues. I'm one of those guilt ridden folks. And no one is to blame, but me. Honestly, I do most of it to myself.  

So November..... We were still pretty busy, right up until Thanksgiving and now it will be pretty slow until March.  Wednesday (Thanksgiving eve?) was a terrific day. I took the day off from work to spend time with my best friend. We've been friends since grade 10 and she comes home to Florida a few times a year to visit her family and friends. We had a great time at Rainbow's End Quilt Shoppe. If you are ever in the Tampa Bay area, I highly recommend the trip to Dunedin. It is a huge store. The other two LQS were closed, but we got all caught up and had a splendid time. 

Thanksgiving was OK. I would have been thrilled to sit around in my PJs all day and sew or cross-stitch without a care in the world, but Bruce had to have a turkey. And invite his mother.  Here they are in my tiny little kitchen. (and yes, that is a 70's Avocado Green oven you see - it's original, as is most of the kitchen)

Don't take that the wrong way, I like his mom. I just didn't really want to spend half the day cleaning while he cooked, then spend the evening cleaning dishes and entertaining. And did I ever mention that I work for Bruce and his mother? We'll just leave that at that and move on.... 

With all the work stuff and holiday stuff, I barely had any time for fun, crafty, sewing stuff! I did manage to start one new project, which I submit for Catpatches November NewFO party.

 

I saw this Folded Star Ornament tutorial on A Spoonful of Sugar and wanted to try it. I followed the instructions and it came out pretty good.

 Except that there was a 1/2 inch gap between the two halves when I used a 3 inch ball.

 So I tried again on a 2-1/2 inch ball and it came out better.

 And here are a few I have assembled. I still have to put the ribbons on them and a hanger, but hey, this is for projects started. Finishing is not required! We'll just see if they get finished in time to give them to anyone, this year... Ha ha ha.

 Here are the fabrics I bought on my wonderful Wednesday wanderings with Stella. I'm hoping to add them to the other purples and blues for my niece's quilt. I had hoped to get it done for her birthday or Christmas, but I didn't put any deadline on it. I promised her a quilt, but was sure to tell her she would get it when she gets it. I don't always have the money to buy fabric and I certainly haven't had much time for sewing these past couple of months.

Lastly, I am remembering my sweet buddy Bob today. It was the Monday following Thanksgiving last year that he went missing. I will always wonder what happened to him. He was a sweet cat who liked to wander, so I tell myself that someone took him in. After all, who could resist that fluffy charm ball?

Thanks for stopping in! ~Amy

A Cool Change

Wow, I thought October would never end! It truly was a month of Mondays. Somehow, as always, we managed to get through it. This year was the busiest October I've seen in my 11 years with the tent company. And I don't know if it was some cosmic phenomenon or what, but it was more chaotic than usual too. We have customers we've dealt with for years, that for some odd reason, waited until a week before their event to call us, like we were supposed to psychically predict their order and put them on the schedule.  There are jobs I call to find out and see if the event is going to be held and see if we're getting the job, but I don't just assume anything. And the changes. Ugh.  Some people ordered their stuff back in June for their October event and then changed stuff at the last minute. Like we have unlimited inventory on everything available all the time.  Not in October. Or March. Anytime in between, you're probably good, but not those two months. Not here. 

So, there's a few more weeks of insanity. Oh, did I mention that Dolphin Tale 2 is currently being filmed too?  Yep, Winter the dolphin has a sequel coming. And we do all the tents for the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where, Winter lives, so the movie company called us. They are not the most organized bunch. I really had to contain myself, lest I start chanting "Lack of preparation on your part, does not constitute an emergency on our part". Seriously. In the middle of all the rest of the craziness, we're dealing with movie people, and their ridiculous schedules. 

One neat thing to report was that last week, we were at the aquarium, measuring for a new cover over the turtle ICU area, and Bethany Hamilton, the surfer who lost her arm (Soul Surfer), passed by in the hall. She is a beautiful lady! I just smiled at her and she smiled back. Pretty cool to see someone famous. Would have been awesome to see one of the big stars (Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Harry Connick, Jr.) since they were filming. 

 image source

One of our jobs was at John's Pass in Madeira Beach for their Seafood Festival. A friend of ours owns The Alligator Attraction there and we stopped in for a quick visit when we finished working.  We made a few new friends. 

It's hard to believe these cute little guys can become the huge, menacing - looking, creatures that fill us with fear. They are very soft too!

 

 This is Chompers, the alligator, giving me a "smile". I was only about 5 feet away from him, inside his enclosure, and he was actually holding his pose on command.  He's fairly famous too. He's been on Tanked and Gator Boys on Discovery Channel. It seems  that I am surrounded by celebrities!

 Rudolph, the African Spur Thigh Tortoise. He weighs 100 pounds and has free run of the place. He's quite friendly and his back feet are ticklish.

 

 Well, all this work stuff, has left me very little time for sewing. However, I did manage to squeak in one little project. I learned how to machine applique in September, and I wanted to finally make the Quillow for Bruce's cousin. I decided I would try out my skills on a practice project first.  A while back I stumbled onto a website of coloring pages for Hello Kitty. She's cute and I've always liked her simplicity and innocence (although I've seen some altered images that just prove how some people have too much time on their hands, and need to have their heads examined). Anyway, here's what I made.  It's not finished yet, but that's not the point of the NewFO party, now is it? 

Barbara at Cat Patches, has graciously continued her monthly linky party, despite some family health concerns. Thanks Barbara for thinking of all of us, even during this stressful time.

  So here's my NewFo. Isn't she cute?

I'm pretty happy with how she turned out. Now I have to figure out what I want to do to finish it. I have a few ideas, but they will have to wait until I have a little more free time to play.  Oops, I just noticed that I didn't iron out the pen, I used to trace out some of the details, like in the camera strap.  I did learn a lot while I did this practice project.  I actually have a recipient in mind, for the finished project already. But I'm not telling who, because she will most likely be reading this! 

One of the things I used for the first time, is the applique pressing sheet. I bought a rather inexpensive one, just to see how they work. 

  It worked pretty well, despite the lack of instructions. My main concern, since I'm new to the fusible stuff, is what temperature setting I'm supposed to use on my iron.This stuff was pretty flimsy and I think I may have had my iron a little to hot, but it didn't melt. I think I will invest in a higher quality one in the future, but for now, this works.

With my new tool, I did get the Scotty fused onto the background fabric and ready for to applique. Now the only decision is what color to use around the coat? White, Yellow or Teal?  What do you think?

Hopefully, the rest of this week, I should be getting home at a decent hour and can play with a few of the projects I've got piling up. We have to work Saturday, putting up, then taking down an event, but Sunday should be wide open. 

The weather is finally starting to get cooler. It's been breezy and that's always my sign that it's fall. We don't get the pretty foliage turning down here. We have Hurricane Season instead. Ha Ha.  On Halloween, I celebrated 18 years in my house. It's hard to believe! Where did all that time go? 

I think I'll close with a rarely witnessed image in my house. Four of the six cats, all in one place.

Not the greatest phone camera image, but you have to take what you can get. Starting at the top, going clockwise, is Dot, Multi, Oliver and Delaney. Sorry for the surrounding scenery, but had I known they were going to pose, I would have cleaned up a bit.

Thanks for stopping in! ~Amy

Bracing for Busy

 I used to love October. It doesn't really get cold hear yet, but it starts to get breezy and for me that's the signal that fall is coming. Leaves don't change here, and if they do it's just to brown. No pretty colors in between in West Central Florida. I still love the weather, but October is the busiest month of the year for us at work. Everyone is having festivals and Octoberfests, and I mean EVERYONE. I work for a tent rental company, as in festivals, weddings, car sales, back yard party tents. Summer time is so hot here, that it is too hot for anyone to be doing much outside, even under a tent, so it's famine. Then WHAM! October and it's feast, to the point of sinful gluttony and then some. We are literally booked to the point where we may have to start turning people down, if they plan on having tents on a weekend.  It's not that we don't have the inventory. Oh no, we have the tents. It's time and people. We only have so many people (and you can't just hire a bunch of newbies for this type of work) and time. So, I'll be working some crazy hours, with little time unspoken for. Which means not much time for sewing and fun.  Actually I've already started being busy, since I am the one who answers the phone, types up the contracts, fills out the permit applications for the different municipalities, and makes sure the schedule board is updated for the crew to know when all the jobs are. I have to have as much done before the jobs all really start, because once they do, I'm out on the road setting up the tents too. Ok, I didn't mean to whine. Just meant to tell you that I'll be pretty busy and may not get to do much fun sewing stuff in October.

I do have one bright spot in the month. That is Dal O Ween. This year is Dalmatian Rescue of Tampa Bay's 10th anniversary picnic. We have one every year, but 10 years for a small rescue is a big deal. I'm proud to say that I've been a volunteer from the very beginning and watching the group grow and seeing so many dogs saved, has been very rewarding. 

I did get to start on a few things to post over at Cat Patches for the 

  

 September NewFO Linky Party and Giveaway

 I assembled and stitched down four of the Hello Moon BOM blocks. I still have to stitch the faces on them.

  

 

I also started to cut and assemble the Scotty for the Quillow I am making for Bruce's cousin, Kenny. Kenny is into vintage campers (actually everything vintage) and has a Scotty camper. He belongs to a group who all have vintage campers and they set their camps up just like the good old days. Isn't it cute?

The interior, is also done in teal and white, so I decided that the Quillow should match. 

I am going to be using a satin stitch to applique the pieces and I hadn't tried it before, so I took a class at Happy Apple Quilts. I know I could've just watched a video online, but I enjoy the personal interaction and having a human being to ask questions and learn from their experience, right at my fingertips.  Karen, the owner taught our trio and we had a lovely evening. The new shop is beautiful and bright and I just wish it were a little closer to me!  Here are a couple of pictures of the shop. I should have taken a better one, but these were quick, phone shots I posted on my Facebook page. 

 

The owner and her employees are all quite nice and it's a very inviting environment. Lots of trouble to be had here.

And speaking of trouble...  
Oliver decided our boating tote looked like a comfy place for a nap.

 

Apparently, it looked inviting to Riley too.

Bruce and I enjoyed a yummy Sushi dinner at Fuji Yama. Tuesday nights they offer a Sushi happy hour with half off!  Yummy. 

 

Which reminded me of the awesome fortune I got last week at the Oriental Super Buffett. How appropriate for the keeper of a kendle of cats.

For my fellow feline fanciers, here's a little FYI that I found interesting:

According to Ask.com: 

A group of cats is referred to as a clowder, kendle or kindle. A male cat is called a tom (or gib if neutered), while a female is called a molly or queen. The cat family is quite vast and includes tigers, leopards and jaguars.

Thanks for stopping in! ~Amy