Bored? Cat Nap

   It's that time of year. You are back to a regular work schedule, routines are set, Christmas, yes Christmas, is just around the corner. About this time I get bored with routine and procrastinate the deadlines. Ugh, snow has been teasing us and I don't want to do anything. This summer I remember saying, I'll be glad when the cold comes because the fire smoke will be gone. Ha, be careful what you wish for.

A new study found the average person spends a total of two hours a day feeling bored. The top five boring things we have to do all the time are waiting on hold, dealing with slow Wi-Fi, sitting through video ads, opening junk mail, and waiting for websites to load, even if the Wi-Fi is decent. They forgot to put waiting on people to do things so we can move ahead. Today, all I want to do is cat nap with Kitty.

   This brings us to Splendid Sampler II's 15th free block, Cat Nap by Nicole Vos van Avezthe. Way too cute a block.

As usual no hand work, machine work only. Steps we did: 

• draw the outlines for floor tiles, flower and kitty, 
• fuse and decorative stitch the 3 yellow pieces,
• freehand machine stitch the cat outline and flower and floor tiles. Did not floor tile stitch through cat,
• decorative machine stitched the leaf pattern in the bottom tile,
• Oops, just noticed haven't stitched a horizontal line. Go back and stitch the missed horizontal tile line,
• Trim block.

   Remember the harness and the sit down protest. Well, it only took a couple of days to be released. The fun thing now is to sit at the door and meow and meow and meow to be let outside to explore. 

Such fun!

Fruit Mountain Top

   Block 14, Fruit Bowl by Jo Avery, for Splendid Sampler II. For the Sunny Side Up quilt, at first we thought lemons, but lemons don't really go well with ham and eggs. So these are bleached brown eggs, ready for Easter, ringed with ham and bacon. 😉

   It was one of those days, rain at home and sleet or snow in the mountains. Do we go on the A hike, harder, or on the B hike, not so hard? Hmmm. Come on A they said. It's good for you they said. You can do it they said. It's good for your heart they said. It's fresh air for your lungs they said. You don't want to stay at the bottom you want to be at the top they said. 

Ok, alright already, we're on the A hike. Oh fun. the higher up we go the more we see of this white stuff. But, when you look through the trees it's raining melted snow. And, don't look up as you're liable to get hit in the face with falling tree snow. 

From this vantage point, wow, it's an absolutely beautiful site. I'm thinking we are done because the trail starts to go down hill and disappears.

But, no. See the top of the rock face about one third from the left. Yep, that's where we're going. Yeah sure, I'm thinking.

Yep, that's where we are now. Holy cow, look at the view. It was definitely worth the Prairie View hike.

Enjoy!

Oh Hum, I'm napping. All that climbing.

Escape, Harness, 13

   Ah, the 13th Splendid Sampler Free Block. Betty's Bloom by Carl Hentsch. We chose the Paperless Paper Piecing method because you take off the paper in one piece. The more we do this, the more enjoyable paper piecing is. You can find our tutorial here.

Enjoy!

   Brrr, it's cold outside and mom says I'm full of p--- and vinegar. The other day I managed to escape past mom. Ha, she thought she was being so smart at anticipating where I was going. We may be about the same age but I'm way faster. Well, you know I just had to snoop see what was on the other side of the neighbour's house. Rats, a gate. She didn't even give me time to investigate it. So, now I'm in harness again and having a sit down protest. Mom says okay by her. Ha, you know what'll eventually happen, freedom, because cats rule.

Ripped and Torn Fabric #12

   Meow first. Meow first. It's been a fantastic cat week. Even though my scratch pad throne is in the middle of the room and on the floor, all is good and I reign.

Tee Hee, even got mom trained to drag the ribbon beside the throne so that I only have to stretch out instead of chase and capture.

As you can see by all the little cardboard pieces around the throne I'm an awesome ripper and shredder. Just call me Shredder. 

   Here we are on week 12 of the Splendid Sampler II block. Free As A Bird by Irene Blanck of Focus on Quilts.

For the tree branch, we cut the fabric on the bias to make the curve smooth and pliable. What we did was: 

• cut a 1.25" strip, 
• folded it in half wrong sides together, 
• stitched it closed with an 1/8" seam, 
• rolled the seam to the back, 
• pressed the seam open, 
• decorative stitched on the edges.

We also used different stitches to give the bird a feather like appearance on the edges and made a Colonial knot for the eye.

   Many of us, including myself, have problems with people ripping instead of cutting our fabric. A friend rips the 108" wide fabric to find the true grain when selling as well as getting her back ready for the quilter while I shudder. Sometimes the fabric is up to 6" off grain.
This link to National Quilters Circle is worth a view and you can decide for yourself.

Labour Day Garage

   Not much happening here otherwise. It's been a lazy week. Been cleaning out one of the garage bays where we had put mom's things after she moved to the long term care facility. It's been a year and we'd like to have the bay back for winter. Winter? Ugh. Shush. You know it's just around the corner. The weather's cooled off and our smoky days are more off than on. Some of the fire areas had rain with wind blowing the fire back on itself. We actually saw the mountains last week. 

   Last Thursday the Tulip in Bloom block by Nadra Ridgeway of Ellis and Higgs became the 11th free block from The Splendid Sampler. It's way too cute and easy to make. Nadra has an easy way to make the leaf and background piece. Way less sewing and you can plan how your stripes will go. It was cool that I could use a checked fabric so that it looked like the stripes crossed.

   Neither rain, nor sleet, nor hail, nor snow, nor Mondays can keep us from hiking, that is until there's thunder. We at least hiked 4 km/2.4 miles. This is the third time we've attempted Sulphur Springs. Maybe try again Thursday. 

So off to Lucid Koffee in Bragg Creek - yipes, watch out for the wildlife - 

where we all played on our phones and swapped pictures, just like the young generation.

   Yes, it's been an interesting week cleaning out the garage bay. Boxes and furniture have been disappearing but there are still things that I can snoop. Oh mom, I found a shelf that is partially empty.

   Why do humans have so much stuff? All I need is my litter box, my comb, my ribbon, my scratch pad and my bed. Mind you, I have lots of beds and find more each week. Here's my latest. Mom even gave me a fuzzy blanket to sleep on. It's great because you can hardly see me.

Well, back to snoozing.