Plucky Rooster Finished

Here are pictures of the other mystery quilt that was actually the first one but because I had doubts about the fabric colors, I made the pink and brown one. Huh? Anyway, after finishing the plucky rooster, I like him too. What's neat is that I made two longer-than-a-placemat runners that can be put together either in a square as in one picture or as one long runner. And I can use them as placemats. So all of the work pays off, plus I enjoyed making them. The first picture is the block before sewing on the border and backing.

Say a prayer for me. Tomorrow I have a job interview. I'm hoping for the best.

Get this. I stopped giving Puff any medication about two days ago mostly because I was hiding it in her food but she had stopped eating. Curiously, she is doing better now and eating a bit more. So, I don't know what is going on with her, but I will not fight city hall. I was actually afraid that she would die from starvation, rather than her heart condition. I'd rather have her eating.

I am now going to put on Touch Not The Cat by Mary Stewart, and see if I can get some cross-stitch done. God Bless You.

Pink Rooster Finished

I knew the quilting part of the pink rooster project would be the difficult part for me, and it was. I can only say that with experience I hope to get better. On the other hand, I love playing with the fabric and sewing it together. I always have. And I like the finished product. I now have a pretty cute square table cover. It's in the living room right now, but it might go into my room. Also, I decided that I would always include a heart quilted in every quilted item I make, so in this project the heart is smack dab in the middle. The other rooster squares are waiting to be made into something, so I hope to get to that tomorrow, although I will be working at the Polish kitchen at my church in the morning. I'm going to be brave and send the pictures of the pink rooster to Mrs. Moen. I believe she is sharing them on her blog, so I'm a little shy about it.
I listened to another Chet and Bernie book, Thereby Hangs a Tail, while I sewed, and I'll finish it tomorrow. I love that series, and the person who reads it does a perfect job.
Puff has pretty much stopped eating. I have three different cans of cat food, a can of tuna, a can of salmon, and a can of chicken broth all open in the fridge, but she isn't tempted by any of them. Today she ate a few morsels, and that is it. Moxie is feasting on everything I put down. God Bless You.

Sun-warmed Furries

Today has been sunny and warm, at least the 40's feel warm to me as compared to the 20's. I sat on the back stairs, drank my coffee and let Moxie eye the birds. Puffy laid in the window in the sun. There's still snow, but it melts back a little each day. I have been working on my rooster quilt, but it isn't done. Maybe tomorrow, when rain mixed with snow is forecasted.

Pink Rooster Continued

I made the border for the pink and brown blocks, and I think it looks okay. The backing is going to be pink.



Puff isn't doing well today. And for various other reasons, I didn't get much else done. Although I did go to Joann's and Walmart and buy fabric and embroidery floss. Not that I need any more fabric, but before the Walmart near me closes their fabric section, I'm taking advantage of it. God Bless.

Pink and Brown Rooster

Today, while listening to the end of Sense and Sensibility and the beginning of Emilie Richards' Wedding Ring, I sewed together the pink and brown set from the Mrs. Moen Mystery. I have decided that that set will be a square table cover. I framed the squares with the pink fabric, and have made a border from four of the brown fabrics. I'll sew that on tomorrow. I have a book, Little Quilts All Through the House by Alice Berg, Mary Ellen Von Holt, and Sylvia Johnson. It was published in 1993, and I think I bought it on a sale rack in JoAnn's maybe a year ago. In it I found a Sunbonnet Sue wall hanging that has a border of fabric in different size rectangles, so that is what I have followed.
The other set is probably going to be a table runner, but I was thinking I could make four funky place mats. I was even thinking of using one square for the bib on an apron, one square for a hot pad, and the other two for place mats. I think I would get the most use out of doing that. We'll see.
God Bless You.

My Mystery Squares and a Sleeping Moxie

Mrs. Moen gave us the final instructions for the Mystery Quilt Along, and I am being brave in posting my product. As you may see, the design is a rooster or a big bird. It is up to each participant to decide what to do with the squares, such as make a table runner or wall hanging. I think I am going to do the table runner, or a square table cover. I need to sew the sashing, then quilt it, and sew on the binding. The quilting, for me, will be the next challenge. What do you think? It was hard to choose the fabrics not knowing what I was making, but it still came out okay. The pink and brown squares are not sewn together, but I wanted to get an idea how they would look. The bird is clearer in that set. The buttons were just test props.



I have listened to some good books these past few days. Jennifer Chiaverini's The Quilter's Legacy, Jill Churchill's Who's Sorry Now, and Jane Austin's Sense and Sensibility, which I will finish tomorrow. I like Jill Churchill's series. It is set in the 1930's, and it's a gentle mystery, not a slaughterhouse type.

The picture of the vintage scissors on the left is from the Graphic Fairy website.


I took this picture of Moxie on the day after last week's snow storm. How sweet she looks. When she awakes she will test her new trick, climbing the drapes. Get out the water sprayer! God Bless You.

Hearts, Squaring Up, Mrs. Pollifax, and Small Graces

Today was one of those days when two small problems that needed to be addressed were taken care of without any great expense. And I am positive that it's because I prayed to the Holy Spirit to clue me in on what to do, and my prayer was answered. And even though in the title I call this a small grace, in my little life it is really a big grace because as a single woman I sometimes have no idea what causes the problems I run into domestically. Anyway, for a few weeks the beeping of a smoke alarm somewhere in the house, three stories, has had me on a seek and destroy mission, but I couldn't find the smoke alarm. Then, last Friday, I plugged in something in the kitchen and blew three outlets. I checked the circuit breakers thinking that's it, but they were okay. Today, with Moxie, I set out again determined to find that smoke alarm. We went up to the attic where I was sure it would not be since there is nothing up there except the second floor heating unit, and there it was, on one of the beams right over the heater. What a relief. Thank God. Then I again checked the circuit box, but everything was fine. I went into the kitchen, looked at the outlet, and saw the little button in the middle that needed to be reset. That did it. Thank God, again. That brought back my microwave, and two other outlets that I always use, so it made a big differnce to me. You may laugh at this, but I am much happier today than I was yesterday, even with the snow piling up outside.

I tried to listen to a Mrs. Pollifax mystery, but the tapes were very bad, and I had to give up. I'm disappointed because I liked the characters very much. I wanted to crochet another heart for St. Valentine's Day, and Caron Yarn had just what I wanted in their latest newsletter, the Trio of Hearts pattern. http://www.caron.com/projects/op/op_hearts.html.
I worked on the Mrs. Moen's Mystery quilting project, and the fabric squares in this photo are going to be something beautiful, or at least interesting, but I don't know what yet. I am learning a few things by participating in this stitch along, which is the point. With what we've done this week I've realized that I needed to square up my sewn together pieces, either because I cut them out wrong or I sewed them wrong. I hope whatever I'm making looks good enough to show. I am making another one in pinks and browns, so I have a backup. In our family, the policy is always have more than you need.God Bless You.

Quiet Sunday

Between yesterday and today, I listened to Pride and Prejudice while I sometimes cross-stitched, sometimes crocheted, and sometimes organized my yarn stash. Last year when PBS ran a few of the Austen stories, this one was my favorite, although in truth there was only one that I think they did a poor job of producing.

God Bless You.

Cornwall, Bernie and Chet, Cats, and More.

Would you like a little house? I mean a very charming, colorful and very little house, maybe with some flowers out front? At this site http://www.sewonandsewon-noelle.blogspot.com you can enter a giveaway to win one of the creations of Noelle. I have just discovered her blog. She lives in Cornwall, England and from what I saw at a quick glance lives in some sort of paradise making the sweetest things, like bunnies and little houses. I really admire the talent of people who can make something that causes others to smile and feel good. The drawing is on February 8.

I have been listening to Dog On IT by Stephen Quinn. This author had me laughing out loud, and I loved his mystery story. The main characters are Bernie, a human, and Chet, a dog. It's written from Chet's point of view, and he's a riot. I checked the library for another book by Quinn and saw that he has only two published so far, so I'll have to keep track of him.

I crocheted a little heart to wear as a pin on my coat, and now I'm working on another baby blanket to donate. Puff's back to her old self, with her huge appetite. And now Moxie wants special food too, none of that dry cat food out of the bag. Oh my.

God Bless You

Progress Made

I sewed my fabric pieces together for the Mrs. Moen Mystery. I have another set cut out in brown and pink, and I will sew that set next.





I crocheted the little pink heart because I wanted something for Valentine's Day. I was spurred on by an email newsletter from Lily n Cream yarn. I will definitely be making their love bug hearts which are too loveable.

Puff is much better today. She is growling back at Moxie so that's a good sign. I was tempting her with pancakes, one of her favorites, in order to get her pills into her, but today I bought a can of cat food that is pure salmon. Problem solved. She inhales the salmon inside which are her meds.

God Bless.

A giveaway heads-up

Inch Worm Fabrics, http://www.inchwormfabrics.com , is celebrating Valentine's Day with a 22% off sale, and while you are there browsing the great items you can enter for a chance to win a table runner made with Moda Fabrics' L'Amour collection. Barb at Bejeweled Quilts by Barb made the runner. Check out her blog and the Inch Worm Fabrics blog to see some very nice things.

RV Designs is also having a giveaway at their site, http://www.rvblogdesigns.com. There are three gifts, and I want all of them. But I know the right thing to do is to share this info with everyone so we all get a chance.

I don't know how other crafters get so much done. I'm at a dead crawl with my own crafts, although today I pinned together my pieces for the Mrs. Moen mystery, and tomorrow I hope to sew them. I was listening to a cute mystery featuring Mrs. Pollifax, an elderly lady who was involved with espionage. It's an older series, this one was written in 1970, so I could identify with the references and some of them made me smile. For instance, one of the characters was touching up her make-up which consisted of white lipstick and eye-shadow. Yes, I used white lipstick - Egads.

God Bless You.

Life is funny

Puff has been diagnosed with mitral valve stenosis, a condition rare in cats and dogs. But my cat has it. The prognosis is guarded. I was told it could be months or years, depending on how she reacts to medication ("it" being life, because the alternative was never mentioned.) So, she is home after spending two days in animal hospital, and I have four pills a day to give her.
Now, Moxie had the house to herself for two days, and she is not giving up lead cat status, even though she is a pipsqueak next to Puff. Moxie has been hissing and growling since Puff came home, even at me. This should be fun. Time to go back to work!
I mixed rugelach dough, and tomorrow I will enjoy making them. This is what you do when you have expiring boxes of cream cheese in the fridge.
Life is funny. I mentioned in a previous post that my bedtime story last week was a Ralph McInerney book which I was enjoying, and I just finished it today. Well, this author passed away on Friday. He is being well spoken of on the Catholic websites that I follow.
And today, in one of my meditation books, I read this quote which I think is so nice, "Death is not extinguishing the light, it is putting out the lamp because the dawn has come." Rabindranath Tagore is given credit for those words.
God Bless You. Wish me luck with the cat pills.