It’s Valentine’s day, and love is in the air at Chez Wandering Cat…

I blogged many times about Rupert and Relic’s complicated relationship.

It’s definitely better than when we first took Relic in. There’s very little snarking at each other, and Rupert has given up on his sneak attacks. But he’s still crazy jealous, and has to push his way in whenever you’re petting Relic. Which of course, Relic hates.

But then… there are moments like this…

They actually sleep there together every night, but not until we’ve fallen asleep.

Bedtime starts with Relic crushing  laying on my chest, and Rupert curled up in a tiny ball on Dave’s hip.  Relic moves to the box at the bottom of the bed (which is covered in the above blankets), after I drift off and roll onto my side. I’m not sure when Rupert moves, but almost every morning when I wake up to use the washroom, they are curled up together. But it’s only ever been overnight, and as soon as Rupert realizes I’m looking, he moves, so I’ve never been able to get a picture.

I got lucky and came across the above situation the other afternoon. As you can probably tell from his posture, Rupert was already thinking about bolting. And he didn’t stick around long. He just can’t let me know that he really likes Relic.

But then, a day or so later, I looked up from my work to see this…

There’s hope for these two after all.

 

The day  I quilted this, we were in the middle of a small snow storm, and the colours made me dream of summer…. so despite the winter in this picture…

… I give you Summer Love! It’s not a big one – just 41″x 58″ … so a big baby blanket, or a small lap quilt.

The design came about when I started making a Disappearing Nine Patch, but changed my mind after chopping all the block up. Instead, I mixed them all up randomly, and added some sashing and cornerstones. And I quite like the result – it’s such a cheery scrappy little quilt.

For the back, I had a really fun piece I found in the clearance bin (of course)

If it looks familar, it’s the same as the fabric I used for the border on Moon Dance… just different colours. It worked so well with the colours of this one, it really was a no-brainer.

Work continues pretty steady on the poncho…

When I’m allowed to work on it, that is. Rupert’s taken quite a liking to it and it’s not unusual to find him curled up on it.

The end is in sight though… no point showing you another picture, because it’s just not that exciting… but hopefully the next post  about it will be an FO post!

I finally got around to giving Royal stars some love, with two more blocks complete. For some reason, two blocks is usually all I can do in one sitting with this block. It’s not that it’s difficult, I just get a little bored.

But still, I only have 10 blocks left to complete, so even at two at a time, this one won’t take too much longer!

On Saturday, I was on a special mission. Samantha was returning home from a week in sunny Florida, and needed a lift home from the airport. Since I’m pretty savvy about the ins and outs of Pearson (from a work trip or two) and comfortable on all the big city highways (even if I don’t really enjoy them), it just made sense for me to help a sister out.

Since she was coming from a land of sun and warmth to this…

… I decided to ease her transition by dressing up in my most tropical dress, donning my favourite sea turtle bracelet, and picking up a little gift for her (Can you believe I got that cutie at the dollar store? It’s a coin purse)

I had just gotten my car parked and walked into arrivals when she messaged – the plane had just landed. I could not have timed it more perfectly.

I found a comfy spot…

I was well prepared for a good wait… when Dave and I returned from Mexico a couple years ago, it took us over an hour to get through Customs and get our checked baggage

I was fully expecting to have a whole bunch of progess to show you on the Laguna sock (if not a completed sock!), but Samantha just breezed through Customs and getting her checked back was even quicker… she was through the whole thing in about half an hour!

So sadly, I only got a few rows done, and there was no point taking an up-to-date progress picture. And now its tucked away again, because I REALLY want to finish that darn poncho!

Just as with knitting, when you’re quilting, working on one project quite often inspires another. A tweak to a pattern here and there creates something entirely new and exciting.

That’s what happened the other day when I was working on that week’s Blockhead block (which I’ll show in a few days). As I was putting it together, part of it jumped out at me, and I envisioned something entirely different… something just perfect for a charm pack I bought a few months ago….

I’m going to walk you through making a pair of blocks. While you can make singles, these blocks work well in pairs.

For the pair you will need:

Background fabric:

• Two: 2.75 x 9.5 inch
• Six: 2.75 x 5 inch
• Eight: 2.75 inch square

Contrast fabric

• Eight: 2.75 inch square

Charm pack fabric

• Two: 5inch square

When those are cut, you’re going to snowball the bottom corners of each of your charm squares with 2.75 inch background squares.

You will create two flying geese units with two 2.75 x 5″  background rectangles and 2.75 inch contrast squares

You will snowball  one end of the four remaining 2.75″ x 5″ background rectangles with 2.75 contrast squares. Watch your angle on these ones! You need two of each going in opposite directions (see below)

Now you’re starting to see where this is going….

Along with the remaining 2.75 inch background squares, you’ll assemble these six pieces into the cutest little dinosaur footprint!

But we’re not done yet! Quilt blocks are easier to work with when they are square, so you’re going sew on those last 2.75 x 9.5 pieces to do just that. But there’s a twist!

On one foot, you’re going to put it on the top. On the other, you’re going to put it on that bottom.

That way, when you sew them together, you get a staggered, walking effect…

…perfect for stacking on top of other prints to make a dino trail… there’s definitely more to come with these blocks!

 

Our nearest groundhog predicted and early spring, and I’m really hoping he’s right, though his track record is poor (he’s only right 25% of the time, apparently)

While it snowed steadily on groundhog day, by evening it had mostly melted, and the very next day the temps were up to 6 Celsius (about 42F). It was bright and sunny, so on my lunch break, I suited up Burton (in his harness) and we joined Relic outside.

Relic, of course, thought this was just fantastic, and spent most of time wrestling with Burton in the sunshine while I moved some  fall detritus from the gardens and got a peek at what’s going on out there. A lot more than I expected…

Columbine I bought last year is already starting to show… if I remember correctly, this is a lovely dark purple one with a white centre.

I think these are daffodils, though I won’t be certain until they get much bigger.

It’s no surprise the shasta daisies are coming back – I don’t think I could kill these ones with a nuclear strike!

We’ll be well into May before my Lilac blooms, but I’m always happy seeing those first leaf buds.

I’m especially thrilled about this… this is the Peach Dalmatian Foxglove. I’m hit or miss getting them to come back. Candy Mountain has done well, but I’ve never been able to get the peach one to reseed!

Same with the Iceland poppies. Though they are supposed to weather cold temps well (coming from Iceland, afterall), I’ve found them to be a little fussy.

The Lupin was fussy at first, too, but now that it’s established, it thrives.

Not far from the Lupine are the Anemone. I really do need to find them a better spot this year. They get shaded by the Lupin pretty quick.

And the lovely little rosettes of the pink sedum are just starting to show. They are so pretty when they first start sprouting. (And are a great late-season source of pollen for the bees come fall)

In addition to the gardens, I have a pile of potted things… mostly annuals. I don’t bother bringing them inside, I just put the pots up near the house for the winter, and re do them with fresh plants come spring (if needed).

The catnip almost always comes back, so seeing this is no surprise (I keep the catnip in pots so I don’t have cats rolling in my gardens). What is a surprise is this…

Parsley!  It looks like the oregano is going to do the same thing, though it’s not quite as far along as the parsley. Crazy pants!

Of course, now temps are back to hovering around freezing, and we got hit with snow on Thursday so… what happens next is anyone’s guess!

Like Dave’s grandma (who is now home!), our other favourite senior is still hanging in there…

She’s looking a little rough around the edges some days, and we are starting to see signs of kitty dementia (at 17 years old, that’s not uncommon). But she still seems happy and comfortable, and every day she’s still with us is a gift.

I was thrilled to open my mailbox yesterday and discover a package from the lovely Araignee.

I wasn’t going to take part in her latest soap giveaway (I still have a few bars from previous ones, and I think everyone should get a chance at her wonderful soap)… but then she mentioned raspberry, and I caved.

And I’m so glad  I did! I wish there was some way  I could share scent through the computer screen… because it is AH-MAZING! It’s like opening a fresh jar of raspberry jam.

She also sent along a little pot of Key-Lime lip balm (which I have a feeling Dave will steal on me), and a pot of Creamsicle body butter. Creamsicle may be one of my most favourite scents EVER!

And of course, she included one of her fantastic handmade cards. I’ll be using this one for a very cool purpose. I urge you to check out the link and send one along if you can!

Thank you so much, Araignee!

 

Thank you for all your well-wishes for Dave’s grandma. They’ve made some changes to her medication, and as long as she remains stable, she should be able to go home tomorrow.

I managed to get all the blocks done for Jenn’s birthday quilt finally, so I carved some time out to put them all together into a top…

The picture really does NOT do this one justice (I was sewing at night, which I never do). All those pieces that just look solid black, are really purple, dark green, dark blue, and black and full of a mottled floral pattern. I’ll get better pictures when it’s quilted.

Here’s a closer look at the border. I didn’t piece it, it’s printed that way, and it was the perfect way to tie the gold, blues, and purples all together.

For the backing, I’ve got this lovely blue print (bottom) which is a compliment to one of the four patch pieces. The binding is this lovely golden fabric, which was used as the other part of the four patch.

I love it when a quilt comes together!