“No doggo could possibly be more handsome than me…”

I was hoping to have more to show on the poncho by now but…

…sigh… I’m not  even half way yet. It probably doesn’t look much different from the last picture, but I promise, I’m working on it every chance I get

So…. to distract you from another boring poncho pic….

… here’s another picture of Chevy, making himself right at home.

And then Jem… who’s not to be outdone!

As mentioned earlier, I took some time out to quilt Pinkerville parade.

Isn’t she pretty? It took almost all day to quilt her, because she’s a biggie – about 78″ square. I made this purely because I loved the fabrics and wanted to make something with them – though I do have a potential buyer interested in it, which is kind of cool.

And while it looks pretty crazy with all those colours and prints, it’s actually pretty simple: Just nine big blocks with some sashing and a handful of cornerstones.

The binding was leftover from one of Sam’s commissions and the backing was a super clearance steal. I also have enough left for a smaller lap quilt – and coincidentally, I have enough of the Pinkerville prints left for a small quilt too!

And to add one last bit of magic, for the quilting, I used a variegated rainbow thread. It adds just a little pop on all that black fabric.

When I showed you the pics of Chevy yesterday, you might have noticed the bare ground. All the snow we’d gotten in mid-November was long gone, and while not warm, the days were pretty tolerable.

All that changed Sunday. The freezing rain blew in and fell all day. I didn’t manage to get any pictures, but it was pretty,  everything sparkling and encased in ice.

But it also had its downside

That’s Mom’s backyard. A Manitoba Maple (very soft, weak tree) growing in the neighbour’s yard decided the weight was just too much, and came down with a crash. Thankfully, no one was outside, and it narrowly missed my parent’s roof and bedroom window. The only casualty was a small corner of the porch roof, which can be repaired easily enough.

And the neighbour has finally agreed that the whole tree has to come down, so Dad will get more sun in his backyard, and is looking into investing in a small green house. (Something he’s wanted for a few years)

Eventually, the freezing rain stopped and yesterday morning the snow started to fall. I woke up to a winter wonderland.

Unlike me, Dad couldn’t just sit back and enjoy the view.

He had a lot of clean-up to do. Luckily, he had helpers…

The puppers just love the snow.

Back home, the cold and snow has reminded me that I need to get a wiggle on with my new gloves (especially when I was scraping the ice off Dory).

I’ve made it past the thumb gusset and I’m working my way to the fingers. But this is still only the first glove. I better keep at it!

On the weekend, I went up to Mom’s to do some quilting, and of course, acquaint myself with my new adopted brother…

Isn’t he handsome? As I mentioned on Friday, he’s a Shepherd/Lab cross. While the Lab is obvious, the Shepherd in him is more subtle. Pointier (if still floppy) ears, a pointier nose, a bit of a ruff, and slimmer hind quarters.

He was a little wary of me at first, but I soon won him over with a new toy, and some cookies. Okay, maybe lots of cookies. At one point in the day, both Mom and Dad were out, so I was on puppy-sitting duty. And the only way I could get him to come back inside the house was with the promise of a cookie.

If there’s one thing this boy loves, it’s being outside. He had a yard in his previous home, But Mom’s is about 10 times bigger, and Chevy loves to run. Unfortunately, he’s got a bad knee, so he’s not really supposed to be doing much running, but good luck stopping him, especially with Jem out there with him.

Speaking of Jem, she is just thrilled to have a 24/7 playmate. There were several times my quilting got interrupted because I had to come upstairs and check on the ruckus the pair were making.

Mr. Tibbi has also adjusted well to Chevy’s presence.  He just ignores him like he’s ignored every other animal (cat or dog) that’s been brought into his house over his 15 years.

This little beauty, however, was not at all happy with the new interloper. Winnie hid for the first few day, and Mom was getting pretty worried she wouldn’t adjust. I told her to give her some more time, and sure enough…

In just a few days she was back to being the tiny Queen of her territory.

With all my focus on Night Sky right now, the only other thing in the sewing room seeing any progress* is the Leaders and Enders. For the moment, I’ve stopped making geese, and I’ve started pairing them up, then pairing those pairs.

It’s such a fun block, perfect for scraps! The finished size is about 8.5 inches, so once I’ve sewn up all the geese I’ve done so far, I’ll decide if I need to make more.

Here’s where the rest of my projects are at:

• Night Sky – Blocks are half done – all my focus is on getting this top done by this Friday
• Meow-lky Way – Six blocks down, 10 to go!
• Royal Stars – Buildings stars, two at a time
• Pins and Paws – Kitty by kitty, this one is growing
• Leader and Ender quilt – Pairing geese!

* I did take some time out to quilt Pinkerville…. you’ll see her in a day or two.

Whenever I’ve had a chance to sew, my focus has been on the Night Sky quilt. The deadline is looming, and although Sam is ok with it not being done in time, I’d really like to come through for her.

I make these blocks two at a time, and they are stacking up. In fact, I have them half done.

As you can see, with Relic and my bed for scale, it’s going to be a nice-sized quilt. It will have an outer border as well, just to make sure it’s big enough.

Still, even with these blocks done, I’m not as far as I would like to be. This week should be quiet workwise, but I can’t count on that. I also have a French exam on Thursday, so I have to make sure I spend some time studying.

But I’ll keep at it…

 

We interrupt this Friday Feline post to bring you a special canine announcement.

Please welcome Chevy to the Wandering Cat extended family!

He’s a six-year-old Black Lab/King Shepherd cross. Due to circumstances out of his control, his owner could no longer keep him, so Mom stepped up to the plate to give this handsome boy a new home.

I haven’t met him in person, but he’s a big boy – very tall. Due to an infection when he was young, he only has half a tail.

Jem is enjoying having a new sibling, and the pair get along great. She loves having someone to chase around the yard again.

Pups are always better in pairs!

It took a little stealth near the end, but Celtic Dreams is complete!

It’s actually been quilted since last Friday, but I had to wait until Dave wasn’t around to do the binding.  He doesn’t pay much attention to what I’m working on when I’m up in my studio, but the binding I do on the couch in front of the TV.

And this big beast would definitely catch his eye. I managed to get it all bound on Tuesday afternoon when he left for work.  Finished size is 70″ x 90″, so I won’t have to listen to him complain that none of the quilts are long enough any more.

I normally only show you a glimpse of the backing fabric, but on this one you need to see the whole thing.

It’s from the Stonehenge Solstice line, and it was so gorgeous, I just had to splurge. No clearance bin find for this one, but Dave is worth it.

 

For the binding, I ended up using the same print I used for the sashing. By an accident of math, I cut way more than I needed for the sashing, but the leftover worked out to a little more than the right amount for the binding… it was obviously meant to be, even though you lose the celtic pattern when the binding folds over to the back. It does create a neat little scallop though.

And now the quilt is packed safely away for the big day… but not before it got the seal of approval from not one, but TWO snoopervisors.

It’s a good thing Dave won’t notice a little more cat hair…

This past weekend I did a HUGE clean-out on two places in the house that were in desperate need of it. In the kitchen got rid of anything we didn’t use (why were we hanging onto a sushi dining set when there’s only two of us, and only Dave eats it, and is quite content to do so from the plastic tray it comes in?), had too many of (again, there’s only two of us, but we literally had about 40 coffee mugs).

Next up was the bedroom, where I not only got rid of redundant bedding (store bought blankets just aren’t as exciting when you start quilting…), and anything in my closet that didn’t fit, or I just wasn’t wearing (like why do I have SIX white t-shirts when I don’t even wear t-shirts except to bed? And especially when the t-shirt drawer is already overflowing.)

And last, I cleaned out the hat/mitt basket. It was filled with old knits, single mittens, holey (not intentionally) hats… and other bits of knitterly detritus that build up from a decade of improving your knitting skills. Lone mittens and holey (unintentional) knits got tossed. Anything I wasn’t going to wear, but had hung onto because I loved the yarn or put so much time into making it, when into the donation bin. It was left with a couple good sets, but there was a notable absence of hand-warmers. I had plenty of fingerless pairs, but no mitts or gloves.

I had no travel knitting on the go, just the never-ending poncho, so it must have been a sign. I went stash diving and came up with a lovely skein of Twinkle Cat in “Spice”.

The pattern is Knotty. I’ve knit it before (sadly that pair was one of the ones that got purged due to holes). It’s a nice pattern with a great result, even though I actually hate knitting gloves. (Those individual fingers drive me batty). I’d knit myself some mitts, but they just aren’t as practical as a good, sturdy pair of gloves.

Anyway… I had a long wait for Dave at the dentist earlier this week, so I’ve made some good progress. The cables really require some attention, but it’s totally worth it.