Baby Shower and Life

 I went to a baby shower today for my son's best friend and his wife.

I had a long time friend ride with me and we met up with one more friend at the party.

I have not seen these ladies in such a long time!

It was such a joy to catch up with these ladies.

Here are the mama and papa to be with me.

Doesn't she look amazing?

They are the sweetest kids and are going to be fabulous parents!

I got all the binding made for the three unicorn quilts earlier in this week.

I love them all.

Cole often attends me in my sewing room.

I have a quilt that he lays on, just like Autumn used to do.

It's so difficult to get a good photo of a black cat.

The light was good and I put my phone on portrait mode.

I managed to get some really nice shots of him.

I must say, I think I missed the mark with his name.

I should have named him Shadow, as he is always near me!

~XOP~

Good Times

 I was in a mild fender bender last week.  

I went to back out of my parking space, going exceptionally slowly because there was a huge manhole-hole behind me, when a woman thought she could sneak behind me and get by. 

 It didn't work and since I was the one backing out it's considered my fault.  

Not much damage to either of the cars but a huge pain in the butt to have to deal with

 not to mention my high dedcutible, 

UGH! 

 I'm OK and so was she.  Cars can be fixed, right?

This was my bumper, only damage was on the driver's side.

When I finally got back to the camper after my errands and the accident, I sat down.

Cole came right over and snuggled into me.

Apparently he thought I needed the snuggles and a smooch!

It was kind of a harrowing day for me!

My kids were little the last time I was in an accident.

I slid into another car (on ice) as I was going around a corner.

Anyone doing the cracker swap on Instagram>

You fill a paper towel roll with sewing goodies (and maybe some candy)

then wrap it in a FQ.

I stuffed mine with 2 coordinating FQ and wrapped with 2.

I put in a set of the cool touch pins and some rotary blades.

I don't have my partner yet but I hope she will like what I chose.

Do you like this fabric?

All the other FQ coordinate with this one.

It's a fun and easy swap!

Sewing via FaceTime with my friend Kailie today.

Pics of my finish tomorrow or whenever there is no rain!!

~XOP~

Denim and Lace Quilt Top Finished

 I finished my Denim and Lace quilt top last month. 

I finally got some pics of the top.

It is so beautiful but a LOT of matching.

Thought I would share with all of you.

I started it when I was in Kansas City at the Reject Retreat this summer.

Mel and Kailie traded some LV fabrics with me.

This gave us all some additional variety.

I had someone helping me!

He is literally my shadow,

Chris bought fairy lights for outside.

We have been searching for these lights for the last 2 years and finally found them!!!

The pics don't really do the lights justice but they are so twinkly and beautiful.

We have them positioned in the woods behind the camper.

We will put them in the same position when we are home.

They should look great in the woods there too.

Leaving you with a shot of my best boy.

It's difficult to get great photos of a black cat but this one is pretty good.

~XOP~

Quilty Stars

 I started on a new quilt.  

My friend Mel, spurred me on.  

She and I like to choose a quilt and then both make one.

  She is in Colorado and I am in Michigan, but it is fun to "work together" from a distance.  

Since this is one I was planning on making for a wedding gift

 it seemed like a great plan to get a jump on it. 

 I have a few others I "need" to do but this is the only wedding one I have for 2021 (so far) 

and no new baby quilts. 

I have one more family quilt to make and am still deciding on a pattern.

 I feel like once this one is done I may have a little breathing room to finish up some WIPs and maybe even begin something I actually want to do just because!

Have you seen the Quilty Stars pattern? 

 It is so cute.  

Of course you ^know^ the colors I have to use right?? 

 Gray and white.  

This is the center and then there are HST to make the star points.

I have those all sewn and trimmed.

This one was "helping" me trim my HST

I had to keep moving his back legs to turn the mat.

He was SOOOOOOO tired after all his helping!

I am excited to get time to work on this soon. 

 My other friend Traci has a shop and sent me a baby quilt to make for her shop. 

 I have all of the blocks finished.

I cut something incorrectly so am waiting for a bit more fabric.

~XOP~

 

Nightingale Quilt Is A Top

I got the blocks sewn into a flimsy.  YAY!! 

 I finally had a moment to get some photos today too.

I feel like this is such a gorgeous quilt . 

 I can't wait for the backing to arrive so I can send it to get quilted.  

I chose a silver minky for the backing.

I have seen a couple of quilting patterns used that I like so will need to decide upon the final one.

I didn't work in the yard today but I did find a friend.

Can you spot him?

Crazy little tree frog!

I took Cole out for his morning walk and he wanted to stay out. 

 I hooked his leash up to the stake in the ground and when I came back outside about 20 minutes later he was in his tent.  LOL 

 It must be the day for crazies.  Crazy frog and crazy cat!

I did manage to get a few things on my "to do" list done today.

I feel like for every one thing I cross off 2 more get added!

Tomorrow I am going to pick up a live trap to try to catch the stray we are feeding.

He is not ear tipped so no one has done TNR on him previously.

I hope we can get him vetted and then return him to his outside.

Adult ferals don't do well in placements.

Fingers crossed I can get him into the trap.

~XOP~

Cole Update

 Since we just passed Thanksgiving I have been thinking of things I am thankful for. 

 Of course family and friends are on the top of this list.  

Cats count as family, right? 

 So today I am thankful for my cats. 

 I am especially thankful to everyone that helped me to save Cole's life.  

We have 16 days of shots to go. 

We took Cole to the vet for his blood work last Friday and it is perfect!  

His immune system is making mature immune cells and his heart murmur is stable for the moment. 

 He gained almost a whole pound in the last month too. 

 He will move into observation of 84 more days and monthly blood work on December 13 if his blood work is just as good on the 18th of December when we go back to the vet.  

We have reached our fundraising goals but I am leaving the fundraiser open. 

 I will close it once we are sure he hasn't relapsed (God willing that doesn't happen).

 If anyone would like to contribute to the ongoing vet bills that would be appreciated as well.  

I thought I would share a few of my recent happy photos of the boys for you to enjoy.  

Thanks again and please keep us in your prayers!

I was trying to press some blocks and he was helping me.  Look at his fangs, LOL.

I packaged up the Christmas bear top and backing. 

 I sent it off to my quilter to work on so perhaps I can get it back when I return home. 

 I'm a little nervous that I will have at least 3 quilts to bind for Christmas presents.  

YIKES!

Probably one of my favorite photos is of Cole meeting Avery at the camper.

We were trying to play Scrabble recently and the boys were "helping".

The boys were having a lazy day recently too.

They love this quilt!

Oh and I am very thankful for this guy.

What did you celebrate being thankful for?

~XOP~

Canada Quilt Block 2, The Bear

I had time to work on the second block in the Canada Quilt today. 

 It is a black bear and he is SO adorable.

I only had to re-cut a few pieces (was I on drugs when I cut these out?? LOL) 

 I do love the blue heathered background I chose too but it is directional so 

if you make this you need to think about that. 

 It made cutting a little tougher, but worth it.
 I introduce you to my bear!

That face!  I wish the background showed up better.

You can see the color a little bit better in this photo with my handsome model!  

He is doing better every day. 

 It is not fun to give him a shot that hurts every day but his improvement is worth it.  

I am hoping to start on the third block tonight.  

~XOP~

 

Wonderful Woodland Quilt (aka the Canada Quilt) Progress

A year ago or so I bought the Wonderful Woodland BOM but had not had time to work on it.

I cut it out and have been taking it to me every time I travel.  

I thought that it would be a good one to work on while we wait for baby. 

 The first block is the moose with the Canadian leaves on it.  

Back story, my hubby goes FAR into northern Canada ( about 150 miles N of Soo Sault Marie, MI) to a cabin owned by his uncle. 

 It is very remote.  No electricity, running water or indoor plumbing.  

They have to take everything in and out when they go.

  They load everything into a boat, go across a lake, portage into the next lake and then motor across the lake to the cabin!!  I've gone there one time and that was plenty. 

 It is beautiful but I would rather stay home and sew!

He LOVES it up there so much.  He can fish and fish and fish! 

 So I decided that he needs a quilt for Canada.  

When I saw the Wonderful Woodland BOM I knew this would be the right quilt for him!  

I bought all the fabric and as I said, recently cut it all out.  

Yesterday and today I sewed on the Moose block. 

 I think I un-sewed almost as much as I sewed!  

Of COURSE I chose a directional background, 

so that made things even more challenging when I cut it out.

I got this far yesterday:

Of course I had loads of help <insert eye roll here>

Today I had a lot of sewing time!  I managed to get the whole block finished!!

Of course as soon as I put it on the table for a picture, my helper appeared!

At least you can see how BIG the block is with Finn in the photo.

Cole is doing better, thank you to all who have donated to his go fund me page. 

 I have his blood work scheduled on the 22 here in Chapel Hill.  

Thankfully I was able to find a vet that would work with us!  

I will likely have to order another  $1000 of medicine before we leave too.  GULP! 

 He takes the shots so well. 

 I am really proud of him (and his human, needle phobic helper).  

Please share the link for his page if you can or donate if you are able and want to.

No baby yet, but we are hopeful he will be here soon!  Stay tuned!

~XOP~

A Quick Sewing Update

 We are busy, Busy, BUSY getting ready to leave to go see the new grandbaby when he arrives.  I have been itching to sew but with all that has been going on with Cole too I have not had much time.  He is doing much better, we are only at day 4/84 of the injection journey but I am hopeful!  This was him sleeping next to me after his shot today.

If you are interested in donating to our Go Fund Me we would really appreciate it.  As he gains weight, his dose increases and so does the cost.  You can find the page here.  Any amount, no matter how small will be so very appreciated!  If you are not able to donate, please say a prayer for us and share the link.

I sewed some new masks for myself out of some cat fabric I had.

I used the Creative Grid template and found the small worked best for me.

I had made a couple of little "left over" quilts from the bear minky I had.

I finally quilted it by stitching in the ditch.

I was so happy to have it finished but it needed binding.

When my middle daughter was small, she had a blanket with a silky edge.

She couldn't say "silky" she used to call her blanket her "See-see".

So I decided to bind this in satin too.

This will be baby Robert's "See-See"

So now we are packing everything up for the trip to NC.

It has been a LONG day today. 

 I'm thinking tomorrow will be a longer day.  

We are driving part way tomorrow and then on to the campground we reserved in Franklin, NC.  

I was supposed to be at a quilting retreat but I had to back out to stay safe for the baby.

We decided to camp there anyway.

OK, that's probably it for awhile.

~XOP~