WIP Wednesday: On the Road

Tags

Oregon, Pendleton, quilting, Richland, sewing, Social Justice Sewing Academy, travel, Washington, WIP Wednesday

Somewhere near Pendleton, Oregon . . . .

WIP = Work in Progress

Hello, everybody!  I’ve missed you!

I’m still here, still on the right side of the dirt, as they say.  Just busy with family stuff, car stuff, whatever stuff, but not doing much sewing.  But I have a few things to show you today and a few stories to tell, so let’s do it.

First, I did finally finish the second block for the Social Justice Sewing Academy, and both blocks are now back with them to be included in one of their quilts.

I decided to stay away from the blanket stitch on this, as I don’t think it has the right vibe for these blocks–too cute, too down-home, too neat and tidy for artwork this sharp and cutting.  So I’ve been doing running stitch, that zigzag backstitch I like so much, and a little chain stitch.

It occurs to me that you could use these blocks for a sort of research project–choose a book on the topic of the block and read along (or maybe listen?) as you do the stitching.  I don’t know that I have the time to devote to something like that right now, but I should think about it some more.  Doing this needlework has pointed out to me some gaps in my education.

Second, I made cat toys!  A member of my Buy Nothing group was getting a donation together for the local animal shelter, so I took the opportunity to purge some old sheets and towels and make a few toys (it’s kitten season, you know).

At first, I tried to make some fish shapes, and, um, well . . . then I came to my senses and remembered I DO NOT DO TINY.  If I’m going to attempt something small–these are about 1 1/2″ across–it’s gotta be simple.  So I did a shape that I know I can cut and sew accurately and have it actually come out looking more or less like what it’s supposed to be.  They have a few catnip pellets inside, so hopefully the shelter kitties will like them–I know mine were certainly interested.

Third, we took a road trip to the Hermiston/Pendleton part of Oregon in order to check the route for a 300k bike ride.

Lots of rolling hills, cattle, and tumbleweeds out there.  And a little snow.  That’s a cattle guard just visible at the bottom of the photo there; lots more cattle than cars on these roads.

I’m trying to get out for more walks.  This is the walking path along the Columbia River in Richland up near the National Lab.  Behind me just a few miles up is the Hanford Reach, including the National Monument, and a lot of perfectly preserved shrub-steppe landscape.  It’s preserved because it’s owned by the U.S. Department of Energy and it’s full of nuclear waste.

Living here can be a little strange.

I also apparently found “where the sidewalk ends” out here.

And, finally, my latest project, a mini quilt for my sister’s birthday.

I’ve got the pieces all sewn down except for the eyes, which I’m doing by hand (I DO NOT DO TINY, well, at least on the machine).  I kept to more or less the colors used in the pattern picture because they are bright and goofy and perfect.  I hope she loves this as much as I do!

I hope all is well with you and you are moving along the road to wherever you would like to be.

STH

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WIP Wednesday: Drama

Tags

Kittitas Valley, Leslie Groves Park, quilting, Richland, sewing, Washington, WIP Wednesday

YOU MAY TAKE MY PHOTOGRAPH NOW, HUMAN.

WIP = Work in Progress

Happy Wednesday (and, yeah, that other thing, too, if you’re into it.)

I encountered this very regal goose at Leslie Groves Park the other day and thought I should share the magnificence.  (We won’t mention the fact that its call sounded like the whiniest baby imaginable:  WAAAHHH)

We could also probably talk a little quilting while we’re here.  Specifically, this:

My baker’s rack and a couple of binder clips:  essential photographic gear.

If you recall, this quilt top is now in four pieces for quilt-as-you-go purposes.  In preparation for quilting it, I set about making a scrappy backing from the leftover fabric from the top.

Like most things, it’s easier said than done, but this is what I’ve got for that section:

 

I started the process by googling–there must be a tutorial someplace on how to do this, right?  Well, there may be, but I didn’t find it.  Lots of quilters do things like inserting a finished quilt block into a plain quilt back, but I didn’t really find anything on making a totally scrappy back.  So I spent about three days–and nights, as I tend to dream about problems I’m working on–thinking about how to turn a pile of scraps into a quilt back.  My goal was to use up as much of that fabric as possible without using a quilt pattern or spending a huge amount of time on it.

The method I came up with was to cut my pieces into squares and rectangles as efficiently as possible.  All the resulting strings were sorted into piles by length and each pile was sewn together, then trimmed.  That gave me larger string blocks to work with; I laid out the section of quilt top, then moved around my string blocks and larger pieces of fabric until it was completely covered.  Then I sewed the whole mess together.

Here’s the front of the second section I worked on:

And the pieced back:

This was the perfect opportunity to use that Sylvester and Tweety fabric!  I got it in a huge Freecycle box of fabric several years ago and have been saving it for just the right project; I only had that one strip and the design is huge, so it wasn’t the easiest scrap to use.

So, verdict?  This was really fun to do and I love how the backs turned out!  And LOTS of scraps found a home–almost all the fabrics you see here were completely (or almost completely) used up!  I only made two of the four backing sections I’ll need for this quilt, and I’m actually a little concerned that the blocks I have left won’t be enough to make the other two, so I picked up another fat quarter today while I was out with my mother.

Do you ever start a project for reasons other than “I love this and can’t wait to make it”?  Then your feelings about it change as you go along?  This quilt wasn’t one of those “true love” sorts of projects for me; I started it as an experiment to help me learn more about combining colors and fabrics, and as a way to use up a bunch of scraps.  The farther I get with it, though, the more I like it; I suspect it’s going to be the “good friend that became THE ONE” of quilt projects.  How appropriate for February 14th.  😉

In other exciting news, we were overjoyed to welcome this new addition to our family:

Thus ending almost three weeks of what my partner and I are calling The Dishwasher Saga.  I won’t go through the whole thing, but it involved (literal) fire and flood, two dishwashers, four installers, innumerable phone calls, a few tweets, and me stomping out of a large department store while swearing to TAKE MY BUSINESS ELSEWHERE.  The saga finally ended last night when I filled this with dirty dishes and ran it.  Then my honey and I found ourselves hanging around the kitchen, half expecting the thing to blow up or something.  It seemed impossible that it should just work without any drama, but so far so good.  [crossing fingers and toes]

I leave you with a picture taken at the viewpoint outside Ellensburg on our way to the Seattle Bike Swap.  Spectacular weather that day, and I was able to get this nice shot of the Kittitas Valley.  (Unfortunately, the weather for the rest of the weekend was, well, normal for Seattle in February, but we still had fun and unloaded a bit of our bike stuff stash.)

I hope all is well with you and all your projects are well-behaved and free of drama.  Unless that’s what you’re into.  I don’t judge.

STH

WIP Wednesday: Success (Mostly)

Tags

clothing, music, Richland, See & Sew B5517, sewing, Simplicity 2481, W.E. Johnson Park, Washington, WIP Wednesday

New park last weekend–this is W.E. Johnson Park in Richland, WA.

WIP = Work in Progress

Happy Thursday!

It has been a busy week here!  For some reason, lots of appointments and phone calls and errands needed to happen this past week, and I have been doing a lot of running.  We’re off to Seattle tomorrow for the Bike Swap on Saturday, then next week should be more of the busy.  If you get to the Bike Swap, be sure to find us and say hi–we’ll have the table with the colorful zipper bags.  (Like you couldn’t see that coming.)

I FINALLY finished my PJs yesterday, after what felt like about six months of working on them.  I’ll try to get some better pictures sometime, but these were what I was able to snap quickly between appointments #2 and #3 today.

Cats are always so helpful.

These are my patterns:

The Simplicity on the left is the pattern I used for my last pair of PJs.  They were perfectly wearable–and I literally wore them to pieces–but I wanted to see if I could get a little better fit on my next pair of PJ pants using a pattern designed for women.  So I hunted down the See & Sew pattern, the only one I could find that was just for women, meant for woven fabrics, and not a traditional buttons-up-the-front style (I don’t know why, but I just have an aversion to that style).

So I used the S&S pattern, a simple, quick pattern, but basically complicated it as much as possible.  The top was too short, so I added a band on the bottom, attached with flat fell seams.  The full-length pants were super long, so I made the capris and added another band on the bottom–more flat fell seams–and I mistakenly put the band on the TOP of one of my pieces rather than the bottom, so that had to be fixed.  I used the pocket piece from the Simplicity pattern to add a pocket to the right pants leg.  Which was great, except that I then discovered that my pants legs were too roomy, after I’d done flat fell seams on the sides (with a pocket on top).  So I took in and tapered the pants as much as I could using the inner leg seam.  I would like to take them in more, but at this point I’m frankly in no mood to be ripping out any more flat fell seams.

So, bottom line:  I LOVE the fit on my new PJs, except for the pant legs, which are too big and drafty.  If I get to the point where my annoyance at the drafts outweighs my innate laziness and dislike of mending, I’ll tinker with them again.  We’ll see.  For now, though, I (mostly) love them.

Also this week, I took a stab at making some of these guys:

But wait, you say, surely these can’t be a need for our friend STH?  Hasn’t she whined (pretty much endlessly) about the indignities of geezerhood, such as her creaky old joints and her not being able to see to embroider?

Well, my friends, all I have to say to that is that Mother Nature is obviously the one in charge here, not me. 

I looked at some tutorials and would up using this one.  My version has flannel on top, two layers of thin batting in the middle, and fleece on the bottom.  I intentionally made the first couple of pads thin, to see if I could get away with using so little padding.  And so far, so good!

Very quick and easy to make, and very effective so far.  I’m using regular sew-on metal snaps on these; they’re a bit time-consuming, but no way am I buying a Kam Snap set for these pads that I don’t expect to use for much longer (I can only hope Mother Nature agrees).  The only real quibble I have is the claim in the tutorial that the cotton tops won’t stain; not my experience so far, but, again, my hope is to not have to use these much longer.  Quite grumpy to still be using them at all, but I do admit to being pleased to be able to use up some batting and fabric scraps to make them.

One more picture from the park, then I’m heading for bed.  Have a wonderful weekend, and I hope all your projects are coming together nicely.

STH

 

Sunday Sevens 06-04-17

Tags

Gas Works Park, geese, Howard Amon Park, Richland, Seattle, Sunday Sevens, travel, University of Washington, Washington, West Richland

Interesting clouds lit up at sunset (Howard Amon Park, Richland, WA)

Today’s pictures feel like an especially random assortment, but they’re the most memorable ones from the last couple of weeks.

These solicitous parents kept steering the fam over to the banks of the river so the little ones could eat the grass there.  I’m wondering what kind of goose that is at the center rear of the photo; not our usual Canada Geese or Snow Geese (this photo is also from my walk in Howard Amon Park).

The west side of the state was its usual leafy green.  This was taken on the University of Washington campus.

Some nifty details on the Henry Gallery on the UW campus.  This very retro looking building was built in 1996.

Some of the massive old machinery in Gas Works Park.  An unusually warm and sunny day so we were surrounded by many, many bright white people removing as much clothing as possible.

My friend Heidi was a little harrumph-y about the graffiti up near the top of this thing but, honestly, I have nothing but respect for the commitment of anybody willing to get over that fence and climb all the way up there (humans included for scale).

Top of the hill in Gas Works Park.  Obligatory Seattle landmark visible at the right rear.

Detail of the sundial in the park.  I couldn’t get a good shot of the whole thing–it’s pretty big–but it’s very cool with lots of interesting details.  Oh, and it works!

Another fun detail from the sun dial.  There are four of these drains marking the four directions.

Back on the east side of the state, partner and I tried out the new trail up Candy Mountain.  We’re looking down on West Richland here.  Note the contrast of the natural desert landscape (technically, “shrub-steppe”) in foreground (this is probably the greenest it ever gets) and the irrigated land below.

A big thank you, as always, to Natalie of Threads and Bobbins for starting Sunday Sevens and letting us show glimpses of our homes to the world.

Have a very excellent week and I hope you’re finding a little beauty wherever you are.

STH

Sunday Sevens 3-05-17

Tags

Columbia River, Indivisible, politics, Rep. Dan Newhouse, Richland, sewing, Spokane, Sunday Sevens, Womens March Spokane, WSU-TC

I’m trying to get back into a more regular posting schedule here, so I thought I’d take up doing Sunday Sevens again.  It’s a good place to put those sort of random interesting bits and pieces of your life (and I am all about random).  My pictures this week are actually going to be highlights from the last few months, as I’ve got a bit of a stockpile at the moment.  As always, all credit goes to the ever-fabulous Natalie of Threads and Bobbins for getting Sunday Sevens started!

First, let’s go alllll the way back to Xmas, because I made a couple of pretty cool gifts that I never managed to blog about.

For my sister, I made some unpaper towels and a fabric basket to store them in.

I braved the big Thanksgiving sale at Joann’s to get these really fun flannels (this is a pretty serious level of dedication for me), then I matched them up with cute cottons from the stash.

I’m really liking the basket idea for these, and want to make one for my own unpaper towels one of these days.  I get that people like rolling them up and storing them like paper towels, but it kind of makes them a pain to use.  The basket is a better way to store them, I think, if you have the counter space for it.

I also made a charging station for all my partner’s gadgets.

Yeah, it’s a little droopy.  Obviously I needed a stiffer interfacing.  I sewed along the corner seams and that helped it sit up a bit better.

I made this to fit the shelf where he keeps all his bits and pieces that require charging (which is currently a tangle of cords).

I made buttonholes of various sizes along the back to put the plugs through.

He has yet to put this to use (he’s planning to organize his office, but it’s a bit of a big project, if you get my meaning), but I think it’s going to eventually be really handy.  The execution on this could use a little work, but I really like the concept.

Now for some demos!  Three so far this year, I suspect many more to come.

In mid-January, the Democratic Party called for demonstrations in support of the ACA (Obamacare), and I went to the one in Richland (next town over).  At the last minute, my honey decided to come with, but warned me that he thought we might be the only ones there.  Eastern Washington state is pretty conservative–Republicans outnumber Dems 2-to-1–and it was 15F and snowing that day.

200 people showed up!

Best I could do, being short and at the back.  (And can I just mention how much I want that guy’s gorgeous red hair?!?  I mean, yeah, politics, but I know how to multitask.)

For some reason, they had us gather on the outdoor stage, and it was covered in a sheet of ice–I’m kind of amazed nobody slid off the edge of the stage–but folks were undeterred and fired up!

Then, the following weekend, partner and I drove to Spokane for the Women’s March.  Some folks had thrown a local event together at the last minute, but they planned to walk a labyrinth and meditate, and no way did I want to meditate–I wanted to yell!  So we went to Spokane and it was an amazing experience.  2,000 people were expected, but as we drove through downtown, I thought it sure looked like a lot more than that.  When we lined up with the huge crowd at the start, a woman we talked to told us that they had stopped letting people into the Convention Center for the pre-march rally when they reached 5,000 people in there.  News reports afterward estimated 8,000 attended.

And I should have pictures for you, but my camera would not cooperate.  Sigh.

But we marched and it was great–so much positive energy and determination to fight for what’s right.  Great mix of all ages, races, genders; it meant a lot to me to see all those people come out for this event after the horror of the election.  I was expecting some counter-demonstrators, but the only ones I saw were at the start–three or four young dudebros snickering on the sidelines.  One of them yelled out something about “making it great again,” but was ignored.  It felt like it was finally OUR time to be heard, not theirs.

Did get the camera working for this shot of the park with decorations appropriate to the occasion.

Finally, last weekend, our local Indivisible group organized a town hall at the Washington State University Tri-Cities campus.  Our local Representative–I feel like that word should be in quotes–is Republican Dan Newhouse, and he is one of the 200 or so Reps that are refusing to hold the traditional town hall meetings in their districts.  So we held one without him.  Constituents asked him questions that were videotaped to be delivered to his office.  Great idea, well-executed, and lots of smart, well-informed people there to keep the pressure on him to do the right thing.

I also took the opportunity while I was out there to take a walk along the river path and snap a few photos.

I love these, but the best thing about them is that they swivel around their poles when the wind blows!

Looking across the Columbia River.

Next event is a rally on Wednesday for International Women’s Day.  We are keeping the pressure on and the energy up!

Have a great week, everybody, and take care of yourselves.

STH

 

 

Sewing, Snow, and Stuff

Tags

clothing, Columbia Point, FNWF, Healthy and Happy: SSWD, Oregon, Portland, quilting, Richland, sewing, travel, Washington

From today’s walk:  14F and enough wind to make the snow “fall” horizontally.  😦

Hello all, and I hope January is treating you well!

I’ve got some frosty pictures to show you, as well as some news, and, most importantly, sewing!

I participated in Friday Night With Friends last night, and did some work on another colorblocked fleece pullover.  Do you remember the wild flowered fleece remnant I got from SCRAP?  It’s now become this:

It’s hard to see here, but I’ve put in a black zipper which I took out of a cheap and nasty waist pack.  I like the long zipper pull on it. 

I’m using an old pattern (dated 1994), also from SCRAP, which should win some sort of award for least promising cover photos ever.

Don’t bother fitting–just make everything as large as possible!

The line drawings, though, show that this is a nice basic pullover that’s perfect for colorblocking (i.e., not a lot of seams to complicate matters).

The fit on this thing is SUPER weird, though.  It’s designed to fit some sort of busty linebacker, as far as I can tell.  In order to get those slightly-dropped shoulders, I had to bring the sleeves up a full three inches.  I also had to narrow the sleeves by 4″ so they wouldn’t be massive.  I took in the side seams, but I’ve still got all this room for the huge bust that I don’t have, and it’s now too tight at the hips.  More work to be done there, needless to say.

And I can use all the fleece I can get.  It has been SO COLD and SO SNOWY here–pretty unusual winter for us this year.  I haven’t taken many photos because it’s been way too damn cold to go outside much, but here’s another one from this afternoon.

I’m starting to understand why “snowbirds” here travel south in the winter, while these obviously-not-very-bright geese and I stay here for some reason.

Partner and I took a trip to Portland last month and apparently brought the bad weather with us.  It was a bit warmer than at home, which meant the snow had thawed halfway and had the usual Portland rain on top of it. 

BRRRR . . . I had packed for typical Portland weather, not this, so I wound up wearing many, many layers at a time.

Always looking for color.

A small part of the large stained glass window in the fire station near the waterfront Saturday Market.

In other news, you remember the sew-along that I was doing with the Sew-Alongs and Sewing Contests Facebook group, right?  Well, I won!  The prize package consisted of several indie patterns, plus a gift certificate for some fabric–WOOT!  And I’ve also been asked to run a 2-week sew-along in the group, to be announced tomorrow.  That should be super fun and get me to FINALLY use some fabric I’ve had forever.  Stay tuned for more on that.

I plan to focus more on quilting than clothing this year, though.  I didn’t feel inclined to do any sort of wrap-up post at the end of the year, but I did look through what I’d made in 2016 and realized I managed to not finish a single quilt!   I’ve been missing quilting and I want to get back to it.  I’ve pulled out my blocks for the RSC 2015 quilt and I would like to finish that up–it’s way past time that I finally made a queen-size quilt for our bed.  In addition to that, I’ve got a commission to make a simple baby quilt for a friend of my sister’s, and my niece will need one for her baby that’s due this summer.

So that’s the plan for the moment.  I’m really glad I don’t have to actually stick to these plans that I make, as they’re constantly evolving, but that’s the plan right now.  Until it isn’t.  Which could happen at any moment.

Anyway, I hope you’re enjoying your January and keeping your feet warm (currently my number one goal).

STH

Sunday Sevens 03-14-16

Tags

Bellevue, Bellevue Botanical Garden, Heidi, Howard Amon Park, Oregon, quilting, Richland, sewing, Splendid Sampler, Sunday Sevens, Washington

Sunday Sevens is a weekly (or occasional, in my case) series in which we share some pictures from the parts of our lives that aren’t covered in regular blog posts.  The ever-fabulous Natalie from Threads and Bobbins is the one who got it started.

Been getting out a little bit here and there, so I have some better pics this week.

Will you just look at this plump little guy!  I took a walk in Howard Amon Park the other day and a couple was sitting on a bench surrounded by birds and squirrels.  This one ran off with his treat and ate it sitting in a tree nearby.

I was having a particularly bad day recently and decided I needed to buy myself a present.  Quick trip to Tuesday Morning for some fat quarters ensued.  Happy colors!

Which then went into some more Splendid Sampler blocks.

My partner and I drove the route for the 300k ride coming up this Saturday.  This is in eastern Oregon, but it looks a bit like Scotland to me.  We saw many cattle, some sheep and deer, but very few cars or people that day.

This past weekend, my honey had a 200k bike ride in the Seattle area, so we headed up on Friday evening and I got to spend a lovely Saturday with my friend Heidi.  This is the Bellevue Botanical Garden.

Ferns growing on trees!

And flowering trees!

Have a great week, everybody.

STH

 

 

 

Sunday Sevens, 11-08-15: Maximum Color

Tags

Columbia Point, Kennewick, Richland, sewing, Sunday Sevens, swears, Washington, Zintel Canyon Park

Sunday Sevens is a blog series–begun by the ever-fabulous Natalie at Threads and Bobbins–where we put up some pictures of our week and chat a bit about what we’ve been doing.  All are welcome to join in!

Lots of outdoorsy pictures this week, as I actually got my lazy ass out for a walk twice!

On Monday, I did an expedition into the further reaches of Zintel Canyon Park, farther than I’m able to go when my mother’s with me.

Love this colorful plant!  Note how black the wood is here; there was at least one fire at the park this past summer.

Have no idea what this tree is, but the combination of the blue berries and red stems is just gorgeous.  Plenty of birds in this park, but they never seem to eat these berries, so I wonder if they’re poisonous.

Look what I made this week.

Heh.

Instructions are here, though I basically used the idea and ignored the instructions, partly because I didn’t have a functional iron when I made this.

The sweatshirt is from the Eddie Bauer outlet near Portland and I’ve had it in my mending/remake pile for a while now–despite the fact that I looked like a big ol’ fashion DON’T when I wore it–because I love the color and the soft rib-knit fabric.

Removing the bottom band and cuffs made it fit SO much better (seriously, does anybody look good in a sweatshirt with a bottom band?)  I finished the bottom and sleeves with blanket stitch.

I LOVE THIS and plan to wear it every day until Thanksgiving.

OUR LONG NIGHTMARE IS OVER.

On Saturday, my honey and I had a late lunch, then took a walk at Columbia Point in Richland.

Enlarge to see all the colors!

Since the new appliances were delivered, I have cooked SO MANY THINGS.

Here’s Sunday’s dinner:  ham and cheese quiche, herb biscuits, and a salad.

I have so many more pictures from last week’s walks; will throw those up on Flickr later today.

Have a great week, everybody.

STH

Sweater Weather

Tags

Columbia River, Howard Amon Park, knitting, Richland, Sweater Weather, yarnbombing

Just for fun–here are some pics I took in Howard Amon Park in Richland the other day.

This is the second year of Richland Parks and Recreation’s Sweater Weather event.  Participants are assigned a tree to yarnbomb and then folks can vote on which they like the best.

Yeah, it’s a little bit too organized and official to be true guerrilla knitting, but when I took the sweater tour with a Parks and Rec employee last year, he told us that they assigned about 50 trees, but actually wound up with more sweaters than that.

CRAFTS WILL NOT BE CONTAINED.

Still got some fall color happening . . . .

(I walked by this couple twice and the guy was monologuing the whole time.  I don’t speak Spanish, but I know mansplaining when I hear it.)

Blue sky over the Columbia River.

SQWERLS!

I love this one.

JUST THROW ANOTHER HAT ON THERE.

Squirrels are messy eaters.  And seagulls are smarter than they look.

Hang on a little bit longer, lovely autumn!

Sunday Sevens 10-18-15

Tags

cats, Chamna Nature Preserve, Columbia Park, cooking, Kennewick, Richland, Sunday Sevens

Sunday Sevens is a weekly post where we share some photos from our week and yak a bit about what we’ve been up to.  It’s fun and you should join us!  See Natalie over at Threads and Bobbins for more info.

My favorite dinner this week was actually a brinner:  breakfast burritos.  Spicy sausage, scrambled eggs, sauteed veg, cheese, a little fresh tomato and green onion on top, and leftover guacamole.

SO GOOD.

I took a walk in Columbia Park this week and had to get a picture of all the geese.  Please note that they are standing under a “don’t feed the birds” sign because THAT’S WHERE THE MORONS ALWAYS FEED THEM–right under the sign.

*facepalm*

(They were actually edging away from me when I took this, as they’d decided I was a little bit too close and didn’t appear to be packing snacks.)

And then there was this guy.

Yes, the squirrels have the morons pretty well figured out as well.

Butterick patterns were on sale this week, so picked up this one I’ve been eyeing for a while.  Lots of interesting possibilities for mixing and matching knits here.

I feel like I might be falling a little bit in love with sewing knits after pretty much diligently avoiding them for years.

On Saturday, I went on another MeetUp walk, this time to Chamna Natural Preserve in Richland.  Fun time–cool autumn morning with sunshine, some nice people, TWO dogs to pet, AND my honey came along, too.  🙂

That afternoon, after puttering around uselessly for hours without getting anything done, I finally gave in and took a nap with the cats.

Notice that there’s no room for me on MY side of the bed because it’s full of cats.  I had to steal a quilt off the couch and sleep on the other side.  Shelby is deeply suspicious of people sleeping on the wrong side of the bed, but Pooh’s just happy to be taking a nap with his mom.

Busy week ahead.  I’ve finished the birthday present, so now it’s on to the Cozy Afternoon runner (well, after some mending–bleh).  Birthday festivities are happening Thursday, then we’re off to Portland on Friday for another bike ride and another potluck.

Have a great week, everybody.

STH