Here is a photo of the most recently finished quilt.  I nicknamed the "Sage King".  A client sent 2 queen size kits and asked me to make a king size with some pillowcases to match.  Easy enough. Well, something must have happened to my math skills (never strong to begin with) when I was doing this quilt.  I don't know why I can piece really complicated stuff with ease and then  really mess up on the "simple" ones.  Yes, the quilt pattern was really easy, I just don't know why I become an idiot at times.  I will not disclose to anyone how much time I spent working backwards as that is never something to boast about.  In the end, however, I did finish with a beautiful quilt and pillowcases that I can be proud of.

 Golly, I do have 2 cats!  It's hard to remember at times when they are just black fuzzballs running through the house.  The brothers spent a nice afternoon keeping me company recently.  When I say nice, that means they weren't brawling with one another for a change.  I was watching them give each other a nice bath the other day which quickly turned into an "I've got you pinned by the neck little brother" scene. These are two of gentlest yet fiercest cats I've ever seen.  Luckily, the big brother is incredibly smart for a cat and even speaks English pretty good.  He keeps his dumb-as-a-post younger brother in line.  These guys were found very young in a dumpster and I fear the smaller one will never be warm enough or full enough, regardless of the fact that he is almost as big as his brother now.
Spring definitely looks like it has arrived.  Most of the snow we got is gone and it is unusually warm.  I get to go back to gardening iris at Long's Gardens tomorrow.   It will be nice to be surrounded my friends and flowers again.  It was wonderful to have made it through the winter on my quilting skills and I have every hope that I will continue to grow as a quilter.  I have new ideas in my head right now for a new line of quilts that I want to make.  We'll see how long it will take this procrastinator to get things going.

Human Again

Another week of blowing my nose and coughing has gone by.  I am feeling better though!  I had the most fabulous quilting day last Friday.  It was the type of day when everything just comes together with ease.  You know those ones?  A day when you accomplish a lot and do not feel stressed, worried, rushed, or any other negative feelings. A day when everything just flows on beautiful, warm & sunny rays of light.  
I designed and drew a new pantograph, loaded the king size quilt, and even got halfway through the actual quilting.  Now, this was the first time I decided to baste the quilt pieces to the leader by machine sewing instead of pinning.  I think I saved myself some time.  The really great thing was that I had a perfectly loaded quilt without the finger or back pain!  What was surprisingly super-awesome fun was using my seam ripper to unload the quilt in a matter of 2 minutes!!!!! 
We had a great boiled corn beef, cabbage, and potato dinner last night with 6 friends.  I made a yummy apple pie and a new version of soda bread.  This was a basic white soda bread recipe but I tweaked it with rolled oats and malted barley extract.  It came out with great flavor and though it was a little dense, I received no complaints from the crowd.  
The snow is melting rapidly.  I have heard some new songbirds returning.  I even saw some moths outside the other evening.  Spring is making its presence known to my soul.  Even though they are calling for more snow, I have been given hope again that the drifting winds will cease to blow someday.

March Update

I am loving the longer, warmer days.  My car is making it up the driveway again.  I am reminded lately of how much I hate colds.  I need to relish in my health if I ever get it back!  We tend to be pessimistic dooms-dayers when under the weather, don't we?  The only thing worse than me being sick is when I give the cold to my husband.  Maybe next week, I'll better things to report.  Until then, may you all be healthy and happy!

Sleeping next to the fire has been a popular activity recently.  We managed to capture this photo early one morning.  I don't think the dog even knows he is using the cat a pillow.  Can you see the tail sticking up out of the sleeping bag?  That is Loki's tail.  I rescued to boy brother cats and of the two, Loki is the one that thinks he is a dog.  In fact, his nickname is Big Dog. 
It is hilarious how this cat treats our dog, who could eat the cat if he felt like it!  Luckily, I trained the dog into a sense of brotherhood/part of pack mentality with the cats.  So, Bo mostly puts up with it when Loki cleans him.  The funniest though is when Loki does what we now refer to as a "drive-by".  Let me set the scene for you.  The dog is standing in the middle of a room looking to the humans for attention(biscuits).  It is a quiet and still moment.  All of sudden (from another room usually)  there is a flash of black as Loki runs in, jumps up and gives Bo 2 smacks to the nose or chest!  It is always with a closed paw, no claws are out or I'd have gotten Bo Doggles a long time ago.  Loki finishes this acrobatic feat with a jump down and a look at Bo that says, "Yeah, you're mine!".  Humans and dog are usually too stunned to do anything but laugh and wonder at the cat's audacity.

Me and My Brothers under the Huppah

I've been working away on quilts, some for clients and some even for me.  I have been finishing up our wedding quilts.  When we married in 2007, my husband tie-dyed many things for the event.  The first was my wedding dress - it was so pretty and I was so proud not to have achieved that homemade dorky look.  He dyed the shirts for my brothers to wear, (my husband was dashing in a western morning coat with tails). He also tie-dyed our Huppah covering and lots of fabric for people to sign.  Well, 4 years later, I now have a queen-sized quilt made from the Huppah and a wall quilt that incorporated all of the guest's well wishes for our future into a dahlia pattern.  And it's all in the colors of my wedding!  What a way to remember a great day! I'll post photos soon (I still need to bind the wall quilt).