Valerean

I got a bit of a late start on the October tote for my calendar project, but once I focused on it things started to come together nicely. I settled on doing a slow stitch design rather than a crazy quilt design. After I batted and backed the tote I finalized the arrangement of the fabric pieces, and pinned them down. I've got three weeks to do the hand quilting and embroidery, and (maybe) a little beading. I will use the machine if I have to, but I want to try to do some hand work this month.

To celebrate my dad's birthday and make a donation in honor of him and his love of animals, we visited our local no-kill cat shelter last week. To see the kitties we visited, check out my album of pics here.

I decided to try making my first primitive stuffie for Halloween by printing out Ann Wood's Happy cats sewing pattern . Since I was working with a quilt piece as the fabric I cut the large cat printout a bit larger. I sewed the pieces together on the machine, used amigurumi eyes instead of embroidery, stuffed it and then hand stitched to close the opening. The result was more than satisfying. I liked how the embroidery from the original quilt made designs on the front and back of my cat. My little collection of prims is growing nicely. I think I'll try a pumpkin next.

I really enjoyed the pearl wave painting I did, and it helped exercise my beleaguered right hand, so I invested in two more kits of similar design. This gold, pearl and rhinestood moon is really glitzy. I want to turn it into a topper for a gift box. I also got a bird painting for my home office. I completed the first one on the same day it arrived. Generally I can do these in one night. The hand-eye coordination is good practice, and I think the results are pretty.

I'm feeling very blah right now. This month has traditionally been hard on me; there are the birthdays of two loved ones now gone from my life that I have to get through, the pumpkin spice nonsense explodes, and Christmas things show up everywhere in a big way. As I write this it's been raining steadily for two days, so I can't really spend any significant time outdoors. I need inspiration and motivation, stat. I have been looking in my own photo archives to see the projects I most liked from past Octobers in hopes that it would jog something, and saw this thrifted crocheted baby blanket that I acquired unfinished with the yarn and hook the maker had been using, and I finished it. I loved that project. In 2024 I made a small quilt from a pound of fabric an Etsy seller chose and sent to me. That is a challenge I really enjoy and I've made several quilts that way. In 2023 I completed the second embroidered recycled linen quilt in some of my favorite ...

While my guy and I were out running errands and mall walking, we stopped by a big church thrift store two towns over and I found a couple of bargains, which the very nice lady working the register packed in this luxury leather goods sack. Very fancy. :) For $5.00 I was able to get a mint-condition cream tablecloth with silver and gold embroidery, which I plan to use for Thanksgiving. I may have to shorten it a few inches. It came with three matching cloth napkins. I also needed some blank cards, and I found a pack of 12 brand new with envelopes for $2.00. That's about sixteen cents each. Here's my receipt.