Kittens, Kittens, and a Big Mess

This past weekend I did a lot of sewing, but most of it I can't show you yet.  But I can share with you my entertainment of the weekend...

As some of you may remember from earlier posts, one of our cats had kittens, and those kittens have become very exploratory and this weekend two of them took an interest with what I was doing with that big white whirring machine on the kitchen table... Not to mention the fun fabric strips that were hanging from the table begging to be played with!

First the little Grey one we call "Princess" decided my foot was a plaything...

That lasted about a minute until a bug landed on the screen door, then the bug became more interesting...

Then she got real brave and jumped up onto the table.  Of course she was wise enough to do this on the other side of the table where I couldn't see her, until she popped through the center of my machine to grab my hand as I was feeding fabric!  Of course I didn't have a camera in hand to catch that moment, but she did not retreat quickly and I did manage to catch this before she ran away...

After a day of working, MaryAnna took an evening shower and Espresso was not too pleased that she didn't properly part and brush her hair...

My favorite kitten, "Dazzle" was sitting next to me most of the evening as I sewed and when my wife brought out the feather toy she came alive with excitement!

I think she actually wanted to EAT the toy!

And Princess had to join in the fun, of course she is much more bold and jumped right up on the table (and you can see some of the fabric from my "secret" project there...)

 While I was sewing this weekend I was also doing laundry.  One time I went down to respond to the call of the buzzer and this is what I found!

Note how the stupid bottle landed spout DOWN, of course.  Luckily it was only about a quarter full.  I "Cleaned Up" by using the detergent caught in that basket for one load, and then I layed three towels over the remaining spill to soak up detergent and then for the next three loads I set the machine to "Small" load and "Hot" water, tossed a towel in and waited for the agitator to mix the detergent out of the towel and into the water... Switched it to Large load, cold water and tossed in a bunch of clothes.

I still lost half the detergent, but at least I saved some of it.

Later this week I'll share my "secret project".

Until Next Time,
Paul

Pay It Forward...

I joined a fabric swap a few weeks ago and sent 9 yards of fabric to the Swap Master, and I have been expecting a box full of fabric ever since.  Last week I received a box that was the same size as the box I sent my fabric in, so when this box showed up, I figured it was my fabric!  I have a project that I am working on and didn't want to distract myself with 9 yards of NEW fabric, so I put the box on a shelf and I didn't open it!

Then, I saw a post indicating that someone had not received the fabric swap package and a note from the Fabric Swap Master that he was behind getting the packages out and I realized..."Hey, wait a minute, if he hasn't sent fabric out yet, 'What is in the box I received!?'"

So I opened it and to my surprise...

 It is a beautiful Pizza Hot Plate, towel and some pizza fixens.  

How cool is this!?

Pizza Hot Plate with a quilted Pizza!!

A cute hand towel complete with a Pizza Chef!

Look at the beautiful fussy cutting and quilting!

Made by Joan of Moose Stash Quilting

The 12" tile hidden inside the pocket that covers the tile.

Thank You SO MUCH Joan!!  And, PLEASE forgive me for thanking you 10 days after I received your wonderful gift!!

This is beautiful, it matches our outdoor furniture perfectly and we eat Pizza all the time.  (But I think this will be used more for decoration than actual hot plate use...)

My daughter said, "I almost reached for that piece of Pizza!  It almost looks REAL!"

Joan sent this, as I responded to her offer to randomly send a handmade gift to two readers of her blog... SO, now It's my turn to "Pay it Forward"...  Leave a comment, and I'll randomly choose two persons to receive something made by me, all I ask is that you do the same at some point in the future....

If you are a blogger, you can do this via your blog, if you're not a blogger, you can still participate, just commit to giving two gifts to random people (i.e. not relatives)  Be sure your profile has an email address or leave one in your comment or contact me via email.

Until Next Time,

Paul

Summer's Coming...

There was no quilting in the Perger household over the Easter weekend, but there was a bunch of preparing for Summer.

We purchased a new patio set for our back patio last Fall when they all went on clearance sale, and thanks to a screw up at the manufacturer we got 2 extra chairs and 2 extra chair bottoms that we are going to use as footstools!  So instead of 6 chairs (2 rockers for Trish and I and 4 regular) we got 8 chairs and 2 footstools!

When the furniture arrived at our home, the chairs all had legs that were bent and two of them were so bad they were unusable.  The rocker bases were bent as well.  It was obvious the box had been dropped.  After sending them photos, they replaced everything that was bad and then some and told us to do whatever we wanted with what remained, they did not want us shipping anything back to them.

We ate Easter dinner in the back yard at our new table... It was a nice change of pace.  No friends or extended family, just us and a simple ham dinner.

Our grill bit the dust during the winter so it was time for a new grill as well.  Long ago we had a charcoal grill, and occasionally I would smoke some meat.  When that grill died about 8 years ago, we replaced it with a gas grill figuring the ease and speed of starting it would be beneficial, and while it was nice to be able to decide at the last minute to grill out on the patio, charcoal just adds something to the food and makes it better, and we came to realize we missed the charcoal grill.

So we decided to buy a dual purpose grill and when we found what we wanted on sale we couldn't pass it up, so we now have everything we wanted for outdoor cooking.  It is a Gas Grill on the left, a Charcoal Grill on the right and hanging off of the grill on the far right (with the wooden handle) is a smoker unit, so I'll be able to REALLY smoke some meat!

 

Saturday afternoon I took the last picture of "Bear" as he slept with his mother and siblings by the back door.  He went to a new home Saturday afternoon.  A newly wed couple who both had cats growing up wanted a kitten to call their own and he left us to be with them, he will be loved and missed.

"Bear" on the far right, with Momma laying on
his butt!  He has been her favorite from day 1.

And after a long day, my favorite, "Dazzle" cuddled up and welcomed me in after a work day in the yard.

Thanks for stopping by.

Until Next Time,
Paul

Thursday Quilt Night Returns

WELL, Last night, I returned to my quilty ways for a Thursday evening...

A friend of mine is having a baby, so I decided to make her a baby quilt.

I decided to do a very simple checkerboard design (because I could start and finish the top in one night), sat down, did some math and headed to the store to buy some fabric. 

So, there I was last night cutting, sewing, cutting, sewing, watching the DVR the entire time, when I suddenly realize that I have sewn an ENORMOUS number of 4 inch finished squares!!  So many, that I decided to count and I quickly realize that unbeknownst to me, I had inadvertently doubled my math and purchased twice as much fabric as I needed.  And since I didn't even notice until I had finished cutting and sewing the squares into rows, I now have a two night project to complete TWO baby blankets!

Oh, well, I guess I'll have an extra baby blanket... Maybe I'll put it up on the Etsy shop...

I did remember to take a few photos though...

My fabric selection.  The print and the Batiks will be checkerboarded
with the stripe being the binding and the solid tan will be the backing.

 

My Batiks, cut into 4.5" x 18" pieces, ready to be sewn
to similar piece of print

Here's the Zoo animals, all cut up and ready to piece!

CHAIN PIECING!!!

MORE CHAIN PIECING!!

 Next sew time will be spent pressing those bad boys so I can begin joining rows...

And last night for dinner, I exercised my other creative outlet...

PORK LOIN
Cooked in Olive Oil, then I tossed in some Diced Peppers, Onions and Tomatos

Whole Wheat Spaghetti Pasta with a Basil Pesto

DINNER...
And very few calories to boot!

Thanks for stopping by,  Hope to see you all again soon,
Paul