Sometimes I don’t notice how something is getting old. Like my shoes. I love my Anhu slip-on shoes. But I really looked at them the other day, and they look old. They are old- years and years old. It’s time for some new shoes.

Or like my cutting mat. This is my original mat from 1990. When a mat is 22 years old, it can’t self-heal anymore. It gave up self-healing a few years ago.

Armed with my 40% off coupon, I went to Joannes and bought a new mat. Green. Slick. A bit larger. Smelly too- I had to air it out before it came to live in my sewing room.

Have you ever walked past a mirror and your reflection shocks you? Sometimes that happens to me- my reflection does not match my inner image of who I am. But unlike shoes and cutting mats, I’m not going to go looking for a new younger me.

I came home with this plant about 24 1/2 years ago. Way back then, it was littered with the goldfish blooms. The nice woman at the nursery said it would bloom when happy. It didn’t bloom again until a few months ago, something I’ve taken personally all these years.

Around that time, young 5 month old Luke started cruising around in his walker and getting ear infections, one after the other. I still have a vivid memory of Luke vomiting up his hot pink antibiotic, while in his walker, next to this blooming plant, while a bemused childless neighbor looked on and dinner simmered on the stove. David missed out on this as he was at our restaurant, The Yucatan, working his typical 14 hour day.

I fancy myself a “plant whisperer”. Or maybe I should say, they whisper to me. This plant seems happy. At least, I’ve never heard any complaints. Yet, I wonder, why hasn’t this plant bloomed? The plant remains silent about her reasons.

But today, she blooms. And in July, Luke will turn 25 years old. Let’s celebrate!

I’ve obsessed for years over making something from the book, “The Cute Book” by Arnazi Aronzo (available on Amazon), recently translated into English from Japanese.

I’m not sure I can understand what the concept of “cute” means in Japan. And when you see the “softies” in this book, you’ll wonder too how “The Bad Guy” or “The Kidnapper” fits into kid culture. The Bad Guy is shown holding a cigarette and The Kidnapper’s job is to steal kids, according to the book.

I fell for the Striped Cat. Okay, I became obsessed with making it. The patterns in the book are for making “mascots” about 4″ tall. I had to make mine larger- about 10″ tall.

It’s Cute!

Next on the list: Neko Mania Purse. But that’s another day.

Well who has time to sew when you can watch all the live bird cams this spring? I’m hooked on the Red-Tailed Hawks (Daddy Ezra, Mommy Big Red and 3 very white very round cotton ball chicks) at Cornell University. Just a moment ago, Dad brought a dead bunny to the nest, which is already littered with a dead chipmunk and the remains of various pigeons. The three chicks eat like pigs, but they do grow a lot in the first 6-7 weeks.

Check out the hawks at: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/page.aspx?pid=2422

Fortunately for all of us watchers, they do sleep a lot. I made just one more postcard for the Wish Upon a Card fundraiser sponsored by the Stitching Post and the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show (for Wendy’s Wish Foundation, no relation to me). I found this Alexander Henry fabric in Portland and bought it “on speculation”. So far, I’ve used 3 of the butterflies in postcards. This one has hand embroidery, something I enjoy doing except it hurts my hand.

I thought I’d pass on making a quilt for the Small Wonders challenge fundraiser, but when I sorted through a file, I saw that I did have a good idea ready to go. My quilt, “Froglandia”, will be judged with the other entries for prizes, then go up for sale to raise moola for the  Sisters Parks and Recreation and the SOQS. All good causes.

If you’ve been fabric shopping around Deschutes County, you’ve felt the buzz building up about the annual Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show and Quilters Affair week. Sisters is the place to be in July. Lucky for us, we can shop in June before the crowds arrive.

The thread spool and line of thread used to be too much for Cooper (still is for Izzy). These days, Cooper casually flops down and hangs out with me while sewing.

Here are a few of the 22 Bunny Cards I made. I have about 1/2 yard left- if you have this black & white Hoffman International batik fabric, let me know, okay? Some people don’t notice how the flower petals form the ears and body shape, while the dots make the eye.

I started with the winter/spring bird postcard. Hey, we can hope for spring here! I say this as the wind whooshes outside the window . I had to make some frog postcards (after the frog quilts). And then some miscellaneous. I left one postcard in progress for another time.

Oh, check out the French knots on the bullfrogs and butterfly. Not anywhere near thousands of them, but I did do a few.

Here are my photos of my latest quilt. It is shamelessly tacked on the wall with long pins, letting the weight tug and pull the outside edge into a curvy line. Honest- it lies flat on the floor and will lie flat on the bed.

You’ve seen this pattern on my blog before: Bamboo & Pinwheel Pattern by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes (google the internet, you’ll find it). It’s a fun fast block that leads to two different quilt tops.

This is the “pinwheel” pattern on the front of the quilt with all the scrappy “lime green & tomato red” fabrics. When I have a theme like this- I always “go next door” and “across the street” and sometimes “across town” to find more fabrics for the mix. If it were only lime green and tomato red, they would all fight and cancel each other out.

I need to finish this quilt in a hurry, but I still wanted to have it reversible. I debated over a stack of greens and reds to find the right combination for my vision. For the inserts, I chose a Kaffe Fassett print that would provide a lot of color variety and movement (lots of bang for the buck).

I wanted to keep it simple- you all know how hard that is for me. The recipient will love it.

Inspired by upcycled furniture for humans, we tweaked the idea to turn a used cheap dresser and cheap 2 x 2′s into an (impressive) Cat Tower.

The beasts are taking over our home, room by room. In this room, they have the bay window, the Tower and the top of the bookcase. In the sewing room, they have two bookcases and a cat hammock in the window. In the front of the house, they have the tunnel, and the catwalks.

Any room for us?

The Facts, Just the Facts: I sewed a seam. I ironed the seam. I pinned the next seam. I started to sew the next seam, but the tension wasn’t right.

Investigation: The bobbin was not putting any tension on the thread.

Question: What could have happened between one seam and the next?

Solution: Turn that screw on the bobbin case! But this did not increase the tension on the thread.

Phone Call: I called Common Thread in Lake Oswego to ask about my minor but important to me mystery. She said there is a tiny tiny tiny screw in the bobbin case that must have popped out. Since I was leaving for Portland in a couple of days, I planned to bring my bobbin case to Common Thread for a screw replacement.

Real Solution: The miracle worker at Common Thread lifted up the part that the pencil is pointing to in the photograph. “The screw is here!” But she added “There is a bit of lint between the parts that is keeping the case from applying tension to the thread.” The lint fell out before she could use canned air to blow it out.

Yes, the bobbin case worked fine after that! She adjust the bobbin case back to factory standards (I’d been turning that screw….) and I was off.

Who knew?

So, I have this quilt back, which is about 88″ by 88″. This is much larger than my work tables. In the past, quilter friend Pat has crawled the floor with me (see quilt “SuperSymmetry”) but those days are over for Pat’s knees. Mine too, but I haven’t had surgery. Also, husband David has helped me, but it’s hard for anyone to handle such a large piece of fabric.

In a half-awake state, I thought of using swim noodles to roll up the fabric, exposing the batting for spraying. With my orange and blue can of 505 Spray Baste product held about 12″ to 15″ from the surface, I sprayed half the batting. Then simply tug a bit on the noodle and unroll the fabric and sweep your hands across the surface to smooth out any bubbles and wrinkles and voila, it’s done. Repeat with the other half.

And Look Ma, I could do it myself! (Okay, you have to of a certain age to remember those TV commercials. I am of that age.)

Always allow the spray basted sandwich to rest for a couple of hours before proceeding. It takes a bit of time for the spray baste to dry and “set”. Next I’ll repeat with the quilt top (yes, this is the back), including the resting time. The spray baste will not get gooey in your needle if you have some patience and wait before stitching through the layers.

Oh- yes, I stitch a water-soluble thread grid next. Worth the time? No doubt about it. You can handle the heck out of the quilt while quilting without fear of the layers shifting. That is priceless!

It feels like an infestation of cats, but that is just how much trouble two little beasts, a.k.a. kitty cats, can get into. After watching episodes of “My Cat From Hell” with Jackson Galaxy, we learned the reason why our cats are always looking UP: we have “tree dwellers”.

In the old days (until say 10 years ago), pet cats fended for themselves. Not now. This is the 21st Century. We must provide our kitties with a rich environment. TV host Jackson explains that when cats go outdoors, they patrol a territory equal to 6 square blocks. When indoors, they need a territory to patrol.

Our cats now have a catwalk, leading around 3 sides of the dining/kitchen area. They love it but- but- they are still looking up…to the even higher windowsills just out of reach.

We found the “cat perch” online after an exhaustive search for such an item that didn’t cost two arms and a leg. We found it on sale- almost 50% off with free shipping- an offer we could not refuse. The perch and an intermediary shelf is one way up and down. They can also get down at the other end by way of the top of the refrigerator and kitchen counter.

It doesn’t stop them from getting into trouble. They love to chew on the wood (see Izzy gnawing like a beaver) and investigate all new things (Izzy again with her head in the empty cashew container).

Must Love Cats, right? (Oh yeah, that’s another TV show about cats.)