Livin' La Needle Loca

 ...it arrived at its new home over the weekend. The daughter of an old friend is going through cancer treatment right now. She just did her 10th round of chemo. As you can expect, that's difficult, both physically and mentally. I live far away, so there's not much I can do to help directly. I had this idea running through my mind about making her something that contained encouraging and supporting words -- something that she could hold onto (or look at) during her tough moments. She already has one of my Emotional Support Chickies [ Ravelry ]. I wanted something more personal for her. She loves sunflowers, so I searched for something that might work. I found a small sunflower cross stitch pattern with a sunflower and the word Thankful. I liked it and decided to change the word to more reflect her journey. This is the Courage Sunflower: Specs: Started 9/24/2026 Finished 9/28/2026 Threads: Used DMC threads instead of the called-for thread Fab...

...and a couple of finished objects for the end of the month. I can only show one of them now. The other I will post about when it arrives in its new home. My friend Jane asked for a replacement catnip mousie because her cat loved the last one so much it was falling apart. So here's the new one: Specs: Started and finished 9/29/2026 Pattern: Catnip Friends by Barbara Albright Yarn: Soft Classic in Primrose  from Loops & Threads Modifications: Used modified bobble stitches for ears instead of knitting them separately The stealth project is a cross stitch piece. More on this later. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: La Cat-trina quilt (quilting) Nearly done machine-quilting the flower motifs. I'm researching how to fill in the corners of the panel that don't have flowers and are plain black. Working on burying the threads. Another Catnip mouse (knitting) Knitting the body. Studio Ordered the blinds for the slider. No Work...

...it might be the last one of the month, depending on how well things go in the next 3 days. This is Herding Cats, a quilt that features the cat fabrics that I have collected over the years. Specs: Started 1/17/2025 Completed top 3/29/2025 Finished 9/25/2026 Fabrics from stash. I've been collecting cat fabrics for years. Border fabric: Here Kitty Kitty Meow in cream by Paintbrush Studio I've come to the realization that I won't be able to finish the La Cat-trina quilt by the end of the month. I still have too much machine quilting to do and then there is the burying of threads to do. It's a lot of work with only 3 days left. I started a small cross stitch project for a friend that I'd like to finish within the next day or 2. Also a friend requested a replacement knitted mousie. Her cat has destroyed the last one -- loved it to death! These knit up very fast so I can probably finish that by the end of the month, too. ...

...and we're rolling towards the end of September already! The Husband has planted a lot of marigolds and mums in the backyard. Unfortunately, I'm having trouble getting decent photos of them in the morning light. However, I did get a half-way decent photo of the bicolor marigolds: He's also planted more violas. I really like this Tiger Eye viola: I'm scrambling like crazy to finish the last quilt before the end of the month. It's beginning to look like It will roll into next month. There are a lot of threads to bury!

 ...and the quilting continues! I am still machine-quilting La Cat-trina. I'm using regular thread for this one after struggling with invisible thread on the Herding Cats quilt. However, invisible thread is a little more forgiving. I'm still learning my Bernina sewing machine and have discovered that sometimes I get an extra stitch when I step off the pedal and the quilt does not turn as smoothly as I'm used to on the Pfaff, even with the dual feed engaged.  I started working on a design for a double-size bedspread. The bedspread in The Husband's room wore out and we needed a new one. The problem is that we dislike most of the pre-made bedspreads that are available or they are too long even in the "right" size. I found a panel with a waterfall in colors that we liked. Since The Husband likes to hike and be out in nature, we decided to build a bedspread around the panel. I finished laying it out on paper. Next I need to decide which fabrics to u...

...and it's been a productive week. First the eye candy. The pomegranates are ripening: Dahlias are blooming: And the Mexican sunflower if brightening up a corner next to the house: In my on-going quest to organize the remodeled studio in a way that maximizes the available space, I tackled the laundry area this week. I started with a combination of large Sterilite storage drawers and black zippered bins from the Container store. I already had them, so they simply got moved into the remodeled studio. I filled them with supplies that I was keeping and stacked them in the corner of the laundry area. They worked, but I was not completely happy. Any time I needed something in a zippered bin, I had to pull it out of the stack, retrieve the item, and then stack things back up. Ok, but not great.  After I went down a few research rabbit holes, I decided to buy additional Sterilite drawers to use instead of the zippered bins. I could stack th...