Livin' La Needle Loca

 and a finished object. Before we left on a short vacation to Seattle, I finished the La Cat-trina quilt: Specs : Started 5/5/2025 Top completed 5/13/2025 Finished 10/5/2026  Fabrics from the Day of the Dead line by Timeless Treasures and a raspberry batik fabric for border WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Starwoman (cross stitch) Working on the upper border No Work This Week: Another Catnip mouse (knitting) California Red Poppy Handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ]   Gypsy Rose Lee Handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ]  Illusion Cube Blanket (knitting) [ Ravelry ]   Morgana (cross stitch) My Recipes (cooking)  Room Divider/quilt wall. Starwoman (cross stitch) Studio  Website (other)  Queued for Starting Moon Lets Sun Shine (or Luna y Sol) quilt (quilting) Summer Typography (cross stitch)  Ready for Finishing: Finishing work for some...

 ...and we have more progress. Finished: 9/4 Dust cover for magnifier (sewing) 9/25 Herding Cats quilt (quilting) 9/28 Courage Sunflower (cross stitch)  9/29 Primrose Catnip Mousie [ Ravelry ] (knitting)   Books: The Shadow Friends, Tess Gerritsen Pretty Dead Things, Kelsey Cox Buried in the Falls, Elle Gray Fury in Death, JD Robb Windward Hearts, Fiona Baker Sunset on the Solstice, Katie Winters Until She Dies, Kendra Elliot Her Broken Dreams, Shannon Hollinger Everything She Never Knew, Annette Chavez Macias The Doll Squad, Hailey Edwards A Killer Heart, Helen Harper Started: 9/4 Dust cover for magnifier (sewing) 9/14 Waterfall Bedspread (sewing/quilting)  9/24 Courage Sunflower (cross stitch)  9/29 Primrose Catnip Mousie [ Ravelry ] (knitting)  WIPs: California Red Poppy Handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ]  Illusion Cube Blanket (knitting) [ Ravelry ]   La ...

 ...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!