Mothers, Night, Noon, and Northern Lights

Noon and Light

I could have gone with brighter shades of yellow for my noon and light block, but it is just not light here right now and this is really much more accurate.

Night and Day

Are you kidding me?  Are you kidding me?  Look at that!  Boo. Yah!

Mother's Dream

 At this time of year, my mother dreams of flowers and spring.  She is an amazing gardener and she dreams of having her orange rhododendron bloom.  It won't because the Wisconsin winters are always cruel and unusual, but if it did it would be a dream come true.

"What? I cured myself thank you very much."

Sam had a hematoma on his ear which required a trip to the vet.  I made the appointment, told my co-workers I would be late to work and got up at 5:00 am to get him to the vet's very first appointment at 7:30 am.  I did all of this only to discover that the hematoma had mostly gone away during the night.  Here's the thing, Sam curled up on my lap the night before his appointment and Angry Bob lumbered in, sat down by us, and spent five minutes cleaning Sam's ear.  The next morning the swelling was down considerably and I decided we could wait for the weekend for his appointment.  Today it was completely gone and Dr. Angry Bob once again spent five minutes on his patient keeping his ear clean.  Sam has bald spot where the bubble was but is letting me touch it and seems okay with it.  Bob gets extra treats for taking care of business and I get the satisfaction of knowing that I live in a Disney movie.

Peaceful Hours

I could spend several peaceful hours staring at these blue fabrics.

Northern Lights

We just had a display of the northern lights here and I missed it because we had cloud cover.  The lights were green, but I chose this fabric because I saw it in my stash and wanted to use it.  Sorry, not every story will be nominated for the Booker Award.

Modern Blocks and Spinsters! Oh, my!

Everything Equal

 Over the weekend, I decided that I couldn't live with the improv block I made for Sew Mama Sew's Modern Block of the Month series.  Instead, I pulled out the Modern Blocks book and picked one that I thought would fit in nicely.  This is the result and I have to say I like it more than the improv block.  Guess I'm just not an improv kind of gal.  While I was at it, I decided that the February block for the MBOM series was too difficult for me to do.  So, I picked this block:

On the Plus Side (pieces)

On the Plus Side

 ...which somehow seemed easier to do at the time.    At any rate, wow, that was a day full of work and I took a nap after doing this.

Linoleum

 After getting caught up with the Modern Blocks of the Month, I settled in for some more Spinster blocks.  This one is Linoleum and is grey because I'm not going to lie; my linoleum really needs to be cleaned.

Morning

 This block is all yellow and flowers because I can't wait for flowers, springtime, and light in the morning.  Of course, daylight savings time is this weekend.  I didn't handle that information very well - I said a very dirty word when I found that out.  I'm not sure why I reacted that negatively, but I guess I'm not handling change very well.

Maple Leaf

 Speaking of change, my Maple Leaf is orange for the pretty, pretty fall leaves.  One of my neighbors had a beautiful maple tree that produced leaves about this color every fall.  I say, "had" because he had to cut it down after it was destroyed during the recent ice storm.  That was a loss and it will be much missed.

Handsome boy, with both ears.

This guy gets his picture here because he is going to the vet tomorrow.  You can kind of see the bubble on his ear.  I need to get that checked out and lanced if necessary to avoid being the worst cat owner in the world if it is causing him pain.  He actually doesn't seem phased by it, but I need to make sure he's fine and stays so very, very handsome.  Wish him and me luck at the vet tomorrow!

A night to remember

My beautiful lady slipper.

She keeps putting up more buds.

From my parents at Christmas, still striking.

Another picture of my rebloomers.

My friends who I work with with agree - last night was a night we will be talking about for years.  It will be the night that we use to scare new employees when they are foolish enough to make plans, "Well, in the session of '12, I thought I was going to go out for dinner too, except when I got off work nothing was open because it was 2 a.m."  So, I'm going to drink some coffee, brush myself off, go for a walk, and get ready for another day.  I can't wait to see what will happen.

Home, Birds, and Kitchens

Homeward Bound

Home is in Wisconsin, the land of Badger Red and White.  There was no doubt that this block would be in Badger Red and White.  Once a Badger, always a Badger.

Honeycomb

Of course I made this block golden yellow, with dots to mimic a honeycomb.  Now that I look at it, it kind of is disturbing to me.   There is something about groups of circles that I find slightly unsettling; I guess they are too much like white blood cells or something along those lines.  This will be the honeycomb, white blood cell block.  Blergh.

Hovering Birds

Did you know that the Pied Kingfisher hunts by hovering above water?  Did you know that this black and white bird can swallow its prey mid-flight and thus can fly over great distances of water?  Well, now you do.  Got a little David Attenborough on you just now.

Hovering Hawks

My hawks are Red-Tailed Hawks.  These are North America's most common hawks and can be found in open areas because they prefer fields and deserts in which to hunt.  The Red-Tailed Hawk displays aggressive posture when it holds its body and head upright while its feathers are standing erect.  But, then, you probably would have figured that was aggressive behavior if you saw that in the wild and wouldn't need me to tell you this.

Jackknife

Last time I was home, my dad gave me a black jackknife.  It's a great knife with a blade that will actually be big enough to slice an apple with when I go hiking.  That's the thing about why I like that knife; it isn't a cute girl knife, but an actual knife that will perform a function and doesn't have to be cute.  It replaces the cute girl knife I got from a now ex-boyfriend.  For some reason it was pink and way too small to be of use. You could kind of poke at an apple with it, but that was about it.  Oh, but so cute!  Seriously.  Not everything made for women needs to be pink and small.  Sometimes a welcome gift is one that actually works.  Rant ends here.

Kitchen Woodbox

I made this block out of kitchen chairs.  I cheated a bit to use more of the print, rather than have a solid white center.  I like it this way and wish I had kitchen chairs that looked like this.  Someday.   Someday.

Smitten - Blocks 10-12

Booyah!  Three more blocks done for the Smitten quilt.  I also have all the pieces cut for a fourth block, but I've decided to put that away and take out a few more Spinster blocks.  It's all good.

FNSI - February results

Warning, this post contains gratuitous kitty nipples and should only be viewed by adults who can handle that sort of thing.  Please know that no cats were hurt in the making of this post, but were rewarded with scritches and cheese.

Scout is bringing sexy back. 

Sam is properly horrified by this display.

Tonight for Friday Night Sew-in, I finished up two more blocks for my Smitten quilt with much assistance from the cat army. Here the word "assistance" is defined as "annoyance."  I kid, I kid, their crazy amount of interest in fabrics that much be cut accurately with sharp instruments is endearing.  Well, not really, but they clearly need some attention so I called it quits after two blocks.  We are going to spend some quality time on the couch discussing why we all have needs and boundaries that should be respected.

Grapes, Hills, and Honey

Grape Basket

I know that grape things are purple.  That's what I learned in grade school and an elementary school in a small farming community can only provide the best education possible.  However, I usually get green grapes at the store and when I went on my winery tour, the Chardonnay grapes were green.  Huh.  Still, I see purple grapes now and then. I just think it is funny that grapes aren't usually associated with the color green.  But, then, there was that Sesame Street sketch I watched as a kid which featured greedy Greg grabbing the green grapes so, really, there's no telling what color this block should have been.  If you can tell, I'm feeling homesick.  It's been that kind of day.  Mom and dad, expect a visit from me at session end.

Evening Star

 I decided that I really needed to make this block over again.  I liked my previous Evening Star, but the flowers were just a little too big and I knew that it would eat at my every time I looked at it in the finished quilt.  Rather than give me years of worry, I decided to do it again.  I am very pleased with the result.

Hill and Valley

Wow, I must really be homesick right now.  The name Hill and Valley makes me think of my grandparent's farm in Wisconsin.  They retired from farming before I came along (or shortly thereafter) and I never got to visit it while it was their working farm.  I did get to visit it as my grandparents remained on friendly terms with the purchaser.  I remember my grandfather pointing at the neighboring hills and telling me that my dad planted trees on them.  I hope those trees are still there.

Honey's Choice

I'm the only Honey around here, and my choice is to make this block bright orange and yellow.  I make very good choices, don't I?