Is it hot enough?

First, let me state that it is me, not Cici, typing this blog today.  We have been enjoying some wonderfully high temps this past week.  I made popsicles for Willow by partially submerging a dog treat or toy in a plastic container of water and freezing it.  She likes them, but would really like to play with them INSIDE, in the air conditioning.............the melting prohibits this!

 She now has a wading pool on the patio so she can take a cooling soak whenever she wants.  She still prefers to be inside.

Here she is cooling her belly fur..........she held that pose for quite awhile!  And she has given up laying in front of the back door (after a few bonks on the noggin), and has found a new favorite spot, further back, right over the air vent!

And, when there is something interesting to watch on tv, like the Westminster Kennel Club Show, she will hang out in the living room.

And Willow's favorite thing to do is go for a ride.  The UPS truck has learned that if the door is open, she will jump in and go wherever. 

 

And while Cici hasn't been blogging, she has been helping in the sewing room.  We worked on the Laundry Basket Mystery Quilt...........

She checked the directions for me.  I used blue and neutral scraps.........

Here is the center portion completed.  We're working on a star border now.

And, much to her dismay, Cici got a bath at the beginning of June.  It's not that she was particularly dirty, but I have a couple of piano students for June, and one of them is allergic to cats, so a bath can really help cut down on the cat dander.  

It didn't take too long to dry out.

We also pieced this table runner which I'm hoping to quilt soon.

I quilted an embroidered quilt for my mom.  I did custom work, putting in sashing and cornerstone motifs and doing free motion around the embroidery.

And I have been working on my guild challenge project.  I have 2 blocks done.  They are tiny, 44 pieces in each little block.  Cici thinks these pieces might be too small to work with.

Happy Father's Day!  I'm excited because we are eating out today, unlike Mother's Day when I had to cook the meal and then take it to the family dinner.

Christi

The Results

Well, sports are officially over until football in the fall.  Jackson finished 4th in the hurdles and the shuttle hurdle relay finished 4th with a personal best time and a new school record - 2 state medals!

Now, I don't know if you have noticed all the rain we have been getting, but I'm enjoying it!  Why?  well, for one thing, I'm an inside cat. Secondly, the Canine Catastrophe has been so wet, muddy, and dirty, that she hasn't been allowed INSIDE!

Of course, then, the poor farmer who doesn't have all of his beans planted needed something to do, so he made this.............

 A way to get the Canine Catastrophe CLEAN!  

Of course, it doesn't last long.  As soon as she jumps out, she goes and plays in the mud so she can get in the cleaning tank again.  She thinks it's a game.

When my human came home from St. Louis, she brought 24 quarts of strawberries from an Amish Auction.  It gave the farmer something to do.  He even made his own strawberry pie!

My human has also given a couple of quilts away as graduation gifts to 2 of her piano students.

Kelsey got the Blue Radiance quilt and Nikki got the Modern Rainbow.

My human has finished another quilt, but she must be waiting for a sunny day to take photos.  Guess we'll be waiting awhile.

Lest we forget the most important things............here is a photo to wish you a wonderful day!

Cici

p.s.  for those of you saddened by the complete lack of sports to report on, I've heard the Olympics are starting in July!

One Day More by Cici

 One Day More of Track and Field!  High School junior Jackson is running 2 events at the state track finals in Des Moines today, and then track will be over.  We've spent a lot of time staring at the computer screen watching live feeds and results come in.............. here's the recap!

A week ago Thursday, Jackson qualified for state in 4 events.........110 high hurdles, shuttle hurdle relay, 400 low hurdles, and the 4x400 relay.  Today, he is competing in the finals of the 110 high hurdles and the shuttle hurdle relay.

Then, a week ago Friday, college freshman, Carter, was participating in the Missouri Valley Conference track meet in Illinois for the University of Northern Iowa.  His main thing was the decathlon (10 events in 2 days), but he also competed individually in high jump, long jump, and javelin to try to help the team score more points.  The men did repeat as conference champs, so guess it worked.  

Carter was leading after the first day of the decathlon and finished in 2nd overall.  UNI went 1,2,3,4 in the decathlon, so they were pretty excited.  That's Carter on the right.

Here is Jackson's shuttle hurdle relay team.  He's on the left.  We're hoping they do well this morning.

In other news, the reason for the delay in my blogging is that my human went to St. Louis for a couple of days and took the laptop with her!  She went to stay with Sarah after she had her second Covid shot in case she didn't feel well.  Apparently she didn't feel well.

I don't know why my human had to go when Sarah obviously had her favorite quilt and cat to offer their healing powers.

My human took some small sewing projects to work on.

Of course, I was on hand to help her prep some small projects to take.  I supervised the fabric selection for the mystery quilt from laundry basket quilts she is working on.

When she got back home, I was surprised at how little she had accomplished.

These are 12" table toppers.  Apparently she sewed several things incorrectly and had to do some ripping.  What do you expect when you try to sew without the supervision of your best sewing cat!

Stay tuned for track meet results tomorrow!

Cici

Better Times by Cici

Well, things are looking up after working on that hideous Christmas quilt last weekend.  I supervised the fabric selections for another Christmas wall hanging.  She got it all sewed together and just took it off Lucey 2 this afternoon.  

And I've been helping her keep up with the new Laundry Basket Quilts Mystery Quilt.  It started on Monday and there is a new clue every day.  

 She's just using scraps from her blue and neutral tubs.  Every morning we stir them up and see what floats to the top!

Frankly, I'm embarrassed by these tubs.  She started in on an organizing task a couple of weeks ago and folded all the larger pieces.

Then she started working through the scrap bins.  She got green, black, and gray done.  Obviously she hasn't touched the blue tub yet!

There's actually room for me to take a nap in this tub now!

Actually, I've been hanging out in Sarah's room in my tower.  Well, it was mine to start with and then it got moved in to this room for Dory, but now it's mine again!  The room is dark and quiet, but close enough to the sewing room that I can keep an eye on things.

Also part of the organizing fever was to get the TBQ (to be quilted) closet cleaned up.  All of these tops have batting and backing cut and are ready to quilt.  There are 10 in the picture, but I can report that some quilting has been happening, because now, there are only seven things hanging there.

And, she picked up all the batting pieces, and stacked the empty project tubs!

She says she is just "in love" with this quilt pattern called Gingersnap.  Is it because it's named after a food?  This is Grandma's quilt that she left to be quilted.

She pulled this project out for us to work on.

There were some gaps in her plan, but we got that solved and she has it sewn together now.  Apparently we're going to add some pieced borders..............yeah!  More time at the cutting table!

And, the Canine Catastrophe is, unfortunately, still with us despite trying to eat her own water dish.

Why we have so many pictures of her is beyond me.

Cici

Horrible Weekend by Cici

It was one of those "bury your face and don't come out" weekends.  

 I tried to express my displeasure about the weekend sewing room project by not looking directly at it at any time.  At least she got it totally finished and has folded it up to put away for Christmas.  (Maybe she won't be able to find it!)

When I ventured into the sewing room to see this on Lucey 2, it was all I could do not to hack up a hairball right then and there.  And she (my human) was so excited to be quilting her new snowflake pattern!  

She's calling it "Willow's First Christmas".  Yeah right, the Canine Catastrophe was already way bigger than that last Christmas.  By Christmas 2021, she'll be a full-size horse.  At least there is only 1 of her and not 6 like in this quilt.  She put a hanging sleeve on it so she can hang it in the bedroom.  Guess I won't be going in there during the Christmas season.

Speaking of the bedroom, the humans have been doing some spring cleaning.  One morning last week, they actually moved the bed and vacuumed under it and dusted behind it.  Under the bed is the best place to escape the Canine Catastrophe.  I don't recall them ever doing this type of cleaning before.  I heard them saying something about "every 10 years", so if that's the case, I haven't been here that long.  The next morning they moved the piano to do the same thing.  Now, I had been waiting for this.............. do you know how many catnip mice and sparkly balls we found back there?  No wonder the piano was sounding funny.  Of course, the piano tuner's visit that day probably helped.  It was nice to have so many toys back in play.  Now if they'd only move the refrigerator.

Since my beautiful face wasn't available for photos this weekend, I thought you might enjoy these............

Spot........

Oreo...........

And Twinkie!

Twinkie appears to be chubby enough that one should be careful squeezing lest the cream filling come out...........just sayin'.

And here are the 2 quilts that she hadn't photographed after they were finished.

She thinks this pattern is "Arkansas Crossroads", but she's calling it "Anything Goes".  She used her new "Whisper" quilting pattern on it.

And this is the Quilty Stars all finished.  I think the blues sparkle like my eyes.

Well, sorry for the lapse in blogging; I just couldn't face a quilt with little canine catastrophes on it.

Cici