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October 2, 2025
Turn on those Sad Songs from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. It was the worst possible morning in cat land. It was raining...hard...and Smitty was relegated to the sheltered part of his catio.


The whole of the catio has a roof, but with the rain coming down so hard, he must have felt as if he needed even more cover.

Sadie was completely disgusted. How could we present them with such a terrible day of weather?


My morning was spent finishing off Block 7 of the Raggedy & Friends project. I'll set this aside until I'm ready to piece together the block.


There were ...

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Turn on those Sad Songs from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. It was the worst possible morning in cat land. It was raining...hard...and Smitty was relegated to the sheltered part of his catio.


The whole of the catio has a roof, but with the rain coming down so hard, he must have felt as if he needed even more cover.

Sadie was completely disgusted. How could we present them with such a terrible day of weather?


My morning was spent finishing off Block 7 of the Raggedy & Friends project. I'll set this aside until I'm ready to piece together the block.


There were ...

read more
September 30, 2025
Bleats and Pleats from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. Yesterday I was whining about the rain arriving just as I was preparing to drive a fair distance to a local quilt shop. As it turns out, the weather gods were merciful. I'll have a short window of dry weather for my drive today. I'm heading south to the Cotton Patch. It's "backing day" today. I can get a discount on backing fabric if I bring in my finished quilt top. I'll be showing up with the Scrappy Plus quilt top. 

It's been a while since I've been to the ...

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Bleats and Pleats from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. Yesterday I was whining about the rain arriving just as I was preparing to drive a fair distance to a local quilt shop. As it turns out, the weather gods were merciful. I'll have a short window of dry weather for my drive today. I'm heading south to the Cotton Patch. It's "backing day" today. I can get a discount on backing fabric if I bring in my finished quilt top. I'll be showing up with the Scrappy Plus quilt top. 

It's been a while since I've been to the ...

read more
September 29, 2025
Starting and Finishing from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. The promised rain has finally arrived. We're expecting rain for a good part of the week. It's just in time for my one-hour drive (both ways) to a quilt shop tomorrow. Too bad I couldn't have done it on a nicer day. Oh well. The fabric I'll see there will brighten my day.

But let's talk about yesterday, shall we? When I left you, I was heading for my slow-stitching. I was hoping I could finish it up yesterday. After stitching for an hour, I had to call it quits. Now ...

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Starting and Finishing from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. The promised rain has finally arrived. We're expecting rain for a good part of the week. It's just in time for my one-hour drive (both ways) to a quilt shop tomorrow. Too bad I couldn't have done it on a nicer day. Oh well. The fabric I'll see there will brighten my day.

But let's talk about yesterday, shall we? When I left you, I was heading for my slow-stitching. I was hoping I could finish it up yesterday. After stitching for an hour, I had to call it quits. Now ...

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September 3, 2025
Bears for Binding from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. How's September treating you so far? It was warm here yesterday, and it didn't really cool off overnight. I'm hoping we don't get another hot spell coming through. It seems like we've paid our dues for the year, doesn't it? (Says the person who spent most of the summer in Alaska.)

Just the border remained on my quilting project yesterday. That was a pretty quick round of the quilt. I used this upsy-downsy heart motif.


When it was finished, I laid it out for a picture.


Here's a look ...

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Bears for Binding from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. How's September treating you so far? It was warm here yesterday, and it didn't really cool off overnight. I'm hoping we don't get another hot spell coming through. It seems like we've paid our dues for the year, doesn't it? (Says the person who spent most of the summer in Alaska.)

Just the border remained on my quilting project yesterday. That was a pretty quick round of the quilt. I used this upsy-downsy heart motif.


When it was finished, I laid it out for a picture.


Here's a look ...

read more
September 2, 2025
Border Crossing from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. So that's enough of that three-day weekend stuff. It's time to get back to work. My yesterday started with a trip to our plum tree to pick plenty of pretty purple plums. (Awesome alliteration.) Just look at these pretties...


After selecting a dozen of the most ripe ones, I baked them into this Original Plum Torte.


There's a story behind this recipe: The NYTimes published Marian Burros's recipe for Plum Torte every September from 1983 until 1989, when the editors determined that enough was enough. The recipe was to be printed for ...

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Border Crossing from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. So that's enough of that three-day weekend stuff. It's time to get back to work. My yesterday started with a trip to our plum tree to pick plenty of pretty purple plums. (Awesome alliteration.) Just look at these pretties...


After selecting a dozen of the most ripe ones, I baked them into this Original Plum Torte.


There's a story behind this recipe: The NYTimes published Marian Burros's recipe for Plum Torte every September from 1983 until 1989, when the editors determined that enough was enough. The recipe was to be printed for ...

read more
September 1, 2025
Plan B for "Better" from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. Happy Labor Day and welcome to September! Time marches on, doesn't it? Fall will be here soon enough. Our landscape is already showing signs. 

It was a busy weekend for me. Matthew was here on Saturday and spent the day with us. It was good seeing him and hearing about all the things he's involved with. Then yesterday, I had some housework to do, and we also headed down to the neighbors' for an open house. We didn't stay long, but it still took a chunk out of the day.

Despite being busy ...

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Plan B for "Better" from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. Happy Labor Day and welcome to September! Time marches on, doesn't it? Fall will be here soon enough. Our landscape is already showing signs. 

It was a busy weekend for me. Matthew was here on Saturday and spent the day with us. It was good seeing him and hearing about all the things he's involved with. Then yesterday, I had some housework to do, and we also headed down to the neighbors' for an open house. We didn't stay long, but it still took a chunk out of the day.

Despite being busy ...

read more
August 30, 2025
A Finish! from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. I'm happy to say that the Stitchin' Wisdom quilt is finished! It's my first finish since returning from our trip. It took a while, but I turned the fourth corner before we needed to head out yesterday morning.


And then it wasn't long before I reached the end. I laid it out in front of the window for its picture. Smitty was on standby in case his assistance was needed.


And there it is...a finished quilt. Almost exactly three years in the making. I started this quilt on August 21, 2022, and ...

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A Finish! from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. I'm happy to say that the Stitchin' Wisdom quilt is finished! It's my first finish since returning from our trip. It took a while, but I turned the fourth corner before we needed to head out yesterday morning.


And then it wasn't long before I reached the end. I laid it out in front of the window for its picture. Smitty was on standby in case his assistance was needed.


And there it is...a finished quilt. Almost exactly three years in the making. I started this quilt on August 21, 2022, and ...

read more
August 28, 2025
A Good Day for Slow Stitching from ... Cat Patches

Good morning my friends. Our truck came home yesterday. Unfortunately, it has to go back again today. The air conditioner is working again, but not cooling very well. Probably it needs more refrigerant added, and we're hopeful that will fix it for good. If not, then I don't know. We're told it was an electrical issue, which would explain why it came on at times for a few minutes, then shut off again. Possibly some critter had chewed the electrical harness, but I'm no expert. It's a common occurrence here. Critters. Can't live with ...

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A Good Day for Slow Stitching from Cat Patches

Good morning my friends. Our truck came home yesterday. Unfortunately, it has to go back again today. The air conditioner is working again, but not cooling very well. Probably it needs more refrigerant added, and we're hopeful that will fix it for good. If not, then I don't know. We're told it was an electrical issue, which would explain why it came on at times for a few minutes, then shut off again. Possibly some critter had chewed the electrical harness, but I'm no expert. It's a common occurrence here. Critters. Can't live with ...

read more
August 27, 2025
Cut and Dyed from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. We've seen a big shift in the weather since we chatted yesterday. We even got a little rain this morning. There have been a few lightning strikes, and we've heard some thunder. That sort of thing isn't good when the landscape is so crispy and dry, and so we're hoping it doesn't spark a fire somewhere. We're not too worried about it where we are, but no new fires would be a good way to end the summer.

A good portion of my day was spent running around. I got ...

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Cut and Dyed from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. We've seen a big shift in the weather since we chatted yesterday. We even got a little rain this morning. There have been a few lightning strikes, and we've heard some thunder. That sort of thing isn't good when the landscape is so crispy and dry, and so we're hoping it doesn't spark a fire somewhere. We're not too worried about it where we are, but no new fires would be a good way to end the summer.

A good portion of my day was spent running around. I got ...

read more
August 25, 2025
Cool Cats from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. It was a mostly sewing day yesterday. It was too hot to be outside, although I did get out early to groom the poppies growing in whiskey barrels. I didn't take any pictures. There's really not much to see. My slow stitching had to wait since I wanted to get out before it got too hot. 

When I got to it, I was able to finish off the first of the two embroidered sections for Block 6 of the Raggedy & Friends project.


I'll get started on the second one this morning.

Now I ...

read more
Cool Cats from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. It was a mostly sewing day yesterday. It was too hot to be outside, although I did get out early to groom the poppies growing in whiskey barrels. I didn't take any pictures. There's really not much to see. My slow stitching had to wait since I wanted to get out before it got too hot. 

When I got to it, I was able to finish off the first of the two embroidered sections for Block 6 of the Raggedy & Friends project.


I'll get started on the second one this morning.

Now I ...

read more
  • free-motion quilting
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