Reading 1820 Blogs Daily!


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May 16, 2025
A Little Finish from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. Well, the rubber is about to hit the road here, both literally and figuratively. Time grows short. I had a moment of panic last night thinking about all I need to do between now and the day we leave on our trip. Then, as I've told a few of you, I talked myself back from the ledge by reminding myself that the truck can't leave without us. And, if I'm thinking straight, I know I have plenty of time. But the time is now. I need to get moving. 

Just before coming upstairs ...

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A Little Finish from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. Well, the rubber is about to hit the road here, both literally and figuratively. Time grows short. I had a moment of panic last night thinking about all I need to do between now and the day we leave on our trip. Then, as I've told a few of you, I talked myself back from the ledge by reminding myself that the truck can't leave without us. And, if I'm thinking straight, I know I have plenty of time. But the time is now. I need to get moving. 

Just before coming upstairs ...

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May 2, 2025
A Beary Small Start from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. Before I sat down here, I needed to top off my coffee cup. I have a lot to tell you today. It's going to require a full cup. Since yesterday was the reveal of my Tula-Tu quilt, I'm a day behind on the usual goings-on here at the Three Cats Ranch. By all means, everything that happens every minute of every day must be fully documented. I'm sure you understand. 

First, thank you to the many of you who left such kind comments about Tula-Tu. If you missed her, you can read the ...

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A Beary Small Start from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. Before I sat down here, I needed to top off my coffee cup. I have a lot to tell you today. It's going to require a full cup. Since yesterday was the reveal of my Tula-Tu quilt, I'm a day behind on the usual goings-on here at the Three Cats Ranch. By all means, everything that happens every minute of every day must be fully documented. I'm sure you understand. 

First, thank you to the many of you who left such kind comments about Tula-Tu. If you missed her, you can read the ...

read more
April 3, 2025
Product Review: Taylor Seville Magic White Marking Pen from A Prim and (not so) Proper Quilter

I’m almost always game to try a new-to-me product with the goal of improving my efficiency which is code for finishing the quilt FASTER so I can move on to the next one.


I’m a sucker for quilting notions, and I have purchased a few new-to-me items over the last few years. Cindy and I went shopping at a local quilt shop the last week of December and were delighted to find that the notions were 30% off—a great after-Christmas bonus for us. I spent some time at their notion wall and saw this product:

This is ...

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March 18, 2025
Eggcited Sewing from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. It's another morning when I'm writing fast. Mike and I are headed into town this morning for COVID boosters. We're still "Novids," and we want to keep it that way. I wonder if a day will come when we no longer need boosters. Also, I wonder if a day will come when boosters are no longer available. It seems there's always something to ponder these days. In any case, we're hoping the boosters won't make us sick, but we've kept our tomorrow free just in case.

A lot of ...

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Eggcited Sewing from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. It's another morning when I'm writing fast. Mike and I are headed into town this morning for COVID boosters. We're still "Novids," and we want to keep it that way. I wonder if a day will come when we no longer need boosters. Also, I wonder if a day will come when boosters are no longer available. It seems there's always something to ponder these days. In any case, we're hoping the boosters won't make us sick, but we've kept our tomorrow free just in case.

A lot of ...

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March 17, 2025
Getting My Irish Up from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends, and Happy St. Patrick's Day. I'm getting my Irish up today, but only because my great-grandfather was an Irish immigrant. It means I'll be making something Irish for dinner tonight. The Google tells me that to "get one's Irish up" means "to become angry or outraged." Rest assured there's nothing angry or outrageous going on here, unless you're talking about reading the news in the morning. For that, I make an exception.

So let's just see what's going on. For one thing, I told you yesterday I would ...

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Getting My Irish Up from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends, and Happy St. Patrick's Day. I'm getting my Irish up today, but only because my great-grandfather was an Irish immigrant. It means I'll be making something Irish for dinner tonight. The Google tells me that to "get one's Irish up" means "to become angry or outraged." Rest assured there's nothing angry or outrageous going on here, unless you're talking about reading the news in the morning. For that, I make an exception.

So let's just see what's going on. For one thing, I told you yesterday I would ...

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March 15, 2025
Sewturday from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. It's rain, rain, rain at our place. We're supposed to get some clearing on Tuesday, but the rain will be back by Wednesday. Honestly, I'm glad we're getting plenty of rain. Since we'll be gone during some of the warmest weather of our summer season, drought conditions would be undesirable. We'll be setting up automatic sprinklers, but it's still nice to know the rest of the landscape will be well-watered. Our weather has been of the everything-in-a-day variety lately. It snowed for a good part of the day yesterday ...

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Sewturday from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. It's rain, rain, rain at our place. We're supposed to get some clearing on Tuesday, but the rain will be back by Wednesday. Honestly, I'm glad we're getting plenty of rain. Since we'll be gone during some of the warmest weather of our summer season, drought conditions would be undesirable. We'll be setting up automatic sprinklers, but it's still nice to know the rest of the landscape will be well-watered. Our weather has been of the everything-in-a-day variety lately. It snowed for a good part of the day yesterday ...

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March 7, 2025
Niche Notions Quilt Shops on Off the Wall Friday from Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever by Nina-Marie Sayre

 So now that JoAnn's is no longer, where does one shop?  So glad you asked!!  I've always liked technology... although for the record...my favorite saying is "Technology is the new Alchemy


(because I really think its a mysterious magic).
Anyways...  I've been shopping online since pretty much the beginning. I'm not one to buy from the big-name online quilt shops but more enjoy searching for the smaller niches of notions.  I remember back in 1997, when I found this thread distributor who sold mostly to commercial customers but would put up their odds and ends ...

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January 29, 2025
Binding Queen from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. It was a pretty slow day yesterday. As I mentioned, it was the day for my routine mammogram. I've heard nothing about it yet, which is probably a good thing. If there's nothing to report, I'll receive notification via the MyChart system. Maybe your health care provider uses the same system. I was told they would call if anything worrisome showed up, so I figure no news is good news. Still, I'll be happier when I receive some sort of message from them.

It was a quick in and out. I was ...

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Binding Queen from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. It was a pretty slow day yesterday. As I mentioned, it was the day for my routine mammogram. I've heard nothing about it yet, which is probably a good thing. If there's nothing to report, I'll receive notification via the MyChart system. Maybe your health care provider uses the same system. I was told they would call if anything worrisome showed up, so I figure no news is good news. Still, I'll be happier when I receive some sort of message from them.

It was a quick in and out. I was ...

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January 11, 2025
A Little Progress from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. By the time I finished writing yesterday, our skies had gone from dreary and gray to sunny and blue. When I went downstairs, I saw Sadie outside. It always makes me smile seeing them outside doing cat things. She seemed to have a bead on something small and furry. 


My day seemed to fly by. I don't know what I did all morning. Well...I do know, but it was all pretty slow and uninteresting. And, now that I think of it, slow and uninteresting is a good way to spend a day when you ...

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A Little Progress from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. By the time I finished writing yesterday, our skies had gone from dreary and gray to sunny and blue. When I went downstairs, I saw Sadie outside. It always makes me smile seeing them outside doing cat things. She seemed to have a bead on something small and furry. 


My day seemed to fly by. I don't know what I did all morning. Well...I do know, but it was all pretty slow and uninteresting. And, now that I think of it, slow and uninteresting is a good way to spend a day when you ...

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December 14, 2024
Guard Duty from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends, and happy Saturday. I've realized that Saturday is probably my favorite day of the week. Generally, I give myself a day off from housekeeping chores. Ordinarily, I made breakfast for the two of us every day, but I've taken Saturday off for a long time. So, Saturday is my day to do only what I feel like doing. As you might guess, sewing is usually involved. Today I'll get in a Bowflex workout, but otherwise, it will be NBS. Maybe I'll bake some muffins. 

After writing yesterday's blog post, Sadie could ...

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Guard Duty from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends, and happy Saturday. I've realized that Saturday is probably my favorite day of the week. Generally, I give myself a day off from housekeeping chores. Ordinarily, I made breakfast for the two of us every day, but I've taken Saturday off for a long time. So, Saturday is my day to do only what I feel like doing. As you might guess, sewing is usually involved. Today I'll get in a Bowflex workout, but otherwise, it will be NBS. Maybe I'll bake some muffins. 

After writing yesterday's blog post, Sadie could ...

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December 13, 2024
The Best of Christmas Gifts Quilters Want on Off the Wall Friday from Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever by Nina-Marie Sayre

So today the sun shone in my part of the county while our lakefront once again got pelted with snow. 


Erie is easily up over 60" inches of snow and it's not even winter.  It's been exhausting and kept people from truly enjoying Advent and the Holiday season.  I have a bit of the blahs that have been continuing for about the last 3 weeks.  Sigh the joys of dark grey days.  

Anyways...

Over the years I've done a series of posts about Christmas gifts I thought were what every quilter needed but might not be ...

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December 7, 2024
A Good Day Goes Bad from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. Don't let that title fool you. It's all good. I'll tell you what I meant by that in a minute. First off...it's wet outside. The promised rain has returned. It's supposed to be a wet weekend, but sunny by Monday. That's weather I can live with, but I expect it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. We haven't even reached winter yet, my friends, although it might feel as if it's here to many of you.

So when we left off yesterday ...

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  • product review
  • Page 1 of 9 ( 171 posts )