Happy Thanksgiving

We're here and ready for food! Let us in, please.

We got the day started by carving the fabulous turkey.

Some delicious side dishes were prepared by the master,

and Mom and Thom baked homemade pumpkin and apple pies.

We enjoyed good conversation, football, and a little bit of Trivial Pursuit,

giving us a wonderful Thanksgiving day

full of food, family, love and laughter!

Selvage Quilts

I follow a few quilting blogs and today I made my way through various links to this quilting blog where quilters create designs using just the selvage pieces of fabric. If you peruse the site for a while you'll come across some crazy and amazing pieces like this:

and this:

and this:

All photos from: http://selvageblog.blogspot.com/. Follow the link and enjoy!

Updates

I had forgotten to post a picture of the car that Zach purchased for his replacement after the accident. We both really like this new Subaru Forester and we love the color!

I recently finished a few sewing projects as you can see in the pictures below. The quilt is finished for Zach (his t-shirt quilt) and the apron was a gift for Mom Hawk's birthday.

This past Sunday we were able to visit Zach's family to celebrate Mom's birthday as well as making an early visit for Thanksgiving. We had a good time and the dinner Mom-mom and Pop-pop prepared was a delicious spread of pasta and sauce and home-cooked meats.

I am now relaxing for my brief yet definitely appreciated break for the holiday. We will visit Mom, Dad and family tomorrow and enjoy a turkey dinner there.

Happy Thanksgiving

to extended family and friends who are too far to visit!

Our kitten's growing up!

This was him in August.

And this is him now!

Alligator Cat

For those of you that remember my post from facebook about Beeker stealing my fluffernutter sandwich, here's another story about Beeker's insane ability to steal food.

Yesterday I packed up a bag of food to take to my house-sitting job and left it on the counter. Yes, I know, I should not have done that, but I didn't think it would be very long until I walked out the door with it. Anyway, I came back to the kitchen and found Beeker just about to discover the bag of bagels. When he saw me approach, he immediately took a gigantic bite into the bagel bag, flattened his ears defensively, held a solid stance, and starting growling as I attempted to pry his mouth open to remove it.

Let me try to describe to you how insanely strong this cat's jaws are. Most of you are probably familiar with the alligator and how their jaws are designed. They really aren't very capable of opening their jaws with much strength, hence the reason tying their mouths shut is so successful. However, their ability to crush and hold their jaws closed together around their prey is incredible. This strength is what I thought of as I struggled to open Beeker's jaws gripping the bag of bagels. I could literally feel his jaw muscles tense, tight and immovable.

Anyway, back to the play by play. So Beeker is still holding his grip on the bag of bagels, but what he doesn't realize (I assume) is that his bite included the cloth grocery bag as well. So I'm picturing this cat at any moment ready to carry his prize off the counter and the entire bag of food smashing to the floor. Without being able to open his mouth, I try an alternate tactic and run for the CET chews. These things are the absolute most addictive treat you can find for cats and mine all go insane when the bag is opened each night. I offer the entire contents of the bag to Beeker and he refuses them! I am astounded and at this point I call Zach over to witness this entire affair.

As Zach arrives, Beeker decides to make his move. He goes in for another huge bite into the bagel bag (relinquishing the grocery bag itself), lifts it out of the grocery bag and dashes across the floor. Zach catches him and attempts to remove the bag of bagels, also without success. Beeker still refuses the CET chews. We finally end up breaking and wiggling the plastic bag out of his mouth and around the huge bite of bagel that he is still clenched onto and tearing off the portion of bagel in his mouth to release the savage beast. This cat is intense!

I snapped a picture with my camera phone but have no way to input into my comp. Bummer.

Weekend Project

Here is a completed quilt top that has been on my list of things to do for at least two years. (I can only imagine how long my list will grow as I age.) This is a collection of Zach's shirts that I convinced him to stop wearing for various reasons (doesn't fit, not in style anymore, 10 years was a long time ago, etc.). Of course the shirts could not be donated or thrown out despite how worn they were. So, I suggested that I make a shirt quilt and it was a compromise that he agreed to.

I haven't decided how to work the back of the quilt, but I still have quite a bit of the red fabric and may do a variation on the checkered pattern. The binding will be navy blue. I plan to hand-tie this quilt, so it should come together quickly.

Mystery solved

Yesterday I was going out for a walk and was hoping to take my Book on CD with me. So, I get my CD player, pull on my sweats and walking shoes and head out for a brisk walk through the neighborhood. I start my CD player, and although it appears to be playing, no sound is coming through the player. I adjust the cables that could possibly be loose and assure that everything is connected properly. No luck. Slightly bummed, I continue on my way in silence.

Today I attempted to do the same thing with Zach's CD player. This time I make certain it's in working order before I head outside. As I'm placing the headphones into the jack and untwisting the cords, I realize the reason for the lack of sound. Somehow the cord to the headphones is sliced in several places rendering the them out of order, not the CD player. Not sure how that happened, but thankful that the CD player still works, I pull out my replacement headphones and go for my walk.

Upon returning home, I sit in the chair and continue to listen to the last portion of my Book on CD when Mr. Otis comes and is suddenly on alert at the sight of my headphone cords.

Mystery solved.

P.S. My current Book on CD is Water for Elephants...highly recommended.