Hurricane Irene

I weathered Hurricane Irene just fine, even though the forecast for southern NY (I'm about 30 miles north of NYC) had been severe. It rained hard, and the wind was fierce, but being on higher ground than NYC and on a hill within this town, helped me avoid flooding. I was also lucky enough not to have any power issues, though my ex-husband, in a town 5 miles down the road, lost power for 36 hours. He had a full house too, with both kids there and his parents visiting from overseas. At least he has a gas stove, so cooking isn't made virtually impossible, My stove here is, unfortunately, electric. I'd have had a harder time of it.

I was relieved I didn't lose power. Jeff is out in Seattle, where he was working at the PAX Prime convention. So without power I'd just have the cats to talk to. I'm not quite that ready to be a crazy cat lady yet! Jeff did a live stream for the company he works for from PAX, which was hugely successful. I was happy for him as he worked really hard on it. Having power also allowed me to watch the stream, and Jeff. And it allowed me to do some sewing as well.

I made binding for my charm squares baby quilt, and the Olivia the Pig quilt. I pieced the back of the Olivia quilt (it's only 2 halves). I machine quilted the charm squares baby quilt, and bound it. I'll post more elaborately on that one later, after I speak with its intended recipient.

Trying to measure and cut down your quilt backing using floor space, when you have cats, is nigh on impossible. I put the backing down and the top on to get an approximate idea, and this is what happened in under 30 seconds, when I had turned to get scissors:





Eventually I had to put Lieam (the smaller black one) into the bedroom, because he started rampaging around on the fabric, and I couldn't keep anything straight. At least it was only 2 out of 3 cats on there though.

Besides the charm square quilt, I also traced a pajama bottom pattern onto Swedish tracing paper, which I was going to use the Terrain flannel that Kate Spain generously sent to me. Of course, I picked a directional print, and the pattern did say that additional fabric would be needed for directional prints, but didn't specify how much. It would figure that in order to get the pattern going in the direction I want, I'm about 4-6 inches short. I think I will order some flannel myself when yardage becomes available, and sew some pajama pants for Miss Matilda with the material Kate sent. I'm certain Tilly will be very excited, it's such pretty fabric. I'm bummed though, the flannel is deliciously soft, and I had huge expectations of making them yesterday. So, sadly, I must wait. Argh!

Progress was also made on my Flipside quilt. I cut strips for sashing and binding, and got some sashing sewn yesterday. I hope to finish that top today. If I'm really good, and get the floor mopped again, I hope to baste the Olivia quilt. I'd like to finish that before the kids come back from their vacation with their dad. I hope Matilda will love it.