My quilting thoughts and inspirations sprinkled with a glimpse of life down on the farm

Monday, August 24, 2026

A One Year Anniversary

Day 24 of my blogpost a day August Challenge

Today marks exactly one year since McGeorgeous came to live with us.

My nieces trapped and rescued him from the church grounds below their apartment in Auckland. 
After a few months of rehabilitation with their two cats, he came north to us.
(My brother put aside his 60th birthday celebrations to help bring him up, which is a good way to remember when we got him!)
He spent the first few weeks living under the bed in the spare room. 
Sometimes in the bed —
He's had his scraps while he's been here; about 10 days on, while starting to explore the house, Tammy cat chased him outside through a door we didn't realise was open. It took two days and lots of planning to entice him back in again - we had to shut Tammy upstairs overnight, leave a sliding door open for him, with some food nearby.....he came in, had a feed then came along to the bedroom for a nosey. Very stealthily we managed to shut the bedroom door, then the outside door and trapped him back inside. Then he spent all night lying on me and purring his little heart out.
[We also had the Garden Shed incident a few months back when he disappeared for nearly a week - locked in the garden shed 😢.]
He's very smoochy and companionable when he feels safe but is also very timid...some people just have to believe that he exists - as they've never seen him! Our son has been living with us for months, and he's only just now being allowed some pats!
He's becoming a good little sewing room cat aka The Palace Cat —
He and Tammy are becoming nice little friends, but she won't tolerate him snuggling up and sleeping with her.

So there we go, 12 months of Mr McGeorgeous. He who takes up a big space in our hearts.

'til next time,
happy stitches,
Raewyn

Sunday, August 23, 2026

Marmalade

Day 23 of my blogpost a day August challenge

A quilt that took my eye last year was the Marmalade quilt which was a covergirl on the Australian Quilters Companion magazine.
(I think it might have got its name from it's marmalade coloured border?)
I thought it would be a fun scrappy quilt to make; one that could slowly evolve in the background.
In the evenings  in the early part of winter I hand stitched all the Pentagon flower blocks and appliqued them to their backgrounds -
And recently I've started making the triangle blocks
Today I 'cornered 'the pentagon blocks and then laid a few blocks out to see how they were shaping up - 
It's going to be a bit brighter than some of my work but I think it will work out. My other projects lately have been reasonably controlled colour-wise so this might take a bit to get used to!!
Anyway, it can continue in the background as my leader-ender project.

And another silly animal photo - most speckled snout of the season award goes to #33 - 

'til next time,
happy stitches,
Raewyn

Saturday, August 22, 2026

Lucky Us

How lucky are we? Tonight the family teamed up to give the MOML and I the afternoon's chores off so we could watch a special hockey game.
YD has worked hard and in the last two seasons, has made the Womens Premier grade team for her club. This year her team made the finals and tonight was the night of the big game.
Son-in-law took over in the shed, and son was in the calf shed, so we showered and sped up the drive before anyone could change their mind!
It was a great game but sadly the final score did not for our way -
ED and family were there too. Miss Lily decided she needed a selfie with Ganma -
And was mesmerised with her wee cousin Isobel -
Rounded off with a nice meal in town before heading home -
We were so appreciative of being able to get away for a few hours.....we quite enjoyed our wee date!
'til next time,
happy stitches,
Raewyn