tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043262277939128882024-03-16T03:08:16.865-04:00Wandering Cat StudioUpdates from the studio of Valerie JohnsonWanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.comBlogger2588125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-6425097156610036152018-06-06T00:00:00.001-04:002018-06-06T00:00:10.635-04:00On the moveI've gotten fed up with Blogger not fixing (or even responding) to their email problem.
Please join me at my new Wordpress site!
Don't forget to update your blog readers, etc so you don't miss out on any of our adventures!
See you soon!
Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-91830482040254183492018-06-05T00:00:00.000-04:002018-06-05T00:00:05.212-04:00Mid week garden tour
Finally! The Oriental Wedding Poppy has bloomed and it's a stunner! The picture doesn't do it justice. It's huge (about the size of my hand) and the the purple in the centre is so deep and rich.
My Foxglove has bloomed too. This one is Candy Mountain, and it's a much darker pink than I expected. I'm not complaining though. It's beautiful! And it will really bring in the bees.
Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-81750541735164162212018-06-04T00:00:00.000-04:002018-06-04T00:00:04.733-04:00SuperstarIt didn't take as long as I thought it would to sort out the mixed up blocks in the starburst quilt. And once that was done, the quadrants went together like nobody's business!
Now that centre is perfect, and all this top needs is some borders. Then it's up to Mom's for quilting. The long arm machine arrived last week and she's been practicing since then. I think she's been looking forward to Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-74039790730516082342018-06-03T00:00:00.000-04:002018-06-03T00:00:05.911-04:00Thick and quick
The first Father's day sock is done and dusted!
I love how quick these socks knit up. The yarn, from West Yorkshire Spinners, is new to me and it's lovely. It's a DK weight BFL and it's so soft.
This colourway is called "Owl" and I love the combination of neutral shades. The heels, toes and cuff ribbing are a different yarn (same company) and it has a little bit of nylon in it. It's not as Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-24552408960098950952018-06-02T00:00:00.000-04:002018-06-02T15:38:11.107-04:00Star quadrantsThere's a self-imposed rule about sewing in this house. I don't sew past 4 p.m. This is partly so I don't push my back muscles too hard (sitting for long periods leaves me in a lot of pain), but also because after 4 p.m., my brain apparently turns into a pumpkin.
I can be having the best sewing day, 4 p.m. hits and things start going sour. Every. Time.
So I really should have stuck to my rule Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-3557995828637667562018-06-01T00:00:00.000-04:002018-06-01T00:00:08.273-04:00Friday FelinesIt's just been baby animal central around here lately. After the great Bun Incident of last week. I woke up to a fledgling robin on my patio chair. I wisely kept Relic in until Mama and Papa Robin had shuffled him down a couple of houses.
Then later that day, I rescued this little guy from Krista's recycle bin.
I released him down by the fence line, but he found his way back up to my back doorWanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-31224355627233316622018-05-31T00:00:00.000-04:002018-05-31T00:00:07.867-04:00Bloom time
It's the most exciting time of the year in the garden. Almost every day, there's something new to see
The chives have fully opened and they are pretty. Useful and pretty, and I love that!
One of my Oriental Lilies didn't make it, so I found this gorgeous light mauve clematis to fill the corner. I've wanted a Clematis for a long time, so hopefully this is a good spot for it.
It will Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-19847537289187385762018-05-30T00:00:00.000-04:002018-05-30T00:00:08.833-04:00Three more starsI had big plans for sewing while I was on vacation, but other than trying out some free motion, I really didn't touch the machine much. I was planning to finish the top of the Dragonfly quilt, but that's a fairly big job and I just never got to it.
Instead, all I have to show are three Disappearing Hourglass Blocks
And they are three very pretty blocks! (I really think Moda is my fav fabric Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-89850040721699070272018-05-29T00:00:00.000-04:002018-05-29T00:00:03.811-04:00Yarn noodlesJust before vacation started, my 8mm needle came so I cast on again with the Bernat Blanket from Yarn Canada.
I've only knit a couple Feather and Fan repeats, but oh my what a difference! It's still a tricky yarn to keep an even tension on, but it's much nicer to knit on the bigger needle. It's hard to see, but I'm already into the third colour of the stripes. It's a lighter green than the Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-29401202723200104292018-05-28T00:00:00.000-04:002018-05-28T00:00:03.666-04:00FO: Doodle PigQuick note - Blogger isn't sending your comments to my email right now. Please know, I am reading and enjoying them all. Hopefully the issue gets fixed soon.
While on vacation, I took a day to hang out with Mom and get a lesson on free motion quilting. While she will have the big machine in a week or so, I thought it would still be good to learn on a smaller machine, for smaller projects I wantWanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-53919573895275978042018-05-27T00:00:00.000-04:002018-05-27T00:00:03.167-04:00Gotcha Ru-RuIt certainly doesn't feel like it, but it's been two years since we brought our favourite Ginger Nut home.
That's how he looked when he first arrived and he clearly wasn't amused. He was eight months old and those eight months must have been pretty traumatic for him, because he was not at all thrilled with the prospect of human contact. But little by little he warmed up to us, and has become Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-83986460492924316132018-05-26T00:00:00.000-04:002018-05-26T00:00:12.807-04:00Hopping to GrasshopperThere's a place, about 40 minutes from here that I've always wanted to visit, called Grasshopper Imports. It's been there for years, and it's on the way to my brother's, but I've never stopped. My neighbour and friend Krista (Wren's Mom) told me I just had to go, so on Thursday we made a play date and headed off
They have all kinds of textiles and decor from around the world, but we were there Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-10849980053693212882018-05-25T00:00:00.000-04:002018-05-25T00:00:04.330-04:00Friday FelinesMaybe we should have called him Rollin' Relic...
Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-44576194690142806952018-05-24T00:00:00.000-04:002018-05-24T00:00:12.925-04:00BountifulAs mentioned briefly in yesterday's posts, I did manage to the main thing on my vacation to-do list; the gardens.
Though I have a small property (maybe 25-30ft wide by maybe 60ft deep, with a townhouse smack dab in the middle of it), over the last five years, I've managed to cram a lot of gardens into that small space. I have nine garden spaces in total (the Butterfly Garden, the Butterfly Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-61259598416619629452018-05-23T00:00:00.000-04:002018-05-23T00:00:00.451-04:00A little bun-ventureThose who know me, know that I am very torn about Relic being a free-range kitty. It's partly because I worry about his own safety, and partly because I know cats can be very hard on the local wildlife.
With Relic, it seemed we had lucked out in that respect. Several times I've seen him sleeping in the patio chair while the birds were at the feeder about three feet away. He never pays them any Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-69259651259016776202018-05-22T00:00:00.000-04:002018-05-22T00:00:02.290-04:00FO: Clarkson
It took just over a month for this shorty pair (that I was sure I'd have done in a couple weeks!), but I'm happy to report that Clarkson is finished! As always, the Twisted Top Cat was a joy to knit with and makes wonderful soft socks. It's got a nice twist on it, so it helps the cables really pop too.
Usually I do a sock with a pattern all the way down the foot, so it was a nice change to Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-13700270002071120792018-05-21T00:00:00.000-04:002018-05-21T00:00:05.845-04:00FO: Pooh RagOkay, that's probably not the nicest name for a quilt, but it's accurate so it's the name it's getting.
It's a rag quilt, and it's covered in Pooh
And some Tigger too.
This little quilt was put together from a kit Mom had kicking around. She asked if I would like to put it together, and it should have been quick easy project. It was fairly quick - just a couple hours, but it was Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-31429962938483206802018-05-20T00:00:00.000-04:002018-05-20T00:00:00.688-04:00Long arm of the quilt lawI started my vacation a little early on Friday, and Mom and I headed off to Burlington early in the afternoon. She was on a mission and our destination was The Quilt Store West.
She wanted to play with and price up one of these...
For those of you who aren't quilters, that's a compact long-arm quilting machine. It makes doing all those beautiful whirls and swirls on the quilt so much Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-64268063682975257752018-05-19T00:00:00.000-04:002018-05-19T00:00:03.577-04:00Home sweet homeI am officially on vacation for a week. No grand adventures planned, just knitting and sewing and spending time in the wonderful little paradise I've created for myself.
And it's a paradise in bloom!
The red Columbine continue to show off. Just look at all those blooms!
The Iceland Poppy is blooming. It's a really cool plant, because it puts up different coloured flowers. Last year I got redWanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-82938174710723601702018-05-18T00:00:00.000-04:002018-05-18T00:00:06.061-04:00Friday FelinesNot long after Relic started hanging around, and Dave gave him his name, I called him our "garden cat" because he was so often hanging out with me while I gardened.
Now he's really living up to his name...
Every time I turn around, he's chillin' in one of the gardens.Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-76690299405387317292018-05-17T00:00:00.000-04:002018-05-17T00:00:01.320-04:00FO: Deep Sea StarsOn the weekend, I picked up the newly quilted Deep Sea Stars from Mom and spent the next few evenings finishing off the binding, so now you can see it in all it's glory.
And it's a biggie - about 80" square. I think it's the largest that I've done.
Like all the quilts I've made so far, I've only had a vague notion of how the finished product would look. In this case, I started with the Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-65311753446138711832018-05-16T00:00:00.000-04:002018-05-16T00:00:02.344-04:00Creeping ClarksonConsidering these are only shorty socks, I should be a heck of a lot farther along than I am.
Really, I should be done, but I've been slacking. At least I've finally turned the heel. It's all downhill from here!Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-28147276864506252682018-05-15T00:00:00.000-04:002018-05-15T00:00:08.350-04:00Gee golly gardensIt's still a touch early, but I couldn't resist stopping by the garden centre on the weekend to get a few new things for the garden. I don't have much room (which I always say) so I couldn't go too crazy (which I always do), but I had a lot of fun regardless.
(That's not as much as it looks!)
As you know, I lost two rose bushes, so this one
And this one
Came home to replace them. As you Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-81463993398770069502018-05-14T00:00:00.000-04:002018-05-14T00:00:06.383-04:00In the thick of itWith Mother's Day under our belt (I brought Mom some quilting fabric, homemade eggrolls, and spent a couple hours with her), I realized I had to get moving on my Father's Day present if I wanted to have it done in time.
Dad loves his thick socks, so it's always easy to knit up a pair for him. This is from the batch of yarn I bought earlier this year. This particular colourway is 'Owl'. Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104326227793912888.post-55893432734605756482018-05-13T00:00:00.000-04:002018-05-13T00:00:01.056-04:00Cygnet in the wildWhen Miss Rowan was down on the weekend, I decided to give her the Cygnet shrug a little early. Her birthday isn't until June, but I wanted to be sure it was going to fit. It did, so now's she's got the prototype, and I'm going to make her another one in our yarn for the pattern photos.
She liked it so much, she wanted to wear it right away. So while we were waiting for the doors to open at Wanderingcatstudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11459444703722115118noreply@blogger.com5