Basting

I have been spending way too much time doing laundry, dishes, the basic chores of living... I did get one chore done that has nothing to do with the house. I basted Terms of Endearment.

I just throw the three layers together over a table and safety pin. No stretching, no pulling. Just trying to not get pleats (which I've certainly done) or big lumps of batting anywhere. Nice and flat, but no stress on any of the layers. It's nice having a cutting table now so the quilt layers are higher - easier on my back. I do have the "bed lifter" things so I can make any table higher now, but there's no way I'm going to do this process on the dining room table.

Not entirely sure how I'm going to quilt it. I'm going to experiment with putting more terms into those big chunks of fabric, using perle cotton in either a stem stitch or quilting stitch. I definitely have more I want to say.

Continuing the discussion of my little Leaping Lily... I'm lucky that she only weighs 7 lb and I give her regular pedicures, which she now actively dislikes and squeals and tries to pull her foot away which just makes it harder on both of us. She hasn't managed to destroy any clothes which is good. Lois is right about the reason for Lily's leaping - my little cat is trying to get at something out of reach.

This is where I usually talk on the phone. Lily is fascinated by the clock on the wall - of course, it's out of reach and it moves. You'll notice I have kitty barricades up - none of our cats can stand to knock the aluminum cans down because of the scary noise. So that keeps them away from the clock. So my back is the non-noisy way to try and get at it. I think. She's my sweet screwball, so who really knows.

That's a locally-made embroidery up on the wall. There's a project in the Upper Egyptian town of Akhmim to teach women skills, such as embroidery, but also reading and basic math. It's "fair trade" plus. All the work is incredibly colorful and made without patterns. I adore them and would have many more, except that the price is a bit high (but more than worth it) and of course they're not to my hubby's taste at all. I'm going to have to get one or two more before we leave tho.The title is "The Shepard." He's wearing the typical Egyptian gallabiya - kinda like a dress. A really really long shirt. Nice and cool. Anyway, I'm not sure what this is supposed to be a herd of. They look like pigs, except the legs are long. The joys of folk art - don't bother about the details, just do it.

I mentioned Lois above. I recommend her blog at Thoughts of Home Quilting. She's a fellow "Liberated Quiltmaking" fan and is currently working on some gorgeously classy houses, with just a touch of wonkiness here and there. Amazing how different they look from mine, but using the same techniques. And she has cats, also good.

My bestest buddy is back in town. She's a travelling fool, but will be here for 5 days. Hopefully we'll get down to the Khan and to some other fun places while she's here.