Cats and Trees

It was late in the day by the time I got to my sewing machine yesterday, but I managed to get quite a bit done. The day before, I'd gone in search of hot fix crystals to light my little Christmas tree quilt, because I didn't have the right color in my collection. (Isn't that always the case, no matter what you're doing?) I was hoping for something "gold" in color...not metallic gold, but gold, as in dark yellow. Of course, that wasn't a color name that existed. It was hard to decide which was the right color, but I finally settled on "topaz".

My usual vendor seems to have divested itself of hot fix crystals altogether, and so I had to search elsewhere. It was surprisingly difficult to find the right size and color. Amazingly, I found just what I wanted on Amazon.

And I just want to go on record by saying that Amazon is my favorite place to shop these days. They seem to have absolutely everything, no matter how obscure. With Amazon Prime, we get free shipping and practically instant delivery. The promise is for two-day delivery, but as often as not, things come the very next day. When you live in a rural area, this is a great service. And if you are pretty much a recluse, as I am, it is almost essential.
So all of that to say that I found what I was looking for, but I seem to have found the last two packages of 36 crystals in captivity...which means I have 72 crystals to work with. When I counted out the "lights" I'd already quilted on yesterday, I was nearly halfway there. That meant that I had to be a little less liberal in my sprinkling. When I quit quilting the evening before, I'd placed a needle next to the spot I was headed next to remind myself to spread them out a little more.

My little cat was still mad at me for taking him to the vet yesterday, but he likes the new quilting machine. For one thing, I tend to pile up unquilted quilts beside the craft table and that makes a lovely soft bed for him.

And we both like looking out the window while we are sewing. We have to keep an eye on the mousies and make sure that pesky Uno doesn't come around.

With his help, I finished quilting the rest of the little sparkles onto the tree.

He was feeling recovered enough from his ordeal to help me check that the placement was appropriately random.

Then we continued on with the star. I hadn't planned to use metallic thread on the star background, but things have been going so well that I was emboldened once again.

Here's how it's looking from the back. My top tension isn't exactly right, and so some of that metallic thread is showing on the back. It's not bad though. I kind of like that you can see where the little lights are.

One of two packages of crystals arrived in today's mail, and so I laid them out next to the little quilted sparkles. I think this is going to look just right. The rest are scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I have no idea why they shipped separately, but these mysteries are best left to my good friend Amazon.

When I finish here, I'm going to quilt the stump of the tree with a wood grain motif. Then I have some other ideas for the area beneath the tree, the cornerstones, and the borders. When those areas are finished, the quilting will be finished.
Today I got my monthly pedicure, which was a little late. My toes badly needed their beauty treatment. After that, I went to the grocery store where I remembered (surprisingly) to ask for my senior discount. That saved me a whole 71¢!
And that's something to blog about.
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