First the HEAT.
Yes it's been a record year for temps over 100 and add to that the high humidity and you have horrible weather.
When we lived in California we could have temps upward of 110 but with the low humidity it was hot but tolerable; not so here. Now, we have not hit 110+ but we have had a stretch of 104 - 106.  I mostly stay inside and keep the lights off until around 8 pm; I do the laundry, run the dishwasher, or some cooking all by 10 am. This helps keep the house cooler and having the A/C set to 76 I would like to think that I am helping NOT max out our electrical grid.

I have finished cleaning the quilt fabric closet as well as the family room which has my sewing corner. During that I found 3 quilt tops I finished 4-5 years ago but never layered and sewed to make quilts PLUS there are the unfinished quilt blocks for Kira's "Wedding Quilt". 

With the heat I am holding off cleaning the sun room (off the family room) and my metal studio both of which are NOT air conditioned and are despite having windows open to allow a breeze.  I will tackle them in September when it cools off, if it does by then.

I decided to finish a quilt from one of the quilt tops I have that is scrap fabric from other quilts and sewing projects. It's for a chair thus it is only the width of it but it is long so it drapes over the back and down the front; this quilt was to started to replace the prior chair quilt that literally wore out after being used for almost 15 years!

Last Friday I removed the paper (from the piecing), ironed the top, pieced the batting to give me the length, and found a large piece of fabric (in the quilt fabric closet) so it's one whole piece for the back. I then laid it all out on the floor and pin basted the layers together. Saturday I started sewing by doing the straight line horizontal quilting, Sunday I did the vertical quilting and yesterday, Monday, I bound it. I HATE binding a quilt and since I have not bound a quilt in over 10 years this was a bit of struggle but it's done. The quilt is has now been wash and shall be placed on the chair I now use for watching TV (it was Erich's chair). 

Next up, finishing Kira's quilt.

I bought a new camera last week so I can take better pictures of my metal work. You can read about it here. 

Which means I can now take better pictures of the wee kitty known as Boots, Princess Fluffy, El Cato Rancho, Boots-si-kins, etc...

Yes, Boots has a new spot. It is on a quilt, on the bannister, at the top of the stairs. 

Note: That bannister over looks the entry way below. YES, below. If she falls that is over a 16 foot drop. 

And she JUMPS onto the bannister from the landing and over the bags of my weaving yarn. She then settles down and lays there watching us walk by.

This is now our morning ritual.

I come downstairs, from getting ready for work, Erich is still packing my lunch so I take the fish on an elastic string (cost $3 at Walmart) and I drag it along the floor and make it “disappear”.  Boots then pounces on it and when she lets go I flip it into the air and she jumps and well, you get the picture.

Quite recently she has started to roll onto her back and play with it that way. I don’t understand why she holds it in her front paws and then uses her back paws to poke and scrape/claw/punch it. It must be an instinctual thing so she could “kill” or rip open her pray that she caught. Have you ever seen this???

I was in my office/studio/bonus room yesterday. Besides working on this new version of kernology, I was was working on a silver bracelet in the Arts & Crafts style (sorry not done yet, no peaking), and this was my companion.

This is Boots, the cat that adopted us almost 3 years ago. Most mornings she sleeps on a quilt in the family room. Then in the afternoons she comes up and sleeps on the window seat in my office. I think it is because it is warm(er) because the window faces west and it gets the afternoon sun.

But there she was, sleeping, with me listening to music, sawing, filing, and hammering away on the silver.