Red?

I'm not a "red" person.  I'm really not.  So it's difficult to determine what's gotten into me.  When I saw this little quilt in Carol Hopkins' excellent book, "Civil War Legacies" I had to make it.  And thanks to an embarrassingly bulging stash, I could pick fabrics from the closet and start it immediately.  (Note to self:  straighten the stash closet!)  Isn't it charming?  Please excuse the terrible picture;  I threw it over the treadmill and snapped a quick pic.  But I just love it.

There are a lot more little quilts in this book I'm dying to make, but I'm trying to catch up on a mystery I started late, and keep up with the newest Sunbonnet Sleuth mystery.  And, of course, finish the Bowood House Orca Bay variation and any other languishing projects that lie on my cutting table, like the Christmas throw using Moda's Merry Medley charm packs.  

I'm not getting as much sewing done recently because I end up spending so much of my day working with the little stray kitty Tuxedo.  He's coming along just fine and has been passing the evenings with me in the den while I read on the computer or on my Kindle.  As for now, he's confined to the kitchen/den/laundry area but after a few chair-clawing moments, he's understood that the scratching post is the proper place for those kinds of things, and he loves the three toys he has - feather on a stick, catnip mouse and what I call "octo-bunny", the strangest looking pet toy I've ever seen.  It has a bunny head, round body with a rattler inside, and four humongous long legs that are great for chewing on.  It also flops satisfactorily when being wrestled.  I think I need to buy a backup in case this one gets destroyed!

Tuxie did a little meet-and-sniff with Molly through the crack of the door at the dining room last night and both did pretty well.  Molly made a few warning noises, but stood her ground on the other side of the door until Tuxie put a paw through and tried to pat her (NOT claw, just pat).  Molly took exception to being touched by this upstart and retreated a bit but stayed.  Tuxie was talking to her in intriguing kitty noises - wonder what he was saying?  They are both curious about the other but can't figure out exactly what to do.  The first time Molly and Tuxie accidentally met face to face she swatted him.  We are managing the meetings carefully and hope in time he will be less uncouth enough to be a house kitty and she will not be insulted and threatened by another cat in the house.  The best I hope for is that they ignore each other;  I'm not really aiming to find her a playmate (she doesn't really want one), just not initiate a bloodbath!  Tux just needs to understand that Molly is the queen of the house, she got here first, and she always will be the top cat.  That might be hard for a pushy little boy to swallow.  So far, neutering has mellowed him out some, but not hugely.  He's a work in progress.