Tuesday To-Do #35: The Skunk Whisperer

Welcome to another round of to-do's on the

Tuesday Link-Up over at Texas Quilt Gal.

Let's talk about last week's goals...

1) Photograph Festive Firs and list in shop

Not done.  

The short story is, I just didn't get to it.

The longer one:
Wind, rain and even the position of the sun have

kept me from getting this done.   I'll keep trying but

my frustration in this area is high.  My house is not

bright enough so it has to be outside.  And here we

are coming up on winter so it's going to be even

more frustrating.  I've been looking all over the Internet

for ideas but I haven't found anything that works for me

My next idea is to walk around Lowe's because I just

know I can figure something out there.

2) Finish Joyful Junipers

Sort of.

The main portion of this one is done but I'm at a

standstill until a border fabric arrives in the mail.

3) Start on daughter's winter themed quilt.

Done.

I've chosen another tree pattern but this

one is a little easier (no teeny tiny stars!).

Edyta Sitar's Holiday Forest

My daughter wants it in black/white and that has

piqued my interest.  I'll need to hit the LQS to top

off what I have in the stash but I've already started

cutting this one out.

Now, all that quilting aside, I've been working pretty

hard around the house cleaning and scrubbing to

get ready for the holidays.  I also want to remove any

clutter and take care of naggy little things that I've put

off so I can go into the holidays relaxed, you know?  

I finally finished a little pillow project that a friend asked

me to take on.  The deadline is January so I kind of put

it off but now I need the physical (and mental!) space.

I didn't want to just stuff them with poly-fil because the

result isn't always smooth.  Being small and odd-sized,

 I had to just make some pillow forms, and then I came

up with a great idea: to make them with batting.

I zig-zagged around the outside,

leaving an opening for stuffing.

Stuffed it...

...and zig-zag stitched it up.

It has a nice smooth surface and should the stuffing

settle out of the corners a bit, the batting is still there,

thick enough to keep the structure.

I have a mountain of batting scraps so I'll likely never

 buy a pillow form again.  Buying only the stuffing is

so much cheaper and it just takes minutes to make!

In other news...

I made some excellent progress on holiday cleaning

over the weekend--things that haven't been cleaned

in a very long time--like light fixtures.   I am excited

at the huge amount I got done and yet a little down

because I know there is so much more to do.  It's a

grand start though and if I can just keep at it, oh

the relief I would feel!

Things are picking up in my shop which is amazing and 

fun so I want to get as many quilts in as I can by Dec 1.

But I want to finish the cleaning, too.  I'm still committed 

to squeezing in a little golf here and there for exercise--and

there are so few warm days left.  I could go on but I think

you get the idea.  I'm grateful to have so many things to

enjoy--yes, even cleaning my home--but I need more

hours in the day!  LOL

Right now, we'll just look to next week:

1) Photograph Festive Firs and list in shop

This includes a trip to Lowe's.

2) Finish Joyful Junipers top and quilt if time

3) Make daughter's quilt top

4) Consider next quilt for shop

There.  I made a list.

I feel better already!

Lastly, I want to share a bit of, uh, excitement? I had

last week.   We've been setting a live trap just outside

our bedroom window in hopes of catching the latest

opossum we've seen around here.  After a week of no

interest, I first found a squirrel in it.   Not what I was

after but they are out of control here and tearing

things up so, okay.  We set it again and I'd forgotten

about it until two days later when, walking by as

I was doing yard work, I stepped over to see if we'd

caught anything and--Woah Nelly! THAT is REALLY

not what I wanted! I stepped away quickly.

Farm girl here can take care of a lot of critters

but the black and white smelly kind are out of

my area of expertise.  After doing some investigating,

I discovered "Cliff, the Skunk Whisperer" as I call him.

I hadn't even realized how awful it would have been

if it had sprayed our A/C unit, or even our bedroom

window there!  But the whole thing went down

without even a hitch [of a tail!]. 

I kid you not, this guy talks softly to skunks to keep

them calm.  He slowly placed a blanket over our

cage and that was that!   I even walked with him

(and the covered cage) to his truck.  Not a single

whiff of anything the entire time.

(Skunks don't spray in the dark apparently.)

Cliff shared a few stories of walking among families

of skunks, talking softly to them and even picking

them up!   I have just never seen anything like it!

Crazy.  I was almost speechless.  It could've really

gotten messy and I'm definitely grateful.  Wow!  

Happy quilting!