This was the scene the other night around midnight. Both of my boys sleeping soundly in the often fought over chair. I guess they were too tired to fight anymore and decided sleeping together wasn’t so bad after all.

The black and white one is Slade and the brown tabby is Daniel. Daniel is 10 and has been with me for 8 years. He was rescued from the streets by some kind folks in the small town where my parents live and then given to me.

Slade has been with me for 2.5 years and came from a local family up here after being rescued from the cold weather. He’s around 7, but a little harder to say for sure as his health isn’t the best. He was obviously abused and it took a good year before he’d even come out of hiding when friends came over to visit.

Daniel is a momma’s boy. He’s almost always near me, and if I sit to watch TV he’s on my lap even when I don’t want him to be. He’ll often come sit beside me as I work or stitch and demand to be picked up. He’s still very playful, loves toys and the laser pen.

Slade would be happiest if I went to bed by 9:30 and got up at 6:00 each morning. Late at night, he’s often in the bedroom meowing for me to come to bed. He’s still skittish and scares easily. He adores Daniel and always wants to cuddle with him or be close by. Daniel could care less. He loves his Aunties Julia and Linda best.

I’m not sure that alpha male is as important to cats as it is to dogs, but Daniel still has the upper hand even tho Slade far outweighs him. I’ve been expecting the power to shift, but I’m not sure it’ll happen as Daniel is too easy going to really care.

Daniel loves to sit out on the balcony. This is the only pot of flowers I planted this year. I don’t get any direct sunlight, so there’s not much sense in planting stuff that isn’t going to do well.

I finished cleaning the very messy sewing area on Saturday afternoon and took a few pictures as proof before I messed it up again. :)

I even have some extra space left on my shelves for more fabric that needs a good home.

As you can see, my helpers were very helpful.

And, I got to start on a paper-piecing project.

I had a great long weekend, how was yours?

Slowly, over the last few weeks (months?) my sewing area has reached the disaster you see here:

Piled in the mess are 5 Friendship Bags, 6 baby quilts waiting on labels and binding to be finished, and two lap quilts waiting to be quilted.

The table you see in the front does not belong inside. It’s for temporary use only. I brought it out last February when I was working on the Market quilts and never put it away. It just accumulates things, so away it goes this weekend.

It’s rather overwhelming, but I finally emptied the laundry basket of fabric that needed to be ironed. My plan is to remove everything from the temporary table, put it in the laundry basket for now or put it away if there’s a spot for it.

Then I’ll have a place to organize the fabric by colourways or by sets. I have a few empty shelves for it already.

I’m hoping to have this all done in the evenings this week, so I can get working on my Summertime swap this weekend.

Anyone else use the Labour Day weekend to organize, regroup and prepare for Fall? I do more this time of year than New Year’s in terms of making plans and reorganizing life.

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you had a nice holiday … I sure did. Here’s the latest report on the Charms for Charity Contest.

If you would like to participate, the final contest drawing will be held January 31st. With the holidays over, the mail seems to be moving a lot quicker, so there’s still time to mail those packages within North America. If you mail from overseas, they might not make it in time for the drawing, but I’d still be thrilled with the donation. Read the Charms for Charity Contest post for more info.

I’m all caught up with sending thank you emails to everyone that sent charms. If you haven’t received an email from me, I have not received your package yet, or there wasn’t an email address included.

The day I was leaving Ottawa for Christmas with the family in Toronto, I received a wonderful package of 120 gorgeous charms from Greta VanDenBerg-Nestle from Pennsylvania. They were already organized by colour, which made it super-easy for me to add what I already had to her pile. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of just Greta’s charms. Instead, here’s a photo of my desk drawer where I have the charms stored.

When I returned from Toronto, there was a card from the post office to pick up a package. Well, the package was from Rachel of 2nd Avenue Studio (you might remember her, as she sent me Market in a Box last summer). Here’s a photo of what she sent.

There’s more than 600 charms of Jinny Beyer’s 2007 fabric line. They are absolutely gorgeous. A huge thank you to both Greta and Rachel … your generosity is greatly appreciated.

Also thank you to the following participants of Group 3 for their donations:

• Marne Parry, Washington – 18
• Rhonda Lawton, Texas – 6
• Christine Gillette, New York – 6
• Anne Marie Tegen, Wisconsin – 6
• Barbara Bunchuk, Florida – 10
• Sara Ames, New York – 12
• Vicki Cal, Ontario – 6
• Susan Cahill, New York – 6
• Rose Marie Castonguay, Ontario – 18
• Greta VanDenBerg-Nestle, Pennsylvania – 120
• Rachel, Oregon – 616

Barbara Bunchuk is the lucky random winner of the third package of charms for the contest.

The totals below include what I’ve received so far for Group 4 too.

Total charms received: 1,278
Charms for the contest winner: 129
Charms for charity: 1,149

During the holidays, I spent some quiet time sewing. I’ve just about finished the first top for a donation to Victorias Quilts. I used 80 charms (plus 4 for the sample block). I used the Tri-Recs ruler set that I bought last week. The rest of the fabric used came from my stash. The pink, blue and border fabric were from my Bed Quilt and Wall Hanging I made many years ago.

I’m calling this quilt Flowers in the Wind. Here’s a photo of the final layout.

A close-up photo along with the border fabric, which will be 4-6″ depending on what’s needed to meet the requirements.

And, the quality control inspector, Daniel. He’ll often hang his head over the back of the couch to see what I’m working on or to have a chat.