Tessellating cats #2 and blogging friends

Pairing cats
Each cat is cut out leaving a quarter-inch seam allowance. Once I decide an arrangement, I put the cats together in pairs. First I pin the darker of the pair to the pencil lines on the lighter cat.
Since darker cats are marked with a white chalk pencil, the lines will disappear as I applique and the pencil lines on the lighter cat will be covered. This also prevents a certain amount of shadowing.
I have some very short basting pins which I have used on the first pair.
Even with short pins, the thread often gets tangled in those pins. I prefer to baste the two cats together. Not only does it avoid tangles but for carry-along work, I do not have to deal with pins that might fall out or need to be put in the pin-cushion during sewing.
After all the pairs are sewed, I will repeat this step combining four cats.

And now, for friends...
After about a year and a half of blogging, something I didn't expect has begun to happen. Every now and then you might comment on a blog. Then you might get a reply and before you know it there is a conversation going between bloggers. Sometimes you may see a comment on another blog that just clicks and when you check that person's blog, you find someone who seems to be thinking in much the same way as you. Like the stitches that hold fabric together, this communication begins to link you to others, and just seeing their name in your in-box makes you smile. There are people out there that I wish I might meet in person.

How wonderful it was, then, that the opportunity arose. I could hardly contain my excitement!
It was an adventure to a new (for me) part of town, an exhibit by Amy Katoh of her collection of vintage indigo fabrics and then some strolling and shopping and snacking for the rest of the day.
But, more than the activity, was the friendship that turned out to be as wonderful, if not more so, than anticipated.

Lis, you made my day and I am still smiling when I look at your picture. I wish we had asked someone to take a picture of the two of us together... maybe sitting out under those cherry blossoms.

Finally the tulip bulbs I got for my birthday have begun to bloom

The grape Hyacinth popped up in the planter among the geraniums.

And the magnolias on the south side of the street, it the shade of the apartment building, have opened. Imagine looking out of your balcony and seeing these big flowers!

Two warm days and my down jacket is off to the cleaners, then into the store-room. Rain is forecast for the next few days but I am smiling.