I've been procrastinating on a few sewing projects lately so this morning I spent some time getting my sewing room tidied up and everything sorted out. In the process I came across a piece of denim and a pink cotton heart I'd set aside ages ago for making into a crate blanket for Abby and decided to work on that instead; my other projects will have to wait until tomorrow (Queen of procrastination here).

I love making these little blankets for Abby. They're pretty quick to put together and since I know they will eventually get clawed around (to be made into the most comfortable lump possible) I don't worry too much about any mistakes that happen along the way. I use a piece of pretty fabric or some plain fabric with applique for the top, add a couple of layers of leftover batting and some plain fabric for the backing and quilt it all together. I haven't tried any patchwork blankets yet - I was worried they wouldn't survive long - but Abby has been really good about not trying to eat the applique shapes so I might try some fun piecing next time.

As far as I remember this piece of denim was part of a skirt I made myself a long time ago that stopped fitting not quite so long ago. It's very soft and such a nice, deep, royal blue. The heart came from a Quilters' Guild meeting. It must be from a couple of years ago because I don't remember going to many meetings last year. Someone had found a stack of these hearts - in all different fabrics - in her sewing room and brought them to the meeting to share around. I like the way pink and denim go together.

Abby slept on the sewing room floor for most of the time I was working. I always think that's extra cute. She was very curious about her blanket when it was all finished but didn't actually lie on it until I wiggled her around a bit. Fortunately she put up with me long enough for me to get a few pictures.

I went to a class at the gym after work today. When I got home after the class Rob and Abby were in the living room sharing a bowl of popcorn. "Abby has an injury," said Rob and I noticed she was picking up one of her paws. Then Rob showed me a dish on the table.

There was a wasp in our house!

We're not sure when it got into the house but at some point Abby must have founded it and tried to play with it. She has loads of fun mouthing, spitting out, and batting at flies and spiders but things don't go so well with a wasp. When Rob found it the wasp couldn't fly so it seems likely Abby had grabbed it and dropped it on the floor. We don't know if she was stung batting at it or stepping on it but I'm glad she wasn't stung in her mouth. It was a remarkably sturdy insect and Rob ended up cutting it in half and squishing the head before it would stay dead.

Aside from a tender paw and a need to cuddle Abby was fine. By the end of the evening her paw seemed to be giving her less trouble and I'm hopeful the tenderness will be gone, or at least barely noticeable, by tomorrow morning.

I cleared off my desk and did some scrapbook last night. I've been noticing that the layouts I like best are a little simpler and not very fussy so that's what I was aiming for. I love this picture of Abby with her chin on Rob's leg. He was probably eating something she wanted a bit of. The paper and bits and pieces are all from Studio Calico kits but I can't remember which ones.

The strip under the photos is a piece of Fabrips which I found totally cool: it's a medium weight piece of fabric with adhesive on the back and some notches at the top to make it easy to tear. I like the slightly frayed edges - they're straight but not perfect. The paper was a piece of plain kraft cardstock that I livened up with some mists (Mister Huey's in Piglet and Lemonade). I love the look of layouts with lots of white space but can never comfortably do it myself; the mists let me fill in space without actually putting anything there to clutter it up. I really wanted to use a stamp for the date on the side but the date stamp I've got only goes up to 2004 so it was no help and I used a pen instead.

The cardboard shapes in the bottom corner were just right for this layout. They added some texture without being loud or bright but mostly they are there because Abby likes them. To eat. Cardboard and brown paper are among her favourite treats and when she discovered these little shapes in a box of supplies by my desk she started rooting through it to pull them out. I'm not sure how many she got before I noticed but there a still a lot left so probably only one or two.