I know I said I was  going to complete this build with nothing more than items from my stash, but look at these granny squares.

I envisioned them from the get-go, but can't crochet.  Thank you, Michelle, for the custom order.

You'll see the only thing I got done was cutting down the sectional (again), reforming the back corner into a curve (air dry clay), and upholstering.  The rounded corner was difficult, there are a couple of obvious diagonal seams in the straight sections, but the afghans cover them.

A Milo update... Kate's ex-feral kitten is a big marshmallow.

While the storm is doing its thing Ester and I are doing this...

and this...

 I must say, I am pleased with myself, the construction went off without a hitch.

The width of the wood trim on the triangle window is exactly the same as the other windows but looks thicker due to its shape and size.  I will most likely trim it down.

I am unsure yet if I will use, on the uppermost gable, the vent that came with the kit, if I will eliminate it, or if I will make a triangular one.  I am leaning toward making a triangular version.

I opted to not make the gable magnetically removable, since the hole isn't big enough to fit my hand in.

A close up of my scratch built window...

From the side.....the new peak was supposed to be equidistant from the other two, but did not end up that way.  Oh well.

From the inside...

 Susan's gratuitous cat picture...

Side note:  Ester does not like a zurbert.

I am going to be out of town part of next week on business.  I'll see you all, so to speak, when I get back.

The kit arrived Thursday.   It's roomier than I thought it would be.   The dimensions are listed on the website, but I've got to see them with mine own eyes.

With the kit in dry fit I rearranged furniture until I came up with a plan that sparked my interest.  Then my daughter came over and rearranged furniture until she came up with a plan that sparked my interest. Damn.  Two plans.   Equally interesting.

This morning I took both plans to the home of my wisest advisors.  My dad liked both plans equally.   My mom made observations I hadn't considered.  My plan was revised. I now have a course of action.

This is my daughter's plan.  It's good.  If you want to use it feel free, she'd be delighted.

There is not much of an update, I've been down with THE flu the last couple of weeks.  I'm feeling much better, though not quite myself yet.

I planted a corner of muskmelons.  The melons have been floating around my studio for a couple of years, I picked them up off the sidewalk at work, they fall off the oak trees in the spring...I assume they are baby acorns.  I used a seed packet Brae gave me as a label, I cut a slit in the bottom to insert a toothpick.

I then went on a frenzied search for the plant stakes Kat sent me.  It took me a week to find them.  I want to make plants to match the labels, so didn't want to progress without them...not that anyone will be able to read the labels since the font is so small, but I don't feel good and lack direction, and the stakes give me direction.

Sunflowers.  Okay, I've got a Bonnie Lavish kit for those that someone, don't remember who, gave me.  Maybe I pulled it out of a share box that was circulating a few years ago.

Ha!  This is why I stopped planting sunflowers in my real garden, they turn their faces to the neighbor.  Really though, this angle is looking from the back side of the garden, the sunflowers are facing forward.  I wanted to see the stake in this picture, which makes me think that I should save them for potted plants set at the front of projects, so the stakes can be read, or perhaps for the waiting-to-be-built half-scale bungalow.

(The tall plastic plants in the bottom right corner....Kat gave me those too.)

While I think about stakes and plants I'll busy myself with the rest of the fence, which I'm making from some metal trim stuff that Susan gave me.  I cut some posts from dowel this morning, dipped them in weathering stuff, and will see how they look tonight.

I keep saying "gave me, gave me, gave me"....this is turning into quite a community garden, so to speak.  So far Elizabeth, Kat, Brae, Jodi, and Susan have contributed.  I enjoy being part of our little community.

Ester says "enough with the camera already" "Hi!".

In August, in the midst of home renovations, I posted this picture and said  I'd tell you the story later.  It's story time.

Last July my daughter, Kate, had a feral kitten on her property, living in her garage.  It wouldn't let her come anywhere near it, of course.  Kate didn't want it to take up permanent residence, spreading disease to her two cats, so she set a live trap.  First she caught one of her own cats, Belle, then she caught a neighbor's ginger tabby, then Belle again, but finally, in early August, she caught the feral kitten.  The food had been disappearing out of the trap daily, we suspect it took a couple of weeks for the kitten to weigh enough to spring the trap.

Kate closed him in her bathroom for the night with some food, water, and a litter box, then went to work.      

In the morning, when she came home, she took him to her veterinarian, in anticipation of taking him to the Humane Society.  The vet pronounced him free of fleas and mites, healthy but underweight, and estimated his age as eight to ten weeks.  The kitten was surprisingly calm and cooperative.

Kate took him home.  He would hiss and run when approached, but once picked up was a calm, snuggling, purring ball of fur. Kate's heart was melting, it was going to be difficult to take him to the Humane Society on her next day off.  She installed a baby gate to confine him to the bedroom and bathroom, put a collar with a bell on him, and let him out of the cat carrier.  (That's Gomez, the other side of the gate.)

She asked me to come visit, to socialize him.

Two days later he was suddenly close to death.  He stopped eating and drinking, grew lethargic, then limp, breathing shallow and very fast.  Kate rushed him back to the vet, who diagnosed him with a respiratory infection.  She injected him with antibiotics and had Kate keep him wrapped in a cool, wet washcloth to bring his fever down.  He was not expected to survive.

He rebounded quickly.  Then, in swift succession, there was another trip to the vet for fly larvae removal in two locations Kate found while washing him, then one of the wounds from the burrowed larvae got infected.  There were also tapeworms, then fleas.

After all that Kate decided he wasn't going anywhere.  She named him Milo, her little soldier.

By late September he was friends with Gomez, who is gregarious and loves to play, but Belle was still giving him the cold shoulder.

Now, several months later, Milo is truly healthy, happy, and part of the family.  He's wary of people other than Kate, which disappoints Daisie, Kate's best friend and frequent house guest, but Daisie is patiently making advances.  Last week he let her pet him, but only because he was sitting against Kate at the time.

The English Cottage Kitchen is back in my studio to have its roof thatched.  This time I used a coir mat as a base and am gluing the coconut fibers over that.  It is a very messy job, and very burny ouchy, as I'm using a hot glue gun.

Before the holiday break I took my paint chips to the yarn store to purchase yarn in my new reno colors.  A friend turned the yarn into this...

It was supposed to be mainly teal but ended up mainly neutral because the teal and berry yarns were a slightly lighter weight than the neutrals.  I did know to check the labels to make sure they were the same there, but did not know to compare the actual yarns.  No matter, I love it, it looks fantastic in my living room, and it's long enough to cover my tall husband without his feet poking out the bottom.

I also got a hat, scarf, and stocking, because she was on a roll and bored.  Another co-worker got a hat too.

Nothing else has gone on in the home reno, and I feel a bit guilty for not stripping wallpaper in the dining room during Christmas break.  I would like to have that done before the spring, when it will get warm enough to paint again, but that's a few months away yet.  It's still freezing cold here...below freezing.  Brrr.

Have you ever received a much too large box from Amazon with only a couple small things in it and a ton of packing paper?  Ester loves it.  It's a playground wonderland.

I could make a life sized version of Nancy's yucca plant with all this paper.

Ester and I snuggled on the couch and watched the PBS mini-series Victoria on Amazon prime video yesterday, between small bouts of house cleaning and blog maintenance.

The Chantilly was on my bed temporarily while I dusted.  Ester rubbed her face all over the roofline.  I think it belongs to her now.

My not-leaving-the-house update...

I am on vacation!  I don't have to be back in the office until January second.  Whoo-hoo!

I've got a few small projects lined up....

As executor of Charlene's miniature estate, I need to pack her fishing gear and send it to its new home.

I'm assembling a wee metal model kit.

Nancy sent me some play things.

I bought some feves from ValueARTifacts.  I can see this becoming somewhat of an addiction.

We have a new dining room table to assemble.  It was my husband's grandmother's kitchen table.  It is believed that my husband's grandfather made it for her, but we're not certain.  Matt's brother inherited it, but he died just after Thanksgiving.  He was in poor health and much pain, so his passing was a kindness, though we will miss him very much.

I have a new toy to play with.  Guthrie was a Christmas gift from a coworker.

I've finished designing the marker set and pencil case (I think).  Lots of math and spatial imagining were involved.  If they assemble as intended when I cut them out later today I'll do a happy dance.

Ester requires some extra attention.  Now that it's cold outside she's staying in, and she's a bit stir-crazy.  She'll be glad to have me home to play with and sleep on.  For additional lap-time I bought a set of books that were some of my favorites when I was a girl, The Borrowers.  Paper books, not e-books, because I can't relive a bit of my childhood with a reader app.  I've always thought I'd do a Borrrowers build, perhaps next year's contest kit will lend itself to the concept.

I hope you all enjoy the holiday season and get to spend some quality time with your loved ones.  Virtual hugs from me to you :)