miracle : an event that seems impossibleto explain by natural laws and so is regarded as supernatural in origin or as an act of God.

  Believing in miracles also require a certain amount of faith. Faith that I was terribly lacking last week. To explain – one of my beloved rescue cats, Brutus, disappeared without a trace last Wednesday. Brutus has lived at my house for 13 years, and was an adult when he came to me.  Brutus hates the cold and loves his pampered life with regular meals of freshly cooked chicken breast and salmon. In all these 13 years, Brutus has never strayed. Hard to believe for a male cat that once roamed the streets.

   Contractors have been at my home, inside and out,  off and on for the last 3 weeks, doing long needed reburbishing. Brutus has been around for all the work and had gotten used to the workers, so there was no need for concern. then wednesday, the last day of work, he disappeared. He was healthy and strong, no reason to believe he had wondered off to die.

   I was beside myself with worry. The cold has set in here in NH, hard frosts, freezing wind and rain – almost snow. I dreaded to think where he might be and what might have happened. He didn’t show for dinner- this has never happened. He didn’t show for breakfast. I left work as often as I could during the day Thursday to check for his return – nothing. Friday came and went with no trace. I was convinced he was never returning. Everyone at work told me stories of aniamals returning after weeks, and I just couldn’t believe Brutus would return. Sluggo, my other rescue cat of 13 years, wouldn’t go outside all this time- and he is the wanderer of the two. He was mopy, and stuck very close to me. I figured he was in mourning as well. 

    All day Saturday, I cried for Brutus. I threw myself  into work to keep my mind occupied. throughout the day there were constant yard checks – nothing. Then, about nine o’clock in the evening, I was in the kitchen and thought I heard a cat crying. I went to the back door, and there was my miracle. Brutus wanted in!

  I  have no idea where he was. He looked no worse for the wear, and wasn’t particularly hungry. He came in and has been as if he had never gone away. Miracles do happen, and I am so glad they do.

  The experience left me with some pretty good work though.

This is a close-up of the quilt I worked on yesterday. The quilt belongs to my good friend Kate, and will be used as a display at Quitled Threads. The pictures don’t do the quilt justice, as it is beautiful. It was a little difficult getting a good visual to decide on a quilt design. The quilt has dramatic contrast in color, making it hard to decide thread color, and the design is busy. So, I ended up with two colors – an off white in the blocks to blend with the pniwheels, and a deep red in the border- white would have hurt my eyes. 

The red got a little washed out in this photo, it is almost burgundy. The border design is actually a pantograph, but it works well in the border here. I like that it is not perfectly square and moves up and down along the quilt’s edge -much more interesting than a traditional border.

This is a larger view – beautiful isn’t it? I like to keep things clean and simple and have the quilting enhance the quilt, not be the showcase. The inner white border just has a simple stitch in the ditch on both sides. Too much stitching gets distracting to me, particularly when the fabric is what makes the quilt.

   Now, to the next project…