Pink Ice Block 25

Posted on July 6, 2010 by Quiltobsession

There are enough of these blocks done to make a lap quilt, depending how I set them. That said, I have the pieces ready to make five more of these which would make it a slightly better size — again, depending on how I set them. The blocks finish at 9″. They’ve been sitting for so long now that I think, although it’s a given that I’ll have trouble sticking to this, that I shall just focus on them for a week or ten days to get them all finished and ready to put together. Of course, this may well be because I’ve named the quilt Pink Ice and ice of any sort sounds very appealing at the moment with the heat wave. I’ve used so many various shades of pink and rose for the stars/partial stars that I may need to use a different colour when it comes to setting them. I’m leaning towards setting them on point.

The back:

I’m working on another POTC block now as, when I went through those left to be framed with the cream hexagons, I found a few that really don’t fit with the rest. But once that block is done I think I’ll start on the next Pink Ice block and try to stay focused so that these blocks at least get put together into a top, ready for quilting.

It was incredibly hot here on Monday. A temperature of 33C and a humidex of 44C (91F and 111F respectively) made it a bit like walking into a wall of heat when venturing outside. More of this all week until Friday when it should cool down a bit. On top of that, we have smog advisories which is typical for us with a heat wave. And just to top it off, huge parts of Toronto were affected by a blackout Monday afternoon as there was an explosion at a transformer station. Thankfully, we weren’t affected but I immediately thought of those with whom I used to work on a high floor in one of the skyscrapers. I cannot imagine walking down 45+ flights of stairs in this kind of heat in a building that had no air conditioning. The blackout occurred right around the time when people would begin to leave the office for the day.

The planters outside buildings around here are very bright and cheerful. This is one that’s in front of a building right across the street from us.

And this one is in front of an office building across the road.

Both boys were pretty quiet Monday. Lester draped himself over the arm of the pink chair.

While Smudge, when it was his turn to have the pink chair, curled up in it.

A Few More Klosjes

Posted on July 5, 2010 by Quiltobsession

It seems like ages since I’ve stitched any of these little blocks, but on the weekend I got out the box that contains the pieces for them and made 10 more. Now I’m up to 103 of these little blocks. As they finish at 2 3/8″ and, if my calculations are correct, I’ll need about 570 of them to make even a lap quilt. That seems rather daunting. Perhaps these really are meant for a small teddy bear/doll’s quilt.

We’ve been out taking pictures of flowers in the neighbourhood. This is one of the planters that’s at the entrance to our building.

This one is on the other side of the entrance and you can see one of the buildings across the street reflected in the black marble.

There are tons of these little roses at the front of the building. They bloom endlessly throughout the summer and well into the fall.

It sounds like we’re going into an extremely hot week with temperatures in the 90s and humidex readings that will reach upwards of 110. I like hot weather, but the humidity can be a bit hard to take — I think we’ll need gills to breathe by the time we reach mid-week. I wonder how long it will take before they’re asking people to limit their use of electricity during peak hours. While we hardly ever have to put the air conditioning on in the living room, I have a feeling that this week we’ll probably be turning it on rather frequently.

It was hot during the weekend, but nowhere near as hot as it’s going to be. Where was Smudge hanging out? In his kitty bed! I mistakenly assumed that those kitty beds would be too warm during the hot weather, but it seems I was wrong.

Lester, showing his version of a lounge lizard look.

A Few More Clams

Posted on July 2, 2010 by Quiltobsession

Clamshells seem to have been the focus this week. I can’t get over how quickly I was able to add two more rows Thursday night. They’re short rows but, with continuous stitching and hand piecing, they seemingly go together in the blink of an eye! I’m leaving the pressing until the end because of the amount of bias, but am finger pressing as I go.

Thursday I did the final pressing of Chintz Circles and its backing as it will be basted today. I’m looking forward to starting the quilting. With any luck, I’ll get at least half of it done this weekend.

Another one of the Seven Sisters blocks is finished. Not pressed, as my wrist was really sore from pressing Chintz Circles and the backing. Each one of blocks will be a different blue and I am undecided as to how large it will be, although I’m thinking a lap quilt.

I’m using 1″ diamonds with to make the stars. There’s the opportunity for lots of continuous stitching in these as well, which is something I look for when stitching. It will join the first one I finished a couple of years ago.

I’m terribly behind in replying to comments but will catch up this weekend. Do you go back to blogs to see if your comment has been replied to directly on the blog rather than by e-mail? I know that some bloggers respond that way and others don’t and am curious about opinions are on that subject.

Thursday was a beautiful day, lovely and sunny and warming up. It looks as though our weekend will be wonderfully sunny and hot.

Smudge was very alert Thursday evening when posing for this photo.

Lester showing off his huge whiskers.

Preparing Clamshells

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Quiltobsession

All the clamshells for the two little quilts are cut out and ready to stitch. About three-quarter of the ones for the large quilt based on the clamshell quilt in Kaffe Fassett’s Museum Quilts book are cut and ready to stitch. Today I’m going to print and cut the remaining ones. With any luck, I hope to have the two little quilts finished within a couple of weeks. By the end of this month, I hope to have 2 more of the clamshell diamonds done. Perhaps even three.

Wednesday was a nice, rather cool summer’s day but with lots of sun. Tuesday night it was chilly enough that we put the heat on for a bit. For a while Tuesday, I was thinking we were having a repeat of last year’s summer that wasn’t. Thankfully, that’s not the case as the heat and humidity is supposed to start coming back as of Friday.

Lester was quite intent on something I was holding above the camera.