August | 2010 | Quilt Obsession

Ever since I first saw the picture in Kaffe Fassett’s Museum Quilts of the clamshell quilt in the V & A, I wanted to make one with the sashing. If you haven’t seen a picture of that quilt, there is a picture on the V & A web site. I had intended to sort out how to do the sashing after I had all the diamonds ready but on Saturday a new Inklingo collection was released for the sashing of the 3″ clamshells that makes it oh, so easy. I initially thought about sashing them in a stripe of some colour but then realized that as each diamond is going to have multiple colours in it, finding just one stripe that would work was probably not going to be possible. So I decided on a black and I’m so glad I did. I think it really makes the colours pop!

Pressing is a breeze. The back:

I’m never quite sure where I’ll find some of Mr. Q.O.’s drawings. This is one that made me laugh out loud. He always puts a banana beside my orange juice in the morning, but this was a first. Banana art:

Monday was a pretty quiet day as far as the cats were concerned. Very early in the morning, Smudge was on the windowsill chattering at a bird that was sitting on a branch directly in front of the window. I wasn’t quick enough to get a shot of him there. But later in the day he was having fun dragging toys out of the toy basket. Then he had to rest.

Lester loves to sort of hang over the arm of the chair. He had quite a look on his face.

Sunday was the big day, my aunt’s 90th birthday. She is an absolutely amazing lady — sharp as can be and has a fabulous sense of humour. I have the most wonderful memories of playing double solitaire with her at the cottage. The two of us would be laughing like hyenas and my mother, who was always a sports fan, would be trying to listen to a baseball game on the radio. She usually gave up and went out on the porch to listen to her baseball game.

The birthday party was at a golf club. The setting was beautiful. This was the table just before dinner began. My aunt is sitting with her son and daughter standing on either side of her in this picture.

Between courses, my aunt was opening gifts. I love the wide-eyed look when she saw her quilt!

The quilt was washed and dried on Sunday afternoon and it got that wonderful crinkly look. I think if you click on this picture to enlarge it you can see the effect.

The label for the quilt, before it was appliqued on to the back:

The best part? I know my aunt will use the quilt. I enjoyed making that quilt and knowing it will be used makes every hand stitch and the fabric wrestling, aka machine quilting, a real labour of love.

There was some big news at the party on Sunday. There will be a new addition to the family in February, and I’m planning a quilt now. I’ve got a few ideas floating around in my mind, but no definite plan.

Looking out the window of the dining room, Mr. Q.O. got this shot of a cardinal.

My hands/wrists are definitely somewhat better, so starting today I will get caught up on replying to comments and will finally be able to start visiting blogs and leaving comments. Monday is a holiday here in Ontario and we’re about to head back into high heat and humidity. After Saturday, when 70 felt cold, I look forward to the warmth again.

Smudge, generally speaking, ignores cat toys. But there is one which he absolutely loves. A friend sent the kitties what we call the caterpillar or “Cappy”. They have been playing with one for a few years but it was starting to look pretty worn out so we finally broke out the second one. Every evening Smudge will suddenly start playing with it, so we’ve now dubbed it “Cappy Hour”. The other night he had both the old and new ones.