Monthly Archives: January 2012

Sunflower Centres

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The last two centres for the red and white Feathered Star/Sunflower blocks are done. Now it’s a matter of finishing the Feathered Star blocks themselves, adding them to those already done and starting on the borders.

I’m grading the seams as I go and have learned it’s a lot easier to grade the centre sunflower before it’s in the centre of a 20″ block. I wait until after pressing before grading the seams. Then it’s a quick press again and they’re done.

It snowed a fair bit last night but today it’s supposed to be quite mild again, so I suppose it will all be melted by noon. Last night was the first time this winter I would have possibly gone looking for boots had I been going out.

Baxter in what seems to be a chair meant for kitties. The cat I had as a little girl loved this chair, and so has every cat I’ve had since then. It seems to be just the right shape for them. It’s actually a very comfortable chair in which to sit but, as it’s usually occupied by a cat, we don’t seem to get the chance!

Rose Dream Pinwheels

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On the weekend, I started a new quilt with the Fresh Squeezed fabrics. I was holding on to them, waiting for just the right idea and when the new Inklingo Rose Dream collections were introduced I knew immediately what I was going to do. This set of four blocks finishes at 9″ as I used the 4.5″ collection. There are also 6″ and 9″ collections of this design.

While I want to make a classic Rose Dream quilt using two fabrics, this fun idea seemed like a perfect fit. Instead of using the square at two corners of the block, I decided to use HSTs. When the blocks are joined, the pinwheels appear. That inspired the name for this quilt – Rose Dream Pinwheels. Rose Dream is also known as Lover’s Knot, True Lover’s Knot and Endless Chain. The setting possibilities with this block are endless!

The next question for me will be what colour to make the classic two-colour quilt. I may have to really fight with myself not to make it pink and white. Maybe a yellow and white? Or perhaps green and white? Whatever I decide, I will likely make it with the 9″ collection. So far a blue and white quilt is made, a pink and cream top is done and waiting to be quilted and a red and white top is in the process of being made. A pretty red and white Endless Chain top can be seen here, on Tim Latimer’s blog.

The block was quick to press.

Baxter’s silver markings are showing more and more each day. It’s going to be fun to see how marked the silver is in another couple of years when he’s fully grown.

Storm at Sea and a Quilt

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After yesterday’s post, I got out my stitching book. Then out came some of the extra pieces for a Storm at Sea block and I began arranging them to see if I liked the look of them all mixed up. I think doing the remaining blocks like this is going to give a lot of motion to the quilt. The ones that are 2-fabric blocks will remain as the centre or perhaps the outer edges of the quilt. That’s still to be decided.

Having a stitching book like this is fabulous. I can lay out my block and then just close the book and, as I used batting for the pages of the book, the pieces will remain there until I open the book up again and begin to stitch. I took two appliqué blocks that I wasn’t going to use in a quilt, layered them with batting and backing, quilted it in a 1″ cross-hatch and then bound it. Then I added pages made from batting.

This bow-tie quilt hasn’t been seen for ages. It’s a queen-sized quilt made up of 3″ blocks. I had started to quilt it quite a while ago but ended up putting it away once I realized there was a problem with the basting and that I was going to have to take both my quilting and the basting out, press it as pleats had been basted in and then start over. It has been on my mind the last little while and I finally dragged it out yesterday. While I’m not planning to work on it this weekend, it will be done over the next couple of weeks.

I mixed up everything in this quilt – batiks, checks, plaids, ’30s fabrics, florals, you name it. The only constant was the muslin. Looking back, I can’t believe I traced all those pieces from templates.

When we have cereal in the morning, Baxter loves to have a bit of the milk. He’s not shy about asking for his share, either. If we’re not quick enough, a paw is quite likely to reach up and try to snag our spoons just to remind us that he’s waiting.

Stormy Seas Block 18

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Another Stormy Seas block did get done last night. This one makes me think of big frothy waves. When I started working with the extra pieces, I said I’d get at least two blocks of the Stormy Seas top done this week so I’m at least halfway there. I had forgotten just how much fun these blocks are to put together.

That one will join these 17 blocks as last seen on my makeshift design wall. I’m starting to have some different ideas about setting these blocks and may stop making blocks that use only 2 fabrics after the next two are completed and instead start using 3 or 4 batiks in each block. Once I have 20 of them done, I’ll make that decision.

Yesterday was yet another incredibly mild day for January. No matter what winter may throw at us now, it can’t possibly last long.

While Baxter doesn’t seem to mind having his photo taken, he doesn’t pose. Mr. Q.O. grabs a shot quickly, what he calls “shots from the hip”.

A Trio of Spring Winding Ways Blocks

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After seeing the circle almost appearing with six blocks done, I was determined to put together three more in order to see the full effect. These three were added to the group.

Then I laid them out together. I’m thrilled with how this is going to look. It will be fun arranging the blocks once they’re all done and watching the circles appear.

Tuesday was yet another gray and rainy day, but another mild one. We just saw our long-range forecast and it looks like it’s staying mild for the next couple of weeks.

Last night when I was stitching, I left my small scissors on the end table for a minute. The protective cover was on them. I turned around and Baxter had them, by the handles, in his mouth and was about to make off with them. As soon as he saw me looking at him, he dropped them. I wonder where he would have hidden them – probably with Mr. Q.O.’s pens.

Later he was reclining on the loveseat with his paws crossed. Mr. Q.O. grabbed the camera and we were lucky to get this shot as he moved seconds later. Mr. Q.O. captioned this one “The Lounge Lizard.”

Winding my Way to Spring

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Making these little 4.5 blocks is absolutely irresistible. So another two were added to the group. I love how quickly they go together and I definitely get my curved piecing fix stitching them.

I laid out the six that were done and can already tell that I’m going to love this quilt when it’s done. But it may be quite some time before I reach that point.

There are three quilt tops very near to completion. And two patterns that I’m in the midst of writing. And Ferris Wheel, which I’m slowly working on hand quilting. My goal is to have Ferris Wheel finished before the end of February. The binding fabric is ready, the label is made. So all that’s left is for me to get that hand quilting finished!

We had an unbelievably mild day on Monday, although it rained and rained. I half expected to see a robin on the roof garden this morning as January has been so mild that I’m almost convinced we’ll see spring start in February.

Baxter has decided that his kitty bed is a nice spot to curl up for an afternoon snooze or keep his eye on the toy basket. For some reason, he loves little paper cups and will roll them around on the floor for hours.

A New Start

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When I printed all the shapes for the Storm at Sea blocks, I purposely printed many extra shapes. They’ve sat for ages while I thought about what I wanted to do with them. For starters, I’m going to make a few of these stars. They finish at 6.75″. Then I’ll start working with the extra diamond shapes. There’s a quilt design slowly taking shape in my mind for these extra blocks.

I love working with batiks. They press so beautifully. I’m grading the seams as I go so that I won’t be faced with having to do it all at the end.

When I said I printed a lot of extra shapes, I wasn’t kidding. This box is absolutely full of the various extra shapes.

This is the box that contains all the pieces for the Storm at Sea blocks along with the threads that match the various batiks. The Storm at Sea blocks have been neglected for too long. I plan on making at least one or two of them this week.

Baxter loves playing with his feather toy. On the weekend, he gave it the seemingly obligatory dunk in his water bowl. He does that with his favourite toys. I started to laugh when I found it in his water bowl, as he was lying beside the bowl just happily watching it float. Thankfully it dried quickly.

A Few More Harpsichord Blocks

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It has been ages since I’ve worked on these blocks but lately I’ve been thinking about just how much I know I’ll love this quilt when it’s done. So out came that project box and some new blocks were made. First up, a few blocks made with pink squares.

Then a few with green squares.

Some with blues.

A couple of purples, an orange and another blue.

There are still many, may blocks to be made. I’ve decided against joining them together as I go as I’d like to make sure I balance the colours in the layout as much as possible. At least by adding the outer octagon along two edges of each block, the joining should be rather quick once the layout is decided upon.

For those who haven’t followed my blog for long, the Harpsichord Quilt is inspired by both the original Lucy Boston Keyboard Patchwork and the amazing harpsichords we saw in the summer of 2008 which had the most incredible decorative artwork.

Baxter still brings his favourite toy to bed at night and sometimes leaves it there during the day. Yesterday we found out why. He likes to have it handy when he decides to stretch out for an afternoon snooze on the bed.

One Centre Done, Another Begun

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I didn’t quite make my goal of having two of the sunflower centres for the Feathered Stars done, but at least one is complete and the second is mostly done. Part of the reason I didn’t get the second one completed is that a fair amount of time was spent cutting the shapes for the spring Winding Ways. There’s still a lot of cutting left to do, but I hope to have that finished by the time the weekend is over. I think I may have to get a larger box for that project.

A couple of times I’ve left the grading of seams until the entire Feathered Star block was done. It is so much easier to do it in increments, so now I grade the seams of the centre sunflower right away.

The ring of diamonds and triangles that go around the centre of the second sunflower are done. Once that ring is made, the rest of the piecing of a sunflower block takes no time. I may get the second one finished tonight and the third started.

One of Baxter’s Christmas presents was this feather toy. I think it’s a toss-up between this and Cappy as to which toy he prefers sometimes. Last night he was playing with it, managed to get it under the couch too far for him to reach, then meowed pathetically for help retrieving it.

Feathered Star Again

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Another one done and three more to go. If I can buckle down and concentrate on stitching the three remaining blocks, I think I could have the centre of the quilt done within 9 to 10 days. Whether I can do that remains to be seen, but I’m going to try. Once the centre sunflower is done, it seems like the block is almost halfway done so today I shall try to get at least two of those centres done.

I love how easy it is to press this block. I graded the seams for two reasons. There are a lot of pieces in each block, so it really helps cut down on the weight and will make the quilt drape nicely. Secondly, I definitely don’t want the red shadowing through.

Yesterday afternoon the fog rolled in and the view out our window was quite eerie. I love how quiet it seems when there’s a thick fog.

Mr. Q.O. captioned this one “That’s the biggest bag of catnip I has ever seen!” Made me laugh the second I saw the picture.