Another Two-Colour Quilt

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I really didn’t mean to vanish for over 3 months but it seems I did. Truth be told, I was in a bit of a quilting slump. 2015 was not a great year, it seems, for me as far as quilting goes. I really had no finishes to speak of. And in the last few months nothing was grabbing my attention for any length of time so I just meandered from one project box to another. In the process, I have made huge amounts of little stars and other small things but nothing that was turning into anything. It was just sewing to have something to sew. I’m sure they will eventually turn into something and I am starting to get ideas for one set of the little stars as far as setting them goes.

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But lately, I’ve been making lots and lots of these.

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Which look like this when you see just one.

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I press them at this stage and grade all those little seams.

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Which I’m then turning into these.

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Which look like this when you see just one.

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The back of one after grading the final curved seam and pressing.

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And they will turn into lots and lots of these.

This two-colour burnt orange and white Double Wedding Ring has been in progress for years now, it feels like, but it was one project box that kept getting shuffled to the very bottom. For some reason, it seems that its time is now. There is no excuse for me not to get this quilt top done within the first quarter of 2016 – everything I need for it is printed, everything is wonderfully organized in the project box and I can just piece this together without even having to think twice. I don’t have to worry about things fitting because I used the Inklingo Double Wedding Ring collection to print all my shapes and they just fit. Every time. Without a question.

So what got me out of the slump? When I told a friend how much I was floundering, she threw down a gauntlet – and I’ll be forever grateful. She needs a special label for a special quilt and, knowing how much I love doing fancy labels, she suggested that maybe – just maybe – I’d like to make one for her quilt as labels are not something she enjoys making. So I immediately jumped at the suggestion and the ideas started flying. That label is still in progress as the first iteration of it didn’t look quite right but the second is in the process of being made now and it is turning out exactly as I had hoped it would.

Not only that, but I’ll be making a fancy label for a quilt that another friend will be quilting shortly. I so love making fancy pieced labels – makes me think sometimes that perhaps I should make fancy labels and offer them for sale!

When those two labels are done and in the hands of their recipients, pictures will be shown. They have a general idea of the shape and size of the labels, but not exactly what they will look like, and I don’t want to give the surprise away.

However, the fancy labels finally got me wanting to do something more than just little stars and other small blocks. And so out came the project box with the Double Wedding Ring pieces.

Valse Brillante is still on the back burner. I seem to have gotten totally paralyzed by fabric choices. Stay tuned – because I will show the boxes into which I have tossed batiks and prints I thought had any potential of working – and I think you’ll then see why I’m paralyzed! I kept adding to the boxes over a period of weeks and I think I lost my way as far as what I had initially planned as I’m sure there are all sorts of fabrics in those boxes that just will not work for the way I envision my version of Valse Brillante. It really should only take an afternoon of sorting through and weeding out the ones that obviously don’t fit, but I look at the overflowing boxes and shudder! And that’s silly – because that is a quilt that I know I’ll be really excited about making once I get everything ready for it. So perhaps tomorrow I’ll get those overflowing boxes out and start making the choices. It would be nice to get everything ready over the long New Year’s weekend. And then I could be making it and the DWR at the same time.

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Happy New Year from me, Mr. Q.O. and the kitties to you all!

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The kitties have been fine. Baxter has the thickest coat imaginable this winter, although you really can’t tell. This is one of his favourite poses – hugging Cappy while he relaxes/guards the toy basket.

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Jake’s coat doesn’t seem to change from season to season. When there’s not a human lap available, he’s quite happy to have a snooze on Raggedy Ann.

This time I’m making no promises about when I’ll next blog, but I’m going to try to blog more frequently in 2016.

55 thoughts on “Another Two-Colour Quilt”

  1. Hi Cathi,
    I’m thrilled to see your post.
    yup it’s a new year and hopefully I’ll have one of my quilts completely quilted by the end of March.
    keep on keeping on….. you do fabulous work.

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  2. I’ve seen you mention Inklingo several times, and I finally clicked the link. So… you use it to print right on fabric? How does that work? How do you feed the fabric through the printer?

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    • It’s really very simple – you affix your washed fabric to a piece of freezer paper using a hot, dry iron (definitely no steam) and feed it through a normal everyday Inkjet printer.

      There is a free Inklingo collection that you can download to try it out. The collections are nothing more than large PDFs – so no special software or anything else. The only thing you have to make sure you do is to open the Inklingo PDFs in Adobe Reader – not in any other app. They’re super easy to work with.

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  4. Glad to see you emerge from your quilting slump Cathi, can’t wait to see your pieced quilt labels & I love your 2 color DWR, it’s going to be quite stunning when complete. Happy New Year to you & the kitties 🙂

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  5. Seems like the avoidance is in the air. I’ve felt overwhelm by all the U. F. O.’s.
    I’ll start looking for my own “kick start”, it is here somewhere! Glad your posting again. I enjoy your blog and pictures too!

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  10. Sometimes we all need a break and hopefully yours will leave you refreshed and ready for 2016. Like the others I missed your posts (and the Kitties) and hope to see more in the New Year.

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  11. Oh, Cathi, what a delight to see a post from you today! I’ve missed you, your quilts, and your kitties. I am also in a quilting slump…my dear sister-in-law and quilting buddy passed away this summer. We had been collaborating on quilts for her grandbabies….3 tops done and one in progress. I have the task/pleasure of completing them, but her passing really knocked the wind out of my sails. Anyway, thank you for the inspiration today and happy quilting in 2016!

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    • Thank you – what a lovely compliment! I hope that finishing the quilts for your sister-in-law grandchildren will help you break out of your slump too and that you have a wonderful year of quilting in 2016.

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  13. Hi Cathi, nice to see your blog again. The DWR quilt will be gorgeous. I fell Nov 25 and broke my pelvis in 3 places so it hasn’t been much of a Christmas. But here’s hoping 2016 will be a better year. Wishing you all the best for it.

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  16. This week I was notified by WordPress that it is my 4th anniversary. That means I’ve been following your blog for four years. I know that because your blog was the first one I ever followed and I’m still in awe of everything you create. You really inspire me and I still intend to get to grips with Inklingo and do some hand piecing one day, maybe in 2016. Happy New Year to you 🙂

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    • Thank you – what a very lovely compliment! Congratulations on your fourth anniversary of blogging!!

      I’m just as in awe of you and anyone who produces such perfect machine pieced blocks. I never seem to do anywhere near as well at the sewing machine as I do by hand. But that’s me – I think I have a built-in aversion to a sewing machine. That said, Inklingo is not for hand piecers only. There are lots of machine piecers using it as well – even the curved piecing is easier with Inklingo, thanks to all the matching points and having the sewing line right there. I do hope you try it in the new year because I think you’ll love it!

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  17. Happy New Year Cathi! Glad to hear that you revisited your quilting…and are looking forward to a new start…new year…and lots of new inspiration! Hugs!

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  19. Yeah, Cath! So happy to see this post yesterday morning. I’m looking for some motivation for myself! Very interesting to see how many folks have been in a slump. Good going motivating us all!

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    • It’s amazing just how many of us have been in slumps! I think my resolution might be to make sure I work on a quilt project every day, even if it’s just for a few minutes.

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  20. I’ve so missed your posts, the kitty cartoons, and pictures of the boys! I’ve been worried about you! So glad to see you’ve been busy even if you’ve been in a bit of a slump. Happy New Year! May 2016 be full of blessings for you!

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    • Thank you!! I had never really thought I’d work with burnt orange (or any orange), but I love that fabric for the Double Wedding Ring. I hope you find that you’re working your way out of your slump too – hopefully 2016 is better for us all!

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  22. So nice to see a new post from you Cathi! Love the DWR! Red and white, beautiful! I think it’s a wonderful idea to offer hand pieced quilt labels for sale! I’d certainly love the opportunity to purchase them! Shipping would be reasonable, due to the weight. I can’t wait to see your creativity at work again! also, the cartoons and kitty pics!

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    • I’ll have to start thinking about the whole idea of selling quilt labels! It might be fun – and a great way for me to play with different blocks in different fabrics to make some fun pieced labels!

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  24. Missed you friend. Do I have the girls for those handsome dudes of yours! They would blend right in between the two, and the mayhem that would result might be more than you can handle.

    When you finish piecing a project, do you hand quilt or send it out for machine quilting? I machine quilted the little table mat for my friend (which she loved) for Christmas. I used two layers of very thin poly batting in that project, but a larger one with cotton batting would be tough on the hands, wrists and fingers.

    Happy New Year to you, Mr. QO and the fur-boys.

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    • Oh, my – two young girl kitties in this apartment with these two boys? Mayhem is right – the two boys have crazy fun chases as it is! I don’t know if we could handle it – you’re right!! LOL

      I try to machine quilt some of my quilts, hand quilt others. But there are many tops just waiting for some sort of quilting to be done!

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  25. I love the red and white double wedding ring! I love piecing the small parts together but I fail to finish so many things! I have boxes of stars and thimbles and hexagons and oh yes, the mystery quilt! I really need to focus on that one. It is almost finished. I need to empty a few boxes. 😜

    Take care. Teresa

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    • I know exactly what you mean about boxes full of pieces waiting to be made into something!! But I look at those boxes as wonderful projects to pick up when I’m in a slump – and that is what I did over the past few months. Not that I finished anything, but I did get a few things a lot closer to being put together into a top. Sometimes I think of those boxes full of things as stitching insurance – lots of things ready to sew for those days on which we just don’t feel like getting something else ready to sew. 🙂

      Oooh – I can’t wait to see your mystery quilt! That was a beautiful design by Linda!

      Cathi

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