Category Archives: hand piecing

An Almost Finished Top

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The blue and white star top is almost finished. I just need to add the partial stars along the edges so that I have straight edges and one quick border and it will be finished!! I was contemplating appliqueing the top on to the borders and keeping the uneven edges, as I rather like that look, but the heat wave that’s starting promptly made me reassess! It will be too hot to even have a small quilt top draped over my lap while I applique. They’re saying today we may even hit 43C with the humidex.

I am NOT complaining about the heat! I love the heat. Particularly after the extremely long winter and awfully cool spring we’ve had. I wish there was a way to bottle the heat and save it for the winter! I will enjoy every minute of this. Of course I say that knowing full well we have air conditioning that I can turn on in a second if it gets too warm. I do feel terribly sorry for those in the city who don’t have a/c as this weekend promises to be a real scorcher!

I have had a few comments about Lester getting the lion’s share of the spotlight lately (fitting, right — the lion’s share for a kitty we call our house lion?) so figured I’d better explain a bit. Lester has a heart condition, hypertropic cardiomyopathy, as a result of which he has had two small strokes, the first just over a year ago. Given that, we are thrilled when we see him so active and interested in things. We have been incredibly fortunate that he has responded so well to the meds and is as active as one could hope an adult kitty would be.

Never fear, Smudge gets an equal amount of attention. Unfortunately, most of the photos of Smudge are when he’s sleeping or half asleep as when he’s awake he’s quite active and the photos would be incredibly blurry.

This photo cracks me up — the two paws draped ever so casually over the edge of the kitty bed and that look on his face!

Smudge is our cuddle cat. He loves to curl up on your lap or in your arms and have a nice long snooze. Of course, a 20+ pound cat in this heat on one’s lap is going to be rather uncomfortable — but that’s what air conditioning is for!

I hope everyone has a super weekend. I’m going to soak up some heat!

Today’s Mail …

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… and look what arrived from Nadine! The wrapping paper on this is so pretty; has a wonderful spring feel to it!

After finally getting the wrapping paper off and then the bubble wrap, this wonderful tote bag emerged! I couldn’t get a good shot of the fabric used in the interior — but it’s fabulous, looks like recycled feed sacks of some sort!

Not only the tote bag — but a wonderful little case made of hexagons that will be perfect as a kit bag when I start Insanity. Much nicer than a plastic or paper box! This is such a wonderful gift! I am just thrilled to bits.


The little flap opens and Nadine thoughtfully enclosed a metallic snap fastener that I will sew on — so that it will hold all my little hexagons safely! :-))

Mail like this is much, much nicer than the normal mail one gets — bills, bills and more bills! This absolutely made my day!

Yesterday was very drab and grey here. It rained on and off all day and evening. At one point yesterday afternoon I looked out (we are so lucky to have an apartment facing out on to the roof garden) and what did I see? Two squirrels cavorting on the lounge chairs! Building management puts out lounge chairs for the use of the residents every year. As yesterday wasn’t a day that many of us would be out there, I guess the squirrels figured they’d have fun and use the chairs!

I know the shots aren’t great but they were taken from the apartment, through the window. I don’t know why, but these squirrels on the lounge chair just made me laugh!

I wonder if either of these two are Sammy’s siblings?


Lester in one of his favourite spots — on the windowsill. He loves watching the birds and critters out on the roof garden.

I have finished adding full stars to the blue and white top. Now I’m trying to sort out how I want to finish the edges before adding the border. I think I’ll add some 3/4 stars to finish it off so I’ll have a straight edge and then add the border. Might have to add a peeper too but I’ll decide that after I get the edges done. I am amazed at how fast this has gone together. Pictures when I get at least some of the edge done.

Summer has Arrived!

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I think summer has finally arrived. The roof garden has that “look” — all incredibly green and some little splashes of colour from the flowers that the gardeners have planted.

This is one view on the roof garden.


This is another of the tree that had all those glorious blossoms a few weeks ago. Now it’s just all leaves and SO wonderful to look at!


This is a view towards one of the flower beds. The gardeners were here most of last week planting flowers and it really does look lovely out there.


This is a close-up of one of the flower beds. We are SO lucky to have this little oasis of trees and flowers in the middle of downtown!


On the weekend, Lester decided he wanted to do some work on DH’s computer! It was so funny watching him. I’m not sure what he was after but he was determined to sit on that keyboard!

After I finally got him off the keyboard, this angelic face was looking at me as if to say, “Me? I didn’t do anything!” LOL


I got a fair bit done on the blue and white stars over the weekend and think I will have the top finished within 10 days! 🙂 Oh, how I wish I could do free motion quilting on my sewing machine but I cannot seem to get the hang of it at all. So straight line quilting it will be!

Progress Report

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I’m happy this week with the progress I’ve made on the blue and white stars. One more row along the sides, the finishing bits and a border and this top will be done! I absolutely adore working with this blue fabric. Am already thinking about the next blue and white quilt I might make using it!

I’ve also been thinking that a technicolour one of these would be fun — using all sorts of brights for the stars with a “nice” white like Kona Snow or something along those lines. I am now classifying white on whites as nice and not nice. LOL All because of trying to needle through that painted-on stuff!

They finally released a long-term summer forecast for us and I love it! A hotter and drier than normal summer. Okay — well, the drier isn’t so great, particularly for farmers, but the hotter? I can’t wait for the first heatwave! After the winter and horribly cold spring we have had, even days of 110+ with the humidex readings will be just fine with me. I remember my mother saying, whenever someone complained it was too hot and humid in the summer, “It’s a long winter, don’t complain!” She was right!

Lester — we almost caught him with his ruff in his mouth. Almost. He looks so goofy when he does that!

Smudge looking as though he has just woken up. I don’t think he was thrilled to be having his photo taken this time.


Finally, Some Warm Weather!

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Today was a gloriously warm day. We even had a humidex reading in the 32C range. I’ll take all the heat and humidity I can get after the winter and then spring we’ve had!

The gardeners took advantage of finally getting warm weather and started putting in some flowering plants.


In another few days, this will look fabulous but for now it’s nice to see some colour out there! I’m not sure what the plants are, but they’re pretty.



This is Smudge about one second before he reached up to get the kitty toy (the blurry orange thing at the top of the chair).


Lester has a thing for pens. Leave one lying around and he’ll find it. Yesterday he spied a pen on the desk. He worked at it and worked at it and finally got it down on the floor. Of course, once it’s down on the floor, he immediately loses interest but it is fascinating watching him devise his plan to get that pen!


The blue and white Texas star quilt top is growing at a much more rapid pace than I had expected! With any luck, I’ll be ready to put border(s) on sometime within the next 10 days.

A Decision Made

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After lamenting about the UFO list I seem to have, and looking at the various projects I have on the go, I have decided to work on this one. It will be a lap quilt. There are enough of the star points for another 9 or 10 stars and while I may need to print a few more, it will still grow pretty quickly. 🙂


I love the pattern and I love the blue fabric I’m using for this. It’s a Lonni Rossi fabric and I just love how it needles!

My plan is to work on only one project at a time until it’s finished. I’m hoping once one is finished, I’ll have some momentum going and will then finish up another.

Of course, in the meantime I’ve signed up for the Four Seasons Swap Summer quilt. That was just too irresistible! I already have a few ideas for a little quilt for summer. What I finally decide on will depend on what my assigned partner likes.

There’s also a small project that I’m going to be doing over the next week or two using a variation on back basting that I’m really excited about. Both of those were things I had planned on before choosing to work on this blue and white quilt, so a couple of nights out to work on something else won’t hurt. My hope is that the blue and white top will be done by the middle of June.

Our weather is still abysmal. I cannot remember ever having heat on at this time of year like this. We’re having lows at night that are just above 40F! Unbelievable!

A Small Quilt Top

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The teddy bear quilt top for is now finished! I’m thrilled with how it turned out. The 9-patch blocks are 3″ each. It’s hand pieced, other than adding the borders, and will finish at 23 x 26 inches.


Edited to add: Thanks to this tutorial on Peg’s Happy in Quilting blog, adding the peeper was a piece of cake!

Now to quilt it. Given all the little seams in it, this will be machine quilted. Only simple quilting, mind you, as my machine quilting skills do not include free motion quilting. I’d love to be able to, but just cannot get the hang of it. My plan is to get the quilting done sometime during the weekend and hopefully I’ll have the binding on by the end of the weekend.

I had to fight myself not to keep adding more 9-patch blocks and making the little quilt grow. My goal is to try to make small quilts for a while. That way I’ll be able to try patterns, design elements, colour combinations that are dancing around in my head without committing to a large project. I’m reassessing some of the larger projects I have started and deciding how to cut them back to small quilts.

The New York Beauty and Square in a Square blocks and, of course, Insanity are the only large projects on my list. I’m still undecided on Insanity — whether to do it in shabby chic or Orientals. I think the effect in Orientals could be stunning but also love the softness of the shabby chic prints.

This is another of the flowering trees on the roof garden. The blooms don’t last long, but they are SO pretty!


The close-up shows the colour of the blooms a bit better.


Now if it would only warm up!! This is miserable weather for late May. We’re going to be lucky to see 65 over the weekend and it gets so cool at night that one needs heat on! After the winter we had, I want the hot humid weather for a few months!!

Beginnings of a Small Quilt

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This weekend I started hand-piecing these little 3″ 9-patch blocks. I’m only going to make 56 of them right now and then turn them into a small quilt for a very special vintage teddy bear. I think I may be making a few of these small quilts for teddy bears over the next few months. Once it gets really warm, when summer finally arrives (it is going to arrive sooner or later, right?), I won’t want to be working on anything large so these will be perfect.

I love the almost immediate satisfaction one gets when working on a small quilt. It’s such a great way to try out pattern ideas, fabric combinations, design elements and all without a large investment of time or material!

Look at this rose I received last week. It is the most glorious shade of red and has opened beautifully!


What’s a post without a kitty picture! Here is yet another of Smudge sleeping. That kitty bed was round when we got it but he has worked on it and worked on it and it is now an oval.


Beginnings of a New Project

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Have you seen the cover of Vol. 16, No. 6 of Australian Patchwork & Quilting? There is an absolutely gorgeous quilt, which is called “Insanity”, composed of over 10,000 half-inch hexagons. I’ve been staring at it and staring at it and have given in. I’m starting to put aside fabrics now that I’ll use in it, but I’m waiting for an Inklingo collection that has half-inch hexagons! There is no way I’m stitching together over 10,000 hexagons any way but the Inklingo way! I am fascinated by this quilt and know I have to make it. Have to. What a wonderful long-term hand piecing project this will be!

These are some of the fabrics I’ve set aside so far.

I have about 200 shabby chic charms too and I’m thinking that I’ll be able to get at least 8 hexagons out of each one. They’re all washed and waiting. I’m not sure when the collection with half-inch hexagons is going to come out, so I’m going to segregate the fabrics I want to use for the hexagons now and set them aside in a project box.

Edited to add: Debbie at Pieces of Treasure is making this quilt as well using English paper piecing.

Lester this morning:


Smudge, last night — he really knows how to relax!

The Creativ Festival starts tomorrow. I’m not sure which day we’re going, but I can’t wait!

Four Seasons Quilt

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I thought I had finally decided on a theme for my Four Seasons Spring Quilt — flowers. To me the Oriental prints seem to denote spring and lots of flowers and, as I love putting these little GFG flowers together I thought about using a bouquet of them in a quilt top. I have about a dozen of these put together now and am stalled — my first thought was to applique them on to a suitable background, sort of like scattered blossoms. Now I’m having second thoughts.

My second idea is to finish off the ’30s pinwheels, part of which can be seen here, and bind it. The ’30s fabrics are, to me, really cheerful — which is what I think spring is. Coming out of winter and going into spring has to be the most cheerful time of year! This picture was taken a while ago — and it is now almost 20″. I’m thinking a nice white-on-white fabric for the setting diamonds and triangles to get the straight edges and then a binding of ’30’s fabric would be very cheerful — but perhaps it’s too busy?


The swap partner I was assigned had no preferences, so there’s nothing there to help me decide. Thoughts?