Category Archives: 4.5″ LeMoyne Star

Scrappy Stars

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Definitely not my normal choice of fabrics, but I’m having fun playing with these scrappy little LeMoyne Stars. The weekend before we got Baxter, I spent a lot of time reorganizing my fabric (knowing that doing that with a kitten around would be a bit difficult) and found a small stash of reproduction prints. Not knowing how much I’d like working with them, I printed sets of 8 diamonds on 16 pieces and started making these little LeMoyne Stars. They’re destined to be a small quilt for a friend.

Pressing them takes only a second or two.

It has been really hot and humid here the past couple of days.  Perfect summer weather, especially out on the roof garden where it always seems cooler as there is usually a breeze.

The flowers are absolutely gorgeous this year.

Baxter is getting more and more adventurous and has so far clambered up on Mr. Q.O.’s keyboard and on the telephone.  He has discovered chasing his tail in the past couple of days, which I can’t resist watching. He plays hard and then, in the blink of an eye, he’s fast asleep. This pose as he was having a snooze absolutely cracked me up.

Pink Ice Finish

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After way too many months to count, the Pink Ice lap quilt top is finished. I’m thrilled with how it turned out. Every stitch was done by hand, including joining the blocks into rows and the rows into the top.

There’s a bit of a story to Pink Ice. I fell in love with the Snow Crystal block when I first saw it in this little book called Quilts, A Beautiful History. When the free downloadable collection of Inklingo shapes came out that included all the shapes I needed to make Pink Ice I immediately knew I’d make this quilt. Luckily, another Inklingoist also wanted to make the blocks using pinks so we swapped a number of printed diamonds.

I’ve had the top together for a while and kept wondering about adding a border. I tried a few ideas and nothing seemed right. I often find that borders don’t appeal to me for the quilts I’ve made, although there are definitely exceptions to that. When I look at pictures of antique quilts, I’m always struck by how many of them don’t have borders.

Once I decided that no border was necessary I chose this dark pink with black dots fabric for the binding, as I think it will frame the quilt quite nicely.

A new pattern for Pink Ice has been added to my website here. It includes the printing and cutting instructions, as well as stitching and printing tips, for a scrappy two-colour quilt, a classic two-fabric quilt and a three-colour variation.

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Mr. Q.O. and I are very grateful for all the wonderful heart-felt comments we’ve received about Smudge since Monday’s post. It’s still a bit too emotional an issue for me to say much about it, but oh, how we miss him and find ourselves still looking for him. His drinking habits, his tiny little meow, that glorious tail and that adorable face are permanently etched in our minds and in our hearts. We feel Smudge knew it was time and had passed the baton to Baxter. He passed peacefully on my lap. For that I will be forever grateful.

Baxter’s personality and character is becoming more and more obvious. He likes watching baseball, loves to play with kitty toys and is very determined to get his way when he wants something. That said, he is the sweetest of cats with a non-stop purr. He has proven that he’s definitely going to be a quilter’s cat. I was stitching last night with him on my lap and he was having a great time batting at the fabric. Right now we think he may be teething as any paper he can find gets a few bite marks. We’re quickly learning that books and magazines have to be out of kitty reach.

He’s also not the least bit camera-shy. We’re really intrigued by his eyes, wondering whether they will be gold or green. I think they’re going to be gold, Mr. Q.O. says green. Whatever colour they end up, he is a wonderfully sweet kitty and we are enormously thankful that he has come to live with us.

Flying Swallows

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A friend asked me how I’d stitch the Flying Swallows block. I had to stitch one to figure out the best stitching sequence. It’s a rather fascinating block to put together by hand and actually went together quicker than I thought it would. I used shapes from the free Inklingo collection to make the block, which will finish at approximately 10.75″.

It’s easy to press.

Now that I’ve made one block and sorted out what I think is the best stitching sequence, I will make another and take lots of photos to do a mini tutorial.

Smudge was stretched out snoozing on the couch.

Joining the Pink Ice Blocks and …

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Over the weekend I finally settled on an arrangement for the Pink Ice blocks and have started stitching them together. I’m stitching the blocks into rows by  hand. Because there are many points and I want my seams to line up exactly, stitching by hand is the best choice for me. It doesn’t take long to join 5 blocks into a row and then join the rows to one another. So far, I have two rows joined and the third is waiting to be added. I have a couple of different ideas for a border treatment but won’t be making any decisions on that until the main body of the top is together.

What have I been working on lately that has been taking so much time? Well, over the past few weeks I have been working on a pattern for Chintz Circles. Along with that, I was putting together a web site. I’m very happy to report that late yesterday, the web site went live and my first pattern is listed. More patterns are in the works. Writing patterns has been one of my goals for some time. My blog will remain a place to talk about projects I’m working on, our activities and cat/cats.

We have had a stretch of relatively cool weather since mid-week last week.  Monday was more of the same but the forecast appears to indicate that by the time Wednesday arrives, we’ll be back to more summer-like weather. I can’t wait!

Smudge was content to lounge in the pink chair. There was no baseball game for him to watch Monday night.

Pink Ice Blocks on the Design Wall

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While I had the temporary design wall up, I decided to throw the snow crystal blocks up and see how they looked.  This is a very preliminary arrangement as there’s some definite moving around that needs to be done.  I’m contemplating adding a 1″ sashing around the blocks and have an idea for a border that would involve half stars although no final decision is made on that yet.  If I use the 1″ sashing, I think I’ll use 1″ pink or perhaps green squares at the corners.

I was working on a Stormy Seas block on Tuesday night and realized I was constantly struggling with the thread as it was tangling frequently.  I usually use either Mettler 60/2 or DMC thread when piecing but for this block needed a blue that I had only in Aurifil.  The difference between those threads is quite striking.  Do you have  a favourite thread for piecing?  If so, why is it your favourite?

All that’s left now before I can start quilting the Ferris Wheel quilt is choosing the fabric I use for backing.  As the machine quilting is going to involve a bit of fabric wrestling, I want to use a silk batt.  I had a package of it but was a bit concerned as the package said it was 45 x 60, the exact size of my quilt, and I thought I might not have enough.  Thankfully, it is an extremely generous 45 x 60 and is the perfect size for the quilt.  The silk batt makes it so easy to manipulate the quilt sandwich and requires a lot less strength in the hands.  For me, that is an enormous bonus!

Smudge had been curled up having a snooze on the couch when Lester decided to wander over and join him.  By the look on Smudge’s face, I’m not sure he was thrilled about having company.

Recap of Projects on List

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It has been so long since I’ve worked on a few of these projects that I thought it might be a good idea to have a look at them again.  First up are a few of the 30 Pink Ice blocks.

Than a few of the 30 Patchwork of the Crosses blocks.

Looking at these first two pictures makes me realize how nice it would be to have a design wall!  I could lay out all 30 blocks for each quilt and photograph them. Reorganizing the living room is on the horizon, so perhaps a design wall can get incorporated into that reorganization.

Next up are a few of the harpsichord blocks.  While I had started putting them into the first row, I have quite a few more done but not added to a row yet.  That will be something that I think I’ll start doing every 10 or 12 blocks or so.

While only one Storm at Sea block is done, as shown below, I have the fabrics for my Stormy Seas quilt ready to print and have worked out how many of each shape I’ll need.  Perhaps this weekend I can get some of the printing done.

The Pickled Ladies, which have clearly captured my interest almost exclusively for the past month and a half.

Then the sunshine star clams which are almost twice the size of the Pickled Ladies blocks:

The final item on the list is the baby quilt, which is ready to quilt as soon as I find the right backing.  Who knew finding a wider flannel would be such an adventure?  I may end up making a pieced backing with some ’30s FQs for it.  No picture of it yet but as soon as it’s quilted there will be.

Every one of these quilts has been/is being made with Inklingo templates printed on my fabric.  It has made even complex patterns like the clamshell pickles simple.

Smudge looking angelic in lace.

And Lester curled up beside Mr. Q.O.’s desk chair.

A Last Few of the Pink Ice Blocks

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Following up on Wednesday’s post, a few more of the Pink Ice Blocks.  Whether I’ll get the setting pieces cut and at least a start on putting the top together this weekend is still up in the air.  My wrists/hands feel somewhat better as I have been careful this week (and, as a result, owe a lot of responses to comments) but I don’t want to push it.  Maybe by Monday, which is a holiday here in Ontario.

Another five of the blocks:

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Both cats had lazy days on Thursday, and both of them curled up with a soft toy. First Smudge with a lion:

And Lester with a teddy bear:

Pink Ice Blocks Revisited

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Wendy at Ivory Spring suggested I show the blocks again so over the next couple of days, I’m going to post photos of some of the first of the Pink Ice blocks.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed I can get the setting blocks cut out this weekend and, with any luck, get a start on putting the top together.   I loved making these blocks — so easy with the free Inklingo collection.  A couple more and a few more tomorrow.

Both the kitties had windowsill time on Tuesday.  Lester in a typical Lester window pose.

And Smudge looking rather camera curious.

Pink Ice Block 30

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Hard to believe I’ve finally finished the pieced blocks for the Pink Ice quilt.  All that’s left now is to cut the plain setting squares but that’s beyond my wrists/hands at the moment.  Maybe on the weekend I can tackle that.

The back:

Both boys were on the windowsill on Monday so we got  a rare picture of them together.

Pink Ice Block 29

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One more block to go and the snow crystal blocks for Pink Ice will be all done.  I’m rethinking how I’ll put the top together.   The blocks will be set on point but, rather than making 9-patch blocks for the alternate blocks, I think I’ll use plain 9″ blocks.

The back:

My wrists/hands are still somewhat sore, so Mr. Q.O. may end up guest blogging a day or two this week.  Or perhaps I’ll post photos with very few words.

Saturday was a very overcast day, although we really didn’t get anywhere near the ran they said we’d get.  Smudge took advantage of a lazy summer day.  This is one of his classic poses.

While Lester got in some windowsill time on Sunday.