Category Archives: Inklingo

Alabama Beauty Blocks

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The first of the blocks that will now become the next row in the Spring Circles lap quilt for my aunt.

The second:

Third:

Fourth:

Fifth:

Obviously I’ve decided which will be the quilt for my aunt.  I have enough of the shabby chic fabrics that I can start over to make a large one for us.  I may need only one more row after this one to make a lap quilt of the appropriate size for my aunt.

As I was making two of the blocks on Monday night, I was thinking about how to quilt it.  I think I’ll get one of the silk batts for this which will keep it fairly light and make it easy to quilt.  Planning the label for it will be next.

I can’t remember a year when allergies have been anywhere near as bad as this year.  My eyes are streaming and I can’t stop sneezing.  There’s some construction going on in the complex so I would bet some construction dust mixed in with the pollens and the high winds have just turned into a soup of allergens.  Almost everyone we know is complaining of allergy problems.

Lester got in some windowsill time on Monday, although it was still pretty chilly and the heat is still on.

While Smudge was wide-eyed and alert after his nightly yogourt treat.

Choosing the Right Quilt

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My cousin responded to my question regarding my aunt’s favourite colours, saying that they are pinks, rose-coloured pinks rather than baby pinks, and greens.  Now I’m trying to decide what to do.  I did a rough calculation on the weekend and I think it will take approximately 7 or 8 weeks just to piece the Summer Picnic Dish top, which would only leave me 2 weeks to get it quilted and bound.  There is very little wiggle room in that timing.  Could the pansy floral be considered anything close to a pastel rose colour?

I’ve been thinking about it most of the weekend and, as I see it, I have 3 choices at this point although there’s a fourth idea that I will look at more later today.  The three choices?  The Summer Picnic Dish:

Second idea?  Adding a few more rows around this first quadrant of the Spring Circles and making that a lap quilt for my aunt.  Not all pinks and greens but I think the overall feel of it is along those lines:

The third choice is to add another 12 or 13 of the Pink Ice blocks and turn that into a lap quilt.  Not sure where the green would come in, although I suppose I could add two borders — one in a pretty green and then a pink.  These are very quick blocks to make, and I could easily have them done within a few weeks.

Or I could add a very thin mint green sashing around the blocks.

My fourth idea?  I’m playing with the idea of a Winding Ways top done in a  pink fabric that almost reads as a solid and a very pale small sprig green with tiny pink buds on a creamy white fabric.  I will get those fabrics out today and have a look at them to see if they work together or not.

It was a very cold and incredibly windy weekend.  There was damage done in areas of the city from the wind and we had wind chills of -3C.  It was warmer in March than it is now.

Lester spent a bit of time on the windowsill, but not much.  I think nice warm kitty beds were much more enticing this weekend.

Smudge was — well, being Smudge.

A Change in Plans

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Half the arcs for the next Summer Picnic Dish block have been done and the pieces are printed, cut out and ready to stitch for the rest of that block and for a few more.

The change in plans?  My aunt’s birthday is coming up in August, at which time she will be 90.  There will be a party for her and I’ve decided to make her a lap quilt.  She’s an amazing lady, sharp as can be and funny.  I have some absolutely marvelous memories of playing double solitaire with her in the summers at a cottage.  The two of us would end up in fits of laughter as we tried to be the first to go out and win those games.

Now the decision is whether to make the summer picnic dish into a lap quilt for her, which is Mr. Q.O.’s choice.  He thinks that something bright and cheerful is the best idea.

The other idea?  Doing something with Winding Ways blocks using fabrics like these:

I have to decide and get started on it this weekend as I want lots of time to make this the best lap quilt I possibly can.  She’s my only aunt and is someone who really does appreciate items made by hand.  I gave her a lace tablecloth which I had crocheted when I was in my early 20s.   She still talks about it.  The same with an afghan I knit for her when I was a teenager.  She’s a small lady, so it will not be a huge quilt.  I’m thinking something in the range of 48 by 54 inches or thereabouts.

The fabrics I’m thinking about for the winding ways idea in the picture above remind me, to a degree, of a chintz couch she has but they are more subdued than the floral and green in the pickle dish blocks.  Any thoughts on this are more than welcome.

We did a little shopping on Thursday, which included a stop at Staples.  Mr. Q.O. bought one of the Bamboo tablets for my computer.  Getting used to it as a mouse took no time at all.  I haven’t even scratched the surface of its capabilities which include, I think, the ability to add written captions to photos.   I’m looking forward to playing with it this weekend.

Watching Smudge the last couple of days has been an absolute joy.  I still can’t get over how lucky we were.  This was taken shortly after he had his nightly yogourt treat on Wednesday night.

Lester was incredibly lively Wednesday night.  One of the medications for his heart condition is only given every 3 days and on the days he gets that one, he acts like a kitten.  Wednesday night was one of those nights.  It’s wonderful to see him like that.

One Flower Wednesday … Again

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One tiny flower got done on Wednesday for the border of the small quilt, made with .50″ hexagons.  But only one. Hopefully next week I can actually make more than 1 or 2 of these little flowers.  The list of gardeners making flowers on Wednesdays is growing.  Karen’s post here has a list with links to all the gardeners.

On Wednesday, Mr. Q.O. went to a documentary film festival.  The screening to which he went was at a theatre that is part of the University of Toronto, which is within walking distance.  On his walk, he saw these little flowers.

Along with doing the one small hexagon flower, I finished the second Summer Picnic Dish.  As I have learned from doing Spring Circles that joining the blocks as I go makes a big difference for me, I  added the half centre edge piece to join the two blocks on point.  My plan is to use the green fabric that’s in the blocks for the binding.

I finally got caught up on replying to comments and hope to start reading and commenting on blogs over the next couple of days.  I should have been working on Wednesday, but I think the tension of the past few days really caught up with me as I just could not concentrate!  I finally gave up on working for the day and played with fabric, patted Smudge a lot and tried to relax.  Thank you to all who commented on yesterday’s post — it helped rather a lot!

It was a sunny, windy day at first on Wednesday and then it clouded over and we had our first thunderstorm of the season.  Not much of a thunderstorm, but a thunderstorm.  Earlier in the day, while it was still sunny, we got this shot of Lester.  It really shows his whiskers.

Smudge was relaxing on the chair.

Setting the Summer Picnic Dish

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Putting these blocks on point gives them a different look.  As I was making the second block, I decided that I’m going to use the on point setting for these.  I’ll use half centres along the outer edges of the top so that I have a straight edge.  The second block isn’t quite finished and will actually be the third block.  Placing the corner pieces is something I’ll need to be careful about for the second block so that I don’t have 2 green or 2 floral corner pieces joined.

On Friday we had some errands to run within walking distance.  Walking along one of the streets, we came across this crab apple tree.

There are many street planters in the area.

A close-up of some of the flowers in that planter:

Things are still a bit hectic for us but everything should be settled down after today.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’s so and that I can get back to reading and leaving comments on blogs as well as replying to comments.

Lester seems to be contemplating something.

Smudge curled up with a teddy bear.

Summer Picnic Dish

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The Pickle Dish collections were released on the weekend and I couldn’t resist making this instead of the classic red and white pickle dish I had planned to do.  Something about a summer picnic dish wall hanging just seemed like the right idea for now.  I had cut and pressed fabric to freezer paper, printed my shapes and cut them out and was stitching within a few minutes of downloading the collection.  While I’m hand-piecing, I’m sure this could be easily machine pieced as the curves are very gentle.  To that end, Linda even included a template for paper piecers to print out and use for that method.  It is an amazingly simple block to stitch with the matching points and stitching lines that Inklingo prints.  I really can’t imagine making this block with any other method!

There’s an absolutely fabulous Design Book as well, which is free to download.  There are lots of great tips in it for stitching both Pickle Dish and Double Wedding Ring quilts.

More greenery from the roof garden.  After the weekend,  during which we did have some rain, I think it’s probably even greener out there now.  Maybe some flowers will start to show up soon too.

It was a rather hectic weekend and I haven’t really looked at blogs or even replied to some comments yet.  I hope to get back on track after Tuesday.  In the meantime, if I haven’t responded to a comment,  please know that I really do appreciate getting comments and always do respond — eventually.  This is one of those “eventually” times, it seems.

Lester loves to sleep in the pink chair.

While Smudge finds the couch more to his liking most of the time.

Flowers for the Garden

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The pretty little box was loaded with all that’s necessary to make some flowers for the garden and three flowers were made on Wednesday.

This will be a small quilt — perhaps a little doll’s or teddy bear’s quilt.   I think there will be about 10 flowers, or perhaps even less, in total for this one.  These are 1″ hexagons and they seem enormous in comparison to the .50″ ones I was working with last week.

The backs:

To see flowers made by other hexagon gardeners on One Flower Wednesday, go to Karen’s blog and on her sidebar you will see the names of the gardeners with links to their blogs.

I’ve been looking through the Japanese hexagon book again and, among other quilts that catch my eye, this one really interests me because of the quilting design used in the flowers.  It’s very pretty and very effective.  I think if you click on the picture to enlarge it, you’ll be able to see it.

One of the trees on the roof garden, and I have no idea what type of tree it is, has these little pink buds on it.  I don’t remember ever noticing it flowering before so have no idea what these will turn into.

Lester once again showing why we think of him as the house lion.

While Smudge was having an after-dinner nap.

More Spring Circles

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The first quadrant has now grown to 20 blocks.  When 36 blocks are done, I’ll start on the second quadrant.  Watching a new group of circles appear has me fascinated every time I add a new row.  I’ve got the blocks for the next row started and am approaching this with a view to finishing a row every week, including adding it to the other rows.  It is still going to take quite some time to finish it, as each quadrant is going to take at least 2 months to make although I am finding them faster and faster to stitch.

We were lucky to get the shot out on the roof garden Monday afternoon.  By Monday evening it had become quite windy.  The wind continued on through the night.

We got some other nice pictures of the roof garden on Monday.  This is one of my favourites, looking from the west side of the roof garden over to the east.

This is the building in which we live.  While it’s very high, we live down quite close to the roof garden — in fact, only a couple of floors above it which means we get all the benefits of having a tree in front of the window and seeing lots of greenery.  The sky was wonderfully blue on Monday with just wispy clouds floating by.

Lester was sitting on my lap, staring up at the ceiling when Mr. Q.O. got this shot.  Usually, I completely fall for it and look up to see what he’s staring at.  This time I didn’t.

Smudge curled up with a teddy bear.

One Klosjes …

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… block was all I got done last week.  I’m thinking now that I will finish making the ones I’ve got prepped, then assess and decide whether to make a wall hanging from those or if I’ll keep making them.

The back:

The weekend was productive as I got the next 4 Alabama Beauty blocks stitched into a row, and that row joined to the first 4 rows.  I’ll post a picture as soon as we can get one out on the roof garden on a dry, non-windy day.  Sunday  night I selected the fabrics for the next row of the blocks..

Exciting news to me is that there’s going to be an Inklingo Pickle Dish collection.  One of my quilting goals is to have a red and white quilt and I’m playing with the idea of making a red and white Pickle Dish.   More wonderful curved piecing.  I can’t wait!  Linda announced it here, on her blog, on Sunday.

We were playing with the macro setting on the camera and took this shot of the condensation bubbles on a coffee cup.  For some reason, this shot just fascinates me.

It was a rainy overcast weekend.  Sunday afternoon two robins were sitting on the tree branch right in front of the living room window.  I knew we had some robins out on the roof garden as I’ve heard them, but hadn’t seen them until Sunday.  I wasn’t quick enough to get a photo of them.

The cats got in some serious relaxation time.  Smudge in one of his endless upside down poses.

While Lester was a bit more alert, but only momentarily.

Farmer’s Delight Blocks

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These blocks have been languishing since I got started on Spring Circles, but are about to get worked on again.  I had planned to make 12 of these blocks and have the fabrics for the remaining 6 blocks cut and ready to print.  So this weekend, the shapes shall be printed and then I will start working on these again as well as focusing on the Spring Circles.  I’m playing with the idea of a pieced sashing for these, but will make that decision when I get the remaining 6 blocks completed.

While we were out on the roof garden taking pictures of quilt blocks, we got this shot of the two condominium towers going up across the street.  There are so many condominium high-rise towers in this area that sometimes it feels like we live in an absolute concrete jungle.  That’s one of the reasons I’m so grateful for the roof garden and that we face on to it with a tree in front of our living room window.  Once the leaves on the tree have come out we barely notice all the concrete that surrounds us.

It was a gloriously sunny day on Thursday, although somewhat cool in the morning.  Lester was in his usual spot by the window.

While Smudge was posing for the camera, as usual.