Category Archives: quilts

Cheerful Hexagon Blocks

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Close to half a dozen more of the little hexagon blocks were added to the group on the weekend. As each of these hexagons measures 2″, the quilt should grow fairly quickly. That said, for now it’s only weekend play stitching as I’m going back to work on the red and white piecing during the week.

We had a beautiful Easter weekend with mild temperatures and lots of sun. And, unfortunately, lots of allergens in the air. There’s a lot of sneezing going on in this household.

This week I’m hoping to go through my quilt books as I know there are a number that should go to new homes. They’re taking up a lot of shelf space and are books I know I won’t be looking at again. What do you do with quilt books which you longer want?

Then I’m hoping to attack, once again, my fabric and try to get it organized in a better fashion. I need to figure out a way of storing it that doesn’t involve large containers as they’re too heavy for my hands. One idea I’ve had is to empty a bookshelf or three and use them for the fabrics I most often turn to. That way they’d be out where I could see and easily access them. But that would also put fabric within reach of a certain kitty who just loves nothing better than to get a piece of fabric.

Saturday night I failed to put all the little hexagon blocks out of reach and Mr. Q.O. woke up Sunday morning to find two of them on the bedroom floor. There was no damage done and no teeth marks. Baxter just likes carting them around.

Mr. Q.O. captioned this one, “You woke me … for food?”

Tiny Drunkard’s Trail

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Not much got accomplished yesterday, although these little stacks of the pieces needed for more of the 2″ Drunkard’s Trail blocks are cut out and ready to stitch.

I did manage to make these three blocks.

Which will be added to these four blocks. This is going to be a really small quilt, no larger than 8″ x 12″ when it’s finished. And that’s the total of what I have to show for yesterday. I was wiped out from the allergies. Can’t remember a year when they’ve been this bad, but a friend suggested it may be due to our incredibly mild winter. I think she’s right.

Baxter’s not suffering from allergies. He’s interested in finding out if there are some more apps for cats.

Hexagon Pinwheels and More

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Part of play time on the weekend was adding the triangles to two of the pinwheels. I’m not sure whether I’ll add a plain 2″ hexagon in the centre of each set of six little blocks. Perhaps I’ll add some redwork on a 2″ hexagon. Whatever I decide, it’s going to be some time before this turns into anything.

I might do something like Emma’s Butterfly Stars, although I may ask Mr. Q.O. to draw some little creatures that I could use for stitcheries. Or I may just come up with a different setting altogether. For now, it’s a nice little project to which to add a block or two every week or so.

Monday was a lovely spring day. This is perfect weather to be anticipating baseball season beginning. We’re heading to a friend’s on Thursday to watch the Jays’ season opener. It seems like it has been a very long time since we’ve seen a baseball game.

Baxter found a new perch on the blue and white quilt that is draped over the back of the sofa. Now that he’s found it, that seems to be a favoured spot. I love how well his lynx tips show up in this photo.

Drunkard’s Trail Variations

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Ever since the Drunkard’s Trail collections came out, I wanted to play with the variations. This one was made with the 6″ collection. It seems massive in comparison to the 2″ blocks, which were the ones I first made.

Then this one, made with the 4″ collection.

Finally, this one made with the 3″ collection. Although made with the 3″ collection, it finishes at 6″ because I used one of the “extra” shapes as the large centre.

They all press beautifully and I’m grading every seam as I go. The blocks are all going to be mixed and matched in the final layout. For now, I’m just having fun making some of each variation in each size. It won’t be a large quilt. At best, I think it may be a small lap quilt.

I’ve decided that while I am trying to stick to the red and white quilt during the week, the weekends are play time. Of course, the operative word in that sentence is “trying”. I’m so easily distracted by other projects!

Baxter was crashed after some pretty hectic play time Sunday night.

Progress Report and a Question

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The last time I showed this box it was more or less stuffed full and that was even after three-quarters of the main body of the quilt was done. Now the box is empty enough I had to put another box in there to prop up the glassine envelopes holding the remaining blocks to be pieced for the border. So progress is being made!

After looking at the red and white quilt exhibit app, I started looking through one of my favourite quilt books and came across this. There are other red and white quilts in the book as well and they all stand out because of the fabulous contrast.

The book is never far from reach as I spend tons of time looking through it and admiring the amazing quilts in it.

Yesterday of course I spent altogether too much time playing with the iPad. Aside from spending loads of time looking through the red and white quilts on that app, I found myself looking at my and other blogs.

When I was looking at my blog I realized that certain elements are left out when viewed on a tablet, which has me thinking about yet another blog facelift so that my blog does appear the same on desktops, laptops and mobile devices. Which brings me to a question. If you have a tablet, do you use it to visit blogs?

Thanks to a comment left yesterday, Baxter has his very own app on the iPad – a game for a cat. He’s quite interested in watching it. Made us laugh watching him watching it!

Quilts and Technology

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Isn’t this a pretty floral? It’s decorator weight cotton, but I’m going to use it for the centre large diamond of a Jane Austen quilt. Ever since the Jane Austen Patchwork Inklingo collection came out, I’ve been thinking about making one and, as I was finishing another portion of the red and white border last night, I remembered I had this piece of fabric left over from the making of the side drapes in our living room. It will be perfect! Now I’ll just find some fabrics in my shabby stash that will play nicely and I’ll be ready to start it.

Yesterday we ran a few errands, and the weather was glorious. I can’t get over how green everything is looking so early.

One of the errands was to pick up this! I have wanted an iPad for ages and yesterday there was a fabulous sale which we took advantage of. The first thing I did once we got it home was to download the app for the Red and White Quilt show from last year. What a treat to see all those beautiful, magnificent quilts. I know it’s nothing like what it must have been to see them in person, but to have the chance to see them like this is a huge bonus.

And that’s where the title of today’s post came from – fabric for a quilt and the technology that enables me to see those beautiful quilts from last year’s exhibit.

Last weekend I picked up a cover for my eReader. They had many, many different covers available but there was something about this one that really appealed to me. I like the fact that now when I finish reading, it feels even more like a book as I close the cover.

Mr. Q.O.’s caption for this one is, “More toys for you?” Baxter was less than impressed with the sounds from the iPad. There is definitely something he sees out on the roof garden at night and, whatever it is, he absolutely does not like it. Last night he was growling at it. Mr. Q.O. couldn’t believe the noise he made and initially thought it was a motorcycle going by.

Another Teddy Bear Quilt

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This is another simple quilt that was made for the teddy bears. It measures approximately 22.5 x 27 inches and was such fun to make. Twelve 4.5″ LeMoyne Stars and a border and it was done. It’s hand pieced and machine quilted. This was the first quilt I machine quilted using anything but straight lines. On the borders I managed to quilt a cable, although it doesn’t really show up in the picture. That may be one of the benefits of working with a small quilt when machine quilting for me – I can manoeuvre the quilt sandwich a bit easier.

During the summer of 2008 it was also put to use for a teddy bear outing on the roof garden. Finding the old photos of these quilts is rather fun. I’m actually finding quilts I had completely forgotten about.

I’m still working away on the pieced border for the red and white quilt and, while I work on it, am thinking about another idea for a red and white quilt. The next one will be a small quilt though, I think. This red and white Feathered Star/Sunflower quilt is going to be rather large although I have sorted out how I will baste it. I’ll put it in the collapsible floor frame to baste it. No more crawling around on the floor with safety pins, not that that’s even an option with an inquisitive cat like Baxter around. I can just imagine what a nightmare that could be.

Speaking of Baxter, this photo was taken last week. Mr. Q.O. captioned it, “Any treats over there?”

A Favourite Revisited

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While I continue working on the red and white quilt, I decided I’d revisit some of my favourites. This is actually right up there at the top of that list. Simple nine-patch blocks, yes, but there’s something about this quilt and this photograph of it, in particular, that I just love. The nine-patch blocks measure 3″ finished, made with squares I printed using Inklingo. It’s hand pieced and machine quilted and looking at it makes me realize that the simple quilts are just as beautiful to me as the more involved ones.

It was the focus of a teddy bear adventure in this post back in June of 2008. When I looked back in my archives to find it, I was shocked that it was almost four years ago. Assuming I don’t get distracted again, which is never a safe assumption with me, I may show a few other quilts from the past on the blog over the next couple of weeks.

It was really quite chilly here yesterday. I think today’s supposed to be a bit better and then Wednesday better yet again. Yesterday the heat was back on and the windows closed again for most of the day. Oh, how we were spoiled by that lovely taste of summer in the middle of March.

Baxter was looking very alert for his photograph on Monday afternoon.

Happy Hexagons

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Having shown Cameron’s Windmills again seems to have piqued my interest in working with those little half hexagons once more. So out came some 1″ white on white hexagons I’d printed ages ago and I made these two little blocks.

They took only a few minutes each to make and, as I finger press as I stitch them, only a second to press.

I’m going to print and add 1″ white equilateral triangles to the pinwheels and then use them along with the new hexagon/half hexagon blocks and perhaps something else, just for fun, and put together something. I don’t have any idea how large this will end up or when it will get finished. I knew that box full of half hexagons was going to eventually come in handy. For now, I’ll just make blocks periodically and when I think there are enough I’ll play with a setting.

We were out running errands on Saturday and oh, how the temperature had changed. And even more so last night! It was cold and windy but it appears, if our forecast is right, that this colder weather isn’t going to last long and we’ll be back to the warm weather within a few days. I hope they’re right as the tulips are coming up, the daffodils are about to bloom and the crab apple trees are starting to get their leaves.

One of the errands was to pick up a new keyboard for my Mac. I had literally almost worn the L and N keys out. A lot of the letters on the keys were worn off, but the keys themselves being worn out? And only those two? I’ve had some fun thinking about what on earth I use those keys for so much that they were getting worn right out.

When we’re taking photographs of the little quilt blocks, we usually have a board propped up on the chair Baxter has claimed as his own. And most of the time he then jumps up and wiggles his way under the board. Sometimes he peeks out. Mr. Q.O. captioned this shot, “Is that thing gone yet?”

Other times, he’ll be right under the board but one paw will come up and he’ll try to grab whatever is on there.  Mr. Q.O.’s caption for this shot is, “I’ll wait here until it’s gone.” I think it should be more like, “Put that block closer to the edge, please.”

Cameron’s Windmills Quilt … Again

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Yes, I know this has been shown before but I have it entered in this week’s Quilting Gallery contest which is for hexagons. There are some beautiful quilts entered, so please go have a look and vote for your favourites. Yes, I said favourites as you can vote for two entries this week.

With a little advance planning I was able to get the machine quilting done within a couple of hours and had only 4 thread ends to work in. All straight line quilting, of course, as that’s my skill level when quilting by machine. When I found this flannel a few years ago, I bought enough yardage of it to use as backing for 3 baby quilts.

I’ve found that a 2″ hexagon is perfect for a label as it gives me lots of room to write. I baste the turn-under allowance down as that makes the appliqueing on to the back go very quickly. In this picture it’s ironed to a piece of freezer paper to stabilize it when writing on it.

The quilt was made with “other” half 1″ hexagons which I printed using Inklingo. I love tessellating designs and had started the quilt top long before we knew about the new baby. However, when I learned my cousin’s son and his wife were going to have another baby I knew what this particular UFO was meant to be. Once I made that decision, it only took a couple of weeks to finish piecing it. With a tessellating design like this, there are tons of opportunities for continuous stitching which makes the piecing go very quickly. Of course, using Inklingo to print the shapes on the back of the fabric makes it even faster as there’s no basting over papers and removing them.

The blocks are very quick to make with a simple running stitch. Because of the matching points, there’s no guessing at where exactly the joins should be made. I think I was making upwards of 20 or so of these blocks in an evening and then had the fun of arranging and putting them together into the top. I have lots of them left and plan to make another of these little tessellating quilts at some point.

They press beautifully.

Last night we bought a new vacuum cleaner. Baxter was eyeing the box it’s in, definitely not impressed. He is not a fan of vacuum cleaners at all, but with a long-haired cat a good vacuum cleaner is an absolute must for us.