Fabric Selection

Posted on August 21, 2009 by Quiltobsession

There are 10 fabrics in this grouping. I need to pick 7 of them for the little coloured squares on the outside of the black octagons in the Harpsichord Quilt blocks. The squares are only .75″ so I”m thinking the 7 fabrics on the left are the ones to choose as they’re a bit darker and/or brighter.

We had incredibly violent thunderstorms Thursday evening. There was non-stop, intense lightning and thunder that was so loud and so close that we could actually feel the vibration from it. The wind was wild and the rain was intense. I like storms, but I found this one a bit frightening. As it turns out, there were tornadoes in various areas around us, including one that did some fairly severe damage to homes to the north-west of the city. At one point, there was a tornado warning for Toronto. I do not remember us having tornado warnings before for the city.

Earlier in the day, Lester was hanging out on the windowsill and I got this picture of him. This has to be one of my favourite photos of him.

Smudge, stretched out on the couch. What I found interesting was that, during the storm, neither cat seemed to be the least bit upset by it. Smudge, in fact, slept through the whole thing. Lester too.

Quaker a 6 Mains

Posted on August 19, 2009 by Quiltobsession

This sampler will be one of the projects that will be in the rotation I’m trying to set up for the various things I have in progress.

So far, I have selected the sampler, the Harpsichord Quilt, the Patchwork of the Crosses and the Snow Crystal blocks for the line-up. I’ve even gone so far as to pick out what I think will work for the sashing of the Snow Crystal blocks. The question I’m trying to sort out is whether I should leave it at 4 projects. That may be the best idea for me as if I have too rigid a schedule I know I won’t follow it.

My hands have been aching a bit again, which I think has a lot to do with the weather. Mr. Quilt Obsession may step in for me a day this week. We’ll see.

Lester, stretched out on the couch. He is a very long cat. You can’t quite tell from this picture, but stretched out like this he entirely covers the width of the middle seat of the sofa and then some!

Smudge curled up in a chair.

Yesterday, I received 6 or 7 comments on various posts from the same person who seems to be someone who’s using comments on blogs to try to advertise some money-lending offer. I deleted the comments, and have left comments unmoderated for now. If there are more from this person, I will turn on comment moderation for a few days. Hopefully, it doesn’t come to that.

Harpsichord Patchwork

Posted on August 17, 2009 by Quiltobsession

My version of the Lucy Boston Keyboard Patchwork has been started! As soon as I saw the Patchworks of Lucy Boston book last weekend, I fell in love with the Keyboard Patchwork. When a new Inklingo collection came out with the shapes for it, I had to make at least one block. Each side of the octagons is 3/4 of an inch and the little squares are 3/4″. Because the seams are so short, it’s very quick to stitch.

This is quite a change in how I approach a quilt. I knew I wanted to make it in a very controlled set of fabrics, rather than my normal scrappy quilts. My quilt is inspired by both the original Lucy Boston patchwork and the amazing harpsichords we saw last summer with the incredible decorative artwork that is on them. I will be doing half the blocks like the one above, with black and white music fabric octagons and the other half with coloured octagons. All the blocks will be similar to the one above.

The back of my block. I wanted a brocade-type effect for the outer edge octagons, but didn’t want the darkness of the “right” side of the fabric, so decided on using the wrong side.

This fabric, which is a Kona Bay fabric, is the last of the pieces that I need to have fall into place to start in on this quilt in earnest. I’m feeling relatively confident I can find it somewhere and have e-mailed Kona Bay in an effort to find out the name of the line and/or number. If anyone has that information, please let me know as that will help me locate the extra yard of it that I need for this quilt.

I am taking a page out of Wanda‘s book and will start working on all these projects in a bit more controlled fashion. I haven’t quite decided which project gets worked on on which day of the week, but that’s something I want to figure out this week. I will be leaving two days a week open for play.

Mr. Quilt Obsession had fun last week guest blogging. I think he may pop in now and again. Thank you for all the fun comments — I will try to respond to them all over the course of this week. I really did have to give my hands as much of a break as I possibly could. And it helped.

We are finally getting real summer weather. The humidity is getting a bit oppressive, even for me. But I am not complaining. I’d far rather have this than wind chills of -20 in February!

The kitties were pretty laid back and lethargic this weekend. Even though our apartment is quite cool, I think they must feel the heat/humidity in some way or another.

For Quilt Hollow and all you other kitty lovers, here’s one of Smudge, awake on the windowsill.

And Lester, in his normal spot.

Exhausting Work!

Posted on August 14, 2009 by Quiltobsession

So what has Ms. Quilt Obsession been doing while I’ve been pinch-hitting, you might ask? Well, not only has she pressed me into service but Smudge got roped in too! Here he is trying to read the chart for the sampler she’s been working on!

And her progress on said sampler. I’m sure glad she can do this still with no pain — otherwise, who knows what other chores she’d find for us!

For example … she hostessed another one of the Inklingo swaps and, from that swap and from some of her own fabric she’d printed, has all these sheets of fabric that are printed with the bits for stars. There were rumblings about “perhaps you could cut those out?” but I wasn’t biting!

16 shapes on the back of each piece of fabric to be cut out?? A guy’s gotta draw the line somewhere, right? I mean, I’ll take a load of fabric and wash and dry it, cut some fabric and freezer paper for her, even try out ironing but …

The requisite kitty pictures, of course. Smudge is tuckered out from all the activity around here.

While Lester finds the windowsill enticing, even after the sun sets.

Ms. Quilt Obsession’s hands are feeling much better and, barring anything unexpected, will be back in full cry Monday.

Thanks for all the neat comments.

MR. Quilt Obsession for …

Beebs, the Quilting Bear

Posted on August 13, 2009 by Quiltobsession

Beebs, an affectionate term for the classic Basic Brown Bear, has offered to help the old man with some of the chores involved in preparing fabric for quilt blocks. He’s doing some of the ironing while I measure and cut fabric and freezer paper. This bear has an amazing amount of knowledge and skill in many areas.

Smudge has developed an interest … more tomorrow!

Lester, so far, is just waiting to see what develops.

Thanks for all the kind and funny comments. It’s fun to be part of this from a different perspective.

Mr. Quilt Obsession for …

Mr. Quilt Obsession Writes

Posted on August 12, 2009 by Quiltobsession

Pinch-hitting while Ms. Q.O. rests her wrists. I’ll have to rest a while myself having just wrested myself from under a half a ton of fabric where I was stuck for three and a half days without food, water or the company of kitties. My work seems to be cut out for me. (groan)

Rather I’ll be rotary cutting. Neat tools you quilters have.

Here’s Lester kitty-meditating in his favourite spot.

Smudge having his tummy tickled (for over half an hour ) by yours truly.

Stay tuned for the next thrilling installment.

MISTER Quilt Obsession for …

New Book

Posted on August 10, 2009 by Quiltobsession

This has got to be one of the most fabulous books I’ve seen. There are gorgeous photos of Lucy Boston’s patchworks to study and marvel at her use of colour and fabric designs. For most of the quilts there’s one large photo and then a detail photo which really shows off her amazing talent.

The story behind each quilt is quite fascinating — when she made it, for whom it was made and excerpts from notes she sent to people when making that patchwork. To think she made some incredibly complex and labour intensive quilts in her 80s is quite astounding. The book is worth its weight in gold to me. Along with pictures of the quilts are some of The Manor at Hemingford Grey, the home which Lucy Boston restored in England.

One of her quilts is the Patchwork of the Crosses, the quilt blocks I’ve been working on for a couple of months. So I couldn’t resist showing one of my blocks on the book opened at that page! I am so grateful that Diana Boston, Lucy Boston’s daughter-in-law, had the book reprinted and made it available for purchase again. One can purchase it here and read about The Manor at Hemingford Grey here.

We finally got some real summer heat and humidity. It was incredibly humid Sunday night, almost felt like one needed to grow gills in order to breathe! I am not complaining as I love summer heatwaves. They make up for the miserable cold we get in January and February. I just hope we get a couple of weeks, at least, of this before fall starts.

Lester in his normal spot — on the windowsill on Saturday. Sunday was rather stormy and grey and he was busy playing with kitty toys.

Smudge, on the other hand, figured it was a good day to do what he does best — relax in a classic Smudge pose.

Tropical Punch — Again

Posted on August 7, 2009 by Quiltobsession

One thing good about working on this surprise project is that I’ve remembered and brought out some projects that need finishing! All that’s left to do with these blocks is to set them. I’m still undecided on that — whether to set them in a square something like this or to set them in a long row as a table runner.

Lester in his normal summer spot — by the window. We’re supposed to have a very hot and humid weekend. I can’t wait! So far they’re saying we’ll hit 42C on Sunday with the humidex and it looks as though most of next week will be nice and hot. Finally!!

And Smudge in a typical Smudge pose – he really does know how to relax!

Biscornu Finish

Posted on August 5, 2009 by Quiltobsession

The first one is finished! Stitching the two sides together was actually much easier than I anticipated. The part I found intriguing was just how much stuffing it takes — it was endless and seemed like I put enough stuffing in it for something twice its size. They’re fun to put together and the number of patterns for them is incredible.

This is the front:

And the back. No matter what angle I look at this, though, I see quilt blocks.

I’m working on a surprise gift for a friend on a rather tight deadline and, as I know she reads my blog, I can’t post about it. So the next couple of days will probably include photos from past projects.

Smudge in one of his upside-down posts.

Lester lounging on the heat/air conditioning register, looking out the window — of course!

Tiny Hexagons

Posted on August 4, 2009 by Quiltobsession

As I have lots and lots of these printed, cut out and ready to stitch, I’ve been working a little bit on the flower buds top again. These are half-inch hexagons which I’ve pieced into 4-unit buds. I’m thinking I may just make this large enough for a doll’s or teddy bear’s quilt.

The back of this one fascinates me — love how it looks after pressing.