Pink Ice Block #18

Posted on December 1, 2009 by Quiltobsession

… is done. The blocks finish at 9″. I’m thinking another 12 and then it will be time to start auditioning fabrics for sashing. Although I think it’s probably not something I can accomplish, I’d love to get the remaining 12 blocks put together before the end of December.

The back:

Another rather overcast day and more sleepy kitties. Lester in the kitty bed:

And Smudge on the couch:

Spool Blocks Started

Posted on November 30, 2009 by Quiltobsession

A quick half hour on the weekend and I had printed enough of all the shapes I need for a small teddy bear quilt made up of the spool blocks done. The blocks finish at an odd size — about 4.8″. I’m going to use a set of 5 x 4 for this little quilt.

Unusually for me, I decided to use muslin and, as I had a couple of charm packs that I thought were perfect teddy bear colours, I used those to print the half long hexagons and squares. I can get exactly 9 of the 1″ squares printed on each charm.

There’s some wastage with the half long hexagons on the charms as I only get 3 from each charm, but I have plans for the third of each fabric.

And here’s the first block done. It has been a long time since I used muslin. While I think it’s perfect for these blocks in a teddy bear quilt, I remember now why I don’t use it more often! It seems much thicker than the other cottons.

The back:

We have been spending a lot of time upstairs with Winnie, which has meant less stitching time. She has made huge strides. I can pick her up, pat her and now she jumps up to sit beside Mr. Q.O. I’m calling him the cat whisperer.

It was a rather overcast weekend and the kitties caught up on their sleep. First Lester, all curled up in one of the kitty beds:

And Smudge sprawled on the love seat:

Spool Centres

Posted on November 26, 2009 by Quiltobsession

The spool blocks I mentioned yesterday have me fascinated. I’m thinking that my spools will have some very colourful 1″ square centres. I have these 1″ squares all ready to use:

And these:

Now I’m thinking that each spool block will be of a different thread colour, as shown by its centre. Between spending time upstairs with Winnie and a bit more work than I had expected, I’m not getting much stitching done this week but the planning and dreaming about quilts is fun! The little spool blocks will be fun to have to pick up and stitch.

Lester on the windowsill. We’re still having amazingly mild weather for late November. I am not complaining. The longer it stays mild, the better. If we don’t see snow before January I’ll be happy.

And Smudge making friends (?) with a stuffed toy bunnie:

Planning & Dreaming of Quilts To Be

Posted on November 25, 2009 by Quiltobsession

While another Snow Crystal block got started Tuesday, not enough was done to show. Ideas for other little quilts keep creeping into my mind these last few days. There’s a fabulous spools block that I can make using shapes from the Inklingo Lite 4 collection — you can see a sample here — and I’m sure I’ll make a teddy bear quilt with those. Not so sure about what fabrics yet, but I’m leaning towards maybe some taupes with a muslin.

There’s these fabrics that I know I’ve shown before. I keep looking at them, knowing I want to do something with them but I didn’t have a clue what. At least up until now I didn’t. I’m leaning towards a small quilt comprised of some sort of star blocks using these fabrics. The black fabric will be probably the setting fabric while the stars are made from the red, blue and green.

Then I come to these — all these glorious pinks and stripes. Again, I’m not sure what I want to make with these and they probably won’t all be in the same quilt but I love looking at them!

I haven’t made a Christmas quilt up until now. But the idea of using greens and reds and making larger, 12″ Snow Crystal blocks for a Christmas quilt is really capturing my imagination. Perhaps I’ll make one by Christmas 2010. Of course, new Inklingo collections will undoubtedly come out and I’ll probably decide on a different pattern but I think a Christmas quilt is definitely in my near future as a project.

This has to be my favourite photo of Lester right now. The look on his face is so expressive!

Smudge showing just how well he can relax:

And little Winnie. She has definitely adapted to us taking care of her. She purrs now, lets us pat her, even does the “happy paw” thing of curling her paws when she’s being patted. She gets a bit of chicken with her dinner every evening and has the funniest habit when eating it. She makes a noise that I cannot describe. The first time I heard it, I couldn’t believe it!! It’s very difficult to not laugh. Mr. Q.O. shot some video of her. Now it’s a matter of editing it and figuring out how to upload and embed it in a blog post.

Snow Crystal Block

Posted on November 24, 2009 by Quiltobsession

Another of the pink and white snow crystals is done.

The more I look at the various pinks I’ve used for these blocks, the more I’m thinking I may have to forget making this a pink and white quilt and use some other colour — perhaps a green — for the sashing. I’m still not decided on that. I may even decide to not use sashing and then keep it as a pink and white quilt. That decision doesn’t have to be made until all the blocks are done, though, so I’ll just keep making the blocks and then play.

The back:

The after effects from H1N1 are really frustrating. I get up in the morning, think I feel better, start to do things and rapidly run out of energy and strength. Monday it even got to the point that reading or writing e-mail seemed like an enormous task. There’s a lingering faint nausea from it that comes and goes. We were told 6 to 8 weeks before we’d feel back to normal. I guess they were right.

Lester:

And Smudge:

Teddy Bear Quilt Beginnings

Posted on November 23, 2009 by Quiltobsession

I made the first of these blocks when the Inklingo tumbler collection came out a few months back. I’ve now made a few more and have the beginnings of another teddy bear quilt. The blocks finish at 6″. These aren’t pressed yet, but I’ll do that this week. I’m going to make another 6 blocks and then set it together, perhaps with a small border.

Cat sitting Winnie was an eye-opener on the weekend. She is letting me pat her, even will let me pick her up — sometimes. When I was getting her food ready, she was doing figure 8’s around my legs. That was a huge step! She really responds to Mr. Q.O.’s voice — it’s interesting to watch her when he’s talking to her. Her eyes get huge! We’re going to try to get a picture of her this week.

Lester draped over the arm of the chair:

And Smudge, very alert on the couch with some friends:

New Patchwork of the Crosses Block

Posted on November 20, 2009 by Quiltobsession

When looking at the blocks still requiring the surrounding cream hexagons, there was one that really stood out and I knew it wasn’t going to fit in with the others in the quilt. So I picked out some fabrics for another block and have now finished this one:

The back:

For the next 16 days I’m taking care of Winnie, an adorable looking little cat, for friends who have gone away to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. She is, however, one cranky cat!! She hisses when you put her food down for her, hisses if you try to pat her, just hisses a lot! I’ve known Winnie ever since our friends got her, about 14 years ago, and she has always been like this. She was a barn cat so I guess she’s basically feral. They live three floors above us, which makes it easy to run up and take care of her but I feel rather badly that she doesn’t want any attention at all. She just wants her food and water and that’s about it. Maybe I can get her used to a little attention during this time. That’s what I’m hoping.

One thing’s for sure, she makes me very grateful for the lovely dispositions our two boys have!

Lester, gazing out the window:

And Smudge in a variation of the “where’s his head” pose:

A Kitty-Cat Biscornu

Posted on November 19, 2009 by Quiltobsession

Every few months the husband of a good friend is up here on business. We call him our “fabric mule” as he has been drafted into service carrying packages back and forth. Saves on lots of postage and certainly makes for some fun looks at the reception desk at his hotel.

This time the package revealed these pretty fabrics. I have an idea for these already!

This time she really spoiled me!! I had seen this pattern for the Cat Lovers biscornu online and was absolutely thrilled when I saw the package contained this:

This is one side of the biscornu:

And this is the other:

This is the linen that came in the kit, which also has all the threads.

All the little seed beads and the 2 heart buttons for the centre as well as the kitty charm:

And just because I think they’re so adorable — a close-up of one of the little heart buttons and the kitty charm:

I’m absolutely thrilled about this little kit. As soon as I get to Staples and have the chart enlarged (’cause it’s tiny!), I’ll be starting this. I’ve made 5 biscornu so far but they’ve all been gifts. This one I’m keeping for myself!

Smudge isn’t impressed — although I think he’d love to play with the threads.

And Lester back on the windowsill. We are having a wonderfully mild November and he’s enjoying his perch.

Another Snow Crystal

Posted on November 18, 2009 by Quiltobsession

I reached into the box of envelopes containing the pieces for three quilts and pulled out the envelope with the patches for this snow crystal block.

The back:

We have been having the most glorious weather for November. Very few rainy days, relatively high temperatures for this time of year and lots of lovely blue skies. If only it would stay like this until March!

A Lester photo. If you look closely you can see the lynx tips on his ears.

And Smudge resting up while he waits for his nightly yogourt treat.

Another POTC Block Framed

Posted on November 17, 2009 by Quiltobsession

As usual, I finish framing one of these blocks and it’s my current favourite. I’m amazed at how well the purple works with every one of these blocks so far.

The back:

Ever so slowly I’m responding to comments left over the last couple of weeks and trying to catch up reading and commenting on blogs. I can’t wait to have totally recovered from this wretched flu and have more energy.