Sunrise Beginning

Posted on by

10

The fabrics for the sunrise block have been picked out, the diamonds printed and some of them already cut. I can’t wait to get this block done! The quilt, which I’ve now started calling the rainbow quilt, is slowly coming together in my mind. The sunset and sunrise blocks will occupy two corners of the top. I haven’t got a definite plan for the other two corners yet, although I’m contemplating a small rainbow block for one of them using split diamonds.

The rainbow quilt has really taken hold of my imagination. Even when working I’m planning it. All I need to find is the right red and right yellow batiks for it. Guess a trip to Sew Sisters is in my future. Hardly what one could call a hardship!

Although this picture is a bit fuzzy, I couldn’t resist posting it. If you click on the picture to see the larger version, you’ll see that Smudge has his tongue sticking out just a bit.

It was Lester’s turn to curl up with a teddy.

I think spring is slowly getting here. The forecast looks like we’re gradually getting into warmer temperatures. What a relief after the winter we’ve had!

Have a great weekend.

Stars

Posted on by

11

The final row of stars for the Butterfly Stars baby quilt is now done and ready to be attached to the body of the little quilt. All that’s left after that is to print and stitch the finishing pieces to the sides and top and bottom. The printing I’ll get done tonight and, with any luck, should have the top completed by the end of the weekend.

Huge thanks to Terri. She suggested blue, lavender and pink for the sunrise block to go along with the sunset block. I had something in mind but it wasn’t quite right but Terri’s suggestion is perfect and will work so well! The rainbow block in all the fabrics I posted yesterday will be the centre of the quilt with sunrise and sunset blocks in 2 of the 4 corners. I have an idea now for the quilt that’s slowly coming together in my mind.

Smudge snoozing with the teddy again.

And Lester patiently waiting on the windowsill for some entertainment out on the roof garden.


A Rainbow in the Making

Posted on by

5

The more I’ve looked at the sunset block I posted about on Monday, the more I’ve wanted to do another one denoting sunrise and one that will be a rainbow. The rainbow one will obviously end up much larger. I’m not sure if I will continue going around or if, at some point, I’ll go to star points and have a Lone Star of sorts.

I have this grouping of fabrics for the rainbow block. All I need to add is some yellow and, of course, some red. The fabrics needle like a batik, although they’re not batiks. I will probably be hauling these around with me whenever I go to a quilt shop, looking for just the right reds and yellows. But, in the meantime, I can get started printing my diamonds for the rainbow.

The continuing series of Lester on the windowsill. I don’t know if he’ll be there much today, though, as we’re supposed to have quite strong winds and torrential amounts of rain. The temperature is also supposed to drop quite a bit. I hope it doesn’t drop enough to cause icing on the roads and sidewalks after all that rain.


Ideas

Posted on by

8

This post by Kim with the picture of the kitties is too cute!! If you click on the “Animals” under the picture on Kim’s post, you will be taken to a site with many cute pictures, some with captions that are unbelievably funny. We were looking at them for a while and I was almost crying from laughing so hard.

I was the recipient of some fabrics, including the ones in this post, from a non-blogging friend. If you click on this photo to view the larger size, you will see that this fabric is textured — almost has an embossed feel to it. It’s cotton by Timeless Treasures but I’m at a bit of a loss as to what I can/should do with it. I’m thinking if I cut it it’s going to affect the cloth somehow. I think it would make a marvelous fabric for a plain alternate block in some quilt or another but am also wondering if this should just become a backing for a quilt and leave it at that.

Edited to add: After looking at this some more and reading some comments here and in e-mails, I have decided to not use this in any quilt, even as a backing.

Then there’s this which is definitely destined to be used for the Patchwork of the Crosses. There’s quite a bit of this so I’m thinking it may be my “neutral” for that quilt.

The baby quilt is getting very close to being ready to baste. Hopefully some pictures by the end of the week. I don’t think I’ve ever struggled so to finish something. It’s almost become a chore.

Smudge in one of his standard poses. With a bear, of course.


And Lester on the windowsill. Hopefully some birds and squirrels come back soon to the roof garden for him to watch.


Sunset Block

Posted on by

17

Play time this weekend meant I got to work on this. I think of a sunset when I look at it. I’m not sure where I’m going with it — perhaps I’ll surround it with a row or two of a purple. Perhaps I’ll end it here and make a few of these blocks for a wall hanging. All I know is that it was great fun to put this together with lots of continuous stitching. I used the diamonds from the Inklingo 6″ LeMoyne Star collection for this.


We had milder weather over the weekend. Although it rained and rained, it was milder. We had windows open and heat turned way down. The downside was a migraine that was one of the worse I’ve had in a long time. I was barely able to do anything on Saturday. Sunday was just the bruised head feeling.

Smudge knew what to do on a rainy weekend — curl up and be cozy and sleep.


Lester was exactly where I figured he’d be — on the windowsill. No entertainment out there for them yet, though — no birds or squirrels have been seen so far.


Odds and Ends

Posted on by

13

Another Tropical Punch block finished, but not yet pressed. I have come to the conclusion that I much prefer working with batiks for these blocks over the other cottons that I have been using for some of the coloured fabrics. The pink fabric for the star in the centre of this block is not a batik and the difference was incredibly noticeable.

The centre of what will become a star of sorts using the diamonds I showed yesterday was started last night. The centre will be yellow and then I’m going to add all the oranges and then perhaps the pinks. I’ll decide once the oranges have all been added. This just may end up a small wall hanging or who knows?? I just know I want to play with adding more and more diamonds around the middle star and see where I end up.

Have you seen and/or worked with flannel batiks? I’ve read about them but not yet seen any. I find it hard to imagine what they’re like but am intrigued — very intrigued!

These are 8 half-yard cuts of flannels, but not flannel batiks. I have no idea what to do with them other than a simple lap quilt. As I don’t think flannel is going to be anywhere near as much fun to hand piece, I guess this will be a challenge to myself to use the machine. I love the colours and think it will be a wonderful lap quilt to have for next winter.

Yet another Smudge pose.

Lester on the windowsill. He’s getting ready for spring. They say that today we may hit 15C. What a wild swing in temperatures from Monday when we had wind chills in the -27C range. I hope this is truly the beginning of spring. We’ll have windows open and the heat turned down for sure!


A Little More Tropical Punch

Posted on by

9

The third block has been started. Working with these colours is really hard to resist right now!


I have all these lovely diamonds cut out now in the orange/pink fabrics. Whether they’ll all turn into octagon stars or not is up in the air though. I’m thinking I’ll do 4 of the Tropical Punch blocks for a table runner. The rest of these diamonds and probably some others may become a Lone Star of sorts. Some browsing through the block dictionaries is probably something I’ll be doing.

The oven needed cleaning and this time we used only water and baking soda. It’s amazing! We have a self-cleaning oven but won’t use that feature as there have been quite a few articles about the fumes from that being toxic and possibly even fatal to kitties. I did a little research on the Internet and found a couple of methods for cleaning the oven using basic household items such as baking soda and water or just plain old table salt. They worked like a charm. No toxicity, no fumes. Just a nice clean oven that smells wonderful. The next thing I want to try is making my own furniture polish. I found one recipe using olive oil and lemon.

Yet another Smudge pose.

Same pose, different angle. See that eye watching? He holds his pose for ages while we take multiple pictures. Definitely not a camera shy cat.


And a close-up of Lester stretched out on the heat. I think he’ll be back on the windowsill this weekend. We’re supposed to have highs of 11 over the weekend. I can’t wait. Time to open the windows and turn the heat way down.


Planning a New Quilt

Posted on by

14

Lucy Boston’s Patchwork of the Crosses is a quilt that I have loved ever since I saw a picture ages ago in an issue of Australian Patchwork & Quilting. There’s a wonderful article about Lucy Boston and her quilts here as well as some pictures. I’ve been setting aside fabrics for it for a while. So far, they include this grouping:

And this set of Seaside Rose fabrics. I know I’ll be adding some darker shabby chic fabrics when I start it, but I love these two groupings as a start.


There’s going to be an Inklingo collection just for the POTC sometime this year, I believe. Before it comes out, I want to get the fabrics I’ve picked out for the Jane Austen quilt all printed. I’m still debating whether to try stitching the centre of it by machine and hand piece the borders with all those wonderful little diamonds or to hand piece the whole thing. I’m tempted to hand piece it, as I enjoy that so much but I know there is no way I’ll machine piece the POTC and the goal is to finish both this year, so …

The baby quilt is slowly getting worked on. The ’30s prints in it are not prints I’m finding appealing at this point at all. It’s odd — I love them when I start something like this but they quickly lose their appeal altogether. I love the effect and this baby quilt will be exactly what I pictured, but I just wish it was finished!!

This picture is a classic Smudge pose. Had us laughing for sure. It’s a “find the kitty’s head” type of picture. 🙂


Tropical Punch Block 2

Posted on by

15

A little play time was in order on the weekend and so a second Tropical Punch block was made. Working with these lovely warm colours was almost a necessity with the temperatures being so horribly cold.

Because I had printed a number of the templates on various of these fabrics, I was able to just choose my fabrics for the next block and then stitch. Yet another reason I love Inklingo — once the templates are printed on to fabric, all I have to do is cut out the shapes from whichever fabric I want to work with for the next block and then just stitch.

I like the back of these blocks almost as much as the front.


Smudge is definitely a ham. Here he is doing his lounge lizard imitation. He held the pose while we found the camera, turned it on and took the shot.

And Lester found his spot — and was keeping toasty warm.

I hope this cold snap ends soon. The last 3 or 4 days have been brutally cold. I don’t know if it’s because it’s March and we think it should be getting warmer or if we were spoiled by those few days of milder temperatures, but the last few days have been very hard to take.

More Butterfly Stars

Posted on by

11

Another row of butterfly hexagons has been added and almost all the stars necessary for the next row are ready to add. I love how this looks, but am looking forward to it being done. I’m hoping to add just one more row of stars and another of the hexagon butterflies, then the final row of stars and hopefully the piecing is done other than the setting pieces around the outside.

It was very cold all weekend with wind chill values of -25C or so. Funny how it seemed so unbearably cold after a few days of warmer temperatures. I think it’s time for winter to leave and some spring temperatures to start!

The cats, though, didn’t care. They had spots to curl up and stay warm. Smudge in a kitty bed. I think he has his nose tucked in between his front paws to keep it warm.

And Lester in the chair. Even he wasn’t hanging around on the windowsill this weekend. Too cold for him!