An Unexpected Post

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I had plans to post photos of a couple of small items I finished off last night … but the camera batteries were dead. Very very dead. They’re still recharging, 6 hours later! Guess the moral of this story is to have 2 sets of batteries so that one set is always charged!

So I thought I’d post some photos of a few of the diamonds that will be included in the shabby chic diamond top. This one is one of my favourites — I loved making this one.

For this one, I used a bit of Fairy Frost and a hand dyed fabric. Hand piecing with the Fairy Frost was an interesting experiment (you can read that as needle impaled on my finger tip — definite reminder to use the thimble).


This is another of my favourites . Oh, what am I saying!?! I love all of them. They were all so much fun to stitch!


This one was really satisfying to make — fussy cutting the piece of fabric that’s beneath the handle so that the flowers were pretty well centred was my goal.


Working with these fabrics was heavenly! They’re from the Paris Flea Market line by 3 Sisters.
Another little bit of fussy cutting.


And, of course, pictures of the boys. As we seem to take endless shots of them, I doubt I’ll run out anytime soon!

The Next UFO

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Peg at Happy in Quilting has issued a challenge which I’ve joined in on — finish 5 flimsies into quilts by the end of July. I don’t know if I’ll get five done, but the blue and white stars is one and up next will be my shabby chic diamonds.

I’ve shown these before on my blog but they have now moved up to the next major project I want to work on and get off the UFO list. There are about 50 of these pieced diamonds from Quilted Diamonds 2. I have an idea for a setting which will utilize a border of either small 6-pointed stars or small GFG flowers, also done in shabby chic.

This won’t be a really large quilt, but I think it will be a good-sized lap quilt. And I get to work with my favourite types of fabrics! Right now I have two ideas for the centre of this quilt. Either a thin sashing with cornerstones between each diamond, setting them into a large rectangle with a thin border and then a border of either the small stars or small GFG flowers.

Or I may make large diamonds out of 4 diamonds each — and then sash those large diamonds, turn that into a rectangle and again add a small border then a border utilizing the stars or GFG flowers.

The gardeners have planted flowers under each of the trees out on the roof garden. This is what the base of one of the crab apple trees looks like now.

Smudge really outdid himself this time. We’re always amazed at the positions in which he sleeps!

I love this picture of Lester — to me he looks like he’s thinking and communicating. He is the most affectionate cat I have ever known.


A Little Dessert

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After finishing the blue and white stars top, I decided I could have a little play time before working on the next on the UFO list. I’ve been dying to make one of the needle cases from Kumiko Sudo’s book, Kokoro no Te, so that was my dessert.

This is my first one finished. I’m not thrilled with the felt I bought as it’s synthetic stuff and wasn’t all that pleasant to work with, but as I had never worked with any felt before it was good enough for practicing.

This is the inside of the front “cover”. A piece of felt is cut slightly smaller than the fabric and stitched down inside the front and back pieces of fabric.


There are 3 pieces of felt for needles in the middle.


And this is the back.
All in all, I’m pleased with how it turned out and am really looking forward to making a few of these with better fabric and nicer felt. I think they’ll make great gifts!

Lester always strikes me as a very smart, wise kitty. This picture sort of shows his wise side.


A Blue and White Finish

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The last stitch was taken at about 11:15 Friday night and the top is completed, made with shapes from Inklingo Collection 1. The backing fabric has now been chosen and I will wash and iron it today. I’d really like to get this basted and quilted before the end of the month.

It’s definitely being machine quilted. That painted-on white on white fabric is just too tough to needle. Hand piecing with it was enough for me!

We had more freaky thunderstorms Sunday afternoon/evening. The wind was intense at points and the rain came down in buckets. But it was the noise of the thunder during one of the storms that really was rather odd. It sounded more like a low-flying airplane or a train going at warp speed than a normal thunder clap. Odd. So far this year the weather has seemed odd a lot!

This is one of my favourite pictures of Smudge. I’m not altogether sure what the look says, though. Perhaps I don’t want to know!


An Almost Finish

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The blue and white stars are almost completed. I have a few pieces to add along the edges and in two corners and it will be done! I’m still debating whether to add a small border, although I love the look of quilts that just end with the binding.

When it was spread out this morning to take pictures, Lester decided he needed to inspect. I think he’s given it the kitty paw’s up seal of approval. Just to give you an idea of the size of his paws, the white hexagons on which he has a paw are hexagons with 2″ sides. There’s a reason we call Lester our house lion!

The other day when I was printing a few more of the star points, Smudge decided he had to come watch. It was so funny to see him peeking between printers.


A Riot of Colour

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The climbing flowering plant out on the roof garden is really displaying some gorgeous blossoms! Today we we asked and the gardener told us it’s allamanda. We have had one of those on the roof garden every year for the past 3 or 4 years and they seem to last well into the fall. The colour is amazingly vibrant!

Here’s a close-up of some of the flowers.

These lobelia have now been planted along the edges of the flower beds and under the trees.
The blue and white star top is getting very close to finished. A few more half stars need to be added along the edges and then it will be done. The decision now is whether to put a border on it or not. At the size it is now it’s quite acceptable as a lap quilt. With a border it will also be fine as a lap quilt. If I do add a border it will be in the same blue fabric.

I’m leaning towards no border as I love the look of old quilts that just seem to stop at the binding but, on the other hand, I also love the finished look of those with borders! Decisions!! Any input??

The heat has broken. Monday night we had the most incredible thunderstorm. I like thunderstorms but this one had me a bit nervous. The lightning was almost non-stop and the thunder was unbelievably loud. Incredibly loud. It actually woke us up. The claps of thunder were so huge that one could feel the vibration. The kitties? The kitties weren’t the least bit perturbed.

It’s moderate today, with a high around 75. They say the heat and humidity will be back on Friday.

Lester doesn’t seem to mind what the weather does. He finds spots to curl up and have a snooze.


A Lily Pad for Froggie

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On the weekend I thought I’d make another of these needle cases. This time I decided to use some green fabrics, thinking it would look marvelously spring-like and fresh.

Once again, I tried sewing it by machine. Wrong decision. The curves turned out very irregular and rather odd. However, when it was finished DH said it looked like a lily pad. And it does. So our little frog — we have a few of these along with the teddy bears — now has a lily pad.

Here is he floating along on the water on his new lily pad. 🙂


There was a bit of a current and the lily pad got turned over, but he’s just fine!

Our weather on the weekend was incredible. Hot as can be with humidex values in the 42C range. Yesterday we even had a tornado watch! A tornado watch in Toronto?? Unbelievable. The sky got rather odd looking at points but all we got was a bit of rain. However, areas to the west and north of us got some substantial storms and there were sightings of funnel clouds.

I’m definitely not wishing for a tornado, but a thunderstorm would have been nice. We love thunderstorms. The cats aren’t the least bit upset by thunderstorms either — and are often found sitting on the windowsill during a storm.

What does Smudge do during a hot, hot weekend? He hangs out on windowsills or anywhere else and just enjoys! I sometimes wonder if it takes a week or so of this for us all to thaw out after the winter!

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An Almost Finished Top

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The blue and white star top is almost finished. I just need to add the partial stars along the edges so that I have straight edges and one quick border and it will be finished!! I was contemplating appliqueing the top on to the borders and keeping the uneven edges, as I rather like that look, but the heat wave that’s starting promptly made me reassess! It will be too hot to even have a small quilt top draped over my lap while I applique. They’re saying today we may even hit 43C with the humidex.

I am NOT complaining about the heat! I love the heat. Particularly after the extremely long winter and awfully cool spring we’ve had. I wish there was a way to bottle the heat and save it for the winter! I will enjoy every minute of this. Of course I say that knowing full well we have air conditioning that I can turn on in a second if it gets too warm. I do feel terribly sorry for those in the city who don’t have a/c as this weekend promises to be a real scorcher!

I have had a few comments about Lester getting the lion’s share of the spotlight lately (fitting, right — the lion’s share for a kitty we call our house lion?) so figured I’d better explain a bit. Lester has a heart condition, hypertropic cardiomyopathy, as a result of which he has had two small strokes, the first just over a year ago. Given that, we are thrilled when we see him so active and interested in things. We have been incredibly fortunate that he has responded so well to the meds and is as active as one could hope an adult kitty would be.

Never fear, Smudge gets an equal amount of attention. Unfortunately, most of the photos of Smudge are when he’s sleeping or half asleep as when he’s awake he’s quite active and the photos would be incredibly blurry.

This photo cracks me up — the two paws draped ever so casually over the edge of the kitty bed and that look on his face!

Smudge is our cuddle cat. He loves to curl up on your lap or in your arms and have a nice long snooze. Of course, a 20+ pound cat in this heat on one’s lap is going to be rather uncomfortable — but that’s what air conditioning is for!

I hope everyone has a super weekend. I’m going to soak up some heat!

A Tale of Kitty Stealth

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“I’m just hanging out here, enjoying the warmth. Honest!”

“See? I’m just looking around. No mischief planned.”


“Okay! He’s not watching me right now. That keyboard looks pretty interesting. And is that a pen I spy over there? Gotta investigate that!”



“Better be quick. Think he’s spotted me!”


“Uh oh! Better get outta here. He’s on his way over here! Dratted keyboard — it made a noise that alerted him!”


Yes we know the picture is blurry but he was moving!

It seems Lester has found keyboards, computers, printers and desks to be just too enticing. Wonder if this means we need to rearrange furniture and get the desks away from the window where it’s all too easy for him to wander over? Hmmm …

Today’s Mail …

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… and look what arrived from Nadine! The wrapping paper on this is so pretty; has a wonderful spring feel to it!

After finally getting the wrapping paper off and then the bubble wrap, this wonderful tote bag emerged! I couldn’t get a good shot of the fabric used in the interior — but it’s fabulous, looks like recycled feed sacks of some sort!

Not only the tote bag — but a wonderful little case made of hexagons that will be perfect as a kit bag when I start Insanity. Much nicer than a plastic or paper box! This is such a wonderful gift! I am just thrilled to bits.


The little flap opens and Nadine thoughtfully enclosed a metallic snap fastener that I will sew on — so that it will hold all my little hexagons safely! :-))

Mail like this is much, much nicer than the normal mail one gets — bills, bills and more bills! This absolutely made my day!

Yesterday was very drab and grey here. It rained on and off all day and evening. At one point yesterday afternoon I looked out (we are so lucky to have an apartment facing out on to the roof garden) and what did I see? Two squirrels cavorting on the lounge chairs! Building management puts out lounge chairs for the use of the residents every year. As yesterday wasn’t a day that many of us would be out there, I guess the squirrels figured they’d have fun and use the chairs!

I know the shots aren’t great but they were taken from the apartment, through the window. I don’t know why, but these squirrels on the lounge chair just made me laugh!

I wonder if either of these two are Sammy’s siblings?


Lester in one of his favourite spots — on the windowsill. He loves watching the birds and critters out on the roof garden.

I have finished adding full stars to the blue and white top. Now I’m trying to sort out how I want to finish the edges before adding the border. I think I’ll add some 3/4 stars to finish it off so I’ll have a straight edge and then add the border. Might have to add a peeper too but I’ll decide that after I get the edges done. I am amazed at how fast this has gone together. Pictures when I get at least some of the edge done.