Stormy Seas Blocks 15 & 16

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Two more of the Stormy Seas blocks are done and added to the group. Only 26 more blocks to go. That in itself is enough to encourage me to stitch at least parts of the blocks by machine.

This second block is one of my favourites.

Over the past week I have been doing a lot of hand quilting on the whole cloth quilt. So much so that the finger on the hand beneath the quilt is getting really sore. I’m going to try wearing a very thin, flexible leather thimble on my finger underneath the quilt to see if that helps when quilting. Now that I’m back in the habit of hand quilting, I don’t want to stop because of a sore finger.

Baxter hanging out on the quilt on the couch with some teddy bear friends.

Twinkling Stars

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Starting a new quilt as the baseball playoffs are close to beginning seems to be something I do each year. Last year it was the pink and cream star quilt. This year it will be the twinkling stars. I think I choose stars as they’re easy to stitch while watching the games.

There are 10 colours I’m using for the spiky little stars. I have all the spiky long triangles and coloured squares printed and most of the half tumblers and large white squares. By the end of this week, all the shapes for this quilt will be printed, cut and ready to stitch. With any luck, the quilt top will be finished by the time the World Series is finished.

I finger press as I stitch and then, when I have a few done, give them a quick press with the iron.

Baxter close-ups.  First a paw.

Then his face.

Twinkling Star

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There are a few of these twinkling stars already made that have been sitting for ages and which will be made into a small quilt. I decided to make one more last night just for fun, and because I’m playing with a design idea that would use this block, among others, in a starry quilt. The block is made using shapes from the Inklingo Tumbler collection and it finishes at 5″.

It’s simple to stitch and quick to press.

A comment was left the other day and a few follow-up e-mails exchanged that have led me down a fun path, reading about treadle sewing machines. I’ve often thought that would be a great way to machine quilt. The more I read, the more I think that it’s a great solution for me. Of course, it’s much easier said than done — finding one that’s in working condition and affordable and then sorting out how to get it here, as I think they are very heavy. I plan to do a lot more reading and research on the weekend.

We finally got some video of Baxter drinking. This is how he drinks all the time. He walks up to the water bowls, turns around, lies down and then reaches over his shoulder to drink. When he’s done one side of his face and neck are usually sopping wet. If we’re not in the kitchen, he meows to let us know he’s about to drink and then looks to make sure we’re paying attention. A friend who has seen this little video wrote and shared her theory, “I think Smudge told Baxter that drinking water is a performance art form.  Baxter had to develop his own art, but it couldn’t be something mundane like standing in front of the bowl of water and lapping – it had to be unique.” I think she’s on to something!

Harpsichord Quilt Block

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The Harpsichord Quilt has made its way to the top of the list to be worked on. I got a start by adding another block to the group of finished ones last night. Each side of the octagons are .75″.  As the seams are so short, the block takes very little time to piece.

They take seconds to press.

My quilt is inspired by both the original Lucy Boston patchwork and the amazing harpsichords we saw, particularly the incredible decorative artwork that is on them. 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 I’m using the wrong side of that fabric.

As soon as I saw the Patchworks of Lucy Boston book, I fell in love with the Keyboard Patchwork. So when the .75-inch octagon Inklingo collection came out with the shapes for it, I had to get started on it.  While they have sat for ages, it’s a project I want to get finished sooner rather than later.

This is another quilt in a box project. The glassine envelopes contain everything I need, including the threads I use when piecing these blocks.

Baxter lounging on the duvet. He loves to pounce on the duvet and will often bring his favourite toy in to play with.

Pickled Ladies

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It has been a while since I’ve worked on the Pickled Ladies blocks, but on the weekend two more were finished and added to the group.

They’re quick to stitch and press perfectly.

Once all the ones that are ready are stitched, I’ll have to decide whether to make the Pickled Ladies a lap quilt or wall hanging. I’m tempted to make it a lap quilt just for the sheer impact I think the blocks would have in a quilt of that size. Whatever size I make it, it’s going to have a very small plain border to frame it.

We got a new kitty bed for Baxter on the weekend. Of course, he had to have his favourite toy in there with him.

Fabric Group and Planning to Quilt

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This grouping of fabrics has been sitting for the past 5 or 6 months while I try to decide what I want to make with them. These are not my comfort zone when it comes to colours at all, but I want to make something with these with perhaps a cream neutral thrown in. Whatever design I end up playing with, I think this will be a long table runner.

Baxter was trying to make sure he got in the picture.

There are 2 large quilts that are basted and ready to hand quilt. One is a whole cloth quilt with all the quilting lines marked. The other is my Quilted Diamonds 2 quilt. At this point, I’m leaning towards working on them both. Perhaps half an hour on the whole cloth and then switch over to the Quilted Diamonds quilt. They’ve both certainly been sitting long enough in the queue to be quilted.

Baxter usually has one paw up in the air when he’s sitting or lying down. We think of it as his royal wave paw. I think he was very sleepy when this shot was taken.

Scrappy Star, Round 4

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The star is growing. I’ll keep adding rounds until it’s wide enough for a lap quilt. Then I’ll sort out how to add length to it, possibly with a couple of rows of small stars at the top and bottom. The round of squares isn’t added yet, but that’s not going to take long. It’s adding the diamonds in each round that takes the longest, particularly as it grows in size.

Over the years, I’ve tried numerous thimbles for hand quilting and, while some of them have seemed better than others, all of them have eventually resulted in hand issues for me. Then I heard about this, the hand-held quilting thimble from the House of Quilting. After about half an hour of practising with it, I was thrilled. It’s simple to get used to, makes it easy to get small even stitches and doesn’t seem to cause any hand fatigue. It’s even easy to quilt through intersections where many seams meet. Over the next few days, I’ll spend some more time getting used to it and then it’s going to be time to get started on that stack of 14 tops waiting for quilting.

Baxter’s markings are starting to show more and more. He has two rings, one on either side, just at his shoulders which I’ve dubbed the Baxter crop circles. This photo was taken as he was resting up, waiting for yogourt time.  Yes, we have another kitty who loves a yogourt treat. When he sees the yogourt container come out of the refrigerator, he practically climbs up our legs to get his treat.

Fruit Salad Quilt

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Once the lime was added to the blocks and the centre LeMoyne Star made, the name had to be Fruit Salad. It measures 32 inches square. The blocks were hand pieced, but the sashing was added and the top was put together using the machine. I think I’m going to use the same purple batik that’s in the blocks for the binding. I used the Inklingo 6 inch LeMoyne Star collection for this quilt. The blocks went together in no time but, for some reason, had to sit for months on end before I finally put the little top together.

We took photos out on the roof garden yesterday and got this shot of the Dresden Plate quilt top. It looks better in natural light than it did with the flash from the camera.

A quick inventory of the quilt tops I have ready to quilt was done last night. There are 14 tops now in line waiting to be quilted. Think I’ve got to make up a muslin/batting sandwich and get some practice in on my hand quilting as it has been ages since I’ve done any and I want to hand quilt at least half of those tops. The first thing I’m going to do is measure them all and then figure out what battings I need. Then I’ve got to get some backings ready.

Baxter posing for the camera. It’s hard to believe he’s not even 5 months old. We think he’s going to be a big kitty when he’s through growing … in about three and a half years.

Picnic Plate Quilt

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The top is finished. It’s a relatively small quilt, perfect for a teddy bear picnic or perhaps a crib quilt, finishing at 36 x 45 inches. This is the second quilt top I’ve made using the Inklingo Fancy Pieced Dresden Plate Collection and I’m not finished. There are at least two other designs that I’ve got planned. Ferris Wheel, which I’m machine quilting, is the other Dresden Plate quilt I made using that collection.

The quilt was inspired by the floral used as the setting frames for the plates. I had the layer cake of Fig Tree fabrics, which is what I used for the blades in the plates, and as soon as I saw that floral fabric I knew exactly what I’d make.

The picture isn’t great as putting up the temporary design wall with an inquisitive kitten helping means things get done quickly. We had hoped to take a picture of this outside but I finished it on Sunday, when it was rainy and windy. Monday wasn’t much better. In fact, it was almost chilly Monday night. We seem to have gone from hot, humid summer weather on Saturday to cool fall weather on Monday.

The binding is ready and I know what I’m going to use for the backing. All that’s left is to get a silk batt as I plan on hand quilting this one.

Baxter was lounging on the floor between our two desks when we got lucky and got this shot of him licking his nose. Makes me laugh.