Little Sunflower

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The last of the red and white sunflowers for the red and white Feathered Star blocks is done. That’s not to say it’s the last sunflower I’ll be making as I love putting this block together and have Mr. Q.O.’s sunflowers to make. It’s a fun block to make and goes together rather quickly as there are lots of opportunities for continuous stitching.

It presses beautifully.

The feathers are all together for the final Feathered Star block so it won’t take long until I can put the centre of the quilt together.

I got behind in comments again and will try to get caught up over the next couple of days. I appreciate and read every comment and do try to reply.

Baxter sometimes sleeps with a paw up by his ear. It always makes me grab a camera to get a photo of his pose.

When he’s awake, he’s wide-eyed and investigating everything. It’s a treat to get a shot of him awake that’s not blurry.

Scrappy Little Stars

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These stars are the beginning of a quilt requested by Mr. Q.O.  He really likes the look of these reproduction fabrics, it seems. I’ve got a couple of ideas for setting these and once i get a dozen or so done I’ll start playing with that.

They press very easily. To ensure whatever layout I end up using will be easy to put together, I’m going to make sure that I press all the stars the same way.

There’s a stack of fabrics ready to print the diamonds from the free Inklingo collection and, once printed and cut, this will be yet another quilt in a box. The freezer paper is ready to iron on the fabric and I’ll print 10 or 12 sheets every day until they’re all done. Then the fun will begin as I want to try to ensure that no two stars are identical. And yes, there’s a lot of fabric there ready to be printed. There will likely be enough for a few little quilts as well.

Baxter is very nocturnal. He tends to wake up around midnight and is awake and wanting to play until just before dawn. So during the late afternoon/early evening he finds a comfy spot and snoozes.

A Bevy of Small Stars

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Making these stars is another one of those go-to projects for me when I’m tired and want an easy stitch. They’re made with 1″ diamonds and are so quick to stitch that one can get half a dozen or more done in next to no time. These were made last night.

They press beautifully. You can just see Baxter’s paws at the side, as he was trying his best to get included in the picture.

And then they got added to all these. The box in which I keep the finished stars is getting full, so I think I may have to start playing with a setting soon and have a couple of ideas I’ll try out.

Yes, it’s another quilt(s) in a box project. This box has 2 rows deep of the little baggies, each full of the diamonds for stars. I have no idea how many hundreds of stars I’ll end up with, but I have plans for a couple of different settings.

As usual, Baxter was right there amongst the fabric when we were taking photos.

Earlier in the day he was playing with Cappy. While the picture is a bit blurry, as he was moving, it really shows how much he’s growing. Yesterday was the first time he’s really played with Cappy. Within a few hours it was evident this is now his favourite toy. He was even sleeping with his head on it at one point.

Stormy Seas

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This is my current favourite of the Stormy Seas blocks that I’m making using one of the Inklingo Storm at Sea collections. It has been months since I’ve worked on these, but now that I’ve started again I don’t want to stop as I’ve found a stitching sequence that is relatively quick for me.

They are hand pieced, so far, but I’m contemplating trying a block by machine or at least parts of a block.  I think I might be tempted to put the units together by machine and then stitch them into the block by hand. I printed a few more a lot more shapes than I need for the quilt so I think I’ll give at least one block a try by machine and see how well I do with that. An idea for a second quilt using the extra shapes is already forming in my mind. I’m rather excited about this idea, so am hoping to get started on it as soon as I get the Stormy Seas blocks finished.

This block has one of my favourite fabrics in it, the green/blue batik.

One of the big benefits of using batiks is that they press so easily.

And yes, Stormy Seas is another quilt in a box. Every block is kitted in its own separate glassine envelope, ready to stitch. Even the various threads for piecing are in this box.

It’s either ragweed starting or I’m fighting a summer cold. Tuesday was one of the most unproductive days I’ve had in ages as doing much of anything seemed like a monumental task.

Baxter seems to think the camera is only for taking photos of him. The minute we’re setting up to take photos of anything, he is right there posing.

Black and White

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Stars, that is. They’re tiny star blocks, finishing at 2.25″ x 2.5″. The pieces are small, so the block is quick to stitch. I put these two blocks together in less than 45 minutes. Each seam is one needle load of stitches and it’s done. I think I may incorporate one red or gold star in the top at some point, just to have one splash of colour in the midst of the black and white.

They press like a dream. I finger press as I go, so it’s just a matter of one quick press and it’s done.

There are enough pieces in the envelopes in this box for quite a few of the black and white stars. On the weekend, I was talking to a friend about the number of boxes like this that I have with envelopes containing shapes ready to stitch. While there are a lot of them, each one contains the making of at least a small quilt and it’s great to have such choices, particularly when I’ve been working on a complex project and just want an easy stitch for an hour or so. I think of these as my quilt in a box projects. Over the next couple of posts I may be showing some of the other boxes.

A few years ago I really recognized the value of such quilt in a box projects when I had the flu. While I wasn’t too sick to stitch, cutting or printing my shapes would have been too much. Instead I was able to choose a project that was already kitted and just stitch.

Baxter has been spending more and more time on the windowsill. He is clearly enjoying Baxter TV. His tail is really starting to look like a classic Maine Coon plume of a tail and he has discovered that chasing it is fun.

Little Stars

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The Little Stars quilt is quilted and bound and ready to go to its intended recipient. It is small, finishing at approximately 13″. It was so easy to baste, quilt and bind that it makes me think about doing a series of small quilts.

When I checked on the bindings I had already made, I found the green which seemed to work just perfectly for the little quilt. I tend to make more binding than I need and so now have a stash of bindings that can be used on little quilts.

Saturday the perfect opportunity presented itself and I got this shot of one of Baxter’s paws.

This is a new spot for Baxter to stretch out. I think it’s because he’s eyeing the book as a chewing possibility.

A Little Quilt

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This little top will be quilted and, with any luck, the binding on this weekend. Working with these repro fabrics in the small star blocks was fun. I may add a small border before I baste and quilt it.  As it is now, it finishes at 13.5″. I used the free Inklingo collection to print the shapes and the blocks went together in no time at all.

There’s enough of the striped fabric I showed yesterday for the binding on the Ferris Wheels quilt. Now I really can’t wait to finish the quilting and get to the binding. There’s still a lot of quilting to be done on Ferris Wheels, but I hope to get the majority, if not all, of it finished this weekend and get the binding on it.

I’ve changed my blog theme yet again. This time it was because I only realized yesterday that the widgets in the sidebar weren’t appearing on individual posts, but only on the home page with the theme I was using. I think this will be it for changes for a while.

Baxter seems to approve of the little quilt. As soon as we’re setting up to take a photo of anything to do with quilts or fabric, he’s right there to inspect.

Earlier in the day, we got this shot of him. His paws are getting bigger every day.

Fabrics for Binding

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This is the striped fabric I want to use to bind Ferris Wheels, but I’m not sure I’ll have enough of it for a bias binding.  It’s a half-yard piece, so it may be rather close. The quilt is 45″ x 60″ and I plan to use a 2.25″ double-fold bias binding. I’ll work out the math as soon as I get the quilting finished and am keeping my fingers crossed that this will be enough.

This is my second choice.  Not as much fun as the striped fabric, but the colours do work with the fabrics used in the quilt.

Baxter had a very busy day on Wednesday. He has discovered “Baxter TV”, looking out on the roof garden from the window.  Wednesday he was sitting on the windowsill watching, we think, the robins’ nest. His tail was twitching and he was chattering as he watched.

Later on we caught him in mid-yawn.

He has favourite toys which always end up under furniture. So a new daily event is one of us down on the floor fishing toys out from under furniture. He seems to quite like helping us retrieve his toys.

Ferris Wheel Quilting Begun

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Quilting the Ferris Wheel quilt was one of the things I had hoped to start on the weekend. While that didn’t happen, I did get a start on it yesterday. I’m using a silk batt again and love how easy it makes it to manipulate the quilt sandwich when machine quilting.

Truth be told, I have to get Ferris Wheel quilted as I need the safety pins to baste the next one. I’m going to ask a friend if I can use her living room floor to baste as I have a feeling Baxter would be a bit too much help, particularly with his determination to chew fabric given the chance.

I’m hoping to get Ferris Wheel done by the end of the week. The fabric for the binding is picked out. It’s a great striped fabric, so I’m going to make bias binding as I love the effect of striped fabric in a bias binding.

I use a laptop for work and keep the wireless keyboard down beside my desk when I’m not working. Baxter likes to hang out under my desk and on Tuesday we got this shot of him draped over the keyboard. He seems to be very attracted to technology as well as quilting. When I’m printing something, he has to get as close as he can to watch the paper.

An extra shot of Baxter, because it shows off his amazing whiskers!

Sunflower Combos

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Mr. Q.O. sat down with the stack of fabrics he previously chose and picked out 3 combos for the first of the sunflowers.

Guess I’ve got my work cut out for me getting the shapes printed and the first of these blocks started. As it turns out, it appears this week is a work-free week for me so I’ll have the time to get these started as well as finish a couple of things that didn’t get finished on the weekend.

I think this is my favourite of the combos he’s picked out so far.

Baxter, wide awake and posing for the camera. He’s so active that I always feel like it’s a feat to get a photo of him awake that’s not a blur of movement.