A Top Finished, One Started & A Question

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The pink and cream star quilt top is finished. Has been, in fact, for a while but we had to wait for a day that wasn’t too windy to get a good shot on the roof garden. It’s approximately 60″ by 80″.

The start is the red and white stars quilt that will be the same as the quilt in my blog header. I learned last week that cutting out fabric with scissors is a huge kitten attraction. So Friday I got all the pieces for the top cut by rotary cutter. Otherwise, it would probably have taken me a month to try to cut out all the pieces. Having all the pieces cut and ready to stitch is very tempting.

That said, I’m working on the Summer Dresden Plates almost exclusively. It’s going to be a pretty, summery quilt and I want to finish it before the summer is over so that I can get a good shot of it out on the roof garden. The blocks for the centre are done. Today the blocks will be up on the design wall so I can arrange and rearrange them and get them sewn together. The first border is already planned out.

The question? In conversations with a friend lately, the question came up about what was the preferred size of quilts to make. I seem to prefer making lap quilts for the most part. That may be because we use a duvet rather than quilts on the bed. What size quilts do you prefer to make? When you look at patterns, are you more attracted to those that give you the instructions for various sizes?

It’s very hot and humid here. I don’t think we’ve got smog alerts yet, but with this kind of weather they’re sure to happen. It almost feels like you’re walking into a wall of heat when you go outside. I’m not complaining, as this is by far preferable to winter temperatures.

Last week was not a good one as far as replying to comments goes. If you left me a comment last week, thank you!  I promise I will try to do better this week

Baxter discovered the windowsill on the weekend.

Contented Kitty Quilt

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Eight of the blocks are now done and I’m thinking that this will be renamed and called “Memories of Smudge” when it’s finished. I can’t help but think of him when I work with these colours.

All the pieces for the quilt are printed, cut and ready to stitch. It’s not going to be a large quilt and, as I love piecing this block, the blocks may be finished before the fall.

Baxter was a very busy kitty Thursday. He was chasing his toys, our feet, and anything else that attracted his attention. When he stopped for a snooze, he crashed with a teddy bear and frog.

Stitching when Baxter is awake is … well, challenging. He seems to think fabric is a toy and/or edible. I’m hoping this phase passes quickly as it is making it difficult to get much done. My plan is to have the toy basket beside me so that when he decides to “help” I can distract him by throwing a toy on the floor. Maybe. I hope.

Summer Plates Update

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Four more blocks to go and the centre of the Summer Plates will be done. I’ve got 2 of the 4 finished but for their floral frames. The remaining 2 will be done quickly. The first pieced border will be added and then the final border. I’m hoping to have the top finished before the end of the month. That assumes that I get enough stitching time. Baxter seems to think fabric is a toy, so stitching is somewhat challenging.

As I type try to type this, there’s a very inquisitive kitty perched on my shoulder purring in my ear. Hmm, now he’s heading for the keyboard. ttttyryoy6b — that was Baxter’s contribution to the post. No idea what he’s telling us, but …

And just because a couple of friends asked, here’s a full shot of Baxter’s preferred sleeping position.

Scrappy Stars

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Definitely not my normal choice of fabrics, but I’m having fun playing with these scrappy little LeMoyne Stars. The weekend before we got Baxter, I spent a lot of time reorganizing my fabric (knowing that doing that with a kitten around would be a bit difficult) and found a small stash of reproduction prints. Not knowing how much I’d like working with them, I printed sets of 8 diamonds on 16 pieces and started making these little LeMoyne Stars. They’re destined to be a small quilt for a friend.

Pressing them takes only a second or two.

It has been really hot and humid here the past couple of days.  Perfect summer weather, especially out on the roof garden where it always seems cooler as there is usually a breeze.

The flowers are absolutely gorgeous this year.

Baxter is getting more and more adventurous and has so far clambered up on Mr. Q.O.’s keyboard and on the telephone.  He has discovered chasing his tail in the past couple of days, which I can’t resist watching. He plays hard and then, in the blink of an eye, he’s fast asleep. This pose as he was having a snooze absolutely cracked me up.

Floral Blocks

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On the weekend, I was cleaning out a small container in which I found floss, needles and these appliqued and embroidered blocks. I barely remember making the blocks and have no idea how long they’ve been sitting in there.

They finish at 6″ and, as there are about 20 of them, I think I can make a small summer wall quilt with them by adding a floral border.

Stitching with Baxter is an adventure.  He has decided that helping is something he needs to do and so he bats at the fabric when I’m piecing. He loves to help Mr. Q.O. with his cryptic crosswords by batting at his pen. We both happily put down what we’re doing to play with him.

He’s growing and getting more adventurous every day. On Monday he started to talk more in the classic tiny Maine Coon meow and silent meows. I’ve noticed the past couple of days that his whiskers seem to be getting longer, which I think you can see in this picture.

Red and White Stars

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There was a fair bit of printing and cutting going on here over the weekend. All the 1″ hexagons are printed, about one-fifth of the 2″ hexagons are ready and 88 of the star points printed and cut. There’s something about having all these pieces ready to stitch that I find irresistible.

The blue and white quilt that’s in my blog header has always been a favourite and one that I wanted to make again. I’ve started it in red and white and am contemplating making a third one with every star in a different colour, although the multi-coloured one will likely be made with smaller shapes.

It’s a fast stitch as the stars go together in just a couple of minutes. One of the things I love about this design is that when I finish adding the stars to one another, the top is done. No blocks to join into rows or rows into the top. And there are tons of continuous stitching opportunities.

Baxter is an absolute delight. He has two speeds; asleep and racing around. Getting a picture of him awake is going to be a challenge as, when he’s awake, he’s on the move and at lightning speed. I love this shot of him as it really shows the colour of his eyes.

Pink Ice Finish

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After way too many months to count, the Pink Ice lap quilt top is finished. I’m thrilled with how it turned out. Every stitch was done by hand, including joining the blocks into rows and the rows into the top.

There’s a bit of a story to Pink Ice. I fell in love with the Snow Crystal block when I first saw it in this little book called Quilts, A Beautiful History. When the free downloadable collection of Inklingo shapes came out that included all the shapes I needed to make Pink Ice I immediately knew I’d make this quilt. Luckily, another Inklingoist also wanted to make the blocks using pinks so we swapped a number of printed diamonds.

I’ve had the top together for a while and kept wondering about adding a border. I tried a few ideas and nothing seemed right. I often find that borders don’t appeal to me for the quilts I’ve made, although there are definitely exceptions to that. When I look at pictures of antique quilts, I’m always struck by how many of them don’t have borders.

Once I decided that no border was necessary I chose this dark pink with black dots fabric for the binding, as I think it will frame the quilt quite nicely.

A new pattern for Pink Ice has been added to my website here. It includes the printing and cutting instructions, as well as stitching and printing tips, for a scrappy two-colour quilt, a classic two-fabric quilt and a three-colour variation.

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Mr. Q.O. and I are very grateful for all the wonderful heart-felt comments we’ve received about Smudge since Monday’s post. It’s still a bit too emotional an issue for me to say much about it, but oh, how we miss him and find ourselves still looking for him. His drinking habits, his tiny little meow, that glorious tail and that adorable face are permanently etched in our minds and in our hearts. We feel Smudge knew it was time and had passed the baton to Baxter. He passed peacefully on my lap. For that I will be forever grateful.

Baxter’s personality and character is becoming more and more obvious. He likes watching baseball, loves to play with kitty toys and is very determined to get his way when he wants something. That said, he is the sweetest of cats with a non-stop purr. He has proven that he’s definitely going to be a quilter’s cat. I was stitching last night with him on my lap and he was having a great time batting at the fabric. Right now we think he may be teething as any paper he can find gets a few bite marks. We’re quickly learning that books and magazines have to be out of kitty reach.

He’s also not the least bit camera-shy. We’re really intrigued by his eyes, wondering whether they will be gold or green. I think they’re going to be gold, Mr. Q.O. says green. Whatever colour they end up, he is a wonderfully sweet kitty and we are enormously thankful that he has come to live with us.

Pickled Ladies

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It seems like a long time since I’ve worked on these pickled clamshells, but two more got finished last night. Thanks to a new little member of the household, stitching time seems to be at a premium right now. There were at least 2 hours last night when he was curled up in my arms, which meant absolutely no stitching.

Speaking of a new little member of the household, Baxter is fascinated by the kitty carrier. Since we brought him home, the carrier has been out as we were thinking he might like it as a “safe” place. Smudge had different ideas and has been cramming himself in there at every opportunity. It’s way too small for Smudge but that hasn’t stopped him. Baxter seems to like to get on top of it and peer in, whether Smudge is in there or not.

Baxter is clearly a quilter’s kitty in the making. The hoop has been collapsed and is down on the floor, so it can’t tip over while he’s exploring, but he seems to have decided it’s a good spot to relax.

Smudge was spending some time on the windowsill Wednesday afternoon.

Tomorrow is the Canada Day holiday, so that means a lovely long weekend.