Shabby Yin Yang Blocks

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Nine blocks done. I don’t think there’s any chance of these blocks ever becoming boring to stitch.

In fact, I’m so sure they won’t that I’ve printed and cut out the shapes for another 25+ blocks. Next thing to do is to get more of the fabrics for the Contented Kitty blocks printed and cut.

Yesterday was a fabulous day — seeing my first sales of a pattern was a real thrill. Thank you all for the wonderful supportive comments!

Smudge was dozing on the floor, after spending most of the evening draped over my legs.

Joining the Pink Ice Blocks and …

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Over the weekend I finally settled on an arrangement for the Pink Ice blocks and have started stitching them together. I’m stitching the blocks into rows by  hand. Because there are many points and I want my seams to line up exactly, stitching by hand is the best choice for me. It doesn’t take long to join 5 blocks into a row and then join the rows to one another. So far, I have two rows joined and the third is waiting to be added. I have a couple of different ideas for a border treatment but won’t be making any decisions on that until the main body of the top is together.

What have I been working on lately that has been taking so much time? Well, over the past few weeks I have been working on a pattern for Chintz Circles. Along with that, I was putting together a web site. I’m very happy to report that late yesterday, the web site went live and my first pattern is listed. More patterns are in the works. Writing patterns has been one of my goals for some time. My blog will remain a place to talk about projects I’m working on, our activities and cat/cats.

We have had a stretch of relatively cool weather since mid-week last week.  Monday was more of the same but the forecast appears to indicate that by the time Wednesday arrives, we’ll be back to more summer-like weather. I can’t wait!

Smudge was content to lounge in the pink chair. There was no baseball game for him to watch Monday night.

One Shabby, One Contented Kitty Block

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While I got a lot of printing done over the weekend, the amount of stitching that was done was rather minimal. I’m still working on the secret project, but can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

More of the shabby chic yin yang shapes were printed — a total of 95 more, that is. To make the quilt the size I want, I need to print at least another 125 shapes. That I’ll work on over the next week or two. None of the fabrics for the contented kitty blocks got printed. Nor did any of the backgrounds for the Dresden Plates. Those fabrics are pulled and waiting on the disaster area known as my sewing table. That’s another job for this week or next or else I’m afraid there will be an avalanche.

I’m now so far behind on responding to comments that it’s embarrassing. Rather than promise to catch up, I’m just going to say I’ll do my best — and tell you that I do really appreciate all the comments. Once I get past one last hurdle with this project, things should quiet down a bit and I’ll get back to normal.  I hope.

Smudge was curled up on the couch while the baseball game was on — and close to Mr. Q.O.’s baseball glove.

Choosing Fabrics

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There’s going to be some printing this weekend — actually, lots of printing — shabby chic yin yang shapes, more of the brown and gold ones for the contented kitty quilt too and the setting pieces for the summer Dresden. That’s the plan for the weekend. I took a break Thursday afternoon and started picking out the shabby fabrics. The browns and golds are already out and waiting to be printed.

Doing a lot of printing at once suits the way I like to work. Once I get all the printing done, then I can concentrate on stitching the blocks. It’s so fast that I can likely have everything I need done for the 3 quilts in an afternoon.

Don’t forget about the giveaway. You can still enter the giveaway here until midnight tonight. The winner will be announced on Saturday.

Smudge on the sofa, looking towards the window.

A Few More Dresden Plates

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This is one of the projects I’m trying to stay focused on. I have the setting all planned out and, given how quickly these plates go together, have hopes of having the top done within a month. That, of course, is if I can stay focused on it. Those Yin Yang blocks keep calling to me and I have a setting for them figured out as well.

We had some crazy weather on Wednesday. It was very hot, which I really enjoyed, but right around the dinner hour the sky got dark and the wind was fierce.  We saw tons of lightning, heard long rumbles of thunder and had a bit of rain, but that was it. They say we may have thunderstorms today.

I’ve been woefully bad at responding to comments this week. Why? Because I’m working on a secret project that has been taking up a ton of time and demanding some rather intense concentration. With any luck, I’ll be able to share this by Monday. I hope to get caught up on comments between now and the time the weekend is over.

Smudge was posing in the pink chair, and wasn’t the least bit interested in the wind and thunder Wednesday evening.

More Shabby Yin Yang Blocks

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I can’t stop making these!  Probably not a big surprise, given my love of curved piecing and shabby chic fabrics but there’s something extra special about these. They really do go together amazingly quickly and are much simpler to piece than they appear.

Now there are 8 completed. I’ve got a plan for a quilt using these and another type of block that involves curved piecing. Now I have 3 –no, 4 — no, make that 5 projects on the go, all of which I’m really excited about. This is going to be a great summer — lots of stitching choices for days when stitching on the roof garden is possible. Today just may be one of those days.  It’s supposed to be hot as can be with a humidex reading of 41C. But, as it’s always markedly cooler on the roof garden, it’s probably going to be just perfect.

The giveaway is still open for entries.  You can leave a comment at the post from Friday here to be entered.

Smudge was curled up in his kitty bed, looking almost exactly like the Contented Kitty blocks.

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Smudge Video

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Finally, the video is available.  Mr. Q.O. edited it down to just under 4 minutes and it is, we think, hysterically funny.  Even though we see him do this all the time, we can’t stop watching the video! Turn your volume up a bit and you can hear the water dripping off his face back into the water bowl.

Shabby Chic Yin Yang Blocks

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All it took was making one shabby chic Yin Yang block. I knew I was in trouble. Friday afternoon I found myself pulling out the shabby chic bin of fabric to print more. I think I’m aiming for  a lap quilt that is a true charm quilt. Once I sort out exactly how large a quilt I want to make, I’ll pull out more fabrics and print just what I need.

Summer’s definitely almost here. Friday the gardeners came and planted all the flowers on the roof garden, which to me is always a sign that summer is right around the corner and the risk of frost is gone.

Smudge is back to being super finicky about his food, but he’s still loving his yogourt treat.

The Many Looks of Yin Yang Blocks & a Giveaway

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Three different sets of fabric equals three different looks. These blocks seem to look good in every type of fabric imaginable.  You can fussy cut/print too with a window template.

What’s the giveaway? It’s a $20 Inklingo gift certificate. You can use the gift certificate to buy the Yin Yang Shape Collection or any other Inklingo product.

Inklingo isn’t for hand piecers only. Not even close! There are lots of shape collections that are perfect for machine piecing. There are 60 and 90-degree diamonds (including the Free Shape Collection), Storm at Sea, Sunflower, numerous sizes of HSTs and QSTs and many others as seen in the Index of Shapes.

Inklingo Collections are downloadable PDFs. No software to install, no special printers or ink required. Just print the appropriate pages on your fabric with any inkjet printer or all-in-one and you have perfect shapes printed on your fabrics every time!

How do you win? It’s easy. Go look at the Index of Shapes. Then come back here and leave a comment telling me what your favourite collection is. The giveaway is open until midnight on Friday, June 10, 2011 and the winner will be announced on Saturday, June 11, 2011.