Playing with Fabric

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One of my favourite things to do is to lay out groups of fabrics.  I may not have a specific idea what they will get used in, but I love to put groups like these together. Sometimes just looking at the groupings will be enough to give me an idea for a design they’ll work well in.  This bundle will end up in a quilt I’m going to call Spice, I think.  No idea yet on design or even when I’ll start to play with them, but they’re grouped together now and set aside and the photo is in my inspiration folder.

This is another grouping, although I can’t take credit for it.  It was put together like this — and it’s one that I can’t stop gazing at.  The ideas for this are numerous, although I still haven’t settled on one.

Then I thought I’d try the butterfly print with some more muted hand-dyed fabrics.

Finally, I put the brighter fabrics with the hand-dyed ones to see how they would play together.

The photos are all in a folder on my computer and I will, at times, open one of them and leave it open on my screen so that I can look at it periodically throughout the day.   A digital camera and computer screen are fabulous design tools!

It’s the beginning of our Victoria Day long weekend here and finally, after what seems like a week of non-stop rain, we have some sun today.  I don’t know if it will last all day, but waking up to sunshine was a wonderful treat after days and days of grey skies and rain.

Smudge has been ensuring that his kitty toys don’t get too far away.  Lately almost every time we look at him in his kitty bed, he has a paw stretched out to touch the toy basket.

Red and White Feathered Stars

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Two of the Feathered Star/Sunflower blocks are complete and a third is almost finished.  After the third one is done, I’ll be only able to complete the stars without the setting squares and triangles as I’m waiting for more of the white fabric.  I’ll get the remaining stars ready so that when the fabric arrives I can quickly add the setting pieces and then start working on the border.

Along with working on a Feathered Star block Wednesday night, I got some more of the blades for the Dresden Plates cut as well as a couple of the arcs for the Pickled Ladies.

Wednesday it rained — again.  We seem to have had nothing but rain since Saturday and they say we’ll  have rain until this Saturday.  That will be almost a full week of rainy, rather cool weather.  I can’t wait for a couple of sunny warm days.  Wednesday night the fog was really pretty — the lights remain on all night in the offices in the tower across the roof garden, which seems incredibly wasteful, but they looked rather intriguing when seen through the fog.

Smudge was posing for the camera.

Little Blocks and Big

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Well, little blocks and big ones is all relative, I suppose.  The big blocks are 5″, the small ones 2.5″.  I think I’ve got the beginnings of a setting idea for these that may look something like this.  The quilt may end up a bit larger than I originally anticipated as each time I start to stitch one block, I can’t stop until I’ve stitched at least 2 or 3.

Then we get to the biggest blocks of the post.  These will finish at 9″, which seems enormous in comparison to the little cake stand blocks.  Another amazingly quick block to stitch.  I’ve had some ideas regarding a setting for these blocks and, as soon as I get another 3 of them done, I will start playing with layouts.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about why I quilt.  For me, it’s not about making bed coverings although if there’s a new baby or a friend in need of comfort I’ll definitely make a quilt for them.  Generally speaking though, for me making blocks and tops is all about playing with fabric and ideas and just the sheer joy of stitching and watching fabric that I’ve cut into small pieces and sewn back together again start to form patterns that I find endlessly fascinating.

It makes me think of the quilters of the past and wonder what motivated them to create their quilts.  Was it mostly for practical purposes so that their families would have warm quilts under which to sleep?  Was it because they too were fascinated by the patterns?  Or was it a combination of both?  It’s impossible to think that they were motivated solely by practical considerations when one sees the beautiful quilts they created.

Smudge was lounging in his kitty bed.  The paw draped over the edge makes me smile.

Bloggers’ Quilt Festival, Spring 2011

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Amy's Creative Side
It’s that time of year again, when Amy at Amy’s Creative Side is hosting the Bloggers’ Quilt Festival.   There are all sorts of beautiful quilts entered — lots of eye candy and tons of inspiration.

I decided to show the first applique quilt I made.  It was all done by  hand — the piecing, applique and quilting.  Each plate has 20 blades, and looking at it now I realize that it has to be the scrappiest of the quilts I’ve made.  In it are some novelty prints, batiks, ’30s repros, checks, stripes and florals.

That was the first time I used a fusible batting and I remember the day I basted it — we vacuumed and vacuumed the living room carpet, laid out the backing, batting and the top and then out came the iron.  It seemed like it took next to no time and the quilt was ready to quilt.

There’s something about Dresden Plate variations that I always seem to have been drawn to.  Not only have I made this one, but also Ferris Wheel (which is about to be quilted), the new one I’ve started and showed yesterday and yet another which is in the planning stages.

Now I think I’ll spend a lot of time over the next few days looking at all the gorgeous quilts being shown.  This has to be the best way to go to a great quilt show — no travelling, no line ups, no trying to get a good view.  Just click on the links and you’re there.

Smudge continues to improve.  Here he was reaching for the toy basket in typical Smudge fashion.  He’s a very laid-back cat!

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New Summer Quilt Project

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Ever since I finished the Ferris Wheel top, I’ve been playing with the idea of another Dresden Plate quilt.  I finally succumbed on the weekend and started to print the shapes for the pointed blade on a layer cake of Fig Tree’s Buttercup collection.

Years and years ago, I started a pointed blade Dresden Plate but the dozen or so blocks that I did finish ended up in the orphan block box.  They were small 6″ blocks and it was going to take dozens upon dozens of them to make a quilt.  Since then, I’ve repeatedly thought about making one with the pointed blades, but didn’t want to go through that whole process of folding the blades to get the pointed tip. Using one of the blades in the Dresden Plate Fancy Pieced collection was the solution.

I haven’t attached the background to the plate yet.  It’s going to be a wonderfully feminine summer quilt, one that I can almost see draped over a white wicker chaise. Not that we have a white wicker chaise, but that’s the sort of setting I can imagine for this quilt.  It will be very soft, very feminine and a perfect summer project.  When it’s ready to quilt, this one absolutely has to have a silk batt.

Smudge seems to be improving.  We have found foods that he’s happy to eat.  Last week there was a lot of syringe feeding done until Friday, when he finally started to eat sufficient amounts on his own.  Obviously we’ll have to watch his food intake carefully and be ready to jump in with syringe feeding, but I’m feeling optimistic that maybe we’ve turned a corner.  He’s curling up in his kitty bed, and is acting more like himself.

Here he was taking a break after some play time with his favourite toy, Cappy.

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Quick Update

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Blog posts are going to be a bit sporadic over the next little while as we’re back to where we were with Smudge last November — back to syringe feeding, et cetera.  We’re not sure if the loss of Lester is what has brought this back or if it was a normal progression but, whatever the cause, my attention is going to be pretty much focused on Smudge.

I am leaving comments open for now but will likely only be responding to them with brief updates via blog posts.

Getting Ready to Stitch and Hugo’s Roof Garden Adventure

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Thursday I spent some time prepping all the pieces I need for the remaining Feathered Star blocks for my red and white Sunflower/Feathered Star quilt.   This photo shows the pieces I need for one block.  By the time I finished stitching Thursday night, I had half of the HSTs, diamonds and squares put together that border the kites in the block.  That takes the longest stitching time of any of the elements of the block.  Once that is put together, adding it to the kites and then surrounding the centre Sunflower goes very quickly and then all that’s left is to add the outer setting squares and triangles.  By the time the weekend is over, I hope to have at least one more block completed and a third one started.

Finally, after days of rainy and/or windy and chilly days, Thursday was sunny and Hugo had an adventure on the roof garden.  Here he is walking down the pathway to the garden.

Then he thought the shrubs surrounding the walkway needed investigating.

Inspecting the few lonely flowers that are blooming seemed like a good idea.

The daffodils looked rather interesting, so Hugo decided to get a bit closer.

The tour of the roof garden continued, but suddenly we couldn’t see Hugo.  We looked up to see he had decided to climb a tree.

Why on earth would a hippopotamus climb a tree?  To see the CN Tower, it seems.  It’s hard to see in this photo, but Hugo could see it.

We have a couple of other little adventures planned for Hugo and then it will be time for him to travel on to his next destination.

I pretty much avoided the computer Thursday as my back was still a bit sore.  It’s better as I write this late Thursday night so hopefully I can finally get caught up on replies to comments and blog visiting today.

A close-up of Smudge, which Mr. Q.O. took Thursday  night.

Cake Stand and Ovals in Batiks

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It seems I can’t resist these little cake stand blocks. It’s rather fun making a large and smaller one at the same time.  I’ve decided to make however many blocks I can using 4 or 5 different batiks for each size and then play with the settings.  So I have no set size in mind or layout.  This is just play time for me and I’m loving every second of making these.  I was reminded to change out my needle last night when I realized the needle wasn’t gliding through the fabrics quite as easily and that I had been using the same needle for at least 3 evenings of stitching.  With batiks, that’s just too long.  As soon as I started using a fresh needle, the difference was stunningly evident.

As I had stated I was going to try to do, I managed to get a couple of the batik ovals appliqued as well.  If I can keep adding a few each week eventually I’ll get all the blocks done.

The hearing on Wednesday was nowhere near as long as the day before but it was the third day in a row of uncomfortable chairs at the wrong height and last night my back was aching beyond belief.  I’ve now dubbed them the torture chairs as they’re little better than card table chairs.  I think everyone was relieved yesterday when the hearing was adjourned and they could get up and stretch and get out of there.  The hearing itself is quite interesting, but the chairs make it close to unbearable.

I couldn’t even contemplate sitting at the computer last night or this morning which is why this blog post is so late today.  I usually do my blog post the night before and set it to publish the next morning.  Last night there was no chance of that happening.

Smudge was apparently posing for Mr. Q.O. before I got home yesterday.  I love this profile shot.

Another Pair of Cake Stand Blocks

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These blocks have turned out to be the perfect stitching for evenings when I’m tired. They’re quick and easy to stitch.  Thanks to Wanda‘s comment yesterday, I now have an idea for setting them using the little blocks as cornerstones with sashing around the larger blocks.

They press beautifully.

The neutral I’m using is one of the nicest creams or whites I’ve worked with.  While it has a design to it, it’s not heavily painted on and is easy as can be to needle.  It’s a fabric by Avlyn called “Essential White”.

Tuesday was a long day.  In typical office building fashion, it’s either too warm or too cold.  Tuesday it was too cold.  It was pouring rain when I left Tuesday morning and chilly, so I was chilled before the hearing began.  By the time the hearing adjourned, I thought I’d never feel warm again.  I’m hoping that today we’ll adjourn early.  I’m definitely wearing something warmer today.

Smudge was relaxing with his favourite toy Tuesday evening.

TIny Cake Stand Block

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Looks like I may not get much stitching done this week.  Monday night I was absolutely exhausted, partially because I had barely slept Sunday night for some reason, and got very little done.  This little cake stand block was all I managed to stitch Monday night.  It seems I’m determined to make a small quilt with the 2.5″ blocks.  I decided to use a QST for the triangle at the bottom of the block and am going to use the same cream for all blocks as the neutral.  I’m not sure how many blocks I’ll make, but it’s definitely going to be a tiny teddy bear quilt.

The back:

I’m going to continue making some of the 5″ blocks as well, with a view to making a small baby quilt.   I have an idea for the borders of both the tiny and slightly larger quilt and am planning to piece the borders as I stitch the blocks.  That way when I finish stitching the blocks I should have most of the pieced borders completed.

Monday wasn’t a long day at the hearing, but it appears that today will be as will Wednesday.  So blog posts for the next couple of days are probably going to be rather short.

Smudge was looking at a toy I was holding above his head while Mr. Q.O. got this shot.