Tag Archives: Alabama Beauty blocks

Spring Circles – Row 6 Blocks

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The five blocks for row 6 are done.

The pictures were taken before I joined them into a row but they are now ready to join to the rest of the top.

The pieces for the blocks of row 7 are selected and ready to stitch.

With any luck the piecing of those blocks for row 7 will be done by Wednesday of next week and I’ll have the top completed before next Friday.

Wednesday I had one of the worst migraines I’ve had in years — visual disturbances, nausea and, of course, the throbbing headache.  Work was put on hold and very little got done.  It finally started to lift around 11:00 p.m.  What a waste of a day!  I’m sure it’s weather related as our weather has been cool and wet.  We have even had the heat on a bit first thing in the mornings to take the chill out.

The last time we were out on the roof garden, we got this shot of the plants that line the pathway from the doors down to the garden.  Once the flowers start to really bloom, the display of colour is fabulous.

Wednesday night Smudge was patiently waiting for his yogourt treat in my desk chair.  If I’m sitting there when it’s yogourt time, he can be very vocal about wanting me to move.

Lester in an upside-down pose.

Alabama Beauty & the Clamshells

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This is the block I mentioned earlier this week — the first of the blocks for the Spring Circles quilt I’ll be making for us when my aunt’s quilt is finished.  For now, though, it will be tucked away to come back out when I get started in earnest on the quilt for us.

The layout of the clamshells quilt in Kaffe Fassett’s Museum Quilts book has had me fascinated since the day I first saw it.  I don’t intend to make a large quilt using these fabrics, but think I may make one with 5 of the diamonds.  They are so much fun to stitch that I couldn’t resist and so now have the first diamond past the point of its middle row.  This isn’t pressed yet as I’m avoiding the pressing until the diamond is finished.

Rain poured down starting Wednesday afternoon.  The cats were quite content to have a nice rainy day snooze.  Smudge in one of his stretched out poses on the couch.

And Lester on the pink chair.

Spring Circles Again

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One more row has now been added.  Right now it’s 45 x 54.  I was thinking of leaving it this size as my aunt is a very small lady, but looking at it I have decided to add two more rows so that it will end up as 54 x 63.  I think that will make it a good size for her.  I’ve already got the first block of the next row finished and plan to do nothing but these blocks this week and next until it is finished.  By then, the batting I’ve ordered should be in and then I’ll be ready to quilt it.

I was actually starting to print the fabrics to make blocks for the Spring Circles quilt for us, thinking this was large enough.  So now I have one block of our quilt done as well.

The gardeners descended on Saturday morning and by noon all the flowers were planted.  Now it’s wonderful to look out and see the colour.  As soon as it’s a bit less windy, we’ll get some photographs of the flowers.  We have had some absolutely fabulously hot and humid days over the past week.  A real lovely taste of summer weather.  It’s supposed to be quite hot today and Tuesday and then nothing but rain for a few days, which I know we need.

Taking the week off was a smart thing for me to do.  The difference it made as far as my hands go is quite evident.  So I think I learned a lesson — to back away from things that aggravate my hands when they flare up rather than try to tough it out, which is my first inclination.  I hate giving in to the stupid flare-ups, but …

Lester was wanting to see the keyboard at my desk, I think.  He was absolutely determined to find a way over.  He was sitting on the windowsill with his two front paws on my desk.

Smudge, on the other hand, was cuddled up with his favourite teddy bear.  We’re pretty convinced he has a favourite.

Planning Our Spring Circles Quilt

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While I work on the Alabama Beauty quilt for my aunt seen here, I am daydreaming about the one I will start for us.  I love making that block.  The two containers I have filled with shabby chic and other fabrics that work with them are out where I can see them and think about which shapes I’ll print on which fabrics.  There is one very special fabric that I’m hoping I have enough of to use for all the outer pieces around the entire king-sized quilt.  When I get to the point of starting to print for our quilt, I’ll measure to ensure there is enough.

After all the fabric reorganization is done, I think I’ll probably have one more container full of fabrics that will also work for Spring Circles.  As I want each circle in the quilt to be made with a different fabric, the more the merrier!  It will be marvelously scrappy and have a wonderful cottage shabby chic look to it, which is exactly the look I want.

I did not get around to any blogs yesterday as our connection was impossibly slow — so-called high-speed cable was anything but!  Hopefully it’s better today.

Has anyone else noticed that on One Flower Wednesdays they get more spam comments than on other days?  I’ve noticed it now every week.  It’s not an issue as Word Press has a great system for detecting those comments and stopping them from appearing, but I find it curious that posts about hexagon flowers seem to attract more spam.

Lester was, once again, on the windowsill Wednesday.

Smudge was doing his best lounge lizard imitation on the chair.

We’re supposed to have absolutely amazing weather the next couple of days, although rain is forecast for the weekend, and I’m planning to take Friday through Tuesday off.  I’m not sure if I’ll be blogging until Tuesday, but one never knows.

Spring Circles Update

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We got this shot of Spring Circles out on the roof garden on Monday.  Right now it’s 45″  square.  I’ve decided to finish it at 54 x 63, which means 3 more rows after the one on which I’m working.  Part of what I’ll do this weekend is print whatever I need in way of shapes for the remaining 3 rows.

Monday morning we woke up to a nice day but, shortly after awakening, I developed a horrible headache, sore throat and kept smelling something awful but couldn’t quite figure out what it was.  Lester also reacted rather dramatically to it.  His eyes were running, he was sneezing and seemed quite uncomfortable.  I finally heard noise at our door — turns out that they were touching up the exteriors of the suite doors on our floor with what has to be the most foul-smelling paint in the world.  The smell lingered all day.  We burned candles for a while, turned on the stove hood fan and then set out a big bowl of vinegar, all in an effort to combat the odour. What we learned?  Candles don’t do anywhere near as much good as a bowl of vinegar in helping to combat the odour.   What I can’t begin to understand is how the painters can work with that stuff day in and day out.

Before the painters started on our floor, Lester was on windowsill duty.  There were a lot of birds on the lawn and, at one point, his tail was swishing like mad.  For a minute, I thought he was going to start chattering at them.

Smudge wasn’t affected by the smell.  He was happily getting ready to snooze with a stuffed toy or two.  He will often move them around to just the right positions so that he can curl up with his head on a bear and/or a paw on another little soft toy.

Alabama Beauty Blocks

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The first of the blocks that will now become the next row in the Spring Circles lap quilt for my aunt.

The second:

Third:

Fourth:

Fifth:

Obviously I’ve decided which will be the quilt for my aunt.  I have enough of the shabby chic fabrics that I can start over to make a large one for us.  I may need only one more row after this one to make a lap quilt of the appropriate size for my aunt.

As I was making two of the blocks on Monday night, I was thinking about how to quilt it.  I think I’ll get one of the silk batts for this which will keep it fairly light and make it easy to quilt.  Planning the label for it will be next.

I can’t remember a year when allergies have been anywhere near as bad as this year.  My eyes are streaming and I can’t stop sneezing.  There’s some construction going on in the complex so I would bet some construction dust mixed in with the pollens and the high winds have just turned into a soup of allergens.  Almost everyone we know is complaining of allergy problems.

Lester got in some windowsill time on Monday, although it was still pretty chilly and the heat is still on.

While Smudge was wide-eyed and alert after his nightly yogourt treat.

Choosing the Right Quilt

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My cousin responded to my question regarding my aunt’s favourite colours, saying that they are pinks, rose-coloured pinks rather than baby pinks, and greens.  Now I’m trying to decide what to do.  I did a rough calculation on the weekend and I think it will take approximately 7 or 8 weeks just to piece the Summer Picnic Dish top, which would only leave me 2 weeks to get it quilted and bound.  There is very little wiggle room in that timing.  Could the pansy floral be considered anything close to a pastel rose colour?

I’ve been thinking about it most of the weekend and, as I see it, I have 3 choices at this point although there’s a fourth idea that I will look at more later today.  The three choices?  The Summer Picnic Dish:

Second idea?  Adding a few more rows around this first quadrant of the Spring Circles and making that a lap quilt for my aunt.  Not all pinks and greens but I think the overall feel of it is along those lines:

The third choice is to add another 12 or 13 of the Pink Ice blocks and turn that into a lap quilt.  Not sure where the green would come in, although I suppose I could add two borders — one in a pretty green and then a pink.  These are very quick blocks to make, and I could easily have them done within a few weeks.

Or I could add a very thin mint green sashing around the blocks.

My fourth idea?  I’m playing with the idea of a Winding Ways top done in a  pink fabric that almost reads as a solid and a very pale small sprig green with tiny pink buds on a creamy white fabric.  I will get those fabrics out today and have a look at them to see if they work together or not.

It was a very cold and incredibly windy weekend.  There was damage done in areas of the city from the wind and we had wind chills of -3C.  It was warmer in March than it is now.

Lester spent a bit of time on the windowsill, but not much.  I think nice warm kitty beds were much more enticing this weekend.

Smudge was — well, being Smudge.

More Spring Circles

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The first quadrant has now grown to 20 blocks.  When 36 blocks are done, I’ll start on the second quadrant.  Watching a new group of circles appear has me fascinated every time I add a new row.  I’ve got the blocks for the next row started and am approaching this with a view to finishing a row every week, including adding it to the other rows.  It is still going to take quite some time to finish it, as each quadrant is going to take at least 2 months to make although I am finding them faster and faster to stitch.

We were lucky to get the shot out on the roof garden Monday afternoon.  By Monday evening it had become quite windy.  The wind continued on through the night.

We got some other nice pictures of the roof garden on Monday.  This is one of my favourites, looking from the west side of the roof garden over to the east.

This is the building in which we live.  While it’s very high, we live down quite close to the roof garden — in fact, only a couple of floors above it which means we get all the benefits of having a tree in front of the window and seeing lots of greenery.  The sky was wonderfully blue on Monday with just wispy clouds floating by.

Lester was sitting on my lap, staring up at the ceiling when Mr. Q.O. got this shot.  Usually, I completely fall for it and look up to see what he’s staring at.  This time I didn’t.

Smudge curled up with a teddy bear.

Spring Circles Update

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It was calm enough Tuesday to get a shot of the Spring Circles/Alabama Beauty blocks out on the roof garden.  There are now 16 blocks put together and 9 circles have appeared in their entirety.   At this point it’s 36″ square.  If I make it as large as I’m anticipating, it will be 108″ by 108″.  That’s going to require many, many more blocks — 128 more, to be exact.  Rather daunting if I look at it that way.  I think I’ll focus on getting each quadrant done and not look too far down the road with this one. There’s something about this block that fascinates me.

There were a number of good ideas for the floral print I showed yesterday.  This weekend I think I’ll try it against some other fabrics and see if I can find the perfect combination for it.  Later today I’ll be working on my One Flower Wednesday hexagon block.

Lester, showing why I think of him as our house lion.

Smudge is usually rather afraid of the window washers and will spend hours under the bed until he’s sure they’re gone.  This time?  This time he seemed to be quite laid-back about the whole thing.  No hiding under the bed.

More Alabama Beauty Blocks

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These two blocks were completed and a third one half-finished on Thursday night, so I think there’s a good chance I’ll get the next row added to the first quadrant before the weekend is out.

They need to be pressed before being stitched into the row and added to the previous rows.  As I keep working on this, I’m finding that these blocks are almost putting themselves together.

They say we may have a thunderstorm today — that will be our first of the season.  The gardeners were busy as could be Thursday adding soil to the flowerbeds again and the window washers are getting ever closer to our windows.

This has been a busy week and I’m really looking forward to the weekend.  There are so many blogs posts to catch up on and comments to which I need reply so that’s definitely on the agenda for this weekend.  And my idea book is overflowing at the moment which probably means that I’ll be printing fabric this weekend for a variety of projects.

I love it when Lester rests his head on his paw.

Smudge on the couch.