Tag Archives: cats

Harpsichord Quilt Block

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The Harpsichord Quilt has made its way to the top of the list to be worked on. I got a start by adding another block to the group of finished ones last night. Each side of the octagons are .75″.  As the seams are so short, the block takes very little time to piece.

They take seconds to press.

My quilt is inspired by both the original Lucy Boston patchwork and the amazing harpsichords we saw, particularly the incredible decorative artwork that is on them. I wanted a brocade-type effect for the outer edge octagons, but didn’t want the darkness of the “right” side of the fabric, so decided I’m using the wrong side of that fabric.

As soon as I saw the Patchworks of Lucy Boston book, I fell in love with the Keyboard Patchwork. So when the .75-inch octagon Inklingo collection came out with the shapes for it, I had to get started on it.  While they have sat for ages, it’s a project I want to get finished sooner rather than later.

This is another quilt in a box project. The glassine envelopes contain everything I need, including the threads I use when piecing these blocks.

Baxter lounging on the duvet. He loves to pounce on the duvet and will often bring his favourite toy in to play with.

Pickled Ladies

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It has been a while since I’ve worked on the Pickled Ladies blocks, but on the weekend two more were finished and added to the group.

They’re quick to stitch and press perfectly.

Once all the ones that are ready are stitched, I’ll have to decide whether to make the Pickled Ladies a lap quilt or wall hanging. I’m tempted to make it a lap quilt just for the sheer impact I think the blocks would have in a quilt of that size. Whatever size I make it, it’s going to have a very small plain border to frame it.

We got a new kitty bed for Baxter on the weekend. Of course, he had to have his favourite toy in there with him.

Fabric Group and Planning to Quilt

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This grouping of fabrics has been sitting for the past 5 or 6 months while I try to decide what I want to make with them. These are not my comfort zone when it comes to colours at all, but I want to make something with these with perhaps a cream neutral thrown in. Whatever design I end up playing with, I think this will be a long table runner.

Baxter was trying to make sure he got in the picture.

There are 2 large quilts that are basted and ready to hand quilt. One is a whole cloth quilt with all the quilting lines marked. The other is my Quilted Diamonds 2 quilt. At this point, I’m leaning towards working on them both. Perhaps half an hour on the whole cloth and then switch over to the Quilted Diamonds quilt. They’ve both certainly been sitting long enough in the queue to be quilted.

Baxter usually has one paw up in the air when he’s sitting or lying down. We think of it as his royal wave paw. I think he was very sleepy when this shot was taken.

Scrappy Star, Round 4

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The star is growing. I’ll keep adding rounds until it’s wide enough for a lap quilt. Then I’ll sort out how to add length to it, possibly with a couple of rows of small stars at the top and bottom. The round of squares isn’t added yet, but that’s not going to take long. It’s adding the diamonds in each round that takes the longest, particularly as it grows in size.

Over the years, I’ve tried numerous thimbles for hand quilting and, while some of them have seemed better than others, all of them have eventually resulted in hand issues for me. Then I heard about this, the hand-held quilting thimble from the House of Quilting. After about half an hour of practising with it, I was thrilled. It’s simple to get used to, makes it easy to get small even stitches and doesn’t seem to cause any hand fatigue. It’s even easy to quilt through intersections where many seams meet. Over the next few days, I’ll spend some more time getting used to it and then it’s going to be time to get started on that stack of 14 tops waiting for quilting.

Baxter’s markings are starting to show more and more. He has two rings, one on either side, just at his shoulders which I’ve dubbed the Baxter crop circles. This photo was taken as he was resting up, waiting for yogourt time.  Yes, we have another kitty who loves a yogourt treat. When he sees the yogourt container come out of the refrigerator, he practically climbs up our legs to get his treat.

Fruit Salad Quilt

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Once the lime was added to the blocks and the centre LeMoyne Star made, the name had to be Fruit Salad. It measures 32 inches square. The blocks were hand pieced, but the sashing was added and the top was put together using the machine. I think I’m going to use the same purple batik that’s in the blocks for the binding. I used the Inklingo 6 inch LeMoyne Star collection for this quilt. The blocks went together in no time but, for some reason, had to sit for months on end before I finally put the little top together.

We took photos out on the roof garden yesterday and got this shot of the Dresden Plate quilt top. It looks better in natural light than it did with the flash from the camera.

A quick inventory of the quilt tops I have ready to quilt was done last night. There are 14 tops now in line waiting to be quilted. Think I’ve got to make up a muslin/batting sandwich and get some practice in on my hand quilting as it has been ages since I’ve done any and I want to hand quilt at least half of those tops. The first thing I’m going to do is measure them all and then figure out what battings I need. Then I’ve got to get some backings ready.

Baxter posing for the camera. It’s hard to believe he’s not even 5 months old. We think he’s going to be a big kitty when he’s through growing … in about three and a half years.

Picnic Plate Quilt

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The top is finished. It’s a relatively small quilt, perfect for a teddy bear picnic or perhaps a crib quilt, finishing at 36 x 45 inches. This is the second quilt top I’ve made using the Inklingo Fancy Pieced Dresden Plate Collection and I’m not finished. There are at least two other designs that I’ve got planned. Ferris Wheel, which I’m machine quilting, is the other Dresden Plate quilt I made using that collection.

The quilt was inspired by the floral used as the setting frames for the plates. I had the layer cake of Fig Tree fabrics, which is what I used for the blades in the plates, and as soon as I saw that floral fabric I knew exactly what I’d make.

The picture isn’t great as putting up the temporary design wall with an inquisitive kitten helping means things get done quickly. We had hoped to take a picture of this outside but I finished it on Sunday, when it was rainy and windy. Monday wasn’t much better. In fact, it was almost chilly Monday night. We seem to have gone from hot, humid summer weather on Saturday to cool fall weather on Monday.

The binding is ready and I know what I’m going to use for the backing. All that’s left is to get a silk batt as I plan on hand quilting this one.

Baxter was lounging on the floor between our two desks when we got lucky and got this shot of him licking his nose. Makes me laugh.

Stars…Again

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These 4 blocks have also been bumped up the list to be finished. The lime batik I’ll use to set them is ready and the little quilt top should be done in no time. The blocks have been sitting for ages and the lime batik is washed and ready.

It has been quite a week around here. Last Thursday and yesterday, Mr. Q.O. had cataract surgery. The difference is absolutely incredible. He can basically now throw away his old glasses and use drugstore readers. I was able to sit with him in the pre-op area until the doctors came to get him and the nurse told me as soon as he was out of surgery – less than 15 minutes. What an amazing process! The nurses in the pre-op and recovery room were wonderful and we both got a hug from one of them as we left.

Baxter sprawled out under a desk yesterday afternoon. It really doesn’t look like he could possibly be comfortable, but this is how he likes to sleep.

Scrappy Star, Round Three

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While other projects have jumped to the front of the queue, Scrappy Star is not being neglected. Each round takes a bit longer but I’m finding that adding the next round of diamonds and squares only takes a couple of evenings of stitching. It’s fun to see it grow as each round is added and is about 19.5″ now.

When hand piecing, I often leave pressing until a block is finished. Not with this one. It only takes a minute to press after each round is added. That way, when I add the final round, it won’t take long to press it.

Edited to add:  The diamonds are 2.44″ from tip to tip and the squares are 1.32″.  I  used the free Inklingo collection to print the shapes on my fabric.

Baxter lost/hid Cappy, his favourite toy, for a while on Wednesday. After looking under every piece of furniture and behind closet and cupboard doors, Cappy was finally found in the very last place I thought to look. He has refined his game with it to the point that he drops it at my feet and meows so that I look down. When he finally decided to have a rest, he made sure Cappy was close by.

Sky Quilt

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Last week I spent some time going through the various partially completed projects. Some of them have been relegated to the closet for now. Others have been bumped up the list to be finished. The Sky Quilt is one of those that’s going to be worked on now. This picture is of the rainbow that will be, I think, in the middle of the quilt. Another few rows of diamonds will be added in purples and blues and that part will be done.

These four blocks will be in the corners of the quilt. I remember they struck me as being sunset and sunrise colours, which is what gave me the idea of calling it the Sky Quilt.

The pieces I need to finish the rainbow were ready and waiting, so I’ve started adding the final few rows to it and will hopefully have the top finished within a couple of weeks. The fabric I had selected for the background was easily located and is washed and ready to go.

The best part of revisiting the older projects? Once I had them out and up on the temporary design wall, I almost immediately had ideas for finishing a few. There are three of these projects that will be turned into quilt tops relatively quickly.

Baxter has a new trick.  He brings us his favourite toy, drops it at our feet and waits for us to throw it for him. First he has to rest up and be ready for some serious play time.

Drunkard’s Path Variation

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The blocks for this have been done for ages and were sitting, waiting to be put into a top. Part of the reason for the delay was that I wasn’t quite sure how I’d finish it. Now I know. Without the border, it’s 36 x 42. It’s completely hand pieced.

Last week, 6 new Inklingo collections were released with new sizes of the Drunkard’s Path shapes, ranging from 2″ to 7″, along with an absolutely fabulous Drunkard’s Path Free Design Book.  The book is wonderful and, for the moment, free to download. It’s full of tips and tricks for both hand and machine stitching Drunkard’s Path blocks as well as tons of layouts.

The new sizes gave me a completely different idea than I initially had for the border I’ll add to make it into a lap quilt. The top was made with shapes from the 3″ collection. I’ll be using shapes from the 6″ collection to make the pieced border. The fabrics for the border are ready and washed and now I just need to find one of them. I’ve obviously tucked it away too well, but I think I have an idea where it is.

Baxter is growing in leaps and bounds — and is leaping and bounding around here too as the kitten antics go on daily.  We were fortunate to get this shot of him awake and still.