Tag Archives: cats

Farmer’s Delight

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All 12 of the blocks on my makeshift design wall.  I’m pretty sure that this is the layout of the blocks I’m going to go with.  I suppose it’s no surprise that I have more pink blocks than any other colour.  There are  4 pink, 3 blue, 3 green and 2 gold.  As it stands now, the top would finish at 45 x 60 which is, I think, a good size for a lap quilt.  Now I’ve got to start thinking of a name for this one.  Usually names for quilts come to me easily, but this one?  Not so easily.  The blocks remind me of something but I can’t quite put my finger on just what that something is.

It won’t take long to join the blocks into rows and then into the top, and then I suppose I’ll make a final decision as to whether I add any border.  My initial thought is no border as I really don’t want to take away from the blocks.  That may change. How to quilt it is another question altogether.

This is the fabric I plan to use for the binding.  It has all the colours that are in the blocks and will frame the quilt.

I’ve finally figured out how I can put up a design wall that’s easily removed and hope to get that organized in the next week or so.  But in the meantime, masking tape and a partial batt work.  It’s far, far better than trying to lay blocks out on the floor with four-footed helpers!

Smudge was back on his pillow, but this time wasn’t looking at the camera.

Lester wasn’t trying to convince me to look up at the ceiling this time.

More from the Pastry Shop

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This is such a cheerful piece on which to work at this time of year that I couldn’t resist adding to it.  It’s fast to stitch and makes me smile.  And, as I’m using green as the background, it’s rather fitting to post on St. Patrick’s Day.

The box is full of pieces cut and ready to stitch.  When the contents of the box are all stitched and added to what I’ve already done, the top will be done.  I love having the pieces for blocks all ready as it makes it so easy to choose on which project I want to work.  A little prep work really pays off when I can open a box like this and have lots ready and waiting to be stitched.

The Farmer’s Delight blocks are finished.  I took the last stitch late last night.  Today I’ll press them and start playing with block arrangements and will take a photo of all of them together for tomorrow’s blog post.  I’m already playing with ideas for a border.

Smudge likes having cushions on which to recline.

Lester has a tendency to stare up at the ceiling and seems to wait until I look up to see what he’s looking at — which is always nothing.  I try to not fall for it, but rarely succeed.

Stormy Seas

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Finally, another Stormy Seas block.  Tuesday night the box containing the pieces for these blocks came out and one more block has now been added to the group.  That said, there’s a very long way to go until I have them all done.

Hopefully by the time this week ends I’ll have the Farmer’s Delight blocks finished. That’s my goal as I’d like to start playing with a setting idea.  Whether that plan is going to work depends on how much of the background fabric I have left.  I don’t think there’s much, so I’m going to have to get creative.

For some inexplicable reason, the program in which Mr. Q.O. keeps kitty photos crashed Tuesday night.  So I’ve gone back in the archives to find some good pictures of the boys.  This one of Smudge was taken back in September.

Lester , also back in September.

A Stack of Stitching

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This may not look like a lot, but there are quite a few blocks there to be stitched.  At least 100, I believe.  I love having a stack all ready to stitch like this.  I even went ahead and clipped into all the concave seam allowances so that I can just stitch and stitch and not have to stop and clip any of the seam allowances.

One more little Harpsichord Quilt block is made.  This is not a UFO that I want to leave languishing for too long as I think it will be a very striking quilt.  So once I get 2 more finished, it’s moving to the top of the list and, in the meantime, I will try to make a couple of blocks a week.

I realized yesterday that a larger stitching book would be even more useful so finally have a use for my orphan applique blocks.  There are a number of them that have been sitting now for years.  They can be quickly joined, quilted and turned into stitching books and that makes me happy.

There were a number of helpful responses yesterday.  I’m going to e-mail the blogger in question, as Wendy suggested, and then see what happens.

The cats had very lazy days on Monday.  Lester was lounging at one end of the couch.   He did spend some time on the windowsill Monday, though.  I think he’s getting impatient for some activity out on the roof garden.

While Smudge was at the other end of the couch and barely awake when this shot was taken.

A Stitching Book

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As soon as I saw the Inklingo Log Cabin collection I knew I wanted to make some blocks for use as covers of a stitching book.  When I was making my Quilted Diamonds blocks, I always used a stitching book.  Now I don’t use one as often, but I love having one for portions of  blocks like the Feathered Star and Pickle Dish.  This book is going to a friend, but I know I’ll make more of the stitching books with different blocks made using the log cabin squares and rectangles.  There are so many different blocks one can make and they’re just about the perfect size for a stitching book.  They are also very quick to make.

The back cover of the stitching book is the same block, but the fabrics are reversed.

The inside front of the book.  The fabric I used for the inside covers is an odd one.  I remember picking it up, thinking it was a lot of fun.  It’s difficult to needle, so using it for a stitching book was the perfect solution.

When I’m stitching a block or section of a block that has the potential to get confusing, I will often lay out the pieces and then stitch.  I pick up 2 pieces, stitch them together, lay them back down where they belong in the order and then pick up the third piece — knowing exactly where it goes in the sequence.

I laid out 2 Drunkard’s Path units on a page of the book, to show how handy it is.  I was going to lay out a pickle dish melon/arc combo, but as I’m using white in that block it wouldn’t show up well in photos.  It’s also handy for stitching outdoors as the pieces will stick to the pages of the book.  And for those of us with four-footed helpers, some of whom like little pieces of fabric, it’s nice to be able to shut the book and get those bits of fabric out of harm’s way.

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What follows is a bit of a rant.  Feel free to skip down to see today’s kitty pictures.

Over the weekend, a friend alerted me to the fact that someone had grabbed a picture from my blog and used it on their blog without a link.  I wasn’t contacted by the person to ask permission to do so.  Generally speaking, I don’t mind sharing at all.  That said, I do think it’s imperative that we all respect one another’s copyright and ask for permission before grabbing text or photos from another’s blog.

I wasn’t going to say anything but I had a long look at the person’s blog.  The blogger is clearly not new to blogging and knows how to put links in her posts.  I really am not sure what, if anything, to do about it.  What would you have done? Have you run into this, finding out in a roundabout way that someone has grabbed something from your blog without asking first?  If so, how did you handle it?

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The cats had a relaxing weekend.  Smudge was stretched out having a snooze.

Lester was alert and looking around.

Stitching Progress

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32 blocks were finished yesterday.  I probably could have stitched more but the lighting was less than wonderful and my eyes were getting a bit tired.  There’s something about stitching these little Drunkard’s Path units that is absolutely irresistible to me.

The back of one of the blocks:

When we got home, I pressed the ones I had stitched and started cutting out more of them.  If I keep stitching at this rate, I’ll have all the little blocks made in no time at all and then can start putting the groupings of 4 blocks together.

Then I was thrilled to find out that there’s now an Inklingo Log Cabin collection. I’ve never wanted to make a log cabin quilt but I think that may have been partially because of the amount of precision rotary cutting that would be involved.  So now I’m contemplating a few ideas for little quilts.  But more than that, I’m thrilled to have the variety of lengths of 1″ rectangles to play with from 1″ x 2″ all the way up to 1″ x 10″.  There are a lot of design possibilities involved with those!  I’ve already got an idea for a stitching book which I hope to get done this weekend.

Thank you for all the well wishes yesterday.  Mr. Q.O. came through with flying colours.  Everything about the day was amazing (well, okay — except for the getting up at 5:00 a.m. part).  He was taken into the pre-op area almost the minute we arrived, a few minutes later I was sitting with him and met the surgeon, the anaesthesiologist, one of the surgical nurses and then the porter came to take him into the O.R. at which point I was sent up to the waiting lounge.  Great volunteers there who kept tabs on who everyone was and for which patient they were waiting and who would, the minute they got calls from the O.R., immediately come over to tell those waiting how their relative was.  By 9:30 I was on my way up to the short stay floor as he was already there and eating breakfast.  His nurse on the short stay floor was an absolute gem.  By shortly after 4:00 we were home.  I’m glad we got home when we did as it was getting rather nasty outside and the roads were icy from the snow/rain combination that had begun to fall earlier in the afternoon.  I may do moan about our climate, but I wouldn’t trade it for a second if it meant giving up our marvelous health care system.

For the record, getting up at 5:00 is not something I want to repeat very often. Drinking coffee at 5:30 a.m. is a rather futile endeavour for me – I don’t even remember the taste of it, as I think I was a walking zombie at that hour!  While there were some people out and about at 6:30, there were nowhere near as many as I had been led to believe.  Perhaps in the summer, when the weather is nicer, people are out and about earlier but on a rather windy, chilly day in early March? Not so many!

When we got home, Smudge practically broke all speed records getting to the door to greet us and demand some fresh food.  Lester, on the other hand, was lounging on the couch and gave us one of those, “Well, where the heck have you been for all these hours?” looks and that was the extent of his reaction.

Smudge later in the evening after having an after-dinner snack.

And Lester having a snooze while holding on to a monster-size kitty paw.

Ready to Stitch

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A quick half hour or so and this 2.5″ stack of charms was printed with Drunkard’s Path shapes.  They are so amazingly quick to stitch that I’m hoping to have at least 25 or 30 blocks done today.  Maybe even more.

My stitching kit has scissors to cut the shapes, thread snips, needles, my thimble and two colours of thread.  Must remember to toss in a finger pincushion as well — as I cannot stand stitching without it.

It has been a long time since I’ve worked on these, but this is a sample of the blocks I’ve made so far.

By the time this posts (I’m writing it Tuesday evening), we’ll be on our way to the hospital.  We have to be there by 6:30.  6:30???  We’re night owls in the Q.O. household, so 6:30 sounds almost like the middle of the night.  However, a friend assures me there are many people up and about at 6:30 a.m. (this I have to see!) and that they’re even coherent at that hour.  All I’m hoping is that the Tim Horton’s shops in the hospital lobby are open and I can get some coffee when we get there.

I’ll throw my eReader in the bag in the middle of the night morning when we get up so that if the lighting really is not conducive to stitching I can at least read.  I should point out that at that hour it will take us less than 10 minutes to get to the hospital, so we likely won’t even leave here until about 6:10 or so.  That’s a strange hour for a night owl.  Very very strange.  However,  there is a good side to this ridiculously early hour and that is that he’ll likely be ready to come home sometime in the afternoon.

I must remember to leave the television on for the kitties — it’s going to be a long day for them.   Hopefully they just have a nice calm relaxing day and Smudge is like this when we get home.

While Lester is stretched out like this.

Charms

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When Rouenneries by French General first came out, I fell in love with it.  Got a couple of charm packs and started making Drunkard’s Path units.

Then I decided I wanted to make a slightly larger quilt and got a couple more charm packs and a bit of yardage.  The charms are all washed and ready to print.  The yardage will be used for the borders and binding.  I’m going to spend some time today printing the shapes on the remaining charms and get them ready to stitch on Wednesday.

Mr. Q.O. is having a minor surgical procedure on Wednesday, so it will be a long day at the hospital.  We were there on Monday for all the pre-op stuff and I was amazed at just how cold it was.  One would think a hospital would be warmer, considering there are patients there.  However, I’m warned now and will be wearing lots of layers on Wednesday.  I took my e-reader with me yesterday and was glad I had, but on Wednesday I plan to stitch and the Drunkard’s Path units are the perfect stitching project.

Lester  was showing us his lion look on Monday.

The light was perfect for this shot of Smudge — all natural light.  I love the fact that each day we have light for a slightly longer time and the light is getting so much better for photographs.

Preparing for Next Week’s Piecing

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The last of the Farmer’s Delight blocks will be finished this weekend so I decided it was time to get some shapes for other quilts ready.  First up were some more of the shapes I need for the Summer Picnic Dish quilt.  It took only a few minutes to print enough for another 4 blocks.

While I was at it, I decided to print some more shapes for the Pastry Shop quilt. Again, it took only a few minutes and now I have quite a few ready to stitch.  There are, of course, other shapes that are already printed and ready to piece for a few other quilts but this way I have lots of choices.

It was cold again on Thursday and was even snowing a bit.  I keep telling myself it’s March and it can’t last, but it would be nice to see the end of this cold weather.

Smudge didn’t care.  He found a cozy spot to curl up.

As did Lester.

Farmer’s Delight Block 11

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Getting these blocks done has moved to the top of the list and, as I’m very close to being finished, they are all I plan to work on until they’re done.  One more block to go, then add the surrounding pieces to turn the last 4 blocks into squares and the piecing is done.  The final step will be figuring out how I want to set them.

Block 12 has been started.  The two triangle strips won’t take long to make and add to it and then it will be finished.

A few days ago I wrote about testing different markers for marking the quilting I want to do on the pink and cream quilt.  I made some marks on a scrap piece of the cream fabric with various markers and then let it sit for over a week.  Wednesday I decided to see if the marks would come out.  I was amazed at how easily they all rinsed right out of the fabric with just water.  No soap was necessary at all.  The pink and yellow Fineliner marks rinsed out without an issue.  The most surprising to me was that the General’s graphite pencil marks practically flew out of the fabric as soon as it got close to water.  After drying and ironing the scrap piece there isn’t a hint of any of the marks.  As I always wash my quilts as soon as they’re bound, I feel quite safe about using any of the markers I tested.

Now to find my quilt stencils.  Some of them are rather large so there aren’t too many spots I could have put them where they could lie flat.  It seems I found a really good spot for them — and one that I can’t remember.  I’d like to get that top ready to quilt this weekend, so hopefully they turn up today or tomorrow.

I spoke too soon about the weather.  Wednesday was quite cool again and extremely windy.  Our high was only -4.  Today’s high is supposed to be -3.  However, the difference in the light is becoming more obvious each day.  We got pictures of both the cats without having to turn on lights or use the flash.

Lester was lounging.

Smudge was posing.