Tag Archives: cats

Farmer’s Delight in Stages

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Another Farmer’s Delight block completely finished.

One that just needs the frame around it to square it up.

And a third which is awaiting its two bands of triangles.  I’ve decided to make the remaining blocks all at once.  It’s faster, I think, if I make the blocks up to the point of completing the addition of the two rounds of triangles and then, once the remaining 3 or 4 blocks are at that stage, I’ll add the frames to square them up all at once.  That’s what I’ve been working on this week.

We ran down to the hospital for a bit on Wednesday afternoon to meet Cameron, who was born late Monday afternoon, and to deliver his little quilt.  His father, who is the son of a quilter, wasted no time in making sure Cameron was cozy and warm with the quilt wrapped around him.

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and messages about Lester — they were greatly appreciated and helped enormously.  Lester has been slowly recovering.  This is his third stroke and the recovery time has been longer this time.  As of Thursday night he’s eating on his own, drinking and even playing a bit with kitty toys.  It has been a roller coaster of emotions watching him, wondering how well he’ll recover.   We took no pictures of him this week until last night, when he was acting more like Lester, our house lion — lounging in the kitty bed near the kitty toy basket. We were, once again, extremely lucky.

There has been good news with Smudge as well.  He finally seems to be eating enough on his own.  So much so that Thursday was the first day in close to three months that there was no syringe feeding at all. Tuesday and Wednesday were rather tough days with syringe feeding necessary for both of them and then Thursday was like magic — they were both eating on their own.  Smudge was having a snooze after eating on Thursday night.

Cameron’s Windmills

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Yes, I know — a picture that’s almost identical to the one I showed yesterday.  A healthy baby boy who has been named Cameron was born late yesterday afternoon, so this little quilt is now named Cameron’s Windmills, the label was completed and appliqued on and it’s ready to go.

I’m not sure how much I’ll be posting this week.  As well, visiting blogs and replying to comments will probably not be something I’ll be doing much of over the next few days as Lester has had another small stroke.  He’s had two strokes before now, both of which he recovered from quite remarkably well.  This time?  This time I’m not so sure what the outcome will be.  When we left here to go to the vet’s on Monday, I wasn’t feeling very optimistic.  However, the vets gave him a painkiller as well as an appetite stimulant.  By the time I sat down to write this late Monday night, there was a very small improvement so we’re hoping that he can bounce back this time as well.  For now, we’re syringe feeding him and Smudge.

This picture of Lester was taken last week.  He was much more restrained than Smudge — didn’t feel he had to get on the board when we were trying to take a picture of the Rainbow Flower.

Smudge was checking on Lester throughout the evening on Monday.  Then he stretched out for a snooze.

Baby Windmills Quilt

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Friday evening the last stitch was taken to tack down the binding and the baby windmills quilt was finished. Nothing like a last-minute finish — the baby is going to be delivered sometime today.   I had decided how I was going to quilt it and, with a little advance planning, was able to get the machine quilting done within a couple of hours and had only 4 thread ends to work in.  All straight line quilting, of course, as that’s my skill level when quilting by machine.

When I found this flannel a couple of years ago, I bought enough yardage of it for the backing for 3 baby quilts.

The label is ready to be written and stitched on to the back.  As soon as we know the baby’s name, I’ll write out and attach the label, give the quilt a quick wash and dry and we’ll be off to deliver it to the hospital.   I’ve found that a 2″ hexagon is perfect for a label as it gives me lots of room to write.  I’ve got the turn-under allowance basted down as that will make the appliqueing on to the back go very quickly.  Right now it’s ironed to a piece of freezer paper to stabilize it when I’m writing on it and the fabric pen is ready and waiting.  I can’t wait to hear if it’s a boy or girl!

The quilt was made with “other” half 1″ hexagons which I printed using Inklingo. This was a UFO that had been sitting for a couple of years.  I love tessellating designs and had started this quite a while ago but then it sat.  However, when I learned my cousin’s son and his wife were going to have another baby I knew what this particular UFO was meant to be.  Once I made that decision, it only took a couple of weeks to finish piecing it.  With a tessellating design like this, there are tons of opportunities for continuous stitching which makes the piecing go very quickly.

Lester looking rather majestic — one of his house lion looks.

Smudge has definitely turned a corner, we think.  He’s more playful and is eating more every day.  Sunday night he was playing with the favourite toy, Cappy, and then decided to rest while lying on top of Cappy.  I think he wanted to make sure it didn’t get away from him.

Farmer’s Delight … Again

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Along with finishing the quilting of the baby quilt, I started piecing another Farmer’s Delight block on Thursday.  The photo above was taken back in April, and there are a couple more blocks that have been done since but this is another of the UFOs that has made its way up the list.  It will only take 3 or 4 more blocks to finish it.

Tonight I’ll add the binding to the baby quilt and make the label.  Pictures of the finished baby quilt and the newest Farmer’s Delight block will be taken for Monday’s post.

A surprise package arrived from a non-blogging friend that included the book EQ6 Simplified.  I was thrilled and can tell already, from just looking through it, that it’s going to make a huge difference.  I’ve already picked up a couple of things.

We were absolutely delighted when Smudge decided he wanted his yogourt treat again.  He hasn’t evidenced any interest in it for what seems like forever, so watching him go for the yogourt Thursday night made us both feel fabulous!  He has been eating a bit more each day on his own, and we’re still struggling to find a food that he likes and that is good for both him and Lester.

Lester seemingly will eat almost every  food we offer.  There have been a few he’s not liked, but he’s nowhere near as finicky as Smudge.

X’s and O’s

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My Improved 9-Patch quilt top which I’ve named X’s and O’s, and which was hand pieced in a few weeks.  I started piecing it on August 9 and took the last stitch completing the main body of the top on September 1, 2010.  The picture was taken on September 2, when the lawn on the roof garden was still green and there was no snow.  Without borders it measures approximately 41 x 48″.  One of the two borders I have planned for X’s and O’s will be pieced.

I used the Inklingo Orange Peel Deluxe collection to print all the shapes for this. Perfect stitching lines and matching points printed on the back of my fabrics made putting this together a breeze.  Even though I knew it would go together easily as I had just finished the Chintz Circles quilt made with shapes from the same Inklingo collection, I was amazed at how quickly I finished stitching it.  Once I got the idea for this quilt, I worked out a plan for my quilt using the design sheets and Monkey’s Cheat Sheet which are part of the Inklingo collection and filled out a cheat sheet, chose the fabrics and printed my shapes.  All done in one evening.  By the time two days had passed, I had all the 9-patches pieced and then it was just a matter of lots and lots of continuous stitching as I joined the melons to the 9-patches.

The biggest challenge for me with this quilt was keeping things in order.  Once I had the 9-patch blocks pieced, I laid them out with the melons and rearranged until I was satisfied with the placement.  Not having a design wall, I laid it out on the bed and we took photos.  Although I kept the pieces for each row of the quilt in separate zip-lock bags, I printed one of the photos and that was my virtual design wall to which I referred constantly to ensure I hadn’t mixed anything up.

My plan is to print the shapes I need for the pieced border sometime within the next couple of weeks and hopefully have the pieced border ready within a week or so after that.  I’ve already decided on the quilting design for the quilt, so I’m hoping to have this one done within a relatively short period of time.

We were lucky and didn’t get anywhere near the kind of storm they were predicting. It snowed for hours, no question, but we didn’t get the amount they had forecast. The migraine finally lifted Wednesday evening so now I’m just left with the bruised head feeling that always comes after and will get caught up on blogs and responding to comments today.

The cats found spots to snooze on Wednesday.  Lester on the pink chair.

Smudge got his turn on the pink chair a bit later in the evening.

Hexagon Frames

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It took a while, but the cream hexagon frames for the POTC blocks are all ready to be attached to the 10 blocks that are not yet finished.  A little more printing of the setting pieces and I’ll have everything I need for the outer edges of the quilt top ready as well.

Now that I’ve got the frames made and ready to attach to the blocks, I’m really quite enthused about working on this quilt again.  Stitching cream hexagons to one another endlessly was a real stumbling block for me.  Now that this is done, I can almost imagine having the top finished by the spring.

As I type this at around midnight, the snow has just started to fall here although the wind hasn’t yet picked up.  They say by morning  we will have near blizzard conditions.  I’ve taken enough migraine medication to take the edge off, but it’s not gone yet.  I’m hoping once the storm is over, the headache will be gone.

Smudge spent much of Tuesday snoozing.

Lester seemed to be almost posing for the camera.


Endlessly Stitching

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… cream hexagons together, that is.  When we took this photo last night, I had 48 left to join.  By the time the evening was over, I had finished stitching them into sets of three.  So now it’s solely a matter of adding 24 of them around each of the remaining POTC blocks.  Getting the cream hexagons stitched was a big hurdle, and one that I could have avoided had I done them as I finished each block rather than left them all to the end.  Lesson learned!

We have an enormous winter storm heading toward us.  Light snow today but then tonight into Wednesday, a lot of snow and high winds.  I’ve been battling a migraine since late yesterday, so the cream hexagon stitching was the perfect thing to work on — just lots and lots of straight stitching, no thinking involved!

Lester decided to curl up and have a snooze.

Smudge in an impossibly cute pose with a teddy bear!

Rainbow Flower & January Clamshell Report

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The Cranes Circling Flowers at Dusk, aka rainbow flower, is something I can’t resist stitching!  So much so that, when I couldn’t sleep because of a migraine, I was fussy cutting six more flowers and cranes from another fabric at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday.  I have everything cut and printed now for the rest of this piece and hope to have the main piecing finished by mid-week.  When it’s finished, we’re going to have to find a way to photograph it.  The light at this time of year makes for not great photographs.  I can’t wait until spring comes and the roof garden reopens!

When I pulled out the storage container with the Oriental prints and batiks to choose the fabrics in this, I also hauled out the container with striped and directional fabrics. I have a feeling fussy cutting some stripes for this block will be the next thing I play with, although I’m also very tempted to do something with shabby chic fabrics.

I don’t have much to show for the January clamshell report.  While I’ve made lots of the black and white arcs for the Pickled Ladies, I only put together two of the pickled clamshells.  To see the list of and links to participants in the Clamshell Club, go to Cybele’s Patch.

On the weekend, I got a lot of the cream hexagons for the POTC blocks stitched.  At this point, I only need to stitch together the ones needed for two more blocks and that part will be done.  So I feel like progress is being made.  We were taking trying to take a picture of a finished POTC block when Smudge decided he needed to help. You can just see a bit of the block that he’s lying on.

Lester was having a snooze.

Rainbow Flower

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(Click on photo to enlarge)

In the February/March 2011 issue of Quilters Newsletter Magazine, there’s an article on Mosaic Patchwork blocks and Rainbow Flower is one of the blocks featured.  With all the fabulous curves in this block, I think it’s irresistible — particularly as a new Inklingo collection for the Rainbow Flower was released on Thursday.

I’m calling this “Cranes Circling Flower at Dusk”.  It’s not quite finished as one more round will be added to it, if not more.  This one won’t be a large piece, but rather a smaller one with a pretty border which I’m already planning.

Within minutes of downloading the collection, I had prepared my window templates so I could fussy cut the two larger shapes.  Within a few minutes after that, I had the fabric cut and ready to print.  A few hours later, my block was done.

I was tempted to start another shabby chic quilt with this collection, and may well do that yet but the Oriental prints were what first grabbed my imagination.  Imagine this with novelty prints fussy cut for a child’s quilt!  Maybe some stripes for the connecting shapes.   Or a wonderful polka dot print or — the ideas just are flying through my mind!

The back:

When we take photos of quilt-related things, we generally put a board on the pink chair with a piece of grey fabric over it.  As I was getting things ready to take the photo of the Rainbow Flower, Smudge decided he wanted to lay down and have a snooze.  I literally turned my back for a second to get the block, turned around and there he was, already asleep.  We gently moved him and carried on.

Lester found himself a comfortable spot on the loveseat.

Pretty Fabrics

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While I know I’ll probably add to and subtract from this group of fabrics, I like the look of these for something.  What exactly, I’m not sure, but they’re staying together when they’re put away.  There’s a wonderful paisley fabric in that group that I know will be great for some fussy cutting.

What have I been doing?  Not much to show at the moment as I’ve been making more of the cream hexagon frames for the POTC blocks, spent a bit of time sorting out just how large I’ll make the Summer Picnic Dish and then figured out what I still need to print in order to make it the size I’ve decided upon, decided on two borders for a quilt top that I haven’t shown yet, and spent a bit of time working through another EQ lesson — on Tuesday, that is.  Wednesday was a bit of a write-off.

While I’m going to print all the pieces I need for the Summer Picnic Dish, I’m going to concentrate on making the arc/melon combinations and then, once those are done, start putting the top together.  I”m going to have to use a few different white on white fabrics as I don’t have anywhere near enough of the one I started with but I’m not stressed about that.

While we aren’t getting the snow that New York got, I had a migraine that just wouldn’t quit on Wednesday from that storm.  Didn’t stop me from stitching, but sure stopped me from dealing with anything on the computer.

I’m not sure what Lester was looking at when this picture was taken.  Probably a kitty toy on the floor.

Smudge has been playing more with toys over the past couple of days and his appetite is definitely on the increase.  We’re still syringe feeding, and likely will be for at least another month, but I think there’s progress.