Tag Archives: cats

Pink Clamshells

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There was a bit of a distraction from Chintz Circles Thursday night.  A new Inklingo collection of larger, 3.5″ clamshells was released and I couldn’t resist.  I had my fabrics picked out and printed in a matter of minutes.

The first few pieces practically stitched themselves together in a matter of minutes.  I’m finding clamshells absolutely irresistible now that they’re so simple to print and stitch.  I can imagine making a whole series of little clamshell quilts as there are so many options — some fussy cutting/printing to get some special effects, some really planned colour placement clamshells, a charm clamshell quilt.  The ideas are just flying around in my head right now.  This one?  In this little quilt, a pink clamshell is going to appear rather randomly throughout.  And it will only be little.

The distraction has to be over now though.  Tonight I will finish piecing the blocks for my aunt’s quilt and probably get them joined into the final row.  I’m still on track to get the top finished this weekend.  I’d really like to be in a position to start quilting it by Sunday.

Lester was busy Thursday afternoon watching the birds on the roof garden.  Thursday we saw a glorious yellow butterfly, but couldn’t get a picture of it, and a couple of dragonflies.  He just didn’t know where to look next, so decided to have a snooze.

Smudge was lounging as he waited for his nightly treat of yogourt.

Hopefully the weather cooperates and I can get a picture of the completed Chintz Circles top on the weekend to show Monday.  Have a great weekend!

A Little Knitting

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Carrying on from yesterday’s post, knitting was the craft on which I focused most of my attention after giving up crocheting.  Fortunately, I was able to make us both a number of sweaters before I had to give that up.  The cable sweater above is one of my favourites that I made for Mr. Q.O.  I think it was the last one I completed before having to give up.  There’s one other sweater that needs only to be sewn together and its neckband done.  I may try to tackle that this summer as it’s a fabulous deep pink cotton sweater which I made for myself.

In a way I’m grateful the issue with my hands forced me to give up knitting as that was the beginning of my fascination with quilting, although at the time I didn’t accept it very gracefully.  I kept trying to push my limits and keep knitting, to my detriment.  When I finally really got into quilting, I was thrilled to find that playing with fabric colours and patterns was endlessly fascinating.

On a quilting note, two more blocks are all that are left to piece for my aunt’s quilt.  I’m finding I can piece two in an evening so, with any luck, I’ll have them done tonight, put them together into a row on Friday and then stitch the row on to the top.  I’ll get the batting out of the package tomorrow to let it relax and will wash and iron the backing.  Now I have to decide whether to hand quilt it, which might be really pushing it as far as time goes, or do some simple machine quilting.  If I’m hand quilting it, no basting will be necessary but if I’m machine quilting I’ll be heading to a neighbour’s on the weekend to borrow her living room floor to pin baste.  Pin basting on the floor here becomes an adventure with my kitty helpers.

We had really odd weather on Wednesday.  Very windy but also quite warm.  Rain would pour down for a while, then the sun would come out, clouds would then start to reappear and then, a few hours later, the same would repeat.  By Friday we’re supposed to be in the beginning of a protracted heat wave.  I can’t wait!

The cats took advantage of a mostly cloudy, rainy day and snoozed.

A Little Lace

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In my pre-quilting life, I used to do a lot of lace crochet.  Over the years I made lace tablecloths for my mother and aunt and had started this one for myself.  Crocheting was the first craft that my hands rebelled against and I had to put this away when it was the size of a large rectangular shawl.  I’m thinking of trying to finish the last row and perhaps use it as a very lacy dress-up shawl when the occasion warrants.   There’s a dime next to one of the motifs in the next picture.  Lace was my favourite thing to crochet and I had great plans to make lace window treatments.

After crocheting was out of the question, I focused on knitting.  That lasted for a number of years until the rheumatologist and hand clinic told me that knitting was absolutely the worst thing for my hands.  Thankfully, quilting doesn’t seem to cause anywhere near the problems that the other crafts did.

We have been doing some reorganizing and during that, I opened the cedar chest and discovered the lace piece.  I had totally forgotten about it.

Smudge was rather intently watching as I laid the lace out on the floor to photograph it.

Lester wasn’t interested at all.  He was happily asleep curled up with a teddy bear.

9-Patch Blocks

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During the weekend reorganization, I came across these little 9-patch blocks that I had made quite a while ago.  I think I’ll keep making them, bit by bit, and eventually put them into a small lap quilt for us.  They’re made with 1″ squares, so each 9-patch block finishes at 3″.  They were all printed with Inklingo as I hand piece them.  Picking up 9 little squares to turn into a 9-patch block is sort of like quilter’s popcorn, a quick stitch and fun to do.  I have two boxes full of the squares to make these, although I think some of them are destined for a postage stamp quilt.

It seems there’s no real solution to the magazine dilemma.  While I have no problem tearing patterns out of some magazines, the Australian magazines are so full of great articles and pictures that I cannot bring myself to do that.  I’m glad I haven’t, as I’ve often found when going through the magazines again that I find a picture or pattern I didn’t give a second glance is now something I really like.  While I rarely ever follow a pattern, preferring to add my own touches, I do get a lot of inspiration from looking through the magazines.  So I’m still floundering about just what to do with the magazines.  The quilting books are a whole other issue!  I know I have quite a few that I’ll likely never use, so am going to cull those over the next while.  There are some that, just like the quilting magazines, I know I’ll keep because they are beautiful books to look through.

Both kitties had windowsill time Monday afternoon.  Lester was playing.

While Smudge was posing.

Chintz Circles

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It rained, on and off, all weekend so getting a shot of the top outside was impossible.  This is the best we could do inside.  If it’s dry enough later today, we’ll try for a better shot outdoors.  One more row to finish, which will add to the width of it, and it’s done!

We went to  Sew Sisters on Friday to pick up the silk batt.  I was hoping to find a wide backing that would be appropriate — thinking my best bet might be a mottled pink or green.  I was thrilled to find a Robyn Pandolph print in a wide backing.  I couldn’t have asked for anything better.

During the weekend, I also reorganized partially done projects.  I’m glad I did that as it reminded me of a few things that  need very little to complete them.  Once my aunt’s quilt is done, I now have a better idea of what I want to work on next.  One project in particular will jump to the head of the queue and be ready to quilt in very little time.

I have quite a collection of Australian Patchwork & Quilting magazines, which is my favourite of the quilt magazines.  Storage of them is something I struggle with.  If I put them in a bookcase, they are going to take up at least 2 shelves, probably more like 3.  I love having them available to leaf through so having them handy is rather nice, but I’m trying to come up with a different idea.  Do you keep all of your favourite magazines and, if so, how do you store them?

Smudge was helping me piece one of the Alabama Beauty blocks Sunday night. He’s often on my lap when I’m stitching.

Lester was watching out the window during the weekend.

Final Row Started

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Row 6 is attached, the first block of the final row is done and the pieces are ready to stitch for the remaining 6 blocks.   The block hasn’t been pressed yet as I wait until all the blocks for a row are completed before pressing.   It was quite windy on Thursday so there was no chance of getting a photo of the top as it now is on the roof garden.  Hopefully that will be accomplished this weekend. I’m thinking of renaming the quilt Chintz Beauties.

The weekend is going to be busy with errands and doing some rearranging.  Bookshelves need straightening up and some furniture rearrangement may be in the plans.

Lester doesn’t much care as long as he has a soft spot to curl up.

While Smudge is only interested in whether it’s treat time.

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.

Wednesday’s Little Blocks

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As the focus now is on my aunt’s quilt, one flower was all that was done to add to the garden.

A few klosjes blocks were added to the collection as well.

On Saturday night, we went to the large grocery store that’s down near the waterfront.  It was still quite warm and humid but the clouds were rolling in, bringing in the rather cool weather we’ve had since.  We got this shot of the skyline from the parking lot of the grocery store.

This is my latest favourite shot of Smudge.  He was very alert as it was getting close to the time for his nightly yogourt treat.

Lester spent a fair amount of time on the windowsill on Tuesday watching the birds.

A Little Machine Stitching & Teddy Bear Story

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That little bag?  I made it.  All by machine.  I still can’t believe it!  I was chortling away to myself as I was making it on Sunday, thrilled to bits that I could actually put this together.   I know it sounds ridiculous but for me to put anything together successfully by machine is a feat.  I didn’t have to rip out anything nor did I have any issues with my sewing machine.  So there’s hope!!

I stumbled across a tutorial for it at p.s. i quilt and was convinced, thanks to the tutorial’s great instructions, that I could do it.  An hour or so later, when the little bag was finished I was thrilled.  Now I think I want to make a few that are somewhat larger.

Three of the smallest teddy bears caught sight of the little bag and wanted to go for an outing to the roof garden.  So in they hopped, and off we went to the roof garden.

Once out there, they were happy to see that my other machine sewing adventure was there waiting for them.

This little quilt was made using a swatch pack and entirely by machine, other than tacking down the binding.  I am less than thrilled with how it turned out as there are places where seams didn’t exactly line up.  But overall, it gave me some confidence to try the little bag and the bears were quite happy to have a quilt to call their own.

While out on the roof garden, they admired some of the flowers in the flower beds.

There are a few quilts I want to make that really make much more sense to make by machine than by hand — ones with lots of HSTs or QSTs.  Getting more experience making small things and gaining some confidence in my ability to do so will help.  I think more sewing machine adventure posts will be showing up as soon as my aunt’s quilt is done.

While this picture of Lester is a bit blurry, I couldn’t resist posting it because it’s such a fabulous shot of his paw.

Once again, on Monday evening the two of them curled up together.  It’s unbelievably cool, probably around 50 after the sun has gone down, so I guess they are enjoying the warmth of being together.

Clamshell Block

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I just couldn’t leave the first block partially finished.  Had to finish the piecing for the sheer fun of it. Now the priority has to be my aunt’s quilt.  I managed to get 2 blocks of it done Sunday night.  Eight blocks to go and the piecing is done.  With any luck, by the middle of next week all the piecing will be done and it will be ready to quilt.

The back of the clamshell block.

This is one of the areas of the roof garden, showing the planting that is done around some of the trees.

It was a funny weekend, quite warm and humid Saturday but by late Saturday night the rain had started and with it came a cold front.  I don’t think we got much higher than 65 on Sunday but the sun was out and it’s going to heat back up by the end of the week.

Lester seems to be more inclined to go curl up with Smudge lately.  Sunday night Smudge was sound asleep with a teddy bear and I watched as Lester marched over, curled up and went right to sleep with him.  Must be because it’s cool.