Tag Archives: cats

Flowers for the Garden

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The pretty little box was loaded with all that’s necessary to make some flowers for the garden and three flowers were made on Wednesday.

This will be a small quilt — perhaps a little doll’s or teddy bear’s quilt.   I think there will be about 10 flowers, or perhaps even less, in total for this one.  These are 1″ hexagons and they seem enormous in comparison to the .50″ ones I was working with last week.

The backs:

To see flowers made by other hexagon gardeners on One Flower Wednesday, go to Karen’s blog and on her sidebar you will see the names of the gardeners with links to their blogs.

I’ve been looking through the Japanese hexagon book again and, among other quilts that catch my eye, this one really interests me because of the quilting design used in the flowers.  It’s very pretty and very effective.  I think if you click on the picture to enlarge it, you’ll be able to see it.

One of the trees on the roof garden, and I have no idea what type of tree it is, has these little pink buds on it.  I don’t remember ever noticing it flowering before so have no idea what these will turn into.

Lester once again showing why we think of him as the house lion.

While Smudge was having an after-dinner nap.

Getting Ready for One Flower Wednesday

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Last week, I won this beautiful notions box designed and painted by Kaaren at The Painted Quilt.  The shading of the flowers and leaves is fabulous — I hope it’s as evident in this close-up picture as it actually is.  The little butterfly at one corner is such a wonderful touch.

The inside is pretty too.

The colours couldn’t be more perfect.  The shade of pink of the exterior is maybe one or two shades lighter than the walls in the living room.  The inside is almost the same shade as the green in the side drapes and the lining of those drapes.  What could possibly be better than a dusty rose and green? Even the beads Kaaren used to make the handle are incredible.

It truly is a treasure and one that I will make great use of and treasure.  In fact, I plan on keeping my hexagons and threads for One Flower Wednesdays in it!  Speaking of which, I’ll fill it up later today and stitch a flower or two.

It was unbelievably chilly here on Tuesday and windy again.  I think March was warmer than the past couple of days have been.  However, we got a few more shots out on the roof garden on Monday.  From the west side of the roof garden, we can see the CN Tower.

There are two crab apple trees on the roof garden.   When the gardeners start planting, the flower bed surrounding this one is a riot of beautiful flowers.

Lester showing, once again, why we think of him as our house lion.

I think Smudge was just waking up when we took this shot.

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.

One Klosjes …

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… block was all I got done last week.  I’m thinking now that I will finish making the ones I’ve got prepped, then assess and decide whether to make a wall hanging from those or if I’ll keep making them.

The back:

The weekend was productive as I got the next 4 Alabama Beauty blocks stitched into a row, and that row joined to the first 4 rows.  I’ll post a picture as soon as we can get one out on the roof garden on a dry, non-windy day.  Sunday  night I selected the fabrics for the next row of the blocks..

Exciting news to me is that there’s going to be an Inklingo Pickle Dish collection.  One of my quilting goals is to have a red and white quilt and I’m playing with the idea of making a red and white Pickle Dish.   More wonderful curved piecing.  I can’t wait!  Linda announced it here, on her blog, on Sunday.

We were playing with the macro setting on the camera and took this shot of the condensation bubbles on a coffee cup.  For some reason, this shot just fascinates me.

It was a rainy overcast weekend.  Sunday afternoon two robins were sitting on the tree branch right in front of the living room window.  I knew we had some robins out on the roof garden as I’ve heard them, but hadn’t seen them until Sunday.  I wasn’t quick enough to get a photo of them.

The cats got in some serious relaxation time.  Smudge in one of his endless upside down poses.

While Lester was a bit more alert, but only momentarily.

Farmer’s Delight Blocks

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These blocks have been languishing since I got started on Spring Circles, but are about to get worked on again.  I had planned to make 12 of these blocks and have the fabrics for the remaining 6 blocks cut and ready to print.  So this weekend, the shapes shall be printed and then I will start working on these again as well as focusing on the Spring Circles.  I’m playing with the idea of a pieced sashing for these, but will make that decision when I get the remaining 6 blocks completed.

While we were out on the roof garden taking pictures of quilt blocks, we got this shot of the two condominium towers going up across the street.  There are so many condominium high-rise towers in this area that sometimes it feels like we live in an absolute concrete jungle.  That’s one of the reasons I’m so grateful for the roof garden and that we face on to it with a tree in front of our living room window.  Once the leaves on the tree have come out we barely notice all the concrete that surrounds us.

It was a gloriously sunny day on Thursday, although somewhat cool in the morning.  Lester was in his usual spot by the window.

While Smudge was posing for the camera, as usual.

One Flower Wednesday … on Thursday

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These little flowers are so fast to put together that I couldn’t resist making 4 of them.  My idea for a quilt using these is changing quite a bit though.  I may be putting these in a quilt of their own rather than with the blossoms seen here.

The backs:

Do you want to see more hexagon flowers being done for One Flower Wednesday?  Karen, the hostess of One Flower Wednesday, is making them as seen here.  Danielle,  Ann,  Sandra and Valentina are all adding flowers to their gardens as well.

Tuesday night I spent some time looking through this book before I fell asleep and, of course, woke up Wednesday morning with all sorts of ideas.  Although the instructions are written in Japanese, it really doesn’t matter as there are tons of illustrations.

There are a number of super hexagon quilts in the book. This is one of my favourites:

Although this picture doesn’t quite show it, at one point Wednesday afternoon the sky got quite stormy looking.  I thought we might have had our first thunderstorm of the season, but we had only a brief downpour of rain.  I just realized we didn’t even have thunder snow last winter so it has been ages since we’ve had a storm.  As evident from the picture, the leaves on the tree are just starting to open.

Lester was at his normal post for this time of year — on the windowsill.

While Smudge seemingly decided it was a great day to laze about.  He always makes me laugh when he stretches out like this.

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.

Finding the Right Pattern

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This fabric has been in my stash for ages.  I love it and constantly look at it, thinking about what I want to make with it but just as constantly come up with no idea that seems quite right.  I’ve made a few blocks here and there that incorporate some of it, but nothing that has struck me as being the right idea for a quilt featuring this fabric.  The picture is of a piece that’s  about 8.5″ x 8.75″, to give you an idea of the scale.

Perhaps because it’s spring and everything is getting so beautifully green with flowers soon to follow that I’m once again drawn to this fabric and wanting to make something special with it.  I used a bit of it in a few 12″ blocks of a Drunkard’s Path variation.

While I like that, it’s not quite what I’m looking for.  Any ideas on what would be a good block to really showcase this fabric?  Maybe it needs to be paired with a white on white fabric.  Perhaps a Dresden Plate variation?  Perhaps an Improved 9-Patch block?

I got another row of Spring Circles added to the first quadrant, but it was too windy on the roof garden on Monday to dare try to take a picture out there.  One of the things we’re going to do in May is reorganize and try to find a spot for a proper design wall.  That would definitely help when needing to take pictures of something like Spring Circles.  Hopefully today we’ll be able to take a picture of it out there.

We got some great shots of Lester on Monday.  This is one.

Smudge relaxing with his paws stretched out.

Five Little Klosjes

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… were made last week.  So now there are 87.  Who knows how many more I’ll make.  All I know is that Sunday I grabbed a few more charms to print with the squares and half hexagons to make more.  I think I’ve got about another 35 or 40 of them prepped, ready to stitch now.

Charm packs seem to hold an endless fascination for me.  Perhaps it’s having a bit of every fabric in a line that I can mix and match with other fabrics.  I do tend to totally mix them up and am doing that with the klosjes.  There’s no rhyme or reason to my fabric choices for these.

We had a pretty quiet weekend.  I woke up Saturday feeling almost like I had a flu, but I think it’s just allergies.  The headache is horrible.  It just will not go away.  While it was a quiet weekend, I had lots of time to think through a few projects in my ideas book.

It was sunny but a bit chilly on the weekend.  The cats were cozy.  Lester in a kitty bed.

And Smudge on the couch.

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.