Stitching Progress

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Quiltobsession

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.

Charms

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Quiltobsession

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.

Project Preparation

Posted on November 9, 2010 by Quiltobsession

When the Rouenneries line of fabrics came out, I fell in love with it and bought some charm packs and a bit of yardage. Initially, I printed the shapes for Drunkard’s Path units on 2 of the charm packs. At that point, I wasn’t sure how big I wanted to make this but now, as I look at the blocks, I’ve decided to print the remaining charms and continue making these blocks.

The deciding factor was that I’d rather have a quilt in a size that’s useful than a couple of wall hangings. So the printing of the remaining charms is on my list for this week’s preparation day, whatever day that ends up being. It also is the first of a few charm pack projects I want to work on over the next few months. I have a number of charm packs and have set a goal for myself of coming up with some design ideas.

I rather like this routine I seem to be falling into of setting aside one or two days a week to plan and print shapes for a variety of projects. On that note, after I decided to use additional fabrics for the Storm at Sea blocks and figured out the layout I’ll use, I had my new cheat sheet filled out in about 5 minutes. Now all that’s required is cutting the fabric to the appropriate size and printing. Another on the list for this week’s preparation day or days.

On Friday evening, we decided to go over to the local deli for dinner. As we walked down to the sidewalk, we saw flashing lights, ambulances, fire trucks and then we saw a car that was literally hanging from the side of another car at a 45-degree angle. For a fleeting second, I thought perhaps there was filming going on in the area, which isn’t unusual, as it was such a bizarre sight. It was difficult to believe what we were seeing was real. After we came back from the deli, the cars had been separated and a definite crease could be seen all up the side of the one car where the other had seemingly driven up it. It appeared as though a driver exiting from an underground parking garage and making a right turn was struck by the second car’s right front wheel on its left rear wheel and the momentum caused the second car to ride up on top of the first. I can’t imagine how frightening that must have been for the driver of the first vehicle. The good part to the story is that no one was injured, but I can only imagine the damage that was done to both cars. Mr. Q.O. took a photo with his phone, but we haven’t quite figured out how to get the picture from the phone to his computer.

Neither Smudge or Lester like being in cars. Smudge would rather curl up and have a nap with some soft friends.