Tag Archives: hand piecing

Little Stars

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While we’re continuing to deal with a kitty who’s not well, I have been doing a bit of stitching in between syringe feeding and the like (if you’re looking for an update on Smudge, scroll down a bit).  Putting the LeMoyne Star blocks together has been a lovely distraction when I’ve had a few minutes to stitch.

Even pressing the blocks feels like fun at the moment.  I think getting them pressed just perfectly gives me a feeling that I’ve got some control over something.

As the sun was going down one day this week, and I can’t even remember which day at this point, it cast a wonderful pink light on the office towers in the area. The one that’s on the other side of the roof garden looked, I think, quite pretty — although I’d rather it was summer and the leaves were out on the trees and I wouldn’t be able to see it.

A couple of the buildings across the street also were turning quite pink.

And here’s Smudge, resting in a kitty bed in between feedings.

Thank you to everyone for your wishes and thoughts for Smudge’s recovery.  We’re by no means out of the woods yet and his appetite is — well, beyond finicky.   He’s finicky at the best of times, let alone when not well.  The cupboard shelf with kitty food has so many different varieties and flavours that we’ve bought in the hopes of finding one that he’ll actually eat on his own that I think we could open a small shop!  He’s on an appetite stimulant and, while he is eating a little bit on his own, I really don’t think it has had the effect the vet was hoping for.  I know there are other appetite stimulants for cats and will bring that up in today’s conversation with the vet.

In the meantime, our goal is to get 250 calories per day into him.  I had never noticed it before, but cat food labels do not show the calorie count.  Thankfully, our vet had the calorie count for some foods and a non-blogging friend found and forwarded to me a chart with all sorts of cat foods and their calorie counts listed.  In order to get enough calories into him, we’re making a slurry out of a tin of food and syringe feeding him in 1 to 1.5 ounce increments throughout the day.

An ounce or ounce and a half may not sound like a lot, but it takes some time.  I am extremely grateful Smudge has the typical Maine Coon temperament.  He lets me give him  his pills, syringe feed him and generally be a pest (which must be what I appear to be from his point of view) without protest or struggle.  I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult this could be with many cats!

He has us waiting on him hand and foot.  He likes baked chicken, but only when it’s just out of the oven warm.  Not warmed up the next day after it’s cooked, mind you. Only out of the oven warm.  So chicken is cooking here at various odd hours of the day and night.

Lester has been enjoying the variety of foods that are suddenly appearing.  He seems to know that Smudge isn’t well and has been periodically going over to wherever Smudge is to check on him.

I’m still basically taking a brief blog break, but thought that I’d pop in with a post — mostly to say thank you to you all.  Although I haven’t responded to comments, I can’t begin to say how much I’ve appreciated each and every one.  Hopefully, I’ll be back with a report sometime next week that Smudge is improving and can then start to visit and comment on blogs too but, for the time being, Smudge’s needs absolutely have to come first.

Pickled Ladies Again

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While I have been working on the pink and cream quilt and playing with the irresistible Storm at Sea blocks, I’ve not been ignoring the Pickled Ladies.  Four more ladies were completed Thursday night and I have a stack of pieces cut and waiting to be stitched for another 15 or 20 of the pieced arcs.

Making the Storm at Sea blocks has taught me something — that I have absolutely no self-control when it comes to stitching those blocks!  Once I had printed the shapes on the third fabric, I just had to make some of the blocks with that fabric.  So now I’m thinking that printing the shapes on the next fabric is something that I will only do when I’ve finished off the pink and cream top and at least another 8 or 10 of the Pickled Ladies.  Otherwise, I just know that I’ll want to drop everything and make a few blocks with that fourth fabric.

At the same time, I’m trying not to start another Winding Ways quilt.  I’ve wanted to make another since I made this wallhanging back in February and have ideas on my “want to make” list.  But lately, Wanda at Exuberant Color has been showing the Winding Ways quilts she has been making and it’s very, very hard to resist!

Lester was lounging on the loveseat Thursday night.

While Smudge was snoozing on the couch.

A Few More Klosjes

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When I started to write this blog post I was thinking, “Just a few more of these tiny blocks and I’ll have 125 or so of them and I’ll be done.”  Then I had a good look at the picture and realized just how much I really do like these little blocks.  So now I’m thinking that perhaps I should print some more shapes on another couple of charm packs.  I hadn’t stitched any klosjes for a few months, but when I was sorting out projects I realized how few I had left ready to stitch and thought it was time to decide whether I’ll make more or make a small doll or teddy bear quilt.

I’ve been working on the cream and pink quilt but, as my hands have been acting up again, I may not get the top finished as quickly as I had hoped.  Blog posts may be rather sparse with more pictures than words over the balance of the week as I want to try to limit the amount of time I spend using the keyboard.

Smudge was curled up on the couch Tuesday evening having a snooze.

Lester looking like he had just woken up.

Stormy Seas

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Block 4 is done.  I couldn’t resist.  My goal right now is just to get all the shapes printed on the 11 fabrics I’ve chosen but, as I had printed out the shapes on the third fabric, I just had to make one block.  If I keep doing this as I start printing the other fabrics, it’s going to take days to get al the shapes printed.  I love the movement in these blocks and am flirting with the idea of making 3 or 4 Pickled Ladies and then doing one Stormy Seas block.

I’m so close to having the setting blocks and the elements for the pieced border of the big pink star quilt, also known as the pink and cream quilt, done that I really want to try to stay focused, which is why I think I shall not print any more of the Storm at Sea pieces until that is complete.  If I stay focused, which is questionable — okay, doubtful — no, impossible, I may very well have everything done to put the top together before the end of the month.

Smudge was caught in one of his almost headless cat poses on the weekend.

I couldn’t resist this shot of Lester, even though it’s a tad blurry.  It’s blurry because we caught him just as he was about to clean his paw.

Fussy Cutting/Printing – Lots of Photos

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There have been a few questions about how I fussy cut and print the florals for the Pickled Lady blocks so I thought a short tutorial might be the best way to describe the method I use.   Lester is watching rather intently.

When I decided to make the Pickled Lady blocks, the first thing I did was print one of the clam shapes on a piece of plain paper which I had cut to the size I would be using.  Once that was done, the interior of the shape was cut out along the stitching line and I had my window template.

I identified a few flowers on this piece of fabric that were going to be perfect for fussy cutting.  Once that’s done, I start looking for one of the flowers that’s near the edge of the fabric.

This is where the window template comes into play.  Once I’ve found a flower that I want to fussy cut, I place the window template over it and move it around until the flower is in the centre of the clamshell.

If you look closely at this shot, you’ll see that I’ve got the quarter-inch line on the ruler placed on the printed ruler line on the paper.  When I cut out my window template, I cut off about an eighth of an inch along two of the edges of the paper so that I could use the printed ruler line on the paper to line up with rather than trying to line up the edge of the ruler with the edge of the paper.

Here I’ve cut along two sides of the fabric, once again using the quarter-inch line on the ruler lined up on the printed line on the fabric.  The printed line is directly above the cutting line of the shape and that gives me the perfect placement when it comes to ironing the fabric on to freezer paper and getting it ready to print.

The selvedge is still attached.  I leave it on when I’m fussy cutting as sometimes there will be a flower at an edge that I want to use and I will need a sliver of it to have a large enough piece to iron on to the freezer paper.  I know it will be cut away once the shape is printed, so I don’t worry about it.  In this case, the majority of the selvedge will be cut away even before pressing it to the freezer paper.

Once I’ve cut the top and right side, I remove the window template and cut the bottom and left side of the fabric piece.  At that point, all I need to know is the size of freezer paper I’m using to cut the fabric to the right shape.  Then it’s simply a matter of pressing it on to the freezer paper and printing my shape.  Here you can see that while the selvedge was still attached, once I cut out my shape there will be none of it left.

Once that’s done, it takes only a minute to cut the shape out and then start stitching.  Smudge hopes you found this as relaxing as he did.  In fact, he was unimpressed when the printer started as I think it woke him up.

A bit of stitching and a  few minutes later, I had a Pickled Lady block finished to add to the stack.

The back.

Stormy Seas

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Putting together the second block was irresistible.. The third block is almost finished as well, but not quite.  Each block has been a learning experience as I sort out a piecing sequence that works the best for me.  My plan for the quilt requires 110 of these blocks, so I’ve got a long way to go.  My goal for this week is to get all the shapes printed on the various fabrics and then get the pieces for each block put into an envelope, ready to stitch.

We apparently have a big low pressure system coming in with lots of rain starting today.  Yesterday I got a migraine that put paid to doing much of anything, including replying to blog comments.  I’m hoping that as today wears on and the rain starts, the headache will lift and I can do a few things including responding to comments.

The cats were pretty laid back on Monday, except at treats time.  We found a kitty treat that’s made with ingredients that aren’t kitty junk food.  Late last week Smudge began behaving like a finicky cat and had been turning his nose up at their food, so we hit the pet store on the weekend to buy a few different types and flavours.  So far we’ve found a couple that he likes and the kitty treats. They learned the sound of the treats bag incredibly quickly — and now as soon as one of us picks it up, they’re right there.  They can appear to be sound asleep, but the sound of that little bag being opened works better than any alarm clock could.

We didn’t get any pictures of them on Monday, so these are a couple of my favourites.  First Smudge:

And Lester:

Very Little Stitching

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That’s what has been going on around here lately — very little stitching.  Lots of printing and cutting, though.  And one pickled lady to add to the mix, but that’s about all there is to show.  It seems like November is prep month.   Made myself laugh thinking about it, but it’s as though I’m getting ready to hibernate for the winter and want all the preparation work done so that I have lots and lots of pieces printed, cut and ready to stitch.

One of the things I’ve been working on  is printing the Storm at Sea shapes.  It’s a good thing that the initial idea of going with the 4 batiks got changed to using 11 fabrics as I found one of the original four has a flaw that runs the entire length of the piece.  There’s an area that’s about half an inch wide that has less than half the thread count of the rest of the batik.  I’ve had the batik now for months and wouldn’t even contemplate taking it back, so I’ve cut the fabric to get rid of the flaw, but it’s possibly going to make it tricky to get the number of shapes I want from that particular fabric.  Seems like my Storm at Sea quilt is undergoing some changes yet again.

There’s a group of florals that need to be fussy cut/printed for more Pickled Ladies. Two more of the large pink stars are done for a total of five finished, so there’s only one left to piece and then printing the shapes for the small pieced cornerstone blocks. More preparation work.

The weekend paper comes with lots of catalogues from various stores, particularly at this time of year.  I had been looking at them while Smudge was curled up at the other end of the couch when Lester decided to join us.  He wanted attention so made sure that the catalogues weren’t accessible.

I’m not sure that Smudge was all that thrilled about having Lester’s tail draped over his.

Stormy Seas

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Working with the batiks proved to be irresistible so shapes were printed on two of the fabrics.   I actually have the individual units for a block stitched but not yet pressed or stitched together into the block.

This little pile of pieces is all I need for the next block.

The Stormy Seas quilt will be a long-term project as I plan to make it large enough for a king-size bed  and will be using 9″ blocks.  There’s a lot of stitching ahead of me on this one, but I have no deadline so can just enjoy the making of the blocks over the next year or so.

One of the other projects that is likely to get started on sometime in the next month or so will be made with these charm packs and the one larger piece of fabric from that line.  I have  a few ideas in mind for this one.

It has been amazingly mild this week.  The mornings are a bit chilly, but as the day wears on we are hitting temperatures in the 50s.  The other day, Mr. Q.O. got this photo of one of the trees at the front of our building.

Each week new floral arrangements are placed on pedestals in the lobby.

Smudge and Lester look so sweet in this shot — but don’t be fooled.  Lester was wanting to curl up in the pink chair and was hoping Smudge would move.

Project Preparation

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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.

While Lester likes to watch out the window from the safety of his own home.

Stormy Seas

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Back in March, when the Inklingo Storm at Sea collections came out, I made this block and had a plan for a quilt using these 4 fabrics.

Why I’ll never know, but I didn’t sketch out my idea or make any notes about it. But, wanting to get the fabric cut and ready to print on the weekend, I sat down Saturday afternoon and tried to remember what I had in mind when I purchased the initial 4 fabrics.  I spent ages trying to sort out just what that plan was but finally realized that, whatever that initial idea was, it’s not going to happen.  Whatever it was I had in mind, I certainly didn’t buy enough of 2 of the batiks.  So I spent hours working on two different ideas, sorting out just how much of each fabric was needed for both those design ideas.  By Saturday evening, it was down to the point of calculating if I had enough square yardage of each fabric — and it went on and on. So instead of playing with needle and thread, I was working out fabric requirements with the calculator.

The pieces of paper headed “Monkey’s Inklingo Cheat Sheet” are invaluable when working out a quilt design and come with each collection as well as are available to download at the Inklingo Web site.  Once I get my design sorted out, I can make a note of exactly what size of fabric/freezer paper I need for each shape/each colour and am off to the races.  I use the cheat sheets all the time and keep them filed in an accordion folder with my freezer paper.  The four cheat sheets seen here, however, are destined for the recycling bin as neither idea is going to fly.

When I finally realized that neither idea would work with the initial 4 fabrics alone, I gave up for the evening.  On Sunday afternoon, I started going through batiks and pulled out some other blues and a green.  Now I know exactly what I’m going to do with these 11 fabrics and, with any luck, will have all the shapes I need for the stormy seas blocks printed sometime this week.  The only decision left to be made now is just how large I want to make the Storm at Sea quilt.  Once that’s decided I can have my cheat sheet filled out in no time.

We were about to go out somewhere on the weekend, and I had left my purse on the couch for a minute.  I think this look says Smudge was hoping we were off to the pet store for kitty food and toys.

Lester was having some quiet time on the windowsill, although there isn’t much activity now for him to watch other than flying leaves.