Tag Archives: Inklingo

Scrappy Star, Round Three

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While other projects have jumped to the front of the queue, Scrappy Star is not being neglected. Each round takes a bit longer but I’m finding that adding the next round of diamonds and squares only takes a couple of evenings of stitching. It’s fun to see it grow as each round is added and is about 19.5″ now.

When hand piecing, I often leave pressing until a block is finished. Not with this one. It only takes a minute to press after each round is added. That way, when I add the final round, it won’t take long to press it.

Edited to add:  The diamonds are 2.44″ from tip to tip and the squares are 1.32″.  I  used the free Inklingo collection to print the shapes on my fabric.

Baxter lost/hid Cappy, his favourite toy, for a while on Wednesday. After looking under every piece of furniture and behind closet and cupboard doors, Cappy was finally found in the very last place I thought to look. He has refined his game with it to the point that he drops it at my feet and meows so that I look down. When he finally decided to have a rest, he made sure Cappy was close by.

Sky Quilt

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Last week I spent some time going through the various partially completed projects. Some of them have been relegated to the closet for now. Others have been bumped up the list to be finished. The Sky Quilt is one of those that’s going to be worked on now. This picture is of the rainbow that will be, I think, in the middle of the quilt. Another few rows of diamonds will be added in purples and blues and that part will be done.

These four blocks will be in the corners of the quilt. I remember they struck me as being sunset and sunrise colours, which is what gave me the idea of calling it the Sky Quilt.

The pieces I need to finish the rainbow were ready and waiting, so I’ve started adding the final few rows to it and will hopefully have the top finished within a couple of weeks. The fabric I had selected for the background was easily located and is washed and ready to go.

The best part of revisiting the older projects? Once I had them out and up on the temporary design wall, I almost immediately had ideas for finishing a few. There are three of these projects that will be turned into quilt tops relatively quickly.

Baxter has a new trick.  He brings us his favourite toy, drops it at our feet and waits for us to throw it for him. First he has to rest up and be ready for some serious play time.

Drunkard’s Path Variation

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The blocks for this have been done for ages and were sitting, waiting to be put into a top. Part of the reason for the delay was that I wasn’t quite sure how I’d finish it. Now I know. Without the border, it’s 36 x 42. It’s completely hand pieced.

Last week, 6 new Inklingo collections were released with new sizes of the Drunkard’s Path shapes, ranging from 2″ to 7″, along with an absolutely fabulous Drunkard’s Path Free Design Book.  The book is wonderful and, for the moment, free to download. It’s full of tips and tricks for both hand and machine stitching Drunkard’s Path blocks as well as tons of layouts.

The new sizes gave me a completely different idea than I initially had for the border I’ll add to make it into a lap quilt. The top was made with shapes from the 3″ collection. I’ll be using shapes from the 6″ collection to make the pieced border. The fabrics for the border are ready and washed and now I just need to find one of them. I’ve obviously tucked it away too well, but I think I have an idea where it is.

Baxter is growing in leaps and bounds — and is leaping and bounding around here too as the kitten antics go on daily.  We were fortunate to get this shot of him awake and still.

Scrappy Star Is Growing

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It’s getting bigger with each round of squares and diamonds. And it’s taking longer to add each round. I’m still deciding whether to make it a one-block quilt or whether I’ll make 4 or 6 of these blocks. Once I get this first block to a larger size, I’ll make that decision.

Once again, it pressed easily.

Baxter was peering over the arm of the chair as I was stitching. Within a few seconds, he would be on my lap attacking the fabric pieces.

More Scrappy Star

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The next round of diamonds is added. As each round of diamonds or squares is added, it grows and is taking a bit longer to stitch. The squares for the next round are waiting to be added and then I’ll have to sit down and figure out which fabrics to use in the following diamond round as I’m trying to not have the same fabrics too close together.

It took no time to press after adding this round.

Baxter was a bit sleepy, I think, when this photo was taken. It appears that we have another kitty with odd drinking habits. It’s hard to describe. He lays down on his side beside the water bowl, with his back to the bowl, and then reaches his head over his shoulder and drinks. When he finishes, the back of his neck and one side of his head is soaking wet. We’re going to try to get video of him drinking like that as it’s much funnier to see than to read about it.

Scrappy Star Beginning

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Mr. Q.O. was quite taken with the little quilt seen here, and dropped some hints, so I’ve started a lap quilt for him. This is the beginning of one of the blocks. It’s a fun and easy stitch, which is exactly what I want right now. At this stage, it’s approximately 10.75″. I plan on adding more rounds of squares and diamonds to this block. Then I’ll decide on the rest of the design.

I’m pressing with the iron after adding each round of squares and diamonds. I finger press as I go, so it takes only a few seconds with the iron and the pressing is done.

Baxter was 4 months old yesterday. It seems like yesterday that we brought him home. Now that he has discovered Cappy, he likes to keep it close. So close, in fact, that he sleeps on it.

Stormy Seas

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This is my current favourite of the Stormy Seas blocks that I’m making using one of the Inklingo Storm at Sea collections. It has been months since I’ve worked on these, but now that I’ve started again I don’t want to stop as I’ve found a stitching sequence that is relatively quick for me.

They are hand pieced, so far, but I’m contemplating trying a block by machine or at least parts of a block.  I think I might be tempted to put the units together by machine and then stitch them into the block by hand. I printed a few more a lot more shapes than I need for the quilt so I think I’ll give at least one block a try by machine and see how well I do with that. An idea for a second quilt using the extra shapes is already forming in my mind. I’m rather excited about this idea, so am hoping to get started on it as soon as I get the Stormy Seas blocks finished.

This block has one of my favourite fabrics in it, the green/blue batik.

One of the big benefits of using batiks is that they press so easily.

And yes, Stormy Seas is another quilt in a box. Every block is kitted in its own separate glassine envelope, ready to stitch. Even the various threads for piecing are in this box.

It’s either ragweed starting or I’m fighting a summer cold. Tuesday was one of the most unproductive days I’ve had in ages as doing much of anything seemed like a monumental task.

Baxter seems to think the camera is only for taking photos of him. The minute we’re setting up to take photos of anything, he is right there posing.

Black and White

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Stars, that is. They’re tiny star blocks, finishing at 2.25″ x 2.5″. The pieces are small, so the block is quick to stitch. I put these two blocks together in less than 45 minutes. Each seam is one needle load of stitches and it’s done. I think I may incorporate one red or gold star in the top at some point, just to have one splash of colour in the midst of the black and white.

They press like a dream. I finger press as I go, so it’s just a matter of one quick press and it’s done.

There are enough pieces in the envelopes in this box for quite a few of the black and white stars. On the weekend, I was talking to a friend about the number of boxes like this that I have with envelopes containing shapes ready to stitch. While there are a lot of them, each one contains the making of at least a small quilt and it’s great to have such choices, particularly when I’ve been working on a complex project and just want an easy stitch for an hour or so. I think of these as my quilt in a box projects. Over the next couple of posts I may be showing some of the other boxes.

A few years ago I really recognized the value of such quilt in a box projects when I had the flu. While I wasn’t too sick to stitch, cutting or printing my shapes would have been too much. Instead I was able to choose a project that was already kitted and just stitch.

Baxter has been spending more and more time on the windowsill. He is clearly enjoying Baxter TV. His tail is really starting to look like a classic Maine Coon plume of a tail and he has discovered that chasing it is fun.

A Little Quilt

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This little top will be quilted and, with any luck, the binding on this weekend. Working with these repro fabrics in the small star blocks was fun. I may add a small border before I baste and quilt it.  As it is now, it finishes at 13.5″. I used the free Inklingo collection to print the shapes and the blocks went together in no time at all.

There’s enough of the striped fabric I showed yesterday for the binding on the Ferris Wheels quilt. Now I really can’t wait to finish the quilting and get to the binding. There’s still a lot of quilting to be done on Ferris Wheels, but I hope to get the majority, if not all, of it finished this weekend and get the binding on it.

I’ve changed my blog theme yet again. This time it was because I only realized yesterday that the widgets in the sidebar weren’t appearing on individual posts, but only on the home page with the theme I was using. I think this will be it for changes for a while.

Baxter seems to approve of the little quilt. As soon as we’re setting up to take a photo of anything to do with quilts or fabric, he’s right there to inspect.

Earlier in the day, we got this shot of him. His paws are getting bigger every day.

Ferris Wheel Quilting Begun

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Quilting the Ferris Wheel quilt was one of the things I had hoped to start on the weekend. While that didn’t happen, I did get a start on it yesterday. I’m using a silk batt again and love how easy it makes it to manipulate the quilt sandwich when machine quilting.

Truth be told, I have to get Ferris Wheel quilted as I need the safety pins to baste the next one. I’m going to ask a friend if I can use her living room floor to baste as I have a feeling Baxter would be a bit too much help, particularly with his determination to chew fabric given the chance.

I’m hoping to get Ferris Wheel done by the end of the week. The fabric for the binding is picked out. It’s a great striped fabric, so I’m going to make bias binding as I love the effect of striped fabric in a bias binding.

I use a laptop for work and keep the wireless keyboard down beside my desk when I’m not working. Baxter likes to hang out under my desk and on Tuesday we got this shot of him draped over the keyboard. He seems to be very attracted to technology as well as quilting. When I’m printing something, he has to get as close as he can to watch the paper.

An extra shot of Baxter, because it shows off his amazing whiskers!