Tag Archives: Inklingo

Getting Ready to Stitch and Hugo’s Roof Garden Adventure

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Thursday I spent some time prepping all the pieces I need for the remaining Feathered Star blocks for my red and white Sunflower/Feathered Star quilt.   This photo shows the pieces I need for one block.  By the time I finished stitching Thursday night, I had half of the HSTs, diamonds and squares put together that border the kites in the block.  That takes the longest stitching time of any of the elements of the block.  Once that is put together, adding it to the kites and then surrounding the centre Sunflower goes very quickly and then all that’s left is to add the outer setting squares and triangles.  By the time the weekend is over, I hope to have at least one more block completed and a third one started.

Finally, after days of rainy and/or windy and chilly days, Thursday was sunny and Hugo had an adventure on the roof garden.  Here he is walking down the pathway to the garden.

Then he thought the shrubs surrounding the walkway needed investigating.

Inspecting the few lonely flowers that are blooming seemed like a good idea.

The daffodils looked rather interesting, so Hugo decided to get a bit closer.

The tour of the roof garden continued, but suddenly we couldn’t see Hugo.  We looked up to see he had decided to climb a tree.

Why on earth would a hippopotamus climb a tree?  To see the CN Tower, it seems.  It’s hard to see in this photo, but Hugo could see it.

We have a couple of other little adventures planned for Hugo and then it will be time for him to travel on to his next destination.

I pretty much avoided the computer Thursday as my back was still a bit sore.  It’s better as I write this late Thursday night so hopefully I can finally get caught up on replies to comments and blog visiting today.

A close-up of Smudge, which Mr. Q.O. took Thursday  night.

Cake Stand and Ovals in Batiks

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It seems I can’t resist these little cake stand blocks. It’s rather fun making a large and smaller one at the same time.  I’ve decided to make however many blocks I can using 4 or 5 different batiks for each size and then play with the settings.  So I have no set size in mind or layout.  This is just play time for me and I’m loving every second of making these.  I was reminded to change out my needle last night when I realized the needle wasn’t gliding through the fabrics quite as easily and that I had been using the same needle for at least 3 evenings of stitching.  With batiks, that’s just too long.  As soon as I started using a fresh needle, the difference was stunningly evident.

As I had stated I was going to try to do, I managed to get a couple of the batik ovals appliqued as well.  If I can keep adding a few each week eventually I’ll get all the blocks done.

The hearing on Wednesday was nowhere near as long as the day before but it was the third day in a row of uncomfortable chairs at the wrong height and last night my back was aching beyond belief.  I’ve now dubbed them the torture chairs as they’re little better than card table chairs.  I think everyone was relieved yesterday when the hearing was adjourned and they could get up and stretch and get out of there.  The hearing itself is quite interesting, but the chairs make it close to unbearable.

I couldn’t even contemplate sitting at the computer last night or this morning which is why this blog post is so late today.  I usually do my blog post the night before and set it to publish the next morning.  Last night there was no chance of that happening.

Smudge was apparently posing for Mr. Q.O. before I got home yesterday.  I love this profile shot.

Another Pair of Cake Stand Blocks

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These blocks have turned out to be the perfect stitching for evenings when I’m tired. They’re quick and easy to stitch.  Thanks to Wanda‘s comment yesterday, I now have an idea for setting them using the little blocks as cornerstones with sashing around the larger blocks.

They press beautifully.

The neutral I’m using is one of the nicest creams or whites I’ve worked with.  While it has a design to it, it’s not heavily painted on and is easy as can be to needle.  It’s a fabric by Avlyn called “Essential White”.

Tuesday was a long day.  In typical office building fashion, it’s either too warm or too cold.  Tuesday it was too cold.  It was pouring rain when I left Tuesday morning and chilly, so I was chilled before the hearing began.  By the time the hearing adjourned, I thought I’d never feel warm again.  I’m hoping that today we’ll adjourn early.  I’m definitely wearing something warmer today.

Smudge was relaxing with his favourite toy Tuesday evening.

TIny Cake Stand Block

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Looks like I may not get much stitching done this week.  Monday night I was absolutely exhausted, partially because I had barely slept Sunday night for some reason, and got very little done.  This little cake stand block was all I managed to stitch Monday night.  It seems I’m determined to make a small quilt with the 2.5″ blocks.  I decided to use a QST for the triangle at the bottom of the block and am going to use the same cream for all blocks as the neutral.  I’m not sure how many blocks I’ll make, but it’s definitely going to be a tiny teddy bear quilt.

The back:

I’m going to continue making some of the 5″ blocks as well, with a view to making a small baby quilt.   I have an idea for the borders of both the tiny and slightly larger quilt and am planning to piece the borders as I stitch the blocks.  That way when I finish stitching the blocks I should have most of the pieced borders completed.

Monday wasn’t a long day at the hearing, but it appears that today will be as will Wednesday.  So blog posts for the next couple of days are probably going to be rather short.

Smudge was looking at a toy I was holding above his head while Mr. Q.O. got this shot.

Cake Stand Block and Hugo Goes to the Castle

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What possessed me, I have no idea but on the weekend I decided it would be fun to make a 2.5″ cake stand block.  It was actually a lot of fun to stitch.  I printed .50″ and 1.5″ HSTs, a couple of .5 x 1.5″ rectangles and two .50″ squares and the little block practically put itself together.  I used two different Inklingo collections to do so, the HST collection and the .50″ Log Cabin collection.  That’s a penny in the photo, to give an idea of scale.

Then for fun I decided to make a 5″ block using the same fabrics.  Again, it practically put itself together.  The only difference in this one was that I used shapes from the 1″ Log Cabin collection with the larger HSTs.

The two blocks, side by side.

The back of the larger of the two blocks.

After watching so much coverage of the Royal Wedding on Friday, Hugo needed to see a castle so off we went to take him to see Casa Loma.

First he saw part of the stone wall.

Then the castle started to appear.

We rounded the corner and Hugo got his first good glimpse of the castle.

We saw the castle stables.

And then we were right across the street from the castle.  Hugo jumped up on the dashboard and had a good long look!

This is going to be a busy week as I’m acting as registrar at a tribunal hearing all week.  Oh, how I wish I had a smart phone or iPad!  With one, the inevitable long drawn-out recesses would be much more bearable.   I think the next technology buy for me will be one of those two things.

We seem to have found food that Smudge definitely likes and is eating.   That is a huge relief for us and he seems much happier.  Here he was relaxing.  I love the crossed paws pose.

Pickled Ladies Update

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It’s time for the monthly Clamshell Club report.  To see what other members of the Clamshell Club have posted, the links can be found here.

While the projects I’ve been working on lately have, for the most part, taken over, I have been making a few of the Pickled Ladies blocks bit by bit.  Friday I put them all up on the temporary design wall to get a sense of how many more I need to make. With 69 of the blocks done, I’m looking at something that will be approximately 46 x 34.  I want to make this a larger quilt than that, so I’m contemplating doing another 45 or 50 of the blocks and then will start working on the layout as well as making the half pickled clams for the edges and then will think about a border or borders.

When talking to a friend about the Pickled Ladies and why I had not done more, I realized that I had got out of the rhythm of stitching these.  While there is another large project that’s seemingly taken over my stitching time, I’m going to try to get at least half of what I need to finish the main part of the top done by the end of May.  I have a number of the clamshells fussy cut already, so need to make more of the arcs and then put them together.

We found two foods that Smudge seemingly loves.  Friday he ate more on his own than he has in weeks.   Here he was resting after eating.

Storm at Sea & Harpsichord

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One more Storm at Sea block has been completed.  For fun, I put the completed ones up on my temporary design wall.  Obviously I’m going to have to do a lot of arranging of the blocks, when they’re all completed, to get the effect I’m after.  So far, though, I love the look of all those lovely luscious batiks!

Along with completing that one more Storm at Sea block, I made a few more of the Harpsichord blocks.  The row on the far left has been joined, but the other blocks are not.  There are still many blocks to be made for this top, but it feels good to be adding a few more to it weekly again.

One thing I’ve realized about the temporary design wall is that the spot it is in is probably an area of the apartment that has the worst possible lighting.  Some rearranging may have to be done so that the design wall is in an area where there is better lighting available.  Perhaps by a window?

Smudge was playing more with his favourite toy on Thursday, although in this picture he was reclining on the couch.

Fans and Smarties

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The brown for the quarter circle on the fan blocks I showed yesterday wasn’t dark enough.  Wednesday I replaced it with a black fabric on the two I had already done and then went on and stitched two more blocks.  These are addictive to stitch, very quick to stitch and just plain fun.  I think it will be a small quilt and set with plain alternate squares.  I’ll probably make another dozen or so of the blocks and then start playing with the layout.

Karen at Journey of a Quilter has, over the past while, showed a little quilt she made which she calls Confetti.  I was so taken with it that I couldn’t resist making one, which I’m calling Smarties.  I’m using 1″ squares and 1″ 60-degree diamonds.  I only needed to print the 1″ diamonds as there’s a little box full of 1″ squares.  Sometimes when I’m printing fabric for some project or another, I will cut a small piece of that fabric on which to print a few 1″ squares.  Those squares then go into the little box and are there, ready to use, when I get an idea that incorporates 1″ squares.  Up until starting Smarties, I was slowly making 9-patch squares when the mood struck. Eventually I do hope to have a good-sized 9-patch quilt, but it’s my easy stitching project that I turn to when I want to stitch something super simple and so there’s no deadline.

The plan is to make Smarties large enough for a teddy bear quilt, although it’s such fun to stitch that I can imagine making a lap quilt for us.  Smarties presses like a dream.  The back:

It seems that Comcast is blocking e-mails I send.  I’ve contacted our ISP to try to resolve this and a friend who has Comcast as her ISP has contacted Comcast.  Both our ISP and Comcast are saying it’s the other’s problem.  How and when this will get resolved is anyone’s guess.  But in the meantime, replies to comments I’ve sent to those who are on Comcast are probably floating around somewhere never to be seen again.   I’ve figured out a work-around and, as the bounced replies come back, am using it to send out replies.  It’s frustrating trying to deal with something like this, particularly when the providers are doing nothing other than pointing fingers at one another.

Smudge has been playing with his favourite kitty toy, Cappy, a fair bit the past few days.  Wednesday night he was holding on to it while he had a snooze.

Fan Blocks and Here’s Hugo

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Years ago I had cut 3 x 5 inch rectangles of all sorts of Asian prints.  Looking at them now I have no idea what I had in mind when I cut them and, up until a few days ago, really didn’t know quite what to do with them.  Over the past few days an idea kept coming to mind and I finally gave in Tuesday  night.  The rectangles were large enough to get 3 Dresden Plate blades printed on each.  Once that was done, it was no contest — I had to make a couple of test blocks.

I used one of the many blades in the Inklingo Dresden Plate Fancy Pieced collection, the same collection I used to make the Ferris Wheel top.  The blocks went together in next to no time, pressed like a dream and were fun to make.  They finish at 4.5″.  I have no idea how many of these I’ll make but I do know that it will be at least enough for a large wall hanging.

I might change out the quarter circle as I’m thinking that it may need to be a darker fabric, perhaps a black, rather than the brown I’ve used.  I’ll decide that today when I can see the blocks in natural light.

The back of a block:

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We’ve known for a while that Hugo was on his way here.  Tuesday afternoon Harry, our house hippo, was looking out the window wondering, “Where, oh where is Hugo? Will he ever get here?”

And finally, after a long trek from Florida and crossing the border, Hugo arrived late Tuesday afternoon. Harry was thrilled to see another hippo!

We have some fun plans for Hugo’s stay with us and are hoping the rain will stop so that he can have an adventure out on the roof garden.

Hugo was last at Life at LeeHaven, where he was seen in the scrap bin and wearing a fabric hat and had fun.  You can read more about Hugo at House of Cats as well.

Smudge was very, very interested in Hugo.  We were trying hard not to laugh out loud at him sniffing and sniffing Hugo.  Then they settled and Smudge looked like he was ready to have a nap with our little visitor.

Shabby Chic Cabin

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On the weekend I not only did some machine piecing, I was actually doing chain piecing by machine.  That was a big step for me.  I was amazed that, in the space of a few hours, I had 10 log cabin blocks done.   There are 12 blocks finished so far and another 20 or so to make.  So two more afternoons at the sewing machine and I’ll have the blocks finished.  The little blocks finish at 5″ so it won’t be a large quilt but rather a fun small one with a couple of borders.

I’m not sure if this is how I’ll set the blocks or what I’ll do for the borders yet, but this will be a fun little quilt top to finish.  It  has become my learning path on machine piecing.  Not that I think I’ll be doing a ton of machine piecing, but for something like these blocks it’s perfect.  That said, hand piecing is still what I prefer.

Spring is definitely here.  We saw our first robin on the weekend and the temperatures were wonderful.  Saturday and Sunday were both mild and sunny days.

Smudge was relaxing Sunday evening after being syringe fed.  I think we’ve tried pretty well every food on the market and he just doesn’t seem to like any of them, yet  is quite content to be syringe fed.

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