Tag Archives: miscellaneous

How to Mark a Quilt Top?

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Along with planning how I’ll quilt the pink and cream top, I’m pondering how to mark the quilting lines.  There will be cables and probably some feathers, the stencils are handy.  But, as the background is a solid cream, the Pounce white powder obviously won’t show up and I’ve read that the blue powder sometimes doesn’t come out.

Pencils are out — too many times I’ve read about pencil marks not coming out without practically rubbing a hole in the fabric.  The vanishing pens or wash-out pens?  Again, I’ve read some not-great reviews about those.

I’ve used the chalk pencils in the past and will probably use these again but, as it has been a while since I’ve thought about this,  I’m wondering what do you use?  Is there some new tool for marking that absolutely comes out easily without affecting the fabric?  What do you use?

Pretty Fabrics

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While I know I’ll probably add to and subtract from this group of fabrics, I like the look of these for something.  What exactly, I’m not sure, but they’re staying together when they’re put away.  There’s a wonderful paisley fabric in that group that I know will be great for some fussy cutting.

What have I been doing?  Not much to show at the moment as I’ve been making more of the cream hexagon frames for the POTC blocks, spent a bit of time sorting out just how large I’ll make the Summer Picnic Dish and then figured out what I still need to print in order to make it the size I’ve decided upon, decided on two borders for a quilt top that I haven’t shown yet, and spent a bit of time working through another EQ lesson — on Tuesday, that is.  Wednesday was a bit of a write-off.

While I’m going to print all the pieces I need for the Summer Picnic Dish, I’m going to concentrate on making the arc/melon combinations and then, once those are done, start putting the top together.  I”m going to have to use a few different white on white fabrics as I don’t have anywhere near enough of the one I started with but I’m not stressed about that.

While we aren’t getting the snow that New York got, I had a migraine that just wouldn’t quit on Wednesday from that storm.  Didn’t stop me from stitching, but sure stopped me from dealing with anything on the computer.

I’m not sure what Lester was looking at when this picture was taken.  Probably a kitty toy on the floor.

Smudge has been playing more with toys over the past couple of days and his appetite is definitely on the increase.  We’re still syringe feeding, and likely will be for at least another month, but I think there’s progress.

Reading and More Reading

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One of my favourite things to do is read.  Over the past year or so, I’ve found it more and more difficult to hold books of any size let alone huge ones like Ken Follett’s World Without End.  I finished Pillars of the Earth and wanted to read World Without End but the weight of it caused my wrists to start aching within minutes.  The one gift I really was hoping for this year was an eReader so I was thrilled to open the Kobo eReader.  The first book I got was the new Follett, Fall of Giants.

After about the first 10 pages, I was used to the page turning speed and wasn’t finding it a deterrent at all.  I’d read quite a few reviews and that seemed to be the biggest drawback but the new wireless Kobo is quick enough for me.  As it means I can read as much as I want without wrist pain I’m hoping that translates into fewer issues with my wrists.

Quite a bit more got added to the baby quilt Monday night and I’m on schedule to get the piecing finished by week’s end.  I may even have it finished other than the outer pieces by the time today is over.

Do you make a list of quilt goals for the new year?  I thought about doing that but realized, for me, it’s destined to be unsuccessful.  What I am going to try to do is set aside some small items that I make throughout the year into what I’m thinking of as the Christmas box and have them all done by the end of the summer.  This year I got nothing done for Christmas that I had hoped to do because, as usual, I had left everything to the end of the year.

Smudge was curled up with some friends on the couch.

Lester was caught relaxing on the couch.

Cats & Christmas Trees

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A non-blogging friend sent me a link to this little animation yesterday and it made me laugh.  Many years ago, the night I decorated the Christmas tree I was woken by an enormous crash.  When I ran into the living room, I found the tree on its side, numerous broken ornaments and a huge mess.  The cat I had then had crawled up inside the tree and had managed to pull it over.  I’ve never had a large tree since. Small trees that can be put on a table or the piano, out of kitty reach, seem like a much safer alternative.  That said, we haven’t even got close to putting up a tree yet.  Maybe this weekend.

No stitching happened on Tuesday.   My wrist is feeling marginally better, so I’m sort of hoping that I can maybe take a stitch or two this evening.   I’ve got to be careful though, and may just have to accept that I can’t do too much for another few days.

Smudge is less jaundiced and has put on another third of a pound.  It’s pretty clear now that we’ll be syringe feeding him for the next couple of months.  The vet was pleased with his progress, and we go back again next Tuesday for another antibiotic shot, weigh-in and so that they can check his colour.  He was relaxing Tuesday night, in true Smudge fashion.

Lester has been staying cozy and warm in a kitty bed.

Small Scraps and Basting Quilts

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Yesterday I spent a little time and managed to cut exactly what I needed from the batik that had the flaw running through it.  These small pieces are all that was left over.   I knew it was going to be awfully tight, so I cut all the freezer paper sheets I needed first and then laid them out on the remaining pieces of the batik to ensure there was enough.  Now all that’s left to do is print.

These tiny (an inch from tip to tip) little star-shaped scraps are from cutting out the HSTs.  I can’t bring myself to throw them away and am thinking of using them to decorate cards.  I have a small box that’s chock full of odd little shapes like these from cutting.  I’m also tempted to get a piece of silk and just start playing with adding the shapes on to it for fun.

One of the jobs I dislike most is pin-basting quilts for machine quilting.  Doing up those safety pins is tedious, painful and just plain not fun.  I read somewhere, and I can’t remember where, about these things called Pinmoors.  I’m intrigued by the idea.  I watched the video at the Pinmoors Web site and it certainly looks simpler than using safety pins.  Have any of you tried these?  What do you think?

Scrap Bin

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Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been looking at these scraps of Oriental fabrics and trying to figure out what I can make with them.  The first picture shows a variety of sizes, ranging from 3 x 5 to 2.75 x 6 and 5″ squares.  The second picture is nothing but 3 x 5 rectangles.  Lots of them.  The 5″ squares I’ve got an idea for but the rectangles?  The ideas for those seem to be far and few between so far.  Any suggestions?

About two more hours of stitching and the last of the pink big and cream stars will be finished.  Then it’s a matter of stitching the smaller setting blocks and putting the top together, which I anticipate won’t take long.  The third Stormy Seas block was completed as well.   Shapes for at least a dozen of the arcs for the Pickled Ladies were cut out and are ready to stitch.  November really has been a prep month for me, it seems.

The rain began, but the migraine lingers.  While I was able to take Tuesday off, today I’ve got to manage to get through some work.  Once again, I’m way behind on responding to comments and visiting blogs.

Smudge was lounging on the couch.

While Lester was stretched out on the floor.

What Is Inklingo?

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Watching this little video made me laugh out loud — it’s the perfect antidote for a grey November day and maybe it helps explain the stacks of freezer paper I have cut in so many sizes.  Do turn your speakers on as the music absolutely makes the video a laugh-out-loud delight!

Watch at the end — there’s a shot of a beautiful feathered star, which makes me think new collections with the shapes for the feathered star block are coming. That has me redesigning the setting for the pink and cream quilt, incorporating more borders and fewer blocks, as a feathered star is definitely on my list of quilts to make and I know I won’t be able to resist starting a feathered star quilt — maybe even in red and white!

The Making of Big Pink Stars

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Two of the nine pink and cream stars are made and I’ve sorted out a stitching sequence that makes them very quick to construct.  The first part is to make the centre 8-pointed star.

Once that’s done then I stitch all the pieces that need to be stitched into pairs or triplets together.  It’s then just a matter of adding rounds to the centre — a great opportunity for lots of continuous stitching which makes the star go together quite quickly.

This picture shows the centre after I added the first round of cream pairs and started adding the next round of pink diamonds.  Everything is ready now to just keep stitching until the star is done.  I’ve found that pressing after I get the third round of pink diamonds added is the most efficient.  All that’s left after that is to add the final star points made up of the 2 cream and 1 pink diamonds, a final press and the star is finished.  This will actually be a quick quilt to make as the setting is planned and won’t require a lot more work.  As of now, I plan to use the sewing machine to join the blocks and sashing.

Monday night some time was spent sorting the stack of freezer paper sheets that were lying about that I use to print shapes on my fabric.  As I use the custom sizes suggested in the various Inklingo collections, I have quite the variety of sizes of freezer paper cut  ranging from 3.25″ x 5″ all the way up to 8.5″ x 14″ and, as freezer paper can be reused many times, I keep it.  Over the past few months the stack of freezer paper sheets on my printer was becoming unruly, to say the least.  So a few hours of organization, and I can now see at a glance if I have the size I need and find it easily.  What started me organizing it was sorting out what I need to print for a couple of the projects I’m working on. After a few frustrating minutes of trying to figure out if I had the right sizes of freezer paper already cut, I realized it was time to just sit down and organize it all. Now the trick will be to keep it organized and file the sheets away after I’ve used them.

The gardeners have been and have taken out the flowers and cut down the hosta on the roof garden.  The trees have lost most of their leaves now and it looks very stark.  At least we haven’t yet had snow although there apparently was some snow to the north of us on the weekend.  The cats are finding cozy spots to curl up and nap.  First Lester.

Smudge:

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Autumn leaves in Gekū

Image via Wikipedia

Today’s the beginning of an extra long weekend as it’s our Thanksgiving.  We shall all be enjoying what promises to be some fabulous weather this Thanksgiving weekend and the kitties will undoubtedly get some of the turkey.  Whether we’ll be able to stand the meowing that will probably go on while the turkey is cooking is another story!  One of our plans is to go for a drive to enjoy the colourful leaves and hopefully get some good pictures of the best of them.

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends! See you all on Tuesday.