Tag Archives: quilts

Pickled Ladies

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It seems like a long time since I’ve worked on these pickled clamshells, but two more got finished last night. Thanks to a new little member of the household, stitching time seems to be at a premium right now. There were at least 2 hours last night when he was curled up in my arms, which meant absolutely no stitching.

Speaking of a new little member of the household, Baxter is fascinated by the kitty carrier. Since we brought him home, the carrier has been out as we were thinking he might like it as a “safe” place. Smudge had different ideas and has been cramming himself in there at every opportunity. It’s way too small for Smudge but that hasn’t stopped him. Baxter seems to like to get on top of it and peer in, whether Smudge is in there or not.

Baxter is clearly a quilter’s kitty in the making. The hoop has been collapsed and is down on the floor, so it can’t tip over while he’s exploring, but he seems to have decided it’s a good spot to relax.

Smudge was spending some time on the windowsill Wednesday afternoon.

Tomorrow is the Canada Day holiday, so that means a lovely long weekend.

Lots of Shabby

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Joseph’s coat is growing. It’s amazing just how quickly it’s growing. I can imagine having a lap quilt done within a few weeks — if I devoted all my stitching time to it, that is.

That said, I don’t want to leave out the Yin Yang blocks. Monday night I got this one put together, another one half done and the partial ring that can be seen in the top picture of the shabby coat.

Every time I make one of these Yin Yang blocks and press it, I’m thrilled with how easily it presses flat.

Smudge was posing on the top of the loveseat.  Mr. Q.O. calls this photo “Quilter’s Cat” because of the quilting paraphernalia visible in the background.

Melons and Yin Yang — Oh, My!

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Lots and lots of melons printed and ready to stitch to the connecting cream bits. Lots and lots of yin yang pieces printed and ready to stitch. This is definitely going to be a very shabby chic summer.

Two more of the Dresden Plates are now done and ready. Before I get too much further with these, I’m going to play with some layout ideas. Hopefully I’ll get that done this weekend.

We had some computer glitches, so I’m recycling this photo of Smudge on the windowsill from last summer.

A Little More Shabby Coat

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I know, I know. I said I was going to stick with the little Dresden Plates but I couldn’t resist adding a bit more to the shabby Joseph’s Coat. I’m so thrilled with this new Inklingo collection that I really can’t leave it alone! It’s really quick to stitch and presses oh, so easily. Even with all those seams intersecting in the centres, it lies flat as can be. This could grow into a lap quilt rather quickly.

Quilts that go together as you stitch them, rather than having blocks to join at the end, always attract me. When I finish stitching the blocks, it’s done.

The back:

We had crazy weather Wednesday night. First fog, then rain, then thunder and lightning and heavy rain. Sounds like there’s more of the same in store for us today.

Smudge was enjoying himself, stretched out on the windowsill. That’s a definite sign that summer is here.

Stitching A Flying Swallows Block – Lots of Photos

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A bright summery block of flying swallows seemed right for this little tutorial. Mr. Q.O. calls them bats, but …

There are a number of pieces in the block, but it really is an eight-point star made up of pieced 90-degree diamonds. Each of the pieced 90-degree diamonds is made up of 3 diamonds and 4 triangles. First piece the 3 diamonds together.

Then take advantage of the continuous stitching opportunity offered when adding the 4 triangles to the diamond unit as shown in this photo. Following the arrows, it’s possible to stitch all the triangles to the diamonds without breaking the thread.

Make sure the top and bottom triangles are placed the right way so that you end up with a larger 90-degree diamond.


While I usually wait until a block is completed to press it, this block is an exception. Pressing the pieced diamonds before joining them to one another makes the final pressing easier.

Join the 90-degree diamonds to create the eight-point star, making sure all the swallows are flying in the same direction.

Add the setting squares and triangles and the block is done. This block finishes at about 15″ and is destined to be part of a stitching book cover. I made it using the 6″ LeMoyne Star Inklingo collection, which has all the shapes to make the block other than the outer setting triangle.

Smudge found this whole process so calming that he fell asleep with some soft stuffed toys to keep him company!

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It seems that our ISP is bouncing some e-mails from friends. If you have e-mailed me in the past day or two and haven’t heard back, please let me know in a comment.

Summer Plates

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Getting the Summer Plates done has moved up the list. Why? Because I really want to get this top done while we can still get good pictures outdoors. Somehow taking pictures of this one in summer seems right. So Monday night, although Joseph’s Coat was really calling to me, I got started and added the frames to two of the plates.

The blocks finish at 9″. I’m thinking this will be a small lap quilt that will look wonderful draped over a chair or the loveseat. Makes me think I want to find a wallpaper with huge cabbage roses in faded peaches and pinks for the living room and have a completely shabby chic look. Not sure what Mr. Q.O. would think of that.

The back:

Smudge, caught yet again just shortly after diving in his water bowl. If you enlarge the photo, you can see that his ruff is looking rather matted after getting so wet. Thankfully, his fur is so silky that it combs out in seconds.

Shabby Coat

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Did I get distracted this weekend? Oh, yes! Saturday a new Joseph’s Coat Inklingo Collection was released and I was immediately and totally captivated. Couldn’t resist. Thanks to the fact I hadn’t yet put away the shabby chic fabrics after cutting and printing Yin Yang shapes, I immediately grabbed a bunch of them, some background fabric and started printing. By late Saturday night the first ring was done.

Sunday evening, I added a bit more. The curves are so gentle that no clipping into the seam allowance is needed at all. More curved piecing. Irresistible to me. I know this will be a lap quilt so have printed 150 melons so far. Between this and the Yin Yang, I’m going to have a wonderfully shabby summer!

It presses like a dream. I followed the pressing suggestion in the Collection and pressed the seam allowances towards the melons.

Smudge was sitting in Mr. Q.O.’s computer chair after diving in his water bowl. He was just about dry when we got this shot.

Shabby Yin Yang Blocks

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Nine blocks done. I don’t think there’s any chance of these blocks ever becoming boring to stitch.

In fact, I’m so sure they won’t that I’ve printed and cut out the shapes for another 25+ blocks. Next thing to do is to get more of the fabrics for the Contented Kitty blocks printed and cut.

Yesterday was a fabulous day — seeing my first sales of a pattern was a real thrill. Thank you all for the wonderful supportive comments!

Smudge was dozing on the floor, after spending most of the evening draped over my legs.

Joining the Pink Ice Blocks and …

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Over the weekend I finally settled on an arrangement for the Pink Ice blocks and have started stitching them together. I’m stitching the blocks into rows by  hand. Because there are many points and I want my seams to line up exactly, stitching by hand is the best choice for me. It doesn’t take long to join 5 blocks into a row and then join the rows to one another. So far, I have two rows joined and the third is waiting to be added. I have a couple of different ideas for a border treatment but won’t be making any decisions on that until the main body of the top is together.

What have I been working on lately that has been taking so much time? Well, over the past few weeks I have been working on a pattern for Chintz Circles. Along with that, I was putting together a web site. I’m very happy to report that late yesterday, the web site went live and my first pattern is listed. More patterns are in the works. Writing patterns has been one of my goals for some time. My blog will remain a place to talk about projects I’m working on, our activities and cat/cats.

We have had a stretch of relatively cool weather since mid-week last week.  Monday was more of the same but the forecast appears to indicate that by the time Wednesday arrives, we’ll be back to more summer-like weather. I can’t wait!

Smudge was content to lounge in the pink chair. There was no baseball game for him to watch Monday night.

Choosing Fabrics

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There’s going to be some printing this weekend — actually, lots of printing — shabby chic yin yang shapes, more of the brown and gold ones for the contented kitty quilt too and the setting pieces for the summer Dresden. That’s the plan for the weekend. I took a break Thursday afternoon and started picking out the shabby fabrics. The browns and golds are already out and waiting to be printed.

Doing a lot of printing at once suits the way I like to work. Once I get all the printing done, then I can concentrate on stitching the blocks. It’s so fast that I can likely have everything I need done for the 3 quilts in an afternoon.

Don’t forget about the giveaway. You can still enter the giveaway here until midnight tonight. The winner will be announced on Saturday.

Smudge on the sofa, looking towards the window.