Tag Archives: quilts

A Barely Begun Unfinished Object

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I’ve been going through partially complete projects and trying to decide what I want to do with them. This?  This was started around three years ago.  Obviously I didn’t get too far with it.  I printed many, many 2.25″ equilateral triangles for this project and had started putting together one row when it got put away. To be honest, I didn’t even remember I had it until I opened a drawer and saw the bag full of the triangles.

This is one of the projects for which I used the sewing machine to stitch the triangles together into pairs.  I only printed the templates on the cream neutral fabric and then stitched along the stitching lines before cutting the triangles apart into pairs.  It certainly made that part quick.  Then I decided I wanted to hand piece the pairs into rows, it seems, so a little hybrid piecing.  I think I know why this got put away.  The colours are totally outside my normal comfort zone.  How much more of this I will put together is anyone’s guess as, at this point, I’m not enthused about it although Mr. Q.O. definitely likes the colours.  This may be one of those projects on which I will work for an evening or so every few weeks and slowly put together a lap quilt for Mr. Q.O.  But for now, it’s being put away again until I get a few other projects finished.

Smudge was very alert Tuesday night.  He is eating more on his own each day and we think he has put on a bit more weight.  I talked to our vet on Tuesday and for now we’re watching to see if there’s any return of the jaundice and continuing with the syringe feeding.  I’m a little concerned about the amount of tuna in the cat foods that he is eating in light of the recent warnings by Health Canada about the levels of mercury in tuna.  I asked our vet about it and he said that, while he hasn’t read any studies about the effects of the mercury in tuna in cat foods, it may be an issue if that’s the only type of food Smudge will eat.  So we’ll slowly start trying some foods with no tuna and see what happens.

I often wonder why cats are so likely to love cat food with seafood of some sort or another in it, as that is not their ancestral diet.  Smudge is so finicky about food but always seems to love anything with tuna.  Lester?  Lester likes every kind of cat food.  Here he was having a snooze after dinner.

Baby Quilt, Take 2

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I had already made a quilt for my cousin’s new addition to the family due in February, but realized it’s really too large for a newborn and is more of a lap quilt size.  I was playing with some ideas for another baby quilt, when I remembered this was partially done.  So on Boxing Day I got this out of the UFO pile and started adding to it.  It’s quick to stitch, so I’m hoping to have the top finished by the end of the week other than the final setting pieces around the edges. I have lots of diamonds and triangles of the right size already printed on ’30s prints, so will be able to use them for the edge pieces.

I’m very grateful I had started this and had put everything for it away together.  It was nice to be able to just pull out the box and have everything in one spot.  Within minutes of pulling the box out, I was stitching.  As much as I enjoyed making the blocks, I think because I didn’t have a recipient for it in mind it lost some of its appeal.  Now that I have a goal in mind, I’m excited about stitching it again.

Smudge continues to improve.  He’s starting to treat us to some of his crazy poses, like this one.

Lester is being a bit more dignified.

Feathered Star

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The block was finished Tuesday evening and I’m thrilled with it.  Now to decide if I try to rush and make it into a table topper for this year or make this the first of 9 blocks and a start on a Christmas quilt for us.  I’m leaning towards taking my time, making the remaining blocks and having a Christmas quilt.

Heirloom cotton thread is one of my favourites for hand piecing.  When putting the arcs together for the Pickled Ladies, I use black thread.  The black heirloom thread seems to break much more easily than any other colour, which leads me to wonder if the black dye somehow weakens the thread.  Have you ever run into a particular thread colour that tends to break more easily than others?

I’ve done no baking yet for Christmas.  Usually I make butter tarts and a lot of different cookies as they’re great gifts to give to neighbours and friends.  I don’t think anything will get made this year but the butter tarts.  They’re fast and easy and everyone loves them so a few dozen of those will be made over the next day or two.

We got an early Christmas present on Tuesday when we took Smudge to the vet.  The jaundice is barely evident now and he has put on more weight.  He’s now up to 16.8 pounds, so only a few more to go until he’s back at his normal weight.  They gave him another antibiotic shot and he’s still on the syringe feeding, but he’s definitely on the mend.  He was relaxing Tuesday night.

Lester was napping.

Feathered Star for Christmas

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This is what I worked on over the weekend.  For me it’s an enormous block as it will finish at 20″.  Feathered Star is a pattern I’ve been fascinated by and, over the years, I’ve thought about making one but the idea of the acrylic or mylar templates, specialty rulers, tracing and on and on made it less appealing.

On Friday night, three Inklingo collections for a 15″, 20″ and 30″ Feathered Star were released along with an absolutely fantastic Design Book.  Because the centres of these feathered stars are 4.5″, 6″ and 9″ respectively, one could use any number of blocks in the centre rather than the octagon.  Saturday morning, I had this stack of shapes printed and cut out, ready to make my first block.

The instructions in the Design Book are for both hand and machine piecing.  I read through the machine piecing section and felt like I could make one of these by machine.  That said, all the continuous stitching that putting the feathers together offers was irresistible to me and hand piecing was my choice.  Putting the HSTs together by machine would be so easy the Inklingo way; just stitch on the line and cut.  No paper to remove, no bias to handle.   The Design Book is free to download for a limited time.  If you’ve ever thought about making a Feathered Star, this is definitely a book you want to add to your library.

This could be the beginning of a Christmas quilt for next year or perhaps I’ll finish off this one block, add a border, quilt it and use it as a table topper this Christmas.  That may be a bit too optimistic to think I’ll finish it by Saturday, but I’m tempted to try.   I’m amazed at just how quickly it goes together.  It won’t take long now to finish the star and then add the setting squares and triangles.

Smudge is on a tablet that helps the liver.  He has a habit of spitting the pill out when I turn my back.  Saturday morning, he did that very thing and I didn’t notice it until we took this picture.  If you look closely, you can see the little pink pill on the towel.  He seems to be doing better.  Tomorrow we take him in for another antibiotic shot and his weigh-in and colour check.

Lester has been enjoying the variety of foods that have been showing up as we try to get Smudge to eat more on his own.

Planning A Christmas Quilt

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A Christmas quilt is on my list to make one for next year using these fabrics.  I know that an Inklingo Feathered Star collection will be coming out sometime in the near future and have decided that will be the design I’ll use for a Christmas quilt with these fabrics.  A Feathered Star has been on my want-to-make list for years, so I’m really excited about the thought of making one.  These fabrics have been tucked away for ages, waiting for the right idea for a Christmas quilt.  I’ll get them washed and pressed in the next few days so that I’m ready to start.

I have been working on blocks for two quilts but, as my wrists are too sore to handle pressing at the moment, nothing is pressed so no photos to show quite yet.

Once again, thank you to everyone — all the good wishes and thoughts for Smudge meant a lot!  We had Smudge to the vet again on Tuesday and he has put on a pound.  We’re thrilled.  Our vet’s  happy.  Smudge seems livelier and more engaged. That is the best Christmas present we could have asked for.  We’re still syringe feeding and will be for a few weeks yet to ensure his weight gets back up to his normal 18+ pounds.  Along with syringe feeding the food, we’re giving him a bit of yogourt every night now as he was given an injectable antibiotic yesterday.  While he has always loved having a bit of yogourt, since he got sick he hasn’t wanted any of it so we’re giving that by syringe as well.

This photo was taken on Tuesday night.  It’s hard to tell from the photo, but he’s more interested in what’s going on around him than he has been the past week or so.  He’s still a bit jaundiced, but not as much as he was.  A visit to the vet is scheduled for next Tuesday for another weigh-in and colour check.

Lester has continued to keep his eye on Smudge.  He’s intrigued by the syringe feeding to the point that last night when we were giving Smudge some food, Lester decided he had to sniff the syringe.

Hopefully I’ll start replying to comments, visiting and commenting on blogs a bit more now.

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.

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:

Bloggers’ Quilt Festival, Fall 2010

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Amy's Creative Side - Blogger's Quilt Festival

Once again, Amy is hosting the Bloggers’ Quilt Festival.  If you click on the button above, you’ll find thumbnail photos from the participants and, if it’s anything like the spring festival, you’re in for a real treat with lots and lots of lovely quilts to see and stories about their making to read.  All this in the comfort of your own home!

I debated showcasing Chintz Circles again so soon, but couldn’t resist it as my entry in the Quilt Festival.  When the Inklingo Orange Peel Deluxe collection was released, I had played with the various designs and had a lot of fun doing so.  One of my favourite variations was the Alabama Beauty block and, while I had only made one block of it, it stayed in my mind.  Eventually, the lure of that block, particularly with my aunt’s 90th birthday coming up, and making an Alabama Beauty quilt with shabby chic fabrics was irresistible.

My aunt’s favourite colours are pinks and greens and I remember the chintz that was in her home when I was growing up so, as soon as I started making the quilt, I realized Chintz Circles was the perfect name for it.

Karen Dianne was making Alabama Beauty blocks at the same time and had shown some of hers on a design wall.  As soon as I saw that secondary circular pattern emerge, I knew exactly how I wanted to make my aunt’s quilt and I was off to the races.  By mid-April I had hand pieced 6 blocks and saw the first two circles appear.

Choosing the fabrics for each row became more complex as I had to be absolutely perfect with the placement of the fabrics that would emerge as circles.  I developed a routine for doing that as I finished a row and would sort the fabrics for each block into separate envelopes.  During the piecing, I was often thinking about the rousing games of double solitaire I used to play with my aunt at the cottage during the evenings.  We would be laughing so loudly that my mother, who was invariably trying to listen to a baseball game on the radio, would leave and  go listen to the baseball game out on the porch.  I learned then that long nails, while looking good, were also a great deterrent to an opponent in double solitaire as I developed strategies to avoid getting stabbed by my aunt’s perfectly manicured nails as we competed to be the first to put a card up.

By April 21st, a total of 16 blocks had been pieced together and joined and 9 complete circles had appeared.

As the quilt top grew, it took longer to add more rows and see more circles appear but by May 18, there were 25 blocks joined and 16 circles had made their appearance.

I was then in the home stretch and on June 21 a total of 42 blocks were joined, 30 circles had appeared and the hand piecing of the quilt top was complete.

The backing fabric was found, the quilt was basted and the machine quilting began. On July 20, the quilting was finished, the binding tacked down and this photo was taken very shortly after the last stitch was taken to attach the label.

August 1 was my aunt’s 90th birthday.  That morning I had washed and dried the quilt and it had that wonderful crinkly look that quilts get after being washed and dried.  Then came the best part — when she opened the gift and saw her quilt.  She still has those beautifully manicured nails I so remember from our double solitaire games!

Everything about making Chintz Circles was an absolute joy.  Choosing the fabrics, making the blocks and joining them together, quilting it, even working the thread ends in was fun as I often found myself reflecting on some of the marvelous memories I have of the time I have spent with my aunt over the years.   I still find that I quietly laugh to myself when I remember those double solitaire games and the fun we had.

There is no doubt I would have not made this quilt were it not for Linda Franz‘ brilliant invention of Inklingo. Having perfect shapes with stitching lines and matching points turned what may look like a difficult block to piece into something that was an absolute joy to stitch and blocks that went together perfectly every time.

One Purple Pickled Lady

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This will probably be the darkest of the Pickled Ladies.  The purple is quite rich but I couldn’t resist the flowers in this print.  I’m going to try to fussy cut another couple of flowers from that print to scatter throughout the top.  I’m leaning more and more towards making this a bed-sized quilt, partially because I just love making them.

The back:

In half an hour last night I had all my diamonds printed and cut out for another few of the big pink star blocks.  The setting for the blocks is already figured out as well as the border I want to use, so I’m hoping to finish it this year.

Lester had the last of the antibiotics last night so now we’re waiting to see if there will be a reappearance of the symptoms.

Smudge was draped over my legs as I was sorting the diamonds into groups for the big pink star blocks.