Pickled Ladies 5

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Quiltobsession

Another blue one — and another favourite print. I’ve had this fabric in my shabby chic stash for ages and have used little pieces of it in every shabby chic quilt I’ve made.

The back:

Monday started out rather cool but turned into a lovely mild sunny day. That said, the heat was back on when the sun went down. I suppose I really shouldn’t find this so surprising as it’s not uncommon for us to go from having heat on in the morning to having the a/c on by afternoon in May or June, but it just seems like fall arrived very suddenly this year.

Lester is still finding the windowsill attractive as there are still lots of birds out on the roof garden for him to watch.

Smudge, on the other hand, is all about finding spots where he can curl up and snooze.

Pickled Ladies Blocks 2 and 4

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Quiltobsession

The second block was redone with a more solid black for the triangles, and I like the effect much more. Compare that to how it looked before:

Pickled Ladies 4 is, I think, so far my favourite. I absolutely love this floral print.

We are definitely into fall weather with very cool nights — so cool, in fact, that we are finding we have to turn the heat on once the sun has gone down. It seems unbelievably early to be turning the heat on. This week is going to be quite cool, by the sounds of it, so I’m guessing we may have to have heat on during the day as well some days.

The cats were definitely finding cozy spots to curl up and have a nap during the weekend. Smudge on a chair:

Lester with a teddy bear:

Pickled Star Clams

Posted on September 9, 2010 by Quiltobsession

This was one of the other ideas that I couldn’t resist with the Pickled Clamshell collections. At each intersection of 4 pickled clamshells a little sparkly star will appear. For this one, I’m using the 11″ size and plan on making it 66″ x 66″. I’m using four colours for the little stars — lime green, a darker green, blue and purple. There are starfish so I figure these are star clams, even if they are pickled! If you click on the photo to enlarge it, the star shows up a bit better.

Because I’m using four different colours for the little stars, sorting out which colour to use for each end piece in the arcs was my first step. With each of the Clamshell Pickle collections there are layout pages which are invaluable when planning a quilt like this. I worked out my colour placement over the weekend, and started stitching. As I complete each pickled clam, I check it off on the layout page and can tell at a glance what pieces to use at the ends of the next arc. The back:

Wednesday was a rather unsettled day — cool with sunshine in the morning which was quickly replaced by clouds and windy conditions in the afternoon. We have tickets for the Jays game tonight and, as I don’t think it will be very warm at all, I’ll be grateful the roof is closed!

Wednesday was a find a cozy spot and snooze day for the kitties. Lester in one cat bed.

And Smudge in another with a toy or two close by.

Pickled Ladies Quilt, Block 2

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Quiltobsession

These blocks are addictive. I think I may end up changing out 2 of the black and white triangles in this one as, while there is a touch of black in the two, there’s not quite enough contrast to their neighbouring white triangles. I’ll leave that decision for a bit as it may just work with the whole pickled ladies story.

The back:

The Pickled Ladies story is based on an image I have in my mind of a very elegantly dressed Audrey Hepburn-like lady with an absolutely smashing hat sitting in an art deco bar. It goes on from there and will probably involve Daphne, the martini-drinking duck previously seen here, before it’s over.

Tuesday was a gorgeous day with lots of brilliant sunshine and warmth. I know our days of summer are quickly drawing to a close but am resisting the idea of switching out summer clothing for fall as long as I possibly can. Denial seems to be my middle name when it comes to the colder weather.

On Monday, we finally saw a squirrel out on the roof garden for the first time this summer. Since then, Lester has been spending time on the windowsill keeping an eye out for the squirrel.

Smudge in one of the almost headless cat shots. Notice he has toys strewn all about within paw’s reach for when he wakes up.

Clamshell on a Pickle Dish

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Quiltobsession

Back in June on Barbara Brackman’s blog post here, I saw pictures of clamshells done with a triangle arc and fell in love with them. On Sunday, three new Inklingo collections were released with the shapes for 6″, 9″ and 11″ clamshells on a pickle dish, including all the edge pieces so that one can have a straight edge. Of course, I couldn’t resist. And I even made the largest, which is completely unusual for me. The yardstick shows centimetre measurements rather than inches, but it seems huge — at its widest, it’s 11″. I have a design idea in mind that will use all 3 sizes in one quilt. The bonus to the large size is that I can have a quilt done in next to no time. The design possibilities with these shapes seem endless. It took hardly any time at all to put the arc of triangles together as it’s all continuous stitching. Then adding the arc to the clamshell was easy as could be.

The back:

The baby quilt is still at the almost finished stage. There aren’t that many pieces left to join to finish the top, so hopefully I’ll get it finished by Wednesday. I just couldn’t resist the pickled clams and, as the baby isn’t due until February, my self-imposed deadline of August 31 can be extended.

We’re going into a few days of high heat and humidity with humidex values in the 40C range through to Wednesday. The longer it stays lovely and hot the better.

Lester was getting in some windowsill time over the weekend.

And Smudge was posing for the camera.

Revisiting China Plates

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Quiltobsession

Once the baby quilt is done, China Plates will be first in line for quilting. It’s been languishing now for a few months, so it’s time to get this one finished and bound and ready to hang. I made this with the 1.5″ 90-degree hexagon Inklingo collection printing the hexagons on a variety of Oriental prints, the centre squares on an Oriental shirting print and the connecting squares and triangles on a black fabric. I’m not quite sure how I want to quilt it yet, although I do have the thread picked out — a variegated YLI black/charcoal/cream thread.

There were a few questions about washing charms. What does a salad spinner have to do with it? Well, generally I just swish them in some warm soapy water, rinse them, hang them on a clothes horse for a few minutes and then iron them dry but sometimes spin them partially dry by throwing a handful in an old salad spinner and then complete the drying by ironing them. I’m always amazed at just how much they do shrink — at least half an inch on one side so that the 5″ charms generally end up as 4.5″ x 5″ pieces rather than a 5″ square.

Four rows left to stitch on the baby quilt! Aside from quilting China Plates and working on various other projects that are in varying stages, I’m daydreaming about starting a new quilt with stars. While I am tempted to make something with bright batiks and a dark neutral, I’m also leaning towards doing something with the Japanese taupes that are in my stash and making a very muted star quilt with those.

On Tuesday, Lester was snoozing in the kitty bed — with a toy within paw’s reach.

While Smudge was on the couch.

Fabric Combinations

Posted on August 20, 2010 by Quiltobsession

Now that I’ve got those two pieces of gold fabric out on my sewing table, I couldn’t resist choosing some other fabrics to see how well they went together. I’m not sure just what yet, but I think this grouping or at least part of it will find its way into a design.

Then I had to try those same fabrics with the other gold fabric. Now that I have some combinations to play with, I can let my mind wander a bit and see if I come up with the perfect design to use these in.

The second row of the baby quilt is now joined to the first. It’s going together easily, so I feel pretty confident I can have the little quilt that will be 40 x 48 inches finished by no later than mid-September. I’d love to use the silk batting in the baby quilt but, as that will undoubtedly be a quilt that gets a lot of washing, I guess I’d better stick with a cotton batt. I got spoiled with the silk batt as it makes fabric wrestling aka machine quilting so much easier. We have nothing in particular planned for this weekend, so I’m hoping to get a lot accomplished on the baby quilt. I’d love to get it to the point of being half put together by the end of the weekend, but that may be too optimistic.

Lester makes it easy to take good pictures — he will stay still and look right at the camera.

Smudge has always posed for the camera.

Designing a Quilt

Posted on August 5, 2010 by Quiltobsession

What does a shampoo bottle have to do with designing a quilt? I don’t know, but shampoo seems to be a definite aid. Whenever I’m playing with ideas for a quilt and then wash my hair, the idea for the quilt comes to me almost immediately. In the case of the baby quilt, the entire quilt was planned before I even rinsed the shampoo out including how it will be quilted and what I’ll name it.

This happens over and over. Whenever I’m working on a plan for something to do with a quilt and have hit a snag, it almost invariably sorts itself out while I wash my hair. I wonder what it is about shampooing that makes creativity flow.

I then stash shopped and gathered a grouping of fabrics to audition for the quilt. Not all of these will make their way into the quilt.

Finalizing just which fabrics I’ll use is still going on, but a few of the choices are definite so I was able to cut and print enough fabric for the first 7 blocks last night.

While sitting out on the roof garden, I got this shot of the sky. The forecast had said we might have thunderstorms and periodically a big dark cloud would appear only to float away and be replaced by these wispy ones. The heat and humidity are ongoing, but I am not complaining. The cold winter weather will be here all too soon, so I want to soak up as much of this warmth as I can.

For a while Wednesday afternoon, I was looking at websites for expats living in places like Ecuador and Costa Rica. The thought of winter coming usually drives me to think about things like moving to a milder climate. Although I doubt we’d ever do it, it’s fun to look and daydream.

Smudge wasn’t daydreaming in this shot.

Lester in his usual summer spot on the windowsill.

Clamshell Diamond Sashed

Posted on August 3, 2010 by Quiltobsession

Ever since I first saw the picture in Kaffe Fassett’s Museum Quilts of the clamshell quilt in the V & A, I wanted to make one with the sashing. If you haven’t seen a picture of that quilt, there is a picture on the V & A web site. I had intended to sort out how to do the sashing after I had all the diamonds ready but on Saturday a new Inklingo collection was released for the sashing of the 3″ clamshells that makes it oh, so easy. I initially thought about sashing them in a stripe of some colour but then realized that as each diamond is going to have multiple colours in it, finding just one stripe that would work was probably not going to be possible. So I decided on a black and I’m so glad I did. I think it really makes the colours pop!

Pressing is a breeze. The back:

I’m never quite sure where I’ll find some of Mr. Q.O.’s drawings. This is one that made me laugh out loud. He always puts a banana beside my orange juice in the morning, but this was a first. Banana art:

Monday was a pretty quiet day as far as the cats were concerned. Very early in the morning, Smudge was on the windowsill chattering at a bird that was sitting on a branch directly in front of the window. I wasn’t quick enough to get a shot of him there. But later in the day he was having fun dragging toys out of the toy basket. Then he had to rest.

Lester loves to sort of hang over the arm of the chair. He had quite a look on his face.

A Last Few of the Pink Ice Blocks

Posted on July 30, 2010 by Quiltobsession

***

Following up on Wednesday’s post, a few more of the Pink Ice Blocks. Whether I’ll get the setting pieces cut and at least a start on putting the top together this weekend is still up in the air. My wrists/hands feel somewhat better as I have been careful this week (and, as a result, owe a lot of responses to comments) but I don’t want to push it. Maybe by Monday, which is a holiday here in Ontario.

Another five of the blocks: