Tag Archives: quilts

Chintz Circles Completed

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The binding is finished and photos were taken out on the roof garden this afternoon. I am thrilled with how it turned out.  672 pieces in the top that all went together so easily thanks to the Inklingo Orange Peel Deluxe collection printing the stitching lines and matching points on the fabric.  I couldn’t wait till tomorrow to post these photos!

The back.

The final touch was a totally lump-free binding thanks to this tutorial I found on Bonnie Hunter’s website.  I’ve tried doing lump-free binding many times with instructions from books and various sites, with varying degrees of success.  The tutorial on Bonnie’s website made it absolutely foolproof for me.

Now I can’t wait for August 1st when the quilt will be given to my aunt on her 90th birthday.  All that’s left now is the label, which will be added this weekend.

To see more finishes, go to Lit and Laundry and the post here with links to Friday finishes.

The Almost Completed Never-Ending Quilt

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The quilting is finished, the binding made and stitched to the front and tacked down on three-quarters of the back, but I just got too tired to complete the binding last night.  I’ll finish it today and we’ll hopefully be able to get a really good photograph out on the roof garden.  These pictures don’t really show the true colours as they were taken quite late at night with the flash on.  The binding fabric was just the right choice.  I like the look of it both on the front and the back.

Monday was nowhere near as hot as it has been the past couple of weeks.  Both cats got in some windowsill time again.  First Lester.

And then Smudge.


The Never-Ending Quilt

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… is what this is feeling like although Chintz Circles is almost finished.  Almost.  I think I’ve said that every day for the past 3 days.  But now I can truly see that there’s no more than an hour of quilting left and then the binding which I will hopefully get done tonight.  We went to Sew Sisters on Saturday and after looking at a number of fabrics, I chose the Rouenneries print for the binding.  I think it will frame the quilt perfectly and it goes nicely with the backing.

I’m pleased with how the machine quilting looks and the interlocking circles that show up.  Hopefully I’ll have some pictures to show tomorrow.  The silk batt turned out to be the best possible choice — it is so much easier to manoeuvre and gives a little stitch definition.   The Pfaff IDT has made doing the circles much easier than I anticipated.  That said, how on earth anyone quilts a large quilt on a home machine is beyond me.  After an hour or so of fabric wrestling, my shoulders and arms ache — and this is just a lap quilt.

While we were at Sew Sisters I found a fabulous white on white that isn’t heavily painted on.  So some of that had to come home with me.  I’m always on the hunt for a good white on white as I love using white in my quilts but have learned that anything with a heavily painted-on design causes nothing but trouble as it’s so hard to needle.  Oh, how I wish the manufacturers would produce some white on white prints that had the design woven in rather than painted on.

It was a hot and humid weekend and promises to be a hot and humid week.  Sounds like we’ll be back into the really high humidex readings towards the end of the week.

The cats had some windowsill time on the weekend.  First Lester.

Then Smudge — although he looks a bit cranky in this shot.


Pink Ice Blocks 26 & 27

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Two more done, block 28 about half done and two full ones left to go.  But nothing else is getting done this week other than the quilting on Chintz Circles.  I realized on the weekend that I didn’t have enough time to hand quilt it, so removed the hand quilting I’d done and sorted out how I’d machine quilt it remembering, of course, that my machine skills are not great, and started on it Sunday night.  The quilting will be intersecting circles to emphasize the circles created by the design.  I got enough done Sunday night to realize I like how it’s turning out, so now it’s simply a matter of sitting at the machine and getting it done.

The back of one of the two completed Pink ice blocks.

Mr. Q.O. took this photo of a flower in a friend’s garden.  I haven’t got a clue what it is, but I love the colour.

We had a couple of days of much less humidity, although it was still quite warm.  They say the heat and humidity builds up again starting today and by midweek it sounds like we’ll be back to the extremely high heat and humidity.

Lester took advantage of the nicer temperatures and spent some time looking out the window.

As did Smudge.


A Replacement Patchwork of the Crosses Block

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Earlier this week I made this block as there was one that just didn’t fit in and had to be replaced.  The more I look at the blocks I’ve made for my POTC quilt, the more I realize just how drawn I am to shades of purple.  Now all the blocks for the top are made, the cream surrounding hexagons are on more than half of them and the only thing I have left to sort out is what I’ll use as the connecting squares where 4 blocks meet.

The back:

E-mail on Wednesday was completely unreliable.  Among other things that didn’t get delivered, I realized Wednesday night that many comments that were left on my blog on Wednesday didn’t arrive in my inbox.  So if I owe you a response, please bear with me while I sort this out.  I wonder if the extreme heat and humidity we’re having is affecting our ISP?

Wednesday night I started on another Pink Ice block.  As I like to match my thread to the fabric I”m stitching, I ended up using a Mettler 50/3 thread.  I can’t believe how thick that is in comparison to the Mettler 60/2 thread or the YLI Heirloom thread I love using.  Aside from being a struggle to thread the needle with it, I felt as though it was harder to pull through the fabric.   I’m curious about the Superior Threads MasterPiece thread and will, when I see it here, buy a spool to try.  Have you tried it?  What do you think of it?

When Mr. Q.O. was downtown on Monday, he also got this shot of the flowers outside a restaurant.   Doesn’t this look like a great spot to spend some time on a summer day and just watch the world go by?

Wednesday was another extremely hot and humid day.  Today is … well, more of the same.  The humidex readings have been the highest I can ever recall.  While we rarely have to put the air conditioning on in the living room, this week it has been on daily.

Mr. Q.O. has been playing with some photo editing software and this picture of Lester taken on Wednesday is a result.

Smudge spent some time on the windowsill on Wednesday.  At one point there was a robin he could hear but not see.  The tail was swishing and he was very intently staring out the window.

A Little Shabby Chic Curved Piecing

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These are some of the fabrics I picked out for shabby chic Alabama Beauty blocks.  There are other fabrics I’ll add to the mix as I do more blocks, but these are a starting point.

Once the fabrics were selected, it took me only minutes to cut my fabric, press it to the freezer paper and print the templates on the backs of my fabrics.  Then I was off to the races.  While we watched Angels & Demons last night, I stitched this block.

The back, which didn’t press as well as I would have liked.  I’m on the hunt for distilled water to use in the iron as we have extremely hard water and I’ve been told that using half distilled/half tap water will help lengthen the life of my iron.  As soon as I find the distilled water, this is going to be pressed again.

All that rain on Tuesday made a difference.  I looked out Wednesday morning and noticed, for the first time, some green shoots coming up in the flower beds on the roof garden.  Unfortunately, they’re saying we’ll have a wind chill of -11 on Friday, which I don’t think will do those little plants much good, but then it looks like it’s going to warm up and stay warm.  I hope they open the roof garden soon.  It can be absolutely wonderful out there on a sunny day in a sheltered spot.

The cats have been busy the last couple of days.  Almost every toy is now out of the basket.  Last night Lester was very busy with either the catnip pillow, which he licks and licks, or the practice golf ball.  Here is he relaxing after all that.

And Smudge doing his lounge act.

Curved Piecing

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One of my favourite things is to play with blocks that have curved piecing.  There’s something I find immensely satisfying about stitching a perfectly curved seam.   I made these six blocks back when the Orange Peel Inklingo collection came out and design ideas have been floating through my mind.  The six blocks in the picture above are going to be made into a Christmas table topper, I think.  I may add 3 more blocks just to make it a bit larger.

Last night I laid out the six blocks just for fun.  The idea I have will incorporate, in one instance, just the Alabama Beauty blocks (the top left in the photo), while another idea will use four of the different blocks.  Now it’s a matter of deciding what fabrics I want to use for this.  Perhaps hand dyed fabrics with some batiks or some soft shabby chic fabrics.   I think this is my favourite part — playing with design ideas and choosing the fabrics.   I know what I want to make and it’s really a matter now of whether I want it to be soft and flowing or dramatic and intense.  Perhaps both.  Who knows?  In the meantime, I get to play.

I proofread transcripts for court reporters.  This has now happened to me twice and it cracks me up.  I am so used to typing the word Inklingo and thinking about Inklingo that when a witness or lawyer says inkling in a transcript, it looks completely wrong to me and I instinctively want to change it to Inklingo!  I catch myself wanting to change what the typist has typed but it makes me laugh thinking about what a lawyer would say upon coming across the word “Inklingo” in a transcript.

I got started on the Anthony Trollope novels last night and, while I initially found the writing a bit stiff, can already see that I’m going to enjoy them.  Thanks to Betty who yesterday left a comment about another author, Angela Thirkell, who carried on the characters in the Barsetshire series into the WWII era.  I know I’ll probably devour those books as well. I love the idea of a great long series of books following a families through generations.

Lester, alert last night after another day of watching out the window — at rain and more rain.

And Smudge sound asleep.

A Pastel POTC Block

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There are still four purple squares to be added in the corners but, as that will take only minutes, this block is basically finished.  I love the colours in this one.  They remind me of pretty pastel dresses at Easter.

The back:

These books have been languishing on the bookshelves for ages.  I remember starting the first book in Anthony Trollope’s Barsetshire novels ages ago and quite liking it but, for some reason, I put it down and didn’t go back to it.  Truth be told, I probably got distracted by a mystery.  This time I intend to read my way through both the Barsetshire and Palliser series.  I love having a stack of unread books like this.  This stack is the Barsetshire series.  The Palliser series is another 6 books.  These should keep me busy for a couple of months.  Next up after Trollope?  Maybe Dickens.  I have read some of his books, but not all and would really like to make my way through those as well.

The weather is improving every day and I think by mid-week we’ll see temperatures back near 50, if not a bit better.  Lester spent a fair amount of time on the windowsill on Monday.  At one point I was watching him and saw a bird fly by with wings that seemed to be tipped with quite a vibrant blue.  I didn’t see the bird again Monday but will be watching to see if we have some blue jays out on the roof garden.  Still haven’t seen a robin, although I have heard one.

A new favourite shot of Lester:

And Smudge working on his lounging:

More Spool Blocks

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The final 11 spool blocks from this group of fabrics are done.  I couldn’t resist finishing them off.  I have 81 little blocks so am debating whether to take these and turn them into a doll’s quilt with a 9 x 9 setting or if I want to keep adding.  I’ll think on it for a bit this week and make a decision before next Saturday.

Here they all are.  I’m amazed at how quick it was to put these together.

I found another great use for a digital camera today.  I wanted to check the value of some fabrics I had pulled for a project (yes, another project is in progress) so took a picture, which we turned into a black and white picture on the computer and I immediately could see the values.  Digital cameras have so many uses for a quilter!  Use it to check value, to photograph a layout if you don’t have a design wall and need to be able to refer back and I’ve found it to be a great way to see if fabrics really do work together — particularly when working with fabrics in the winter when the light is not the greatest.  We have a lamp with a daylight bulb in it that I use all the time but sometimes I see something on the computer screen that isn’t as immediately obvious when looking directly at the fabrics.  I suppose there are fewer visual distractions when looking at a picture on the computer screen.

Of course taking pictures of fabric or blocks or layouts means we have to take a few of the boys.  Lester was stretched out:

While Smudge was, as usual, lounging on the couch.

Saturday Klosjes Again

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This was not a really productive week as far as making these little blocks went.  There are so many other things I had on the go that my little blocks were neglected.  Perhaps I shall make a few more tonight.  Who knows? I’ve lost count of how many I have done now.  If I do manage tonight to finish all those that I have ready, I may do a trial layout of them and see whether there’s enough for a doll’s quilt and then start with different fabrics on a new set of Klosjes.

We are cat sitting Winnie again, although only overnight tonight and into tomorrow afternoon.  She had some chicken tonight and, while she wasn’t quite as loud in her appreciation as she was here, she still made me smile.  I couldn’t resist posting this little video again.

We woke up this morning to very chilly weather.  There were even snowflakes floating past.  The first day of spring and snowflakes after a full week or more of glorious mild weather?  Not fair!!  But this won’t last.  By Monday we will be inching our way back up to the wonderful mild spring temperatures.  I guess this was winter’s last gasp, such as it was.

This picture of Lester is definitely a new favourite.

And this one of Smudge taken tonight.  He really does know how to relax and stay warm.