Remember this little 7 Sisters quilt that’s the size of a 2.5″ hexagon that I made with .50″ 60-degree diamonds?

Well, it has turned into a specialty mug rug. A mug rug for Timbits. Timbits are from the Tim Hortons coffee/doughnut chain here in Canada. They’re basically doughnut holes that are pretty much irresistible and come in a variety of flavours. A friend didn’t believe that a Timbit could fit on each one of the tiny stars in the little quilt. That, of course, meant we had to go get some Timbits to prove that they would fit. And they do. Just barely, but they do. One Timbit on each star.

“Kitbits.”

Baxter captured mid-yawn on a pillow with a friend.

I’m almost finished making the little flowers that will be in my tiny garden quilt, so decided I’d better print some hexagons and half hexagons on a green fabric for the leaves and grass around the flowers. In just a couple of minutes I had these .50″ hexagons and half hexagons printed and cut out.

Which brings me to the question. Have you ever tried to remove the little sandpaper circles from the back of a ruler? I have them on a few of my rulers and have found that they’re more of a hindrance than a help, particularly when cutting small shapes like the hexagons. If you have removed the sandpaper dots from rulers successfully, I’d love to hear how you did it.

“Some Bugs Are Good For the Garden.”

Mr. Q.O. captioned this shot of Baxter “Royalty.”  I think he’s right – Baxter is the royalty of the household!

I’ve wanted to do a nosegay block for ages. Then I saw some on Tim Latimer’s Bridal Bouquet Quilt Top blog post and that got me really thinking. I knew that with the kite and the .75″ 45-degree diamonds I had the beginning of the little block. Then I added in a couple of sizes of QSTs and started stitching. It’s an odd shape, no question, but I wasn’t worried about that as this is destined to be the label for a quilt. I wanted to do something really different for the label and this is the result.

Will I make more? Most definitely! Although cutting those tiny squares is an adventure.

Another shot with a dime beside one of the tiny, tiny green squares.

The back. A lot of little seams in a tiny block, but with the seams graded it pressed like a charm. Most of the fabrics used for the diamonds are very finely woven like a batik, which makes a big difference with such tiny shapes. There are lots of opportunities for continuous stitching in this little block, which made it relatively quick to stitch.

“Clowning Around.”

It was cool again yesterday but Baxter was nice and cozy, curled up in one of his kitty beds.

I’m working on a small project that has to be finished quickly. So out came the baggie full of  .50″ hexagons that had already been printed on fabrics and I began making the flowers. My little garden is only going to have a dozen or so flowers. They go together quickly with a simple running stitch so I know I can complete it quite easily and have time to add some embellishments.

I’m grading the seams as I finish each flower.

So much for the lovely mild weather. We had a wind chill of something like -1C last night and the heat is definitely back on but I think it warms up again fairly quickly and we will be back to the heat off and windows open before the week is over. Yesterday was a very odd day. It was pouring down rain one minute and the sun was out the next.

The leaves on the tree are all opening and our view is much nicer. We got this shot Friday night when the sky was a lovely shade of mauve.

“Lots of Rain Here.”

Baxter was using his toy basket as a pillow. Looks dreadfully uncomfortable to me, but he seemed content curled up there for quite a while.

We finally have a picture of the Case of the Secret Garden that shows the true colours of the fabrics I used. I’m still dithering over a border treatment for this one. I think perhaps something plain to frame it rather than a pieced one as I’d rather keep the focus on the centre of the quilt than distract from it with a more involved pieced border.

Memories of Smudge also needed to be photographed outdoors. Now I’m sure what I want to do with borders for this little quilt top.

And finally, the Tiffany Lamp New York Beauty. There are a lot of metallic fabrics in this top. They were reflecting the sunlight rather intensely in some spots.

On Monday, the crab apple tree blossoms were barely buds. Yesterday they were beautiful delicate pink blossoms. We’re supposed to have rain and storms today, so I’m glad we got this photo yesterday.

While we were out on the roof garden, the cardinals were going from tree to tree. What a treat it is to see and listen to them. The male is just barely visible in this shot. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see the little splash of red there.

It’s a kitty picnic!

Baxter still hasn’t spotted the cardinals, although he has been watching the sparrows rather intently. So intently that he just had to have a nap!

I couldn’t resist turning the little Seven Sisters block into a very tiny mug rug. Three quick lines of machine quilting and it was done. This is the same Seven Sisters block that is equal in size to a 2.5″ hexagon.

The challenge for me was how to finish it. I decided against adding a binding so instead folded the backing over and tacked it down on the front. While I wouldn’t want to do that too often as I think it took longer than a regular binding would have, it was the right solution for this little mug rug.

I used the coffee/tea cup fabric for the backing.

Two finishes in less than a week? That’s definitely not my normal pace at all. It’s fun to finish something like this off so quickly. Tiny scraps of fabric are perfect for miniatures. A batt goes a long, long, long way.  A fat quarter could be the backing for many small pieces and, best of all, I can play with design ideas and colour combinations to my heart’s content. I wonder what my next miniature might be!

We have a pair of cardinals out on the roof garden this year. Yesterday as I was working at the computer, I noticed a flash of red. When I looked, there were a pair of cardinals sitting on the branch that’s mere inches from our window. Of course I didn’t have a camera nearby, but it seems that they may have taken up residence here so I’m hoping I’ll get a chance to get a photo of them soon.

“We Saw a Cardinal Outside our Window Today.”

The one time he wasn’t in his kitty tree yesterday was when the cardinals were sitting right outside the window. But he was there most of the rest of the day and evening. When I took this shot, he was half awake.

This red and white star is made with the 1″/2″ star point add-on collection that goes with the 1″ and 2″ hexagons, as was the one in my blog header.

This little triangular piece is made with the star point that goes with the .75″ and 1.5″ hexagons. It is on Inklingo Collection 3 on CD which is fabulous value for money – there are hexagons, diamonds, triangles, star points, elongated hexagons and more and it comes with a great book.

And then there are these enormous 1.5″/3″ star points from the add-on collection that goes with the 1.5″ and 3″ hexagons and which I decided to start playing with yesterday. I have no idea how large this is going to grow. For now, I’ve printed diamonds and star points on 14 fabrics. Once I finish adding those, I’ll decide how much larger I want to make this piece. I may add some black diamonds at points to really make the colours pop.

The star points are fun to play with. They work with hexagons, diamonds and triangles – so all sorts of looks can be accomplished.

“County Walk (waiting for his buddies).”

Back up on his kitty tree. There is much to be seen out the windows. And the leaves on the tree are now opening. When we look out we’re starting to see more green now rather than the concrete office towers across the street.

Candy Stars is finished. Hand pieced and machine quilted. The last stitch in the binding was taken late Sunday and the photo shoot happened out on the roof garden yesterday afternoon. Having such good weather and being able to take photos outside is great as the colours in the little quilt show up so much better.

I found this fabric in my stash for the backing of the little quilt.

A close-up of some of the machine quilting.

It’s rather amazing to think there are over 930 pieces in a little quilt that measures 20″ x 26″. Now I can’t wait to get it on its way to its new home and hopefully see a picture of it on the doll bed!

I couldn’t have made this little quilt without Inklingo. I used shapes from two collections to make it – the .75″ 45-degree diamonds from the 6″ Hunter’s Star collection and the .75″ squares and octagons from the .75″ Octagon collection. Having the perfect stitching lines and matching points makes piecing tiny shapes like this absolutely painless – no worries about precision at all. Just print, cut and stitch.

“Spring Planting.”

Baxter in his kitty tree — again. He has to keep watch over all the goings-on out on the roof garden.

Now that Candy Stars is almost finished – all that’s left is the label now – I had to find another miniature to play with. So I decided on this tiny Seven Sisters block made with .50″ diamonds. It’s the same size as a 2.5″ hexagon and was a very quick little block to stitch as each seam was just one load of stitches on the needle.

The back of it is almost nothing but seam allowances, even after grading the seams. I was so grateful for my Rowenta travel iron when pressing those tiny seams!

Just to give some perspective, that’s a nickel on top of the centre star of the Tiny Sisters. I can’t get over the difference in the colour in these photographs. The top two were taken outside on the roof garden and are definitely the right colour while this one was taken indoors and distorted the colour of the stars.

The floral arrangements in the urns at the front of our building are beautiful right now – lots of pink!

We had more glorious weather on the weekend and the leaves are now opening on the trees. The crab apple tree on the roof garden has little blossoms on it almost ready to open and the leaves on the tree directly in front of our living room window are almost ready to open. Soon we’ll have our beautiful view of green.

The one lone daffodil in the roof garden flowerbeds didn’t bloom this year. I think the storm we had a few weeks ago put an end to that. But there was some yellow to be seen on the roof garden. Even though it was dandelions, they’re a welcome splash of colour. The grass is growing incredibly fast. The gardeners had just cut the lawn on Thursday or Friday and here it is on Sunday, looking like it hasn’t been cut at all.

“Weeds.”

Baxter was very busy watching out the window this weekend. And listening as we were serenaded by a variety of birds.

Little stars, medium stars, big stars. I’m seeing them all. The large ones made with 1″ 60-degree diamonds, the medium with .74″ diamonds and the little ones with .50″ diamonds. All printed on my fabrics with various Inklingo 60-degree diamond collections.

The large ones are for the tumbling stars quilt. The medium ones will be incorporated into a mug rug or mini quilt. The little ones? I’m playing with an idea for another miniature doll bed quilt and of course I’m starting out with some pink stars. This miniature will have a variety of coloured stars in it, all made with batiks. They’re a treat to stitch – one load of stitches on the needle and the little seam is done. It takes no time to make a few of these stars. In fact, it took longer to print and cut 42 diamonds than it took to stitch two of them. And if you have used Inklingo, you know it takes no time at all to print. And rotary cutting with the perfect cutting lines takes no time either.

A few seconds and the seams are graded.

“Flower Delivery.”

There are no flowers on the roof garden yet, but the gardeners have been busy out there getting things ready. We are having such glorious weather that I keep wondering if they might break the rules and plant before May 24. But I suppose not as that would be tempting the cold weather to come back.

After a busy day watching out the window and listening to the birds, Baxter was lounging in his kitty bed guarding his toys. Shortly after this photo was taken, he was sound asleep using the catnip banana as his pillow.