This week has been challenging for me as I’ve been absolutely swamped with unexpected work that has had horribly tight deadlines. It’s so bad that I didn’t even touch fabric yesterday. And that is the reason I’ve been less than … Continue reading
To see some flowers around the block this time. Flowers from the pathway up to the front entrance to the building.
Flowers at the store right across from the building.
I had hoped there’d be pictures of the flowers from the roof garden, but I guess the gardeners are sticking to the don’t plant before May 24th rule. I’m a bit surprised as we had gloriously warm weather throughout the entire long weekend and this week looks like it’s going to feel like July rather than May.
On the long weekend I got lots and lots of the New York Beauty pieces I had printed on fabric cut and ready to stitch, a few more of the Drunkard’s Path blocks stitched and spent a fair bit of time giving my blog a facelift. Which, if you’re reading this other than through a reader, you’ve probably already noticed. I love the new WordPress option of being able to see a true preview of how the various themes look with the blog header photo. It made switching themes fun this time.
Baxter knows how to relax but, even when having a snooze, always likes to know where his toys are. Mr. Q.O. captioned this one, “Choices, choices.”
This is the pile after grading the seams on two of the red and white Feathered Star/Sunflower blocks. Two blocks left to go and then I can start putting the top together. It will probably take less time to stitch the blocks together than it has to grade the seams. If nothing else, this may be the final time I need to learn the lesson to grade seams as I make the blocks but it is worth the effort as the difference in weight is noticeable and the quilt will drape quite nicely. I put a nickel beside the pile of trimmings just to give it some perspective.
When I needed a break from the grading, I went looking in my stash for another candidate for kaleidoscope stars. This fabric has a relatively small repeat which would mean little fabric waste, but I have a feeling the stars would all end up looking alike. So back it goes to the stash to be used in something else.
Baxter had a very busy day on Tuesday. Kitty TV has started – a squirrel was seen out on the roof garden. So last night he was relaxing in “his” chair.
While almost all my stitching time on the weekend was spent working on the red and white Feathered Star/Sunflower quilt top, some time was spent auditioning possible partners for the purple batik. First I had to try a white on white with it.
The second possibility was this gold with it.
The third possibility was this sea green/lime green with it.
I think I know which I’m going to choose, but am not a hundred per cent decided. Which would you choose and why?
If I stick with the design idea I’m thinking of, there will be a lot of whichever ends up as the “neutral” in the quilt.
Baxter had a busy weekend watching out the window. It’s getting milder and milder every day and I think he knows that kitty TV will be starting any day with the arrival of some birds and hopefully some squirrels.
Remember when he used to sleep like this as a little kitten? That shot was taken in July, when he was barely 3 months old.
This is his “I’m a big kitty now” version of the pose. This was taken on the weekend, and he’s almost 11 months old now.
If you want a fun pattern to make a frog of your own for Leap Year, check out this blog post at the Sew Sisters blog.
I think this is Baxter’s bat-cat pose. Mr. Q.O. captioned it, “Are frogs good to eat?”
It’s not perfect, but it’s good enough. I used 2 layers of Warm and Natural batting underneath the muslin and now it feels and looks so much better! When I started thinking about doing this, I found a few tutorials and ended up following this one as it seemed by far the easiest.
It is so nice to have a clean new ironing board cover. I know the muslin will show discolouration faster than a print but now that I’ve done this once, I can do it again easily. It sounds more complicated than it is. I think it took me longer to read through the tutorial than it did to actually make the new cover.
The new quilt wasn’t started yesterday as I ended up doing a lot of computer clean-up stuff as well as making the ironing board cover. There were tons and tons of photos that didn’t need to be on my hard drive but could be burned on to DVDs. Today I will get a start on the quilt. To start, I’ll be printing 3″ HSTs using Inklingo. I’m using muslin with a variety of fabrics so will only need to print on the muslin and then stitch on the sewing lines.
Baxter has many favourite spots but lately he seems to really like reclining by the quilt hoop. Wonder if he’s trying to tell me to get some hand quilting done.
Rather boring picture, I know. But I’m finally going to make a new ironing board cover. I’ve been threatening to do this for next to forever and have found a couple of tutorials online that seem pretty straightforward so today’s experiment shall be making myself a clean new ironing board cover. My old one is so far beyond the pale I wouldn’t even dream of taking a picture of it.
For a fleeting moment or two I thought about dressing up the ironing board and using a pretty print fabric but, given the wear and tear my ironing board takes being shoved in the closet and dragged out again, I’d rather be a bit more frugal about it. Watch for tomorrow’s report on just how easy (or not) making this ironing board cover proved to be!
Last night Mr. Q.O. suggested a quilt be made for a friend. So out came the quilt books looking for some quick inspiration. I think I’ve settled on a design and, if the ironing board cover experiment goes well, I might even get the first block made today. It will be a machine-pieced quilt and one that I hope to put together quickly.
Baxter was draped over the arm of the chair looking at the quilt books too. He’ll be happy with whatever design so long as he has a chance to bite the fabric.
While I spent most of the weekend concentrating on learning EQ, Mr. Q.O. was playing with some photo filters and applying them to various photos that have been taken recently. First up, a watercolour version of the Winding Ways blocks.
Then a cartoon version of my Rose Dream Pinwheel block.
Of course then a cartoon version had to be done of the Winding Ways blocks.
As well as a cartoon version of the bow tie quilt.
Finally, a grey version of the Winding Ways blocks. This filter is definitely one I can see as being extremely useful for quilters. I know that when I get all the blocks made and am sorting out placement, this will be a really helpful tool.
There was a light-bulb moment on the weekend when I finally got comfortable with EQ and was then off to the races. A big bonus to designing in EQ is that I can play with the newest fabrics downloaded from the various manufacturers’ websites and see how my design ideas work before committing to cutting and printing fabric. That said, I really do wish there was a Mac-compatible version of it.
One “normal” photo in this post and that is of Baxter. We had an extremely cold weekend and he was taking full advantage of his kitty bed, as well as staying very close to his toys.
Not a lot of stitching has been done this week, although I now have enough diamonds joined into pairs to start the next round on the scrappy star top. As the scrappy star has grown, I’ve found it easier to put them together into pairs and then, once the placement is figured out, join the pairs into sets for each of the 8 segments.
It’s definitely looking like fall now.
This birch tree has now lost almost all its leaves.
This is a shot of Queen’s Park, a park near our building. Some of the trees still have their gorgeous fall colours.
Baxter was watching me stitch. We think this is his Morris look.
These 4 blocks have also been bumped up the list to be finished. The lime batik I’ll use to set them is ready and the little quilt top should be done in no time. The blocks have been sitting for ages and the lime batik is washed and ready.
It has been quite a week around here. Last Thursday and yesterday, Mr. Q.O. had cataract surgery. The difference is absolutely incredible. He can basically now throw away his old glasses and use drugstore readers. I was able to sit with him in the pre-op area until the doctors came to get him and the nurse told me as soon as he was out of surgery – less than 15 minutes. What an amazing process! The nurses in the pre-op and recovery room were wonderful and we both got a hug from one of them as we left.
Baxter sprawled out under a desk yesterday afternoon. It really doesn’t look like he could possibly be comfortable, but this is how he likes to sleep.
