Worth a Thousand Words

This is my political thought for the year.

















And on the quilting side:

This is a picture of the back-ground and border fabric I have chosen for Esther Aliu’s new BOM.  I don’t know why I am doing this: I haven’t worked on the last one for over four months and only got 5 of the blocks done. 

But I went ahead and bought this fabric for it and, if she hasn’t designed something that is WAY beyond me, again, I want to be ready.  I really have wanted to do a gray quilt and gray background squares with applique flowers just sounds beautiful.  Esther has given us the cutting instructions for all of the blocks, sashing, and borders and then will give us the first applique block on the 15th.  I think I will hold off on the cutting until I see what that first block looks like.  Then I’ll decide if I am ready to cut into this neat fabric. 

A Triple Play

From what I can see, this is going to be on my design wall for a little while longer.  I now have 9 wedges sewn and have 9 more to put together.  However, I am still excited about how this is coming together.  The colors are really much brighter than shown here: I don’t seem to be able to remember to take pictures until after the sun has gone down.    Have you figured out what it is going to be?

Also on the wall are these blocks.  It seems that when I finished putting the cats quilt together, I had lots of striped blocks.  So, I cut them into 2 1/2” strips and began sewing them into 12” blocks.   Here are 6 blocks and there will be 6 more.  When I have them all done I will figure out what more will go with them: this is going to be a charity quilt.  I usually have a lot of difficulty thinking quilt patterns that are good for boys but this one is certainly not gender specific. 

 

 

Yesterday I got back to my iPad cover.  These two panels are almost ready for some applique and then I will finish piecing the top.  The interior will be made with the striped fabric as will the handles.  The panels are resting on the foundation.  However, I am being a little slowed down by the fact that I have decided to create two sections, one for the iPad and one for a keyboard.  I had hoped to have this done (February Color Palette Challenge) by the end of this month but it looks like it will not be until March.  Maybe for next month’s challenge, I will make a mug rug.

 

I had planned to have a picture of DH and his new quilt but between his getting sick (sinus and/or cold) and there being no sun for the last several days, no picture of them together has been taken.  So check back later this seek and see if  nature and nurture can conspire to get the two of them together.     Stay tuned………

Design Wall: moving right along

So here is my wall with a few more wedges completed.  I still have about 20 more to press open but I have been distracted (see below).  However the big news is that I think I know what I am going to do with them.  I am so excited about the idea and a little concerned that I may not be able to figure out how to execute it. 

I have not been able to work on the above much because of this:  
The quilting is finished and I am so happy with it. 







Didn’t the cats turn out great?  What I learned is that even though my echoing has a lot of bobbles, the more lines I included the better it looked. 



When I was quilting this last row I suddenly looked at this block and saw barbed wire.  Don’t ask where that came from but that’s what I see.








I quickly cut, sewed and pressed the binding and here I am sewing it on.





I only got part of the turned binding on when I found I was getting tired so I quit and will get back to it today.

edit 2/22/12:  The cats quilt is done, washed, dried, and was placed on a sleeping DH yesterday morning.  I hope to have pictures of him and the quilt later this week.



Now I realize that sometimes it seems like all I do quilt and/or talk about quilting.  But sometimes we do other things.  This past week we opened surprise packages from my mother.


This is a  blurry picture of the owl bag she sent me.  I collect owls, mostly glass owls, and she just knew that I would love this bag.  It is large enough to hold the file folder I use for my Weight Watcher’s paperwork so it is going to see a lot of use.  What I really like about it is that it has an inside and an outside zipper compartment so I can carry personal items as well as work.




And this is what she sent to DH.  What a sense of humor she has, huh?









Of course so does he.  When I looked at this I realized that this is what I have to look forward to…….in the not too far distant future. 

So while we are waiting for what seems to be in my future, it is time to check out all that is going on at Patchwork Times.

Personal and Quilting Change

Personal:  20 weeks ago I agreed to lead a Weight Watchers meeting out of my area.  I tend to be in demand when the group wants a meeting time that is during the day.    I really didn’t want to do another meeting (already doing 3) but I also hated to deny people the opportunity to loose weight if they wanted to do the work.  It was to be a 15 week group and I was assured there was already someone in training who would be ready to take over when we were done.  My members were college personnel and between the holiday vacations and on campus meetings it stretched to 20.  However, this past Monday I did my last meeting and turned them over to their new leader: I now have my Mondays back….YEA!!

 

Quilting:  While I was pressing the wedges I started playing with them on the design wall.  What do you think of this snake-like design?  Can’t really see it too well?

 

 

Here is the one on the top.  Nothing is sewn together but I kind of like this and can already see some possibilities for quilting.  Of course I don’t know how I would put this all together but I like what I see.  The wedges are 1” long so that take up a lot of linier space.  They are narrow, approximately 2” at the top down to about 3/4” at the bottom.  Anyway, I am open for opinions and/or suggestions.

Some Progress

I think I am avoiding finishing the Crazy Cats.  Last week I showed the batik strips and then the strata I sewed with them. 

 

After that I cut the strata into wedges and began working on them.

 

 

 

 

This was how my design wall looked Friday night.  I kind of liked that shaggy look but it wasn’t what I was going for.

My plan was to work on these when we got home Saturday afternoon but after my WW meeting DH suggested we head to Pensacola.  He had to replace his glass frames: Sadie chewed them in half. 

 

After getting the new glasses he suggested we might go to the movies to see Star Wars: Phantom Menace in 3D.  Many years ago we stood in line to see the first Star Wars movie, us and our 4 children.  We loved all of the first three movies: we

enjoyed the second set.  This movie is the first of the second set.  For some reason we enjoyed it more this time and it wasn’t just because it was 3D.  I think our expectations were more realistic.  The 3D was really good.  The current 3D is much more realistic that what we saw so many long years ago.  It is more subtle, more like seeing real things with depth. 

 

On Sunday our weather decided to bring winter back (uck).  When I woke up it was 27F.  And since there is no central heat in the studio I ran over there and turned on the space heaters: it took 5 hours to get it warm enough to work in there.   And this is what I was able to accomplish:

 

 

Of course I am just putting them up on the wall as I get them pressed.  And would you believe that I still haven’t decided just how I am going to use them?  I figure I will have some really good idea once they are all completed.  This is about 1/3 of the cut wedges.

 

 

But isn’t this pretty?  I love all that color.  Every once in a while I have to stop and move a wedge, when I see too much of one color sitting together.  But for the most part, they look good no matter how you put them together.  

 

Today I hope to get back to the Crazy Cats.  I have a  WW meeting at noon and then some grocery shopping before I can settle down to quilting.   While I’m out running around, why don’t you go check out what’s going on at Patchwork Times?

Being more productive

This has been a more productive week on the quilting front.  No, I haven’t finished the cats quilt.  For some reason I have been avoiding working on it.  BUT,

 

On   Wednesday I got most of the half strips sewn into 5 strip strata.  Even on a cloudy day, don’t they look great?  I pulled them off the design wall, cut them in half and grouped them on Monday morning and then Wednesday sewed these.

 

 

 

And today I finished sewing the rest.  I also got all the strata pressed and even got them all cut.  I didn’t get anymore done because by the time I was done cutting it was time to feed the animals.

 

 

Can you see that little black dot next to the falling apart  hammock?  That is one of the four “yard cats” that come whenever I feed our outside cat, inside cat, three dogs and two birds.  About 3:30 they start to gather and stare at the deck and front door.  All I have to do is come out with some food and them bound onto the deck and start mewing.   And they are not quiet about their demands, either.  However, they are really pretty (2 gray and 1 black) and they keep the rodent population down.

 

 

And inside the house we have Sadie and her favorite toy.  I think she would rather play with this toy than eat.  And it is the only toy she has been unable to tear apart. 

Tomorrow I am having a back-up system installed on my new car.  I will have a beeper sound whenever the car gets close to anything behind me.  I have never backed into anything but DH has this system on his truck (after he backed into my last car) and it is really helpful.  I figured that as I am getting older (no really) it will get harder for me to turn around in the car and/or see around the blind spots. Also this will alert me to when other old people walk behind me in the Walmart parking lot, which happens all the time.

See, there is always something going on here in the Deep South. 

Finally, Something New

For most of last week my design wall was empty.  I just couldn’t think of anything I really wanted to work on.  But Sunday afternoon I walked into the studio and saw these batik strips hanging in about three different places and all of a sudden I had an idea.  I sorted them by color (not always easy with batiks) and then I cut them in half and put them into groups of 5.  I’m not sharing what is going to happen with them but, at least to begin with, this should be mindless sewing, the kind I can do when I am tired.  I love batiks and am trying to use as many brights as possible.

 

And I also did some work on my iPad cover, the February color challenge from Judy and Vicki.  This is just me foolin’ around with shapes and the colors but I am having fun.  I cut the circles with my GO and I am experimenting with applique glue.  The pliers are there because I couldn’t get the cap off of the glue without them.  Anyway, I showed my fabric palette in the last post and also the inner stabilizer with the pattern drawn out on it.  However, since I am dreaming this up as I go along, also, it could take me all month to get it together.

 

And, I am still quilting the Crazy Cats: I have three rows to go.  I put this shot in because it shows the backing fabric really well.  DH picked it out and it has really pretty gold flecks in it.  He had asked for a large quilt so he could keep warm at night.  It’s a good thing that we have been having a rather warm winter (just the kind I like). 

Speaking of warm weather, I did have a chance to take the convertible out for a top down spin.  We have had 70+ days and when it wasn’t either threatening to rain or actually raining, I had the top down and the wind blowing through my hair.  What fun!

Now, for more fun, drive on over to Judy’s blog to see a bunch of quilting creativity.

Having fun in the sun

Thinking about retiring?   I recommend it!  This is how I spent my Thursday.  I thought I wanted to get into the studio to quilt but somewhere on the way I was sidetracked by sunshine and 77F temps, and quality reading.  Oh, and a couple of peppermint patties.

 

So, today, Friday, I got another row quilted on the Cats quilt prior to getting in another couple hours of quality reading time. 

 

I did take out a little time to begin work on Vicki’s color palette challenge for February.  Aren’t the colors luscious?  So I pulled these fabrics but I am not sure what I will be doing with them.

 

Except that they will probably be the outside for an iPad cover.  This is a double thickness of a semi-stiff stabelizer.  I have drawn the outline of the iPad, with an inch included for the fold, and than an additional inch to give me a little room for other stuff.  Now all I have to do is come up with a design for the quilt: I can’t cut into the fabric until I know what I need. 

I hope to get back to the quilting on Cats either Saturday or Sunday.  I have three more rows and then a little fixing (filling the empty spaces I missed on the way down) and then it will be time to cut the fabric for the binding.  I got a great stripe that I think will finish this cute quilt off great.

Have a great weekend and come back and visit again.