Looking for a Pattern

I've offered to make a friend an iPhone case for her birthday (which I missed!) - and now I'm looking for a pattern!

I've got some lovely embroidery designs to choose from to put on the case - but I'm looking for an easy pattern for the case itself - quilted or sewn. Does anyone perhaps have a suggestion for me?

Season's Greetings

I hope that everyone is having or has had a happy holiday of choice. We celebrate Christmas, and this year it has been very low key.

If Santa has been a visitor in your house, what lovely quilty things has he brought you? I'll take pictures of some of what I received for future posts. But right now, he's in our basement (Santa, aka DH) working on making me a large sewing area. I'm currently working in a very small room, and it's difficult to feel motivated when you have to wind your way around things to get to your sewing machine.

I have a question for all of you experienced quilters/sewers out there. I'm sure it's been obvious that I am still very much a beginner. I have a recurring problem while sewing that is driving me nuts. Sometimes, when I'm piecing, the fabric flows under the presser foot beautifully. On other occasions, the bottom fabric stays on one path, while the top fabric decides to go off to the side a bit. Am I causing this?

Another Little Top Finished

Do you remember that WIP on my table a couple of weeks ago?

There's some fabric in there from one or two old shirts. The bright orange pieces may have come from an old dress - I only got a portion of whatever it was. There's some new fabric in there too, and even a few pieces of what I think was some upholstery fabric.

I'm pretty sure a cat wouldn't mind leaving a few hairs on it. LOL

What Was I Thinking?

DH and I wandered into a "new to us" bookstore today - mainly to check out the restaurant upstairs. As we were leaving, we wandered through the Language section to look for some Irish resources (I'm taking a class at a local pub). From there - it was just a step over to the Crafts section - so of course I couldn't help but check out the Quilting shelves.

I came away with not one, but *two* books on quilting - "Collaborative Quilting" and "Freddy & Gwen Collaborate Again". I have come across quilts on several blogs that were inspired by Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston, so I was excited to actually find these books myself to add to my library.

Now - to find the courage to try some of the incredible blocks showcased in these books...

Why look...

...it's an itty bitty sewing machine...

which looks *much* dustier in the photo than it does in real life.

Have I mentioned I collect sewing machines?

Today's Photo

Today it's a picture of some fabric that I'm just about to cut into. :)

I suspect this was a fat quarter from my favourite store, Sew Sisters. I think the battery on my camera is low, because it's actually in lovely autumn colours - must remember to save some for a leaf on a quilt I plan to make some day.

What's on your cutting table today?

Happy Quilting!

Some WIPs, Some Cuttings...

Today I'll show you a little bit of what I'm working on.

Those little multicoloured blocks at the top are some four patches that I'm unsewing - not happy with how they came together at the centre.

Just below is the beginning of some sashing strips I'm cutting for the pattern on the left - Scotch Blocks. I found it here. (It was originally developed as a scrappy quilt - so it was a natural for me. :)

On the right we have three incredibly scrappy strips that will find their way into a small quilt for an animal shelter. Some of the fabrics are reclaimed from other sources. (Again - totally a natural for me.)

In my previous post, I showed some of my cutting implements. Those lovely gold handled scissors are Ginghers. I'd read the hype - and now I understand. They cut through seams like cutting through butter!

Do you have a favourite cutting implement?

Happy quilting!

Wednesday + Two

Okay, it's not Wednesday, but it IS my cutting table. LOL

So What Will I Do Next?

I've been looking around for a simple pattern with some of the shirt fabric that I have (thank you to my friends for giving me their old shirts!). I've seen a few patterns with plaids on line, but nothing that really spoke to me. Then we made a visit to my favourite quilt shop, Sew Sisters, and I saw the Chip n Dip pattern. Now this is something I think I can do.

Mind you, I still have to go through a mountain of fabric on my cutting table. :-(

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends.

What's on my Clutter Table?

My friend Penny showed off her Cutting Table earlier this week - so I decided I might as well be brave and show the true state of mine today. LOL



So, what is all that clutter? Well, it's some fabric I'm sorting, and some frogging to be done, and a pattern I'm following for a wedding quilt.

And for those Trekkers out there - yes, that's Quark's head you see sticking up at the back. It's a bank. I'm saving my pennies for my dream sewing room. And it's going to take a LONG time. :)

So - what's on your cutting table today?

Stash, Take Two

So, the response to my previous post made me wonder - what is the strangest place that you have used to stash fabric?

And is there a room in your house where you *haven't* stashed any fabric?

Stash

I'm curious. Is it called a "stash" because sometimes we hide it in unlikely places? It's amazing what I can find when I do some reorganizing.

Block Swap

I've just about finished the blocks for a swap that I suggested. And I think it may be the last swap in which I ever participate.

It's not that I don't like swaps. I love the idea. But the truth is, I am TERRIBLE at piecing. I thought perhaps I might improve with time, but that doesn't seem to be the case. And it's bad enough when I'm making small quilts to donate to the animal shelter - although cats and dogs don't seem to care what something looks like. But when I have to share my work with other quilters - it's distressing. I've spent what many people might consider an enjoyable day piecing blocks in my sewing room. Instead, I feel upset - my shoulders are tight and tense, and I'm wishing I hadn't suggested the swap in the first place.

I'll finish the blocks, and I'll send them off. And I'll feel like I've accomplished something - as small as it is. But I'm feeling guilty about the quality of my work, and I'll probably post an apology to the group in a day or so.

I guess I should go find some cheese to go with my whine.

Happy quilting.

Wednesday Again

It's September - where on earth did the summer go?

So - what's on my cutting table? A pile of fabric - mostly fat quarters. And I can't show you this time - on the off chance that someone else in the swap will see my blog before the swap actually takes place.

I've been in a bit of a slump lately. I don't feel inspired to start anything new or different, and I've been putting off cutting the fabric for the current swap - just in case I don't do it right. (Yes, I know - that's not a good excuse.) Maybe working on these squares will get me going again.

On a brighter note - George seems to have recovered from his illness. He's back to asking to be picked up, and begging for treats. Dufus got ill shortly afterwards. We're suspecting a recurrence of a corona virus for both of them. But he's back to normal too - so for the moment - the furbabies all seem well. And a purring cat is a cure for just about anything.

Happy quilting!

The End of the Snuggles

No, I'm not finished making snuggles, but this is the last lot of completed ones that was delivered to my vet's office. There's another one in the works. I'm weaving in all the ends of the seemingly hundreds of yarns scraps I used to crochet it.

This is what's on my cutting table tonight.

It's a bin of scraps of fabric - some fat quarters and other cuts. Some will go into the wedding quilt I'm working on. Others - into the small cat quilts - and who knows what else? It's a bin full of possibilities.

My sewing space is also the safe space for my cat George. He's just over 16 years old, and he's not well. He's had a very bad fever from some infection, and now his kidneys, liver, and pancreas all show signs of problems. He had a loose tooth pulled, and we're hoping that was the cause - and that with the antibiotics we're giving him he'll recover. But he's had a rough time of it, and he's not as strong as he used to be. He's eating a bit now - something he hadn't done since last Friday, and he's drinking his water regularly. It's a small step towards recovery. All we can do is watch and hope.

It's That Time Again

So, what's on my cutting table today?




Strictly speaking, this isn't. As a matter of fact, it was on my ironing board, and it's another snuggle for the animal shelter.



And neither were these - three more snuggles - but of course you guessed that.

So, the real answer is "way too much!" And this is what it looks like:

Some of it is fabric supplied by a friend of mine who finds all sorts of wonderful things at yard sales and thrift sales. It's being cut into 3-1/2" squares and 2" squares (which play rather nicely together) - to be sewn into yet another small quilt top.

I hope you're having a wonderful quilty day!

Squares and a Mini Quilt

It's Wednesday again - and this is what I have on my cutting table. To the right is a small pile of 3-1/2" squares, to be used with four patches in a small quilt for the local cat shelter. Just above the small ruler is a 2-1/2" square, and to the left of that a couple of triangles, cut with my AccuQuilt Go cutter.

The picture below is a small quilt made of 2" squares - I'm keeping the picture small so you can't easily see all my mismatched corners. LOL

It will be quilted with 2 layers of batting or fleece - I'm thinking of something really simple like perhaps criss-crossing the squares in straight lines.

I hope you're having a fun, quilty week!

Can you say "backlog"?

It's Wednesday again, and time to show what's on my cutting table.

The first is a couple of squares that I finished months ago for Blankets for Canada. The blanket is in progress - and if I can get a picture when I'm finished, I'll post it.

The other two are snuggles that I completed - also months ago - for donation to the local animal shelter. And there are a few more of these - so you can see why I use the word "backlog" here. LOL




A couple of people have noted that they're uneasy showing what's on their cutting table, or in their sewing area. I am too - but I decided that I needed a spur to keep me going, and to try to get some sort of order in there.





It's working, too - next to finish is another small quilt top for donation to the animal shelter.



Happy Wednesday!

What's on my Cutting Table?

So much to do, and so little time. At least, that's what it feels like. I've decided to try posting at least once a week - probably on Wednesday - with a picture of what's on my cutting table. It will be a journal of my progress, or perhaps lack thereof. LOL

This is what it looks like right now. There is one pair of my reading glasses - mostly used for frogging. there are some bins of 2" squares - in my attempt to sort them into lights and darks. There's a small pair of scissors for separating the string pieced squares. And, oh yeah, there's one of my little cat quilts in progress. (Let's pretend the stuff in the background doesn't exist for now, okay?)

And here's what was on my cutting table a few months ago.


These are some of the 8" squares that I have crocheted to be put into a blanket to be donated to "Blankets for Canada". This is a group that gives blankets to the homeless. As you may have guessed by now - I love using scraps - yarn scraps, fabric scraps...

So, what's on YOUR cutting table?

Postcards from Mexico

As promised, here is a picture of the two lovely postcards I received from Ale. I think I'd love to visit Toluca.

The bottom picture shows a stained glass window from a Botanical Garden - wouldn't that make a gorgeous quilt?

Happy Monday!

I'm a Winner!

Hola amigas!

Several weeks ago, I entered a giveaway on a lovely blog, Blueberry Heart Quilts, and I won! (I was the 13th to comment - how cool is that?)

And this is what I won.

It's a beautiful little quilted bag - with a side pocket for my cellphone, a hook to hold my keys, and a zippered pocket on the front flap (just above the flower) and one on the front of the bag. There's a lovely long handle as well, for carrying over my shoulder. Here's another picture, showing the inside and the pocket:

Isn't her work lovely?

She also sent me two beautiful postcards - one of which has a picture of a stained glass window that would make a lovely quilt pattern.

Please check out Ale's blog - she has tutorials for making small quilts, bags, and many other beautiful quilty items. (And in Ale's honour, I purchased my first needlework and crochet magazine in Spanish! Wish me luck. :)

Tomorrow - photos of the postcards, and some pretty fabric.

Adiós para ahora!

Organizing Update

Quilting Newbie commented that she would like to see photos of the results of my organizing. Now, I'm always nervous about showing how "organized" I am (NOT), but here goes anyway.

The sewing machine on the bottom right of my new hutch belonged to my grandmother. It was manufactured in 1924, and I used it for many years to make garments. I haven't tried it lately, but I suspect it still sews beautifully. The decal is "La Vincendora". There's only one tiny problem with the machine - the foot pedal needs rewiring - because when I last used it, it decided it wanted to start sewing all by itself, without my foot on the pedal.

I found the jar of thread spools at an antique store in St. Jacob's, if I remember correctly. I'm oh so tempted to reach in and use some of them. There are even bobbins in there that will fit my lovely Sphinx treadle (but that's a picture for another day).

And the work continues...

MIA

I'm not really missing in action. Things are just a little, um, crazy right now. I'm making progress in my sewing room, and I'm planning to get back to it "real soon now". The last few days I've been suffering withdrawal, because I haven't even been able to keep up with reading my blogs list. :-(

On the plus side - I'm going a quilt show on Saturday. I'm looking forward to the inspiration!

A Quick Update

My reorganizing is progressing. I'm finding stashes of fabric all over the place. While it's great to have so much to choose from, I'm beginning to feel a little overwhelmed. I mean, does it multiply all by itself? Did I really buy all that fabric?

We went yard saling this weekend, and I found a lovely hutch that fits well in my sewing area. The price was right - about the same cost as a set of three plastic drawers new - but so much bigger (and nicer looking too except for a couple of scratches). Fingers crossed - in a few days - I'll be *so* much more organized - and able to find my cutting table and take a few pictures too!

Redecorating

Well, not really. I'm just in the process of figuring out how to set up part of my sewing space in my home office. I think it will make the computerized part of my quilting/embroidery much easier to have the computer in the same room. And the front bedroom I was going to use as more sewing space is now going to be set up as a home office for work - as in working from home. (I really don't want my home office/computer to be in the same space - there should be some separation of home and work.) This means reshuffling of stuff, decluttering, reorganizing - and once in a while a little sewing too. Not to mention the processing of about 3 bags of cotton shirts and other garments to be recycled. I'm going to be a very busy bee... :)

And it's not that I don't have anything to actually show here - it's just that I can never seem to get around to taking any pictures. LOL

Questions - Recycling Clothing

For those of you that recycle clothing into quilts - how do you prepare the fabric? Do you cut out the seams? Do you use your seam ripper? Do you use all of the fabric from shirts - or do you discard collars and cuffs?

And does anyone make pet beds from pillowcases? What do you stuff them with? Can you use the scraps from recycled clothing? (I guess you can see where I'm going with this - is it possible to reuse ALL of an old piece of clothing?)

I suppose the easy answer would be just to do go ahead and do whatever I want, but I'm curious. That plus I want to be sure I'm doing it right. ;-)

Earth Day 2009

This is my favourite song for Earth Day. I sing it frequently, and try not to cry each time.

Whose Garden Was This

Nothing to Report

I'm quite a bit behind on posting, and there's really no such thing as catching up here, is there? :)

It was a quiet day - a little sewing, some garden work, some housework, and a little walking on the treadmill. In other words, nothing to report.

So, just to add some colour to this post - these are some fat quarters I picked up a while ago at Sew-Sisters. These may very well make it into a cat quilt for the local humane society.

A Silly Photo

This is Gandalf the Furry guarding Minas Tirith.

Sorry, just couldn't resist! LOL

Pay-It-Forward

A while ago I joined the Pay-It-Forward challenge on QuiltObsession's blog. Here are the rules:

I must make and send a handmade item to the three people who join my PIF within 365 days;
In turn, the three people who join my PIF must also host their own PIF and ask three people to join and on and on;
There are no set times other than the gift must be made and sent within 365 days of hosting your PIF.

If you're interested in joining in, please tell me in a comment that you would like to join my PIF.

This means I'm looking for 3 people to join my challenge. Anyone care to join me?

Baby Quilt

Here's a picture of a quilt top I've finished for my grandniece. When I had completed it, I thought it was ugly, and so haven't been really quick to pick it up for sandwiching and quilting. But my DSIL, the grandmother, says it's her favourite - so it can't be all that bad.

From My Quilts

I don't think the photo does the colours justice. The fabric is from Fabric Freedom.

Laurel Burch

Quilting Obsession mentioned Laurel Burch in her blog a few days ago, and I mentioned that I had made one of the quilts based on her fabric. The quilt is called "Canines and Felines", and I fell in love with it when I first saw the sample in our LQS.

From My Quilts

I appliqued the blocks in the centre with variegated thread - one of my favourite quilting notions. Here's what it looks like.

From My Quilts

I'll add photos of a couple of other quilt tops shortly.

An Easy Decision

It's interesting how easy decisions can become when you actually stop and look at your resources. For instance - I found the fabric that I had purchased a year or more ago for a "Three Little Kittens" quilt for my grandniece. It's a Darcy Ashton applique pattern - you can see a picture of it here. I pulled out the pattern book and dutifully started cutting the background on which I would applique the kittens, their mittens, etc, etc. And it quickly became obvious to me that I *hate* the background fabric. I like the fabric that I chose for the kittens - but just not for the kittens themselves. So this is a project that isn't going to get started for a while. I'll have to head back to the quilt shop.

Which leads me to ask - have you ever felt pressured by time, circumstances, or whatever, to buy fabrics for a project (maybe because that's all the shop had to choose from) that you later regretted?

Decisions...

So which project should I pick up next? I've got another small quilt to finish, not to mention 4 larger tops to quilt, a wedding quilt-in-progress, and wedding quilt-to-start, and a "Three Little Kittens" quilt to start. And then there's all those kits...

Am I the only one ever to feel paralyzed by too many choices?

Tagged and Firsts.

First things first!

Two very kind bloggers tagged me, and all I can say is, "I'm not worthy!" LOL

Thank you to Quilting Newbie and The Quilting Pirate, who have both decided that I must list five addictions.



Only five? Ah well, here goes...

1. Music - you see, I sing - mostly something called filk music, and one of my favourite things is to be in a group of people harmonizing.
2. My cats - need I explain?
3. Making things out of fabric. As long as I can recall, I've saved scraps of fabric. As a child, I made doll clothes. Later on, it was braided rugs, and now, it's quilting.
4. Books - mainly mysteries and science fiction, with a fantasy or three thrown in for good measure.
5. This is a toss up between dark chocolate or bloody caesars - I don't have either very often, but when I do, I REALLY enjoy them.

Okay - now this is the more difficult part - I have to tag 5 other people. That would be:

Quilt Obsession
Quilting at the Cottage
quilt as desired
TobyCat Creations
Happy in Quilting

There are so many more, but these ladies have been very inspirational to me, and I hope they will be to you as well.

Now...


This little quilt represents a series of firsts for me. It's my first finish in February, which is a really good thing. It's also the first pieced quilt I quilted on my frame with the stitch regulator, the first one with no puckers in the back (trust me on this). It's my first quilt with mitered corners in the binding, and the first quilt on which I hand sewed down the binding.

I hope you've all had a wonderful Valentine's Day, and a great weekend!

Snuggles, Piecing

It has been too long since I posted last, and I *have* to catch up. Two lovely people have tagged me, and more about that next time.

I finished a second snuggle (mini quilt top) for the local cat shelter, and I've got a picture of my finished crocheted snuggle from January (my first finished WISP of the year). Yes, I'm REALLY behind. Having a cold and the flu will do that, I'm afraid.

Anway, here's the finished snuggle:






And here's the second mini quilt top - before my attempt at stippling on my quilt frame with the new stitch regulator attached:






As you can see - nothing fancy - and totally scrappy.

I'll post a photo of the finished mini quilt once it's squared up and bound.

Snow, Cold, Furbabies

I've still got this cold - hopefully it will be gone soon. It might have gone sooner if I hadn't caught the flu in the middle of it. At any rate, this means I haven't been able to accomplish much lately. But - my Christmas present arrived today! DH bought me a Stitch Regulator for my Bailey. Hopefully it will be installed and ready for a test drive this weekend.

As you already know, we have several furbabies. Dufus and Maxine were snuggling on a chair today (on top of the ugliest quilt in the world - but that's another story). As you can see, I just HAD to take a picture. Dufus is the tuxedo cat.

Practice Quilting

So I've finished the first practice quilt - and I started taking it off the frame. Guess what? I managed to stipple the top to the leader. LOL So much to learn - but I'll get there.

Mind you, it helps immensely when the frame is level. I had noticed some resistance when working in one direction, so DH got out the carpenter's level - and sure enough - some readjustment was required. Glad to know it wasn't me.

Now, if I could just shake this darn cold. I'm SO tired of coughing.

Gracie Update, Darn Cold

So Gracie made it in to the vet this morning, and had her chest x-rays. The poor little thing has some fluid in the front lobe of her lungs - so she's started on a bronchiodilator - half a pill, twice a day. I'm so glad I have a piller for cats - she took the first one with no trouble at all. She and I will also get to share meds - I'm on a low dose aspirin for my blood pressure etc etc - and she can have one every 4 days to act as a blood thinner. Then she's back in for a recheck on Valentine's Day (how appropriate!).

The darn cold is still hanging on. I thought I was getting better, but you can't tell by my voice. Oh well - it's only a cold. It will go away eventually.

Cold, Eye Candy

I haven't been doing much lately, as I've managed to come down with a cold. So here's some eye candy to make up for not having much else to show at the moment.

Happy New Year

It's a new year, and I've got some new photos. I've also joined in a challenge! It's One Project A Month, and it's to help us finish off our WISPs (I love that term). I've actually already finished something, but today's picture is not it LOL.

I'm looking forward to this - I might actually have a chance of meeting this challenge!

And now a picture - this is another Snuggle that I finished last month.