I Like Thursday #316

It's time once again for Thursday Likes! Please visit LeeAnna over at Not Afraid of Color to link up with more participating blogs. Our peonies are just starting to blossom. I cut these 2 and brought them in the house. They're so pretty! I wanted them to be indoors so I could admire them more. And they smell good too!

My daughter-in-law took me to a yarn show back in April and I bought this great hand dyed yarn. I decided to make a shawl for a friend's birthday. This design is from Jen Lucas and is called Juniper. You start off with 349 stitches but I'll be decreasing soon. Thankfully!

I recently changed a quilt on my couch. This is Moondance by Beth Ferrier. This was a free block of the month that I made way back in 2006. It's all hand quilted. I wasn't machine quilting at all at the time. It's full of applique and I love it! It looks great in my family room. The batiks are so pretty. I think I displayed this quilt in a quilt show when I was in a quilt guild. Long ago now!

That's it for me this week! Have a great weekend and stay cool!

Whiskas N Catnip Update

 I've been making great progress on Whiskers N Catnip. At this point, I have all the blocks together, except for the block corners which you will see soon! This piece measures 48" square. It wasn't very difficult to piece together since there weren't a ton of matching seams.

I'm finally using the flying geese strips I've been making as I was working on the blocks. The flying geese finished up at 4.5" X 48.5". What I forgot is that a pieced border can stretch a lot so I had to be very careful adding those 4.5" strips onto each side of the flying geese. I had to start over a few times and pin very carefully!

This is where I added those corner blocks. I think those blocks add so much to the overall look of this quilt. The quilt now measures 72.5" square. I had to orient those corner blocks a few times before I got them correct. I don't think it would have made a huge difference but I wanted to get it right.

The last border makes this quilt top measure 80.5" square, so far! I have to make 80 cat's cradle blocks for the next border. Those will definitely take awhile. But I love working on this quilt and will truly enjoy myself! 

It's getting hot out there so I'm happy to stay in and sew! Stay cool!!!

Two Projects

I had a busy week. I had a few appointments and just never had the time to get much sewing done. Today was much quieter so I finally got to sit at the sewing machine. I sewed the center part of the Whiskers N Catnips quilt. This portion measures 24" X 48". I have to add 6 more blocks so it won't be staying this size for long. The quilt will end up being 97" square. I still have quite a few borders to add!

I enjoyed working on this cute little cross stitch pillow. This was last month's free pattern from Primrose Cottage. I left 1/2" all around the cross stitch but I should have left a little more at the top. I'll have to remember for next time. Otherwise, I like how it came out. It's a cute little addition for my summer decorating!

Have a great weekend! It's been very warm up here but no humidity which I love!

The Last Blocks

 I'm working on the last few blocks of the Whiskers N Catnip quilt. I had made the middle portion of this block earlier. You can see the split cat's cradle that I featured in a previous post. I started with a 12.5" square block that become a 24.5" square block! I really love the colors of these fabrics. The piecing around the center block really transforms the whole look. It will make a great focal point for this quilt. 

These are the 4 corner blocks that each measure 12.5" square. They will be part of a border. This quilt has multiple borders. I hope I have enough fabric to make them all! I did have to recut a few strips so we'll have to see! That's one thing I don't like about kits. They never figure in your mistakes1

I Like Thursday #315

It's Thursday once again and time for things we like. Please visit LeeAnna over at Not Afraid of Color to link up with more participating blogs. I went for a walk in my neighborhood last week and came upon this mallard swimming peacefully in a rather murky pond. He didn't seem to mind! It was a warm spring day and I think he was enjoying himself!

I'm working on 4 corner blocks on the Whiskers N Catnip quilt. They will measure 12.5" square once they're all sewn together. This is just the middle portion. The 4 blocks in the middle of this strip are cat's cradle blocks. They look so different when all sewn together.

I made another crustless custard pie last week. They don't last too long in my house! It was a nice dessert to have on hand over the long weekend.

The conversation starter this week asks us if we ever did anything to our hair that ended up into a disaster. Well, I was home from college way back in the 70's and went out to buy a product called Highlights for Brunettes. My mother got it ready and saturated my hair with it. Unfortunately, I had put a henna rinse in my hair a few weeks earlier so my hair turned orange. I had to go to the drugstore and buy a brown hair dye to cover the awful color orange my hair had become. I had to keep coloring it for months since the orange would show through as my hair grew out. What a mess! Since that time, I have never colored my own hair. My hairdresser does a great job and I'm not orange anymore!

Have a great weekend!

Summer Blessings

 I finished this month's free cross stitch from Primrose Cottage. I think it's close to 4" X 6". It's so nice that they offer these free cross stitch patterns on a monthly basis. This one was quick and took me about a week to stitch.

I've been searching through my stash and I think I'm going to use this fabric to finish the cross stitch piece into a pillow. I still have a few more bins to look through but I think this fabric would look nice.

I'm making 16 cat's cradle blocks for the Whiskers N Catnips quilt. I've sewn everything together but all the blocks need to be cut, ironed and trimmed. These blocks are a little fussy so I'm taking my time. This block is very new to me. I'm using the special cat's cradle ruler which has been wonderful and definitely improved my blocks. a 

Hope you all had a nice Memorial Day!

Kitty Block #9

 I'm moving right along on the Whiskers N Catnip quilt by Deb's Cats N Quilts. This is the 9th block in the quilt and it uses that block in my last post, a split cat's cradle. Each corner has a split cat's cradle as well as flying geese in between the corners. It measures 12.5" square. There are 9 blocks in the main part of the quilt but I'll also be making 4 identical blocks for each corner of the flying geese border. I'm getting there!

As I work on the blocks, I also make flying geese for the borders. These borders measure about 36.5" X 4.5" so far. I still have more to go! I'm really enjoying working on this quilt. I'm taking my time and enjoying the process, which is not what I usually do. 

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend! It's supposed to rain Sunday but I'm hoping Monday isn't too bad.

A New Block

It feels like the middle of summer today! We've been having sort of cool weather until the last few days. I opted to stay inside today so I could keep comfortable. The humidity is pretty awful as well. They expect cool weather for the Memorial Day weekend. Figures!

This block is new to me. I've had to make many Cat's Cradle blocks for the quilt I'm working on. This one is called Split Cat's Cradle and has that little background triangle added in the corner. It seems to change the whole look of the block. I use a Cat's Cradle ruler to make my blocks. I tried without the ruler but the blocks weren't very accurate.

And my socks ae done! I don't think I'll be using them in this weather but they'll be ready for me when it gets a little cooler!

 

I Like Thursday # 314

 It's time for Thursday Likes! Please visit LeeAnna over at Not Afraid of Color to link up with more participating blogs. This is block #7 for my Whiskers N Catnip quilt. Once it's all sewn together, it should (hopefully) measure 12.5" square. I'm really enjoying making this quilt. The directions are well written and the fabric is gorgeous!

My second sock is almost done! Once the heel is turned, the hard part is over and you just have to keep going to finish it up.

I had a great Mother's Day, hope you did too! My husband got this cake and it was wonderful! Chocolate cake with vanilla frosting is always a great combo.

The conversation starter this week asks us if we wore a mini skirt, halter and fish net stockings. Yes, I surely did! I also wore body suits and hip hugger pants. I sure more those days. I was very thin back then and felt I would always stay the same. Wrong!!! Those were great times and I have great memories of my younger self!

Have a great weekend!

 

My Second Cross Stitch Kitty Pillow

 This is the second cross stitch kitty pillow I made. The first one I made for a gift. I really loved it and just had to make one for me! However, there are quite a few steps before you get this cute pillow.

After cross stitching the cat, I had to iron on a lightweight interfacing. After the interfacing was done, I had to make dots 1/2" around the cat as well as a parallel 1" around the cat. The outer line was the cutting line and the inner line was the sewing line. Makes sense!

At this point, I had to choose a backing. I knew I wanted to use a cat themed fabric so I had to look through my fabric bins to find one I liked. I ended up using this fat quarter.

I cut on the outer line and sewed on the inner line. I left a few inches to turn it inside out. I wish I'd left a little more than 2" but I got it to work.

Here's the kitty right side out and ironed. It just has to be stuffed at this point. The hard part is done!! This cute pillow is sitting on my couch watching TV with me!!

Whiskers N Catnip

I'm not sure why but I just haven't had the time to sew lately. It just seems like this past week has been so busy. I thought this would be a good time to share what I've been doing. I received this quilt kit from my son and his wife years before they got married. It's an adorable quilt with a ton of fabric included. It finishes at 96" square which is huge! I've had it in my sewing room for a while now so I thought it was a great time to work on it. 

I've made these blocks so far. They measure 12.5" square. The directions are clear and very easy to follow. It's been fun to make these blocks. I'm working at a slow pace since I have a few unfinished projects I'm trying to get to. 

You work on the border at the same time while making blocks. This is how far I've come on the flying geese border. As you work on a block, you make another color of flying geese. These flying geese measure 2" X 4" finished. 

I did manage to sew on the binding on Facets this morning. I love that polka dot fabric! I'm glad I found it when I visited my local quilt shop. Now, I just need some time to sew down the binding!!

Facets is Quilted!

I finished quilting Facets this past weekend. I was so excited to take it off the longarm! It came out great. I love the quilting and just love how flat it looks! It was easy to quilt. Nothing seemed to go wrong. My tension was good and everything just worked out very easily. The quilt measures about 90" X 90". 

I tried to get a closeup so you can see the quilting. It's scattered feathers on a small scale which matches this quilt quite nicely.

Here's the backing. Pantographs always ensure that the quilting design is even throughout the quilt. The back always looks nice. I'm getting the binding ready. I still can't believe this one is just about done. This quilt seemed to take forever. I think it took me about a year from start to finish. Oh, well, on to the next project!!

I Like Thursday #313

It's time for Thursday Likes! Please visit LeeAnna to link up with more participating blogs that post fun and uplifting content. Let's all wish Molly a Happy Birthday! She is 12 years old today. I can't believe it! We got her at 4 months old and has been with us ever since. She's always had a healthy appetite so I thought it was funny that she was sitting on my walking pad. She may want to use it! The walking pad is a gift to me from my daughter's boyfriend. He's the best!

I decided that this will be the binding for Facets. I wanted something with a little color since the quilt is so colorful. The quilt made by the author has a pale yellow binding but I opted for a more vibrant fabric.

I'm so looking forward to May 5. This book is coming out that day. This is the same author as The Help and I can't wait to read it! I've been on the hold list in Libby for awhile now so I should be one of the first to get it!

The conversation starter this week asks us if we spring clean. I wash all my windows as well as curtains once a year. I start in the spring but never finish until sometime in the summer. It takes too long! I also have to wash my hardwood floors because I put it off last fall. Ugh! I'll get to it eventually!

Have a great weekend!

Halfway Done Projects

 I feel good that two of my present projects are halfway done! My Easy Lace Sock is finished! Of course, I have to make another one but this one is complete! It has to be washed and blocked but I'll wait until the other sock is also done.

I've been steadily working on the getting Facets quilted. I'm proud to say that I'm more than halfway done! I'm really enjoying this one. It's the second time that I've used this pantograph so it's easy to stitch. I probably stitch about 14" per day. I like how the curves look on the straight lines of the Facets blocks. I'm hoping to be done by the end of the week. 

I Like Thursday #312

 It's time once again for Thursday Likes! Boy, the week just seem to fly by. Anyways, please visit LeeAnna over at Not Afraid of Color to link up with more blogs that are posting happy and positive content. I've been practicing my pantograph for the Facets quilt all week. I decided to take the plunge this morning! I did two passes and am quite happy with the outcome. I think 2 passes covers about 14" and it took me about 45 minutes. I think it's a great way to finish this very scrappy quilt. The blocks are only 6" finished and some of the pieces are teeny tiny. I figured a pantograph was the best option. 

I've been knitting lacy socks lately. The lacy pattern is only a 4 row repeat so it's been easy to knit. Turning the heel was a little different than what I'm used to but it worked out fine. I bought this yarn years ago at JoAnn's. I really miss JoAnn's. I went to Michael's a few times but I don't find it a good substitute at all.

Since it's spring, I decided to change one of the quilts in my family room. I worked on this double wedding ring back in 2018. I didn't make the quilt top. It was an antique top I bought from eBay. This quilt top was dated to be from the 1940's if I remember correctly. I thought it was a great way to practice my feathers. I really enjoyed working on this project. I feel I helped finish someone's quilt that maybe just never find the time to get it done. It's a nice addition to my quilts!

This week's conversation starter asks about our relationship with our phone. I have an iPhone 15 and I think I use it too much. I use it as though it was my little portable computer. I'm always looking something up or texting. My music is on it as well as photos, appointments, etc. Also, Duolingo is very demanding and I feel it takes up too much of my time. I'm hoping to slowly but surely separate myself from my phone but it's so difficult! 

That's been my week. Have a great weekend1 Hope you have great weather!

 I loaded Facets onto the longarm over the weekend. I took the process in steps since this quilt is rather larger, about 89" X 89". I always start with the backing and then move onto the quilt top. Everything seems nice and even but of course, the true test happens once you start quilting. 

I looked through my collection of pantographs to decide which design to quilt. I ended up with this overall feather design. Each row covers 7" and the feathers are on a small scale. I thought it was the right design since the blocks in Facets are only 6" square when finished. Anything too large, I'd be afraid the pantograph would overwhelm the quilt blocks. I usually take a few days to practice the design since I'm using a laser to follow the design. I usually feel comfortable after a few days of practice and will start the quilting. More pictures after the quilting starts!