Monday, January 31, 2011

Slowly they go-winter and quilting

The third row of my Sylvia's Bridal Sampler/Quilt is coming along nicely.  I try to do a block a day but usually it's a block every other day... but I have finished six more of them.




I'm contemplating how I should position the blocks and how I want to sash it.  I think it looks good 'on point'.
I'm also continuing to hand-quilt to finish up my Dear Jane quilt.  Jules looks very innocent here but he likes to dig items out of the basket that I keep my quilting things in... and he's not as innocent as he looks in this picture.

He loves tossing around the little bird I made so maybe I should make him some little mice stuffed with catnip.  He loves catnip mouseees.


Thursday, January 13, 2011

One More...

The 8th block of the second row of Sylvia's Bridal Sampler quilt was very time-consuming and not my 'cup of tea'.  It seemed to take forever to paper piece the various parts.  I think it would have been faster to make half-square triangles but it's done and I'm glad of it.  

That square took me the better part of 6 hours to get it put together, but I am also trying to read for 2 - 3 hours a day and I'm making some Norwegian slippers.  What? you ask.

I fell in love with these slippers as soon as I saw them.... and I'm not a knitter.  However, they didn't look that tough.... just knitting 8 squares, then performing origami to get them to look like slippers.  Washing them in hot water felts them so they're thick and luxurious.




So, one is done.  I had to felt it at once rather than wait to do both of them because I didn't want to take the time to make two slippers if they didn't come out right.  Believe me, looking at the knitted slipper before felting absolutely didn't look right.











Anyway, now I'm working on the other slipper.   Go here to get the pattern and make your own.  I'm sure they're very fast for an actual knitter to make.... takes me days to do one, never mind two of these.  But I like them.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Block looks better....

When it's done right, the block looks better.  See for yourself....

The star points are illuminated by being set into the blue block. 






It previously looked like this....

See the difference?  I'm surprised that I didn't notice it until long after I pinned it up on my 'wall'.

And, yup, the Christmas bird is still hanging there.  I forgot to put it in a box when I stored the decorations away last week.  So it will most likely stay there for a long while until I put it away... I'm getting attached to it.  lol

Today, we have snow on the ground... melting fast... but I'm going to finish up another block instead of going 'oot and aboot'.  That's my canadian accent; even after 50+ years, it's still there and people call me on it often.  I've got the american spelling down good... but talking, not so much.

And I've got some books to read too.... mysteries about Jane Austen by Stephanie Barron.  But first, the block!

Saturday, January 08, 2011

Two More Blocks

It's been more than a few weeks since I added a block to my yellow quilt but today, I completed two of them.  Well, I started the first one yesterday but Jaik the cat decided to lay on the almost completed block and have a snooze... so I took his advice and stopped work.  But today I finished it up.


  It is the 6th block of the second row.












There was plenty of time to work on the next block.
Though I wasn't certain that the Kaffe Fassett corner fabric and the main fabric of the center would go well together, it seems to be quite striking.  I like it.











While I was looking at the first two rows of the quilt on the wall, I noticed that the 2nd block in the second row had been assembled incorrectly.  This is a problem I often have... sort of a dyslexia of the eyesight where I reverse parts of the block and notice it only weeks or months later.  I'm just happy that I noticed it now instead of after it had been put together... but it has to be taken apart.  Grrrr.....

The blue points should be facing the other way which will make a nice star around the center.  Tomorrow will be spent disassembling and re-sewing.









This is a picture of the wallhanging that my daughter gave me for Christmas.  It's lovely and I've hung it on the wall beside where I read.

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

A New Year

It hasn't been easy getting through the holiday season, but I did what I could while not putting pressure on myself.  I did almost no shopping so sent no gifts.  Some people got Christmas cards but not as many as I sent to last year.  After I sent them out to old friends and family, I got a call from one of them telling me that an old work friend had died suddenly just before Christmas.   I look forward to the new year.

Had a nice time with my family and ate some good food.



... and I did buy a couple of fat quarters of Christmas fabric on sale at Joann's and I managed to sew up a quick door hanging to decorate my front door.


And, I hung up my previously-made kitty cats.