Kittens, Rose Edition

This is all of the pink I could muster today. I had a second jaunt across town to our quilt show where I was scheduled for a second demonstration of sew-in circles. If you would like more pink patchwork in your life, I suggest you pounce over to the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge.

I typically use the sew-in circle for animal eyes and lion faces. However, for the demonstration I went with the drunkard's path because its just a smaller four patch sew-in behind a larger four patch. And the seams make it easier to center.

For an example of using sew-in centers, see this post about two Dear Jane blocks. I use the Dale Fleming method for the six-minute circle which I explain here. The method as applied to owl eyes is discussed here.

But this sewing machine was the star of the demonstration. First, it made it clear to attendees that they shouldn't take anything I say seriously. For me, it was perfect because it let me sew in the circle, but I didn't have to take down one of my regular sewing machines. And this is relatively light so it was easy to pack and handle.

And while we're on the subject of naughty cats...dear sweet Molly was under the weather Friday morning and I was torn about whether I should cancel the demonstration at the quilt show and get her to the vet or see if she got a bit better.

While she wouldn't eat her breakfast, that morning she did chew a hole in my silicon sheet that I was going to use in the demonstration. That's when I reiterated to her that I will not take her to the vet for a gut obstruction given her love of chewing plastic and paper. I would be willing to set her up for brain surgery to rewire that part of her brain...or even remove her naughtymus, the part of the brain where naughty behavior originates.

Needless to say, she has rebounded and has made up for lost time in eating, cuddling and racing around the house in crazy mode.

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Quilt Show Prep

Today, my sister and I went to help hang the quilts for the NW Quilters' Show. Here is the Bunny Hop quilt. My sister is also running the treasure hunt this year. It's a game for children at the show to answer questions about the quilts. I suggested the question: How many bunnies were massacred to make the border of the Bunny Hop quilt? My sister ignored me.

And here is the owl quilt, formally known as Parliament.

And here are the Dandy Lions. Having the quilt show was wonderful for giving me a deadline to finish three quilts. Okay, two quilts. I didn't finish the hand quilting on the Bunny Hop quilt, but if anyone asks I'll say I wanted to have an interplay with negative space. I did check the quilt to make sure I hadn't parked the needle half way through a stitch.

The Pigs in a Blanket quilt was the only one that was already completed with label and sleeve. In any case, although I did try to delint the quilts, there is probably enough DNA to make a clone of Molly and/or Buddy.

Here is the quilt my sister made for her grandson Ezra. He has a new bed so she made him a quilt with his favorite colors: turquoise and teal.

 I also spotted Barbara Stanbro's quilt Snips and Snails featuring her brother as a boy holding a snake. Unfortunately, my photo is fuzzy, because that snake is truly awesome. Happily, you can see nonfuzzy images of her quilts and fuzzy images of cats on her blog Cat Patches.  You can go here for a good image of the quilt.

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Last of the spies

This is the last set of i-spy blocks that I'm making for my grand nephew's quilt. It will be two-sided so my next task will be to choose which blocks go on which side. For his brother's quilt, I divided the blocks into good and evil, where kittens and teddy bears were categorized as evil. This version has so many trucks and racing cars, I may be able to divide it into transportation versus not. Cats that look like Buddy would go on the transportation side.

And speaking of Buddy...I had to crop this photo or I would have received questions like "Why is there a huge loaf of bread on your sewing room floor?" And to make matters worse, today Buddy figured out how to jump up into Molly's feeding nook. Since he has been jumping up on the sewing table and the computer desk, I figured it was a matter of time. Now I'm trying to move Molly's eating area to the top of the refrigerator.

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Back to Normal

I just have a few loose ends (threads) before the quilt show this weekend. They have some kind of auction/sale of small quilt items donated by guild members. I had this eagle block and decided to finish it off. I still need to quilt the background and the white part. Unfortunately, my tension is a bit inconsistent and dodgy, so I want to resolve that before I do the white section. It's fine where I have blue as top thread and the bobbin.

I also completed another handful of I-spy blocks. I think at this point I have plenty. I also suspect I have some duplicates.

And I would like to apologize for the gruesome pictures from yesterday. Some weirdo hacked into my blog and posted some photos that were obviously concocted with Photoshop. I'm not sure who the hacker was and the surveillance cameras only picked up this strange grainy image.

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Sewing Room: Before and After

Hi, I'm Molly, your guest blogger for today. As you may know, staff had a deadline for getting some quilts ready for a quilt show. I thoughtfully captured some "before" pictures.

Here I am by the storage racks of fabric. Now let's pan out...

As you can see, the cutting table is quite clear. This was used for adding quilt sleeves and removing cat hair from the quilts to make them sterile, boring, and sad.

Here is the design floor. This is also where Buddy and I have predation practice with the laser pointer.
If you would like to see some after pictures, please remember that there is no before or after, only now. Respectfully, Molly

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Deadline met

Yay! The owl quilt, formally known as Parliament is finished.  Did I take a photo of it before I dropped it off for the NW Quilt Show? Of course not! One of the primary tasks is using a lint roller to pick up all the cat hair. This required the help of both Molly and Buddy. I thought I should tackle the problem at its core but Molly was not amused!

The quilt show is next Friday and Saturday at the Portland Expo center. I will be demonstrating how to sew in circles like the owl eyes.

Sewn-in circles are also used for the lion's head. I also used the technique for some of the Dear Jane blocks. Time to take a trip down memory lane.

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Owl Quilt Binding

Here's Molly helping me sew the binding to the owl quilt. The owl quilt's official name is Parliament--the name for a group of owls. And yes, Parliament is usually out of session because owls don't hang out in groups...except when forced to...in a quilt.

And here's Buddy trying to take credit for helping with the binding. I'm about half way finished with the details for the owls...for which I'm changing the top thread quite a bit. This wouldn't be such a problem except for our resident criminal Buddy. He grabs the spools and runs off with them. Ultimately, stolen items usually show up in the bed or under the bed. But sometimes, like a dog, I think Buddy just likes the chase.

And yes, after a day of thievery, Buddy insists on being Molly-coddled.

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