Happy Halloween

Here's a SMALL section of the livingroom all dressed up for Halloween. What does this have to do with quilting?! Well, see that fabric the stuff is sitting on? That's the future Halloween quilt! I have enough yardage for 2 quilts (front and back) draped around the livingroom and entryway. !


I spent the evening babysitting kitties and working on Mom's afghan. Here's my progress. I only have a couple of more rows. Mom, of course, will say it needs more rows. I am prepared. Extra yarn!


Finally, here's the kitty family all in a jumble. They were 3 weeks old yesterday.

Weight Loss Quilt

Someone suggested a weight loss quilt. A block for every pound lost. Well, since I have a lot to lose, mine are 6 inches (sashing will make them 8 inches). I've made 7 of them having already lost 7 pounds on the current diet (Sparkpeople.com). The particular pattern I'm using is from "Making Scrap Quilts to Use It Up" by Lynne Edwards. There are many similar (and free) ways of doing this block.


In addition to my personal weight, I am also trying to lose some pounds of fabric. So, I joined the No Buy group for a year at Stashbusters. It starts on Nov. 1. The goal is to shop your stash and only buy what you need to finish off a project made mostly with what you have on hand. I can still buy such things as backgrounds, backing, binding and batting since these are things that usually aren't there with your fabric hoard (and note..they are all B words). So, other than getting the rest of my fabric for the Thimbleberries BOM (note BOM..a B word), my shopping is going to slow way down. My goal for the year is to cut the fabric stash back to the original 12 half boxes that fit under my cutting table. I do have to get more fat quarters for the Weight Loss quilt (before Nov. 1) because blue is something that I've nearly completely used up in my stash.

My sister's quilt (Sister's Choice or Farmer's Daughter pattern) is now sandwiched and ready for tying to begin this weekend. I expect to have that process done in about 2 weeks or so. I am also more than 50% done with my Mom's rose afghan. I continue to work on it in the evenings.

Forming the Afghan

I'll bet all you crocheters have wondered when the heck I was going to get back to it! OK..today is that day! I've been working on my Mom's afghan while watching TV or Netflix movies. My goal at the beginning of the year was to complete all my started crocheting and knitting projects and I'm getting behind! Only 2 months left. So, Mom's is the fastest to get done...and she appreciates that. I started putting some of the finished squares together yesterday to get her opinion on how my method (single crochet). She likes it, so that's what I'll go with. I need to order another skein of the Thyme since my local Joann's doesn't carry that color in TLC yarn any longer. I'm going to keep going since it's possible I have just barely enough, but we all know I'll need at least 20 yards more than I have!

After days of dark and dismal, tomorrow is supposed to be warmer and sunny. I'll finally be able to get my sister's quilt spread out, sandwiched and rolled up for tying later.

Do You Quilt And Buy Lots of Fabric?

Someone posted this on the Stashbuster's list. I'll just include a link. Anybody who collects fabric will appreciate this list.

http://www.getcreativeshow.com/seminars/create_stash.htm

I saw the sun today. It is still there! It lasted for only about 1 1/2 minutes, but I know it was there.

Hearts Block

As discussed in yesterday's entry, here's a completed block that is using up my 2 inch squares. Came out very nice and I'm highly pleased. So far, I'm still using scraps for doing the 1/2 square triangles. Eventually, I'll be breaking into my fat quarter collection. All to the good! The center square will be a holiday red fabric.

I'm considering quilting these block by block (4 hearts) and then putting together with binding similar to what I did for the reversible quilt. I mostly just have to decide if I want another tied quilt. Many of these fabrics are not high quality, so I don't want to put in a lot of time and effort, but at the same time, I can also experiment with some different quilting ideas. It's going to be on my bed, so I want it to look nice!

What To Do With 2 inch Squares

Baby kitties are growing although they still can't see. Loud. Really loud when picked up. Mamacat is very much a young cat and needs lots of support.

I've spent the last few days mostly sorting through craft books to try and eliminate some. It's very hard.

I finally found the great example of a block to use up the 2 inch squares I've been accumulating. My 5 quart bucket was nearly full, and clearly the darks outnumbered the lights 8 to 1. Darlene (dasheyquilts), a member of the Stashbuster's group, posted a photo of her scrappy square. I'm doing this but using a solid white for the background. This is not a new design. In fact, it's in one of Shar Jorgensen's early books and done in scrappy reds. I never thought of doing the heart in just dark fabrics. Interestingly, I have some of the same fabrics in this square! I've completed 2 squares and now have to do 2 reverse squares to get the look that I want. I'm using 2 inch squares (1 1/2 inch finished).


This is Darlene's square that inspired me (from Stashbuster's list).

The 2 7/8 inch scrap container is also stuffed. I started doing an Ocean Waves block and realized that I have nowhere near enough lights to do this pattern. So, I switched gears and am doing a Lady of the Lake pattern. I have to select out fabrics from my stash for the larger pieces, but in the meantime, I have plenty of half square triangles to make. Here's a link to the pattern I'm using from Quilter's Cache. This is a very traditional pattern and there are some great examples featured on page 2 of the instructions. This is a 10 inch block.
http://www.quilterscache.com/L/LadyoftheLakeBlock.html
If you would prefer a 12 inch block, here's a link to a pattern for that.
http://mccallsquilting.com/qb/pattern_502//index.html
If you like this pattern, here's a coloring page to envision your fabrics in it.
http://blockcentral.com/ladylake.shtml

Baby Portraits

OK..I promise. These will be the last baby photos until next week when they have their eyes opened. Those are my sister Mary's hands holding the little kittens for their individual portraits. Two calicos and one of the tuxedos are girls. The other tuxedo and the all-black are boys. Momma cat doesn't object to us handling the babies, but she thought we were taking too long.

On the crafting side, I've started crocheting a bobble pillow for my cousin's 1 year old daughter. She is majorly into pillows. It is from leftover Lion Homespun. I've also spent some time today piecing together the leftover paisley flannel for the back of my sister's quilt. Looks like it will cover half the quilt. A couple less yards of fabric for me to buy!

Happy Birthday!

Here's our new family, born (Oct. 10) overnight to Cleo-Claudine. There are 2 calicos, 2 tuxedos and one all-black. Oh, and 3 girls and 2 boys. She's taken to motherhood pretty well..all the right cat noises.

The Amazing Expanding Kitty

Yes, folks, she is expanding on a daily basis. Walks more like a heifer now too. Right now, my Dad and I are betting on 4 kittens. I'm not really a kitten person, but I'll still have to make them some toys. I have accomplished no needlework in the last day, alas, but I did spend a lot of time revisiting some of my quilting books.


Cleo-Claudine on Oct. 8, 2006

Sister's Choice Top is Done!

In between all the things that have been going on this month, I finally finished the Sister's Choice quilt top. I will get the backing sewn up today or tomorrow. This quilt will be tied, so should get done quickly. It is full sized (70x90 inches) and is actually going to my sister. The 9 patches are all individual scraps, but I did keep with the light/dark of a typical 9 patch. Today was extremely windy, so my photo isn't the best. I should add that I believe this pattern is usually called Farmer's Daughter.


This quilt is rather busy the way I did it. However, the recipient and my Mom like it, so that is good. I'm sure I'll make this pattern again in the future.

Here's the bulging kitty. She expands on a daily basis and I expect kittens in the next week. You can clearly feel individual kitten parts now, which were a little hard to tell a week or so ago.