Cats & Quilts - a match made in heaven... (except maybe those stubborn little clouds of fur that latch on to the fabric!)

Kitty Quote of the Day

I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul. - Jean Cocteau

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Where Does The Time Go....

Nine days without a post & the days have just rushed by. I seem to be achieving things in other areas but blogging & machine sewing has missed out. It has been a good start to the year at work, busy but plowing through things. There is great excitement as we are expecting a new baby girl (at work that is - Regina may be the mother, but it is now a group thing). Now we know it is a girl expected in June, baby gift making plans can be made.

On the home front, I am a terrible pack rat (thanks mum!) so slowly & quietly I have started having a bit of a sort - a box for Freecycle, a box for the op shop, a useful box to keep & another box to keep 'just cause'. It's the 'just because it might be needed one day' or' just because its too good to get rid of' or 'just because it has emotional ties ' boxes that are the problem. As long as more is going out than coming in then I am having a win.

Little Brun & Honey have to sort through their toy boxes too & donate some to the kitties that don't have forever homes yet. Little Brun is very well after his operation with the hydration & antibiotics resulting in him not looking a day over 110 in cat years any more, not bad for a boy who will be 140 on April. He enjoyed a bit of ice cream during recuperation but decided while mint choc chip may be muma's favorite flavour, he prefers vanilla.
I'm licking not poking my tongue out at muma


On the hand sewing front I am making progress. I now have 3 blocks finished from the Some Kind of Wonderful Stitch A Long for the My Favorite Things quilt with one more just needing the words stitched on. My green suitcase needs travel destinations so rather than use what Anni loves I'll put my own favourite places. Another block features 3 patty cakes & I am going to try drawing a nice big slab of cake instead to substitute as my favourite sweet thing. It was a sad day to learn I'm not that good at needleturn applique but by the time the 24 blocks are done, I will be a lot better at it than when I started. I hope to do some of the piecing that goes between the applique blocks on Sunday, can't wait to see them put together.


I am slowly entering the world of free motion quilting to satisfy that goal this year. So far I am still at the drawing stage & watching as many videos on the subject as possible. However, a stack of quilt sandwiches are made & the darning foot needs to go on real soon so I can put thread to fabric like a real FM quilter.

My mug cosy for the Keeping It Cosy Challenge on the Facebook page 'I Don't Have A Problem, I Have A Well Rounded Fabric Stash' page is now done. It doesn't photograph well on the mug so here's the result flat. Sorry, I have stretched the truth a wee bit too - I have never met a jelly bean I didn't love!

And finally, another new quilty area currently being pursued. I go to a Thursday quilting group here in Perth & last year four of us brought copies of Electric Quilt 7 design software. Mine went untouched until last Thursday when the four of us met to start our self-training in digital quilt design. We covered the basics on making a quilt from the blocks already contained in EQ7, assigning fabrics to the pieces, getting the fabric requirements list & ending up with a personalised block quilt.

Today three of us met again & we worked together (one on keyboard, one online & one reading from the Drawing book) to draw our own quilt from scratch. We used as inspiration a pattern Marie had that she wanted to extend & change to fit a King Size bed, so drew the blocks, changed dimensions & coloured in fabrics to match those she wanted to use & added borders. It was fun to do all this, then to redesign, change sizes & fabrics so that we got something that was possible with the fabric amounts on hand, to match the existing bedroom decor & so all the pieces were straight forward to cut & not all 1/8th measurements . It was brilliant & together we prevailed & tamed the scary software dragon. Now to fit in time to do some real designing for fabric I have on hand. First I might see if I can design something spiffy for my Ruby layer cakes & yardage that is better than what I have in mind already. That fabric really is too nice to cut up small so some big blocks would be pretty.


The only sad news at the moment is that after a month, my Secret Garden fabric I ordered from the USA (Etsy) for the SewHappyGeek quilt a long hasn't shown up. So block 5 is now released & the blocks uploaded to the Flickr group are amazing & varied but I haven't started yet. I picked some fabric from my stash last night to use but will wait one more day to see if it shows up tomorrow as it was so pretty. Fingers crossed!

Now I just need to put aside some time to read blogs & find out what you have all been up to!

Happy stitching
Tracee xx Little Brun xx Hun-bun xx


16 comments:

  1. Hi Tracee,

    Your projects are lovely, and I'm so glad to hear Brun is doing so much better! Our cats used to love vanilla ice cream best too; I think it's a cat thing. 8)

    I love your attitude about improving at needle turn applique. I keep telling the ladies in my bee that you don't have to be perfect right away to make lovely things, and that practice makes perfect in all things stitchy, especially applique and free-motion quilting. No one will ever critique your work as much as you do yourself. They get SO frustrated when I wish they would just relax and enjoy the process. I wish you could come to Texas and explain it to them! 8)

    Happy stitching,
    Susan in Texas

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  2. great to see brun is so much better... you have some lovely projects.. I do hope your fabric arrives soon... my needleturn is also getting lots of practice .... we will be experts at the end... Iheard it is much easier to do 'big'pieces so we have started the difficult way... jumping in at the deep end???
    Hugz

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  3. You have been so busy! Your needle turn looks fine to me. Mine needs a lot of practice as well.

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  4. Time! Don't know where it goes either LOL. Glad to see Little Brun is doing well and enjoying icecream lol. Our Merlin loves licking ice cubes and the outside of diet coke cans straight from the fridge. Very weird at times.

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  5. My fingers are crossed for you too. Don't ya hate late (or god forbid) lost mail XXXX
    I wish we could SEW some time.. that would be wonderful wouldn't it! :)

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  6. Fabulous to catch up on everything that has been happening at your place. Lovely to see your little fellow trying your ice-cream. Big hugs.

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  7. So glad Brun is doing well! Sweet boy! You have been one busy lady!
    Got my bunny ornament and love it! Thank you so very much! Will go on my vision board so I can enjoy is all year!
    Hugs

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  8. Hi Tracee, your blocks for SKOW look great, its a very pretty quilt.
    Thank you so much for my christmas card, I got it when I was at work last week and I completely forgot to let you know.
    Talk to you soon
    Love Leanne xx

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  9. You are keeping busy ...love your blocks, glad yu boy is going well..

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  10. Glad to see Brutus enjoying some treats. Your needle turn applique looks beautiful in the photos and your mug cosy is very cute. I hope your fabric turns up.

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  11. Hello Tracee,

    A great start to your quilt. Hope that fabric arrives soon. I wonder how many other people are guilty of buying things and not using them straight away,my hand is certainly up.

    Have a wonderful weekend.
    Bev.xoxo

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  12. Hi Tracee, not sure if you know but apparently customs is slow at the moment with things coming in from the US. I was told about 4 weeks longer than usual for a book I ordered before Christmas, so hang on - it will arrive - EVENTUALLY!!!!
    Although I would love to see what your stash turns up for your block so I am hoping it will take longer.
    Have a great weekend

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  13. wow - you are superwoman!! Well done on your progress. Such a pity about your fabric. Once I had some that took over four weeks to get here....hopefully yours does soon too. Happy Stitching, Susie

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  14. Hi Tracee, just popping by to catch up. So glad Brutus is doing so well. I have some Ruby material that I want a special project for too..

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  15. Tracee - your blocks for SKOW look great! Needle turn is definitely something that needs to be practiced your needle turn looks awesome! I am glad your kitty is doing well!

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  16. You have been busy. Glad your boy is well.

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Thank you friends for leaving a comment on my post - love to get them! Tracee xx