11/17/12

Rainy Day

It rained hard most of the day today.  That meant that the entire household was holed up inside for the majority of the day.  Mike went out to do some recycling, and we had to pick up a new antibiotic for Gracie.  It seems the one we've been giving her (a liquid) for the last ten days has not helped one iota.  This is surprising because she is obviously feeling better.  Nevertheless, her urine sample was not at all improved, and in some ways it was worse.  Now we're on a new broader spectrum antibiotic that will hopefully take care of it.  This one is a pill.  Poor thing.  She is not happy about this at all.  Neither are we.  We just keep telling her it's all part of being a cat, but somehow I don't think she's convinced.

Aside from that, not much happened today other than sewing.  But before I get to that, I want to show you what I won recently.  First, this book from Sandi Colwell, who gave away a copy as a part of her giveaway for the 100 Blocks Blog Tour by Quiltmaker.  Sandi blogs at Quilt Cabana Patterns and her book is just delightful.  As someone who likes to make doll quilts, this book will really come in handy.  Thank you Sandi!


Also, I was one of the random drawing winners from the Blogger's Quilt Festival recently.  I won three patterns and four fat quarters from Prairie Moon Quilts.  Their sponsorship of the Blogger's Quilt Festival was so generous, and I'm thrilled that my name was drawn for this nice prize package.  Fun, huh?  Thank you, Prairie Moon Quilts! 


Then I spent the rest of the day sewing.  I added another row of blocks to the Salt Water Taffy quilt I'm making.  This quilt is flannel.  There are 12 rows of 10 blocks in all.  There are two pieced blocks in each row.  Now I have five rows complete, and so I'm about half way finished.  This is made completely from scraps in my stash, although I did purchase a flannel backing fabric a couple of years ago in preparation for this quilt.  Thanks to the NewFO Challenge, it moved from my to-do list to being a WIP this year.  The colors remind me of the colors I see when I purchase a mixed bag of salt water taffy over on the Oregon coast.  Thus, the name.


With the Blogger's BOM complete now, it's time to think about sewing the 13 blocks together.  Today I laid them out on the floor so that I could study the colors and audition some fabrics to use for the sashing, cornerstones, setting triangles, borders and back.  Clearly Smitty was a big help.  Not.


Smitty has a new game he likes to play where we throw a little ball up the stairs and he runs after it.  Being a ball, it tumbles down the stairs with him in hot pursuit, cat over teakettle style.  It's pretty hilarious.  And it's a short game since he expends a lot of energy doing it.  Therefore, he's good for about a half dozen tosses up the stairs, and then he's ready for a nap.  That's what we did between the last image and the next one.


So I haven't made any decisions yet, but I'm thinking that blue/green/purple batik for the sashing and maybe the setting triangles.  But I haven't ruled out the green and blue polka dot.  You can see a sort of lime green fabric just below center in this image that I'm thinking will work for the cornerstones, and I've kind of settled on the purple polka dot for the border.  There is an inner border, and I'm fairly well settled on the batik for that, which means the green and blue polka dot would be better for the setting triangles.  I haven't made any decisions yet.  There are a lot of different fabrics and colors in these blocks.  The instructions suggest a piano key border, but I really don't want to do that.  I'm thinking the polka dots will do nicely.

As for the backing, I'm tempted to use this fabric.  It's been sitting in my stash for the longest time.  I used it for the back on another quilt.  The colors are right, and if I were to follow the curving lines of the print, it could even make a good quilting pattern.  I have large pieces that were cut off the sides of the original quilt it was used for, and so it would need to be a pieced back.  What do you think?


It's a busy quilt.  I'm not sure how it's going to look when it's finished.  I'd rather use fabrics from my stash than buy something new.  If it doesn't appeal to me when it's finished, it can always turn into a charity quilt.  I have it all laying out on the floor so that I can study it when I'm in the sewing room.  I usually let things stew for a few days before I make any final decisions.

Then I turned my attention to the Debbie Mumm quilt I started last month.  


Smitty was handy lending a paw to the process.


Last month I did the house blocks.  This month I'm making the star and moon blocks and the heart blocks.  These are fun to make.  I like all the colors and fabrics.  Here are the two star and moon blocks I made with Smitty's excellent help.




I like those with the moon in the center.  Cute.  Next time I sew, I'll make the heart blocks.  That probably won't be until Monday at the earliest.  We're going to work on the downstairs tomorrow and that will take most of the day, I imagine.  We need to pick up a wine shipment from one of the local wineries as well.

Next week will start to get busy.  Monday will need to be a grocery day, and Matthew will be here from Klamath Falls this week.  And Matthew has some big news to share:  he was hired for a one-year internship at one of the large electronics companies in town.  This is a tremendous opportunity for him.  It will mean delaying his graduation a little bit, but he will continue to work on finishing his degree while he's doing his internship.  That means he will be moving back to Portland next month, and we will be so happy to have him close by again.  So congratulations to Matthew!  I'm not a proud mom or anything.

17 comments:

WoolenSails said...

You do get a lot of sewing done, I need to get myself into my sewing room, but made a mess again, lol. I love that material and would use it for an art piece, not a backing. I hope the new meds work and she can start feeling better.

Debbie

carla said...

Hi!!! Love them all!!! The moon in the star blocks are very pretty!!! The busy quilt is wonderful!!! Love it!!!

Kate said...

I like all the fabrics you've choosen for you Bloggers BOM. It's going to be bright and beautiful!

Dana Gaffney said...

The quilts are wonderful, but I really want to say Congratulations to Matthew, I can see your smile from here at having him close to home, that's so great.

Sue said...

Congratulations to Matthew. It is a wonderful thing for you all. Love what you have been sewing. My cat Lestat likes to help just like Smitty. I think there can never be enough cute cat/quilt pics online!

Diane Wild said...

I agree with you on the backing for the BOM quilt. Perfect for FMQing. The stars and moon blocks look like cat heads. After receiving the doll quilt from Leonie it looks like the same pattern. You got a lot accomplished.

Michele said...

That Smitty is just so helpful! Glad to see that he is earning his keep.

Rachel said...

Hope Gracie's test results get better! Smitty looks like the purrrfect helper. You have gotten a lot done!

Scooquilt said...

I love your BOM blocks, and I vote for your backing choice. I used that same fabric to back a quilt, and I think to bind one. You have excellent taste.

Kirsty said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kirsty said...

Love, love, LOVE that backing fabric. As for the front, I would be tempted to go for something less busy to really showcase all those gorgeous blocks. There's a green fabric you've got there, next to the 'hourglass' block. You wouldn't have enough of that in your stash to use as sashings? If not, no worries. Go with your gut. Sometimes you just have to embrace the chaos. x

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

Poor Gracie. Get better soon. I like that backing fabric. Fun!

Judy1522 said...

I hope Gracie gets better soon. I love the picture of Smitty peeking through the machine. Good for your son that sounds like a great opportunity and also good for you to have him closer.

Denise :) said...

Wow--congratulations to Matthew! I bet he's really excited! Aren't you worried Smitty will stick a paw in there at an inopportune moment and cat the needle??? YIKES! I love that you played that game between the photos -- I can just picture the whole shebang! The Debbie Mumm quilt I really like. And I also really favor the 'busyness' of your other quilt, too -- that back ground fabric is perfect for it! :)

Snoodles said...

Congratulations to Matthew! Now....I think you'd better be down on your hands and knees, hunting for all those buttons that popped off, cos you are such a proud mama! We don't want Smitty to play hockey with them, and then try to eat them! LOL
Love the blocks that he helped you with; the moon in the center is cute!

Teresa in Music City said...

Congratulations on your wins! You will really enjoy the book with all the small quilts in there :*)
Tell Gracie I am sending her healing prayers & wishes!!!
I love all the color and action going on in your BOM quilt, and the fabrics you have picked out are working well. The batik is wonderful with it, and the green and blue polka dot adds some brightness to the mix that I like. And your backing choice looks great with it.
Great moon/star blocks!!!

Rebeckah Austin said...

DO IT! I love that rainbow jungle fabric. I used it for a baby quilt binding and it was awesome!