4/24/14

Spools Aplenty

It was one of our usual spring days when the weather can't quite decide what to do. Rain? Sun? Hail? Take your pick. Actually, take all three. It was also supposed to be a swimming day, but when it came time to go, I laid down and went back to sleep. Even though I felt as if I slept well last night, I found myself barely able to keep my eyes open, and so I took a nap...and I slept hard...which would indicate that I needed the sleep more than I needed the swim.

When I woke up, I left to go to the grocery store. Mike and I have been outfitting the camper, and I needed to return a few items that were duplicates, or else we decided we just didn't need them. Also, I picked up a few items that were still on our list. And I dropped off my Similac sampler pack at our local FISH food pantry. They were happy to get it. After that I bought my groceries, came home to put them away, and then I was able to get some sewing done.

Now you can see where the 168 one-inch squares went...they went into making 42 spools for the border. Today I made all the spools and sewed them together for the four borders.


Tomorrow I'll sew them onto the quilt. There is another white border on the outside of the spools, and I'll get that one sewn on too. After that, I'll probably set the quilt aside and work on something else for a while. I'll have to sandwich it and quilt it before I can sew on the little aprons, and I'm feeling as if I want to work on something else for a while. 

Next, I want to start on my official April NewFO project, which I'm calling "Happy Campers". Portland artist, Rachel Austin, has graciously given me permission to make a wall-hanging from her original art. These are the four mixed media pictures I'm working from. Tomorrow I want to start doing the fusible applique for these four blocks. I have some really cute fabrics to use, and so I'm kind of excited to get started on it.


In yesterday's mail, I received the pattern for the block I chose for a hand applique class I'm taking through my guild. I've been wanting to learn to do hand applique for quite a long time, and so I'm excited for the opportunity coming up next month. The class is being taught by Connie Sue Haidle of Apple Blossom Quilts. We had our choice of about a dozen blocks, and this is the one I chose. 


It will make a 16-inch block. If you click on this link and scroll down to the floral blocks, you'll see the others we could choose from. The list we were given had the blocks ranked according to difficulty, and I chose one of the easier ones...although looking at it, it doesn't look all that easy. If I end up liking this method, I might make some of the other blocks she has available on her website. Or...I might just add some borders to this and turn it into a table topper.

So that's about all that's going on at the Three Cats Ranch for today. Tomorrow I'm walking with my friend Sue. I'm sincerely hoping the weather gods will smile on us tomorrow because the last few days have been less than ideal walking weather.

In closing I just want to say that I'm receiving regular lovely comments from quite a few of you who are set at no-reply. If you comment on my blog and don't receive a response from me, it's because I have no way to contact you. It always makes me feel bad when I can't respond, especially when you ask a question, and I can't answer. If that's okay with you, then fine...but if you want a response, you'll need to email me and I'll tell you how to change it.

13 comments:

Tami C said...

Your kitty cat quilt is coming along quite nicely! I'm sure I am going to just love your Happy Campers! I agree with you, your 16-in block doesn't look all that easy. Hope the weather is nice tomorrow for you walk with Sue!

Quilting Babcia said...

Your applique class sounds like fun. Spools and kittens go together, don't you think? That sweet little quilt top went together really quickly. We'd better quilt while we can - sunny and mid-70s predicted for next week!

Sher S. said...

Love your cat quilt. I have some of my Mom's hankies and some of my grandmothers, that would be a good way to use them. I also thought about using them with tea cups and they would be the napkins. We could sure use some of your rain down here, dry as a bone again in So. Cal. Love the block you are doing for the appliqué class. Very nice. You might want to use silk thread, that was what Pat Campbell taught me in her class awhile ago. Hope you have a great walk tomorrow.

quiltzyx said...

That's the kind of weather we ran into when we went to the Grand Canyon many years back - wind, rain, snow, sleet, hail and sunshine, all over 3 days! :)
Good on ya, finishing all those tiny spools. It's going to be a cute quilt.
Have fun walking with Sue later today... and hope the weather gods shine down upon youse two!

Lynn - JnL4God said...

Were you do hand work embroidery and such - you'll do great at the hand applique, it is a lot of fun. I think you will really enjoy it. Kitty and Spools look good.

kc said...

oiks - hail! Good thing your tender tomatoes are tucked safely away in the greenhouse!

I like the block you chose, but I'm a little surprised you didn't select the tulips...seems like same number of pieces, same (approximately) size of pieces..but I'm sure, no matter what you do, it'll look great, your work is always so pretty. I'm liking that camper set, too - would be great to do maybe vertically, and put in your camper. I did a couple Patchabilities like that, and there's *just* room enough to hang them in the stairway to the bedroom..one on each wall, opposite each other. And if your camper's anything like our camper, that's about ALL the wall there is!

We are busy packing up - pretty much everything we need is either in the camper (over at the farm) or packed up in a box in the garage, so we're literally living out of boxes. Almost all the furniture's been sold or donated..not much left in the freezer, either. All my sewing's been done vicariously, through your blog, so thanks for the eye candy!

Diane Wild said...

Like all your chosen projects. You will love doing the applique. You picked a good challenging start but you'll do fine. The little campers are great.

crazy quilter said...

I do hope I am not one of no reply commenters. I so enjoy your blog lad love to see what you are up to. I really like the kitties, but aren't those Campers cute! You will like appliqué I took a class many years ago and am so glad I did. Weekend before last I got to take a class form the wonderfully talented Sue Garman! How fun is that! Loved the class and Sue's work is impeccable. She treated us to a trunk show of her fabulous quilts. Eye candy galore. Keep on sewing!

Brown Family said...

Loving the kitty quilt. The campers well be so cute! My family lived in a 16 foot with out a bath when I was 2. It looked like the ones in the paintings! I have done imitation needle turned applique on the machine. I should try it by hand!

Dana Gaffney said...

Those camper blocks are going to be adorable, I wonder if there's fabric with maps on it? I've done hand appliqué and you picked a good one, it looks fairly easy and it's beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Love your flower applique choice. I love to do needle-turn applique. Very relaxing and, when put in a quilt, are awesome to quilt around for dimension!!!!! I'm with ya on "those days" when turning over for a few more 'winks' is what's happening!!!!!

Diann said...

Love the applique block you chose. I checked out the ones you could choose from and I also like Joy's Floral #2 and #7. I've done a little applique, and I don't think that the block you picked looks terribly hard, but it has a lot of pieces to sew down and therefore will take a while. Good luck with it!

Kate said...

Love your new Cat quilt, very pretty.