11/15/14

Some Cats

When I posted my goals for the month of November, there were two with big flashing lights beside them. One was to finish the quilting for the Gardener's Journal quilt. The other was to finish the blocks for the Folk Art Cats quilt. I'd say I'm a little more than 1/3 of the way on a Gardener's Journal. Nevertheless, this being the middle of the month, I've felt some internal pressure to get going on these blocks as well. That said, I've spent the last two days working on these cats.

When I left off with Cat #8 yesterday, I had it all finished except to machine embroider the mouth and whiskers.


So that was where I started this morning. Using oak gold thread, I stitched over the chalk lines I'd drawn in, and with that, Cat #8 was ready to take his place with his seven brothers.


Or sisters...you decide.


And then I went straight to work on Cat #9, which meant piecing together the background first.


Yes, that pink square is supposed to be there like that, although I shifted it over a square or two. It's one of the things I love about this whimsical quilt. It's full of little surprises and asymmetry.

Well, don't you know I'm getting a lot of help on this quilt. We're trying to make it as realistic as possible, from a "folk art" standpoint.


"Here, Mom, let me help you with those strip sets."


And with all that help, it's simply amazing that I was able to get this far.


The tail on this one extends out into the checkerboard border. This is as far as I can take it until I make the border and the little mini quilt block cornerstone. I'll work on that tomorrow. Once I have the borders in place, I can top-stitch it and then add the eye and the face.

As for cats, this one is trying to figure out how to get past that protective shield known as a window to get to the little hummer outside. He sat there for the longest time yesterday afternoon...and the hummer sat there too...mocking him. It was very exasperating for Mr. Smitty. 


The temperatures have warmed just barely on our icy hill. It gets above freezing during the day, and the ice is thawing where the sun shines. Unfortunately, a good portion of our driveway is in the shade all day, and those areas are as slick as ever. Today, Mike put some sand bags in the back of his truck to give us some extra weight, and we did manage to make our way out to the main road. I would never try this without him, but we made it out and all the way down the hill into town where the weather was nothing unusual for this time of year.

As we were leaving, we noticed that one of our faucets was leaking and had created this rather substantial ice sculpture. Impressive, no?


So, without Mike and his big bad truck, I'm still iced in here. It was nice to get out for a little while today, however. The sun has gone down now, and our temperatures have dipped back below freezing until tomorrow. It needs to warm up, or I'll continue to be stuck here when he returns to work on Monday.

How's your weekend going?

12 comments:

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Interesting fabrics for the kitty #9 - a designer breed. Love the photo of Smitty and the Hummer. We saw a lot of sunshine, but boy it was cold!! I went as far as the porch to soak up some Vitaman D until my veins turned to ice.

SewCalGal said...

Beautiful kitty quilts and photos. I liked it all, other than the "ice" picture. Hope you will be able to stay warm and not have any issues with your pipes.

SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

Marei said...

The quilty cats are looking very cute. Temps got into the 20's today with the most beautiful blue skies. I shoveled the drive and de-iced the walkway. Just took Scooter out and it's 0 degrees at 8:30. Fire going so we're nice and comfortable.

quiltzyx said...

Great job on his whiskers - and the pink chin looks a bit like a goatee! The 'bath' kitty will be wonderful too - just like all the rest! Glad Smitty is being so helpful, especially since he can't get to the hummingbird...

Kirsty said...

Your Folk Art Cats quilt is looking great! Thank goodness Smitty was able to drag himself away from Humming bird watch to give you a helping paw. Brrrr, it sure looks cold there. We are a ways through Spring here but tonight its dipping back down to 3 degrees C so its good to have the quilt on the bed. Zorro certainly thinks so, he's already settled in for the night. Lil' Fluff will join us soon, too, I expect. I've had a good weekend getting two quilts sorted. One's a baby quilt that I've just got to finish quilting the top of. I expect to get it in the mail by the end of next weekend. The other is a surprise quilt my friend is making for her sister. She had a quilt all cut and laid out but decided it wasn't right for her sister so she has been madly making fox blocks (check out Oh Frannson's pattern) for a week and on Friday she put the call out that it wasn't fitting together. We put it to rights, eventually, and by midnight last night we'd sandwiched and pinned it to its backing. I got a text a few hours ago to say she'd finished quilting the top and it was off to her Mum's to do the binding. Her sister has no idea but boy, what a mission! You've gotta love us quilters.

Val's Quilting Studio said...

Love the addition of another cat...such a fun quilt!! Finally stopped snowing but is bitter cold and not getting above 26 degrees....so sew sew sew I say!! :)

Dana Gaffney said...

The folk art cats are looking great, that style and the colors really appeals to me. Still beautiful here, stay safe and warm.

Dar said...

Your kitty quilt is looking better all the time. I know that Smitty has to take some of the credit for your progress. I know how he feels looking out and having to stay inside. It must be torture for those cold, freezing days. Your ice sculpture is 'interesting' to say the least. Hope it warms up during the week so you can get outside more.

Anonymous said...

HI, your cat quilt is so neat! Is this for Smitty?

msstitcher1214@gmail.com

MOMCAT14C said...

Is the blanket stitch around the applique kitties done by machine? I haven't tried that yet!

Love the picture of Smitty with the fabric strip in his mouth. Mica likes to drag mine around.

Kate said...

Very fun kitty blocks. Looks like lots of progress on that project.

Brown Family said...

And then there was one kitty! Love the ice sculpture