11/5/15

Stitchery, Ditchery, Dock

This morning has been devoted to stitching and preparing for stitching. The Gazebo Square block is finished. This is the fifth of nine blocks for the Gingerbread Square quilt.


Cute, huh?

The next time I work on this (probably in December or January), I'll be stitching the Candy Cane Quilt Shop.


With that one finished, I needed something for tomorrow's slow stitching session. It's time to get started on this month's blocks for the Live, Love, Teach quilt. I'll be doing Amber and Zane's block next. 


This one is straight stitching in black floss. Last month's blocks were some of the more challenging in the whole quilt, while this month's blocks are relatively simple. When I started on this, I was shuffling through the many pages of block submissions and choosing the ones I most wanted to do. At some point, I recognized that was a bad idea because I was going to be left with a pile of the ones I least wanted to do. Now I'm just taking the next ones from the top of the stack so that I get a good mix of challenging and simple. 

That won't take more than a day or two, and so I spent some time getting Block #3 for Hocuspocusville ready to go too. The next one is this fly-through witches' brew coffee block. These are so clever and creative.


I started to trace it out in black, and then remembered the problems I'd had on the last block with the ink smearing on this particular fabric for some reason. I've determined through testing that it is the fabric and not the ink, and so now I've switched to brown ink. At least if it smears, it won't be as noticeable on that cream-colored background. I've had to monkey a little with the contrast on this next image to make the tracing show up.


These are all stitched in black floss, but I've been adding orange to all the pumpkins on the previous blocks. I want to add a little orange to each of them, but as you can see, there are no pumpkins on this block. I'll probably do the banner across the top in orange, and while it makes sense to do a black cat, I'm going to stitch this cat in orange as a remembrance of our sweet George.

If you're new to this blog, then you need to know that George was Gracie's litter mate, and one of the original cats of the Three Cats Ranch. Sadly, he had an autoimmune disorder known as Pemphigus that shortened his life. He was much loved while we had him.


George was a mild-mannered cat by day. By night, he was a crime fighter who went by the nom de guerre of "Captain Cat-tastic". He also wrote a blog for a short time, but had to give it up when his crime-fighting adventures kept him too busy to write. You can read Captain Cat-tastic's blog by clicking on his button:


Catanooga Choo Choo

As for Gracie, she survived her trip to the vet yesterday. She just needed her immunizations and so it was a quick trip. This morning, she's firmly ensconced on her throne as she should be.


There are a few housekeeping chores to do today, but otherwise, I'll continue working on the Wind in the Whiskers quilt. I should be able to finish up this section today, and then I'll have to decide if I have enough nerves left to sew all the completed sections together. That will be tomorrow's news.


What's going on at your place today?

9 comments:

Vroomans' Quilts said...

You have a bundle of stitcheries going and they are all so different to help keep the creativity flowing.

Sarah said...

I can definitely see the family resemblance between George and Gracie! Will you do a George portrait? You always have the cutest stitcheries - I'm in awe!

Cath said...

Oh George is just gorgeous...I think you should do his pawtrait next!! loving everything you have posted about today...I have had a busy week with stitching as well which is something that hasn't happened around here for a very long time....and I am enjoying it. Cath from Bits'nBobs

SJSM said...

Stitcher, dickory, dock, indeed! You have a lot of hand stitching ahead and each one by clever people and being sewn by a clever stitcher.

I moved all my sewing projects and equipment out of the dining room today. Our gourmet group meets on Saturday. All went into the space of my new sewing room. Unfortunately there is no furniture at this point. The move is a bit limiting but surprisingly uplifting at the same time. Most of the house is now back in order and I can plan for the holidays. I just need to figure out where to do the family paperwork such as bills and files. Then wait for my sewing chair to arrive! I will hodge podge furniture until I get mine and all the bits and bobs of sewing in boxes and containers.

reclaimed wood dining table uk said...

That's lovely! I adore your creativity! :)

Dana Gaffney said...

What a nice surprise to see George again. I agree with the others, I hope you're going to do a George portrait and then think about a Krissy one, they both deserve a place on the wall.

Lynette said...

I always love your stitcheries - can't believe how quickly you can do them. :) The AmberZane block is adorable - I think that's my favorite from that project. Hocuspocusville always calls to me. And I'm holding my breath with you when you get to assembling the Whiskers blocks that let you work on the tree!!!

quiltzyx said...

Looks like the next Gingerbread block doesn't have quite so many French knots in it. I don't remember having much trouble making those, but it WAS a very long time ago. All of the stitcheries look like so much fun when you're doing them!
How nice to see George! I miss our orange buddies.

Kate said...

The Gazebo block turned out beautifully and I love those Hocuspocusville blocks. Happy stitching!