Catapulting to a Finish

When I picked up with The Emperor's pawtrait yesterday, I'd finished the face but still needed to add a couple of little bits of shading at the ear and the right cheek.

The nose gave me fits on this one. Most kitties have a nose that is just one color. The Emperor has a nose of many colors...sort of a calico nose, if you will. And while it looked like a mess of different layers of applique, I laid the placement guide over the top just to reassure myself that the colors were in the right places. Satisfied that it was right, I moved on, knowing that stitching in the thread details would pull it together.

From there, I moved on to the "ascot." While there is no gray on The Emperor's coat, the gray will make the transition from black to white fur more natural. There are lots of little nooks and crannies in the edges of the applique, and so I try to minimize how much of that tedious cutting I'll have to do when I choose the order in which to lay down the colors. In this case, I started with gray.

Then added the white.

Finally, the black.

These are done using an applique pressing sheet. From here he's ready to be peeled up off the pressing sheet to be fused to his background. First, I hold the whole piece up to the light to check for holes.

This being my 6th pawtrait, I'm getting better and covering everything. There was just a little hole near the nose.

Holes can be fixed by simply laying a little scrap of fabric behind the hole when I fuse it to the background.

These pawtraits are so completely engrossing that I don't even notice the mess accumulating in the sewing room until they are completely fused. 

Scissors, rotary cutters, little bits of fusing medium, pictures, and fabric strewn everywhere, including the ironing board.

Okay, so I had to stop and tidy up a little before moving on. The next step was to fuse The Emperor to his background. In choosing a background color, I'll usually choose something to match the eyes, or else choose a color from the background of the original image. As an example, when I did Scooter, the dog, she was looking out the window of a car, and so I chose a color similar to the car.

Smitty's background was chosen for his green eyes.

In The Emperor's case, I chose his background from the turquoise strip in the background of his photograph.

And that looks pretty good to me.

I walked away from him for a little while, but when I returned, I decided to give him a border. He seemed to need a little breathing room.

The next step was to add the batting and then topstitch down all the applique edges. This was done using both clear and smoky monofilament thread and a microtex needle to minimize needle holes. It's best seen from the back. Also, I used two scraps of batting butted together and then stitched, which explains the seam you see down the middle.

Once that was done, I was ready to stitch in the details. As I've been writing this post, I've realized he still needs to have the gleam in his eyes added with a french knot, and so I'll do that first when I get back to him.

I was ready to quit for the day, but then started experimenting with quilting designs. Before I knew it, I'd quilted him too.

It seemed like a playful whirlygig design was the best choice.

In addition to the gleam in his eye, he just needs binding now, and he'll be finished. I'll give him a bright turquoise binding.

While all this was going on, Smitty was gearing up for a rumble with the squirrel.

Mike and I believe he and the squirrel have worked out an arrangement. He chases the squirrel, but never catches him. In exchange, the squirrel runs from him and the game is on. (Actually, I think Smitty might have tangled with this squirrel before, and learned to stay just short of catching him. He's a rather big fellow.)

In other wildlife news, this young buck enjoyed a snack of the scratch grains we threw out for the birds.

I was watching him through the window in Mike's office. Even though the office was dark, he could still see me moving around inside. You can see where he has antlers sprouting there.

The last stitches were taken in this go-round for Mumm's the Word. The areas inside the pink line are all quilted now, and a little over half the border remains. When this comes up again in my hand-stitching rotation, I'll probably be able to finish it off.

But this is May 1st, and so it's time to start stitching the next bag lady. This month I'll be stitching Hildegard.

I'm taking the bag ladies in order, but if you're stitching along with us, please stitch whichever bag lady you want to. Also, the April linky party is live now, so don't forget to link up to be in the running for a fabulous prize. Even if you haven't joined in up until now, you can decide to join us any time. There are 12 bag ladies in all, and you can stitch all or just one if you like. Click on that button above Hildegard for all the details. 

Today is a big day. It's Mae's birthday. Happy birthday, to my beautiful daughter-in-law! Also, it's Mike's first official day of retirement. Up until now, it was the weekend following his day of work on Friday, but today...no alarm...no getting up...no getting dressed...no out the door. Instead, we're lazing around, moving slowly, and planning a day of it. We have a wine shipment to pick up, and then we'll probably pay a visit to the tulip festival going on at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm in Woodburn, Oregon. It's in its final week, and so there isn't much time left. Pictures tomorrow.

Finally, it's time to choose a goal for

My goal for May is to quilt and bind the Mommy & Me baby quilt.

I'll have to get busy on this because it needs to be done before we leave on our trip next week.