2/19/19

Two Projects

The quilting is half finished for Hocuspocusville now. I'm in a mad dash to get the binding sewn on by Thursday. We're taking a little weekend getaway, and hand-sewing the binding would make a good take-along project. If that is to happen, I need to quilt at least three of the remaining six blocks today. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

As for yesterday, the blocks I'm quilting are located on the most difficult part of the quilt for my machine. They are large blocks on the sides of the quilt. Since I can't quilt upside down, I have to turn the quilt right side up for the special motifs. Fortunately, the McTavishing can be done in any direction, and so I can turn the bulk of the quilt toward the back of the machine where it's less bothersome. The first one I quilted yesterday was the "Hermione's Split Ends." Apparently, this is a salon for witches. For this block, I quilted a bat in the sky.


For each specialty motif, I echo around it a few times to make it stand out from the McTavishing.


Any witch getting her hair done is going to remove her hat, and so this seemed like a good place for a witch's hat too.


Also, a spider web near the tree...


And some pavers on the walkway.


When the McTavishing was finished, it looked like this:


My helper cat was sleeping on the job in the chair beside me.


Looks like that chair could use a good going-over with a lint brush. Good grief. Either that, or shave the hair from the cat.

Okay, so the next block was the Black Cauldron, and that seemed an obvious place for a bubbling witch's cauldron.


Also, a ghost coming from the top. He's a little hard to make out in this image, but his head is at the top.


Also, some siding on the building for function.


When the block was finished, it looked like this:


My loyalties were divided yesterday because I need to get going on my project for Project Quilting 10.4, "Pixel Play." I had an idea in mind, and so I pulled fabrics first thing yesterday morning. Yummy colors, huh?


It's the reason only two blocks got quilted yesterday because once I started sewing on this, it was hard to tear myself away. It's sandwiched for quilting now. At 17 x 21 inches, it won't take long to finish it off and sew the binding on. I'll finish that today. I kind of like to keep these a secret until they're finished, and so I'm just giving you a peek today.


Any guesses? I'll show you the finished quilt in tomorrow's post.

There was a fun little surprise in the mail yesterday. (It was actually Saturday's mail but, like slugs, we hadn't been out to the mailbox until yesterday.) My friend Karen sent me a packet of sunflower seeds. Karen knows I love the sunflowers in summer. Also, she sent this little charm square of fabric. She said it reminded her of Smitty and Sadie. Which one do you think is Sadie, and which one Smitty?


Finally...today's inchy. I so look forward to these each morning.


So there's laundry to do and quilts to quilt, and oh yes, some housekeeping too. What would I do without housekeeping to fill in around the cracks of my days?

7 comments:

Julierose said...

I love your mactavishing on these blocks--I've never tried it. Only straight line quilting for me so far. Nice grouping of fabrics there, too. hugs, Julierose

Marti M said...

How was the bread with the 7 1/2 cups of flour. I figured I would wait to hear your results before I would try the recipe.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

The quilting is awesome on HocusPocus! Yes, sometimes working with the bulk right in the way is a challenge - as well as a fat cat in the middle of it all. Cute little kitty swatch. Will be interested to see how those solids play.

piecefulwendy said...

You are having fun with that quilting, I think. Hope you get 'er done so you can bring it along to bind. A weekend getaway sounds fun too. I'm guessing Smitty is the cat with the grin and Sadie is the one who looks worried? Or is it the other way around? Love the colors in your pixel quilt. Guess what? We're getting more snow -- like 9 more inches, with more to come this weekend. Yay.

kc said...

Looks like another blue ribbon quilt job to me! Amazing how you can translate what's in your head to stitching on your quilt. I love your inchies too - I think because the stitching is so interesting and the threads you're using are just beautiful!

Love those kitties - Smitty is the one with the up-to-no-good grin and Sadie is looking a bit concerned, I'm guessing.

I can't imagine what the pixel quilt is all about. I must confess, we've both been under the weather and I've missed more than a few days' posts.

Enjoy your getaway! Hope the weather clears up for you and you get lots of sunshine in.

Kate said...

HocusPocusVille is going to be both stunning and fun. Hmmm, looking forward to checking out your new project, the colors are perfect.

quiltzyx said...

The inchies are all so cute!
What a nice smooshie package you got too, with very pretty sunflowers. :)

LOL the sleeping Smitty in a hairy chairy! I'm kitty sitting this weekend. Ries actually came in last night & let me pet her for a bit, without any treats even! Didn't see Possum until this morning, when I got my usual distainful stare!!