10/25/20

Details, Details

My morning was slow yesterday, and so I spent a luxuriously long time with my slow stitching, filling in the current hoops-worth.


There's just a little left to do on the lower right.


I don't expect to finish this today, but maybe by tomorrow. Here's all that's left to stitch.


This is Sunday, so I'll be linking up to



With that finished, I briefly considered going out for a walk. By brief, I mean, about the length of time it takes me to stand up. And after standing up, I was too exhausted to consider going outside. Oh well.

Instead, I headed into the sewing room. Here's where I left the cat and bird from the day before.


It was time to give each the gift of sight.


And then, I machine stitched the face of the cat and the legs of the bird. I believe the bird is whispering something in the cat's ear.  I'm not sure, but I think it said, "My pecker is bigger than yours." 


As I've mentioned, cats are excellent color consultants, and Smitty helped me choose some reds for the pieced sashing.


When this quilt is all sewn together the various sashings will come together to complete the blocks on all four sides. It just means that each block has different requirements there. Sometimes I need pieces on all sides. Sometimes, just two or three sides. Yesterday's only needed three sides. Here's how it looked when it was finished.


Smitty helped me lay out all the blocks so we could see them together.


They'll be configured differently in the quilt, but these are all the blocks I have for this quilt so far. There are still five cats left to make, and a small block with birds, called the "chorus line."


Okay, and so that brings me to the bottom of my current list of WIPS. Time to choose something for "Quilter's Choice."


As a prompt, I've listed these categories under "Quilter's Choice." I already knew I was going to work with a panel this time around. If you're wondering, PINS are "Projects I Never Started."


As I was hunting through my stash a few weeks ago, I came across this panel. I bought this absolutely forEVER ago. My boys used to have a rug like this, and they played for hours driving their matchbox cars around their little town. I saw this advertised in a magazine at some point, and decided to purchase it. 


Here's the information from the selvage edge. I purchased it so long ago, I wondered if it was still available. There are several on eBay


I don't know if matchbox cars are still a thing, but I decided to make this for a friend of Matthew's who has a little boy. I think his little boy is about 18 months now. I figure even if he never drives matchbox cars on it, it'll still make a good snuggle quilt for a little boy.

So that's next on my agenda. I have lots of fabric left from the backing for the first Shop Hop quilt, and so I cut a piece for the backing from this fabric:


As long as I was doing that, I went searching through my binding scraps to see what I could come up with. I found two rather long pieces of this previously-used "checkered flag" binding. There wasn't enough to go all the way around, but I had some scraps I could piece together to add enough length. 


This made me very happy. I always like it when I can pull out a scrap binding and use it. Smitty appurroves. He was an excellent sewing cat yesterday. Sadie has been spending her time in front of the fireplace lately. She's been no help at all. We might have to roust her out and put her to work.


Okay, so the panel will be pretty easy to make into a little quilt for a pint-sized person. I'll just sandwich it and quilt around the various designs. And that means, I'm going to spend the day sandwiching all the finished flimsies stacked in the sewing room at the moment. There are eleven quilts to sandwich. I won't be able to do them all in one day. It's probably a two-day job. Mike and I will be setting up the sawhorse and plywood tables in the garage today. If you're looking for me, that's where I'll be.

14 comments:

Barbara said...

As anyone who has ever been around a cat for any length of time well knows, cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the humankind. ~ Cleveland Amory

MissPat said...

That backing fabric is purrfect for the matchbook race track panel. Maybe Sadie is still recovering from the trauma of her fire evacuation. But, then again, who can argue with snuggling up in from of a fireplace these cold days.
Pat

Sherrie said...

Hi,
Love cat/bird block, so pretty. Your list looks like mine, only I have lots more quilt tops on mine. It's always a guessing game as to which one to work on. If only there were 4 of me...I could get lots more done..lol Love the idea for the race track quilt...my grandkids had a rug like that..they played for hours on that rug. The checkered binding will go really good with the panel..and I could join Sadie in front of the fire place...she looks so happy laying there. Have a great day!

gpc said...

Matchbox cars are definitely still a thing, and they have every vehicle imaginable, including Teslas. We have a 5 year old nephew and he has been 'into' them forever, so good choice. Cat blocks are adorable, the racing binding is brilliant, and Sadie deserves the time off.

Cathy Smith said...

Ahhh... the whispering of birds! THANK YOU! The fatigue is getting to me a bit and I really needed a good laugh! You probably heard me hee hawing all the way to Three Cats Ranch! Happy sewing!

Karrin Hurd said...

The cat blocks are adorable, and lovely stitching!

Jenny said...

What a difference it made by adding the eyes to the cat block. Your cats are such a big help with all your projects, keeping an eye on what you are up to and offering their advice

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

The design you're embroidering is such a pretty one! Is it a Crabapple Hill design? I love the cats with their ties - that one is going to be a cute quilt!

Vroomans' Quilts said...

That should make for a quick snuggle quilt to be drug around and loved for some time.

Ivani said...

Beautiful embroidering!
Love your cat looking the quilt. So sweet!

piecefulwendy said...

By now, I assume you are well on your way to finishing all that basting. Think of all the steps you are taking - your walk for the day is done! Woohoo! The cat blocks are so fun, and the kitties look like they approve. Well, at least Smitty does, anyway. I'm heading to the grocery store today. Sigh.

Andee Neff said...

Matchbox cars are still a thing. The mat will be loved. Super cute cat to go with the cat quilt!

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Oh yes matchbox cars are very much still a thing if my grandsons are any indication! That's a wonderful play mat/quilt for little ones. I know my 'grands' would love it. Smitty helped you make perfect choices of reds to go so nicely with the cat and bird (and I agree - they've come to life with the additions!).

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

Matchbox cars are still popular. I'm going to be making a quilt for my grandson for Christmas with a race track on the back and 3 matchbox cars on the front. I'll be including some cars to go with it. Matthew's friends son will love that quilt.