Thinking About Sewing

Good morning, my friends. Well, it rained and rained and rained yesterday. And it was dark. It's the kind of weather that makes me want to grab a cat, snuggle up under a quilt, and sleep the day away. I'll admit to taking a too-long nap, which made it hard to fall asleep last night. Still, it was luxurious. When I woke up, I didn't want to come out of my warm cocoon.

When I finally made my way into the sewing room, my goal was to root around in my landscape fabrics and find some that were possibilities for my project. One of the first fabrics I pulled out was this one, and this gave me pause. See how it's all chewed up? And I asked myself, what happened here?

At first, I thought it was mouse-chewed. Remember that all my fabrics were in the garage for a good long time a couple of summers ago after a plumbing disaster. Still, the cuts appeared to have been made by scissors. And then, I remembered...I fussy cut those trees when I made the quilt below. It was my oldest UFO at the time. I'd started it, and then put it aside when I got stuck on what to do next. It sat for around five years before I finished it. It was my first landscape quilt.

Okay, so that was a nice little trip down memory lane, but what about those fabrics? Well, I won't use all of these, but I have a large selection to choose from. These are possibilities for the background.

And the greens will work for the main subject. I have yardage and scraps here. 

Also, I found some fabrics that simply didn't belong with the landscape prints, and so it was good to get these organized a little better. The ones I pulled for this project are now neatly stored in a bin, but don't worry. They'll be scattered from A to Izzard by the time I'm finished with my project.

With that done, I taped my photograph and the template plastic to my cutting mat.

These collage quilts are done like applique, and so I first give myself a hint by indicating which side of the template is the right side. It is used for creating the small pieces for the collage, but then it's also used for placement on the quilt. It means repeatedly flipping the template over and back. Indicating the right side helps avoid confusion.

And then, I created a pattern by tracing over the color changes in the original photograph.

Now I can go no further with this project until I've received some fabric I ordered. I have a tracking number, but so far the item has not been delivered to the post office. Hopefully, I'll get some indication when it will arrive before the end of the day.

From there, I went upstairs to start working on the Ties & Tails quilt. I'm still circling this project, having not yet worked up enough courage to start. I decided my task for the day would be to choose threads and get the machine set up for quilting. I was looking for yellow threads for both top and bottom. I found three identical and partially-used spools along with a partially-wound bobbin. That seemed like a good choice for the bottom thread.

And then I selected this one for the top thread. I believe I'll stick with yellow throughout, but it's hard to know for sure how that will look on some of the other colors of fabric. I could change my mind about it.

All the labels are missing for these threads, and so I could only guess at their weight. Fortunately, my helper cat arrived just then to help me adjust tension.

He's a stickler for proper tension, as you can plainly see.

So I flipped the back fabric over the excess batting and did a little sewing. You should know that fabric isn't dirty. It's a grunge fabric.

So it looks pretty good on top. What about the bottom?

And that looks perfect. So...no excuses. Time to sew. I started by first outlining the body of the cat. Those flanges and 3-D collars are going to give me grief, I just know it.

And that seemed like a good place to stop. I'll continue on from there today. I left it needle down. The cats are excited for their turn under my quilting needle. Leaving them needle down should hold them until I get back.

When I went downstairs, we spotted a great horned owl in one of our fir trees. This is a terrible picture, but I wanted you to notice how the tree top stays straight up. For such a big bird, it must be very lightweight. I was shooting through a window from far away and it was very dark. This was my best shot, although I took dozens.

And since it was such a terrible picture, I found this one in the public domain. I love their little ear tufts.

We have a lot of owls around our place right now. This morning, we were awakened by the very loud call of a barred owl. If you've never heard one, you can listen right here. It's surprising how loud they can be, especially when they're right near the house.

We sat and watched the news, and that gave me some time to finish off this section of the Joyful Journey block.

The top section is finished now, but the piece is only about 1/3 complete.

So that's where I'll be heading after breakfast. We have grocery shopping to do today...always a dreaded task. There's nothing else on today's agenda, and so I should have some time to get busy quilting the Ties & Tails quilt. My goal is to quilt three of the cat blocks today. It's going to be a wrestling match with such a large quilt, so wish me luck.