Fabulous Feline Finish

Good morning, my friends. I'm writing fast this morning. In a little while, I'm heading out to get a badly-needed haircut and to run some errands in town. I'm happy to start today's post announcing the Fantastic Felines are finished. This quilt will be donated to an organization known as Leave It for the Pooch, and it will be included in a fund-raising auction sometime in June.

Here’s how it looks from the back. It ends up at 60 x 60 inches.

Wanna know how much kitty help was offered?

Yeah…the whole notion of these being “fantastic felines” bored them to sleep.

Mainly, though, they were just tired after spending the morning chasing this guy. He’s too large for them to do any damage, but he keeps them occupied.

Also, I finished Block 6 for Le Jardin. I knew I was close, but I didn’t expect to have it finished just yet.

It still needed borders.

These are all the blocks I have for this quilt so far. Probably I’m going to need to change a few of these. Some of them are supposed to have red cornerstones like the one in the upper left.

And that meant I needed to trace out the next one. This is the Cozy Quilt stitchery.

Colors were listed with the pattern. I’m using whatever I have from my stash. These are all the colors that will be used.

And that was all the sewing I did yesterday.

It’s going to be a busy run-around day, and so I’ll take tomorrow off from blogging. If there’s time for any sewing today (doubtful), I’ll get going on the Nordic Star table runner. Just now, I’m going to eat some breakfast. If I hurry, I might have a little time for some slow stitching. We’re expecting rain for the next few days. It’ll be good sewing weather. How is spring treating you so far?

Monday Musings

Good morning, my friends. It was good to take a day off yesterday. I managed to make my way all the way around the house pulling weeds, filling my 7-gallon bucket with hairy bittercress. I'm sure I missed a few sprigs here and there, but I gave it something to think about. There were a few other unrecognized blooming weeds out there too...friends of the hairy bittercress, one assumes. I pulled up any weed that was blooming. They'll have to spread their seeds somewhere else.

My knees were killing me after that effort. The thing is...there really wasn't that much getting up and down. I mostly bent from the waist unless I came across a particularly populated patch (awesome alliteration). There were just a few times I sat on the ground and had to get up again. Just the same, I iced my knees when I was finished, and then again last night while we watched TV. This morning, everything seems fine. I worried I'd broken myself.

And you'd be disappointed if I didn't show you every blooming thing, wouldn't you? It's still a little too cold for most things, but the yellow daffodils are starting to open.

As I've mentioned, we planted more daffodils last fall, and so I haven't yet seen some of them. I saw a few of these little guys. They look like any other daffodil, but they are tiny, and their stems are only about four inches tall.

Across from where I was standing, I could see the flowering plums in bloom. They've been blooming in the valley for a while, but at our elevation, we have to wait a little longer.

The star magnolias are starting to fully open too.

This whole big shrub will be covered in flowers within a few days.

Also, the grape hyacinths are blooming.

There is still much to do in the garden. My next focus will be to deadhead all the hydrangeas. That's a job that allows me to remain standing, and so it shouldn't cause me any grief from my knees. Probably, I'll take a few days off before I start on it, though. The weather is still chilly. I had on a thermal shirt, a sweatshirt, and a heavy coat yesterday, and I was still too cold. We're expecting warmer weather by Thursday, and a good day of weather on Saturday. (We'll be attending a No Kings event that day, and so a sunny day will be appreciated.)

On the sewing front, I squared up the Fantastic Felines and sewed on the binding.

In two sittings yesterday, I turned two corners. I'm about halfway around this now, and so I expect to have it finished in a day or two.

Today I have just one easy housekeeping chore to do, and then I can focus on more sewing. The next thing I'd like to work on is the Nordic Star table runner I made while we were traveling. It was a request from one of my friend Sue's inlaws.

I need to make a back for it, and then it will be ready for sandwiching and quilting. I'll probably do some sort of dot-to-dot motif on this. With straight lines, I can probably create some star shapes on the quilt back with whatever quilting design I choose. I'm hoping to get it sandwiched today.

Tomorrow is going to be a run-around day. I'm getting a badly needed haircut, and then I'm going to run a few errands in town. Despite that, I'll be back here for a quicky post in the morning.

It's gray and chilly again this morning. We're expecting rain tomorrow and the next day, but then some clearing and warming. Better days are ahead, my friends. It's a hopeful time of the year weather-wise.

The Reveal: Freckled Frog

Good morning my friends. It's time to reveal my quilt for the "Patterns in Nature" prompt. My quilt was inspired by the Northern Leopard Frogs we encountered while hiking in Fort Ransom State Park in North Dakota. This is my original photograph. You can see more pictures from our hike at that link I've given you.

Initially, I didn't see how I was going to recreate him with the fabrics I had available. Then, I came across a swatch of this McKenna Ryan fabric in my stash. Doing a quick internet search, I was able to find more of it. Yahoo! It was just what I needed to create frog skin. 

So I went to work rendering my photograph into fabric.

These are time-consuming, and they can be frustrating. This one actually went together more easily than anticipated.

Hour by hour...a little more.

Until the whole frog was constructed. I added the chalk lines on the legs so I’d know where to focus my stitching to bring out the detail.

Then, I created a background for it. This would have been a good fabric for the recent "Sky Color" challenge.

From there, I peeled him up off the teflon pressing sheet and fused him to the background.

Then it was ready for quilting and binding. These are the thread colors I used.

I wanted to quilt a dragonfly above his head, and I wanted it to have sparkly wings.

First, I went to work thread-painting and stitching down the edges of the frog.

That was done just through the quilt batting and prior to adding the back.

When it was finished, it looked like this:

Searching through my stash, I didn't have a fabric I liked for the back. I went searching online and found the perfect back for the frog. The rest of the quilting was done after the back was added.

And then I went to work quilting a place for the frog to live...and some friends to have over for dinner.

This is my rendering of a dragonfly.

Also, he wanted some lilypads and cattails in his pond.

On both sides, if you don't mind.

When the quilting was finished, I found this binding in my leftover binding scrap bag.

The quilt was actually all finished and hanging on the wall. Every time I entered the sewing room, I felt as if it needed something else on the right side. And so I carefully fused this rising sun (or setting sun...not really sure), and quilted in a few rays.

And then I could call it finished. 

I hope you like my quilt. It finishes up at 17 x 22 inches. To see more quilts created for the "Patterns in Nature" prompt, head on over to The Endeavourers blog.

Fast Finish

Good morning, my friends. It was a busy day yesterday. I accomplished everything on my list except for the housekeeping chores. Housekeeping takes a back seat to the fun stuff. Maybe I'll get at it today. Maybe I won't. Last night, I was a tired pup. It seemed like a good idea to give myself a day off today. After sleeping it off, I'm ready to get back at it this morning.

As for yesterday's comings and goings, I went to work first thing to bake the Cranberry Ecstasy Bars. They aren't hard to make, but it does take a good part of the day. It takes about 20 minutes for the oven to heat up, which is about the same amount of time it takes to mix-up the ingredients. Mine took about 30 minutes to bake. I made just half the recipe this time around and baked it in a 9 x 9 baking dish. When it came from the oven, it looked like this.

From there, I needed to let it cool completely in the baking dish. Meanwhile, I went to work sandwiching the Little Green Frog quilt for quilting. My kitty inspector showed up to help.

He was appalled at my use of the University of Oregon's green and yellow school colors. As an Oregon State Beaver Believer, he may never forgive me...until dinner time. Then maybe.

It's a small quilt at 38 x 44 inches, and so it didn't take long to sandwich it. From there, I went to work with my Line Tamer ruler quilting a straight line diagonal grid. By the way, the ruler feet I purchased for my machine are working great for me. They were expensive, but worth every penny. I had no problem keeping the foot firmly within the track of the ruler. It as nice to be able to quilt nice straight lines without fear of breaking something.

When the center panel was quilted, the Cranberry Ecstasy Bars were ready for the next step. I inverted the baking dish onto a cutting board, and then made the frosting. They were frosted and then sprinkled with chopped dried cranberries. From there, it went into the refrigerator for an hour to give the frosting time to set up.

And then I went back to my quilting. I used my go-to "Paperclip" motif on the narrow yellow border. 

And then I did a sort of upsy-downsy ribbon motif in the outer border.

And then it was ready for binding. I took it off the machine and laid it out to have a look.

Here's how it looks from the back.

Here's a close-up of the quilting. I used to stress about turning the corners. I could never get the motif to look right as I rounded the bend. Then, I realized I could simply quilt something different there. No harm done.

So then, I cut the batting even with the back and trimmed the back to an inch from the top. Quilts for Kids prefers a machine binding, and so it's a simple matter to fold once and then flip to the top for a zig-zag stitch binding. 

Before starting on that, however, I finished off the Cranberry Ecstasy Bars with a white chocolate drizzle. I slid them onto a plate for their picture, and Voila! That's one festive and delicious Christmas baking project right there. 

I told Mike I was going to wish I'd made the whole recipe. He said, it was good that I didn't. They're too yummy to resist.

Okay, and so then I got back to my quilt and finished off the binding. (I might have straightened it out a little better for its picture.)

Here's another look at the back.

Now it's washed and ready for shipping off to Quilts for Kids. And this was my goal for December's

I'm feeling pretty smug about having my project finished so early in the month. When the party starts at the end of the month, I'll be there to link up.

If I decide to do any sewing today, I'll back track and make two more blocks for the Whimsical Quilt Garden. Here are the blocks I have for this quilt so far.

I haven't looked at the next blocks yet, and so I don't know what I'm in for. Sometimes I can put them together pretty quickly. Sometimes they take longer.

And when I've finished that, I'll be back to the first section of my white board, which is to quilt and bind a large quilt. The Heartland Barns quilt is next up for finishing.

It's  been lounging on Eliza for the past couple of weeks, relaxing its wrinkles out. I have a pretty good idea about how I'm going to quilt this, but I haven't made up my mind about thread colors yet. I'll probably use an off-white thread on the embroidered panels. I don't want the quilting to compete with the embroidery. Moving out toward the edges, I may switch to a dark brown or a dark green.

Okay, and so I said IF I do any sewing today. And if not, I might take a day off. And if I take a day off, I might take a day off from blogging tomorrow too. What would I have to say for myself other than I sat on the couch all day? So I guess we'll both be surprised. Tune in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion. And if you don't see any conclusion, then you'll know what it was.