New quilt

I think I started a new quilt today. You are probably thinking that this looks a lot like the vintage spin quilt that I have been working on forever. That's what I thought too, until this afternoon, when I was trimming the blocks and discovered that I had cut my wedges two inches smaller.

Beware of GMOs

Please remember to store your patchwork responsibly or you may face the same drastic accident that I experienced...

A Genetically Modified Owl.

Knock Knock

Who's there? Purple Owl! Purple Owl Who? WHO WHO TO YOU TOO!

I suggest you visit the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge to see if others have been able to make less annoying purple patchwork for this last week of April.

Owl Demands

Don't you just hate it when your day starts with fighting and recriminations? Well, apparently last night the carefully packed box of stuffed animals ousted Stinky (AKA Wittie the Owl) from the box. I bought him on ebay a few months ago, and he arrived having been doused in perfume...hence his new name Stinky. He spent many a cold winter night outside, but apparently that was not enough for the stuffed animals that had to share a box with him.

Then Stinky let the patchwork owls out and now they are all demanding I make a purple owl because there is only one Saturday left in April and they are very serious about the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge. Mr. Rabbit wants me to make purple bunnies, but I told him there are plenty of bunnies (and even a tutorial for making them) over at Podunk Pretties. So hop over there while I get to work on making a purple owl.

Kitten Quest

I have been away from sewing lately because I have been preparing this house for sale. It used to have two cats in every room. I did a special inventory where I went into each room and counted the cats and each room had one Tommy and one Jimmy. Both staring up at me asking "why did we come into this room?"

In case you've forgotten, this is a compact version of Tommy and Jimmy back when they were two years old and they could both fit in a kitty cup. Well, sort of. Tommy has climbed in on top of Jimmy who isn't certain he likes to share.

But now its time to embark on a kitten quest. After I sell the house, I am going to move to the Portland area where I have it on good authority that there are some exceptional cats. Some might even say that I'm smitten by Smitty--but its quite unrequited because he is a very prolific cat and doesn't have time for nonsense. So maybe I can luck into some Portlandia kittens.

Meanwhile you can see the inside of the house and listen to some cheesy music...with the best part a panning motion to a large photo of Tommy...http://tours.tourfactory.com/tours/tour.asp?t=1335183.

Or you can view it on zillow: http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/79007256_zpid/days_sort/38.246944,-78.526325,38.0439,-78.857288_rect/11_zm/1_fr/?view=map

And for some reason the realtor steered clear of the fabric stash...

Return to the Vintage Spin

Open clear spaces do not last long around here. I decided to use the space to lay out the two sides of the vintage spin quilt--from Kathy Doughty's Adding Layers book. I had decided to make a "Pretty Weird" quilt where I would have pretty vintage spin blocks on one side and weird vintage spin blocks on the reverse side. I separated the two sides last night, and it looks like the division is more between dark warm and light cool colors.

I didn't settle on a final layout because I discovered I needed four more blocks. This required pulling fabric from formerly neat piles to find interesting pairs of fabric.  I will also have to sew the circles into the centers using Judy Dale's 6 minute circle method (the same used to insert owl eyes, for example).  Maybe by the time I get that all done, I can hire the feline expertise to arrange the blocks properly.

Room shuffling

Remember the pink room where I used to store my flat folds of fabric? Well, now its a really pink room with a bed in it. I think that makes it a bedroom now. The quilt on the bed was made by my grandmother and was the perfect touch in case the pink carpet and walls were too subtle.

The bed in the pink room came from the sewing room. It used to be Tommy's executive suite, that is, his command central for managing staff and taking power naps.  There is now a large open area of carpet that would be perfect for laying out blocks for large quilts in progress like the vintage spin blocks. Except something is missing...like a couple of kittens to help with block placement...or misplacement...depending on your point of view.

Score!

Look at what I was able to buy off the back of a truck...Meow Meow Moving.  And all it cost me was six sheets of tissue paper and a jar of catnip. I sure hope they drove responsibly.

Here's another angle. I decided to store it behind the design wall in the sewing room.

Oh wait. There's some more. And you can also see the magic door into the crawl space. If I ever closed that door...for example, to keep wasps out of sewing room...Tommy would be in front of it yeowing for me to open it.

Oh, and I almost forgot. Here's just a little more.

Fabric Stash Removal

Let me share my regrets that I haven't had much to show that is quilting related because I haven't been anywhere near a sewing machine. Instead I have been involved in a long intense legal battle where I have finally admitted defeat. As you know, after Tommy passed, he bequeathed my fabric stash to Vicki W. and put Mr. McKibble in charge of his estate. I hired Ms. Fluffy to try to prove that Tommy was incompetent when he wrote the will...and needless to say both sides have exhaustive documentation of my incompetence while no one can find evidence that Tommy did anything wrong, ever. 

 So I hope Vicki W. enjoys it all, although I have to give her credit for having absolutely nothing to do with this whole cat fight, I mean legal battle.

Purple fish

I wanted to participate in the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge today, but I had to go fishing instead. The eagles are very hungry and are adamant that they eat fish, not owls. In fact, I think the eagles may be in caHOOTs with the owls.

I was able to catch some purple fish. And, of course, the red, white and blue eagle will only eat red, white and blue fish, regardless of the color of the month.

Another Eagle Arrives

I admit that I would like to post everyday, but sometimes I don't get as much sewing done as I might like and have no content for the blog. Recently, I have had a hard time being in the sewing room because of all the arguing. Mr. Patriotic Eagle arrived and has been trying to convince everyone to wear flag pins.

This eagle block is 13.5 by 18 inches, finished. He's based on a .75 inch grid.