More Plaid Bunnies

Here are three more bunnies marching to join the plaid bunny party, but Oh Scrap!, they have found themselves in this blog post instead. To see other scrappy wonders, you too can join the party at Oh Scrap!

Stickler for Blue Cat Toys

I wasn't sure whether to start a new RSC project for the fifth week of Blue January. Then I remembered a block that I liked that Angela made and displayed in her SoScrappy blog. Plus I could make it using strips out of Molly's playground (a pile of 1.5 inch strips dumped on the floor). This block probably has an official name, but I'm going to call it Cat Toy.

I used a .75 inch grid and realized that it worked up into the size of a Dear Jane block. So I made one using the Dear Jane colors (second row, far left).

Then I checked the Dear Jane book to see if this was a Dear Jane block...and Jane Stickle did have something close in her quilt. So I made that block too and it is M5 or Mother's Point. There is yet another version diagrammed in the book.

Dear Jane Accounting

I jumped into making Dear Jane blocks without much of a plan...just to follow Fabadashery's adventure and use Kaffe fabrics. Notice that I have not even committed to making a Dear Jane quilt. In any case, without organization I found myself repeating blocks and so I have taken the time to label the blocks and account for them according to Fabadashery's random drawings. I am officially caught up through Drawing 14, plus these additional blocks that haven't been picked yet.  The orange block appears to have a broken antenna which wasn't part of the original design.

I can't resist adding another photo of Molly as she continues to explore the sewing room. In this case, she seems to be fascinated with the skylight. And I never did figure out where today's sleeping roost was so I think she may know my sewing room better than I do. I would love to show you a photo of her going completely languid in my arms. I can even cradle her on her back. This is not anything I taught her. Once she decided I was okay and would let me touch her, that is give her full body massages, she turned into a limp rag. A delightful limp minky fur rag.

Plaid Standing Bunnies

Four new standing bunnies have joined the group. I had made piles with mixed and matched plaids, but my piles were getting disrupted by relentless kitten activity. That was my motivation for moving back to this project.

Here's the full collection that I've made so far. I usually use a common background fabric, but this time I'm mixing it up. Before this project, however, I had very few plaids. And finding light plaids has not been all that easy, so I have supplemented my collection by a trip to a thrift store to buy plaid shirts. I can see how that could become an addictive activity.

And this is the look of a kitten trying to comprehend the word "No." Molly wants to jump over to the ironing board but I am stopping her by being annoying and taking her picture.

Here is Molly reassessing her options in her thinking chair...that is, my sewing chair. And that is a cat toy in front of Molly's tail and not some horrible disease.

Mouse meets Jane

Today, the Alternative Jane block is a mouse. Molly is fascinated by the the cupboards under the kitchen sink which I assume has a resident mouse. (And yes, I know that there is no such thing as a singular mouse.) So I made this patchwork mouse rather than go snooping where no positive outcome would be possible.

And here is the collection of Alternative Universe Dear Jane blocks, so far. The owl is quite pleased to be sitting between lunch and dinner.

 

Here is my Dear Jane block M6 or Simplicity. My block looks like it  has been through a woodchipper. To see a quite beautifully and carefully made version of this block, visit this post by Fabadashery.  However, finishing this block means that I have completed Draw 12.

Dear Jane D10 and S19

And so today I had a chance to resume the Dear Jane blocks, and here is D10 or Battlefield. I made this with the easy angle ruler, flip triangles and a playful kitten.  Molly the Adopted Kitten is now taking many work study classes given she turned Kitten U into a Kitten Klub resort. In the mornings she supervises bird feeding (through the window). She has seen blue jays, a flicker, a downey woodpecker, a cardinal and the usual band of smaller birds. This is now her favorite morning past-time (although I am only feeding birds on the porch because of the snow cover.)

And here is Alternative Universe Dear Jane block S19 or Owl. One of his wings is upside down and I will leave it to you to decide which one. Molly thinks that if I spent more time watching birds with her, I wouldn't have made a mistake like that.

Scrappy Cat

Making scrap quilts is not for the faint of heart and one must be prepared to wrestle the scraps from vicious predators. Or maybe this is only a problem for those of us with a pile of strips on the floor. To see what other brave folks are making with scraps, you can visit Oh Scrap.

Here are my Dear Jane blocks for the day. On the right is C1 or Trooper Green's Badge and on the left is M1 or Dogwood Days. And while there are lots of dogwood trees in this area, we are several months away from dogwood days. I'm also wondering what will happen to the daffodils this year. Earlier in January our weather was quite warm and the daffodils sprang up with great enthusiasm only to be slapped down with some bitter cold.

Blue Bunnies Came In from the Cold

I haven't figured out what my fourth rainbow project will be for this year, so I decided to make more blue bunnies. I had already cut the fabric, so I thought I should hurry up and make them before they got lost in the mayhem. More blue beauties can be found at the launch pad for the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge.

Oops. If anyone would like to make a flopsy bunny, this is how its done.

We were supposed to get two feet of snow last night, but by this morning we only had 13 inches. We've added a few more inches during the day, but I don't think I'll have to get out the snowshoes for this one.

Molly is wondering if purple will be the color for the rainbow scrappy challenge next month. Or maybe this is just one of her new favorite places to sleep during the day. She does not come down from the front, but rather scoots around to the back behind the design wall and climbs down that way. I can tell when she's coming because of the bulging design wall and falling quilt blocks.

Watchful Waiting with Dear Jane

Today is the start of a snow storm that is supposed to leave us with two feet of snow. Today's deposit of about 5 inches was incredibly light and dry. I did go out to shovel before the wind picks up. And I also made two Dear Jane blocks to finish up Draw 11. This block is I13 or Sweet Harmony. The block drafted in the Dear Jane book is very different from the Jane Stickle quilt block. The actual quilt block has a dark outer border and floating squares. So I redrafted the block to get those two features.

This is block M8 or Enchanted Square. This was all strip piecing and flip triangles.

Dear Jane G12

Here is Dear Jane block G12 or Gloriae. It is the only block that I was missing from Draw 10. There were many ways to go with the construction of this...in particular, the background. And contrary to my usual process, I chose paper piecing.

 

Here is the background for the block. Next, I appliqued the large curved piece on top of it, then I added flip triangles of the green and then flip triangles of the background in each of the corners.

But most of the day centered around taking Molly to the vet for a general health exam and to finally resolve her itchy ears. This time around there wasn't a single hiss, but only some frantic attempts to get out of the carrier. And once she was in the vet's examination room, she was very accepting of everyone's adoration and comments on how soft her fur is.  

Tomorrow we expect to be in the middle of the snow storm, so I will have to fit her with snowshoes and a snow shovel so she can help dig out. She thinks she was being helpful by meowing at the knee wall space in the sewing room, but frankly I'm in no mood to find out who is living in there. One year Tommy and Jimmy coaxed a bat out of the space and into the house, and they enjoyed that very much. But it was about time for Molly to confirm that I'm no fun.

Dear Jane and Dear Molly the Kitten

Here's Dear Jane block H2 or Jacob Anthony. I am following along with Fabadashery, where follow means to lag seriously behind. I made a duplicate block and decided it was time to have a bit of organization. I have gone back to previous draws and am making missing blocks. With this block, I have now completed all the blocks in the first nine draws, although Fabadashery is working on Draw 16.

I know a lot of you credit your quilting assistant for your beautiful results and relentless productivity. However, I obviously do not have the necessary social skills nor can I answer basic questions of our trade such as how computer pointers work, how tiny can one shred paper for paper piecing without inadvertently swallowing a piece, why is thread so delectable, and how many strips does it take to fully cover a kitten.  I can only wonder what questions the next five minutes will bring.

See Jane.

Here is my version of the official authorized Dear Jane block C2 or Streak of Lightening.

And here is my version of the unofficial, not quite authorized block S2 or Goldfish in a Bowl.

Jane Addendum

When I saw there was a melding of Blotto, Oh Scrap, and the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge, I figured that Dear Jane Stickle is probably involved too. I don't know whether she has a bird in the air block in her famous quilt, but if not, she probably made one but didn't include it. In any case, this is my contribution to today's scrappiness.

And no one should be surprised to learn that Jane Stickle made a piglet block but didn't include it in her quilt. Her piglet is shorter than present day piglets...I assume because of changes in farming practices.

Meanwhile, in case you're wondering, Molly has moved away from the screen and back to my shoulders. I accused her of getting in my way while chasing the pointer, but she was really objecting to how I edit photos.

Today Molly also learned about fabric strip management...specifically digging through a pile of strips, burrowing under them and rocket launching into the pile. Yes, we all know these are basic baby kitten skills, but kitten education is bound to decline when you turn Kitten University into the Kitten Klub Resort.

Blue Seahorse

Here is the seahorse block in blue. He is joining the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge to celebrate a month of blue.

This is the seahorse before I wiped the smile off his face with my seam ripper.

 

And here's Molly the Adopted Kitten visiting the sewing room for the first time. She has been busy pointing out kitten safety violations. For example, she jumped up on the ironing board to show me the iron was on. She has also claimed the sewing chair as her executive's chair where she will compile the list of violations. Right now she is perched on my shoulder so she can authorize each word that I type.

Molly's Blog

I originally made the snail design for a linocut in a printmaking class.

Then I borrowed that design for a fused applique quilt (8.5 X 11 inches) back in 2011.

And the panda pattern was originally developed to make Spoonflower fabric.

Here is the fabric made into a pillowcase.

And...BREAKING NEWS...Hi! Welcome to Molly's blog.

The person who used to run this blog is now my cat tree.

More blocks

Here are the most recent Dear Jane blocks. This is F8 or Church Window.

And this is M3 or Fireweed Flower.

And last, but not least, is S8 or Snail Trail.

More Dear Jane

Here are two more Dear Jane blocks. The purple one on the left is G10 or Woven Meadows. And the greenish one on the right is D5 or Cathedral Window. I'm still going back and organizing the blocks I've made and labeling them.

Here is the collection of blocks that didn't make it into the Jane Stickle quilt, essentially the lost and forgotten blocks. I've only made six of these so far. Without a row or column to assign them, they will just have to stay disorganized.

Molly's Adventure

Molly has some more words for me, but I can't write any of them or your eyes would bleed. Molly took a trip to the shelter to get her ears cleaned. She realizes she should have been more specific about her word choice, and has now changed my word to OBEDIENCE with "to Molly" implied.

You might think that I am reading too much into a single hiss, but Molly thinks I'm reading too little. And in case you are worried for the vet tech who had to clean her ears...don't. Once she was let out of the carrier, Molly behaved admirably. Molly objects to confinement, not touch. The vet tech had high praise for her, especially because she had worked with the original five kittens of Litter Storm when they arrived at the shelter two months ago.

Scraps, Dear Jane and Priorities

This week I'm changing to the Legos quilt as my leader and ender. It's much simpler to just sew pairs of bits of 1.25 inch strips together. Then those get sewn together into one long long long strip. Then I make another, and another and another until I get nine lengths sewn together and then I cut them into blocks. I'm also linking to Quilting is more fun than housework to join in with all the scrappy fun.

And here's the latest Dear Jane block, M4 or Stepping Stones. Fabadashery made a new random draw so I want to keep up with the new blocks while I also catch up on earlier draws. This block turned out a bit wonky but it could have been a lot worse. The blocks with the flying geese are slightly rectangular, but I didn't realize it. Happily I was sewing "empirically," making bigger blocks and cutting them down to match the size of their adjacent block. So it turned out better than it should have.

 And here is another one of the Jane Stickle blocks that didn't make it into her famous quilt. Yesterday I showed a fish that I had made up for the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge, but it turns out that Jane beat me to the punch. Apparently there is nothing new under the sun. And note that when Jane made her 4.5 inch square version, she included an eye...so now I think that means the eyes have it.

And last but not least, Molly the Foster Kitten is very impressed with all the quilters who are choosing words to use as a guide for the coming year. She agrees that having such a word helps avoid distraction and promotes focus on our key priority in life. So she has chosen a word for me:

MOLLY