Catch-up

These are the larger spools built off of 1.5 inch strips. I decided to make this quilt larger...or rather rectangular. This meant another hundred or so spools, which I don't mind. Since I am making this a charm quilt with no duplicates of the same fabric, I get to wallow in fabric. That makes for a lot of happy.

Yesterday was less productive because Molly chose the hot seat (that is, my sewing chair) for her sleeping nook.

I did get the courthouse step blocks sewn together and a border sewn on. And yes, I couldn't resist using the Concord Multi from the 80s. It was everywhere. Hopefully, if you recognized this fabric, you had a good laugh.

Here is Molly counting her plunder at the base of the design wall.

Courthouse steps and baby spools

It's time for log cabin loonies with Julie K. This time I went with court house steps...again with the one inch strips. So the interior step is a half inch finished.

I also gathered up the new litter of baby spools.

Here's Buddy down below trying to make the baby spools flutter to the ground like butterflies.

Buddy is enjoying going back to his criminal ways. His most recent game is "Nibbling On My Sibling."

Spiderweb 2.0

Yes, there are recurrent infections in patchwork. I think the spiderweb lies dormant among a lot of us. And frankly, I'm not too unhappy that I caught this one. Plus, I have been preparing for this project/infection. As I've been cutting the fabric for the large and small spools, the remaining sections of the strips are saved for this.

More spools

Yup. Another litter of baby spools.

And here is another interesting aspect of patchwork biology...sometimes the parents and babies come into this world at the same time. A bit of efficiency from mother nature.

Doll Quilt

Here it is, a four block by four block doll quilt top...roughly 20 inches square. Happily, my quilt guild collects doll quilts for their donations...so this will have a home. Molly doesn't like it. She thinks log cabins are too old-timey and wants me to get with the times and make something relevant like court house steps.

Infection

A few days ago in our first lesson for Patchwork Biology, some of you were surprised to learn that large patchwork blocks produce miniature blocks. This can occur when blocks are left unsupervised to mingle before being sewn into a quilt top. Now you may better understand some quilters' obsession with UFOs (unfinished projects).

Today's lesson addresses Patchwork infection, where innocent quilters are infected by another quilter's disease or patchwork obsession. The first step of the infection is to justify it in some way (for example, using scraps or liking miniatures) and then to present it to other quilters' so they will perpetuate the virus/patchwork. For today's example, take for example Cathy at Sane, Crazy, Contagious Quilts where she presents miniature log cabin blocks made from one inch strips.

In this case, we can follow the infection backwards to the source: Julie K and her petri dish called Log Cabin Loonies.  If you happen across such infections, please practice appropriate safeguards and do not join the infection party, post about it, or engage in any infection related activities.

Please note that in the specimen pictured above, the block is 5 inches finished.    

More baby spools

Needless to say, baby spools can hide just about anywhere. Unfinished, these spools are 2.5 inch square and are built from 1.25 inch strips. Here are the handful of spools I caught today.

And for those of you who would rather see pictures of Molly instead of spools, Molly was just not in the mood to cooperate.

More spools!

Yes, there are more spools.

Except these are spool babies. I let my spools run wild, so this was bound to happen. While the big spools finish at 3 inches square, the babies finish at 2 inches. So even combined into sets of four, they will only be 4 inches square. Adorable.

Spool Collection

These are the latest and last additions to my spool collection.

Here are the spools sorted by color. I have 419 spools, but only need 400. My next step is to sew them into blocks of four spools. At that time I'll move them to the design wall and spend some time arranging them as Molly sees fit.

And speaking of Molly and fitting, she would like you to know that she can fit through the throat area of my sewing machine, so it is has the correct feline fit. We did have a laugh at the thought of Buddy the pony trying and getting his head stuck.

Chaos returns

I thought I had cleaned and organized my sewing room, but apparently that was just a dream. I sorted all the spools by color so Buddy could find spools made from the same fabric and remove duplicates. Instead, he found the spools were infested with laser pointer red dots that required his immediate attention.

And this is the pile of 1.5 inch strips that I am raiding to feed into about three projects that I have started within the last couple of days.

And this is Buddy and Molly's solution to my cat toy storage system. Buddy likes to keep his toys in the bedroom so he can play with them during the night. So he steals toys from storage and drops them off at various points between the sewing room and the bedroom. He thinks that the best alarm clock for staff is a fur ball dropped on the face.

Over time, I've tried various storage methods for containing my mess. Two years ago when we lived in Virginia, I used plastic bins.

Last year, when we were living in the apartment, I used plastic bags for temporary storage.

And then last year, when we first moved into this house, I tried storing decorative items on the fireplace mantel. I guess its all a work in progress that requires life long learning.

Winding Down on Spools

One of the treats of going to our local guild meeting is the free pile where we can drop off scraps and/or pick up scraps. And this month the pile was huge. I do have a rule that I have to take in more than I take back home.

These are the spools that I made from the fabric that I got from the free pile. Obviously I couldn't pass up the spool fabric given I'm making spools. However, I do think I have that fabric somewhere but in a different colorway.

I also borrowed from a huge bin of 1.5 inch strips I had accrued. Originally they were collected to make scrappy log cabins. But lately I have been raiding this bin for the postage stamp and coin blocks for the rainbow scrappy challenge. I'm also preparing to make another spiderweb quilt. And now the bin is contributing spools.

And while I am making the last bunches of spools that I need for the quilt, Buddy is testing out a variety of layouts. This is his favorite so far. Molly thinks the layout is too modern and does not use the negative space effectively.

Buddy and Molly

I guess its time for me to admit that Molly and I are having problems with Buddy. Each morning he gets up all excited and full of himself because he just loves his first breakfast. Then he runs to the living room because he is very excited to play laser mouse. After that, he goes and finishes his breakfast. Then he spends the day napping, cuddling and being held. Even at the end of the day, when he senses its bedtime he runs to the bedroom in happy anticipation of another favorite time of day.

As Molly explains it, Buddy wants the rewards of being a cat without putting in the work of a cat.

For example, its a cat's responsibility to turn away from some meals, just because. At playtime, one must take an extremely long time to set up an attack...at least as much time as it takes for staff's head to explode. And several times a day, a cat is responsible for yeowing with great urgency for apparently no reason...at least enough to make staff's head explode. And at bedtime, a cat must do whatever is necessary to keep staff up, such as exploring the hallway closet and knocking items down to the floor. It is a cat's responsibility to teach staff not to become attached to things. And one of the hardest jobs for a cat is to consistently maintain a look of "nice try" regardless of how much one is enjoying oneself.

So yes, Molly and I are at our wits end trying to explain to Buddy that we will not be happy until he is completely miserable.

Another box of spools

Here are 36 new spools to add to the collection. With only about 50 more to make, I am starting to contemplate the set. I had originally planned on a diagonal set, but now think I will be just as happy with a straight set...plus happier when I sew them together. I will probably start sewing them in blocks of four before I try to arrange them on the design floor.

Orange Postage

Here is my orange postage block, and zounds, does it scream citrus. I think this is my favorite block so far this year. If you would like to dive into more August orange, please visit the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge, the blog host for all this scrappy fun.

As for Buddy's recount, he continued to leap and slide into the spool blocks. And by this morning he had identified 12 spools made from the same fabric. We removed these double counted blocks and 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

(Attention: Molly just stood on the keyboard and redacted the last part of this post...either because it revealed top secret material or featured too much Buddy.)

Recount!

I live in a contentious household. Yesterday I announced I had 330 spools out of the 400 I need. Buddy demanded a recount and insisted on conducting it himself.

Spooling Around

Here are the new spools I made today.

I was going to work on the Pickle Dish blocks...but I found about 100 spool blocks tucked in with that project. I need to make a total of 400 spools and found that I now have 330...that is, 70 more to go.

This inspired me to visit a pre-Estate sale where I got two huge piles of fabric for a pittance.

The biggest challenge was being on the floor and having an annoying dog crawling all over me and licking me. I suggested that he should be tied up outside.

So okay...the annoying dog was Buddy and the pre-Estate sale was my stash. But this time I was looking for fabric I usually don't see because of the brights and novelty fabric. So it did feel a bit like finding new fabric.

Baby steps

I seem to be betwixt and between in sewing projects. I may have cleaned up too much. So I cut some fabric for some spools. And admittedly, one of the spools looks like a one-eyed cat.

Meanwhile, today we are celebrating birthdays. Here is Buddy at about five months wondering what life will be like at three years old when he is the size of a pony with the personality of a lap dog.

And here is Molly already able to bend me to her will, but just beginning to realize that she may have made a poor staffing choice.

Orange coins

Here are six orange coin blocks to start off a scrappy orange August. If you would like to drink in more orange, please visit the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge.

Otherwise, maybe you'd like to drink in this large pony loaf.

Clean up

Sometimes bad things happen to good kittens so they have to seek refuge in their brown paper tent.

I collected all of the cat toys and put them in the owl bin. I also picked up all the scrap bits from the floor. These are all deposited in the black bin until I sort them by color. And yes, kittens are right to be upset when the cat toy bin is smaller than the scrap bin.

Here is what is waiting for me in my tray of orange scraps...waiting for the launch of orange for the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge.