Purple Partial

Here is my purple partial-seams block for Tiny Tuesday sponsored by Angela of SoScrappy and the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge.

And yes, I do not have even 10 percent of the productivity and tenacity of Molly Kitten. We had a contractor come to check the dehumidifier in the crawl space. And because this is Portland, the entrance to the crawl space is through a hole in the office closet. And yes, the "door" is carpeted with a little handle. In any case, I forgot to remind the contractor to close the office door before going below, and so he had a visitor join him in the crawl space. This was her first visit and when she jumped down it scared the contractor and that scared Molly and she jumped out again.

However, she has since had time to think about it and she wants to verify that there is a space as large as how house that contains absolutely no fabric. She spends a considerable part of her day pacing over the panel imploring me to open the magic door.

Plus Molly has to supervise the Stellar Jays that come to steal sunflower seeds in the front yard.

More NW Quilt Expo quilts

This apparently is the year of the zebra, because this was another wonderful zebra quilt. This one is Visiting the Zoo by Judy Liebo.

And I was very happy to be able to see this quilt by Janet Stone up close. It won in Houston 2017.
The magic was in the details.

It may have been the quilting on the sheep that won me over. And while I'm not usually a fan of embellishments, Janet Stone may have converted me.

This is a very modern looking antique quilt presented by Latimer Textiles.

This quilt is Sun and Steel by Nancy Goodman (quilted by Ingrid Whitcher) and this quilt was visiting from Alabama.

And let me apologize for the glaring light that I managed to capture in each shot. I typically edit every photo, but my process has slowed to a crawl as I learn the new software. It's a lot like Photoshop, but has enough differences to trip me up.

First Day of NW Quilting Expo

Depending on your point of view, I either spent the day at the NW Quilting Expo or I spent the day neglecting Molly and now I must attend to her every grievance. In the meantime, you can see the chameleon quilt. It got rushed off to the show and looks like it was pulled out from under a stack of wet laundry. When it gets home I will work the wrinkles out and probably give it more quilting.

This was one of my favorite quilts...It's called Zebra Portrait and it was designed and pieced by Jill Huntington and quilted by Nancy Stoval. I will be returning to the show tomorrow so maybe I will have more photos to show...but right now there is a morose kitten vibe I must attend to.

De-stress

A bit of microspool therapy and relaxation...

Today we were all trying to settle into a new normal. I have been using two computers, an old one for my blog and a newer one for almost everything else. Before I could use the newer computer for the blog, I needed to find a way to edit photos and organize the photos. I have settled on GIMP for photo editing...it is very similar to Photoshop but I am having to think more than I am used to.

Meanwhile, Buddy has spent the day reliving having the electrician in the house. He's out and about but very jumpy.

And Molly was invited to join Mobile Three Cat Ranch until Smitty rescinded his invitation. She was quite excited to join the wayfaring troop because she has always wanted to get behind the wheel of an RV/truck. She was also looking forward to putting Smitty in a bite hold.

Then Smitty uninvited her and he is going to run off and hang out with Darla, Alfie and Cathy at Crazy by Design. Happily, Molly's heated bed is out and turned on so she now has more important matters to attend to.

Tiny Tuesday Cardtrick

This week's Tiny Tuesday block is the card trick block thanks to Angela at SoScrappy. However, I remember a few years back, Angela was much trickier and embedded her card trick within a star.

For old times sake...

And yes, this finishes at 4.5 inches. The center four patch is made from one inch squares (finished .5 inch squares).

More Stonefields

I made three new Stonefields (by Susan Smith) blocks. The lower block shows what Molly and Buddy were doing while I was making the blocks. Buddy is the one on his back. Sometimes I can convince Buddy to just walk away...I think because of some of the time Buddy spent as a puppy.

The second ovals got a bit skewed...I think because of the template I made.

These blocks are supposed to be two ovals appliqued to a background. I decided to sew them by machine using the set-in circle method (by Dale Fleming). Everything was looking fine at this point. So it was the smaller oval that was not centered correctly.

And, of course, the oval with the fighting cats fell over during the tussle.

New Stonefields Block

I was looking at photos of quilts from the Birmingham Festival of Quilts in England for 2019 and saw a quilt I liked very much. After a while, I realized that it was the Stonefields quilt by Susan Smith...you know...the one I'm in the middle of making. And since I was feeling like a bit of handwork, I pulled out the patterns...and made this block...which I think was the next block in line. (The pattern is set up as a Block of the Month with a booklet for each month).

Unfortunately, Cathy at Crazy by Design said she bought cat fabric because Molly would approve. So Molly now expects me to do what she tells me to...and she wanted me to fussy cut circles with cats in them. I objected because the small circles are about half an inch across and there are nine of them and only a fool would waste that much time and fabric because her cat insisted.

Molly approves...she also appreciates that although the circles were supposed to form a circle with a circle inside like a flower...they landed in a three by three formation which Molly thinks looks more natural. She insists that kittens in nature (without the influence of humans) prefer to line up in formations and march with perfect symmetry. (And yes, when she takes a nap this afternoon I may move a couple of the circles to look circular...just to annoy her.)

Progress

In theory, I should me making spectacular progress on the machine quilting of the Idaho Square Dance quilt.

Unfortunately, the Ergonomics Engineering Kitten (EEK) is conducting assessments and has concerns that my sewing machine chair may not provide sufficient allowance for whiskers. I told my resident EEK that I don't have whiskers or rest my face against the chair back but now have a lot of cat hair on my sewing chair. She is going to write up her assessment of the chair and bill me for the cat hair after she finishes her nap.

Idaho Square Dance

I am having long conversations with myself about whether to work on poodles, sheep or seahorses...all projects started but on hiatus. Molly says that my having a long conversation with myself looks a lot like watching kitten videos on YouTube. So the final decision was to layer the Idaho Square Dance quilt top...this is a design by Bonnie Hunter.  Happily, I did most of it while Molly was in deep meditation (sleeping) so I avoided a lot of supervision.

Tiny Tuesday Wednesday

I'm so glad that I have Tiny Tuesday to give me some quilt/fabric focus during the middle of the week. Just a sweet little puzzle for the middle of the week, all thanks to Angela at SoScrappy.

And how about a snack pack of spools? Today, Molly and Buddy hid out while two electricians were here. But Molly was out and about within two seconds after the electricians left. First, they used the magic door to her outside living room...the one she has never visited. And then she was just happy to have me all to herself so I could give her all the attention that the center of the universe deserves.

Back to Normal

Here's my Storm at Sea block that Angela at SoScrappy invited us to make for Tiny Tuesday.  and yes it got a bit stormy as I was making it. Luckily, I thought to put a monkey in the eye of the storm. The lion peaking into the center is just a bonus. I used flip triangles for the center square and the small outer squares. I paper pieced the diamonds. I did this twice...

I drew out the paper piecing diamonds and then traced them to deli wrap paper for paper piecing. It was only after I had finished them, removed the paper and sewn them to the other blocks that I realized something had gone very wrong. It turns out it was a faulty drawing. So I made the next set of triangles with a bit of curvilinear sewing and so yes, the Storm of Sea sports some very stormy piecing.

Buddy offered to fix the block with his brand new purple Sharpie pen which I immediately took away from him. I then asked around to find out where he got it, but no one was talking.

Whew! Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Yes, I finally finished the Chameleon Conspiracy quilt and delivered it for entry into the NW Quilting Expo at the end of the month. I went over and over the quilt looking for missed quilting threads that needed to be worked in. That's when I discovered the chameleons were spinning extra threads because they kept appearing. And I bet I find one when its hanging at the show. Buddy thinks its chameleon drool.

And as I was working on it at the end I was thinking how nice it would be to get back to piecing again. In my mind, I had a whole list of new projects to begin. But yes, sometime this morning I lost my mind and the list went with it. Okay, I didn't lose my mind...it only went in hiding at the thought of finally confronting the 20 million tomatoes waiting for me in the garden.

Quilt Deadline Madness

The chameleon quilt is due by the end of the week and I might be a bit stressed out. I did finish the binding and all of the "spin in the ditch" quilting. I also quilted the border. However, I still need to machine quilt an outline around the chameleons...about a half inch outside. Then add the sleeve and a label.

Also, I am using a Quilters Dream batting that is pilling like crazy. I usually use this batting and have never had this problem before. Hopefully, it will come off with a lint brush...along with all of the cat hair.

And yes, in the crunch to finish the quilt, Buddy is showing dire signs of neglect. He and Molly knocked the Tiny Tuesday blocks to the floor and there they sit. Next to the neglected cat.

And Molly is showing me what a beautiful cat photo I might have had except that I left a junk mail flyer on her ottoman.