Zippy Zippers

Here are a handful of zippers that I squeezed in while making postage stamp blocks. And you can see that I'm also squeezing them onto the edge of the design wall to take their picture.

August is Molly and Buddy's birthday month. As free range kittens, they didn't keep an exact record of the time and place of their birth, so we approximate and celebrate for the entire month of August. And yesterday, they opened some presents early so they could warm up a bit. You wouldn't want to go into your birthday month cold and risk an injury.

This also means that Molly is getting excited for the beginning of the month scrap giveaway/curated free table. She wants to clear out some fabric to make room for all the new toys she is expecting. (Aside: And what if she gets fabric for her birthday?).

So the signup will be on the August 1 post and will close on August 4.

Rolls of Postage Stamps

There are many ways to make postage stamp blocks. For these blocks, I prefer to use rolls of stamps that I unwind and then cut apart.

Meanwhile, I now have a "supervisor's chair" next to me at the sewing machine as Katie suggested. This allowed me several hours of sewing without "thread conditioning" and posing in front of the sewing machine. Apparently if provided with proximity, sufficient adoring phrases and a toy on a string, most supervisors will leave the worker alone. And as I type this, my supervisor is snoozing in the extra desk chair next to me.

All Bow-Tied Up

Okay, these are admittedly fussy, especially in comparison to zipper blocks. As a reminder, these are based on a one-inch grid and the finished size is 1.5 inches. Also, Molly is regulating how much sewing time I can have.  My sewing chair is her new sleeping location now that its too hot for a heated bed.

And Molly told me a kitten joke. It was quite a-mew-sing.

Collecting Stamps

These are the postage stamp blocks I have so far. Definitely need more orange and purple blocks. Probably green too.

Meanwhile, we are continuing to get visits from "Tiny." Buddy named him that because he's a full-grown cat, but he's the size of a kitten...that is, Molly's size. I am staying as far away from that discussion as I can. To complicate matters, Tiny is not one to be scared away by a mere human. He obviously has staff who know and respond to the command "Let me go outside at night."

Zippers and Too Much Excitement

Zippers are the palette cleanser between postage stamps.

And this is Buddy about a half an hour before he had a complete hissy fit when a strange cat came up to him at the back screen door. Just to make things interesting, this cat looks just like Molly except for the face...no mark on the nose plus the mug of a tom that has weathered many fights. But my first reaction was how did Molly get outside?

P.S. Buddy can get really loud.

Postage with cats

Here are more postage blocks.

And here is Buddy making a stink face at the camera.

And here is Molly explaining to Buddy that he shouldn't make a stink face at the camera.

And here is Molly conducting an assessment of Kitten Academy. She refuses to accredit the kitten school until they stop being so stingy with Bebop's treats, play with her more and give her daily spa treatments. Molly also recommends that I change to the bird videos for cats.

Light Postage

With all of the postage blocks up on the design wall, I could see I was veering to the dark side. I needed more postage blocks with light backgrounds and I also needed to add more light squares into the blocks with dark backgrounds. (I am calling them background, because I'm not actually using solids for these blocks...its a dotty blender.)

Meanwhile, for whatever reason, blogger is letting me continue with the legacy version, so no problems there. However, my photo editor continues to cause me fits and makes me tear my hair. And now Molly is unhappy because I didn't edit out "cat stink face." I told her it is her responsibility to filter out the cranky cat feelings. I gave her four tries and this was the best one.

One minute intermission

Just needed a bit of postage for the trip to the post office tomorrow. And yes, there may be some squirrels lurking.

What Did I Miss?

So where did my week go? Most of it went to watching Hamilton on an obsessive loop that made me extremely happy. Okay, there were a few breaks to catch up with the kittens at Kitten Academy. And it looks like next week I will be reading Molly's new novel "The Neglected Kitten."

I do have a pile of zipper strips that I had cut, so I could finish these fairly easily. Otherwise, my week was dedicated to three tubs of solid fabrics. Back when I began quilting, I went through a rather long Amish period and most of my early quilts only used solid fabrics. I had three tubs of solids that I went through and organized, and now I have two. Plus I have a set of solids in my regular system that I can use if I decide to use them instead of the Zen Chic Spotted fabric, for example.

I also pulled and packed the "curated free table" packages. Miss Pat and Cathy should get their packages by Tuesday, and Gayle's package will go to the post office on Monday. I really do enjoy putting those packages together.

Curated Free Table Scrap Giveaway: Demented Edition

Wow. I thought there had been a lot of booms, whistles and cracks, but last night was an onslaught. Molly tolerates disruption better than Buddy, but she did have her ears sheared back in disapproval. Buddy wanted to hide but could not find a safe place. So we huddled together with spa treatments and play and cuddles. 

Then at midnight, Molly had her random draw. I put names on slips of paper and pulled three and the winners are:

Miss Pat: My wish is for anything right and happy as well as some fun neutrals. Molly must be wearing herself out making all these decisions. Glad Buddy is happy to just sit back and observe.

Cathy of Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting: I've caught PSP20, thank you very much, but don't have many solids so I know I won't be caught up in any other pandemics. Your PSP20 has progressed but when will you see the end of it? 

I would browse the free table for neutrals because I am very low on those for backgrounds as well as solids or bright TOTs.

Gayle of Mangofeet: All your postage stamp blocks together are magnificent! I thought I needed stripes, but after you sent me off to get even MORE inspiration at Klein Meisje (which was downright cruel of you because I'm already up to my clavicles in new starts) it's starting to look like I might need more solids. 

This selection was random, but I would expect there to be some (Buddy) who are quite suspicious. He is right to observe that Cathy and Gayle are the two people who forced me to make the Demented Garden quilt against my will.  And although they might be able to afflict my psyche to disrupt my behavior, Buddy and I have found no one able to affect Molly's behavior, including a TSA agent. 

In any case, I will be having another scrappy giveaway signup at the beginning of August (assuming we get there). Meanwhile, its time to burrow into some fabric.

Koala and Friend

So it turns out that Australia doesn't have squirrels...so meet Mr. Koala and his new best friend.

And here are some more postage blocks.

July Free Table Giveaway

Last month I had a scrap give-away because I was missing the free table at my local quilt guilds. There is a lot to miss...free scraps, dropping off free scraps, rummaging through "strange" fabric and talking trash (I mean, having thoughtful, insightful discussions of what people are looking for). For example, I would never have taken Alicia as a fan of minions. And I thoroughly enjoyed wallowing in my stash looking for pigs, so I definitely wanted to run another one.

If you are a refined member of the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge, you might be wondering if you have enough dark blue to get you through the month. Or maybe you don't have enough lights, or darks, or novelty prints. Your task is to leave a comment below specifying what kind of scraps you're looking for. Molly will pick one or two random numbers and then I'll fulfill the order. Unfortunately, given the cost of international shipping, this give away only applies to those in the U.S.

I will collect comments through Saturday July 4, midnight PST and announce the winner on July 5.

And a discussion of postage immediately brings to mind pandemics and the PSP20 (Postage Stamp Pandemic of 2020). You might also be wondering when Zippers are going to spread enough to be called a pandemic. Scientists are already at work studying the Cake Stand. And I'm sure you know that there is a lot of finger pointing in the direction of Lynn Dykstra and Klein Mesije Quilts, but the truly scary part is that all of these quilt viruses are stemming from one idea: making a ships quilt using prints and solids. And to help with the contagion, Lynn has a label "solids on prints series" so you catch multiple quilt viruses at once (note to self...you forgot about ladders...).

And here's a Blue Jay to remind you to leave a comment below...in case you came back and didn't wander off into the land of contagion. After all, you now might be in need of some solids...