Winners

The winners of the February fabric giveaway are Quilting Babcia and Linda Swanekamp.  I have had to pick and pack their fabric without the assistance of Buddy who is limping and feeling sorry for himself after putting his paw near the mouth of a kitten. 

February Fabric Giveaway Starts Now!

 Everything seemed a bit topsy turvy this week. I did finish a quilt for the Project Quilting Challenge.

And I successfully restored Molly's princess tent to its fully glory.

Unfortunately, Molly decided she now prefers one of the heated beds in the picture window, and Buddy decided he preferred the one that Molly was in and the fighting resumed. And I know the first question is...who would just stand there taking pictures during a cat slap fight? 

And, of course, the real problem is not between Molly and Buddy, but in their surroundings.

Buddy is suffering from "too much stash" syndrome, and he would like to rename the "Free Table" giveaway to be the "Free the Table for Buddy" giveaway.

Everything is the same as before...if you would like to receive a package of fabric (scraps or hunks or whatever will fit in a USPS priority mailer), leave a comment below stating what you would like...teal scraps, batiks, novelty prints of cats, Kaffe scraps, hand-dyes, white lights, cream lights etc. 

We will collect comments through 11:59 PM 02-22-2022 (Tuesday), then Molly will randomly select TWO comments to win the giveaway. NO REPLY bloggers will be excluded because there is no way to get in touch with you unless you leave an email address in your comment. If you have trouble leaving a comment, you can also just email me and I will have Molly include your request in the random drawing.

Unfortunately, the giveaway is confined to those confined to U.S. domestic mail. 

So please help save Buddy from my stash (or save the stash from Buddy).

How will you help Buddy?

Project Quilting Challenge Four: Diamonds

 The theme for the fourth project of Project Quilting was diamonds. And after deep consideration that lasted at most ten minutes, I decided to go with diamonds. Kaffe Fassett's book "Simple Shapes, Spectacular Quilts" offers a section on quilts based on diamond shapes and I went with the one called Facets. I made a miniature version based on a 5 inch by 10 inch rectangle, so the final quilt is roughly 36 inches by 38 inches. To make the diamonds, strips are sewn to 5 by 10 inch rectangles. These are cut diagonally (both left and right leaning) and then sewn into diamonds.

To keep the strip piecing and cutting along the bias under control, I used a foundation of deli wrap paper.

To see other interpretations on this theme, visit the Project Quilting linkup here: https://kimlapacek.com/2022/02/miningfordiamonds.html

Challenges beyond the Challenge

 Sometimes bad things happen to good people, and sometimes bad things happen to naughty kittens. And so, an exuberant kitten went for a full force sliding, gliding attack on a toy mouse in a princess castle, and the castle crumbled. A support snapped. Now Molly is visible to peasants. And now Molly has to explain to me relentlessly that she misses her castle and wants it back or I will never experience sleep again.

I explained to Molly about replacement parts, delivery times and how I am still working on a quilt for Project Quilting...which is of no interest to Molly. Sensing the tension figuratively, not literally, my Bernina 1630 died. That is, it wouldn't start. That is, it wouldn't turn on. And proving to Molly how cruel and insensitive I am, I pulled out an exact duplicate machine, and started sewing. Two cats. Two sewing machines.

And so I was able to finish the Mini-Facets quilt top, with the deadline for a finished quilt by Sunday.

Diamonds Under Pressure: Project Quilting Challenge #4

The theme for this week at Project Quilting is diamonds. Although the first thing I thought of was Lou Diamond Phillips, I told my brain we are thinking about quilts, not jokes from Ted Lasso. Next, I focused on Kaffe Fasset's Simple Shapes, Spectacular Quilts. In particular, I have been lusting over Wanda at Exuberant Color's seed package quilt, and remembered Kaffe's bordered diamond quilt that I thought might have the same effect. However, right next door was the quilt Facet, that is made from strip piecing rectangles, cutting them on the diagonal and then sewing them into light/dark diamonds. The Kaffe quilt Facet uses enormous diamonds, so I scaled the project down considerably.

For this, I am using 5 by 10 paper rectangles cut from deli wrap paper. Because these rectangles are cut on the diagonal, I make sure to have larger strips on the ends so that I don't have seams embedded in the points. Let's not make a challenge challenging is my new motto.

That said, now that I have four light triangles, I am thinking I need four more. So I am heading back to cut more deli wrap rectangles and sew more foundation paper rectangles. 

Teal Bow-Ties...Fail!

Yesterday, I planned to show my teal bow-ties as part of the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge.  

However, they received some rather harsh criticism from a particular family member. 

Meanwhile, our family is very busy with a massive spring cleaning effort. In particular, Molly's princess tent is infested with red and white rats with bells. She literally had to turn her princess tent upside down in an effort to remove them.

Happily, even tipped over, the princess tent maintains its magic invisibility properties. That is, when a peasant is nearby, he is unable to either see or smell the princess inside.

Sweeping Up the Shards

 Here are the most recent Shards blocks. When I last had all of the blocks on the design wall, I could tell I needed blocks that had more contrast. I will lay them all out again and see if these do the job. Otherwise, they may have to be given a time out...you know, a quilters' time out, where they sit in a box for a few years until they get over themselves.

And just in case you were worried that Buddy got stuck in an upside-down position...

Sewing Cycles

 For no good reason, the Project Quilting challenge turns my sewing life upside down. The finishing part always seems to take longer than I expect. And of course, sometimes there are unforced errors, like losing the bobbin case inside the sewing machine. (You had to be there). So the week after the challenge I am less interested in sewing and more likely to listen to Encanto on endless repeat.

I also may be going through a paranoid phase where I think that Big Buddy is always watching me.

I did finally get all the sections of the Clown Kaleidoscope sewn together into a quilt top. Now Shard blocks will be able to go back on the design wall as I finish up the last blocks for that quilt.

Kitchen Time

This week the theme for Project Quilting was the kitchen. I may have confused it with Kitsch-en...so my quilt is a tribute to kitchen timers. For any young folks out there...manual kitchen timers. The quilt is roughly 22 inches square. The designs are hand appliqué with embroidery.

To see the Project Quilting entries for this week, please visit:  https://kimlapacek.com/2022/01/13-3-kitchen-influence-challenge-3-of-project-quilting-season-13.html

Do, Not Think

 I have to admit that I am running out of ideas for this week's Project Quilting challenge. This weeks theme is "Kitchen."  I did do a challenge with hourglasses, so making a quilt with Broken Dishes blocks is an option. However, time is passing so fast, I really need to put more energy in doing than thinking. 

And in particular, I need to spend some time in a real kitchen...cleaning. I think I will set a kitchen timer and see how much I can get done in 30 minutes. Hmm...I think a piggy timer will fit the task perfectly.

A Question of Time

 Yes, I'm still obsessing about having enough time to finish the Project Quilting challenge this week.  Given the theme of "Kitchen," there are so many options. And yes, I have given up the idea of making a woven loop potholder quilt. After I factored in how much time it would take to find the loom and potholder loops, the project completion timeline shifted to midsummer.

At least I was able to answer the question of which came first, the egg kitchen timer or the chicken kitchen timer: the egg!

I did make a quilt top of kitten preserves some time back in 2014. These jars are just elongated snowball blocks with a lid...so something like this but smaller might work. 

Meanwhile, Buddy is pretending to be a cat kitchen timer.