December Fabric Giveaway

It's time to have another fabric giveaway so Buddy will have more room to store his cat toy hoard. In previous months I was moving flat folds of fabric and taking cuts from these for the giveaway. These are stored away so I will be digging into scraps, small cuts (up to 1/2 yard) and yardage. This will depend on what you want such as particular colors, 30s, batik, novelty etc.  I will fill a USPS envelope with that fabric and send it to you.

For a chance to win, leave a comment specifying what color/theme of fabric you would like. If you are anonymous, I will need you to include your email address so I can contact you to let you know you won and to get your mailing address. The comment collection phase will last through Dec. 4, 2023 11:59 pm, west coast time.  The random drawing will be conducted by Molly Kitten Emeritus, which ensures that the drawing will be corrupt, but entirely mysterious.

Unfortunately, participates are limited to those who live in the U.S. (or have a U.S. mailing address to use) due to international postal rates.

And no, that is not my stash in the photo, and I don't think I have any of the fabrics shown. This is a display picture from a local upcoming quilter's "estate sale." I put estate sale in quotes because it looks more like a downsizing sale or even destashing/quilt store overstock sale.. Hint: no set of china or Kitchen Aid mix for sale.

This is another photo for the same "estate sale." The other items highlighted are a sewing machine, a serger, several dress forms and piles of ribbons. 

Green Cuttings

I spent most of the day outside fighting with the last of the runaway blackberries. And their were quite a few neighbors out in their yard too, because our forecast calls for rain that may last for the rest of our lives. And yes, the Northwest can be a bit theatrical about the weather. Even neighbors out walking their dogs were keen to note that this was the last day to be out in the garden.

And for comparison for those who have real weather, the attitude was a bit like expecting the first snow day. 

So it seemed appropriate to cut more one inch strips for the rainbow log cabin...and I've decided to make it as a log cabin and not make it with partial seams. In the photo, the piles on the leftt are finished cuts...4 inch center and one inch strips. The pile on the far right are green scraps ready to be be cut. As I was cutting, both Buddy and Molly took turns getting out of their heated beds to stretch and lay across the cutting mat.

Spiderweb Look Back

 Here is Molly helping me with the first spiderweb quilt I made...a yellow and turquoise version.

Here Molly is checking to see if I need to change the needle...oh wait, no, that's just Molly getting on my last nerve.

And yes, the same bins of strips...just a bit less tidy. And I looked back to see that the last time I worked on the turquoise and orange spiderweb was November 2018.

Switching It Up

Switching it up refers to stitching up a quilt in progress that you find as you're cleaning up the sewing room. I have gotten most of the flat fold fabric settled in their new home.  And then I needed to find a place for this spiderweb quilt. Seeing it reminded me how much I enjoy string piecing. Especially because my other options involve more thinking.

Given these bins of strips were handy, I enjoyed a bright, happy, easy evening of sewing.

Preparation

In your mind, please assemble these one-inch strips into a log cabin block. Thank you.

My scrap bins are overstuffed and cutting fabric for the pseudo-log cabin quilt I showed yesterday is helping to make a dent. And using one inch strips means I can use up the thin misshapen strips. 

Size

I decided to take a longer look at this quilt and try to figure out its size and construction. 

Based on the usual size of a staircase, I'm guessing each of the blocks are about 8 inches which means the strips are probably one inch unfinished (half inch finished) like the block on the right. I also suspect that the center square is 3.5 inches finished like the block on the left. The center square on the right is 3 inches finished.

I don't really care so much about the final size of the quilt, but it seems that some of the quilt magic comes from the proportion of the center to the strips. Of course, some of the charm may also come from random fabric fading.

And as I was inspecting the quilt, I found that some of the blocks were not log cabin construction, but squares using partial seams. So that's how I built mine. 

While I was a bit persnickety in trying to understand this quilt, I think the actual quilt benefits from lots of haphazard. But it is also seriously missing orange.

But the highlight of the day was having Buddy teach me about having perspective.

Buddy

Today Buddy accomplished more than I did. 

I did have a major "unaccomplishment." Following along with the post Thanksgiving interest in Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Challenge, I checked out the first part and then checked out of the challenge. I had hoped to use scraps but the first task uses hunks of fabric too large for my scrap bins. And since I haven't cleared up the remnants from the Gridlock quilt, I'm not going to dig out and cut from my regular stash.

So I'm going to join other spectators on the bench and cheer everyone else on. Meanwhile, I am continuing with another challenge of getting all my fabric put away by Sunday night. Or maybe the New Year?

Tip Top

 The seahorse quilt finally has a border. I. had to fiddle quite a bit with the corners. At first I thought I didn't care how the "diamonds" met in the corner, but then I decided that I wanted the diamonds along the border to end in the down position, so the corner diamond would be in the up position. Lots of unsewing...the unsewing/sewing ratio was definitely greater than two. 

And yes I was a bit sad to learn the crochet cat in yesterday's post is digital, not real. Just like all my quilts. (Just kidding!) But I am a bit mystified about how AI was used to make the image. Maybe that's the reason the cat has round pupils instead of cat eyes. In any case, I'm glad I don't have to learn crochet anymore.

But please, I will be very disappointed to find out that the stuffed embroidered cat in Encanto does not exist in real life as a model for the animation.

Expecting Guests?

 Finally a reason to learn how to crochet....

A Study in Contrast

 Here's Molly helping me not put the fourth and last border on the seahorse quilt top. Earlier in the day, I read about how Wanda at Exuberant Color "procrastinates" when sewing on borders. Obviously, procrastination is not her strong suit because Wanda did finish her quilt top. 

I suspect Wanda may not have taken time out of her day today to watch Foresty Forest climb a mountain or Dave of Dave's Craft Room make a temperature sensitive quilt.

Also, Wanda does not have cat help.

Aspirations Meet Reality

 

In my head this morning I envisioned getting all the "diamond" borders around the seahorse quilt. I also got the backing out under the illusion I would start layering the quilt. But this is squirrel season. And not in the "oh, let's start a brand new project" squirrel way...but in a  "I squirreled around and wasted the day," and now all I have to show for it is one border sewn on. That said, the outer border did fit, so I'm counting it as a win.

Note: Those are seahorse "ears" and not diamonds in the border.

A Handful of Hexies

 Sometimes it's nice to just settle into hand stitching some fabric hexies around the cardboard...even with Molly biting at the thread as I stitch. 

Checkerboards

 Today I made more checkerboard sections for the Gridlock quilt. When I put the blocks up on the wall, I noticed that I had too many low contrast sections. This does create more stripes in the quilt, but unfortunately the checkerboard sections don't hold up well. So these sections will give me more to play with.

Return of the Seahorses

 Here is the new border for the seahorses. In theory, these borders are the right size for the outermost border of diamonds to fit and be consistent in the corners. Adding the diamond border is the next step.

When Molly saw me taking a photo of the seahorses, she came to help me with the focus. That is, my focus should be on her, not some other nonsense. 

Clarification

 Buddy wanted to clarify a point Molly made in yesterday's post about Buddy "filling space." He does admit that filling space is his highest calling and he tries to fill as much as he can. However, this becomes challenging when living with a quilter.

And sometimes it just feels dangerous.

Blog Correction

 Molly insists on correcting the blatant disinformation spread in yesterday's post. Buddy's only affiliation with quilting stems from familial links to power.

Molly grew up scrappy...

yet took the seat of power at a very young age.

She continues to oversee her quilting empire with only one staff member.

Molly has had long, in-depth conversations with famous quilters such as Bonnie Hunter.

She also holds the Guiness record for longest design wall free hang and...

also holds the world record for the most design wall summits in a year.

But Molly may be most notorious for her contribution to the layering of this two-sided (reversible) quilt. After quilting, the holes will be covered with appliqué. 

Molly completed a solitary deep dive between the layers of this quilt bringing her head out of one of the holes while defying ear-splitting screams of an onlooker. Some idiot decided to use a wool batt despite knowing Molly's unrelenting affection for wool.

We are sorry for anyone being led to think that Buddy does anything other than fill space and we will strive to do better in the future.

Substitute Teacher

 I really don't have much to show for today so Buddy said he would share some his quilting knowledge because he has been learning about quilts since he was three months old.

Here Buddy is learning about the Dear Jane quilt and how you can have a lot of small blocks scattered around and then sew them together so they are much less fun.

And here is Buddy explaining Bonnie Hunter's Idaho Square Dance and how you can live in Oregon, make a quilt with Idaho in the title, but that doesn't mean you want to live in Idaho. Also, Buddy was born in Virginia and lived as a free range kitten in Virginia until he and his sister were adopted into the quilting life.

And here Buddy is acting out the process of making a border for a quilt. He is also demonstrating why it is so much harder getting things done when cats are "helping".

Estate Sale Inspiration

Although I don't actually go to estate sales that often, I do review the listings weekly. Oddly it can be a place to find quilt inspiration...given there are lots of quilters living in this area, even nonquilters have quilts.

And this is how I catch the once in a blue moon quilters' estate sale...in this case, it was a downsizing sale.

Of course, sometimes you see things you can't unsee.

Return to Normal?

 Today was the last day of the Tapestry class, and this is as far as I got. It was interesting to discover that my hands had converted to appendages with only thumbs when I was weaving.

Happily, back at home making hexies my hands returned to their usual configuration...maybe slow, but not incompetent.

And here is Molly's review of Tula Pink's new fabric line called "Besties."

Eye Candy

Here is a quilt I saw in a online listing for an estate sale. There was nothing else shown in the listing that explained a large mounted quilt top (I'm assuming it wasn't quilted) in a stairway. And no, I didn't go to the sale. I don't often go out, which may explain why tonight after I got home from the tapestry weaving class, I immediately fell asleep only to wake up at 8pm and think, "egads, what can I blog about?" 

Diversion

Today was the first day of a beginners' tapestry weaving class. Of course, the first part of the day was warping the loom (which in this case is made from copper pipe). Then we worked on using more than one color and tomorrow I think we work on shapes. 

And Buddy being Buddy, when I got home, he had moved the opossum stuffed toy to where I had been sitting before I left for the class. Tonight he will either bring it into the bedroom or take it to his food dish. 

Warning: Fabric

 Needless to say, the two top fabrics are my very favorite Nancy Crow fabrics, and I suspect not ones that one would associate with Nancy Crow. And yes, I am thinking that I need to get at least one of the cat fabrics to play nicely with the e bond Roots fabric line. Given the dominate use of the O in the Roots fabric line, it seems obvious...except the colors are a tad off.

Wanda at Exuberant Color reminded me that there were more Nancy Crow fabrics than I showed in yesterday's post (and more than shown here). I had to do an online search to prod my memory...and so I found more in my stash.

Unfortunately, one should be exceedingly careful while online because you can fall into a site that sucks an afternoon away from you. It's so easy to see a tame seeming website like https://www.antiquefabric.com/ and not realize that they have a "vintage" area that is going to make your life pass in front of your eyes in the form of fabric. And the color correction is just a bit off so you have to click on a larger view of each fabric to see it as you remember it. 

Molly suggested that I shouldn't include a link to such a dangerous site, but I can't imagine anyone actually visiting the site given my warning.

Sewing Machine Rest Day

Today I didn't sew anything, but there was a lot of fabric fondling. I finished pulling and packing blues for the November giveaway and expect to take it to the post office tomorrow. I also found more fabric to add to the Gridlock quilt. And I have noticed that I have added a lot of Nancy Crow fabric (designed for Jon Kaldor around the year 2000). 

I recently watched a talk she gave for an exhibition and her thought process is so unique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzAPxkRDC-M

I realize that every quilter has their own busy beehive brain that a final quilt never fully reveals. Mine is on the simple side...just looking for any reason to go back and paw through more fabric, try more blocks etc. just to stay in the sweet spot of the process: fabric hunt, cut, sew.

And just in case were wondering what a formidable kitten looks like...

Chaos

 Okay, it may have been a mistake to finish up the checkerboard chunks and decide to just throw them up on the design wall without a plan. However this might put you in the mood to enjoy watching the creation of a quilt called Bonkers over in Dave's Craft Room: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2w23etBRP0

Pairings

 Here are the strip pairings I made for the ten remaining checkerboards. I thought I might be showing hexies because the power went out about 3 minutes after I got up. And I failed to understand the full impact of this tragedy until Molly and Buddy began to stir from their heated beds that were no longer heated.

But why listen about cat tragedies when you can be running over to Gayle's blog Mangofeet. Go here to see quilts in progress and get ideas for new quilts:  https://mangofeet.blogspot.com/2023/11/okay-lets-see-if-i-can-remember-how-to.html