Last of the spies

This is the last set of i-spy blocks that I'm making for my grand nephew's quilt. It will be two-sided so my next task will be to choose which blocks go on which side. For his brother's quilt, I divided the blocks into good and evil, where kittens and teddy bears were categorized as evil. This version has so many trucks and racing cars, I may be able to divide it into transportation versus not. Cats that look like Buddy would go on the transportation side.

And speaking of Buddy...I had to crop this photo or I would have received questions like "Why is there a huge loaf of bread on your sewing room floor?" And to make matters worse, today Buddy figured out how to jump up into Molly's feeding nook. Since he has been jumping up on the sewing table and the computer desk, I figured it was a matter of time. Now I'm trying to move Molly's eating area to the top of the refrigerator.

Back to Normal

I just have a few loose ends (threads) before the quilt show this weekend. They have some kind of auction/sale of small quilt items donated by guild members. I had this eagle block and decided to finish it off. I still need to quilt the background and the white part. Unfortunately, my tension is a bit inconsistent and dodgy, so I want to resolve that before I do the white section. It's fine where I have blue as top thread and the bobbin.

I also completed another handful of I-spy blocks. I think at this point I have plenty. I also suspect I have some duplicates.

And I would like to apologize for the gruesome pictures from yesterday. Some weirdo hacked into my blog and posted some photos that were obviously concocted with Photoshop. I'm not sure who the hacker was and the surveillance cameras only picked up this strange grainy image.

Sewing Room: Before and After

Hi, I'm Molly, your guest blogger for today. As you may know, staff had a deadline for getting some quilts ready for a quilt show. I thoughtfully captured some "before" pictures.

Here I am by the storage racks of fabric. Now let's pan out...

As you can see, the cutting table is quite clear. This was used for adding quilt sleeves and removing cat hair from the quilts to make them sterile, boring, and sad.

Here is the design floor. This is also where Buddy and I have predation practice with the laser pointer.
If you would like to see some after pictures, please remember that there is no before or after, only now. Respectfully, Molly

Deadline met

Yay! The owl quilt, formally known as Parliament is finished.  Did I take a photo of it before I dropped it off for the NW Quilt Show? Of course not! One of the primary tasks is using a lint roller to pick up all the cat hair. This required the help of both Molly and Buddy. I thought I should tackle the problem at its core but Molly was not amused!

The quilt show is next Friday and Saturday at the Portland Expo center. I will be demonstrating how to sew in circles like the owl eyes.

Sewn-in circles are also used for the lion's head. I also used the technique for some of the Dear Jane blocks. Time to take a trip down memory lane.

Owl Quilt Binding

Here's Molly helping me sew the binding to the owl quilt. The owl quilt's official name is Parliament--the name for a group of owls. And yes, Parliament is usually out of session because owls don't hang out in groups...except when forced to...in a quilt.

And here's Buddy trying to take credit for helping with the binding. I'm about half way finished with the details for the owls...for which I'm changing the top thread quite a bit. This wouldn't be such a problem except for our resident criminal Buddy. He grabs the spools and runs off with them. Ultimately, stolen items usually show up in the bed or under the bed. But sometimes, like a dog, I think Buddy just likes the chase.

And yes, after a day of thievery, Buddy insists on being Molly-coddled.

More I-spy

Here is another handful of I-spy blocks. I'm almost out of the i-spy 3.5 inch squares, but still have quite a few of the rectangles that I cut into wedges. And I still enjoy piecing these blocks. So I may have to make a few lap size versions for donation quilts...but I don't think I will make them reversible.

I have finished machine quilting the Dandy Lions and have begun to machine quilt the Owls. I find I don't have enough strength to move the quilts easily because they are so heavy. And it doesn't help that Molly just stares at me and says "This is the slowest, dumbest ride ever."

It was also certainly an accident if a nosy cat found herself buried under the owl quilt.

Yellow Kittens

Here's a litter of yellow kittens. Hopefully, none of them will grow up to be a horse like Buddy. If you would like to watch the sunset for yellow in April, gallop over to the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge.

Recently I showed an azalea blooming in the front yard. This is the azalea mashup that's going on in the backyard.