Fragments of Help

Molly is "helping" with a new quilt I started during the last month. The pattern is Fragments of Cloth by Norma Whaley. I like it because it is made from blocks I like to make...pairs of strips, four patches and hourglass blocks. I'm using a smaller size block...so each four patch finishes at 3 inches. I will need to add rows and columns to this pattern.

Molly is carefully reviewing the pattern, deciding how she will shred it if I ever forget and leave it out accidentally.

Molly knows I like to start new projects just to avoid that sad, empty feeling when a quilt is completed.

Molly likes to live on the edge, right next to my last bit of patience.

Where Were We

A new year might be a good time to check in and make sure the blog hasn't been taken over by a billionaire or a cat with nothing better to do. And it hasn't. So let me show my progress on the microspools...and yes, they have all been joined into groups of four. 

I have not counted them because all that would do is tell me that I either have too many or too few, and that's not a good way to start a new year.

Molly is expecting a better year, especially because the last week has been close to tragic for her. Her staff had problems with her back and couldn't bend over. In one instance, Molly was waiting politely at her bowl, when staff let her food crash to floor and some bits of kibble actually hit Molly. The pain of indignation is unforgettable. Then later in the week, her heated bed was no longer warm.

Then the whole house got cold, staff muttered a lot, then decided to dismantle the design wall and shelving in front of the weird black hole. 

Then weirder things started happening in the driveway (and down the street).

Now the useless staff just stares at the dismantled design wall and the chaos of the sewing room, and mutters "I love electricity" over and over.

Meanwhile, Buddy completed his assessment of his accomplishments during 2022 and has begun the pursuit of his goals for 2023.

Part 2 of Bonnie Hunter Mystery Chilhowie

 Here are a few of the units from Part 2 of Bonnie Hunter's new mystery challenge Chilhowie. This quilt has a white for the neutral background, a persimmon-type orange as a medium, teal for the dark and coral for the light. And if you are keeping score, so far we have only used up about 20 percent of the neutral/white fabric but have used about 50 percent of the dark. Fascinating!

Today was a bit traumatic for Buddy. A comment on the last post suggested that he might have been responsible for scrabbling the strips and causing numerous errant strip sets. He could barely take a serious beauty nap because of all the laughter from Molly.

She was laughing at me, not Buddy. Molly insisted that I show the mess next to the sewing machine. She suspects that if Buddy did start moving strips around, the pile could only get neater given my strips are as close to absolute chaos as possible. But I do appreciate the assumption that I work in an orderly way and that only a cat could cause human error.

Bonnie Hunter Mystery 2022

 Bonnie Hunter started her mystery challenge Chilhowie last week and I was so pleased that she eased us into the challenge with some simple four-patches and nine patches. [Insert sound of loud record scratch].

It turns out what is easy in my theoretical brain turned into long sessions with my seam ripper. And maybe some cussing. But let's go back a step to color choices...I like teal/aqua and orange, but didn't want to revisit a purple and orange quilt. So instead of having the orange as a medium bright, I moved aqua/teal to the dark, and orange (that is, coral) to the light. The background is still white. For medium bright, I am planning on a multicolor (or a few friendly multicolors) fabric that I expect to jump out of my stash sometime along the way.

Meanwhile, let's discuss where theory and reality don't match. Essentially all I had to do for the strip sets were dark teal strips with coral on either side and coral with white on either side. When I took my strip sets to the ironing board I found all sorts of combinations...teal surrounded by white and orange surrounded by teal. And yes, one strip set was orange with a white strip sewn to a white strip. !!!

This was not one night of bad sewing...but repeated throughout the week.

And maybe my language behavior may have required a teacher-parent conference.

Orange for Thanksgiving

 I switched over to this project for a change of pace. 

Of course, the audit took longer than the block construction.

And apparently one is supposed to go outside occaisionally and look around.

And finally, if you prefer your turkey as a balloon animal...please enjoy:  https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2022/11/masayoshi-matsumoto-balloon-animals/

The End of Matchmaking

The smallish spools are taking up most of my sewing time. The bottom box shows all of the pairs except for a pile next to the sewing machine (that I was too lazy to include in this photo). In the box at the top are the four patches. I find it interesting that single spools are unwieldy, and the pairs are barely manageable. But the four patches, with their spun seams on the back, lay nice on flat. And I should note that I ironed the single spools, but won't iron them again until they are 16-patches.

Meanwhile, if you are missing an orange cat, it may be over here. The day I moved in (over 5 years ago) there was an evil mostly black cat that insisted this was his territory. Recently when I was out working in the garden, he stared at me and sprayed the shed, making the same point. (Now we know why he is outside all the time.) And then there is the pitiful white cat that was hanging out under the front window...unable to stir my cats from their heated beds. And finally the newest cat...an orange fellow...marched along the fence and glared at me.

On the Light Side

Here are some more light spools I made to match up with more spools of medium value. Okay, a few dark value spools too.

Meanwhile, I have been spending time cleaning up the backyard garden. I admit to neglecting it when it transitioned from a shade garden to a very sunny and sometimes overly hot garden. And with a strong nod toward metaphor, most of the plants/weeds that I am trying to clear out are loaded with thorns: blackberries, holly, thistle and a couple out of control roses. To prove the point, there was a baby thorned honey locust...that I had to look up because I have never seen a sapling with such evil intent. When I went inside to tell my cats, they just chewed on their claws with their fangs.