Piglet Quilt Top

The piglets are sewn together and off the floor.

Here's a close up.

I love how the tails dance. This is due to the "Gayle tilt".

Here is Molly using her head to demonstrate the "Gayle tilt."

And here's Molly's interpretative dance "En Provence."

Chicken 2.0

Here's Chicken 2.0. I was laying out pieces for a tutorial with way too much help from Molly. In fact, she was so helpful, I might have thrown her out of the sewing room a couple of times and closed the door. When I would open the door again, Buddy would there staring up at me with a hurt look in his eyes.

En Provence and a Chicken

I am making a 3 by 3 version of Bonnie Hunter's En Provence Mystery Challenge quilt. I have all of the top together except the border. I had been going back and forth about what gold fabric to use in place ot the magenta. The one that I finally used is my original choice. I changed to a darker gold with birds but it looked harsh. Although there isn't much contrast between the gold and my neutrals, it still provides a better glow than my second choice. And yes, my seam ripper got a bit of a workout.

Here's a close up to show the fabric selections. I followed Bonnie Hunter's colorway, except I turned it a couple of notches on the color wheel.

Meanwhile, the chicken pattern has gone through a small revision to make a speedier chicken. Although it has a smaller brain, it also looks smarter than the original one I posted yesterday. (And the revisions were made in photoshop, so I still have to make a real one and put it through a speed test.)

Chickens 1.0

I have overheard some clucking in the comment sections of various blogs that suggests that there might be interest in chicken quilt blocks. Here's one.

This block uses the same square head but gives a side view. 

I have the photos to provide tutorials but will wait a few days to show them because I usually come up with revisions. And suggestions are always welcome.

Meanwhile, we are having a cold snap here. I haven't used the woodstove in quite a while because I didn't trust the kittens near it. Today, I thought I would see how Molly and Buddy behaved now that they are older. Egads. Molly curled up in the exact same spot where Tommy would roost. So of course I built up a little padded throne for her like Tommy had.

I just went downstairs to find Molly laying on her new throne in front of the fire with Buddy laying in front of her. Adorable.

Purple lion

January has arrived like a lion. A purple lion. The Rainbow Scrappy Challenge has begun again so let the fun begin. You can find out about other clever purple projects over at Angela's blog SoScrappy.

Last year I fizzled out a bit with RSC16. But a nice feature of this challenge is that you can fill in missing pieces over the new year.  The Rainbow Fish are from my first year participating in this challenge.

This origami crane quilt was also made during the first year I participated.

And unfortunately, that was also the year that another participant made rainbow cats and through some strange warp in the quilt field, kittens from her cats showed up in my sewing room. I had to contain them in a quilt just to keep them from wrecking the place.

Mounds of piglets

Today I spent the whole day in the garden moving mounds of dirt. Then I planted all kinds of grasses. Some pigs wanted grass with a bit of olive while others preferred blue-green overtones. But I didn't mind because the piglets are so much happier running up and down hills. And yes, I have to thank that brilliant Gayle at mangofeet for thinking to put the piglets on a tilt and giving them so much life.

I had to give them labels so I could keep track of where each one went.

And I'm certain that now that I have them all so carefully laid out on the floor that they will stay that way until I can sew them together.

Back on track

Half of the piglets are mobile. The left-facing piglets going uphill use the same tilt wedges as the right-facing piglets. I will have to make a new set of wedges for the rest of the piglets.

I also worked on building the sashing for the En Provence mystery quilt.