Lost Month

 

I think I lost the month of March to doom scrolling. A friend did order me to start blogging again...but that meant I had to start sewing again...so here are the bow-ties for March. 

And yes, I did manage to sew the microspools into twosies. I then sorted them into type of pair: same color, matchy-matchy and contrast. There is absolutely no theory yet for moving forward sewing them into four patches...so there is a growing pile of, nope, not right, I don't think so, etc. that Molly can roll around in.

And here is Molly's interpretation of me after a month of relentless screen doom scrolling. For realism, you would have to take away all the cute and fur, of course.

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.