Quilted Jonquil

I’ve been missing in action and thank you to those of you who came looking for me

First up, one of my AAQI Priority quilts, Squared, has had it’s photo loaded in the Quilt Waiting for Assignment page, woo hoo!

It’s Design Wall Monday so click over to Judy’s DWM post for links to other DWM posts.  I have a completed top for my design wall!  It’s a log cabin project from scrap club.   It is being inspected by Capser and Simontacchi because that’s their job, you know!

While I was MIA I participated in the St Louis Shop Hop with Darlene, Marilyn and Jeanne.  We had such a fun time and they’re still smiling at stop #11!

I was very good on the first shop hop day, but the second day……..well, here’s what I snagged.

The cute ice cream and laminated owl prints aren’t for me…they are going to Italy for my DD to play with.  I can’t resist scraps and grab bags with scraps, well I’m in heaven.  Cross Patches, our shop hop stop #12, had grab bags of scraps in a basket in the back of the store.  The stack of scraps on the right in the top photo is the pile of scraps I got…..they are a wonderful mix of fabrics and I love them!  I picked up a few other pieces of fabric…….looks like I’m gravitating towards gold/pumpkin colors, doesn’t it? 

I have been working on my hexie project on the train as I haven’t taken the time to prep my next applique block.  My flower garden is growing

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Stash Report –

• Fabric in:  11.5 yards (shop hop fabric, recycled shirts & gifted scraps)
  
• Fabric out: 8.5 yards (scrap log cabin top & gifted fabric)
  
• YTD Fabric in: 33.5 yards
  
• YTD Fabric out: 20.5 yards
  
• Net Fabric In/(Out): 13 yards (must remember the goal is no more than 25 net in )
  

 Happy Quilting, Cherie

I have a great fondness for daffodils.  Their short bloom period is part of what makes them so special and signals the change from winter to spring.  They need little care, multiply prolifically and make great cut flowers……all wonderful reasons to love the daffodil.  Here are a few of the spots in our yard that have daffodils:

Can you see Casper watching me from the garage

The photo above is the strip between the houses where tiger lily’s grow as well as volunteer trees which I cover with cans to keep them from sending out side shoots.  Just explaining what the rusty cans are doing here…..you can’t see them when the lily’s come up.

It’s definitely not spring like weather in St Louis today.  My cat, Casper agrees, staying curled up on the warm bed this morning.  The quilt Casper is on was made by my mom.  We took a class together when she was visiting St Louis and now I have the quilt she made

I’ve continued making blue/green three patches and, as soon as I cross cut these sewn strip sets, I’ll have the required 414.   Then I’ll start sewing them into nine patches as I want to get the zigzag top together so I’ll be able to show it at the April scrap club meeting.  I’ve also continued leader/ender sewing the red/neutral half square triangles.  I don’t have a current count but it is more than 350 so I’m getting closer to 600 every day.

I’ve got something new going on on my design wall!   Wow, lousy picture, I need a better lighting setup for DWM pictures    Check out Judy’s Design Wall Monday post for other DWM posts.

Here are my November First Saturday blocks:

I’ve sewn all the units from steps 1 & 2 of Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll (RRCB) and started working on the borders for Topsy Turvy Nine Patch (finally)!!

RRCB Step 1 above

RRCB Step 2 and TTNP above

I laid out my Technicolor Yawn blocks to decide if I want to add any kind of a border to it.  I’m leaning towards a 2″ red inner border followed by two rows of scrappy squares.

Casper “helping” me with the layout…..

I finished the 5th step for the Stay-at-home-robin (SAHR).

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Stash Report –

• Added:  9.5  (finished cutting up those shirts)
  
• Cumulative Added:  146.5 yds
• Used:  0
  
• Cumulative Used:  50.25 yds
• Net Out/(In):   (96.25 yds)
  

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Not much on my design wall today.  Check out Judy’s DWM post for links to quilters who just might have a bit more going on than I do

The wonky log cabin block is for Anna Maria Horner’s RAINBOW around the block effort which you can read about here.  The pinwheels, all 4 of them, are all the further I’ve gotten on the Pinwheel Party quilts.  I’ve been giving my left hand a rest for a week or two since I’ve been experiencing pain when holding down rulers for cutting and holding fabric when appliqueing.   I’m thinking I need to get one of those hand support gloves to help…..I’ve not been happy about this break

I finished the half hexie top.  I’ve named it Pop Beads because it reminds me of the plastic beads for toddlers that you pop together.  It looks better in person…..the horrible lighting on my design wall makes the dark pink  appear a bit drap in the pictures.

I did get Sophie in better running order and finished the Pirate Downy quilt.  Sophie is not back to normal because quilting from right to left causes the thread would break so I quilted only moving left to right.  I’ll load up a practice piece and see if I can’t get Sophie running perfectly again.

Since I finished the half hexie top I have an update……

Stash Report – Note to Lori: I haven’t received my giveaway fabric so I don’t have to count it yet.

• Added:  0      Cumulative Added:  97 yds
• Used:  4  (Pop Beads top)      Cumulative Used:  20 yds
• Net Out/(In):   (77 yds)
  

We had a kitty visitor again this weekend.  Rail thinks my freshly quilted log cabin is the perfect sleeping place

Here’s a shot of the quilting I’m doing on the log cabin quilt.  Don’t inspect too close as I’m an amateur but still in all I’m pretty happy with it.

A while back a gray striped cat adopted us and we named her Rail.  Mind we really didn’t want another cat but she needed a home as she was dumped, along with her kittens on our street.  Our neighbors, the husband which is allergic to cats, took a liking to her as she would join them on walks with their dog…..the cat has a lot of dog traits.  Over time they discovered that as long as the husband washed his hands after touching Rail, he didn’t suffer allergic reactions to her.   So a little over a year later, they officially adopted Miss Rail kitty with the understanding we would provide cat sitting services when they are away.  With that set up, here’s a picture of Miss Rail making herself quite at home in our house this week while her parents are away.

This quilt is perfect for napping

She is a cute little thing.  Of course I have to include some gratuitous pictures of the resident cats or suffer the cold shoulder from one or both them.

What quilt block???

I got off the quilt block so she'd better leave me alone!

It' soooo hot!

And I tried auditioning some fabric for alternate blocks for another 9-patch quilt but I’m not loving it.  What do you think?

It’s Design Wall Monday again and you can check out Judy’s post to see what others have on their walls.  Here’s my wall.  I completed block two of the Pinwheel Party quilt.

I also did some quilting on Sophie   She’s still a dream girl to work on and we got the second Scrappy Mountain Majasties quilt quilted.  It’s been trimmed and is ready for the binding.

Simontacchi was quite the pest this weekend when he wasn’t spying on the birds in the backyard.

Or napping on the quilt….

Or showing off his belly

Stash Report

• Added:  6     Cumulative Added:  55.5 yds
• Used:  3 (backing for Recycled Cabins)          Cumulative Used:  ~10 yds
• Net Out/(In):   (45.5 yds)

Funny how cats can curl themselves up to be exactly the size of what they want to lay on, isn’t it?  I’m hand quilting this project and it’s “resting” while I work on the AAQI priority quilt.  Simontacchi thinks it needs a “resting” partner   Here’s the progress I’ve made on the AAQI quilt.  The blue lines are the “Definitely Can’t Be Larger Than or Ami’s Head Might Explode” lines

You can check out what other people are working on by checking in with Judy’s Design Wall Monday post.  Here’s what’s on my design wall:

The crumb quilt from my scraps I’m calling Fiesta!  The crumb border blocks are not sewn yet as I’m still playing with the placement but it’s much closer to finished now.

I was involved in a little retail therapy:

But a couple of the piece are to be used immediately (yes, I’m justifying).

This piece is already cut into squares, making 8 napkins (in place of paper so this is a green project…never mind I already have cloth napkins )

This piece I bought to practice some long arm quilting.  I thought these prints of vintage appliqued quilts would provide a fun, structured practice piece.  In addition, one of the other pieces, the purple one, has already been used for the second border on “Fiesta” so that means 5 yards have already been put into play

First 2010 Stash Report:

Added:  15     Cumulative Added:  24 yds

Used: 0         Cumulative Used:  0 yds  (I’ll count the napkins when they are finished and the practice piece when I’ve practiced!)

Net Out/(In): (24 yds)  Ugh!

On a better note, here are some pictures of my cats…

Last, here are the fabrics for the January First Saturday blocks.  Can’t wait to get these done.

Casper (the gray one) and Simontacchi (the striped one) are keeping warm on the quilt.   They don’t like snow!  I have no idea why.