Scraps & Claws - Kitty Quilt

I think that this is going to drive me nuts .. This is starting to frustrate me to no end .. I’ve done 4 blocks and each block has presented a problem with numerous ripping and redoing ..

1. The cats with the entwined tails - centerpiece of quilt - had to do the tails twice
   
2. The cat with the bowtie - templates and I HATE templates!! two of them were the wrong size; and there was no assembly diagram so chances are, I put them together wrong .. that bowtie was inset seams .. BAH
   
3. The log cabin kitty .. hard to see for one .. i might have done better with just two fabrics .. light and dark .. and for some reason the ear isn’t right
   
4. the cat looking over her shoulder - pp - normally not a problem for me, but I had to reprint it twice (and that was a nitemare in itself - long story!!) Took me almost 4 hours to do that block!
   

I honestly expected to have more blocks done than I do .. granted since this is a sampler, I’m not going to be able to speed piece, and there is a lot of sew, trim, press, sew, trim, press .. but even with that factored in, this seems to be dragging .. I’ve not given up tho .. not by a bloody long shot!

What I’m going to do is work on my kitty blocks and then work on blocks for swap .. give myself a break .. this is a scrappy swap any block long as it’s 12“ and is red, pinks, white or black background .. I’ll make 6 blocks for swap and 6 for here. I’m going to use this quilt to replace the one from my ohio star swap back from 97. That poor thing is falling apart (cheap muslin i used) and I want to be able to repair it .. so that quilt will go away for the time being - that’s my story and I’m sticking to it LOL ..

Right now I’m searching out blocks for this swap .. driving myself crazy (not that I had to far to go LOL), but I can’t seem to make up my mind .. I’ll figure it out soon - Since I’m not going to know what block i’m getting, I can’t really plan for it .. so - I’m going to pick a block that will be the alternating block and will go with just about anything .. i LOVE stars ... and I’ve found an oodle of them .. Just can’t make up my mind is all LOL

Back to my searching, do 2 swap blocks and another kitty block ..

Mum's Stuff

Well this AM I went with my dad to take care of cleaning out his lazy susan from the mouse problem and fritter through my mum’s stuff. Mum didn’t quilt, so a lot of her stuff I really can’t use as I don’t make my own clothes anymore .. to bloody expensive with the cost of fabric now a days. There was a box of sweat suit type stuff (velour) and ribbing that I left as I knew I couldn’t use, but did grab a box of various tweeds, and linens with the odd cotton in there .. I need to do window treatments so these will come in handy. There is an old steamer trunk in the basement that my dad says has fabric in it .. i’m like .. esh .. another day. Then he remembered that there was the cedar chest upstairs - he wasn’t sure what was in it and thought it was locked. Actually all he had to do was push the button and it opened. Silly man ..

In our forays I found 2 sugar sacks!! I had never seen them before and remembered how ladies on the lists would talk about them .. stupid me forgot them there - ARRRG, but I am wanting to get them here and use them ..they have a NICE heft to them!

Found my mum’s wedding dress in there that she made .. a comforter that my grandmother brought from Russia and a woven bedspread (tapestry like) also from Russia .. at that point, I couldn’t handle going through stuff like that .. so went on the search for her serger and her singer .. found those .. her serger is a juki and i didn’t find a manual for it - I’ll have to check on line to see if there is one there .. never used a serger in my life and mum got this after I had moved out of the house .. worse case scenario, I can ask my grandmother (Dad’s dad) as she sews and could help me I’m sure .. I think that she advised mum on this one (??) .. found a mess of notions and all the parts for her singer .. all the discs and the manual and the original box with the seam guide, screwdriver ..

There was also a craft table still in it’s boxes that i can have .. I needed to measure it tho .. it’s 72 x 40 when opened .. it’s a batwing type table on wheels and is at least 6“ higher than the table I currently use .. I’ll have to rearrange my sewing room .. move the computer out of the corner it’s in and further up the wall and put the table against the far wall - but it will fit .. 70” of work space :O .. can you IMAGINE!!! i could actually baste on this thing .. no more crawling on the floor to baste now .. that always kills my back for a good day! which reminds me .. I need to baste reg’s quilt .. ouch I’ve always said that this table is to low .. i bend over to cut and pin and my back hurts .. this table of my mum’s is a good 6“ higher! YIPPEEEE ... I’m not a tall person .. not by a LONG shot .. i’m only 5’3” .. but these short tables are murder!

Mum’s singer - now this machine hates me .. always has .. i look at this thing and it jams! It’s a slant shank so it makes my life a wee bit difficult as all my singers are short shank .. i’m still hoping to find a walking foot .. If that’s the case, I’ll oil this one up and give it a whirl while firmly holding my temper in check! I was really hoping that I would find one, but didn’t expect to .. My singer (the one I use for quilting) is making some really odd noises .. you know like a car that won’t start .. the err err err err and the wheel’s not moving .. I can sew for short bursts (maybe 4“) then it does this - then give the wheel a hand and off it goes again .. I can’t quilt on my FW as the motor just won’t tolerate the stress of all those layers. I do have the 15-91, but it’s noisy and I’ve only used it once .. nice stitch on it tho! The 99 needs to have the brushes replaced so that one’s out.

Kyle's quilt

This was a quilt I started for Kyle oh back in 98 :|. I was actually 'test driving' a pattern for a fellow quilter and for whatever reason; school, illness etc, I was unable to finish it. What kills me is that the top was just about done. I mean all I have to do is piece the blocks together and voila, top ready for sandwich and quilting. I'm such a twit sometimes. Back in 98 Kyle would have been 3 years old, now he's 12 1/2 :O (Where does the bloody time go) and the fabrics themselves are almost too young for him, but still borderline .. there are trucks (cartoonish), and fabric with dots, green fabric with yellow pooh bear type honey bees and just a yellow streaked one. I tried to import the fabric but quiltpro is being a pita about it so I approximated. Here's the best I could do.

The next issue is the size. Kyle recently moved up to a double sized bed due to the fact that his room is large enough for now. Now I have enough of the blue and red to do wide borders to increase the size as well as add another border on. OR I could do one more row of blocks and use 1 less border. It's all going to have to come down to math. What ever I have the fabric for, he gets. I'm thinking that the wider quilt (blocks are 14/5" unfinished) so that should more than compensate for it not fitting his bed.

The fabric isn't all that bad .. granted the trucks and the honeybees could be worse, but it's not as babyish as i feared. He has actually said, i don't care mum .. i think that he just wants another quilt by mum .. been a while since he's gotten one.

Reg's Quilt

This quilt is going to be 'interesting' to actually make .. designing it was 'interesting' as well .. reg is totally uneducated when it comes to anything quilt related - he still calls them comforters ;) .. that will change, he's a quick learner.

His favourite teams are the Detroit Lions, Detroit Pistons, Detroit Tigers and MSU (Michigan State University), and his favourite colour is green. Needless to say the colours in this layout aren't even the correct ones but the team logos.

what i'm going to do is print them out on paper then iron it onto the right fabric ... or even do an outline .. i'm sure with my graphic knowlege i can find the easiest way to print on the fabric .. and since this ink is water soluable, it will come right out when it's washed. I'm having a devil of a time finding some sports related blocks, but i'm sure that something will occur to me. I'm more worried about having to do applique for the logos. I'm not the world's best at it and would rather 'cheat' with my machine. I was thinking of using Carrie Nation or jacob's Ladder blocks; they would 'encircle' the middle sports blocks and not necessarily make them the focus of the quilt - which are the team logos. This might even be a scrappy type quilt with the rest on WOW or COW .. not to sure yet. But this is my starting point and I'm sure flying by my tail will work in this case ;)

Quilt Quandry - what to do first?!?!?!?

For various reasons, i've not been able to quilt for roughly 5 - 6 years. for 4 - 5 of that time, my beloved fabric and sewing machines have been packed away in boxes. With the new house I gots a room that is shared with the computer (but of course ;)) that's for MY QUILTING :D :D :D>

As i'm unpacking my fabric, i'm getting all excited - it was like i was getting together with long lost friends. All my kitty fabrics, reproductions, watercolour fabrics, UFOs that are now WIPs ;) (amazing how not having something stare at you in the face for several years changes it's status!) ... then the quandry sets in - what to do first.

Kyle needs a new quilt since he's moved up to a double bed in the new house (but i've one in the works from a few years ago that might be big enough). Other quandry on this, the prints are almost to young for him; trucks and honey bees (pooh bear type honey bees), the other two fabrics should be fine.

Lap quilt for reg - his will be with his favourite sports teams logos on it and sports related blocks.

my kitty quilt - only been plotting this one for about 10 years - still plotting

sunny stars swap i did a few years ago

2 quilts for our bed; one winter one summer

finish quilting a charity quilt for sunshine i that is 1 hour from being finished note to self - find out where to send it

so essentially; 3 bed quilts (2 king and 1 double), 2 lap quilts, 1 charity quilt and other various WIPs (hand quilted kitty wall hanging, doll quilt (selling this item), Charity Attic Windows, kyle's bed quilt from a few years ago, sunny star swap blocks .. i think that i have them all ..