My entry for the Blogger's Quilt Festival...

I'm entering "Split Infinitive" in the Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side in the Small Quilts category.

Made from a pack of Kona charm-let polka dots, Kona Snow and a few other dotted scraps, these 210 2" (1.5" finished) half-square triangles went through quite a bit of rearranging before I ended up with this design. It's a little improv, a little traditional...kind of like me. The backing is a yellow dotted flannel to keep with the theme.

For all that work, it only measures 31" x 27" -- those triangles are tiny!

The house that Kate built...

I was going through some bins a couple weekends ago and found a pattern/kit for a Cat Cave that I'd bought several years ago -- and, of course, hadn't done anything with it. I know, it's an ongoing theme with me:  Things I Intended to Make but For Unknown Reasons Never Got Around To.

During the same scrounging session, I also found a leftover piece of orange minkee dot and some home dec fabric from Ikea that I bought to make curtains for my spare bedroom. I ended up using something not as heavy for the curtains, and kept the fabric because a) I loved it, and b) figured I could make something cool out of it someday.

Turns out, it was just the right weight for a Cat Cave.

I probably should iron those seams, huh? They're looking a little unfinished.

I used three layers of high-loft polyester batting + the minkee + a cotton backing for the bottom to make it nice and soft. It wasn't easy getting it all under the walking foot. I also added a layer of batting in addition to the fusible interfacing around the opening for more stability, then satin-stitched the edges.

Archie wasn't quite sure what to make of it. There was a lot of sitting next to it, and a lot of peering inside, but no venturing in for quite a while.

It took two weeks, but now it's his favorite place to nap while I'm sewing.

That's one happy cat.

Done!

Well, almost. I have a few threads to knot and hide, and it still needs to be washed. But Sister #3's 60th birthday quilt is 99.5% finished!

It measures 65" x 80", which should be perfect for the twin bed in her guest room. It's totally her colors, and I had enough of the calico-y blue print to complete the back, another great choice for her.

Wary of her allergies, I decided to use poly batting, and even found a roll up in the closet so I didn't have to buy any. But lessons are always learned the hard way, aren't they? The batting had probably been there for ten years, and over time, there were places where the fusible formed these weird, hard stringy globs that I had to pick off before I could even use it. Unfortunately I missed a couple of them, and after steaming they left small dark waxy spots (almost unnoticeable, but I know they're there) that I tried to pick up with a paper bag and the iron, with no luck. I'm hoping they will wash out -- the package label said it's water soluble, but who knows after this long?

I'm just glad it's finished and I can move closer to another deadline. Christmas is coming!

Time for binding...

Continuing the momentum, I'm on to binding this week.

I don't know if this is a unique approach or not, but I roll my binding up on an empty cardboard spool after it's ironed. It keeps it nice and tidy, and besides, I like taking pictures of it all wound up like that.

(By the way, this is the backing I found in my stash for the Wiggly Horror top. I have no idea where or when I bought this, or why. But it's PERFECT. No spitup stains here! Or at least none you can see!)

Anyway, while it's a great way to keep the binding neat and wrinkle-free, it can be a challenge to keep it from running away. I got really tired of the roll dropping off my lap or the sewing table and having to chase it across the kitchen floor, so came up with a couple different ways to contain it. This was by far the best solution:

I put the spool on my machine's knee lift, and put a pin in it to keep it from unfurling. Feed a comfortable length out, put the pin back, and keep going until it's done.

Works like a charm!

Step 5: An illustration...

This is what happens when I leave the lids off my fabric bins.  Every time.

 

For love of Photoshop...

I made this quilt top eons ago -- 2003 or 2004, maybe?

Bright, isn't it? And this picture doesn't really do it justice. If I look at it from the right angle in full sun, the orange and the green do a little dance. Really. 

Very early in my quilting career I was enamored with loud kid prints. This was made from a bunch of "Wiggly Garden" fat quarters (Cheri Strole, Moda). It made me dizzy to look at it, so it never made it to fruition; it went into the famed "Duffle of Doom," the bag in my closet from which flimsies rarely return.

Fast-forward to yesterday, and the announcement that my step-nephew and his wife are expecting a boy in a few months. Rather than start something completely new (which is TOTALLY my preference, but I'm fighting it), I dug first into the UFO Ziploc pile (yes, I know I'm still procrastinating, but in a good, productive kind of way). Finding nothing too terribly inspirational, I went for the Doom Duffle and rediscovered the Wiggly Horror.

It has potential, but not in its current state. I won't be held responsible for blinding the infant with offensive color choices!

The orange stripes were initially added to make it wider, I think, and obviously have to go. I'm just not sure if I want to replace the orange, or take those strips out all together. Before I reach for the seam ripper, I thought I'd best weigh my options first. And for that, there's Photoshop.

A little messing with some adjustment layers, and I have a few alternatives:

Meh. The light blue, even if I match it to what's in there, doesn't do anything for me.

Neither does dark green, though it's a slight improvement.

This one's the front runner so far.  I like how the purple pops, and if I get it dark enough, it won't do the tango with the other colors like the orange did.

Or I could remove the strips all together, which changes the proportions a little. I'm not sure I like it skinnier -- this option may take some other adjustments, like removing a column and adding it as a row, which would mean a hunt for scraps, as it's shy one 9-patch block.

So Step 1: Rip out the orange strips.

Step 2:  Audition new strip fabrics, or decide if it looks OK without any.

Step 3:  (maybe) Look for some scraps to make up a new 9-patch block.

Step 4:  Find three or four fabrics I'd forgotten about while I'm searching for scraps and (Oh! Don't these look good together!) pull them out just to look at. Pile them on the sewing table and make a cup of coffee. Drink it while looking at the pretty pile and think about what I could make with them. Get excited about the possibilities for a new project, and find sketchbook and colored pencils. After ten minutes or so of sketching, decide the design would look so much better if I did it on the computer. Fire up the desktop; read some new quilty blog posts before getting started, check in with Fresh Modern Quilts for some inspiration, answer a couple work-related e-mails, and consult Facebook to catch up on the day's happenings. Play with quilt designs in Illustrator, decide PowerPoint is easier for what I'm trying to do and start over. Realize my coffee is cold, and when I walk back into the kitchen to warm it up, find the floor littered with fabric I hadn't put away two...no, three hours ago.

Step 5:  Remove sleeping cat from open bin of fat quarters.

Step 6:  Regretfully return pretty pile of forgotten fabrics to their respective bins.

Step 7:  Resume scrap search.

On my kitchen floor this morning...

This quilt has been a looooong time in the making.

I won this jelly roll of Moda Clermont Farms from Glenn way back in 2010. When I received it, I knew that whatever I made was going to go Sister #3 -- these were her colors, and very traditional prints. To say Sister #3 is traditional would be an understatement, so it was a perfect fit. She also had a milestone birthday coming up in a couple years, worthy of a quilt. Finishing something with that much lead time shouldn't be a problem...right?

Hah!

I don't remember when I finished the blocks, but I do remember coming up short for a twin size and readily shelving it, moving on to the next project...and another project after that, and one after that...you know the drill.

It doesn't take much for me to abandon a project, believe me.

Sister's milestone birthday came and went. Those blocks in the Ziploc got ignored until I felt the need to procrastinate further on Theo's graduation quilt and scrounged through the UFO pile.

Well, hello, Clermont Farms! Long time no see! Are you interesting enough to distract me from what I'm really supposed to be finishing? Yes? Then let's do this!

I pulled enough from my stash to make a dozen more blocks and got to work. What's pathetic is that the stash fabrics I pulled? They were here four years ago. I don't know if it's ADD, or if I'm just lazy. Either way, it's shameful. And now I feel guilty that Theo's quilt is late.

Quilt + floor = a place to nap

The initial diagonal quilting wasn't enough, so I'm going back in between the lines to add more. It's 75% done as of this morning, and close enough to finished that abandonment is out of the question.

So it's a Christmas/birthday/retirement gift. Three birds with one quilt!