Daily Quilting Report

Finally got the last of the 12 blocks done for April.

I now have two weeks of cat sitting. This is the lovely Miles.

I started the raw edge appliqué free motion stitching. I only had a bit of bobbin left so I stopped when it ran out. I just got the eggs done.

I won't quite get April finished before May starts but I have high hopes for getting the May kit done before the end of May.

Cheers,

Val

Working on 'I Love My Cat' Applique Quilt

Thought I better bite the bullet and try to find some background fabrics for the cat quilt. I have been putting it off because I have lots of dark novelty prints and large patterns that are difficult to work with in a quilt. Great for tote bags though.

I have very few blenders or even light colours. I decided on a fairly dark background for this block because the lighter florals that I tried made the cat look a bit washed out.

Another thing I noticed is that I seem to have a smaller cat than the one in the magazine. I enlarged this pattern ages ago and probably had another use for it in mind. I just assumed I had the right size for the quilt. Never mind. I will make the other cats the right size. This block has some foot prints on it so it will fill up OK.

This cute quilt is by Lynette Anderson. See my first post about it.

Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val

Let's Book It - Feb

What a great challenge this one is. Let's Book It over at Vroomans Quilts.
Dust off those books and patterns and magazines and make those things that caught your eye. Luckily I brought my quilting books with me to the rental house. All my magazines are in storage until the new house is built. There are so many things in those magazines that I want to make.

I bought the Zakka Style book with the intention of making all the projects but what I really liked was the zip open wallet. However, I needed to choose something that wouldn't strain the brain too much so my second favourite project is the house zippy.

I loved that I could actually lay my hand on some coordinating fabrics and some lace and some cute buttons. Don't you love it when it all comes together nicely.

I have used this purse quite a lot just to pop down to the post office. It neatly holds my phone, purse and keys. I put two little pockets inside to stop the keys rubbing on the phone. They each have their own pocket and the wallet purse fits in the middle.

The cute cat button is a souvenir of my travels in the UK. I know it is not unique to the area but it reminds me of the lovely gallery just outside the tile factory in Ironbridge.

So, I am linking up with Let's Book It with Sharon today. She has the cutest little quilt block charms as a prize for joining in.

Update: I have just found Anything Goes Monday in a rather circuitous bit of web surfing. So I am linking up to that too. Maybe I can make it a bit closer to my Monday posts in future.

Please leave a comment on my flickr photo or pinterest pin if you don't go in for google+. I would love to hear from you.
Feel free to pin any of my pictures (hover over) and don't forget to like my posts in bloglovin and +1 my posts in google+. It is so nice to get comments from lots of new people and when we share each others posts and pictures lots more people get to see them outside our usual circles. I think that is really cool.

Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val

Vote for my quilt and Stumpy!

We were given permission to blow our own trumpets so toot toot toot!
Pets on quilts is a wonderful display of all the things I love best. There are so many themed quilts and cute pets. I was amazed.
It is time to vote for favourites this week. Just letting you know. My pet themed quilt is #56 and my cat on a quilt is #59

The quilt.
My original blog post in March.

Stumpy on the quilt.
More photos on Flickr.

Head on over to Lily Pad Quilting to vote.


Happy Quilting,
Val

Pets on Quilts

I have enjoyed looking at all the animal quilts and wonderful pets and when I realised there was still time to enter I just had to include Stumpy and my catnip quilt.

Stumpy doesn't care what is on the quilt. He just likes to be included in every step of the process. I think he likes it when I am sewing because I stay in the one place for long periods of time.

Here is a reminder of my finished quilt.

And a couple of Stumpy helping.

An early inspection.

Is it finished yet?

Not quite enough cat fur on it yet.

Original post

Flickr set

I am linking up with Pets on Quilts 2013 at Lily Pad Quilting.
Entries close Sat 17th
Voting starts next week. Sunday Aug 18.

Happy Quilting,
Val

Comment on Facebook if you are not on Google +
or email me at valspierssews@gmail.com
or comment on a photo on flickr.

Cute fleece fabric

Went into Brisbane for a lovely lunch with my mum and my two daughters. I took the opportunity to visit Lincraft for their half price sale. I decided I wanted some polar fleece to back my Debbie Mumm sampler and I found a cute owl pattern. While looking I found a beautiful coral fleece (much softer than polar fleece) with a Christmas pattern. They were both $6.99 a metre and I bought 3m of each. I think I will use the Christmas one to back my Welcome to the North Pole quilt.

I also couldn't resist a nice tea box from The Tea Centre.

On Saturday I am going to Aldi bright and early to buy a down jacket for $49.99. It has duck down in it. I saw a duck down jacket reduced to $200 at Kathmandu and the goose down jacket was $500. I guess the Aldi jacket is quite a bargain. I have wanted a down jacket for a while because they are warm, light and squash into a small space. It will be perfect for holidays involving plain trips. Mum and I have started saving up for the Australian Sewing Guild trip to Sydney next July. It will be great for that.
I finished a knitted dog for DD1. Sadly I forgot to take a picture of the finished article. I have now started a cat for DD2. She tried to knit her own but got thoroughly confused so I have borrowed her book Best in Show - knit your own cat, to help her out.

I completed my first crochet square from my new book. I made it first with a 5.50 hook but it was just too loose and open. I pulled it undone and did it again with a size 4.00 hook and it looks just right.

Happy Quilting,
Val

Another Tea Cosy

When I can't think of what to make, a tea cosy or a tote bag are such wonderful props for a bit of fun sewing.
I like to collect greeting cards on my trips around. I display them in my glass top coffee table and cabinets that I walk past all the time. I have quite a few and every time I swap them around I find another favourite.
This one I got at the gift shop in St Martin's in the Field in London 2010.

I enlarged it a bit and made myself a tea cosy.

I love breakfast out in the sun and the path outside my winter parlour is a perfect spot.

Stumpy thought it wasn't quite warm enough for him yet so he stuck to his sunny chair on the inside.

I was pleased to get some mail. A lovely book on making landscapes that I won on A Quilting Reader's Garden blog. Thanks Angie.

I wasn't celebrating 4th July but it just happened that mum and I had a wonderful high tea at Tea and Niceties on Tamborine Mountain on Thursday. We joined the lovely ladies on the Brisbane Australian Sewing Guild tour. Mum and I knew a lot of the regular tourists from the Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide tours. The tea was $45 each but a real treat. Those little scones are to die for!
I took this picture with my phone and found it linked automatically with my Google+ albums. It was ready for me to just upload to this blog post. So easy.

If you like cute applique (and who dosen't?) check out Fat Cat Patterns. I have started collecting the doggy faces. I may not get time to make them yet but I just love them.

Val Spiers on Facebook

Val Spiers on Flickr

Happy Quilting,
Val

Slow sewing

With much of my May commitments out of the way I slowed down a bit. I got my newsletter from Bustle and Sew with a link to the little mouse pattern. Ladies at Beenleigh Quilters were making pantry mice for the sale table for the upcoming quilt show and I thought it would be nice (and also useful) to put one in my pantry. I have noticed a few moths in the cupboard so I had a bit of a cleanout and put in a jolly red velvet lavender mouse to keep those pesky moths away.

With winter definitely here now I felt sorry for Stumpy so I made him a nice cosy bed. I put running squirrels around it to give him sweet dreams. I got the pattern from The Zen of Making blog. The squirrels were from a book I had.

I pulled out my holiday lap quilt project from It's Quilting Cats and Dogs and put a frame on one of the blocks. This is meant to be English paper pieced but there is now way I am going to try that yet. I sewed all the triangles together on the machine then sewed each side down along one edge and turned it out. I then hand stitched as needle turn along the outside edge. Then I sewed the corners on.   Purists need not comment on this block :)

I had a lovely time at the Brisbane bloggers group. I started some knitting.

This Wednesday is update day for Welcome to the North Pole and Thursday is update day for my Country Quilting SAL with Shirley. The Saturday is One Xmas Item a Month. Lots of posting this week.
If you are not on Google + you can't comment on my blog however:
If you are not ready for Google+ you can comment from my Facebook or Flickr.

Val Spiers on Facebook

Val Spiers on Flickr

Happy Quilting,
Val

Geometric cats

I found a lovely painting by Azul de Andruchak of cats done like Picasso. There is a picture of the original painting in thisBlog just scroll down a bit to find it.
I couldn't bring myself to give them only one eye each so I added more eyes. It was a bit tricky to get all the pieces to meet in the right places.
It is only small, about 12 x 8 inches.

Linking up with Link a Finish Friday 64
Also linking up with Applique Thursday

Happy Quilting,
Val

Posted with Blogsy

How much is a cat quilt worth?

I used the formula I found on HuntersDesignStudio. She has created some discussion as indicated in her latest post.

 

Fabric ( 80 x 80 x 4 ) / 1440 x $12.50

I multiplied by 4 because the cat faces nearly cover each block and I pieced the back a bit.

Other materials were wadding, fusible webbing, thread and topstitch thread for the appliqué ,wool felt for the eyes.

Cost of materials came to $300

Now what about my time. Most of the fabric for the appliqué blocks came from my trip to the Craft and Stitches show in Puyallup, Washington State and from visiting many fabric shops throughout Oregon. The backing and the border fabric I bought online from the US. If I was restricted to regular shops and shops in my local area I am not convinced I would have been able to find the variety that I got and I know the price for the fabric would be closer to an average of $20 per yard. I don't think I can claim the business class trip to the US. But jokes aside it did take me a long time to collect up what I needed and this should count for something. Conservatively 8 hours over two days.

Next, I spent several days cutting the pieces and laying them out in different ways til I got the colour mix right. 2 hours just for deciding on the layout.

I didn't actually keep track of the time I spent cutting and sewing but I think about 30 mins per block from start to finish is fair. 49 x 0.5 = about 25 hours just for the blocks. Maybe count this and the layout time as skilled time at $25 per hour.

I quilted the borders with parallel lines and sewed the scrappy binding on using the sewing machine and the backing had some piecing. I am going to add 10 hours. This work was more time consuming work rather that highly skilled work so I am charging $20 per hour for this and the shopping.

( 27 x 25 ) + ( 18 x 20 ) = 675 + 360 = $1035

My time and skill are by far the greater cost in making this quilt and it is this cost that crafters everywhere find it hard to charge. How many times have you bought something cheap and the stitching comes undone or the seams fray or you saw 20 just the same on the rack . My time and skill and care results in a quality long lasting one of a kind product and I am entitled to convert this to a dollar amount.

I am going to write up a hard copy of this quilt's story to give to my daughter apart from the online evidence I have of the work I put into it. Apart from the idea of it having some provenance it is probably the most expensive item she owns and she needs to be aware of this just in case she has to convince someone of its value.

When it was nearly finished and we had some bad storms I put it all in a bag and put it near me so it would be safe from falling trees and easy to take with me. There was a lot of blood and sweat and cat fur in that quilt and I new it would take me a long time to get over losing it apart from the cost.

So, how much is a cat quilt worth?

$1325

How much is this cat quilt worth?

 

To me it is priceless. It is filled with lovely memories of the first bed quilt I have made and all the help I got from my cat Stumpy and the photo I have of the look on my daughter's face as she holds it up. She is a crafter and a cat lover so I know it has gone to a good home. I know that when I die there will be cupboards full of quilts I have made and couldn't part with.

Happy Quilting,

Val

 

Posted with Blogsy

Friends handbag and Mug bag

I bought the Lynette Anderson book It's Quilting Cats and Dogs. I love it. I made the little satchel handbag using images of my dog and cat. My dog was a Newfoundland with his distinctive forehead and big size. My cat has cute cheeks and a bobtail that doesn't show when he sits. They loved each other and I know Stumpy is a bit lonely now he has gone. You can see them on Stumpy's page.

You are welcome to download my dog and cat.

I also finished the mug bag I started a while back.

The cross stitch makes a pocket for a tea bag and I made a little coaster that fits in too.
The pattern is at Redbrolly. It is at the bottom of the really long post.
Happy Quilting,
Val

Posted with Blogsy

Bomaholic!

Has anyone else got this problem? I know there are quite a few ladies out there who can't resist all the BOMs around the web and now I am one of them.

Have you seen the owl bom from fatcatpatterns ? I missed the first block and had to make it up from the picture. That pointy border was a trick.

 

There is a cute sewing theme one I want to make and I found a lovely looking pieced one that I might just make things out of the blocks rather than a quilt. I am sure you saw Hello Sun last year well there is now Hello Moon. I want to make them both this year.

I made another apple.

I forgot to reverse the pattern so the swirl goes the other way.

The big news is that I finished the cat quilt and I am just making a bag for it.

It just happened that I made one cat too many so I saved it for the bag. I have some left over border for the top edge and some small squares that I will sew together to make the handles. It is sitting on the folded quilt so I could see if it would fit. I will take some photos of the quilt on a sunny day soon.

Stumpy was there for the final stitches :)

I have started collecting BOMs on Pinterest. Rather than fiddle with links in this post just click on my P button in the right side bar and find the bom board.

Hope everyone is getting some sewing done.

Happy Quilting,

Val

 

Posted with Blogsy