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

Sunday into Monday Show and Tell

Someone was doing a string bag which reminded me that I wanted to do one too. (Edit - Of course, it was Creative Kate) I had a pattern in the knitting desk calendar that DD1 bought me for Christmas and some cotton blended with acrylic to knit it out of. I am making it fairly small but it is very stretchy.

I just had to make the Lazy Lemon Pie from Bev's blog . I made a half quantity and put it into single serves. I put things in the jug in no particular order since you just mix it all together. I popped out and picked a couple of lemons then juiced them in the electric juicer on the other counter. I put the filled dishes in the oven and turned around to see the lemon juice sitting in the juicer. I pulled out the dishes and divied up the juice and stirred each dish with a spoon.
Can't believe I nearly had Lazy Pie :D
(Edit - They taste and feel delicious. Good job DH doesn't like them much :)

I wanted to make a little album of my Morpeth trip so I made a crazy block cover for it. I used Keynote to make slides and printed them off 2 to a page and cut them in half to make my album pages. I called it a mission because on the day if I thought of it as a mission I didn't feel so nervous about the trip. I tend to stress out whenever I do something new. I had never done a plane day trip before and was worried about getting back to the airport on time. I had never hired a car before or driven in and out of an airport before so I was stressed about that too. I found that if I pretended to be on a mission like Mrs Pollifax - If she can do it, I can do it - I felt adventurous rather than nervous. I know Mrs Pollifax isn't a real person but what the heck, it seemed to work :)

I used my teapot fabric for the inside

Not quite finished

I haven't quite finished the album. I will punch two holes in the pages and use a needle to thread a ribbon in the covers to tie it together.

Today I thought I might just go through every blog I follow and leave a comment. I follow quite a few more than I have included in my side bar so I thought it might be nice to visit them all and remember why I followed them in the first place or maybe even strike them off the list.
I will be linking up with Monday Show and Tell on Sandy's blog tomorrow.

Happy Quilting,
Val

Crazy Quilting Friday

I have three blocks to show today. The first one is made from strips I had left over from my Christmas quilt and I just placed them on the diagonal.

The second one is also Christmas fabrics but I bought these in a scraps bag. I love all these traditional style fabrics with gold highlights rather than the Moda style brights and cartoons.

It is actually square!

My third one is also from a scraps bag. Some of the pieces are excess partially made blocks. The two triangles in the middle were already sewn together.

I have a good collection of scraps from my own projects now so I am going to start using them to make some blocks. I don't know whether I am patient enough to wait till I have enough blocks to make a quilt. I might start making some place mats or pot holders just to have some fun sewing.

This week coming I am determined to finish my overcoat. I am thinking positive thoughts about flying to Adelaide in three weeks time. I want clear skies!

It is fun to find out that many quilters are also tea enthusiasts. I am going to try some Rooibos tea now. Especially after reading all the health benefits it has. The site I found expounding its virtues also sells it but I figure some of the blurb is likely to be true.
http://www.teabenefits.com/rooibos-tea-benefits.html

I am also going to buy some Turkish Apple tea. The Tea Centre shop I frequent stocks this. You can also make your own. Here is some info from the tea benefits site on apple tea:
http://www.teabenefits.com/flavored-tea-benefits/apple-tea-benefits.html

It says it is popular in Turkey and even sold in carpet shops :).

I love being part of Crazy Quilting Friday
You can see who is making blocks over at Quilting Fiesta.

Happy Quilting,
Val

Monday's Show and Tell

I have a winner! Vanessa R of Whirling Butterfly. Congratulations Vanessa.

I also have two more lovely followers that brings me up to 50.

I have been playing with my scraps and have made three crazy blocks. I like the crazy block concept. It is quite therapeutic to sort and iron the scraps. I made three different coloured piles from a bag of scraps that I bought - pink, brown and green. Then I made some 7 inch squares of wadding by zig zagging the edges together of my wadding scraps. I sorted the pink pile into small, medium and large pieces and started sewing. By the second block I was starting to get the hang of how the pieces should go together. It takes quite a lot of thought and concentration.

I came into my sun room to use the laptop and found my trusty friend on the princess cushion. Usually Kitty is on the cushion looking like a princess.

Yesterday Blacky was on my breakfast chair so I pulled up a chair for her and moved her over. She still had some lovely sun.

Sandy at Cookies and Cream hosts Monday's Show and Tell. You can join in with Mr Linky.

Happy Quilting,
Val