The Stimpy Quilt - Blocks 12-17

These blocks are the product of about three days of work.  It is surprising how much work can get done when you are trapped in your home during cold and icy weather.  I also managed to cook a turkey, freeze a sizeable portion of it and make some broth. The house smells like turkey now and the carcass has been relegated to the compost bin where it can do no more harm.  I plan on making turkey lentil soup this week as well as saving some of the broth and turkey for the chili cook-off at work next week (I think it's next week, if not I will have turkey chili for myself.)  Speaking of work, I've been away from the building for nearly a week and that all ends tomorrow.  I am optimistic that the plants have made it this far without me but I am sure they will be happy to see me in the morning.

Snowpocalypse!

There was not a lot of happiness in the cat army today.  

Sam decides his next move.  At no point did I tell him that he had to go outside.  

All the action (ice) was on the ground for this one.  

Visitors who aren't cats make it here too.  

I hope this melts tomorrow.  

I worked from home today so I could avoid the sheets of ice on the road.  It really is about as icy as I've ever seen it out here - during my walk today I nearly did the splits while crossing the road.  Luckily no one was around or the sound of my scream drowned out the laughter.  At any rate, I'm going to make a break for it tomorrow afternoon.  Temperatures should get above freezing then and it would be nice to leave the bunker for a little bit.

The Stimpy Quilt - Blocks 8-11

These blocks are from two days of work - most of which was done today because it was so very cold out and snowing here.  While the cat army was not impressed, I thought the snow falling through the pine trees was beautiful.  And, yes, I know that my commute tomorrow morning is likely to be an icy mess from hell. I am not looking forward to that.

Friday Night Sew-In - November Edition. The results.

Block #6

Block #7

Friday Night Sew-In is over for another month.   I only finished two blocks this time, but it was a lot of fun to get that done and know that other people were working on their projects as well.  I'm off to post my results on the FNSI flickr page.

The Stimpy Quilt - Blocks 1 - 5

My first block - that center square is 1.5 inches. 

I do love a good four square block.  

The center block is made up of 2 and 3/16 inch squares.

This shadow of a cat is a reminder that the final product will have to be laundered before used by the family member with cat allergies.  

Woot!

I took my final furlough day today and am done with those until the end of the fiscal year.  Since it was (and still is) raining out, I thought a day of quilting would be in order.  I finished up five blocks of this puppy and am getting the hang of it.  Note to my brother:  Some of these squares call for half square triangles of impossible to measure lengths (2 and 3/16 inches).  It may be slightly difficult to get them all to match up and look pretty with the borders.  Take out your contacts before viewing this quilt and you should be happy.

The Stimpy Quilt

The pattern I'm basing the Stimpy Quilt on.  

Fabulous fabrics!

I've got the binding cut for my Halloween quilt and the backing and the front of it put away ready to be quilted on the long-arm tomorrow.  The batting is from a bag and is airing out on the guest bed to restore its springy-ness before quilting tomorrow.  In the meantime, I've decided to put together the ingredients for my next quilt.  The pattern is called Dad's Plaids and is from the May/June 2010 issue of McCall's Quilting.  Because I am making it for my brother and because I'm not using plaids, I am renaming it for my purposes.  This will be the Stimpy Quilt.  If you are a member of my family, you will understand.  If you are not a member of my family, you should join - we have cookies.

Halloween Mixtape quilt - the back

Halloween Mixtape quilt back

Halloween isn't over until I say it is over.  I finally finished the back for the Mixtape quilt which I made more difficult after deciding that I did not want any Halloween print fabrics left over for my stash.  I just  don't see myself doing another Halloween quilt next year.  (Be sure to remind me I said that when I do another Halloween quilt next year.)  I decided to piece the back with the remainder of the print fabrics and made five sets of those pieces.  Then I placed the leftover orange Gee's Bend fabric at the top and bottom of the sets. It is very close to the size of the top - there won't be a large margin of error when I quilt this, but the thrifty part of me is glad I didn't buy extra for this step and that I used up my supplies.

I'm off to drive back into town to pick up my Thanksgiving turkey.  I'm buying it through Olympia Local Foods which, as you can tell by the name, sells locally grown/produced foods.  The turkey is organic and I'm told spent his/her days eating grasshoppers and seeking turkey self-actualization.  And, no, I don't think it is odd at all that I'm driving to a warehouse in the dark of night to pick up a bird that has been "processed" this morning.

Friday night sew-in - November Edition.

This is a tasty meal - not a beer.

Friday night sew-in is coming November 19th.  You know the drill, sew on Friday night and show off what you've done the next day on the FNSI flickr page.  Sign up and sew/quilt/knit to your heart's content.  I'm going to work on a quilt for my brother and I'm very much looking forward to a whole night of sewing and playing.

Dear readers will know that I usually announce FNSI with a picture of a lovely bottle of beer.  But, since beer is off the menu due to my recent bout with heartburn, I thought a lovely Belgian waffle will be a good substitute.  I know it really isn't a good substitute but there you have it.  I also got this post up because I am currently trapped underneath a cat who has curled up on my lap and won't leave - I'm looking for things to do.  She just spent the last 8 hours sleeping on me, but apparently that isn't good enough.

See?  This is what I'm talking about. 

I was also supposed to do a variety of things today - volunteer, hike, buy cat food for the cat army, get up at a decent hour. It's too wet to go hiking - I did wet hiking yesterday.  So my plan is to get the cat army food.  Looking at the above picture, you can guess how good that is going.

Staircase

I went to Staircase yesterday for a brief hike in the drizzle.  The foggy woods and the fact that we were the only car in the parking lot made for a slightly spooky hike.  You know, this is how horror movies start. But, the woods were beautiful in the fog and haze and the leaves still have some color to them - even on the ground.