Pillows

Not so much a pillow picture, as it is a Scout ignoring me picture. 

Have you ever bought fabric for one project and ended up using it for another?  I bought this home decorating weight fabric intending to make pillows for my bed. But when I was digging through my fabric stash over the weekend, I thought new pillows would really brighten up my couch and loveseat.  I covered four rather tired looking pillows with my new pretty fabric.  I like the results and I'm now eyeing the remaining pillows.  Of course if I buy fabric for them, I'll end up using it for something else but it will be exciting to see that that will be too.

Fabricworm Project

I took a break from quilting today to get my hair cut and colored and to make a cowl/tube scarf from a tutorial available on Fabricworm.  It really was as easy as the tutorial claims to be and I might have to make another one in brighter colors.

Quilt madness

This is halfway done and looking good!

The turtles are done.

My turtle army is complete. Don't they look cute? Now all I have to do is piece all the blocks together and then quilt this puppy.

Turtles

One down, five to go.

Turtle appendages

Turtle appendages require the use of fusible interfacing. It is a
tedious process that causes cats to fall asleep.

Turtle shells

The turtle shells are done and all they need are stylish appendages.

Turtle shells

The fabric for the turtle shells has been cut. They are going to be green, gray, and a little gray-blue. I have to cut out the outlines for the turtles now, including their feet, heads and tails. Those will all be gray, but if I don't have enough fabric, some might be tan.

The end of the blocks

I tore apart the mostly blue block and repaired a mistake. The corrected version is above. Below that is another block, which I made six of. I am now done with putting the blocks of nine together and can start on my turtles. The first step is to cut 54 2.5 inch squares of various shades of green and gray for the turtle backs. That could take most of the day.

quilting action

Even though it is summer, I'm managing to get some work done on the quilt. I've made several of these blocks and have one more block combo to go before I can start on the turtles. The turtles are going to rock.

Ahoy matey!

Okay, it is nautical, but I won't get carried away. The small block to large block movement is taking shape. They aren't quite perfect and I can live with that (who am I kidding, I want them to be perfect). I have to make 10 of the top blocks and 2 of the bottom blocks. After that, it will be turtle time!

The triangle blocks are done.

The next step is to take 9 of these blocks and put them together to make one large block. This will use all the blocks I've been working on until now so it is very important that they all be 3.5 inches wide. We can only hope that is the case.

triangle purgatory part 2

I finished the 32 triangle blocks only to read that my next step it to repeat the process with the dark blue. I don't know how to type in a frustrated scream, but be assured that is the noise I made. The dark blue triangles are coming along well and the first step is pictured above. However, I have run out of thread and need to go to JoAnne Fabrics tomorrow. I could go right now, but I have decided to make a martini instead. It is important to have priorities.

triangle purgatory

I am in the middle of putting together many, many triangle-squares. The first step is to make 32 of these:

The next step is to take those blocks and sew them together and then cut them apart to make these:



Of course no project is complete without the "help" of Angry Bob:



....who isn't nearly as helpful as he thinks he is.

the end of the squares

I've just finished the last of the 4 square blocks. The next step is to make lots and lots of triangles.

more quilting

I'm still making blocks from the two inch squares I cut earlier. These are two piles of 14 blocks each. They may look exactly the same, but they are different. Okay, they are only different because they are attached on a different seam. I can't really imagine that it makes that much of a difference when I put it together, but I'm following instructions. Only one more pile of blocks to go and then it is on to a different step.

quilting time

This is a continuation of last night's project when I made 18 squares of this color combination. Compare it to the earlier version - the blues here are slightly darker than the other blues. Last night I sewed the squares together and I just finished pressing them tonight. I would have pressed them last night, but I failed to figure out how to properly test an iron to see if it is hot. By the way, if you are wondering, the way to test an iron to see if it is hot is not to touch it. Ask me how I know. I attempted to work through my second degree burn by soaking my finger in a glass of ice water while pressing squares with the other hand. I pressed a couple, but realized that this might be futile. I spent the rest of the evening watching NCIS reruns with my finger in a cup resting on an ice cube. The darned thing hurt through the night so when I went to bed I put two ice cubes in a ziploc bag, wrapped it and my finger up in a towel and that's how I slept. Sometimes it really does pay to live alone - the cats never question this sort of behavior.

A big shout out to Jenna - only a week to go!

quilting time

Tonight I made 44 of these blocks. Next I'll make 18 blocks of a slightly different pattern.

Alcoholic curtains

I finished my valances for the kitchen and put them up.  I really like how they turned out.  You will notice a bare light bulb hanging over them.  This is not because I live in a trailer park, but more of a tragic accident.  As I was putting up the curtains and standing on the counter, I managed to hit the glass globe in place over the bulb.  I hit it with my head.  The globe fell off, hit the counter, then the floor and shattered into approximately 1, 234, 734 pieces.  Of course, I was standing on the counter in socks and had to jump down on the floor.  By the way, the cat army was very helpful.  All three of them were sleeping, raised their heads when they heard the noise, judged that this did not cause a massive tuna release in the kitchen, and then lowered their heads and went back to sleep.  I've got everything cleaned up, but I'll need to head to Lowe's pretty soon to replace my lamp.  

In other sewing news, I've started the "evolution" quilt.  

Kitchen valances

Of course before I start the quilt, I have to make valances for the kitchen.  This is fabric I bought at Bayside quilting.  Wine bottles and wine glasses - just another sign of my growing need for alcohol.  The cats do not seem to approve because I cut out the fabric I needed and left it on the counter in the kitchen and someone (Scout) threw up on them in the night.  I'm so proud that she didn't try to get to the tile or the non-fabric covered part of the counter.  At any rate, I've rinsed them off and plan to proceed.  The cat army will not thwart my efforts to put up curtains.