Caturday Wisdom #122

Possession is nine tenths of the law. Ralph

I probably wouldn't take legal advice from Ralph but they do have a way of taking possession of your things that is impressive/annoying. Ralph and Ivy both take after Phoebe from Friends where if you try to remove them from somewhere they become incredibly heavy and limp. Luckily they are quite a lot smaller than Phoebe.

I'm also including a bonus picture this week. It's been very cold lately, look at what Ralph resorted to. Look at this little weirdo. This kills me, enjoy.



Caturday Wisdom #121

It doesn't matter where you take your bath, it matters that you take one. Wilson and Elvis

 

I hope Wilson (left) and Elvis (right) have chosen an empty pot to have this cuddle in. Thanks to Kat from Kat and Cat Quilts for this, I'm very jealous of the growing happening in this picture!

Happy weekend!

Caturday Wisdom #120

Surround yourself with love - natural or manmade. Ralph

 

Ralph's not fussy, as long as it's fuzzy and warm he's into it. In this picture he is sandwiched between the minky underside of this quilt and my woollen jumper. He is also resting his head on my hand for maximum inconvenience, but just look at that satisfaction!

 

 

Lunar Glow - the start of a new quilt

So I'm having a bit of an obsession right now with drunkard's path blocks.  The big ones are so easy, especially if you cut them with a die cutting machine, and they look so effective.  It's a pretty satisfying combination.

 

I cut a bundle of Amy Butler's Glow collection into drunkard's path pieces a few weeks ago, and since then I've been itching to start sewing them up.  A couple of weekends ago I was unable to resist the temptation and started making blocks.

 

I wanted to keep this quilt simple (since the fabric is super busy) and just use two fabrics for each block.  I love how it's coming out so far.

 

I ended up making nine out of the total twenty blocks I'll need for this quilt, which was pretty good going for about three hours sewing time.  My favourite at the moment is the block with the very dark outside and the pink in the middle - such great movement in the prints.

I have a fun idea about how I want to quilt this quilt - now to make the rest of the blocks and see whether I can pull off the quilting I'm considering.

I'll be linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced:

At the Beach Pillow

It's always exciting to see what you're going to receive as part of the X-Factor Swap.  A parcel arrived for me at the end of last week and I was delighted to open it and find this pillow inside.

 

It was made by fellow kiwi quilting blogger Deb (from Deb's Doodlings) and it's so bright and gorgeous and beautifully made.  Deb used loads of my favourite fabrics in this cushion and the colours are so vibrant. 

 

Deb called this pillow "At the Beach" and I think it's just the perfect name.  The quilting really looks like ripples on water - perfect for the theme.

This cushion is now sitting in my lounge and I'm loving the splash of colour as the weather starts to turn cool and grey here.  Thanks Deb!

Caturday Wisdom #119

Getting caught in the rain is not everything that piña colada song made it out to be. Mojo

The weather has been a bit wild this week, as Mojo experienced. Apparently he was pretty relaxed about being wet but maybe less happy having his photo taken while looking so bedraggled. He's usually looking much more regal - unlike Ralph who is sitting next to me right now wrapped in a tea towel because it's the only thing that would stop him trying to get INSIDE my clothes.

#year30quilt - update at 225 blocks

I'm well past the halfway point of my year 30 quilt project now, where I'm making a block every day for my 30th year.  

It's always interesting to see how the quilt has evolved from the last time I laid the blocks out together.  I'm still really enjoying this project and honestly it hasn't been that hard to keep up with making a block every day - at this stage it's a bit like brushing my teeth before I go to bed!

If you're interested in this project, you can read my previous posts here:

- Creativity

- Update at 18 blocks

- Update at 44 blocks
- Update at 73 blocks
- Update at 121 blocks
- Update at 169 blocks

Caturday Wisdom #118

 There's no place like this box. Ivy

 

Ivy went on an adventure on Thursday.

Her and Ralph are indoor cats, we live on the corner of two very busy roads (and, not to say they're idiots but Ralph ran into a wall the other day) so they are allowed outside with supervision. They're pretty timid when they do go outside and tend to stick by the house and just roll on the ground and chase bugs. Long story short she was let out and went to explore the neighbourhood leading to much worry and walking around the neighbourhood for us. She eventually turned up outside at 11:30pm, sassy as you like.

Ivy, you owe me at least 10 days on a beach somewhere for that.

Blood Moon Pillow

I have participated in the last couple of rounds of the X-Factor Pillow Swap - the premise of this swap is that each round, you make a cushion based around a theme, and send a photo to the group admin, who posts it to the group (so you don't know who made which cushion). After the deadline for entries has passed, everyone ranks the entries in order of preference, and the person whose cushion got the most votes gets their first choice, the person whose cushion got the second most votes gets their first choice (if it's still available), and so on.

The theme for the most recent round was drunkard's path, and this is the pillow I made.

 

It's a pretty literal interpretation of the theme, but sometimes I think simple is better.  I cut the drunkard's path blocks using my friend Anne's Accuquilt machine and a die I bought, and used a selection of Umbrella Prints fabrics, solids and Essex linen.

 

With fairly simple piecing, I thought I should add a little bit of interest with the quilting.  I stitched in the ditch in grey thread to stabilise the piece, then hand quilted about 1/4" of an inch inside each circle. I used a variegated 12 weight thread from Wonderfil - it's one of my favourites at the moment.

 

I nearly stopped quilting there, but then I thought it would be fun to add some little quilted crosses a la Jen Kingwell (you can watch how she does this quilting here).  I'm really happy with how they turned out and I'd definitely put them on a quilt again.

 

This pillow is finished using the method set out in my covered zipper cushion back tutorial, using a slightly heavier weight fabric my dad bought in Japan. 

This pillow is heading off to its new home very shortly, and then I will wait with bated breath to see which pillow lands on my doorstep.