A Tale of Two Kitties

This post could also be entitled

"He Always Gets What He Wants"....

Bozzy rules the roost at our house

he's the Big Kahuna

it's been that way from the beginning... likely because he was such a pathetic little mess when we adopted him - ears frozen and ready to fall off, ditto for the end of his tail

wheezing and grunting from frozen lungs

he's been molly-coddled back to health and then some...

he and Mistress Josy-phine have a special relationship

he always gets what he wants

she can have a little hissy fit if she likes

Bozzy has learned Josie always finds the best spots for perching

and watching the world go by

so he knows that when she's conspicuously absent, it must be because she is in a better place

case in point...

surveying the situation

mapping the route: north face, no ropes

 

punted

 and... done!

He'll sit there for a while, checking things out, until he's sure everyone who's anyone knows that he's The Boss and then he'll saunter off, in search of a person...

that's the natural order of things

I've gone back to the natural order of things too...

when I first started quilting I made doll quilts

little quilts in different patterns, learning about colour and cloth and pattern and design

some hand-pieced and hand quilted, others by machine

all teaching me something

I saved all the snippets and scraps in baggies, one for each one that I made and they are still that way, tucked away safely in a box and in my mind

Laura was little then and always going to birthday parties

 the doll quilts were perfect little birthday presents - they were chameleons; a doll quilt if appropriate, a place mat if not

Laura always chose which one to give

this week I made another one 

machine pieced, but I'm hand quilting it

silk batting

a dream to needle - I'll never use anything else for hand-quilting again

 and my brand new bunny scissors from The Raspberry Rabbits

Shell said in a recent post she contributes $ from purchases to a shelter for bunnies so I ordered these 

and are they a dream!

cute and sharp, made in Europe and beautifully pointy

I love lovely tools

Bright Idea, Poorly Executed!

I had a really good idea at a Demo last year. I can't remember what the Demo itself was about, but I was talking about using fusible interfacing to stabilize fabrics that were too drapey for traditional pieceing. ("Drapey" is not likely the proper adjective but I like it and I suspect you will know exactly what I mean!)

I remember thinking "Why couldn't you do the same thing if there was a fabric you wanted for a border but you wanted to cut it on the bias?" We quilters all know what would happen if we cut a bias border (not binding, border) and sewed to our quilt tops! But why not fuse a very lightweight interfacing to the back of the fabric prior to cutting the bias strips? As long as the borders aren't too long that should make them stable enough?

I found the perfect fabric to test my theory - a beautiful festive plaid by Nancy Halvorsen of Art to Heart which I liked best on the bias. In addition to my half metre of fabric I purchased a half metre of lightweight fusible interfacing.

I decided to begin with a small project - a Christmas ornament to be precise. I needed one more sample for an upcoming ornament class and this fabric was inspiring me in all sorts of directions. I fused the interfacing to the fabric, determined how wide the borders should be and made a few cuts. It was easy to cut through but when I lifted the first strip it started to curl slightly on the sides, as all bias-cut strips do. Uh-oh!

I gently tugged on each end and there was as much give with the interfacing as there was without. Then it hit me. Like a rock. I had used a woven interfacing and should have used one that wasn't. I had some so I fused it to a different piece of fabric, cut a strip and was pleased to see my theory was correct - the right interfacing made all the difference.

And here is the result:

My closeups still need a lot of work but you get the idea, especiall if you click on the photo and look at the enlarged version.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with my half meter that is fused to the wrong interfacing!

Let The Fun Begin!

My Fall Session of classes is the busiest I have ever had! Good thing I don't have a full time job... seriously though, I think it will be great fun and I am most looking forward to the Christmas Cupboard series of classes. In case you don't know about it yet I have come up with a plan for both decorating your house and having gifts to share! We're starting in the Living Room in October and from there to the Dining Room in November. December is all about ornaments and gift bags and tags - great last minute gifts and wonderful ways to present them!

Each class has several projects you will work on plus a bonus project where you will get the instructions but won't actually work on it in class time. And of course, each has a tasty treat to nibble on while you work! You'll not only get the recipe, but since we have teamed up with Culinary Inspirations next door, you will also get a discount card to save on the featured ingredient if you wish to purchase it from them. So, let the fun begin!

And just to tantalize you a little, below is the bonus project for the Gift Wrap Class - it's a door hanger to keep all away while Santa's Elves are busy in the workshop!

Come and join us,

I promise it will be more fun than you can imagine!

The Perfect Fabric

Today at work I was on a quest for the perfect fabric - for myself of course! After I made the new version of the star block into a table runner I decided I needed to make a blue version as well. The design lends itself to the idea of snowflakes and so replacing the red parts with blue ones seemed like a splendid idea. That is, until I realized I did not have enough of the background fabric for one more runner. (Actually, I don't have enough left for one more anything!).

It is a Fairy Frost fabric (has a nice ring to it doesn't it?) and has just the right amount of soft grey smudges on a pearlescent ivoryish white to make it the perfect background fabric for those two new Christmas fabrics by In The Beginning that I just love. No problem I thought - I'll get more on Thursday when I work in the shop. No problem alright - the bolt was gone!

There is nothing quite like searching for a specific fabric in a quilt shop - as soon as someoneone asks what you are looking for, everyone within earshot joins in the hunt. We trudged upstairs to the office, and down to the work room, tore into the piles under the counter,rifled the fat quarters, and sifted through the remnants, all to no avail. It was gone, long gone. A heavy sigh and shoulder shrug later and I moved on as all quilters do -" if not that fabric, then what?" And the search for what I knew to be perfect became the hunt for what might be.

Like actors vying for a part in a play there were a few auditions - "Too grey, too dull, too yellow, too dark" and after a while you start feeling like Goldilocks - until, the right one comes forward. What starts as the smoothing of wrinkles becomes the ritual of petting and a new star is born; a quilter has just found the new perfect fabric and the possibilities are endless.

New Skills

Today I am learning a new skill - how to post a picture on here - the only trouble is I don't have a digital camera as yet and so this is the only picture of one of my original designs that I have on my computer (sent to me via email courtesy of my good friend Val!). So, although this is not the season for this design of mine, I do think the blog needs colour - and now I am excited about this so I believe I am going camera shopping soon. Then I will be able post "teaser shots" of upcoming Demo ideas....