Still Alive and Kicking

I've been absent from the blogosphere for about a month. I stopped sewing as I was trying to get some of my handmade leather journals done for a craft fair. Turned out to be a bit of a waste of time as I only sold one book!! Anyway, here is a picture of what I made.

This is the furbabies helping me with some cutting out. I've been quilting for a while but you never stop working out better ways to do things. I've been using a big folding table for my quilting. I can set it up and take it down quickly and lets me work in the room with the best light.

However, it's quite low. So when cutting it can get quite tiring. I had visitors last week and put my normal table away. Once they were gone and I wanted to do some cutting, I put up another folding table I have, this one is smaller, but it is height adjustable. I put it up to the maximum height, and boy what a difference!! Sooo much easier to cut and no more sore neck or shoulders. I will definately be using this one from now on. I am thinking of getting another one, to be set up at a lower height for sewing. It will be a better set up as it will take up less room, as I can slip one under the other but still have a cutting space and a sewing space.

This is the kitties helping me use my Westalee rulers. I've had them for ages but not used them. They've been great for cutting out so far. I like the idea of sewing the bias before cutting the triangles. These will be for donation quilts.

I just wanted to sew!! Lots of HST in progress and some green and yellow pinwheels for another donation quilt.

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Blue and White Twister Cat Quilt Finished

I made this using the large Twister template. I made it for my friends cat! Hey, I needed a quick win.
The first stage is to sew the various squares together. I went for simple light/dark alternating pattern. Then you line up the template and cut. Then they are realigned and sewn together in rows. It really is a very quick technique and easy for learners. Very forgiving.

 Because this was a cat quilt, I wanted to use some of my batting scraps rather than use "new" stuff. I have some quite wide offcuts from bigger projects, so I only needed to sew two pieces together. So I squared up the batting to get straight sides. Then just ran them through the machine using a zigzag. It sits very flat.

Once it's sewn I spray based it. Very quick way to do it.

Then once it was done I did a very simple straight line quilting using my walking foot, 1/4 inch on each side of the main seam and then across the squares created by that quilting.

And here is the finished product! It measures about 25" square (only a guesstimate, I forgot to measure!!)

And here it is ready to be given to the slave of said cat!

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Friday Finish - Repro Ninepatch Cat Quilt

I felt like I was creating problems by only having one cat quilt. So I pulled out my stash of 1930's repro ninepatch blocks. I have heaps of these, as I basically use these as my "have 5 spare mins" project. Always already cut up and just need to be sewn. They can be used for sew many things.

Finished 1930's Repro Ninepatch Cat Quilt

Annnyway, I whipped this up pretty quickly and decided to use it as a test run for some Free Motion Quilting. I literally have never done any of this. I practiced for about 5 mins and then gave it a go.I didn't really feel confident enough to do it totally free motion, so I marked a quite open meander on it. I think this actually made the regulation on the stitches worse. I was concentrating on the pattern of the stitching rather than the quality of it.

Below is the back of the quilt. There were only a couple of places where the stitching jumped. If it was anything other than a quilt for the cats, then I'd fix it.

This is the back of the quilt. I really love this pattern, but whenever I try to do it free hand (without marking the quilt) I always end of boxed into a corner or not getting an even coverage.

Here is the front before washing and binding.

Want to see what other people have done this week? Check out Link A Finish Friday over at Richard and Tanya Quilts.

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Very Hot Kitties

Very Hot, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

We've just had an absolute stinker of a day. The poor kitties were very hot. Sorry for the messy bed but they look soooo cute. Look at Cleopatra's curly tail!!

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Hattie Getting Comfy

Hattie Getting Comfy, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

I think she is getting used to the place!! She almost got right in the middle.

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Another Good Sleepy Spot

Another Good Sleepy Spot, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

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Detante

Detante, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

We've had about two weeks of decreasing stress. We are now able to hang out together without too much hissing and spitting.

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Hatshepsut - Still Gorgeous

Hatshepsut, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

She has found some favourite spots already.

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Hatshepsut - Comfy Much?

Hatshepsut, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

She's been here a few days now and is pretty much at home. Yes, there will be more cat photos than embroidery for a while.

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Motivated

Got up early this morning, and actually wanted to clean. The place is a mess but I've been a bit sick to clean it up. Got in and had most of it done by lunchtime. Also got all the washing done and put away. Vacumning done. Had a leisurely lunch and relaxing afternoon.

The day started with a bit of cat focused excitement. I was in the bathroom and I could hear the "Come rescue me" meow from Pharaoh. Quick look around the house, couldn't see him. Looked out at the cat cage, still couldn't see him. Noticed a flick of grey near the back door. Go to back door and open it. See cute, but scared face looking up at me. I opened the door and Pharaoh shot right in. When I checked outside, a pailing had come off the fence that backs onto the cage and he had obviously gone for a wander. Luckily, because they get taken for walks around the house on the lead and occassionally visit the houses on either side, he knew how to find the back door.

He stuck close by me the rest of the day, I think he freaked himself out a little bit. I'm glad it was him though and not Bubba. She'd have kept going until she freaked out and I may never have seen her again.

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Pharaoh Drinking

Pharaoh Drinking, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

He loves to drink running water. Normally, he uses his water fountain, but sometimes he still likes to play in the bath with the shower head.

Pharaoh - Cute Cat, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

This is my boy playing in the water. He doesn't like baths but he is a bit of a water baby. He is standing in the water coming out of the shower head.

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Happy Birthday to Me!!

Today is my birthday. I'm 37.

And I am pissed. Someone has been going into the backyard of my house and poking my cats with sticks. As the ad goes, "Not Happy, Jan!".

I came home last night and the boy was being particularly annoying. And then Bubba used the cat litter trays. She NEVER uses the litter trays, she always uses the outside area. Then I found a bit of stick just inside the cat door of the cage. So I went out and checked the backyard. I thought the rickety old shed where Bubba likes to hang out might have collapsed a bit and this was why she wasn't going out there. But when I checked, I found my rake sticking out of the main cage. Some one had picked it up and poked it handle end first into the cage. I am assuming they were trying to get the cats. That would explain why they have both been so jumpy lately. I am going to try and get off early tomorrow and see what happens. I will be getting the Police involved if I have to.

It also makes me a bit suspicious of my electricity going off the other day, maybe it wasn't a power surge.

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Cute Cats

Cute Cats, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

Weather prevented sewing night last night, so you get cute cats instead. They were very hot the afternoon this was taken. They are sleeping in the same position, it's soooo cute.

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Quiet Night

Very quiet night last night. Finished cutting out the pieces for the quilt and started sewing some of the bits together. I was very tired and couldn't be bothered doing anything else. Poor Pharaoh has a sore eye. A trip to the vet looms.

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