Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Here I Go Again

I'm not sure if the title refers to the fact that I'm starting another challenge quilt, or that I've been heavily into procrastination!

On a bright note, today is the first time we've made it to 75*F this year! It's been something like 270 days since we made that mark. Whew! What a looooong spring. It's wonderful to have some sunshine and warm temps! Yay! And I think most of my seeds I planted haven't drowned and are starting to sprout! I may yet have some flowers this year.

I'm supposed to be starting the color challenge for my local quilt guild, but I was definitely in stall mode. I went into the quilt studio and was supposed to be clearing the decks for the next quilt. Instead, I got distracted with the scraps from Snuggle. They were just too pretty to be tossed, and really too small to put away. So I just starting sewing scraps together, and came up with the above quilt top. It's 19" wide by 21" high. And all scraps. The batik border is what I used for the back of Snuggle. I feel better now. . . .got this out of my system!

I really like how the dark pieces kind of fade into the background, which was an unexpected effect. And yes, the border is kind of crooked, and I like that too. I've used up all the scraps, except for some teeny-tiny pieces. Which I'm saving. I just love that Cherrywood fabric!

I finally got the quilt studio all cleaned up. I even dusted! The cleaning was necessary, as I had piles of books and magazines and stacks of fabric all at critical mass. And it was really hard to tell what color the carpet was, what with all the threads and stuff. It was becoming dangerous in there! So, it's all put away and vacuumed and spiffed up now. It must be time to make a mess again!

So, I got in the studio last night and started making more letters for my color challenge. I made good progress! This is not what the quilt will be saying. . . I was just playing! The background is a dark red-purple, which you can't tell from the photo. I have more to go.

In the midst of my procrastinating last week, I decided to try a lasagne-style quilt with some of my 2 1/2" strips. My drawer of them was over-flowing, and I've been wanting to do this. I also need to make more charity quilts.

I managed to come up with just about the ugliest thing I've ever made. I wouldn't even show it to you, except my DD pressured me to! I'm really embarrassed at how ugly this is. In fact, it's so ugly, it's going in the trash. I don't think anyone, except maybe a really visually-impaired person, would enjoy this. And I can't bear to work on it! Ugh. I also decided to cull my strips drawer of all the ugly fabric. Ugly fabrics = ugly quilt. So, I have a large pile of strips to give to the charity quilts committee, and more space in my drawer. I'll try another lasagne quilt another time.

After I took the photo of the ugly quilt-ish thing, I left it on the floor. As expected, it attracted the local wildlife. Above, you see what I found after a little while. What you can't hear is the awful growling coming from the cat burrito. Dunkel was way too close!

Yes, it's Shade in there. He really didn't want to be seen.


I finally got him to look at me. Sorry for the blurry photo!



Dunkel is begging for Shade to please, play with him. Isn't he silly? If you look closely, you can see that Shade's tail tip is sticking out of the burrito. It was too much for Dunkel to resist, in spite of the growling.


It wasn't too many minutes after I took this photo that Shade got up and walked away, trailing the quilt-ish top behind him. After that, neither cat wanted it any more. It's still in the floor, but someone has wadded it up into a ball that will be convenient to pick up and put in the trash!

Oh, by the way, Cats on Quilts website is looking for photos of cats (or any pets) on/with quilts or even quilt pieces. Both Dunkel and Shade have had their internets Moment of Glory. Just click on the icon on my right-hand side bar. You can see my babies, and learn how to have your pet have their internets Moment of Glory!

Time to go work on that challenge quilt!

15 comments:

  1. I just have to tell you that I've always heard that ugly strips make the most beautiful Kaleidoscope quilts. I tested it myself, and you've seen how lovely my quilt is! Don't toss those uglies!

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  2. Hi,
    I love this post ... what great photos, it makes me think of when we had our two! I remember one of them getting stuck in a ski bag ~ like a sausage and then couldn't back out. After I stopped laughing I helped him!
    I do love the letters you are woking on and the thought of a colour challenge is always wonderful. You know, the quilt top is not so bad either ~ to me things always look worse in an unfinished state.

    Best wishes,
    Barbara

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  3. The first scrap quilt is beautiful. Funny how we quilters are so easily distracted and have to finish a whole new project before we get to what we really went to work on. The cats sure look helpful.

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  4. Love the pictures of your local wildlife! Shade so reminds me of my Venus, they share the love of hiding in and under quilts...
    The top using up scraps from the Amish challenge is lovely. Working with a smaller quilt like that is a nice bonus, just playing with already coordinated and cut pieces...

    ; )

    I am looking into my "ugly" fabrics too, trying to find a way to reclaim the storage space their holding up. Some of them are quite strange color-combinations, some are just not having enough similar fabrics to play with. To use or not to use - that's the question!

    ; )

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  5. It was lovely today wasn't it? I love your challenge progress!
    Cheers,
    Dionne

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  6. I love the look of the quilt at the top, so liberated and creative. The dark background is perfect for highlighting the other fabrics. Enjoy your cool, we are going to be up to 100 today!!

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  7. I LOVE that new quilt top, wonky is my middle name and all I can do, so I'm happy when someone else does it too - except everyone else's is on purpose - love the colors in it. Your letters are too cool! And that's a hoot about the 'ugly' quilt, love the pics especially the one of Dunkel upside down.

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  8. If you DO decide to toss your uglies, I would love to have them -- I'm making a string quilt for a child who loves uglies! Let me know what I could send you in exchange -- I have a drawer full of Moda Marbles I'm not using, or plaids or 30's repros. I can't seem to email you directly so if you're interested, please email me at ladynredd2003@yahoo.com.

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  9. Oh Girl....looks like you are on a roll....clean sewing space...don't stop now...keep going and going and going on those projects!!! Yeh...listen to me crackin' the whip when my silly butt is just sitting here...LOLOL
    I am soooo laughing at your silly kitties....and I don't think your 'ugly' is so ugly!!

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  10. I love the blue quilt! It's indigo for sure!

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  11. Your lasagna quilt could be a great back for a quilt. I like it. If you are intent on throwing it into the trash, please don't do it. Send it to me. I would love it and cherish it, and I won't tell anyone that YOU made it! Cute cat pix.

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  12. trash??? trash??? I was looking at it thinking how FUN it is. send it to Pam or else use it as a backing or take this opportunity to play with it and resew it. Slice it up and rearrange, add some solids in... seriously. love your letters - woohoo, look at you sew!

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  13. Love the mini you made from your scraps. It's fun to make something small from the left overs. Then if you gift/sell the quilt you will always have the mini reminder. The only way to diminish the ugliness of fabric is to cut it small, really small. Log cabins that finish at 1" are good places to use ugly...

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  14. Your wonky-out-of-scraps turned out great! And please take someone up on their offer to take that ugly flimsy off your hands - don't add it to the landfill!

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  15. I am one of the few who agrees with you.. I'm just not fond of lasagne quilts in general, and I probably would have thrown that piece out, too. But Shade looked adorable wrapped up in it. And I see that Tonya has some idea that would have saved Lasagne. Oh, well. When one is not inspired, don't waste time, is my motto. Toss it and go on to the next, more appealing, project.

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