Done!

After three loooong weeks, and amid many interruptions and distractions (Olympics, much?) I can proudly announce that my quilt studio is now clean and ready for me to sew.  Whew!  That was tough to get through.

The worst/best part, besides just slogging through it all, was all the discoveries of unfinished projects both recent and ancient.  Very distracting for me, because I want to finish them all NOW.   The photo above is the only (very ancient) project I let myself finish when I found it.  And I got it done in time for Valentine's Day.  Yay me. It only needed a bit of sewing on the side seam to close where I turned it right side out.  Oh, and then I decided that I really hated the tan hearts.  Why did I use tan??  I hate detest tan.  So the buttons seem to help.  It only took me one hour to pick out just the right buttons.  *groan*  See why I let myself only finish one older project?  But, done is done and that is a Good Thing.

So, in the area of distractions, I spent a little time in the pottery studio with The Potter.  I made some little trays for myself.  I like to use leaves on my pottery, but since it's the middle of winter there aren't many leaves available.  So, cedar tree to the rescue!  I'm really pleased with my cedar plate.  It's just the right size for some apple slices, or cheese and crackers, or whatever.

The Potter has a new square mold that I wanted to try.  It's just so little and cute!  So, I did find some violet leaves in the yard, although it was tough to find some that hadn't been chewed half-to-death by slugs.  The leaf impressions have been stained with green but there is no glaze on them.  I really like the look of the bare clay, and it is totally food-safe as it is high-fired.  I like to run my fingers over the clay to feel the impressions.  And this is my fave blue glaze.  It was fun to play in the pottery studio for a little bit, but I'd really rather be playing with fabric.

I went to a quilt show last weekend and as soon as I have some time to process those pix, I will do a blog post with quilt-y pictures.  I know you're all waiting with bated breath!

Now, off to the quilt studio!  There's fabric to be played with!

A Day Late. . .

. . for the Finished By Friday post. Oh well. Life gets in the way some days. *sigh* Anyway, here is what I finished between last Friday and yesterday. Another 4 boxes of fabric unloaded, folded and shelved. Those shelves are starting to fill up! I keep shifting the stacks so that the color I'm working on is near at hand. When I'm all done, I'll arrange them in a more coordinated way. And there's starting to be some room in the Quilt Studio. I think I'm down to the last box of "regular" fabric (as opposed to flannel, fleece, etc). I'm about ready to start rearranging the rest of the room, now that there is more room. It's getting challenging to take the pictures because there's so much stuff in the way on the other side of the room. But soon it will be more open. Yay!!

This is another little stitchery done by my sister (Hi Sal!). I have this one displayed during Spring and Summer. I love the border fabric on this one.

Last night DH and I went with K to a pottery show and sale in The Very Big City. It was lots of fun and very inspiring to see all the wonderful pottery. Three pieces actually came home with us. This is very common among potters - we're each other's best customers! Sad but true. Doesn't matter how much pottery you have at home, sometimes some more has to come home with you. Yes, it's just as bad as fabric. Just heavier! Hee hee!

I was excited to see all the hand-built pottery there (as opposed to wheel-thrown), since I do hand-built too. I could have brought lots more home with me, but it would have been big $$. But this little cup had to come. I love the color (BLUE!) and I love the textures and patterns on it. Very charming and whimsical. And it's comfortable in the hand, so quite useable.

And the artist even put something on the bottom! Very cute!

Well, I'm off to finish that last box of fabric!

The Cat's Meow

Today I'm going to show off my little quilts that feature cats. I apologize in advance for the poor lighting quality of my photos. I broke the flash on the camera (short story: it fell down the stairs and landed on the stone entry area- ouch!), and that's making it quite challenging to get a good photo.

"You're The Cat's Meow" is a small wallhanging that my sister (Hi Sal!) made for me a few years ago. She was making a bunch of little embroideries for a church bazaar, I believe, and did this one for me. Her own design, of course! I'm thrilled with it and that she would do that for me!

Next up is "Kitty Friends". I did this a few years ago from a purchased pattern. I just loved the little kitties. I'm not super pleased with the fusible I used for the applique, as it's kinda stiff and distorts the quilt. (Another lesson learned. *sigh*) Now I do the technique of cutting out the middle of the fusible and leaving 1/4 inch around the edge, which I learned from Fons & Porter's magazine.

Here's a close-up of the black kitty, since he's hard to see. His markings are the black-on-black like Dunkel's. (We didn't have Dunkel when I made the quilt.)

The last quilt is a pattern called "Alley Cats". I thought it was just so whimsical, and a great way to use some of my large stash of plaid fabrics.

I used a softer fusible on this one, and then did the blanket stitch by hand. This was supposed to be wonky, uneven and primitive-looking. I had to rip out my stitches quite a few times because they were too even. It still looks too good to be truly "primitive".

I worked on the stitchery when I was helping my mom while she recovered from surgery. I really enjoyed doing this one, although embroidery isn't really my cup of tea. And I love the mis-matched eyes on these guys. Gives them more personality, I think. It was fun to pick out which buttons to use to give them a "look".

Here's a couple of close-ups of my favorite cats. You could check out my stitches, if you really wanted to! Then you would know why I say embroidery isn't my forte. *smile*

Help!! Why is Blogger so hard to format? I spend more time "tweaking" the spacing, paragraphs, pictures, etc. than anything else. Is there something I don't know?? If anyone has any tips, I'd love to hear from you. Comment or email me, please!