Tuesday, June 9, 2015

84!

Huh? You are probably thinking.  84... uh, pieces you've cut for the next quilt!  wait... the number of FMQ designs you have tried? no... if you think like my sister, Linda, you'll be dying to say, "years old?!" bahaha.  Wrong on all. (hmm, maybe not on the FMQ designs, ha)

Two things.

84 km I walked in the month of May.  That's 52.2 miles!  (I have a great app, May My Walk, that I use for walking, and my husband uses it for biking.  Free.)  That is a few kilometres short, because I did not record a couple of walks, like when my mum was here visiting.  I'm pretty impressed that I regularly walk 20 km or more per week with Rocco.

I think, but I'm not sure, that this is a black walnut tree, massive in any case!

84 followers on Bloglovin'.  Um, wow.  There has been a big jump lately due to the New Quilt Bloggers group I'm in, (see the sidebar button) as we follow each other, critique each other, learn, and improve our blogs.  You might start to see some changes as a result of being in this group! (It's taken another little jump since I started writing this post on the weekend!)

What am I working on right now?

Two things. (Okay, three if you count the handquilting I am plugging away at a bit each day, on that Christmas runner which is on my list for the Q2 FAL at On the Windy Side)

One is the next quilt pattern of Cheryl's I'm testing.  I couldn't decide which one, so I said, meh, I can do both...probably.  Out the window with my Q2 FAL list for Adrianne at On the Windy Side...

Here is the progress so far on Sea Star.  Fabric:

A 16-pack of pink fat quarters from Art Gallery fabric bought from Fat Quarter Shop this winter
This, however, is more like, OMG I-So-Love-Pink Star!  And well, I do!  Which takes me back to 1984-ish, and the dusky pink I had in our living room for the ensuing several years and through two houses...but we won't go there. Where we will go is my niece.  This quilt is going to her.

Progress on sewing the multitude of HSTs:
not a lot; it's been a run of rather non-sewing days, more yoga than sewing, which I'm okay with; more computer than sewing, which I'm not okay with

The other current project on the design wall is this blue quilt. This is on my list for Q2 FAL.  I had a brainwave to try my Stars quilt I designed and made for H2H with the blues!  Brilliant, n'est-ce pas?  I had planned on doing a different star quilt in one of Pam and Nicky Lintott's books, but then I came up with this plan with a few small changes.  First change is the blocks are 16" finished!  Bigger than the charity quilt.


Another little difference is the strip set centres (try saying 5 times in a row) compared to the first version as well.  Third difference: I'm turning the strip set blocks 90° as was suggested by a couple of people, to see if I get a woven effect.

You know there is something to be said about accumulating a rather large stash; it gives me some freedom to try something like this, to see, "what if I did this...", you know? That and keeping the walls insulated is my reasoning!  It was great fun to pull a ton of blue pieces out, some left over from previous projects, others destined for future projects (ahhh, when I was working full-time, and had the freedom to buy fabric just because I loved it and could visualize it growing up into a quilt...)

Eileen at Eileen Stitches and I had a conversation just yesterday about the similarities in our two cats.  OMG check out her current kittens quilt! Just saw it when I went for the link to her blog.  She said how her girl now loves to be on the cutting table, and I'd already taken this photo of Bella doing just that!  We both agree that fabric is like an aphrodisiac to our cats, and I would add that it sure is to us, too!  ;-)

Bella got as excited as I did at unfolding some not-looked-at-for-a-long-time fabrics!
If something doesn't quite work out in the "what if" department, I can always set it aside and use it in a seniors-in-wheelchairs charity quilt (I seem to have started something there).  That, or let Bella get all ecstatic and loll about on it, pose on it, crunch it up for an elbow rest...
You really didn't have to fan this out just for moi, but gee, thanks, mmrrrooowww!

Look at this beauty I snagged a photo of on Friday:  I just learned, from Wikipedia, and this Ontario site, that it is the symbol of Kentucky, and is a member of the magnolia family.  It also grows in only three places in Ontario:  the southern shore of Lake Huron, the northern shore of Lake Erie, where I am, and in the Niagara Peninsula.  There are many here in Kingsville.  This one, a massive tree, is just down the street from me!

Tulip tree, aka Liriodendron tulipifera
Speaking of down the street, that's where I'm heading right now, put some more kilometres on that app!

I'm linking up the blue stars quilt project with Scraptastic Tuesday at Mrs. Sew and Sow. The background of the pink stars quilt fits the scraps category too come to think of it!
http://mrsssewandsow.blogspot.ca/
And also with Patchwork Times' Design Wall this week!




11 comments:

  1. Awww... I miss my little cat - she used to love fabric. Sometimes while sewing, I'd notice a nearby stack of fabric quivering, and suddenly a little cat face would peek out of the middle of it.
    Eighty-four kilometers is a LOT of walking! Hurray!

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  2. I'm doing Cheryl's qal too! I was going to try to be bold, but chickened out and going monochromatic purples. I think it will look best this way and I won't be kicking myself in a few months.
    Ps love the scientific names, I'm such a botany geek :P

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  3. I'm a walker too...good job on your mileage! Your fabric is gorgous...and I'm going to check out the quilt group on your sidebar...thanks for the link:)

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  4. Love love love what you're doing with those blue stars and strip sets. I'll stay tuned to see what all that wonderful pink turns into as well. Bravo on all the walking. I know I have been doing more of it since Rosie arrived, but I'm not sure I'm at 20km/week. It's getting hot (34 Celcius today) and the poor thing has a thick fluffy fur coat on. We're keeping the walks shorter!

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  5. What a beautiful cat! Love those pink fabrics!

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  6. Congrats on the mileage and the followers!! Love the fabric for your next quilt and I can't wait to see your progress with Cheryl's mystery quilt :) What's another quilt on the go?? ;)

    Rocco!! Love that picture and Bella is such a sweetie. Umm, why did the tree get cut down? Bugs? Please tell me there was a good reason!

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  7. I have a tulip tree in my garden but there are few flowers as yet. Congrats on the followers and the walking! Great idea to go for a woven effect and thanks for linking up to #scraptastictuesday

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  8. My you are one very busy little bee!! good luck on all your projects! Nice job on the walking. We are trying to get in our evening walk everyday now, so need to get back on track again!

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  9. Um yes, ahem, that's the first quip that came to mind once I read the title LOL.

    Lots of upcoming work, you'll do great! Oh Bella <3
    Awww, Rocco .... Not a small pooch so that must have been one gargantuan tree!

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  10. Love the peek at both projects. And congrats on your 84 and growing.

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  11. Congrats on 84, both for walking and followers! I like your fabrics for Sea Star, you can't go wrong with a pink quilt!

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