Pets On Quilts - Bella

Bella is making another appearance in the Pets On Quilts party at Lilypad Quilting.  She is in the Cats on Quilts category.  If you like what you see/read about in this post, click the link to 'like' Bella (she is #30).  There are lots of fabulous prizes to be won, four more days to enter your own fur kid, at which time voting will begin!  This is, as I said in yesterday's post, probably my absolute favourite linky party going.  My three fur kids are a major part of my life. Period. Of the three, Bella has probably the biggest influence in my quilting/sewing life.

This is not photo-shopped; her eyes are that blue; she's sporting a bandana made just for her by a sweet friend

She is a part of every quilt, from birth to final finish.  This year the two of us have been pretty busy creating quilts.

Planning

She often tries to steer my pencil as I sketch out a possible design, be it block, layout or FMQ.

Choosing Fabric

 Cutting

Measuring

When I question whether I have block sections sewn to the correct size, she willingly lies her furry body down to help measure.  On the left, she is measuring the hypotenuse of one of the Triangle Transparency by Quilting Jet Girl blocks for Radiance, and on the right, making sure the flying geese unit will fit the centre square from a Henry Glass 'Better at the Lake' fabric.  We were chosen as the June designer of the month.

Appliquéing

She parks her butt on freshly appliquéd blocks, helping to secure the layers.

Much to her exasperation, she was removed (more than once) from said appliquéd block

Piecing

Bird's eye (or cat's eye?!) view

Checking that 1/4" seam

Chain-piecing

Even FaceTiming!

Tish on the iPad

Looking after you:

Stretching

Balancing

Back in May, the early days after Rocco's knee surgery

We both firmly believe in the importance of exercising and stretching to ease those stiff joints and aching muscles, and to work out knots from long hours sewing, or sitting too long at the computer writing up a post!  Check out the Sunday Stretch for Sewists tab up top for lots more moves to keep your body limber!

Bananasana....it's a real Yin Yoga pose!

Make sure you bend to both left and right!

Labelling

Writing is blurred out for privacy

Basting and Quilting

and let us not forget...

Cleaning

Machine Maintenance with Bella

And finally, 

Enjoying

On her very own cat quilt

This past year saw her work with wool, both knitting and appliqué

She quite liked it!  Thanks to Sue's comment below, here is the link to the kit I bought, on sale right now for $11CA.  The pattern only is available here.  And, if you prefer to crochet, Kalurah has the same cowl kit for crochet, also on sale.

And of course she helps out with...

Writing posts 

this very one, as a matter of fact!

She knows how to get my attention, tapping me if I'm spending too much time on the iPhone or on the laptop

Pattern Writing!

We did it this year!  And she helped...

This is Sunny Days; you also get the pattern for Blue Skies, both on sale for $5 right now in my Craftsy store. Both quilts are for sale in my Etsy shop.

Calling me

to leave my sewing when it's time to eat

And it's time to go now!  Tea and treats time!

Treats?!

Be sure to take advantage of Craftsy's Early Black Friday (like seriously...I know...eye-roll)...but there really are some terrific deals again, and if you're like me, you wait for your faves to go on sale.  Did you know they carry quilt batting and it's 30-40% off right now?  Um, can you believe there are some quilt kits for CA$27 or US$21??  Check out several from Timeless Treasures like this Tonga Treats "Next Move" one I particularly love. Apologies for poor quality images (snagged them off Craftsy) but you get the idea.

and I believe I just have to give one of the Blueberry Park fat quarter stacks a home.  At CA$57,  US$44, (50% off), that is a pretty sweet treat.  There are many many more, but don't be like me, and put them in your cart and 'think about it' (aka forget)....only to find they disappear because they are no longer available, waaah, or you remember about them on Monday and the sale is over...waaaah again. Might have personal experience there.

As always I thank you SO MUCH if you click through to Craftsy on my links in this post or on the sidebar.  I do get a small commission on sales and on classes; if you are interested in how to become an affiliate yourself, shoot me an email.  And always remember, if you don't buy through me, that is fine, but please choose a favourite blogger to buy through since we are the ones who help spread the word.  I would not endorse anything I haven't used or bought and I have been very very pleased with every single thing I have got, supplies and fabric and classes-wise from them.  They also have excellent customer service.  :-)

Remember you have 4 more days to enter into Pets On Quilts. Voting begins August 25!

Linking up with
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Lilypad Quilting

Naala Makes An Appearance

Pets On Quilts!  I'm nearing the deadline, and tried very hard to encourage Naala to be in a post about HER on one of my quilts.  Rocco? no prob...Bella? Well, as you have seen, time and time again, it's all about Bella, and her "Cats rule. Dogs drool," philosophy, a quote from her guru, Sassy, from "Home Alone".  But this is about Naala!  She is entering into Dogs On Quilts.

Ya I'm one cool cat.  Wait.....one cool canine!

She makes infrequent appearances in my blog, but I want her to be in the Pets On Quilts show this year.  She'll do anything...  Any. Thing.  For food.

Seriously, Sandra?  I'm so over this trick...

She left a little collateral damage after that set up...

Oopsie

She adores, dotes on, is over the moon about, my husband.  When he is gone, she is sad.

The sun rises and sets on him, and like a sun-deprived person, she goes into withdrawal and depression when he leaves her behind.  (Don't worry Julie, your cushion was only on the floor for a couple of minutes for the staged photo shoot!)

I love pillows.  LOVE.  If I keep this sad demeanor up, think she'll let me on the bed where I can lie on my master's pillow?

She also loves her babies.  Outside of one or two good chomps to make them squeak when she first gets one of them in the morning (she woofs and dances and jumps a little in front of the fridge, no, not for food, for a baby that is on top of the fridge), she takes such good care of them.

I love my cow.  You're not taking him away already, are you?

Maybe once in a while they get a little munching around an ear, or the butt, especially if there is a tag there.  She's had a tag fetish since we first got her at 11 weeks old.  Sometimes some stuffing gets pulled out...

Yeah, yeah, Bird is a little anorexic these days, I know.  It's partly Rocco's fault.  Look at my Rudy!  He's like brand new!  Well, maybe a tad stiff, dried, slobbery, but still--

Rocco kills every stuffy he's ever had.  He killed Santa this past Christmas.  But this post is about the calm dog.

The ONE time I allowed a (barf) feline, our previous cat, Cleo, to share a quilt--I was young, only 1 1/2 years old.  I'm not so calm when it comes to "that cat" (I totally agree with Sandra's mum, blechh) Bella. Blechhh.

She looks amazing today, at 8 1/2 years old.

Clearly I have Pug in my family line, a ways back.

I really do...

See? I can twist and turn my head both ways!

Naala weighs 95-100 pounds, so this shows you just how humongous the banana plants have gotten!

That scrunched up quilt is the current quilt, at the time of writing this, it is finishing drying spread out on the floor.  At the time of the photo this morning, it still didn't have its binding finished hand-stitching down.  Aiming for a Friday finish post tomorrow!  Did I mention I work well under pressure?!

If you haven't done so yet, after reading Bella's entry (she's #34) for Pets On Quilts, scamper, canter, trot on over to Lily Pad Quilting for the show.  That link takes you to all 58 entries.  Naala is #57. Voting starts tomorrow!  The post for where you vote is here.  Thanks so much Jacque for hosting this so-much-fun linky!

Bella on Graffiti

This is my entry in the Cats on Quilts category for the Pets On Quilts Show at Lily Pad Quilting.  It's so much fun.  Lara and I cemented our friendship over Olive, her daughter's pibble; as did Judy and I over the Nugs last year.  It's a great way to meet other quilters, and be amazed at how alike our fur kids are when it comes to all things quilty.  And there are prizes!  Bella won a triangle fabric mousie last year, still has it, still loves it, kicks it to death and bites it on a regular basis.

You've seen my Graffiti quilt once before, but it wasn't bound, and I wasn't sure exactly what I would do with it.  Well, I decided to take it for Show 'n Tell to this past Tuesday's guild meeting, so I had to bind it.  Of course, when I laid it down on the floor to take a picture, this happened:

Not as big as I normally require, Sandra...

Hmm...

If I can just grab this side, maybe I can roll myself up in it...

and then, "Well, since she's got that black thing in front of her face, I may as well strike a pose..."

Note the one foot angled out with pointed toes - this is a new one

Like most quilters with cats, they have to get involved in every step of the process, from pulling out fabric, to lolling about on the finished product.  Ahem, or in the finished product:

Or making sure your 1/4" seams are precise, (note the one squinty eye just to eagle kitty-eye that seam):

Great vantage point, and besides I look SO utterly adorable, she'll finally pay me some attention

But back to the Graffiti quilt.  I've had two spots where my Avanté hiccups or bobbles since we set it up for the 10' table (the person I bought it from had it at 6').  I was also suddenly having some tension issues as well.  In order to solve the problems, I threw in some muslin to try out Karlee Porter's Graffiti quilting, with various threads, and to find exactly where the bobbles occurred so my husband, "MacGyver", could do the adjusting.  I even got him to quilt a bit so he would feel how it grabbed, or sort of jumped into a kind of rut and then back out.  And thus the Graffiti quilt was born.  We finally were able to get everything nearly tickety-boo, just a teensy little spot where there was a wiggle.

Lots of people commented that I should bind it and hang it in my sewing room, and so I have done.  I used some leftover fabric from my Yoga Mat Bag.  You will never see the back, as some parts ain't so purty as I worked through some tension issues, ripped some, left some.  But I love it, and it serves to show me that I can do this, and I can persevere until I get the right tension and the smoothness I want...and the precision will come with continued practice.  I'll never be as precise as Angela Walters or Gina Perkes (wow) but I also know I'll never be as good a yogi as Kino McGregor or David Robson.  But if I am happy with my results, that's all that matters.

Sewed the binding to the back and machine top-stitched it down on the front with Sulky Holoshimmer in bright green - love the bling!

I've since hung it on my wall, er, plastic vapour barrier in my sewing corner of the basement.

I love it there.

Quilt Stats:
Pattern: Graffiti quilting practice
Size: 42.25" X 15.5"
Fabric: unbleached muslin front and back, binding is Winter Wonderland by In the Beginning Fabrics
Batting: Warm 'n Natural
Quilted: on my Avanté, Avril
Threads: Floriani Fufu's Rayons, Isacord and Sulky Holoshimmer

Hope you will hop, bound, or sashay (if you're like my diva, Bella), or canter on over to Lily Pad Quilting and check out all the entries.  You can read about my dog on quilt entry featuring Naala here.  You can vote here.  Bella is #34.  Naala is #57.

I will also link up this finish to Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday, TGIFF and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  Oooh, in celebration of a million(!!) page views, Sarah is having a pretty sweet giveaway. Better hop over there and check 'er out.

Pets on Quilts --Cats!

I heard about this fun Pets On Quilts linky party over at Lily Pad Quilting from my friend Judy who blogs at Quilt Paradigm.  Thank you Judy!  She is the one who tagged me to participate in the Around the World Blog Hop.  My post was last Monday, August 4, and the three lovely ladies I have tagged will be posting tomorrow.  I will give you links to their posts tomorrow!

So this is a linky party I am WELL-prepared for!!  As many of you know, I have a Pitbull named Rocco.  Before I got him, and before I started watching Cesar Millan rehabilitate other dogs under the guidance of (I'm dead serious) his Pitbull, Daddy, I, too, had a bit of a whoa-keep-your-distance-scary-pitbull attitude towards these people-(especially kids)-loving, life-loving, joyful dogs.

He, too, loves quilts.  Especially quilts on a human bed.

He has been known to photo-bomb a picture or two for my blog.

"Back off Bella, I'm claiming this one"

However, this entry is my CAT on quilt entry, so if you want to read my DOG on quilt entry, click here!  When I wrote it, I had no idea I would be entering him into this party, and it is quite interesting how many pictures I have of him on one of my quilts!

So I also have a gorgeous cat named Bella, who is my sewing diva partner.  This post is my entry for her into the POQ Festival.  I would say she loves new fabric as much as I do.

Helping out with my Paint Chip challenge for my guild

She, much like me, loves the feel of fabric, loves the feel of a quilt, either burrowing into it, or lounging on top of one.

Found her here just before I started this post! She willingly obliged for a picture or two...

"Must you take more pictures? How absolutely boring of you..."

We got her in October of 2012, when she was 6 months old.  She is a Himalayan.

She loved quilts and was fascinated by my sewing space even at that young age.

This past winter in Florida, she was quite intrigued with my old Elna sewing machine that I keep there.

She also loves keeping her spine in shape on my sewing machine cover, and, yep, new fabric underneath.

Think I've got my toes on it...yep, just!

She gets so excited when I lay out a quilt top to measure batting and backing:

Typical st-r-r-e-e-tched out Bella pose

If she can't get ON a quilt, or under it, she will figure out some way to be touching it:

This is my yoga bag I free-motion quilted.  I stood it up here after I'd taken some outside shots of it.  Turned around, and look who managed to get herself ON a part of it.  It was only the quilted strap, but hey, she got ON a part of that baby!

She's my cheerleader when it comes to being in my quilting/sewing space.  She bubbles with feline energy, all wiggly and bouncy, wriggling like a caterpillar on the carpet beside me, whenever I go down to the basement to sew.

Here's one last shot of her from a few moments ago, showing off her flexible spine and body.

Okay, she says that wasn't her good side.  Do you see how she just loves to pose?!  Typical cat, no?!