Design Wall Monday - 8/16/10

I finsihed "I am content" in plenty of time for the fair deadline and I'm happy to report that I won a blue/first ribbon! It's hung up too high for me to fully see the judge comments but I think it says something about the quilting, quote and binding...will have to tell you more after the fair. I also entered 3 other quilted items and got red/second ribbons for those. The mini quilt says it's very nice but needs squaring. I'm ok with that. The other two have "very nice" comments but nothing to designate why it only got a second. Can't improve what I don't know is a problem...I'm just saying! Will post more pictures on my fair entries and cooking at the Fair (there is an 1806 house on the property that my MomDad run and I cook over the open hearth several times.) later this week or next.

Design Wall Monday - 8/9/10

We are making progress here at Casa Grande...

Quilting on the cats is progressing. The cross-hatching takes forever but looks great and since the cats won't receive much quilting they really pop out. The borders will have freemotion "orange peel" quilting so that will go much faster. (NOTE: the green mat in the foreground is actually a slide out tray that Dad added at my request when he built the table. It makes for a nice local place to slice and dice while sewing but it also supports a quilt as I swing it around for quilting various parts. I can also pull out the drawers on the left if I need more support but he made sure the tray was pretty sturdy.)

And here is Smokey in the window and Pepper watching over her. I asked my brother to leave Smokey a little longer to see if they would continue to play nice since they even smelled noses Saturday. This morning both were cranky so now we are going backwards... (NOTE: I better explain these floors. When I bought the house, there were no carpets, tile or anything, just subflooring. We could stand in the living room and look between the floor boards to the basement. The previous owner had just never gotten past painting the subfloor. Each room has been covered with carpets we got at yard sales and as a room is redecorated, we lay down oak laminate floors and remove the carpets. That pink carpet will not be gone soon enough!)

Cat Cat Cats Kittens

First off, this is Smokey, my "niece" and house guest this past week while my brother and his family went to visit Mickey Mouse. I don't think she has a promising modeling future - she has no idea how to sit still and/or pose.

This is Pepper in his latest favorite hidey spot under the dining room table. I have gorgeous red fabric with elephants (can you see the red paint in the background?) to reupholster these chairs but for now the 6-layered, original horsehair filling "broken in" appearance conforms to both cat and human butts quite nicely. Poppi was not happy to have his cousin stay over but he learned to tolerate her.

And this is the latest version of my cat quilt which I am trying to finish for the Wyoming County Fair. Somehow I had missed QuilterKathy's comment about using 4 patches in the border to match the center of the cat tails but as I was re-reading the comments, I thought it was the purrrrrfect idea. I am cutting it very close with the background material so I hope I have enough. We might need to get creative...  The quilt is going to be a bit bigger than I had planned (it's to be hung over my full sized headboard) but I think it will work out ok.

As far as the kittens, there is a new batch behind the store next to my office but almost forgotten lunch plans prevented me from getting a picture today. I'll update this post with a picture later or next week. I doubt I can get all three to pose but there is a tortie, a calico and a charcoal gray & white. So little their eyes are still blue. Ahhhhh.

UPDATE: Here are the babes!! The Hunter Star quilt behind the calico is my "mini" entry for the Fair....I have 1 side left to finish the binding.