Sunday, March 18, 2012

The sewing is getting ready to begin........

As I entered my sewing room today this is what I found..........

 Merlin and Delilah all crashed out on my Orca Bay mess table. I haven't touched that table since November!
 Here they are looking at me after the first flash went off. Then they went right back to sleep.
I didn't actually do any "sewing" yet today, I have been too busy playing with this new fabric I found last weekend. Check this out............
 It has cats in the sewing room!!!! With a light turquoise blue background. Had to have it!  Here is a close up of them getting into trouble. I even see Merlin on there too.
 At our guild's quilt show last month one of our guild members received a blue ribbon for her "One block Wonder" quilt she made. So now we are all making one. It is kinda like the stack n whack process from the 90's just using different shapes. I have one of those started too, another UFO. But this is what I was doing with the cats in the sewing room. First off this fabric has a 12 inch repeat, 24 inch is better. But I will make it work. After I cut the fabric up into 6 matching strips I laid them all out on the table, and 2 sets of strips were almost identical, about a 1/2 inch off, see......
 But that is ok, because I am cutting 60° triangles, I just took one set of strips and flipped them right side down on top of the other set and I will cut them at the same time.........
 Because then I have one with the triangle pointing up, and the other the triangle points down, giving you two different triangles of the same spot on the fabric. This way I won't end up with any duplicate blocks, I hope. I forgot to check if the triangles duplicated along the strip as I cut them out too. Will have to go check that out.
 Now I took that top set of triangles and this is what you get depending on what corner you put in the middle.........1.
 2.
or 3. These were all the same triangles turned differently.
 Then the other one that pointed downward gives these 3 looks...........
1.
2.
 and 3.
 When I decided which way I liked it, I stacked them all the same and put a pin in the corner I want in the middle. I do know you have to be very, very, very, organized when doing one of these quilts to make it all work out.
I have 8 strip sets, and I get 24 sets of triangles per strip set, so that gives me 192 blocks I have to cut, match, decide, and pin. Then I get to start playing on the wall, then I get to start sewing too. I don't know if this fabric will give the WOW factor that others get sometimes, but even if it doesn't, that is OK. I still think this fabric is great.

This past week, I went and checked the mail, and these was this parcel in the mailbox. I looked at and it had my name on it. I didn't order anything, and I surely didn't order anything from the UK. What could it be????? I opened it up and there was this amazingly adorable picture made out of fabric scraps.

 Angel from The Adventures of Angelcat made it for me! For little ol' me! I had commented on her blog back in January, and she had said if you give her your address she would make you something, what the heck. Forgot all about it. I was the first one she picked. I live in a big yellowish colored house now, and I am wanting to move to the mountains of Utah, so this is actually perfect. It merges everything into one. Thanks again Angela!!!! She even has two black and white kitties that look a lot like Merlin and Delilah too!


Well back to the sewing room, the kitties are still waiting. Talking about Merlin and Delilah. Also I need to check it the blocks doubled lengthwise while I am thinking about it, so I can make sure I pin them differently.

8 comments:

Amy said...

oh fun!!!!! I adore the 2nd one with the cats in the center; those kaleidoscope-style blocks are always so amazing looking

Pat from Florida said...

Cute cats! Are the 16 muddy feet from 4 cats? I've started saying 8 wet feet when my two dogs come in from their morning walk, all due to you. BTW, I think the cats like the quilt as it is. They don't need it made into a quilt. JMHO!

Judy D in WA said...

I haven't made a OBW yet but my friends have made several. I had fun helping decide which design for them to do. Each one turns out fabulous. I can't wait to see yours. The fabric is great and you are going to have such great designs.

Cherie said...

Cool fabric! It looked 3D when I first looked at it! Can't wait to see what design you go with =D

I'm holding a small swap over at my blog if anyone is interested please pop over for a look =D

http://ibescheraldine.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/anyone-want-to-swap.html

Angela said...

So glad that my picture arrived safe and sound :) How funny that our cats are so alike too :)

Emily H. said...

Oh my goodness, where did you get that cat sewing fabric?? I LOVE it!! I have 16 muddy paws running around too, just in the 1/2 cat, 1/2 dog variety. I've been wanting to make a quilt with cats on one side and dogs on the other and that fabric would be so cute!! Your kaleidoscopes are amazing too... I can't imagine how you'll decide on what to use!! Great job!

Susan said...

Can't wait to see how your OBW turns out - thank you for showing us the process and explaining how organized one needs to be when making one. :)

Janet said...

I have a kaleidoscope quilt UFO that I'm going to work on again some day but mine is not as cute as yours. So cute with the cats! Mine is much more formal as I used a Japanese print. Pretty, but formal.