Better Times by Cici

Well, things are looking up after working on that hideous Christmas quilt last weekend.  I supervised the fabric selections for another Christmas wall hanging.  She got it all sewed together and just took it off Lucey 2 this afternoon.  

And I've been helping her keep up with the new Laundry Basket Quilts Mystery Quilt.  It started on Monday and there is a new clue every day.  

 She's just using scraps from her blue and neutral tubs.  Every morning we stir them up and see what floats to the top!

Frankly, I'm embarrassed by these tubs.  She started in on an organizing task a couple of weeks ago and folded all the larger pieces.

Then she started working through the scrap bins.  She got green, black, and gray done.  Obviously she hasn't touched the blue tub yet!

There's actually room for me to take a nap in this tub now!

Actually, I've been hanging out in Sarah's room in my tower.  Well, it was mine to start with and then it got moved in to this room for Dory, but now it's mine again!  The room is dark and quiet, but close enough to the sewing room that I can keep an eye on things.

Also part of the organizing fever was to get the TBQ (to be quilted) closet cleaned up.  All of these tops have batting and backing cut and are ready to quilt.  There are 10 in the picture, but I can report that some quilting has been happening, because now, there are only seven things hanging there.

And, she picked up all the batting pieces, and stacked the empty project tubs!

She says she is just "in love" with this quilt pattern called Gingersnap.  Is it because it's named after a food?  This is Grandma's quilt that she left to be quilted.

She pulled this project out for us to work on.

There were some gaps in her plan, but we got that solved and she has it sewn together now.  Apparently we're going to add some pieced borders..............yeah!  More time at the cutting table!

And, the Canine Catastrophe is, unfortunately, still with us despite trying to eat her own water dish.

Why we have so many pictures of her is beyond me.

Cici

Horrible Weekend by Cici

It was one of those "bury your face and don't come out" weekends.  

 I tried to express my displeasure about the weekend sewing room project by not looking directly at it at any time.  At least she got it totally finished and has folded it up to put away for Christmas.  (Maybe she won't be able to find it!)

When I ventured into the sewing room to see this on Lucey 2, it was all I could do not to hack up a hairball right then and there.  And she (my human) was so excited to be quilting her new snowflake pattern!  

She's calling it "Willow's First Christmas".  Yeah right, the Canine Catastrophe was already way bigger than that last Christmas.  By Christmas 2021, she'll be a full-size horse.  At least there is only 1 of her and not 6 like in this quilt.  She put a hanging sleeve on it so she can hang it in the bedroom.  Guess I won't be going in there during the Christmas season.

Speaking of the bedroom, the humans have been doing some spring cleaning.  One morning last week, they actually moved the bed and vacuumed under it and dusted behind it.  Under the bed is the best place to escape the Canine Catastrophe.  I don't recall them ever doing this type of cleaning before.  I heard them saying something about "every 10 years", so if that's the case, I haven't been here that long.  The next morning they moved the piano to do the same thing.  Now, I had been waiting for this.............. do you know how many catnip mice and sparkly balls we found back there?  No wonder the piano was sounding funny.  Of course, the piano tuner's visit that day probably helped.  It was nice to have so many toys back in play.  Now if they'd only move the refrigerator.

Since my beautiful face wasn't available for photos this weekend, I thought you might enjoy these............

Spot........

Oreo...........

And Twinkie!

Twinkie appears to be chubby enough that one should be careful squeezing lest the cream filling come out...........just sayin'.

And here are the 2 quilts that she hadn't photographed after they were finished.

She thinks this pattern is "Arkansas Crossroads", but she's calling it "Anything Goes".  She used her new "Whisper" quilting pattern on it.

And this is the Quilty Stars all finished.  I think the blues sparkle like my eyes.

Well, sorry for the lapse in blogging; I just couldn't face a quilt with little canine catastrophes on it.

Cici

How it all gets started by Cici

Today I thought I might show you how it all gets started in the sewing room.  First, she picks a pattern and then brings over tubs of fabrics and makes piles on the cutting table.  I sniff through the piles and push the things I like to the top.  Here we were focusing on blue and brown scraps.

Then she gets out the rulers and cutter and I start keeping track of my tail while she works.

Sometimes, she'll go to the sewing machine to try out a block and sometimes she just cuts everything before sewing.  I watch the machine to make sure the needle is going up and down correctly.

This was a recent quilt-along called Quilty Stars with Sew Sweet Quilt Shop.  She wasn't really following the pattern, so made a few more blocks before deciding on a plan.

 She decided on this layout because it would be the right size for a lap quilt for the guild charity project.  It's all quilted and finished now, but I didn't find a photo on the computer.  It's probably still on her phone and I can't plug it in to transfer it over..........Thumbs, if only!

That's not how it works every time, but it's close.  Sometimes she cuts a whole bunch of stuff and then decides she doesn't like it.  Like this mess.  We were doing Bonnie Hunter's Grassy Creek mystery, and when she saw the reveal, she didn't like it.  I had been enjoying this one because of all the purretty fabrics that matched my golden fur.  

She took those parts and pieces and made these 2 tops also for the charity project.  They aren't quilted yet.  I really like the golden zig zag in the border of the top one.  

And, she brought home a Tuit from the last guild meeting, so had the challenge of getting around TO IT.  She picked her Arkansas Crossroads quilt which had the center mostly done, but still needed a little work and borders.  She's working on the binding now, hoping to have it completely finished by the meeting on Tuesday.

Woops!  Let me find a better picture.........

Much better.......a straight on shot without that big lump of lint sitting on it.  For those who are into numbers, there are 1,280 2.5" squares in this.  And it yielded just over 300 bonus half square triangles.  (yes, I serve as the sewing room abacus) There might have been a few more, but after she pried some out of the Canine Catastrophe's mouth, she put them in the trash can.

Hope you have enjoyed these Tails from the Sewing Room.

Cici

Show and Tell from the Sewing Room by Cici

 I was afraid I was going to disappoint everyone by not getting to post on the blog today.  My human went off this morning and for some reason closed the laptop.  Now, I can use my paws to press on the keys to make words, but I could not figure out how to open the laptop by myself.  I nudged it, walked on it, nibbled around the edges, NOTHING WORKED!  Fortunately she came home and opened it.  

Now for some show and tell about what we have been working on in the sewing room the last several weeks.  These were some leftover pieces we uncovered from a 4-H project Sarah did several years ago.  The plan had been to make a pillow from them, which I thought sounded like a nice, soft, comfy idea, but no.  That's not what happened.

It became a tote bag!  

Now who really wants an astronaut tote bag?  She gave it to one of her piano students who needed a bigger bag for his piano books.  He's also really into science stuff.  And since Kody is always nice to me, I guess this was a good choice.  He really seemed to like it.

She even put pockets in it and she quilted it on that big new machine.

And since I have mentioned Lucey 2, which she refers to as the long arm (I can't see that Lucey 2 has ANY arms, but whatever), here are a couple of quilts she quilted.  This first one she called Flock Together and we did it as part of a quilt-along with Sew Sweet Quilt Shop.  Purrsonally, I have never been to the shop, but I do watch their weekly facebook posts with my human.  This one is made from all Batik fabrics and she says it makes her think of Hannah.  Apurrently, we think about certain people while we use Lucey 2.

When she finished piecing this Morewood Mystery top, she really didn't like it.  But after she spent some time with it on the Lucey 2, she says she really likes it now. 

Appurently it made her think of Mackenzie.  When I shot her a rather puzzled look, she explained that some of the colors reminded her of the water in a swimming pool and the concrete around the pool.  And the diagonal design made her think of swimming lanes.  

Speaking of sports and swimming (ok, no swimming for me purrsonally), I can't wait for the Olympics.  You may recall how much I enjoy watching sporting events on television.

She also got us a new book of table runners to make.  I think table runners are the purrfect thing to put on the table.  It makes a really nice cushy place to take a nap.  This was the first pattern in the book.  We have actually made this pattern twice and she has them both totally finished.  I couldn't find any more photos of them to share with you though.  Maybe I'll knock them off the pile and it will remind her to take some pictures.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed today's blog post.  AND there were NO PHOTOS of THE CANINE CATASTROPHE!  

It was pretty funny last night when the Canine Catastrophe was inside and the humans told the Google Home to make dogs sounds.............the Canine Catastrophe was so perplexed trying to find that barking dog that she totally forgot to chase me!

More from the sewing room tomorrow!

Cici the Cat

I'm taking over the blog! by Cici

 I have been waiting and waiting for my human to get back to this blog and sharing beautiful pictures of me and the things we make in the sewing room, but she never gets it done, so I'm taking over the blog.  I don't understand why she can't get the blog done, but I suspect it has something to do with this thing.............

I know the humans call her Willow, but let's be real.  Her name is definitely The Canine Catastrophe.  So, there is good news and bad news on The Canine Catastrophe.  One day, they took her away to the vet and she was gone ALL DAY!  That's the good news.  The bad news, they brought her back!  The good news was they had fixed it so there wouldn't be any more little Canine Catastrophes running around.  The bad news........she had to stay in the house with ME for several days.  The good news - they took her back to the vet because she was licking her belly.  The bad news - they brought her back home...........and she gained even more of their attention and sympathy.

Okay, it was somewhat entertaining watching her try to go through the dog door on the shed.

And she could no longer fit her head through the chair legs to reach me!

I think she was milking it a little bit...........

At least I am still Queen of the table.............

Especially since she has taken over my window seat.

At least they don't let her in when it rains..........

The Canine Catastrophe...............need I say more?

Cici

p.s.  unless she catches me using the computer, I'll be back to blog tomorrow about some of our sewing projects.