First, there is a back story about the lush-looking bed Floyd the Cat is sitting on.
About two years ago I was tempted to order this dog bed after seeing ads for it on Facebook. It took months and months to come and was way, way smaller than a 45 pound dog would need. I put it inside an existing bed, but AC doggie thought it was an animal and immediately tried to chew it up. So, it sat in a storage space in a plastic bag for over another year.
Then, for some reason about a month ago, I cleaned out all the ”extras” in that storage space, which included several items for small dogs. About that time, friend Margaret was getting ready to head to Florida for the winter, and I offered her the bed for her ”traveling cat,” Floyd.
Floyd was born in Florida and appeared at Margaret’s house there as a feral kitten about 2 years ago. They bonded, and Floyd returned to Maine with Margaret, where he hunted small game all night, and thrived. So now he goes back and forth each year.
Floyd likes to sit up straight or stand and watch the traffic as Margaret drives.
The bed worked really well this last trip, said Margaret, who made this last trip with a friend. She could tuck it between the two seats or they could put it on a lap, and Floyd loved it all.
So, the expensive and lush bed got rehomed where it is loved by a 4-legged fur creature and his human friend.
And, after two other poor buying experiences on Facebook, I won’t do it again.
I chose to keep the reds and oranges to the sunburst/half circle and use the other fabrics for background. And I wanted to use LOTS of the two yellows—at least one version is in every row. I added in Kona Snow and, I think, the light grey is Lighthouse—but I won’t sweat to it. I wanted to keep this top light and airy, and I think it is.
I have since seen people using the red and orange as backgrounds too, and those blocks are awesome. I’d like to play now with the reds and oranges as backgrounds, and I have enough fabric left to do that. I’ll also play with making all the backgrounds more or less dark. Maybe. I never know…
Meanwhile, “Calm,” the light/dark grey BIG long cabin is on Innova. That work is going well. I do love this Innova.
It’s a rainy day—and all the snow is melted out. The grass is still GREEN.
AC doggie, of course, is bored out of his ever loving mind!!
I am happy to have this day to sew.
**A reminder that this Sunny block is designed by Tara Faughnan for Sewtopia’s The Color Collective AND is the first project for Season 4.
The sky is the crystal, clear blue we get often in winter.
As I threw AC’s ball for him, the sharp air, laden with the faint smell of wood smoke from nearby houses, cleared all the cobwebs out of my head.
I’ve said it before on this blog, but AC chases his ball with his whole heart. Without a heavy coat, neck scarf, hat, and gloves, it’s hard enough to throw the ball and get a video. This video is the best I could do this morning.
The dark grey/light grey BIG long cabin top is done and will go on Innova next.
I bought a 108 wide backing and ordered a king batting, and I will bind with a medium grey solid.
”Calm” is a handsome quilt and has been claimed by my DIL Tami Enright, who also runs The Bee Cause, which has a Facebook page you could check out. This organization is dedicated to preserving bee habitats and to providing hives. Tami now has hives in all 50 states. Many of these hives are demonstration hives in schools and public places, so people can learn all about bees.
There was some drama while this top was still on the design wall: another chipmunk got into the house, the second one this year, and s/he appeared while I was watching nighttime tv and handsewing with AC doggie dead asleep next to me on the couch. When I shrieked, AC leapt up in a flash and trapped the chipmunk in the quilt room—where I shut the door to keep her/him in there. Unfortunately, when AC caught and shook the chipmunk, a spray of blood went across the bottom of the quilt.
What followed was a lot of soaking and blotting the spray with salt, salted water, and OxiClean spray. Finally, the blood all came out, but it took a long time. The blood, even so fresh, was very thick and very red—it was much denser than human blood. Later nurse and quilter Betsy Maislen told me that hydrogen peroxide would have taken the blood right out and would not have harmed the fabric. Good to know. Which is why I’m telling this story.
The fabrics on Innova’s roller bar are for the first project of this season’s online class hosted by Sewtopia, The Color Collective. Designer Tara Faughnan has given us a really fun and colorful “Sunny” block for this first project of the 4th season.
Here is where I am as of this morning:
I followed Tara Faughnan’s method of keeping the reds and oranges to the sunrise and adding neutrals to make the quilt lighter. I added Kona Snow and a Kona soft grey which I think maybe is Quicksilver. Sometimes it is hard to tell exactly from the fabric swatch cards I have.
BUT, I’ve seen some folks in the class using the red and oranges for backgrounds—and those blocks are awesome. I will make some of those when I am done—just because. Maybe a pillow? Maybe just blocks for the parts department bin. I never know when I start down a road like this one. Whatever, making them will be fun, and fun and play should always happen. And a quilt with all darker backgrounds would be so pretty too.
Of course this block can be used to make circles or other intriguing patterns—in that it is like “Tenderoni” the last quilt we made last year, designed by Latifah Saafir. Remember my version?
I pushed all the curved blocks together, whereas Latifah Saafir spread them out by including plain fabric blocks—which made for a beautiful, airy quilt. Maybe this could happen along with making blocks with a darker background for a small wall hanging or table runner of some sort.
Today is a rainy day! Yeah! That means sewing time for me, and all my household ”to do” tasks are done for the week—except for a quick trip to the grocery store today—mostly just to get AC out for a bit. Otherwise he ”dogs” me until we do something together.
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