With the holiday, and work, and vet appointments and snow storms and all the mess of everyday life, Burton and I fell terribly behind on our Sewcialites sew-along.
A block is released every Friday (excluding holiday weeks), and we were no four whole blocks behind. Since I couldn’t go to Mom’s on the weekend, I decided the universe was telling me it was time to catch-up!
The block designs have been giving me lots of opportunities to fussy cut and frame some of those cute, fat cats. To refresh your memory, the fabric line I’m using is called Catmosphere. It’s a wild mix of bright colours, and I’ve pulled a few other pieces from the stash that work with it (such as the red swirls, the green butterflies, and the yellow birds)
We now have 11 blocks done, with number 12 to be released on Friday. There are 24 blocks in total so we are almost halfway there! Burton is very excited… I think…
Burton is feeling much better and on was back on the job
He helped me sandwich his quilt. Because I generally sandwich quilts at Mom’s Burton doesn’t usually get to be part of this process. He found it very interesting.
I did some simple, straight line, stitch-in-the ditch for the quilt, and in no time, it was all together.
It’s wonderful and wintery, perfect for a chilly January. And he seems quite pleased with it.
It’s all batiks, leftover from the two snowflake quilts (yet to be quilted). I forgot to take pictures of the back of it, but it’s just a chunk of mottled light blue flannel I picked up on clearance.
Now I’m thinking about a Valentine’s quilt for him… February is fast approaching.
It felt like I just couldn’t find a minute to sit down an finish the binding on my poor Christmas Gnomes. But then Lemmy forced me to stop, and I took advantage of the imposed downtime.
And compared to a quilt, the binding on this wee thing took no time at all!
The kit actually came with plain black fabric for the binding, but when the time came, I couldn’t’ find where I put it. There was a small chunk of polkadots left from Little Wishes, and it was just enough for the binding… so I call it a happy accident. Those dots just up the whimsy of the piece even more in my opinion.
There’s all kinds of fun details in this little wall-hanging. From the bell on one of the hats, do the big wooden noses, and of course, those fluffy beards!
Mom gave me this kit for Christmas 2021. My plan was to have it up for Christmas 2022. It obviously didn’t happen, but now it’s tucked away safely with the rest of the Christmas stuff and ready for Christmas 2023!!!
Last weekend I mentioned that I ordered some plants for the garden come spring.
I actually did two orders. One, with Breck’s Bulbs, which I gave you a glimpse of. And another, much larger order with a place on the East Coast of Canada called Vesey’s.
Vesey’s tends to have a better selection and prices than Breck’s (though Breck’s often has unique items) and I might have gone a little over board. It’s a good thing I have a big yard!
You all know how much I love irises. And it doesn’t matter what kind… Bearded, Siberian, or Japanese – I love them all. These three beautiful Siberian Irises (Butter and Cream, Ballerina Dance, and Snow Tree) will be added to the collection come spring. Siberian irises aren’t quite as big and showy as the bearded irises, but they have their own delicate beauty.
Crocosmia is one on the plants I had at the townhouse that didn’t make the move. So I’ve bought these two, Montebretias, and Sunglow. They bloom mid-late summer and do very well on the hot, humid days when other plants are wilting in the heat.
The next three plants are all things I have in the garden, just different variations. The first is Columbine – you will recall I have several Columbine, but it comes in so many colours and styles, I just don’t think you can ever have enough. This one is called Nora Barlow.
The middle is Tickseed (or Coreopsis). I have a couple yellows, but it grows so well, and blooms all summer and fall, it’s one of those flowers you just can’t go wrong with. This lovely orange is called Crazy Cayenne. I think it’s going to be a very hot addition.
And the last is sage (or Salvia). It’s another plant that you just can’t mess up. I have several shades of purple throughout the gardens, and this one, Midnight Model, is suppose to be very blue. Blue is one of those “challenging” colours in the garden – things labelled blue often tend to be purple… so we shall see.
Also in the category of can’t get enough off – Poppies! This one called “Central Park”. I ordered another deep red one called “Heartbeat” from Brecks. I just love big, blousy poppies.
I mentioned that I plan to put in a “woodland” garden under the maple tree. These two will help with that.
The first is Monkshood (also known as Aconite, or Wolfsbane). I have a bi-colour version coming from Brecks, so it should look nice with this solid purple one.
The second, of course, is Lily-of-the-Valley… but PINK!!!!!! I actually bought this once before and tried to grow it at the townhouse, but with no luck. I hope the second time around works better.
I’m also trying Sea Holly again. I’ve tried it several times with no luck. But I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want it so hopefully I can get it going this time!!!
I mentioned I planned to add more sedums this year, and this one is one of them. It’s called Jose Aubergine, and you can see it has lovely dark purple leaves with pink flowers. I think it’s just so striking.
The next three don’t really have a theme but…
First: Did you know the things we North Americans call Geraniums aren’t actually Geraniums. They are Pelargoniums. The first flower above is a Geranium (though the two are related), and this one is called “Katherine Adele.”. I learned about the difference on Gardener’s World, and also learned it’s an essential “Cottage garden” plant so I had to have one.
The middle is Candida Prairie Mallow. As it’s name suggests, it’s a flower native to the prairies, and is related to the Hollyhock. I’ve been eyeing it for a few years and decided to take the plunge.
The last is Culver’s Root. It’s similar to my Speedwell, but bigger. I planted my first one last year, and though it’s still small, it seems to have much potential. I’m excited to add another colour.
And last, I’ve been coveting Astrantia for several years now. Breck’s carried a pale pink one called “Sparkling Stars” but every time I got around to ordering, it was sold out. So I was super excited when Vesey’s listed this mix, which included THREE different colours.
I had a pile of scraps leftover from the pair of snowflake quilts. And it just felt like it was too much to chop up and toss in the scrap bins… but probably not enough to make another quilt – other than a baby quilt. And as cool as those fabrics are, they just don’t scream “baby quilt” to me.
And then I realized, December is over, but Burton was still using his Christmas quilt on his chaise! The horror!!!!
So I got out the graph paper, did up and quick design, sewed a little and bam!
A quilt top that’s always winter, but never Christmas!!!
Unfortunately, I was going to quilt this at Mom’s this weekend, but weather has prevented me from making the trip. So I’ll probably do some straight line quilting on it today and finish it up for him.
And Burton isn’t picture with this one, because when I sewed it together, he was rather under the weather with an ear infection. But Thursday, we went to the vet. His ears got a good cleaning (which he didn’t appreciate), and they sent us home with some meds and now…
While you know these two are as thick as thieves and have been almost since the day we brought Lemmy in…
Several of you have wondered how well the other two are doing now that it’s evident the interloper is here to stay. And the answer is… pretty well, actually.
Dave thought Rupert was going to be the most resistant, but he’s actually caved pretty quickly.
Rupert loves to chase and be chased and Lemmy is all for that! Their favourite time to rip through the house, making as much noise as possible, is of course, right when we get into bed.
Lemmy is almost as tall as Rupert now, and it won’t take long before he outgrows the older ginger. It’s hard to say how much Rupert will like the game then.
Relic has been a harder nut to crack.
Of course, poor Relic had to deal with over a year-and-a-half of hostility and sneak attacks from Rupert before they became friends, so I think it’s only natural that he’s wary of the newcomer.
Relic isn’t outright hostile to Lemmy – he usually just whine, and leaves whenever he comes around, but Lemmy quickly realized jumping on the gentle giant wasn’t going to get him anywhere.
Since then, he’s been slowly trying to get him to warm up to his presence.
He’s slowly worked his way into getting closer, and closer, usually when Relic is having a nap.
I wouldn’t say Relic “likes” him yet. But he’s certainly learning to tolerate him.
When I showed the first snowflake quilt, I mentioned that I was pretty sure I could get a second quilt out of the leftover fabric.
A little more sensibly, I made the blocks one over several days instead of all in one day.
On the weekend, I took a day to put the top together.
And there must be something about the batiks, because once again, this one proved very popular with all the cats.
I decided to go a little simpler on the borders with this one.
Lemmy seems to think it was a good decision.
I have a back coming for this one. Yes… I fell off the no-spend wagon again. But it was (mostly) fabric I needed for this and other planned projects.
I’m headed to Mom’s this weekend to quilt. The fabric probably won’t arrive before I go, so it will probably be February before you see this one finished. But I’ll have the first snowflake quilt (as well as a few others) to keep me busy all weekend long. Next week will be a parade of FO posts!
While I have plenty to keep me inspired with my quilting, I’ve hit a rut with my knitting. I really want to finish Dad’s Christmas sweater, but I just can’t seem to muster up any enthusiasm for it. Maybe because it’s plain, maybe because so big, maybe because it’s grey…
I decide I needed to cast on something new to recharge my knitting juju.
Somthing silky!
Something lacy!
Something beaded!!!!
And apparently…. something also grey! I don’t know why. This silvery Slinky Cat just spoke to me when I went stash diving.
I’m knitting Crimson Blossom. I knit it a few years ago for a coworker’s wedding, an I enjoyed every minute of it.
I had some dark grey beads that were just perfect, and so far it’s been just the thing to get me excited about knitting again. Except for one small thing.
I realized after getting all this done, that I was using a needle that was smaller than the pattern called for. It was going to turn out much to small if I kept going.
So it’s all been ripped back and I’m starting again. But it’s okay… I’m still feeling the love for it!
Since you haven’t seen an FO post, you may have already an inkling that I didn’t finish my Christmas gnomes before the year ended.
I have decided that I do not like hand-quilting. And a renewed admiration for people who hand-quilt entire quilts. Quilting this little thing was more than enough for me!
I kept it simple, quilting very close the the applique. I wanted just enough to make them puff up a little. After that I took it to the machine.
I quilting in the ditch between the border and the background, and then sewed on the binding.
I still have to sew that binding down, so still not quite finished. But soon it will be.
Since I put the snowflake quilt together so quickly, I felt no guilt whatsoever about starting another quilt. This time one for myself.
Back in December, I bought that set of red and cream fabrics to make myself a nice, big bed quilt. I’d settled on the Jubilee pattern. Mom finished one last month and it turned out just stunning.
I laid out all my fat quarters and paired them up.
You can get two squares out of each pair of fat quarters, so like Mom’s quilt, mine will have 16 squares as well. After pairing up, it was time to get cutting
That’s as far as I got, but this one is ready to go as soon as I have a free hour or two to sew!
Wandering Cat Studio 