Then There Were None...

RocketMan and Abby

Today Abby, the dog daughter of Page, friend of the cats, Rocket and Precious, left us to rejoin her family in the next life.

Page, mother of Abby

Precious, sister of RocketMan

I miss you all. They all joined me in my creative endeavors.

RocketMan

This and That and 2 Patches

Patch number 195 didn't get done yesterday, because of today. I was holding my cat and listening to her purr...as much of the day as she would let me.

Patch 196 made on a day that was all about my darling pussa cat, Precious.

The last picture of my companion for almost 20 years! 

[the vet says she was 17, daughter says she was nearly 20]

Goodnight my Precious.

It's Happened....I Put Thread....

............into a needle and stitched something........

Many people mark the days passing in many forms. I read blogs of others who do this in stitch. I decided to try this too...not to mark the passage of time, but to kick start my enjoyment of sewing from the rut it was in.  

I started with this. Organic shapes {to use a new term; for something natural; I suppose is how I would have called it before}  These shapes are actually fur.  From the one Abby dog, mostly. When she is shaggy, her fur mats. I have saved them in the last year. So now they are stitched down. I can't tell you how many endorphin this one small piece released.  It still is.  Releasing them.  

Not very big.

But not really surprising to find I do this.  I pulled this out of the ottoman. 

I am not sure how old it is but I know I had it with me when Granddaughter #3 was aborning herself in July 2009.  I sandwiched everything back then, like a quilt.

↑Bits from other wallies I didn't really care for. ↑↓ Labels from clothing.

Soda bottle lids. ↓

Cutout from a soda can. ↓

↓Printed ribbons off fabric bundles.  If the company is going to print it, I am going to save it.

These will be used elsewhere....someday.

This fish was a novelty fabric,  in parts.  So I connected the parts with a ruff.↓

I started in with the fur bits after getting a card and 2 books as gifts from my brother.  He has not wished to converse with me for many years, until now.  I am very happy he did! 

I laughed the next day when I was reading Judy Martin's latest post, she was talking about Janet Bolton's newest book, Fabric Pictures which is the book my brother sent.  

The books contents are  soooooooooooooo me!

Thank You Scotty!

The Spool That Got Away

Brand new white thread, had just taken the plastic wrapper off.

It slipped out of my hand.  and rolled under the table. 

I brushed off a nest of fur.

Speaking of fur.  Precious didn't want me to work on my project....

I sure got those colors right! [fabric and fur, fur and fabric]

August Needs More Days

Why can't there be a 32nd of August?  

More stitching on this weave.  Another hint too. Actually there appears to be a 2nd hint in the left corner....

What am I making???

This is with the big thread and the sewing weight....so far I like them both blending tog.

And the back of course so you can really see the stitches.

Stitching on batt is different than stitching through all 3 layers, fabric-batt-fabric.

I have been using the same needle I used for the thicker thread...harder to pull through even with the finer thread.  Stubborn batt.  Stubborn me for using a thicker needle.

Contests Get Me Started

Recently I saw a posting, probably on FB, about a Quilt Contest.  Probably the only kind I raise an eyebrow about, if I may be so honest.  The Quilt Alliance is having this contest...themed "Animals We Love".   Pix of my start will be below the text. I am not positive I will enter this one, as I didn't enter the last 2 contests that got me started, got my juices flowing, got me INTERESTED in....well....everything!

In 2009, I think, I came across a contest....go to this link to see all of that wall quilt I made and finished.

Way back in the 1970's there was another contest.  Make a quilt about California, I think. Or what the state means to you....something along those lines. Back then quilting was still all about piecing, sandwiching and hand quilting.  So I made up a center of Bear Paw blocks. Then I made up a whole bunch of Pine Tree blocks to go all around the center Bear Paws.  The fabrics for both blocks just leaped off the shelves and into my arms. 2 different prints for each. [Not a lot of choices back in the day]

I then wanted to do Flying Geese to represent the Pacific Flyway. The Bear Paw was for the state flag, the trees for the ...well....pine tress of which I love.  The final thing I wanted to add was something to represent the Poppy, the state flower.  Of course there were no patterns for that back then, so my mom helped me try to create one.  BUT...I just couldn't find fabrics that suited either the geese or the poppies.  I was stumped.  I was disappointed, I did not finish that quilt.  In fact I recently gave it to Goodwill, the whole bag of stuff, my pattern drawings, everything.  I know, terrible.  But it hung over me, and no one in the family gave a shit about it, didn't see the importance of it to me....Well, except Mom and she is gone.

So maybe the 3rd time is the charm, and I will complete this one AND enter it!

Cat Colors

My project-keeping was getting out of hand...and all those ceramic dishes were weighting a ton.

So I 'filed' the threads for the tree and river piece I have been working on.

Back to the "Cat".  

These are the colors of my cat, Precious. [daughter named her long ago]

All woven tog.  First line of stitching done. Heavy thread, not something I would usually start with..

have to show the back

I am stitching to Batt.

I love those colors of the thread on the right...but I wasn't loving how the fabric looked going the other direction. So I broke out the sewing thread, "Essential" from Connecting Threads.

I am stitching in the same direction, but at the other end of the 'squares'.

Picture of the heavy thread, the row in the second from the top of the picture, that I didn't care for.

I don't know how much of the quilt I can show you, the rules state that the Alliance gets copyright's to the final quilt, but the maker keeps copyright to the pattern.  But hopefully I can show you progress pictures....

Have you guessed what my Animal will be?

Building Things

I Made a Ca-to-Vie

 I finally got my Magic Cloth out in the sunshine...well, with the sun coming through, so you can see the hidden parts...the magical parts. I hung it on the clothesline and snapped pix through the window!

 flying geese emerging from the fork in the road

 one of the first weaves I did was on another fabric, so there are many layers here, not sure I like it that way, but it is that way now.

 the really bright area is the reflection on the window back onto the cloth.

 the really bright green is from Grace and came along with the Hawaiian flowers, so they are either summer leading to autumn, or fall into summer....depending on how literal you want to be.

 many paths....the top one in the middle is the newest...I think it's done now....

a fly came by, i don't know why, perhaps he's sly.