Cat Bed

As I mentioned in a previous post, I decided to make Fancy a cat bed since she so loves each quilt I make.

 Well I think see likes it, she went on it and stayed on it even before I stuffed it.

 I decided to go completely modern with it. I think it turned out really well for my fist modern/improvised piece.

 For the quilting I just did a stipple free motion even though I was considering something a little more complex. I stuffed it with polyfill in plastic grocery bags. All the cats I have had seem to like the crinkle of the plastic bags including Fancy so I decided to add that. It is always something that I can change later since I made it with an envelope back. That was an important design choice because as with babies, cats have a tendency to throw up on things and I wanted to be able to clean it without much problem.

Now I would make one for Goofy too but I really highly doubt he would use it.

Little Goofs:
Actually pretty happy with this and can't think of anything I really messed up. I would change the pink polka dot border on the log cabin center to make it wider but that is the only thing.

Next Up:
Summer table runner
Finishing up Fall Quilt

This next month is going to be a push to finish my summer goals because......I GOT A JOB! Yep! I start on July 24th. So that gives me a few days short of a month to really work on WIPs and other projects I have been itching to do.

Wall Hanging and Other Things

At the beginning of the year I made a few goals for myself as far as quilting goes if you recall...

So to start this new year I have set some goals for myself quilting wise. Here they are in no particular order...
1. Try applique for the first time (that will come into play in eclipse)
2. Conquer my fear of triangles
3. Fully complete at least one lap size quilt (this may seem like a really small thing for some people but on average it takes me a year and half to do this and I have only done it twice)

This wall hanging took on #2 which is to conquer my fear of triangles. This also was part of the small things quilt-along hosted by crazy mom quilts where I made the goal of making a wall hanging for a wall in my living room which was begging for a quilt.

Now this is pretty basic pinwheel type of pattern with half square triangles but I think it turned out pretty well. I did straight line quilting so as not to majorly detract from the pattern.

I love the pattern of the border fabric, it fits perfectly with the color scheme going on in the living room and it's so me.

I also made a label using the alphabet stitch function on my new machine.

Little Goofs:

1. The binding is much better on this quilt and I think that is because I followed the tutorial on crazy mom quilts which I am now calling the no tears binding tutorial. I still had issues with the mittered corners getting too much bulk there making them a little on the pointy side but nothing that I am really upset over.

2. This is actually the second version of this quilt. The first version had many more triangles and somehow ended up being crooked and not really what I had in mind. So that was scrapped and this one rose from the ashes.

3. The small things quilt along was over before I even started this but I am gonna keep on with it because a lot of the things on the list I really want to do and soon because I  keep putting them off.

Now this is the first quilt that I have made completely with the new machine. It was going pretty well until the actual quilting and then something weird was happening with the thread jumping off the guides. I don't know if this is a machine thing that is just now happening or if it is the thread. Hopefully it gets better or better yet goes away completely because this machine cost way too much (at least to me) for this to be happening a month after I got it.

In other news I have graduated and now looking for a job. Anyone know any lab jobs in the VA area?

But since I don't have a job or school I have all this extra time on my hands. I used that time to make bread...

It was amazingly simple: combine flour, yeast and salt, add water and let rise. Then you can either refrigerate and bake it later it or bake it right away. I have already experimented with different things you can do with it since it is simple by itself. The one I like the best so far is rosemary and roasted garlic.

Up next is a small project that I didn't know I wanted to do this summer which is to make a cat bed for my cat. She loves the quilts I make so much. Every time I go to hand sew binding on a quilt she has to be on top of it which makes it extremely difficult. Anyways I have some bright pink plaid fabric that is perfect for this. That should be started tomorrow and I am hoping to make it more modern.

 Long post I know but like I said.....lots of free time.