Kittens!

Princess Sophia was indeed nursing kitties, and though there may have been more initially, two little intrepid survivors showed up visiting.  Baby animals are just the best, and though I've barely been able to touch one I'm hoping they get a little more tame and holdable!

This tiger striped one is my favorite.  It also has four "socks."  Oh it's so tempting to keep one, but then I'm already trying to figure out what's going to happen to them next week when we're gone.  Who will feed them, and keep working to tame them?   

Bear Paw done

 
I quilted Pat's spa quad, and then the companion doll quilt.  The bear paw was next on the queue.  I used a feather design on the borders and then Shades of Anasazi pantographs by Dave Hudson.  I can't compliment his pantos enough.  They have such a nice easy flow.  

I got a little creative with the backing.  I didn't have enough of the plain red flannel for the whole back.  The flannel print with the bear paws seemed appropriate because it was also from Rosie.  She'll have first right of refusal and then it will become a donation quilt.

It's been a busy week.  We helped Lindsay have a garage sale, and in that process I was able to score a Craftsman workbench with drawers and storage which will replace the drop leaf table as my cutting table in the sewing room.   Dale has a new small roll top desk.  Lindsay didn't sell much, but has less "stuff." 

Neither silk purse nor sow's ear

My friend Rosie, who never fails to remind me that many years ago when she went to take a quilting class that I said I wasn't interested...and that I'd not likely ever get into quilting, gave me the bear paw blocks to do something with.  She had meticulously hand stitched them many moons ago.  They were of varying sizes and were already sewn together into two strips.  I decided to separate the strips so that the varying sizes wouldn't be obvious, and I think this has turned out nice.  

Part of the reason I wasn't interested in learning quilting was that the class she took was all done by hand.  I didn't hand sew then and don't do much more than affix labels or embellish a little with hand stitching now. 

Princess Sophia

This sweet kitty showed up at our place drinking water out of the bird bath.  She is so thin, and we think she might be related to Frangelica, because of her small size and sweet disposition.  We suspect she has kittens somewhere as she she seems to be nursing, which would easily account for her lack of reserves.  We're feeding her and maybe she'll be a "studio" cat, since we really no longer want any more house pets. 

Tuesday I had a big box waiting at the post office filled with quite a lot of pinwale corduroy which I'm going to try out for quilt backings.  It all washed up soft, and I think will make some cozy quilts.  Thanks so much, Marje from east TX for sending it.

 

Progress

I finished the pinks spa quad.  I used a couple of the leftover pink prints to make multi-colored binding strips. 

The wall hanging is done, but I'm working right down to the wire to finish pillow shams to go with Lindsay's quilt.  I ended up using my domestic sewing machine to quilt part of the wall hanging and then loading it on the longarm to do the stippling around the kimono.  Stitch in the ditch is so much harder on the longarm. 

Summer bounty

The rains have really helped our flowers, and the Russian sage finally took off.  We feed the hummingbirds, but I really enjoy when they visit our flowers the best. 

The swallows have successfully incubated another set of eggs, and they're just beginning to hatch.  Lots of viewing entertainment for a second time this summer.

I've been working on the wallhanging that will accompany the oriental lanterns quilt, though yesterday was mostly taking out some quilting.  I had decided to cross-hatch the background of the kimono, but didn't like the look.  I'll probably load it on the longarm and do some kind of fill on it.  Thankfully the quilt is finished since Lindsay's birthday is Tuesday.  

A few finishes

I've finished a few things, a couple of quilts for Pat, and Lindsay's lanterns.  I used "Iron Gate" pantograph on the lanterns.  I like the look it gave them.    I'm not worried she'll see it here, since she's much too busy to follow my blog.  I'm now working on pillow shams with the leftover blocks, and a wall hanging, all for her birthday, coming up on August 10th.

This is the first of two quilts and matching doll quilts for Sadie Jean.  I enjoyed doing "custom" work on the doll quilt.  That's about as much as I can commit to intensive quilting.

I used Nichole Webb's Spring Fling on this quilt.  It fit the modern flowers in the focus fabric really well.