Pink Panther, Quilted

 

The Pink Panther quilt is quilted in a pattern called "Jester" which is appropriate, given how this quilt played with my head while I was making it.

Here's a closer view.

Millie had to give the quilt a once over. 

She gave it a second and third-over too. She was quite thorough.

Here you can see the back of the quilt, and the binding I'll use.

It's not often I have THREE quilts I'm excited to finish all at the same time.

Ready for My Beauty Shot

 Waltzing Matilda is ready for her beauty shot.

This isn't quite it. I like to take beauty shots outside.

Millie has given the quilt her Paw of Approval. Four Paws, actually, a rare honor, but then, this quilt is going to a Very Special Person.

I've been working hard the last few days, sewing my way around the quilt, and doing research about shipping it 10,099.90 miles (16,254.22 km) to Megan in Sydney, Australia. (Got that all sorted, actually.)

(You can click on this picture, then click again to get a bigger and more detailed view.)

The quilt is really gorgeous, and I am kinda jealous. I really really like it. But it's OK. I can make myself another. I'm glad it's going to a home that will love it as much as I do.

I will try to take it out over the next few days when I can take pictures of it outside. (When it goes to Oz it will never see snow again.) Then I will bring it inside and stuff it in the washing machine and then the dryer to make it all soft and crinkly. I'll fold it nicely and wrap it in a plastic bag and then I'll wrap a bit of bubble wrap around it, stuff it in a box, and had it off the the guys in the proverbial bloo (or brown or dark bloo shorts) and they will put it on a truck and eventually a plane and eventually another truck and then in some magical period of time as yet to be determined, it will arrive "home." 

What a lovely thought!

update: Dorothy, I always add a sheet with my address and the address the package is going to inside anything I ship. Thanks for sharing the suggestion for others who may not know.

Fantastic Voyage

 

I've got the binding all sewn onto the 58 Carats quilt, now I just have to hand sew it down. I got it all ready the other night and then I saw Millie letting me know in no uncertain terms that SHE ruled the roost. She didn't care if this was an "Art" Quilt, she was going to fur it up.  

Um no.

I like the fabric I'm using for the binding. For the most part it blends in with the dark navy background, but there is just enough color to make it interesting.

But that's not what I wanted to write about. 

You all know of my love of blue painter's tape and how it is useful for so many things. I keep a roll in my kitchen to label the plastic bins I put in the fridge. HUMMUS, CHICKEN STOCK, VEG STOCK, COCONUT MILK, BBQ SAUCE, PESTO, etc. etc. 

Well. The kitchen wastebasket is big and plastic and the last time I emptied it I noticed the bottom had a big crack in it. It's not a huge deal as I use the big plastic bags that can stretch and stretch and are pierce resistant. But I was at the big box hardware store last week and I decided to get a new one, since I was out and about. (A rare thing nowadays, as you all know.)

So I've replaced it, and now I have to throw the bad one out. I'm thinking that if I just put it out at the curb the trash guys are going to empty the stuff in their truck and then dump it back on my lawn. So the other night when I was putting the trash and recycling to the curb, I decided I should make a sign for the cracked wastebasket. I grabbed a couple of pieces of paper and wrote, "TAKE ME, I'M BROKEN" and grabbed the blue painter's tape and went outside and did all my stuff. The trash and recycle bins live under my carport, so I put the tape on the hood of the car while I got everything ready. I taped the signs to the wastebasket and put all the stuff out at the curb.

Yesterday morning, I looked outside and sure enough, it had worked. The guys had taken my cracked wastebasket away.

Once a week because of work I have to drive into the center of town to bring stuff to the Post Office. I did that yesterday afternoon. It's about a five mile ride to the PO through a winding road that follows the river and then winds through town. On the way home I stopped at the mail house and picked up my mail, then drove back home. As I am gathering up my things I happen to look out the windshield and I see something funny on the hood of my car.

Yeah.

Millie Monday

This is me, Millie, Lynne's cat. I am hijacking her blog for the day. Why? Because I can. Besides, when she stuck a whole lot of nice new fabric warm out of the dryer, I hopped right on it and decided I wanted to nap here. I'm a Cat. That's my job. If she didn't want me napping on it, she should have put it somewhere else.

So what's with all the new fabric? It's green and she says she has to change some letters on her No Paper-Piecing Quilt. Now that I have made it mine, she will have to move ME to get to it.

That'll happen when I'm done napping.

You know, whenever.

Like two or three or twenty four sleeps from now.

Quilted Dairy Cream

The Dairy Cream (with Sprinkles) quilt has been quilted. Here is a detail. I have to trim it down, and add the binding, which I have already chosen.

Millie, naturally, is doing the Quality Assurance check.

The Chicken Comes Home

My Chicken quilt arrived home yesterday from being quilted by Chris in Tennessee. The quilt itself was so busy we both agreed there was no room for fussy custom quilting. Chris selected an appropriate all over pattern for the quilt, and it's gorgeous.  I love it.

Millie does, too.

Rainbow Baby, Quilted

The rainbow baby quilt is back from being quilted. As soon as I spread it out on the bed, Millie lay on it.

She is enjoying entirely too much.


I asked my Mom if she saw the photos of the Sunburst Rainbow quilt.

"Are you KIDDING?" she said, "I have been watching that every day. It's GORGEOUS. That quilt HAS to come to me. I'M the only person who can really appreciate that quilt..."

She did allow that she wasn't quite sure about the backing. "Well," I said, "I didn't want it to be TOO bright. I mean, I have an all-red quilt, and there aren't many people who can handle that..."

"I'M one of them," my Mom said, "I love that red quilt.  I can take a bright quilt like that..."



I love my Mother. Really and truly. She so totally rocks. If you're an oddball, and you've known you're an oddball your whole live through, it's so wonderful to have somebody like that in your corner. If Mom wants the quilt, Mom is gonna get the quilt.

With a bright backing.

My Quality Inspector

Last night I shortened the sleeves of a ladies' undershirt, so they wouldn't stick out past the sleeves of my blouses. Not very quilty, so today I present Millie, my Quality Assurance Inspector. She makes sure all the quilts I make are filled with love and kindness. She also adds that little je ne sais quoi.

So far, so good...

I'm almost halfway through sewing the binding on my Alphabet Sampler Quilt. I set it down on the coffee table tonight when I needed something in another room. When I got back, Millie had made herself comfortable.

Glad she approves.