Sew-Sew Saturday

Mom's sewing. That means nothing else is getting done. Works for me.

Thursday Thoughts

Mom's been sewing. I've been snoopervising. Last week I showed you four houses. Here are the others she has made since. You can click them to biggify.

Mom's having brain cramps trying to figure out what colors to use for the Ginger Cat that won the Gizzy Quilt Raffle. Rusty likes to sleep on a cranberry red chair and on the blue and green bedspread on his mom's bed. Ginger Cats... Your ideas are most welcome! Please leave them in the comments.

thanks!

Saturday Caturday

This is the Maple tree in the back yard. This is the view from the kitchen window. Mom will be sewing her letters today. She has made them all through S. Tomorrow she will try to finish the last 7. She's got to do some housework too.

I'll be napping. I'm no fool.

Tuxie Tuesday

The weatherguys say it is supposed to be sunny and warm today, so the snow should melt. It has been melting, but it's hard to tell. Still, the snowbanks on our side of the street are shrinking. But since there is still snow on the ground, it means that Mungo and Teazer are both out of the running for the When When contest. Sorry. (Mungo, I forgot to mention you on March 12.)

Mom worked on the HAM Meezer Raffle Quilt tonight. Auntie brought over three blocks and Mom sewed them all up. The quilt is getting big. If Auntie finishes the blocks this week, Mom and Auntie will get together on Sunday to tie it, and then Mom will finish it and send it to Mary Kay in Padukah next week.
As you can see, I have been checking the quilt for love, kindness, warmth and all the other magical qualities a quilt should possess. So far, so good!

QA on Saturday

You think a Cat doing Quality Assurance is an easy job? Sure, I get to check for good design, great colors, softness, kindness, happiness. Yes, I make sure my smell is on everything, so cats will make sure to cover it up with their own (this is my own special way of making sure cats take ownership of their Gizzy quilts.)

Well, sometimes it means telling Mom she goofed. Remember that design she planned for the back of the “Slashed Squares Quilt”? The one where the backing was a big block? Well, the design was good, but when Mom got up this morning and sewed it together, she goofed big time.

Check this out. Can you see what she did? Here’s a picture of the way it is supposed to be to help you figure it out.
So she had to take it apart and sew it back together the right way.

(sigh!)

Mom says this is the last time she's ever going to get tricky on the back of a quilt.

Formerly Feral Friday

There's still snow on the ground. The weatherman says we are supposed to see the sun today, but it doesn't look like it to me. We are supposed to get rain all weekend. Two inches. Doesn't sound like much, but the ground is still frozen here, so the water won't have anywhere to go, so there are warnings for "surface flooding" out. You can click the picture to biggify to see where the snow has melted, and to compare the pictures to previous days' pics.

I've been helping Mom. See:She went to the store to buy fabric for the back of the quilt with the "Slashed Squares." She needed 8 yards, but the store didn't have enough of the one she wanted. So she got all they had - 4 yards, and then bought 4 yards of another fabric that was really close in color and tone. She brought it home and gave it to the washing monster. Later, lying in bed, she was trying to figure out how to put the fabrics together so the back of the quilt wouldn't look stupid. Suddenly an idea popped into her head, and BAM! Next thing I know she's up, running around in her nightgown at midnight, rummaging through her fabric boxes.

During breakfast she was scribbling on a piece of paper with a calculator nearby. Sheesh! You wouldn't think you had to be a math genius to make a quilt, but I guess you do, sorta. Anyway, she came home from her day hunting gig and started measuring and cutting. I helped, too, as you can see. I love running across the dining room floor when there isn't any furniture in the middle of the room. I can get going REALLY FAST, and the fabrics make a good slide.

I wouldn't get to have this kind of fun if I was still a feral kitty.

After a few hours, she took a picture. She isn't finished, and this is the FIRST time ever she has worked on the BACK of a quilt before she even finished the FRONT.

Does this look familiar? Can you see where she got the idea?
To give you an idea of what she calls the "scale" This colorful block is 14" square. The giant one on the floor is 84" square. And she says it's gonna grow. Mimmay wants it, but Mom says it already has a home.

Sewing With Auntie

Mom says sewing with Auntie is different. For one thing Auntie doesn't have a sewing room like Mom does. For another, Auntie is much more, uh... shall we say... "spontaneous."

And even though they have worked on quilts together in the past, it always surprises both of them how once their pieces are assembled, it's pretty hard to tell who did what unless you really really really look closely.

This is the "big row." There are three more rows, composed of five blocks each. These rows will be across the width of the quilt.

Mom has finished all her blocks; Auntie has 7 more to make. But Mom doesn't have a husband and child to care for and take or teach Karate classes.

It's the Boy's (who now has a new name, but you have to read it there) 11th birthday today. Please go over to Roxy & Lucky's and leave him some Happy Birthday wishes!

Sunny Sewing Sunday

Mom made five blocks for the HAM Meezer Benefit Quilt yesterday. She says they are prettier in real life.

(you can click the pictures to biggify)

Next she will be getting together with Auntie and they'll start turning these blocks into a quilt. Mom and Auntie have decided to extend the HAM Meezer Quilt Raffle another week so cats and their beans, and everybody else can have a chance to see the finished quilt.

Go on over to Derby's, as he is showing off his new Gizzy Quilt. He won the Churchill Raffle.

And lookit this... this was our street yesterday in the snowstorm. Concord NH has had over 108" of snow this year. The record is 122" and that's one record I do not want to break.

Snowy Sewing Saturday

It is snowing. Again! Mom isn't planning on going -anywhere- today. You can find out more about the snow over at Roxy's.

Mom sewed up that block we showed you yesterday, then did this big one. Now she has her three big blocks finished. Lined up next to each other, they look like this:

You can click the pictures to biggify.

Because she knew she wouldn't be going out today, she went food hunting after work, and then went out and came back with some DVD's about some guy named Bourne. She says she's all set for a nice cozy weekend. She says she can't wait for Monday, because it is supposed to be 47 degrees and rainy.

Huh?

Rain and warm temperatures melt the snow, Millie.

Supervising Sewing Saturday

Mom made 48 long strips of that fabric, and has been cutting those long pairs up into chunks.

She had 48 pairs, and has cut 36 of them into chunks:

I have been supervising, but I do not understand one thing. Cutting is taking things apart. Sewing is putting things together. Mom is cutting, not sewing, but today is Sewing Saturday.

How can that be? Tell me, please, because I just don't get it.

Sew Sew Saturday

Mom is -finally- back to making Gizzy Quilts. She finished this one last night and it is flying out to its owner today.
This is a gift quilt. One cat ordered it as a surprise for another cat. The recipient cat was allowed to select colors. But this lady cat (you can tell this quilt is going to a lady cat!) doesn't know who is giving the gift, and won't know until the quilt arrives next week.

Mom has made several of these. Sometimes the cat knows a quilt is coming, but most of the time, the cats have been completely surprised (right, Jan?) Sometimes, the Gizzy Quilts are given as gifts (like these for Rainbow & Muse from the Furry Bambinos).

Next, Mom will be working on more gift quilts, and one is for a -gasp- woofie!

Mom has been looking for quilt blogs. She learned that an unfinished quilt, like one that got started and then set aside, is called a UFO, for unfinished object. She also discovered that a finished quilt top is called a flimsy.

Some quilters have lots of flimsies and UFOs around. Mom has two. One is a baby quilt in wimpy pastel colors. Neither Mr Karate nor the Karate Lady like it. It's pretty, but not like the quilts Mom makes now. They think Mom should finish it and donate it to a worthy cause. The other flimsy is for a big bean bed, and it's in browns, Mom's least favorite color. She made it for somebody she liked, but then she stopped liking the person. Every time she looks at it, she thinks of that person, so it will probably be UFO forever.

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Update: Mom has agreed to donate both UFOs to an organization that will finish the quilts and give them to underprivileged kidbeans.

Sewing & Spaghetti Saturday

Mom and I have designed up some nifty quilts and sent the pictures to the cats who ordered them. While we are waiting for them to tell us to go ahead, we are putting together a few quilts we think some cats might like. So these three are for sale. As Mom and I finish these up, we will replace these "in progress" pictures with pictures of the finished quilts. They are all much prettier in real life than in these pictures.

This first one is True Blue.
This next one is Romantic Green.This last one is Halloween.
You can click the pictures to biggify. If you are interested in buying any of these 3 quilts, email me at DarlingMillie AT gmail DOT com for all the details.

It's getting cold out, so Mom has got a big batch of spaghetti sauce simmering on the stove. It has pork spare ribs in it, and it smells really good. I know I'm a big fan of Beef, but I think Pork is gonna be a favorite too.

Jeez Louise, she just added 3 pounds of meatballs made with beef, pork and veal...

How to Make a Kitty Quilt - Step 11 - Finishing!

(This is the last step in the series of blogs about making a kitty quilt. At the bottom of this blog there is some news. As always, you can click the pictures to biggify.)

Adding the binding is the last step to making a kitty quilt. It covers the edges, and if done well, really adds a nice finish.

For a kitty quilt, Mom cuts 3 2-inch wide strips, selvage-to-selvage, and joins them at a 45-degree angle to make one long strip.

Mom has a nifty tool to fold the binding, so she runs it through this little tool and presses it as it comes out.

She opens up the binding strip she has made, and lines it up against the edge of the quilt and sews. She stops a bit before the corner, so she can miter the corner later.
Here she's turned the corner and folded up the binding so it will be a nice mitered corner on the front.
When she gets back to the side where she started, she joins the two edges in a 45-degree seam, so it won't be bulky when it gets turned over. Also, this way you can't tell where she started and where she finished.


This is where the start and finish joined together.
She turns the quilt over and folds the binding to the front, so it covers the sewing machine stitches, and pins it in place.

At the corner, she folds it up special so it looks really nice. A "mitered" corner. Oops, this picture is out of focus...

Then Mom sews the binding to the quilt, following the edge of the binding. When she gets all the way around, she cuts the threads and takes out all the pins.

Then she does her QA check - she makes sure she has removed all the pins and cut all the threads. She shakes the quilt to get any dust and kitty fur off (ha ha) and takes a picture of the quilt.

The End.

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Mom has finished all the kitty quilts she's going to make for a while. She has a big project she will be working on during June and some of July, and when she's finished that, she'll start making kitty quilts again. Mom says she's not gonna post any more about the Gizzy quilts until she's done this big project.

(psst... the project has to do with...)

Millie! The project is a -secret- you're not supposed to say anything about it.

All right, all right. Mom says she will post about two more quilts. She is gonna make one for Jasmine, and she says Danica Patrick was her inspiration. I so totally don't get this, but you might.

Mom is also gonna make a quilt to auction to benefit some kitty. This would be a very special quilt, and a bit different from all the rest. She has been wanting to do this for some time but has been so Bizzy for Gizzy she just couldn't.


(the project is Chri...)

Millie!

How to Make a Kitty Quilt - Step 10

Mom machine quilts the kitty quilts by sewing a line of stitches between each of the four rows of blocks. She sews very close the the edge of one row. It is called "stitching in the ditch." It's tricky, and sometimes the rows of stitches wobble a bit, but most of the time it is almost invisible.
Mom uses grey thread for sewing the blocks together, and even the quilting. She says it's such a neutral, it fades into the background of any color.


It took Mom many quilts to figure out how to do the quilting without the quilt backing fabric rippling. Originally she tried to sew all three rows one after the other. But finally she figured out doing the middle row first, then smoothing out the top and backing, pinning in place, and then sewing the next quilting row eliminated the rippling. Notice in the picture there are lots of pins on each side of the row of quilting.

Ok, the really observant cat will notice that on this pink quilt above, Mom is using pink thread. I don't know what got into her, except that it's my quilt (finally)

After the quilting is complete, you get to smooth it all out (again), take out the pins and trim the backing and any fleece sticking out beyond the top of the quilt.

The last step, adding the binding, will come real soon!

(you can click the pictures to biggify)

How to Make a Kitty Quilt - Step 9

Once you have your kitty quilt top made, you have to make a kitty quilt sandwich. (Don't worry, it's not made from real kitties.)

Iron the kitty quilt top so it is nice and flat and doesn't have any wrinkles, then lay it out on a worktable, wrong side up.
Mom uses nice, soft warm fleece for the middle of the kitty quilt sandwich. She gets light gray colored fleece because she doesn't want it showing through light colored fabrics. Cut the fleece just a little bigger than the kitty quilt. Mom uses a big square of cardboard as a template, as seen here. She draws around it in pencil, then cuts on the line.

Place the fleece middle on top of the kitty quilt, making sure the kitty quilt is completely covered by the fleece all around.

Now you have to iron the fabric that will be the back of the kitty quilt.

When the backing fabric is all nice and flat, place it on top the the kitty quilt top and filling, making sure the filling is covered on all sides. Holding all layers together in each corner, flip the kitty quilt sandwich over, so the top faces up.

Flatten out any wrinkles or bumpy areas, and pin the layers together, placing pins about 6" apart.

Trim the excess fabric around all 4 sides, cutting the backing about 1/2 " larger than the kitty quilt.
Next step -- quilting your kitty quilt!

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Could you make a doggie quilt?

Sure!
Just make a quilt big enough for your dog.