A Mariner's Compass Quilt

I went shopping today at a new-to-me quilt store to find fabrics for a mariner's compass quilt. Tonight I pieced the first 3 segments of the centerpiece, here they are pinned on the inspiration fabric. I picked the background fabric up at a quilt shop in Anacortes, WA during my trip to the Puget Sound, the figures are traditional native designs. Since my entire time up there was spent living on a boat and sailing I knew I wanted to use it in a mariner's compass. I modified the design shown on this website and drew out a paper piecing pattern on butcher paper.

I have also been quilting slow and steady on my neglected double irish chain. Maybe I'll get it done quilting before I finish this top. Who knows? It could happen. :)

Photos of Summer

I went to summer camp with this cutie. He is happy, talkative, and VERY active!

With the return to classes and the search for a real job my desire to quilt has returned as well. I spent tonight drawing out a paper piecing pattern (the old fashioned way, with a pencil and ruler) for a mariner's compass quilt and I'm going shopping tomorrow. Before I dive back into quilting related posts, I want to dedicate this post to some photos from my summer. It's been one to remember.


For the end of July and beginning of August I spent 3 weeks crewing on the tall ship Hawaiian Chieftain in the Puget Sound. The Chieftain is on the right in this photo, the Lady Washington on the left. I really enjoyed wearing jackets and longsleeves during what are the hottest 3 weeks of the year for Texas.





Back tomorrow with quilting news!

Not Dead, Just Lazy

I've been enjoying my lazy summer - maybe a little too much! It turns out that I mostly quilt for stress relief, and when I'm not stressed I lose all motivation to quilt.

I recently made a couple of little purses based on this tutorial with the fabrics I won this spring.

I also finished the sampler quilt last night and today. I leave for camp tomorrow, so it had to be done.

I quilted large, random, overlapping squares in the red areas and outlined the designs in the samplers. At first I wasn't sure about the fish fabric for the back, but now that it's together I really like it.

Realistically, this will probably be the last post for another long while. I am leaving tomorrow for a week of camp and immediately after that we leave for two weeks of roadtrip vacation visiting family. I just wanted to check in and let you know I wasn't gone for good. Hope you're having a great summer! Kat.

Thor

This is Thor, the fourth cat I'm profiling. He was my first bottle baby kitten, and he's still my baby to this day. There's really no other way to get a kitten to imprint on you that strongly. Thor was found by a friend of ours at about one and a half weeks old in a puddle after a rainstorm around October of 03. We weren't sure he would live, but just kept feeding him steadily and he pulled through.


He was always a ferocious little thing, so we settled on Thor for a name. He is completely orange, even his nose is orange! He can be defensive around strange people, cats, or dogs - he can definitely hold his own - but with us he's just a big baby. (Are you seeing a theme here with our cats?) He worries if we walk too far from the house and follows about 10 feet behind making pitiful warning cries. He absolutely HATES it when you whistle. If I ever go sit down on the porch he's up in my lap immediately; and whenever I carry him he wraps his arms around my neck and nuzzles me like he used to when he was a kitten. He is also the mighty slayer of hummingbirds. He knows which flowers they prefer and will hide in the foliage until one flies up and jump and pull it down.


I won 3rd place in the photo contest at the local Fall festival with this shot of him checking out a pumpkin. (I did bait the pumpkin with cat food, but we don't have to tell anyone.)

Only one more cat to go! By the way, there may be a severe lack of quilting material on this blog for a little while. I'm just not in the mood lately.

Another cat, and a new toy!

This is Turtle, the third cat I'm profiling. There were four kittens in Turtle's litter, all black and white. They were born the summer of 07 under a friend's trailer. After their mother was killed in the road the kittens started meowing pitifully from inside the ducting under the trailer. Our friend told us to come get them if we wanted them to live, so we did. One kitten died mysteriously after a day but the other three thrived. I bottle fed them (every four hours, throughout the night...) for about a week or two and then they started eating real food. One of his brothers was given away to an older lady and the other was incompletely neutered and subsequently ran away.

Turtle was briefly bonded to a fuzzy house shoe during his kitten-hood. He got his name because there are white gaps at the tops of his legs, base of his tail, and back of his neck, as if the "shell" of black on his back stops there. He is the largest of our cats. I've always said he's dense, because he's just so much heavier than he looks. He is a lazy, happy go lucky kinda boy. He purrs constantly, everywhere he goes, and when he purrs he squeaks, as if his motor has a squeaky wheel. He also drools when he purrs, which can be a little gross; our house is full of "special" cats.




Check out this cool new cutting mat I got! It's small to fit on top of my desk and it has two parts so it spins. You don't have to turn your fabric, just spin the mat to get the perfect angle. It's pretty nice.

I other news, I've started quilting on the Irish chain quilt. I decided to go with the simple grid design, but there isn't much to see yet. Today I'm going into the city! I hope your day is great :-)

Wordless Wednesay

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blogging due to migraine. Fortunately, it's Wednesday! So instead, enjoy this picture of Thor, who'll be coming up soon in my profiles of all the local cats.

Wanted: Advice on Quilting (and another cat)

This is Calley, the next cat I'm profiling. Yes, I know that's the most un-original name for a calico cat ever. I named her E.T., but my parents overruled - so what can you do? She is the other kitten we kept out of Elvis' litter. She is the only girl out of our cats and she is absolutely the Princess (and she knows it!) Everything has to be her way all the time. She can be sweet when she's in the mood, but she's definitely more fickle than our boys.










When she was a baby she really looked odd, even alien, with her washed out fur, tiny, flat head, and strange eyes. She's a genuine knot head, figuratively and literally, having a little bump on the back to her skull. She was my dad's favorite of that litter, which is why she got to stay. I keep hearing him call her all the pet names he called me growing up, so I think I may've been replaced by a cat.






On the quilting front, today I basted the double Irish chain, or at least I was until I ran out of pins. It will have to remain taped to the floor for a couple of hours until I can run to the store. I am still undecided about the quilting for this one. I know I want to do some kind of straight line quilting. I am debating between quadruple diagonal lines running through the chains, possibly with something more elaborate in the blank squares, or horizontal and vertical lines a quarter inch on either side of the seams. I feel like the grid quilting would give it a more modern feel, which I like, but I'm worried it will overwhelm the piecing pattern. I also find the diagonal lines kind of boring, but I know it will accentuate the pattern and I could try something fun and new in the blank spaces. I'll probably start quilting tomorrow, so, any advice, guys?