Baker's Dozen

I finished numbers 12 and 13 in the kennel quilt series this week, but before I get to that, you may be wondering when is it ever going to end? 

Rest assured the pile of scrubs is dwindling.  There are probably just a couple more that can be squeaked out of what's left, which isn't much, considering it started with all these one year ago. 

The little stack below is what remains.  Well, that and the pile of trimmings in the background at the far end of the cutting table. 

That's scrap purgatory back there, stuff a bit too substantial to put directly in the trash, and so it solemnly awaits judgment.  Will the bits and bobs end up in the bin, or might they find new life as crumb blocks?  It all depends how I'm feeling the day I decide to deal with them.  I'm fickle that way.

Kennel quilt number 12 got some loopy meander quilting, kind of like the flight pattern of the butterflies Bambi might be chasing right off the edge of the quilt.

Here's the back.

As for kennel quilt number 13, I'll start with the back first, because I love it so!

The black mod tree print was a fat quarter from a fellow quilt blogger's destashing a couple years ago.  

The teal above and below the black print was a Moda FQ that came to me via the thrift store.  There's a strip of hot pink scrub pants and then what was left of a vintage tropical print that I had used for the  backing on another kennel quilt.  The binding is pieced from binding scraps from the last few quilts.

The front started as 4-inch squares, then four-patches, then arranged once again in a streak of lightning kind of thing.  If it ain't broke...

I've been using no less than three machines on each of these quilts.  The Juki handles the quilting, the Brother (a/k/a Everett) is a stellar piecer with his 1/4-inch foot, and Ye Olde Golden Singer 603 does a good job with its walking foot in attaching bindings. 

Couldn't one machine just do it all?  Yeah, but where's the fun in that?  I kind of like having the right tool for the job all ready to go, although it makes for a bit of a crowd on the sewing table.

As the summer of making doggie quilts draws to a close, an infusion of new fabric brings with it fresh possibilities.  A birthday squishy from a friend included these beauties.  Ooh!  So sweet!

And Jo-Ann had a half-off sale on their Red Tag fabric recently, which seemed like a good opportunity to plump up the stash.

Linking to:  Can I Get a Whoop Whoop.

Back to It

It's been a couple of weeks since I checked in here, so I guess I better blow the cobwebs off.  

Not this one, though.  Do you see it?  I spotted it glinting in the sun while I was having a glass of iced tea on the deck this afternoon.  Now if only a spiderweb could catch and hold onto these halcyon days of summer before they flitter away on translucent wings.

I've been cranking out the kennel quilts.  Actually, cranking is maybe not the right word.  It connotes a kind of drudgery, and making these little quilts is anything but.  I'm quite enjoying it.

I keep thinking the stack of scrubs should be dwindling down to nothing. But wait, there's more!

Still keeping it simple with either HSTs or squares, but I've been playing a little more with the quilting.

I did elongated loopy-loops on the solid chevrons and a smaller meander in the lighter parts on kennel quilt #10, above.

Quilt #11 had a shamrock print in one of the scrubs, which inspired some shamrock shaped quilting.

The backing continues the theme, a thrift store fabric find from a couple years ago that's been sitting on the shelf waiting for its time to shine.  Sometime other than the one day a year in March when I usually think of it, that is.

I've got kennel quilt #12, below, in the works.  I had some fun with this one.  

After I'd sliced up the purple scrub top into 5-inch squares, I noticed I had various iterations of Bambi among the pieces.  So I arranged them to look like s/he's scampering across the quilt top.

Yep, I'm easily entertained!

There's sure to be more quilty entertainment over at the linky party, Can I Get a Whoop-Whoop!

Sunday Sundry 8-9-15

Welcome to Sunday Sundry, the almost-birthday edition!  That exclamation point is about as excited as I get about my birthday, although I do enjoy getting together with people to celebrate.  I'm looking forward to having lunch tomorrow with Dad and my sister, and I very much enjoyed visiting with my daughter over a meal at Outback yesterday.

As far as cake, that's been covered with the Chocolate Beet Cake I made this weekend.  Because when life (via the garden) hands you beets...you make cake!  Am I right?  Doesn't everyone?  ;)

Well, whether or not beets are involved, we do love our cake around here.

(But we do, darn it...we really do.)

This was the first beet I pulled from Dad's garden—it's heart-shaped!  Two plants grew together and formed one.  Ah, now there's a lovely metaphor.

Not so lovely to behold were the first rutabagas (elsewhere known as swedes...which reminds me of Tess of the D'Urbervilles, slavishly digging swedes from the muck for winter cattle feed).

Certainly, they are not a glamorous veg, but I put them—washed, peeled, and cubed, of course—in the slow cooker today with carrots and a tenderloin tip roast.  They were delish!

On the Wall
I finished two more kennel quilts in the past week or so, and have another small one on the design wall.

This one uses parts of two scrub tops with butterflies and two scrub pants, in sort of a Charlie-Brown-shirt zigzag or chevron.

You can see the backing I pieced for it on the cutting table below.  I love being able to use up odds and ends from the stash for the quilt backs and bindings.

Here are the other two I finished during the week.  Just patchwork squares.  Soft and simple.

These particular quilts are 25 x 45 inches.  

The pink/butterfly chevron above will be 24.5 x 32.5.

Being Human
Season 1 of Poldark finished last Sunday, unfortunately, before I was finished admiring its star, Aidan Turner.  Thankfully, I found a new-to-me series on Netflix to tide me over.

 

Being Human, the UK version, is pretty awesome!  I'd never seen the American TV version (which some say sucked, and they weren't talking about the vampires).

The premise almost sounds like the setup to a joke:  A vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost move into a flat together.  Drama (and some hilarity) ensues!  The characters are interesting and funny and have great chemistry, and you end up caring about what happens to them.  I'm only on episode four, but I predict some serious binge-watching ahead.

Looks like I picked up a few new followers yesterday, and welcome to you all!  My Blogger stats tell me a whole bunch of people popped in from Facebook in the last day or two, but I don't know why.  Can anyone enlighten me?

I hope your week is off to a great start!