A little gift from heaven...

I've been meaning to post these pictures for several weeks, but as usual, time has gotten away from me.

My parents feed and care for a number of feral cats at their place; I've mentioned them a time or two before.  A couple of months ago, one of the cats gave birth to a single kitten and he was a special guy from the get go.  They named him Spock.

Spock

Absolutely if I didn't already have 4 cats, I'm sure he would have come home with me.  What was so surprising was that all of the other feral cats would play with and babysit him as well.  He wasn't afraid of any of the other cats or of people either.

He also had a thing for attacking flowers.  He would run up, grab them and rabbit kick them until they died.  Fortunately, my mom isn't too attached to the flowers in her yard, because she has none of them left.  He's killed them all.

I remember thinking the first time that I met him that he wasn't long for this world and unfortunately I was right.  God called him home yesterday.  I considered not posting these pictures or his story; however, he brought a lot of joy to some people and he should be remembered for that.  Goodbye Spock.  Rest in peace.

Until later...

But God untied the death ropes and raised him up. Death was no match for him. 

Acts 2:24 (MSG)

Still 'Leaping' Away...

The extra border fabric for my Leap Year quilt came in a couple of days ago and I wasted no time in sewing it on.  I was eager to call this top finished!  I wasn't sure what size to make the border, so I auditioned a couple of widths first before finally deciding on 5 inches.

Auditioning potential border widths before cutting my fabric

The top now finishes at 67" x 76", which is a little too big to lay out on my sewing room floor, so I brought it down and laid it across my bed to get a good picture of it.

'Leap Year' laid across our bed

Uh oh!  Seeing how well it fit across our bed got me thinking that it wouldn't take that much more effort to turn it into a king size quilt.  And I've been wanting to make a patriotic quilt for our bed for quite some time.  (Should I mention that I have yet to finish even one king-size quilt for our room and our current quilt comes from Kohl's?)

So I've decided to add another border of 16 patches around the outside and a final outer border of the blue fabric.  That should make it plenty big enough.  This fabric line is Wiscasset by Minick & Simpson and is several years old, but I lucked out and managed to find one last Layer Cake online and a few yards of the blue, which should be enough to finish the quilt.  Both of those purchases should be in later this week and I can hopefully get started on it again.

Like most of the country, we've been experiencing record breaking high temperatures and no rain.  In fact, we just finished 7 days in a row of 100+ degree temperatures.  Everything's been drying up here, which is why I was shocked to see my Asiatic Lily bloom this year.  It's looked as sickly as everything else and I was convinced it wasn't going to bloom.  (It's actually supposed to bloom in the Spring.)  However, it surprised me and started with the most glorious blossoms this past week and more are opening every day.

Love Story Asiatic Lily

A cold front (relatively speaking) moved in last night and we're supposed to get rain every day this week.  When I checked this morning, there were another 8 blooms getting ready to open.  God is glorious, isn't He!

Until later...

I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High. 

Psalm 9:2 (NLT)

My sewing buddy...

Recently, I had some family come to visit.  My niece is on summer vacation and she came to play for a week with her favorite Aunt (coincidentally her only one).  While I worked on my Leap Year quilt, she was busy working on her very first quilt, a recent birthday gift from her Uncle.

My temporary sewing buddy

The kit is a beginner quilt kit from Connecting Threads and has the softest flannels in it.  I did all the rotary cutting (because she's still a little too young to do it on her own), but she helped organize and label all the fabric.  She also sewed every piece in the first couple of rows together by herself.  (We practiced on some scrap fabrics to get the hang of the quarter inch seam first.)  She did all of the pressing by herself too.

My niece ironing her quilt

We only had time to do the first couple of rows.  She still has 4 more to put together and a border.  Now that she's back home, she has Grandma to help her out with the rest of it.  Perhaps if she enjoys quilting as much as her Grandma and I do, we might have to see about getting her her own sewing machine in the future.  She certainly did a much better job with her quarter inch seam than I did when I started quilting!

Her quilt in progress

We were so busy during her visit here with exercising and shopping and sewing and swimming and so many other things that I think she was just exhausted.  Gabriel has also been on a new exercise regimen and has been extremely tired too.

Aren't they just adorable together?

Until later...

Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding. 

Proverbs 3:13 (NLT)

It's the last day of the month...

That must mean it's time for me to furiously attempt to finish this month's Schnibbles quilt in time for the parade tomorrow.  Last month I hit the post button a mere 2 minutes before the deadline.  This month, I was a bit better with my time management and still have almost 12 hours left.  Then again, I'm not actually calling this one done.  Yet.

Leap Year - A Schibbles Quilt by Carrie Nelson

The Schnibbles quilt selected for June's Another Year of Schnibbles is Leap Year by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.   Compared to last month's selection, Doc, this quilt was quick and easy to put together.  What was even better, Carrie Nelson gave everyone who has participated in AYOS this year the pattern for free!  In honor of Independence Day just around the corner, I chose to make mine using a Layer Cake of Wiscasset by Minnick & Simpson.

Fabrics for my Leap Year quilt

This quilt went together pretty quickly.  There were a bunch of strip sets to sew together, then sub-cut, then sew back together.  It's rather mindless sewing, but still fun and quick.  Before long, I had my 42 blocks for the larger version of the quilt.  (Carrie has instructions in her pattern for this larger version.)

All my 16-patches for the quilt center

I initially planned to use the floral print I had from this fabric line for another border, but when I laid it out, I just didn't think it looked right.  I asked Mr. Quilting Bug for his opinion and he agreed.  Even though this fabric is in the quilt, it's just too frilly for it.

Auditioning the border print

Although the fabric has been out for quite a few years, I managed to find some of it online and ordered one of the darker blues to use as an outer border.  Until it arrives, I'll just set this aside.  For now, it's size is 58" x 67"...

Leap Year - waiting for it's outer border

I'm hopeful that I can get the outer border on and get it quilted by Labor Day.  Otherwise, I'm not seeing much use for a Patriotic quilt until next year.  However, it's supposed to be 108 degrees today, so I'm not really needing anything to snuggle under right now anyways!  Here's hoping you're staying cool wherever you are.

Until later...

“No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” 

1 Corinthians 2:11b (NIV)  

Family Portraits...

Recently, my family got together to take portraits.  It was a gift for our parents 40th wedding anniversary.  Mr. Quilting Bug and I also had some shots taken of us with Gabriel.  Kudos to our photographer, because it's definitely not easy to photograph a dog who's far more interested in her four-legged friends than smiling for the camera.  Fortunately, at least a few of her pictures turned out.

Mr. Quilting Bug, myself and Gabriel

However, others didn't look quite so good.  They perfectly capture the essence of Gabriel though!

Just look at that tongue!

We also got some other family groupings.  I especially love this one with three generations of the women in our family.

My sister, my mother, my niece and myself

Our photographer is Anna-Rebekah Orr, a dear neighbor of ours.  We really feel she did a great job with all of us.  We took the pictures at a local park - one that Gabriel and I walk in most days.  Hence, she spent far too much time looking for friends when she should have been paying attention!  I would certainly love to have some pictures of us with the cats one day, but I don't think there are strong enough tranquilizers on the market for that to happen.  (In case you're wondering, the drugs would be for the cats.)

Until later...

Everything on earth has its own time and its own season. 

Ecclesiastes 3:1 (CEV)

Modulus...

Sometimes the hardest part of making a quilt is coming up with the name.  Most of the time it's not.  (OK, it almost never is.)  But in this case, I really struggled with it, along with a few other things.

I finally settled on the name Modulus.  It's a homage back to my previous life as a Computer Engineer.  'Mod' is a programming term used to calculate the remainder of 2 numbers.  For example, 4 mod 3 = 1.  It's appropriate, because this quilt was made entirely using half-square triangles remaining from another quilt.  (I grossly miscalculated the number I needed on the previous quilt.)  Thus was born Modulus...

This is also another long-term quilt in that I finished the top roughly 3 years ago.  I was planning to hang it in our living room after it was quilted and wanted some really nice feathered quilting on it.  My quilting skills weren't up to the challenge at the time, so I sent it out to a friend to professionally quilt it for me.  Unfortunately, she's had some rough health and family challenges over the last couple of years and it took a while for her to get to it.  She did an amazing job quilting it though and I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

Closeup of the quilting on the back

As soon as I managed to finish the binding (which still took me another 3 weeks), Mr. Quilting Bug and I hung it on the wall.  We'd been saving the spot about the love seat for over 2 years just for this quilt.  I told him where to hang it and of course, the first time, I told him to hang it too high.  The second time though, we got it just right!

We just had family portraits taken and I'd like to hang some of them on either side of the empty wall space.  I just need to get some picture frames for them.

So, the stats for this quilt are:

• Size: 42" x 49"
• Fabrics: Moda (but can't remember which line)
• Batting: Warm and Natural
• Thread: Guterman (piecing)
• Pattern: None (just played around with it)
• Quilting: Custom (by Thearica)
• Started: 2009
• Finished: June 14th, 2012
• Recipient: Hanging in the Living Room

Two quilts done in 2 days!  Woohoo!  I'm on a roll.  However, nothing else is near completion, so I think my streak has hit an end.

Until later...

Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love. 

Ephesians 4:2 (NLT)

Pathway to the Stars...

Doesn't it feel good when you finish up one of your UFO's that's been languishing for years and years?  Or perhaps you're one of those people who finish everything they start.  If you are, good for you!  I will never, ever be like you (although sometimes I might wish I was).  I've finally finished a UFO that's probably 5 years old.  In fact, I blogged about finishing the top back in 2009 (almost exactly 3 years ago).

Pathway to the Stars

This is a JoAnn's Block of the Month.  I don't know what year it came out, but the name of it is Pathway to the Stars.  I actually loaded it on the frame last November, but it's taken me until now to quilt and bind it.

Here are the stats for this quilt:

• Size: 76" x 83" 
• Fabrics: JoAnn BOM Kit for the top and extra wide fabric for the backing
• Batting: Warm &White
• Thread: Guterman (piecing), Aurifil thread for quilting the top and Superior thread in the bobbin
• Pattern: Pathway to the Stars BOM
• Quilting: Celtic Braid Pantograph by Patricia E. Ritter of Urban Elementz (25 passes and 6 bobbins)
• Started: 2007 (?)
• Completed: June 15, 2012
• Recipient: My brother-in-law

I'm glad to finally have this one finished.  But I'm also pleased with how it turned out and hope my brother-in-law likes it.

Until later...

Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. 

Psalm 103:2-3 (NLT)