Time for a design wall...

I am getting so little done this week.

Life with the new, energetic kitten/cat has been a challenge for many reasons, including this:

Somewhere under there is a very wacky cat.

Finally piecing (or trying to piece) the backing for my mom and dad's anniversary quilt (yes, it's still here, dropping it off this weekend instead), with limited success. He's been banished to the bedroom just so I can lay the top flat to measure.

I use my kitchen floor as my design wall, but I think that's going to have to change.

Only a so-so expedition...

The Safari top is done...more or less. I was so off with this one, and the pinning-it-to-the-ironing-board technique I used to take the picture makes it look even more crooked. It's square, honest!

I couldn't figure out why none of the blocks was turning out the same size, or why the sashing strips didn't want to fit. I haven't been that far off since I started quilting! I attributed it to me being too distracted by the Olympics, or just wanting to get something done quickly...and then I realized my mistake. I'm kicking myself for not looking more closely when I started, but I just wanted to get the pedal to the floor and start sewing, dammit!

The jelly roll was pinked...and from tip to tip, all of the strips are the tiniest bit wider than two and a half inches -- enough to make a difference when lining them up for a seam allowance. I would have thought that something would have been the correct measurement, but valley-to-valley was less than 2.5", and peak-to-peak was more. Valley-to-peak didn't even measure correctly. My bad, I should have double-checked, and definitely would have made some adjustments before it was too late.

It's going to be a charity quilt...or at best given to someone who knows nothing about sewing.

Cat update: No distinguishable damage to computer connections or other furniture after Night #1 in his new home, which is good (though I did end up wrapping the legs of the antique wicker chair in packing tape, sticky side out, as a precaution), he's not distructive. I let him out of the spare bedroom the morning, and he's spent the past half hour running laps around my apartment. It must feel so good after being cooped up for so long! He also plays fetch with the catnip mouse. And farts. His diet is getting changed today.

Turns out three and a half weeks of no cat is my limit...

His name when we met was Charlie, but I'm pretty sure it's going to change. He's a year and a half, and was surrendered six months ago, which is a pretty long tenure for this shelter...a third of his young life already spent behind bars. I saw him online and went back three times this week to visit. There were easily a half a dozen cats and kittens I could have come home with, but I kept coming back to him. What can I say, I'm a sucker for redheads.

He's a very curious boy, and loves to play. Great markings, incredibly sweet face, and enough white to distinguish him from Gershwin.

In the hour he's been here, he's shredded the purple ribbon, which exhausted him. Right now he's stretched out on the floor, watching the USA volleyball team kick Brazil's butt for gold.

It's going to be an adjustment to deal with such a young 'un after Gersh's many years of mellow, but I think with a little time and a lot of patience on my part, we're going to do just fine.

On Safari...

Couldn't wait to sink my teeth into that jelly roll as soon as I got back home...and use the new book! Still piecing, but thought I'd post a shot to show a bit of this week's progress:



Lovin' the Safari fabric, and the contrast of the brights with a really bright white. Also lovin' the speed factor of pre-cut strips.

Slightly concerned with the fact that nothing is pre-washed, especially because of all the colors (with white, for Pete's sake!). I gave everything a good steam press before I started, which should take care of the shrink factor, but doesn't calm my fears about bleeding.

I'm not sure how/when the habit began, but I wash all my fabric when it comes in the door -- which can be frustrating sometimes, because there's that coming-home-from-the-fabric-store-let's-get-started-on-that-quilt enthusiasm that can lose serious momentum if there are enough light/medium/dark purchases to warrant more than a couple loads. Then there's the ironing, and the folding...and now it's just turned into housework, which makes it seem like a chore. Which usually means I get it all done and stacked and go veg on the couch with a glass of wine and watch TV because now I've just been working way too hard. I'll cut into that fabric tomorrow, when I have more energy.

I can understand not prewashing for wall hangings, and I realize that dyes are much more colorfast than they used to be so running isn't as big of an issue, but I'm still very hesistant to break this habit. And besides the "loss of momentum" scenario, anybody have a good argument for not pre-washing your fabric?

Another satisfied customer...

Baby Imani on her new quilt

I love it when my quilts actually get used! Got this picture from Mama Nikki, who threatened to hang the quilt on the wall -- but it looks like she might get an argument from Imani!

The psychology of quilting

My friend Jackie is a psychologist in Brooklyn. We've been friends since 5th grade, and lived together for two years in college. I was often a convenient guinea pig for some of her psych class "tests," so she probably knows me better than I know myself. That being said, she sent me this in an e-mail this morning after checking out my blog and my quilts:

"You're using primary process thinking in your quilting...it's your Id working, not your Ego or your Superego."

...and had the nerve to leave on vacation without further explanation.

Intrigued, I started Googling. It's been too long since Psych 101, and discovered that indeed, a little information is dangerous in the wrong hands, because I start finding all these abstracts about how Primary Process Thinking is associated with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, among other psychotic disorders. Ack!

And Jackie is driving through the mountains of Pennsylvania, totally out of cell phone range. I think she did that on purpose just to mess with me.

Then I find this little nugget to cling to:

"Primary-process thinking has also been found to relate to creativity in normal populations."

Phew! That makes me feel better! I've never felt that I aspired to normalcy...until today, considering the alternative.

I find another article:

"In accordance with psychoanalytic theory; Primary Process Thinking consists of those mental processes which are directly related to functions of the primitive life forces associated with the Id, and is characteristic of unconscious mental activity; marked by unorganized, non-logical thinking and by the tendency to seek immediate discharge and gratification of instinctual urges."

First of all, they really need to make up their mind: hyphen or no hyphen? Caps or no caps? Part of my job is editing, and this makes me crazy...but not that kind of crazy -- you know, the good kind.

And then I think about the way I start a project, how I pick my colors and choose my designs. And how most of my quilt tops are what I've always referred to as "experiments," because there's rarely any planning involved -- I just pull fabrics from my stash and start sewing. It's a very spontaneous and stream-of-consciousness approach...if I overthink a project, it's usually too forced and ends in something I'm not happy with, so I tend to just go with my instincts. It also might explain why I bounce from project to project if one isn't moving fast enough for me to see results.

Not sure what I'm going to do with this newfound info, and I could be totally off base with how I have chosen to interpret it (I am, after all, marked by unorganized non-logical thinking). But rest assured Jackie's going to get an earful when she gets back home.

Losin' it

Chalk it up to a Senior Moment -- I returned to work yesterday to a box from the Fat Quarter Shop. I'd pre-ordered (and then forgot about) a Bali Pop (Bali's equivalent of a jelly roll) a few weeks before I went on vacation, along with two Jolly Packs (5" squares) of none other than the Malibu Monkeys fabric. So not only do I have more than enough of the sock monkey fabric for my Monkey Girl's Christmas present, I have yet another jelly roll to add to my plate. I'm officially overextended.

And then, as a side note, there's this:

These are all the clothes I packed for my week's vacation, planning ahead, apparently, for every possible contingency (cold weather, dinner somewhere kinda nice, golfing every day, a natural disaster that would prevent my return home for a month, etc.). The pile on the right is everything I ended up wearing in the course of the week -- I basically lived in a bathing suit, sweatshirt, one pair of shorts, one sleeveless polo and my pajamas (and yes, I did laundry mid-week) for seven days. The pile on the left was all overage. So instead of the giant duffle I hauled around, I could have saved my back and packed everything in my purse.

Excess, it seems, is the theme of the day.

Will I ever learn? Probably not.

Quilter's booty

Well, one of the few goals I had this vacation week -- besides overeating and lazing to the point of utter sloth -- was to get to my favorite quilt shop. And despite repaving traffic woes in this northern haven that turned the quick four-miles into town into 50 minutes each way, fellow quilter Jody and I braved the possibility of idling forever (which was, after all, the theme of the entire vacation) on a two-lane highway narrowed down to one to get our fabric fix. Turns out the traffic was clear by Friday and we had plenty of time and energy left for shopping.


As expected, The Icehouse's fabric selection was fantastic. I restrained myself to a point and carried just the "Safari" jelly roll around with me for about a half an hour while I browsed. Luscious flannels, gorgeous florals, too many jelly rolls (and charm packs and layer cakes) to count and a striking wall of blues could have been my downfall, but I was being good...until I found the "Malibu Monkeys" fat quarters. Then realized I'd walked right by the yardage. So I went back to find it.

I'm such a sucker for that silly sock monkey fabric, and a sucker for my Monkey Girl, who absolutely loves my quilts. She's been living in Bermuda with her parents for five years (having moved from just down the block), and even though I see her fairly often for them being so far away, it's always hard to part after our week together up north. Every quilt, I tell her, is a big hug from Auntie Kate, so when she misses me, she can just wrap herself in it. And as long as she needs hugs (or until I get an "Oh. Another quilt?" reaction), I'll be making her quilts for Christmas.

My Monkey Girl, another year older

And the charm packs? Turns out we'd just missed their annual sidewalk sale the weekend before, and there was a half-price table near the register. Don't know what I'll do with them, but I know from experience that one charm pack is never enough, and two for the price of one? Come on -- who can pass that up?

And just so you can see my life isn't All Quilting, All the Time (though I'm really itching to get back home to my machine), I show you my approach shot from 140 yards out on the second hole of my favorite golf course. I can never do this -- my approach always ends up an $8 cab ride away from the hole and I end up three-putting. So I had to document it. Birdie!

Hangin' in the north woods...

I am here...on the Left-Hand-As-Michigan map

There's something fundamentally wrong about having broadband in the middle of nowhere, but incredibly convenient at the same time.

Just hangin' on the dock, riding in the boat, eating too much and sleeping like a bear with nights in the high 40's. And very sorry to see the week come to an end.

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!

After a brief stop in Ann Arbor for my nephew Christopher's 6th birthday party, this is where I get to spend most of next week:

(Yes, that's a real rainbow. Lake Margarethe, post-rain, August 2007)

For the 25th summer in a row, I'm off to the north woods of Michigan for a week of golf, giant breakfasts, tubing and laying on the dock doing nothing whatsoever.

And for the 7th year in a row, I plan to bite off more than I can chew, creatively speaking, at The Icehouse Quilt Shop, a cute little surprise along the railroad tracks in Grayling, a 1920's lumber center and now "Canoe Capital of the World," for its miles of navigable waters along the Au Sable River.

This shop has a great feel to it, and some wonderfully helpful employees and clientele to guide your choices or just talk shop with. Wonderful selection of brights, and fantastic samples covering the walls to get your creative juices flowing...if you're in the neighborhood, it's definitely worth a stop.

Did I mention there's a gift shop?

In an effort to distract myself...

I'm trying to get back into a UFO. Not the batik one, another one (I have so many, your head would spin, but maybe not...I think most of us are in the same boat -- or spaceship, to keep the metaphor going).

I really, really want to start a jelly roll project, but am trying, just this weekend, a more self-disciplined approach. We'll see how long that lasts.

This one's a zig-zag top. I'd been wanting to use some 1930's prints, which are pretty uncharacteristic for me, but they're just so darn sweet! Saw these little packets of fat eighths (again, at the International Quilt Show -- I bought so shamefully much I was having a hard time lifting my backpack), and they were too cute to pass up.


Took 'em to the beach house Memorial Day weekend (yes, I take my sewing machine on vacation with me...sometimes) and cranked out a ton of half-square triangles, then got distracted by something else when I returned home. Figured I'd get back to them before they lose all hope, and try to work myself out of my funk at the same time.

I am also thinking of attempting a Gershwin Memorial Quilt á la Ruth McDowell or Cynthia England, but I have to find the right picture to work with. And lots of practice. It's a technique I've been meaning to attack for a long time, but never had the right inspiration...until now.

Once again, I project digress (see how easily I do that? It's scary!). Will try to get back to the zig-zag at hand -- I was surprised to find that Simona's mother is pregnant again with another little girl, due in November! So maybe I can finish this before the baby arrives this time!

Wish me luck!

My apologies...

...to all those who took Jacquie's advice and came over to my "funny" blog, only to find postings about a dead/dying cat. The timing wasn't exactly the best.

There was a bright, quilting-related spot in my rather dark yesterday: I finally got to meet Simona, who at 15 months didn't sit still long enough to get any really good pictures with her present. Suffice it to say she loved her quilt, but I think she liked the box it came in even better. Ain't that always the way?

I got a better close-up of the quilting. The black squares were my first foray into free-motion with my new BSR, and I'm pretty happy with the way it looks. I was trying for a little whimsy to break up the lines, and I think/hope it worked...

OK, anybody know why some pictures will enlarge when you click on them, and some won't? It seems pretty random, and I'm not sure what I'm doing to make/not make this happen. Any hints would be appreciated.