first beading attempts...

baby rib - beading, originally uploaded by Monkicat.

The first feeble attempts at beading......
Difficult to photograph, but at least an idea of what it looks like.
Thinking now that I should've perhaps done the embroidery first, and leave the beading for last, but only 3 blocks have been beaded out of the 168, so no harm done.....

Time to dig up some of my embroidery books to find some stitches to try out....

baby rib quilt

baby rib quilt, originally uploaded by Monkicat.

Yesterday I completed the top. It's wonderfully soft and I love the rich colors. It has a bit of a victorian-crazy quilt feel to it - perhaps it's that wich inspired me to bead and embroider it.....
That wasn't the intention. When I first purchased the fabric, I thought it would be a quick and easy project, just zoom the squares under the machine, some fluffy batting and soft flanel backing and voila! a soft and cozy quilt for chilly winter evenings on the couch.

No such luck. A wise and dear friend told me once while I was learning to spin to let the wool speak, and allow it to do want it wanted to do. Fabrics speak too, at least to me, and this quilt told me it wasn't finished.

So now I've gone into my sewing box, and found a collection of beads that had mission now long forgotten. The closet is getting a once-over as well, and it's actually fun digging through my stuff and finding small treasures, some for this project, and others not having to do with it at all!

I began yesterday with the beading and found it relaxing and fun to do. I'm no expert, but think this'll be a good way to practice and ease my way back into cross-stitch and embroidery, arts wich I really want to get back into a learn more about and perhaps use more in my quilt making....

strange snack....

Just cleaned up a most unpleasant mess: a pair of black socks covered in bits of grass and muck that Darwin decided he just couldn't digest. Lord only knows when he managed to eat these 2 socks, I mean, he usually just carries them around, but I never thought he'd actually eat them! No wonder he didn't even come near his breakfast this morning, and yesterday, he wasn't enthousiastic about eating at all! We thought it was because of the new teeth that are breaking through, and so softened his food, but with 2 socks in the tummy, heck, I wouldn't feel hungry.....

baby rib quilt

baby rib quilt, originally uploaded by Monkicat.

I bought a kit made up of baby rib corduroy fabric at the European Quiltchampionships in Waalre, the Netherlands. Today I began stiching the 15 cm squares together and completed 5 rows. The original pattern is easy, just sew the squares together, but I think I'll embellish the top using seed beads, tiny buttons, perhaps use some velvet or silk? It was supposed to become a simple and quick cozy couch quilt to snuggle under, but now, as I work on it, other ideas are coming to mind.
It's beautiful fabric, but leaves me and my machine full of fuzzy dust bunnies!
Well, back to the sewing room!

baby log cabin

Log cabin baby quilt, originally uploaded by Monkicat.

it's done!
Yesterday I sat down and finished putting the top together for the baby quilt. It's feels quite stiff & heavy because of the foundation the "logs" are sewn on, but I'm hoping when it's washed it'll be softer. The rest of the evening I spent digging around in the closet looking for batting and found two large pieces that will do just fine.

Now I just have to think about how it's going to be finished: the quilt will consist of 4 layers of fabric in total - a bit thick to be quilted, and there's too little time (baby's due 16 december) to do that anyway. Will probably knot it with DMC floss, knot it in the back, or make tiny stitches to just tack it down or a combination of the two....

playing in the park

playing in the park, originally uploaded by Monkicat.

Darwin watches soccer

Darwin watches soccer, originally uploaded by Monkicat.

Up until today it's been beautiful Fall weather and it's been a joy taking walks with Darwin in the Park! The air is crisp, and smells like earth and leaves. Darwin is happy to gallop through piles of leaves, or run through them when I kick a pile into the air.
On this day, when the photo was taken, we decided to watch Ro play football (aka soccer). Darwin loves to watch the game and we always have to take a stop if we walk past a field where there a game on.
There's something special about walking with your dog on a beautiful day...

Today it's grey and gloomy, and the rain has started pouring down. In a little while Darwin and I will go out again, brave the weather, but when we come back we'll be happy to have had our "moment" together......

The Quilt

The Quilt, originally uploaded by Monkicat.

The Quilt made by Jane A. Stickle in 1863 aka the Dear Jane Quilt. Hope to start on it soon and to be up for the challenge!

Hand Quilting Homework

Hand Quilting Homework
Originally uploaded by Monkicat.

Today I realized that I really need to get going on my homework for my Traditional Hand quilting class! I was so busy trying to complete the baby log cabin, that before I knew it the days had creeped up on me and now I have to make sure to get this done by next week! Looks like the log cabin will have to wait a few days...

Baby Log Cabin

Log Cabin quilt
Originally uploaded by Monkicat.

Not a great shot, but here's a picture of the quilt with all the blocks completed. I'm pretty pleased with the design and how the colors worked out. I'm lagging a bit behind events, but in the mean time three rows have been completed, and slowly the top is coming together.

Planning for baby log cabin

Planning for baby log cabin
Originally uploaded by Monkicat.

Hey! It finally worked to get the photos on the blog! Ahem...

Made the designs and collected the fabrics to begin to make this log cabin quilt. It's a fun project, since it's for a baby, and a challenge because the colors were not my choice - the mom to be sent me swatches of the wall paint and curtains, and that's what I had to work with in terms of chosing the fabrics. The colors are not the typical baby pastels - I'm not a fan of "baby fabrics' in general, and I was worried that the colors would be to dark or heavy. Mixing olive green in with the chocloate brown, adding stripes and polka dots added light and sparkle. This photo was taken a while back and in the meantime I'm putting the top together. It's a lot of fun seeing it come together like this!

Log Cabin Quilt

Making good progress on my log cabin quilt.
It's due to be gifted to a baby boy due mid-December of this year, so I'm working under a deadline. Happily I started it in time to deal with any unforeseen changes, mishaps, that sort of thing.
If I can figure it out, I'll try to post photos. It didn't work with Webshots, so I switched to Flickr....