swoons

After pushing myself hard to get through all of the pink blocks last week, I feel like I've been slacking...

I took my new kitty Swoon project to sew-in and got the first block done...

(you've seen this one)

But these blocks seem to take forever.  You'd think with larger pieces, they'd go faster, but there are still quite a few pieces in them.

You'd also think that with larger pieces, the points would be easier to match.  You would be wrong.  This doesn't seem to make sense, but it IS happening, so there you have it.

I spent free time over the next few days, after the sew-in, working on cutting the remaining fat quarters into parts.  This itself took a while...

...you can see the stack of colored parts there in the back - each set is clipped together so I make sure to get the right fabrics matched up correctly.  (And I don't know what possessed me to take this photo with the boring grey background in front, but sometimes I have a more blonde day than others...)

Thankfully I didn't make any cutting mistakes because this pattern has no room for error!  At least not when you have exactly the right amount of fabric and no more.

Anyways, with these all cut, I thought things would go faster.  But again, I was wrong.  This quilt is showing me that I'm just going to have to enjoy the process because it just won't go fast.  (And with all the point matchy troubles, faster is probably a bad idea...)

So I managed in the last week, between working in the yard (just the iris bed needs cleaned out and the two monster piles of brush need to be burned and then it's just a little upkeep!!!) and household chores (hey, let's pull everything out of that cupboard and clean the shelves, right? crazy.), I got the second block finished:

Those fabrics both look a little busy when you squish the fabric to this small size in a photo, but they're much better in real life, when the block is larger than a cat...a cat who would not humor me to be in the photo to help with proportion.  (If I hadn't asked, you know there'd be three in the middle, right?)

And then on to block #3, just finished this afternoon...

This one finally seems to have enough contrast, but when you have 18 fat quarters and need 18 fat quarters, you use them and be happy.  But it's amusing to me how different the fabrics read depending on the photo.  But I guess the photos were taken at different times of the day, so, well, whatever.

Other than this, not much is going on in the sewing room.  I have started working super part-time at one of the local quilt shops (today was my first day!) and it's definitely a change.  I'm used to a very structured workplace where you need to get A, B, and C done and here's the protocol and a quilt shop is definitely not like that - at least not on a slow day!  But it's a very nice change of pace and I'm sure I'll adjust soon enough...or be that crazy lady who is always following customers around tidying up...  (we'll hope for the former, okay?)  I'm also working on another part-time position close to home, but I'll share more as that develops - I don't want to jinx anything!  These will be great for fun-money to supplement the budget some, plus get me out of the house.  (Somehow I manage my time better when I feel I have less...anyone else have that problem?!)

The friend I mentioned in my previous post, who I was helping with car trouble, made me a squirrel.  She told me it was running around her house (she said I had been quiet about it being here, even if Swoon was being quite the squirrel last week, so she figured my squirrel was at her house...) and I should keep it.

How cute is that?  It's about 12" square and absolutely adorable.  I need to get a dowel or something to hang it, but it's definitely going into the sewing room!  It will make me smile every time I see it.

And the back is just as awesome!

(she has such pretty penmanship!)

And the friend blogs over here - she does super cute stuff in general and is a totally amazing longarmer.  She puts me to shame for sure!

And we can't have a post with a real cat, right?

Pardon the fact that I don't make my bed, but I thought new cat Gabby (aka Spazarella) slept under the sofa in my bedroom (it's a big room, okay? but it's also technically a "love seat," so there) because I'd never seen her actually sleep anywhere.  (You know how kittens nap for like 12 seconds and then they're totally recharged and spazzing around the house again...well, maybe you're that lucky...)  The other day I was sitting at the foot of the bed, putting on shoes and sending a quick text and I turned around and found this.  Crashed out.  Snuggled up to my pillow, right where I sleep.  I wasn't sure about this truly feral beast when we brought her home.  The vet assured me she'd bond and become a people cat, but I had no idea how long it would take.  She literally went from afraid of my hubby and I (but not the other four cats - she thought they were all BFFs from the first meeting) to being a people cat in about 2 days.  It took a few months to get to the point where she decided to trust us, but I'm so glad for it.  When she grows out of her kitten phase (she's a lot better, but still has her spaz-outs), she's going to be an amazing cat.  The hubby and I are kinda looking forward to that.  We love the energy and curiosity she has, but it's a lot to handle when she's the only one and we're all (the other cats included) targets!

Happy quilting!

Katie