a top and the next start

Two days of diligent work and Steampunk is now a top!

First I had to get all the blocks arranged in a pleasing manner...

...I was working on this while doing laundry and, in timing a shower between loads of wash, allowing the dryer to catch up, I took a break.  Freddie helped and must have worn himself out because I returned to find this.  He was actually sleeping, not just resting his eyes.

He was disappointed when I asked him to help more by allowing me to place blocks on top of him, as he was sort of in the middle of things, and he stomped off, mad.  Oh well...he'll get over it the next time I'm doing something interesting.

After much deliberation and movement, I had this.  Getting the lighter and darker fabrics distributed somewhat evenly, as well as paying attention to repeats in the greys, took a bit, but I was finally happy with this.

I carefully picked it up, marking rows appropriately, and headed up to the sewing room.  Cutting sashing and cornerstones was needed before I could start sewing, but that didn't take long.  I had decided to use the grey with birds I shared a while back, wondering if I could manage to get the birds all going one direction?  The fabric was left over from a quilt back, so I had odd pieces, but I WAS able to cut in both directions.  And, for the most part, was able to use correctly-facing birds for the vertical and horizontal sashing.  (Except that one bird I noticed was upside down when pressing the final seam...)

Gabby helped with this step.

She loves to lay on my projects, this time she actually was nearly napping.  But lately Toby has been quite aggressive towards her, so unless I close the door to the sewing room and he is excluded, she will not come out.  Needless to say, we've been sewing with the door closed a lot lately.

She was so worn out from helping, she moved to the chair and took a true snooze.  I looked over later and she was half upside down, still crashed out asleep.

(Her trip to the doc went well.  She has/had an inflamed bladder and was given a steroid shot.  Normally, pills would be given, but this cat is a wild child and catching her to give her a pill is pretty much impossible - by the time you actually catch her (against her will), she and you will both be so freaked out, she will turn you into hamburger while you try to get the pill in her mouth.  So I asked to try a shot.  So far, so good.  I'll be attempting to collect a specimen in another week for a recheck...)

I had to call it a day earlier than I wanted, as the hubby also needs some attention and whatnot, so the remaining sewing was accomplished yesterday afternoon, after some chores and family obligations.

I took a quick photo before heading back downstairs, where it is cooler.  Between the door being shut and being upstairs, it is much hotter up there.  The air conditioning does a great job downstairs, but heat rises, you know!

And finally, today, just before blogging, I ran outside to hang the quilt for a full-on, albeit less creative, shot.

It is due to rain soon, so I knew it was now or never!  Pinned to the cat run, as it is windy out there.  (It is really humid, too; I felt like I was being stirred around in pea soup!)  The colors seem a little off, but purple is nearly impossible to get just right.  And I have all the shades of it in here, so I'm just asking for trouble!

Just to the right of this photo, there is POISON IVY growing up and into the cat's space.  Stupid weed.  But that might explain why, after being so diligent in my clean up after weeding, I STILL got it.  The cats have been kept inside for about a week now, due to Finn learning how to escape, and I will be sure to get out there and eliminate that plant before they are allowed out again.  (And thankfully, the poison ivy is healing and no longer itchy.)

I opted for no outer border.  I don't like skinny borders when longarming (they tend to want to stand up at attention) and decided that the birds fabric for binding would create a nice final "border" to finish things out when the quilt is complete.  (I made the binding before the final tidy-up of this project.)

Hooray for a May stick finish!

In June.

Since the iron was still hot yesterday, I decided to press the fabric for the June stick "quilt from a purchased kit."  The whole kit had been sitting there for maybe two years and needed a good flattening before I could cut pieces.

Obviously, this photo was taken before I ironed the fabrics, but it gives you a better view of the prints than what I shared last week.  The pattern is there under it and the four fat quarters in the front/center will be the blocks, the darker blue is cornerstones and binding, and the green to the left is the background.  I vaguely remember the sample in the store, but even that is murky.

I'm baking cookies while I blog, but once the last batch is out of the oven, I'll be heading up to start cutting!  Gabby, of course, will be there to help.  (And Finn and Freddie are allowed in, also, as they tend to just ignore her, but Toby?  Poor soul will have to have the rest of the large house to himself for a bit.  He gets locked in the bedroom with me every night, so don't you worry that he is being neglected.)

Happy quilting!

Katie

PS The cookie recipe is here.  Stickiest dough EVER.  And they're too hot to try just yet, so remind me to let you know how they turned out!