little bits

It doesn't feel like I've done much sewing in the past week and I can't exactly put my finger on why.  But since I don't have many photos, I suppose my feeling is right!

I did get the Positivity quilt quilted.  First, though, I went outside for a photo of just the top:

The quilting IS finished, but I have no in-process photos.  Between using batting scraps that were cut wonky and having to piece in inch-wide strips every here and there and my machine not wanting to behave (again), I was more focused on making sure that was all going correctly than getting pictures.

I trimmed it and used the leftover backing to make binding, which is also sewn down.  The machine-sewn side.  The hand-sewn side is waiting.  Partly for a cooler day, partly for me to have time.  Though I only work part-time, it seems to take a larger part of my week than I would like some weeks!

I promise a full reveal soon.

With that off my plate, I decided to start working on tiny stars again.  I had replenished my stash of fabrics with a visit to my mom earlier this month and it felt like time to get started sewing those.  It was either that or start something new and with my pile of to-be-quilted getting the better of me, I decided on tiny stars.

This first set is actually from fabrics I've added in the past few months.  Not much, but a few additions.  And all were purchased for projects specifically (except that one in the lower left corner, which I found when making cat hammocks - it had been sewn in as an additional piece for a quilt back and I didn't realize it was even in there!).

The second set (and third that is midway through sewing right now) started into what I cut from my mom's stash.

If you remember when I mentioned cutting these, my sister-in-law was also there.  And in cleaning up her sewing space, she threw some too-small-for-her scraps in a box, which she brought to me this weekend.  I don't have a photo of the fabrics, nor have I cut into them yet, but I do have Finn, who enjoyed the box very much.

He looks a bit perturbed here, but he was being a squirrel up until the photo, where I demanded his attention.  Gabby has since also claimed the box and ripped that green thing off that was stuck to the lid.  (I think it's an anti-mold thing or something?)  It clearly did NOT belong there, so she dispatched it with haste.

The reason I saw my sister-in-law, as well as my brother and parents, was the annual book sale that happens at my hometown library on July 4th had been reimagined in the last year.  Instead of one giant sale, they started having smaller ones every few months.  I didn't realize it until recently, but when I did, I made sure to ask for the Saturday off!  So I picked up my dad (mom had knee surgery on BOTH knees the day before and I think welcomed an hour or so of quiet, though I also think she was sad to have missed the sale) and my brother and his wife met us there.  I had run out of books that I owned (and have not read - the majority of what I read, I donate back) and was actually checking books out of the library!  Not that library borrowing is a bad thing, it just takes more planning (and wearing "real" pants) than a stash of your own.  Anyways, they had paper grocery sacks that you could purchase for $5 and fill.  I'm very good at book tetris!

How many books is that?

Good thing I'm a quilter and own proper things to measure stacks of books!

All of the cats had a good sniff.  All of these books having been previously owned, I'm sure this brought a wide variety of new smells to the house.  Freddie would NOT leave me alone.  I took about six photos of the stack before I got one without his tail or ear or face in it.  Finally I gave up and included him.  But this is probably my one photo of the quarter he will allow himself to be in, so enjoy it!

The sale was much smaller than the once-a-year sale.  I expected smaller, but they had about 3 10-foot tables full of paperback fiction (three wide) and that was it.  I'd guess usually they have a dozen 3-table setups in the annual sale.  And while I expected it to be smaller, I didn't expect it to be this much smaller.  But this stack will keep me reading for quite a few months, and if no other sales happen before I run out again, I've found my local library to be very friendly.  (And now that I've again learned to navigate the aisles, I'm less hesitant to visit.)

No photos of Gabby this week, but the other night, I was poking Toby with my toes and this is his mad pose:

He is such a ham.

Time now to get back to tiny stars.  And whatever else my day brings.

Happy quilting,

Katie