Hot Crazy Love top finished

Okay, it doesn't look much different from the last time I posted a pic, but here's the finished top. Woohoo.

I'm bummed out for a couple of different reasons. One, I went back to the website where I bought my gorgeous incredible purple fabric that I was going to buy another 5 yards of, only to discover that they no longer have it. Aaaghh. I swear, the mood I'm in now, I'd buy 10 yards if it meant I could have it. Love that fabric. That's what I get for not ordering more right away.

The second thing is stinking Eurosport isn't showing much of the Giro d'Italia today. We've finally gotten to the Alps and it's exciting and difficult but nooo, I don't get to see it. It's on their secondary channel which we don't get. Not pleased about this at all. Yes, I've become a cycling fiend in my older age. Not riding a bike, heck no, just watching the big tours. It's a great sport to sew on my machine to. Poor Tour of Italy is the red-headed stepchild - no respect. Have to admit it's the first year I've watched and I've enjoyed it so far. Beautiful alpine scenery with bright green grass and snow and waterfalls and castles. And the shots of the coastline last week... Magnifico.

Watched "Igby Goes Down" last night. Think I'm going to give up on Independant films. All so angsty and mopey. This one at least had some humor but at the end all I could think was "what in the hell was the point of that?" Wasn't even all that entertaining.

Hubby and I have finished "Alias" Season 4. Loved the last episode (up until the last minute) - this show so needs Lena Olin. But where the hell were Sark and Anna? They could have made this show zing. Alias definitely went on the decline after the fabulous season 2. I'm hoping Season 5 really does a great job of tying things up. Not holding my breath. Don't give anything away - I hate spoilers.

We started "Rescue Me" Season 2. I love the show's sense of humor, but am hoping Tommy's downward spiral at least goes into a stall, if not improves. I like him miserable, not suicidal.

Sweet Kitties

Trust me when I see that most of Cairo does not look like the pics I showed you yesterday. The vast majority of it is concrete. We're lucky down here in Ma'adi. The British planned this community in the 1920s and it used to be full of huge villas. They did a great job of planting trees. Unfortunately lots of the villas have been torn down and apartment buildings put up but the trees are still here.

ForestJane asked if it was time for pics of the kitties. She must have telepathy - they were photogenic yesterday. Right after Pokey gained her freedom from the closet she ran into the computer room and curled up in the sun by the window. Habibi joined her awhile later.

You have to keep in mind that Habibi is three times the size of little Pokey, who really is full grown - she and her sibling Lily are over 2 yrs old now. Pokey and Bibi play together and I laugh everytime I see Pokey chasing him down the hallway.

Lily loves her boxes. This one is on the couch. She prefers to be sideways - rather than inside - usually with one leg stretched out like this.

No pictures of Howler. I tried to get one of him this morning, but he ran away. Typical. He doesn't photograph well anyway - he comes out as a big black blob. I read in a magazine that ginger-colored cats are much friendlier and calmer than black ones. Certainly true in our household and Bibi and Howler are brothers.

Finn, don't worry about me giving away fabric with memories. Lots of them have never been used. Isn't that embarassing to admit. And some I won't ever use again. I can't stand fabrics that have a rough feel to them or that look like the color is just brushed on - not soaked in and rich.

I'm donating scraps to a worthy cause. I'll tell you more about it one day when I have pics.

Lily, I often have two quilts going at once (okay, far more than that - but I mean actively working on). I get bored easily so it's nice to switch between sewing and quilting. Right now I have a glut of tops, but I know that I will be without my sewing machine for at least 2 month this year. Quilt tops are easy to transport, so I'm going to take those with me, rather than have them packed up and freighted along with all my other belongings.

Additionally, I am trying to be rather serious about working on the book, specifically samples for the book. Plus I'm hoping to inspire some of you to work on the letters so that there are even more samples.

Maranatha165, try the letters out using your traditional fabrics. They'll look great, really. Go take a look at some of Bonnie's, like her Shoo Fly.

I tell you, if I was back in GA right now I'd be raiding Bonnie and Siobhan's scrap bins (okay, if Sio's weren't all packed up) so that I could make a more traditional looking quilt using the improv methods. It'll work guys, really. The word quilts don't have to look this whacky. That's just me - I can't seem to help myself.

I've done some sewing already this morning. I make that sound like an achievement, but since it's almost 2 in the afternooon, it's not so impressive. I have half the borders on Hot Crazy and several lower-case letters done for the tutorial. It's time to get back to work, but I wanted to say hey to you all first.

Morning Walk

It has been beautiful and cool in the mornings here with a lovely breeze. Had a quick walk today, took some snaps and only got yelled at by one guard. "No photo!" One thing we have here is lots of guards and policemen. You're bound to see several clustered on every street. Yesterday one of the traffic cops was examining his rifle and I realized he had it pointed right at me. Not on purpose, just not being careful. Makes me hope that the joke about none of them actually having any bullets might be true.

I love this gate. Very picturesque with the barbed wire adding a certain something.


I got yelled at while taking pics of these hollyhocks. Not surprising since whoever built this wall wanted their privacy. Would you have thought you were in Egypt?

The flame trees bloom in May. I don't think much of the orange-red, but they do add color.

Poor Pokey was locked in the closet while I was out. You'd think the cats would have realized by now that darting into closets isn't very clever.

I've been watching "Veronica Mars" and enjoying the hell out of it. I like the description of it: Nancy Drew crossed with Phillip Marlowe.

For whatever reason I've been hit by another urge to purge my shelves. I so crave working with calm clear fabrics and seeing all those busy fabrics (which I once loved passionately) makes me crazy. So yesterday I did a bunch of sorting and came up with another pile to go. I may not get sell them off, but at least I'll move them to somewhere I don't see them.

I also pulled a bunch of fabrics out for another quilt. Playing with the fabrics is the absolute bestest part of the process for me. Not sure I'll actually ever make it, but I had fun playing. The reason I don't think I'll do it now is the need to do lower-case letters for ya'all.

I haven't sewn the border on yet, but will get that done today. Thank you all for the encouragement. I was worried a bit about it, but all the compliments have eased my mind.

By the way, if you ever do hate or dislike or disapprove of something I'm doing, please let me know. You can be ruthless, so long as you're being constructive and not mean. I take criticism fairly well. I'd rather have my glitches and flaws pointed out so that I can learn from them. I might disagree, but it's good to think about it.

I'm feeling better now. Just had a headache in the evening yesterday, instead of all day long. Couple more days with the meds and I'll be sparkling bright and shiny.

aiyee

First off, sorry, Sharon. Certainly didn't mean to leave you out. Take a look all at Sharon's Happy Jack's Pumpkin Patch for another marvelous example of wonky letters. I definitely need to take better notes for myself on what I want to put in the blog.

I've sewn together all my blocks. This a quickie to show you how I added the sashing with cornerstones. The little orange block at the end of the strip. Attach and whack off the extra. You don't really expect me to measure all those different block sizes do you?

Here are all the blocks, sashed and cut to the same size (which was the smallest block) of 6 and 1/8". I like measuring on the 1/8" since my ruler has thinner lines there and I find it easier to use. At this point, I was really happy with the blocks.

Not quite as crazy about them after I sewed them together tho. I thought that a narrow sash of an inch here and there would be okay, but looking at it after, no, it would have been better at least a 1/2" bigger. Think it would have given the blocks more space to breath. Since I'm not undoing it, I just gotta learn that lesson for the next time.

I sewed all these blocks together and then added a 1" finished red border fabric to the top and left side. And then it needed something else, so it's surrounded by a 1.5" finished orange border. And that's where the top is right now.

I have a bit of purple that I'd love to use as the border, but not enough of it. I don't want to wait around until I can get some more in the mail, and besides, this hand-dye is the same color, just a tad darker:

The color is a bit dark in the above photo. this detail shot is more accurate:

I'm going to live with it for awhile before I sew on this final border.

This is my "sewing room" by the way. The dining area in what would be called the great room in the states but in Egypt is called the reception. And yes, my design sheet is on the wall where a quilt would normally go, such as the blue and white houses.

Wore my baby Pokey out.

I've had a nasty headache the last few days - it starts in my neck and radiates from there. And lower backache. I'm such an idiot I finally realized why I have it. I ran out of my wonderful anti-inflammatory (Voltaren) last week while I was sick and haven't run to the pharmacy to get more. I've been on the anti-inflammatories of one type or another for almost a year. Stupid knee (it's giving me a twinge now and then but hasn't blown up).

It was so marvelous living without this pain that I'd forgotten about it. Stupid Ankylosing Spondylitis. Even without a definitive diagnosis I so know I have it.

I watched a couple of movies recently. "Red Eye" was okay but I was expecting a lot more suspense since it's directed by Wes Craven. And the stupid woman ran right into the trouble at the end. The other movie was "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" which was enjoyable but I was hoping for much more. Good music and I appreciated the homage to Buckaroo Bonzai in the end credits.

Belated Mother's Day

Happy Belated Mother's Day to my Mom #2, a very wonderful sweet woman who takes delight in the wonders around her. She's always happy, upbeat and so excited to see snow on top of the mountain, a flower budding in the yard and the hummingbirds at the feeder... A true joy to be around.

I made this little quilt for her a few years back. She's a shell fiend, so I designed the quilt with this border fabric in mind.

This was just a quick project. I know it's freehand fan quilted, but I think I used 3-strands of embroidery floss to get the color I wanted. Pretty sure I didn't have the perle cotton in that color. I actually love the "m" in my, how it wobbles to one side. I'm pretty sure that was a happy accident rather than deliberately done, since I can't figure out how I would have done it on purpose.

Meanwhile, I've gotten the blocks pieced together. They vary in size - measuring up to 5.25" (across or down) and think the narrowest is about an inch less. I think one block is a square and the rest are all manner of rectangles. I did make some of these a wee bit smaller, taking a quarter inch off here and there.

My plan is to put oversized sashing on them and then cut all the blocks down to a consistent size. I know and love how that looks, but have to admit I've never seen it done with cornerstones. Gonna try it with a few blocks and if I hate it, I'll drop the cornerstones out.

Another option at this point (the option I'm not planning on taking) would be to make each of the blocks the same size now. I could add strips to the extra small squares and whack off bits of the biggers ones. Well, I'm going to add a bit of fabric to 4 different blocks, but that's it. Maybe.

Lily, if you are interested in doing this, please email me (the addy is in my profile). I'll talk you through it. You can be my test subject (mwa ha ha ha) to see if any of this work is appropriate for beginners. Of course it might drive you away from patchwork forever. As far as I can see, it's all doable, so long as you get at least a quarter inch seam allowance (too small and the project might come apart). And use pins. I hate to say that last bit cuz I've fought against pinning for ages, but it does actually help since at least my machine just doesn't feed evenly.

I've had a good time looking at what some of ya'all are doing with the letters. Joyce finished her house and words quilt (great purple background and machine quilted names) and I love the teapot quilt she's working on right now. Forest Jane is working on a patriotic quilt and asking about her letters not being consistently sized. I personally LIKE all the letters ending up different. It's folk art. To try and do otherwise would just make my brain hurt too much.

Lois has her liberated house lap quilt together (I'm still in love with the colors and fabrics) and check out her birthday banner (I love the D). Last but not least, Karen made a Quiltville Random Ohio Stars quilt, using photo transfers and the letters.

My sweetie and I watched a Wallace and Gromit short over the weekend - A Grand Day Out. I love it like crazy. It's their earliest adventure and the technique is wobbly here and there, but the storyline is so sweet and so very very English. The duo have run out of cheese, so decide to build a rocket ship to go to the moon, which everyone knows is made of cheese.