Some cuteness, some destruction

Now that I have some time off from grading (yay!), I wanted to start in on the next block. But the Big Kitty decided it was his turn to nap on that particular pile of fabric. It's a good thing that black and gray fur work well with these colors - because it's going to be everywhere. And I decided not to bother him and worked on some other things instead. They're just so cute when they sleep!


So then I worked some more on the baby girl blanket. I decided that there were a few pieces that didn't go well with the purple fabric, so I'm putting in small gray borders around the blocks and then putting in the purple fabric. I hope it turns out okay. But it's been difficult, because Little Kitty has now decided that the ironing board is his new chew toy. Some of these are claw marks, and some are tooth marks. And yes, that is the culprit in the upper left corner.


Eventually he also figured out that he can stand on his hind legs and reach the top of the ironing board with his front paws. He managed to pull it over on top of him. He did realize he should run away before it hit him, so he was fine, but it made a nice loud noise. He's such a little ball of destruction. Lucky for him he's a cute little ball of destruction.

Little Kitty's favorite fabric

The quilt-a-long is behind in posting new blocks this week. But it works out well, because I'll be busy grading through tomorrow anyway. In the meantime, Little Kitty is enjoying resting on my fabric piles. I guess he needs the rest after keeping me awake all night.

Diamond Mine

Today I made the 5th block in the quilt-a-long. Which means it's over halfway done! There will be 9 total. I have a hard time with making triangles. In order to make the corners line up correctly, it takes seams that are a little too accurate for my patience level. But I still like it. Big Kitty also sat on the couch next to me when I was working on making the triangles. I took the photos of him with my phone - I didn't want to disturb him to get up and get my camera. The camera on my phone does a decent job, but I do like my real camera better. And Big Kitty is still on the couch next to me.

One block, two colors

There are two blocks for the quilt-a-long again this week. I've only done one so far (called Ninth Inning), but I did it twice. I didn't like how the colors turned out when I made it the first time. And I'm also looking for things to distract me from the pile of grading I have to do. Following the pattern, it didn't use the white fabric at all, and with the colors I chose, the light blue and the grey blended together too much and it looked too dull (the one on the left in the photo). I really like using the white with the grey and blues, so I wanted to try it again with the white added in. I also changed up the order of the dark blue and grey fabrics because I like how the white contrasts with the dark blue. My second one is on the right in the photo. I think it stands out a little more than the first one does. It's really interesting how changing the order of the colors makes it look so different. But I haven't decided which one I'll end up using.

Quilt a long blocks two and three

This week there were two new block patterns. One is called Center Aisle:


And one is called Biggest Fan:


The second one was pretty easy to do. But the first one - let's just say that I'm not very good with tiny little squares. There's not enough room for error. But I do like the way it looks. It also didn't help that Big Kitty decided to nap on my white fabric, so it took a while before I could cut out the pieces. He was just too cute to wake up.

Quilt-a-long

I've started working on the baby blanket again now that I feel well enough to not sneeze all over it. I also decided to try something new. Some of the blogs I read have quilt-a-longs - they post patterns over a specific period of time, for free, and people join in and put up photos as they go. I decided to try one that's from this blog, that uses solid colors. I finished the block for this week. Every week they'll have patterns for one or two blocks. It seems less intimidating that way, and since I'm trying to learn as much as possible, it's really nice that people do things like this for free. So I don't know how it'll end up, but I'm enjoying it so far.

Easter eggs

I came down with a cold, and I decided to postpone work on the baby blanket so that I wouldn't sneeze all over the fabric. I don't think adding germs to a baby blanket is a great idea. I started working on another project instead - making Easter eggs from a pattern I found here. Holiday decorating is difficult with the kitties. I can't put up even a little fake tree for Christmas because Big Kitty eats both real and fake plants, and I don't think I can try to dye Easter eggs this year because Little Kitty is obsessed with eggshells. He digs them out of the trash if I make scrambled eggs, he tries to go after hard-boiled eggs, and I don't know why. I've never given him eggs, and I wish I knew what makes him go crazy over them. So I guess fake eggs it is. I've made just a few eggs so far, and I have trouble sewing a decent curve, so the first few don't have the greatest egg shape. I'm getting progressively better, though, and hopefully the next ones I make will be better. But at least these won't be eaten by a kitty. I hope.

Baby girl blanket in progress

I started working on the baby girl blanket this week. Here are my first two blocks put together (Big Kitty wanted to be in the photo too):
Then I used the same method I did for the patriotic blanket. I cut each one into fourths, but this time I'm more organized. I keep half of each block together, but switch two pieces out with the other color. And reversed. So it looks like this, with each one half blue and half pink:
I'll have two more pairs, blue and yellow, and pink and yellow. Each individual block with have zoo animals in the upper left corner and flowers in the lower right, just in different colors. And instead of putting everything together, I'll have solid color sashing in between so it's not as busy. I put them up against grey and purple, and I think I like the purple best. The colors are a little different in person, but it will look something like this:
I might decide to go back to the grey if the yellow doesn't work as well. But I really like it with the pink and blue blocks. Only two more pairs to go!