Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Quilting

For Christmas this year the fella got himself a quilt. Or a partially completed quilt top, to be more accurate. Actual quilting will commence shortly after I purchase a new iron, since all pressing required for this project finally did in my iron. It made some weird clicking noises Sunday night, and hasn't gotten warm again since.




Here is the completed top for his quilt. I was working on it secretly while I worked on my own quilt top, but he pointed out to me that he would have had no idea, even if I'd been wandering around pointing out the different colors and layout.



This is going to be my quilt. I finished piecing all the blocks last night, but I need to go back in and straighten out several points where things are not quite aligned. Then I'm going to have to figure out what sort of border I want on this one. Probably similar to the above quilt, but I think perhaps a double contrast stripe will be in it.




I couldn't take looking at cathedral window quilts online anymore , so I went out and bought the supplies to make one. I think it's going to take forever and be very large. The color scheme is navy/indigo, grey, black and one deep red on regular old muslin. I'm cutting out one foot sized squares, which reduce down to 5.5 inches and will have about 4 inch windows in them. Still trying to figure out the exact placement of squares.

New Old Things

I've been thrifting recently, and of course there was also Xmas, where I obtained several delightful new kitchen gadgets. Here are a few new additions:

This is my new rolltop desk. I spotted it across three rows at the flea market, heard a hallelulah chorus. and then levitated to it by magic. They sold it to me for CHEAP and delivered it too. I also bought the basket to stow on ongoing sewing projects in. Note also my amazing new poster from my brother. I love it so. Still trying to find just the right home for it.


Thrifting also included a bunch of glass vases and bowls for succulents, so I could replant this window, which has been filled with some pretty sad houseplants for some time now. My favorite among this collection are two white bud vases (on is visible to the left)- it has an odd irregular top that looks something like a dinosaur egg being forced open.


Finally, not an old thing, but more of a new thing in an old style. I have this gorgeous new enameled cast iron oven courtesy of my parents. This is a preliminary stage of some really awesome short ribs I made a few weeks ago.