Kitty Cocktails

 There's a little bit of excitement down on the purple couch.  Look at them, putting their feet on the furniture and acting silly.  Wanna know what has them worked up?

 It must have something to do with the fact that I decided to cut into a certain fabric and start a new quilt.

 Kitty cocktails!  The Purple Couch Cats (and elephant) really like this fabric.

 It makes them want to have a party.

 When I went to New York recently and bought this fabric at City Quilter,  my friend and I were inspired by a quilt they had on the wall.  It was the perfect quilt for this fabric and any other that has a large fun print.  Here is the process that I used to make a quilt in a similar style.

First, I got out some graph paper and made an outline for the quilt. 

Second,  I eyeballed it and outlined 3 random large squares.  These will be the large blocks from the cocktail fabric.

 Check this out!  I was feeling artistic.

 

Next, I just drew lines to make random blocks of different sizes.

I used a pencil so I could make changes until it looked acceptable to me.

Ta dah!  I decided this was worth keeping.

Now comes the math.  I decided that each square on the graph would equal one and a half inches.  Block by block I counted squares and determined the size of the block.  Then I added one half inch to the length and width to get the sizes to cut.

I raided my stash for fabrics that coordinated with my focus blocks and I cut the blocks.  It was RANDOM!

I pinned my little master pattern up and put it all together on the design wall.  I scribbled and scratched all over the pattern as I cut the blocks to make sure I got all of them done.

And here it is.  Hmm?  Something isn't quite right.  Oops, I reviewed the master and found a mistake.  The top focus block is supposed to be square, lol.  Easy fix. 

We had an earthquake here on the east coast today.  Craziness!  I woke up to glorious weather.  I announced to my son and my mother that I am going to move.  That's right, as soon as I find a magical land where the weather is like this every single day, I'm out of here!  I was in the sewing room putting this top together, the windows were open, the breeze was coming in, and I had music on.  Outside I could hear a chainsaw nearby, somebody working.  And then............everything started shaking like crazy.  At first I thought it was a tree hitting the ground (from the chainsaw), but the shaking got worse so I thought a big tree must have hit the house.  But goodness, the floor was rolling back and forth and at the same time it sounded like something gigantic was clamoring across the roof.  My son was outside in the gazebo by the pool.  He first thought the gazebo was uneven, like a chair with a short leg, because it was rocking.  Then he saw the pool and the water was surging back and forth.  No aftershocks so far.  Let's hope this is the last of the excitement, I am happy to keep it an isolated incident to tell my grandchildren about. 

Anyway,  I finished sewing this top together while watching CNN and getting the scoop.  If you have ever shied away from Y seams, don't.  No big deal. See! 

  I have to confess that I had planned to frame each of the focus blocks with skinny strips of a contrasting fabric but I completely forgot.  Oh well.

Don't worry, I have plans to put some borders on to jazz this up a little. As soon as I decide on fabric and design.  Ugh, me and borders, a difficult relationship.

Now, since I haven't posted in a while, I want to show you that I did get another quilt done.  Another baby quilt with tumbler blocks.  I did some straight line quilting in the body of it but free motioned on the border.

Can you see where I stitched Baby Boy?   This will probably be for a co-worker.  Her shower is next month and she's having a boy.  No sooner do I finish one then it's headed out the door.  Sigh,  so hard to get ahead with the finishes but I'm still going to try.