Making curves where there are none

These little blocks aren't joined yet but even so you can start to see the trompe l'oeil curves that the eye seems to find amid the straight line piecing.  You can emphasize this by quilting curved lines in the rectangle shapes that come together at the pinwheel ends, rather like the seams on a football.  The pattern is "Little Red", alternately called "Radio Flyer", by Carrie Nelson, and the fabric line is "Love Letters" by Laundry Basket Quilts.  Oh, I wish I could have gotten a charm pack of the coordinating batiks to use with the prints!  I love this fabric.  You can't see much of the prints when working this small (the blocks finish at just under 4") but the colors are gorgeous and rich.

LIttle spools, done

I'm enjoying making these small quilt tops.  It's nice to finish something without slaving over it.  Nothing against Orca Bay, but at times I thought it would kill me!  By the way, I'm taking Orca Bay to my longarm quilter today.  I finally decided not to add another border on the outside and leave it as designed.

Little spools

4 1/2" seems to be the perfect size for spool blocks.  Any larger, they seem to lose their charm;  any smaller, I lose my patience.

Color wrong, color right

Contrast this:

Versus this:

Other than plain 3" squares versus quarter square triangle squares, they are the same pattern.  WHat a difference correct color placement makes!  I should have saved all the red and blue charm squares in the bottom one for the flying geese instead of doing it totally random and scrappy.  Oh, well, live and learn.

A bed for Acme

Acme is my husband's god-kitten.  An online friend found her, abandoned and sick, and he took her in and got her medical attention.  Six hundred dollars of medical attention.  Acme had a tumor which was blocking her windpipe and making it hard for her to breathe, and she required surgery.  If not for Bruce, she might have died.  As it is, he'll have to watch and see how she develops.  We contributed to her medical costs and as a result my hubby was designated her god-father.  He considers himself honored.

Bruce already has a cat, Alice, who is an older lady kitty and probably not crazy about a kitten taking up residence.  But he can't keep Acme anyway because his landlord only allows one pet, so he's trying to find her a home.  If I were kitty-less at the moment, I would jump in the car and drive to Virginia to claim her.    But we wouldn't do that to Molly, who is timid, retiring and easily dominated.  Any other cat we brought in would only bully her, and she wouldn't take up for herself.  I couldn't do that to her.

One thing I could do is make Acme a little cat bed of her very own.  I have small quilts on the backs of furniture all over the house for Molly, and know that's one of the best ways to direct where a cat wants to sleep, in addition to making a cozy warm spot for her.  So I dug out some scraps and whipped up a little cat quilt.  It's not much, and it's only quilted in the ditch, but I hope she likes it.

Grrrr - grackles

My yard has been covered with flocks of grackles today.  I couldn't get a good picture of them because every time I crept to the window with my camera they sensed my presence and flew away.  You can see a few of the braver ones who didn't leave in the the bad photo above.

Evidently, this is a migrating group that stopped for a break in my neighborhood.  I'm not talking a few grackles, or a dozen, or a hundred.  Hundreds of them.  Covering the whole yard.  Eating my feeders clean and making a racket.  What a nuisance.

This is what they look like:

In a way they're kind of attractive, with that irridescent color.  But they're pushy, mean and commandeering birds who take over the food sources and run everything else away.  They seem to have moved on for the evening, which makes me happy.

But however many I have at this house, it's nothing to the autumn migrating flocks which used to drive the residents to distraction in the last town I lived in.  My subdivision was a couple of miles down a road that passed in front of the high school.  There were several subdivisions off this road as well as many houses fronting on it.  Every fall enormous flocks of grackles would descend on Harrison Pike and cover every wire, tree, bush and yard.  It was surreal, like "The Birds" movie come to life.  They made a terrible racket, pooped everywhere and drove the residents nuts.  Then, suddenly, they would be gone.  It happened every year.

The grackle gangs will probably be back tomorrow.  Where are the feral cats when I need them?

Not your typical stars and stripes

No red, white and blue here, just lovely pastels and charming blue stars with rose centers.  Kind of like a banner for spring.

I just made the last star block and couldn't wait to show it off.  The charm squares came from a forgotten corner of my stash closet.  I can't remember where they were purchased - maybe from the Sewing with Nancy store site.  I know they're not Moda or any brand I recognize.  I have a whole ziplock bag full of them, from several groups.  I've sorted out others for different small quilt designs.  Stay tuned.

My aim is to stockpile 6 or 7 small quilt tops and go on a machine quilting binge later this spring.