Life According To Instagram

Here's what's going on in my neck of the woods...

Lots of sewing and binding and then more sewing and more binding. I think I sew just to bind. Oh how I love binding. I could become a professional binder if there were such a thing. Did I just start a new business? I think I've had too much coffee...

- Pretty flowers :)

- My sister's friend's baby with the quilt I made. You may recognise it as Vertigo from Modern Baby! And also, HOW CUTE IS SHE?! Want to bite!

- Binding... so much stripey binding... Yum :) The hubs looked in the cookie jar thinking I'd baked him cookies... he was dismayed to find binding. Hah.

- Iced coffee. Which has been necessary this past week. First it was freezing cold, then it got boiling hot. New England weather. Yay. 

FOOD. My favourite. 

- My go-to salad of chicken sausage on sweet butter lettuce, zucchini and avocados. 

- We tried a sandwich place that had good reviews. Food was fantastic, service... not so much. 

- Bowl of cherries. Yes, please. 

- And just for fun, we had German pancakes for lunch over the weekend. (I always wondered if mine is more deflated because I use fat free milk. Anyone?)

And as always, there's cats. Izzy found a new box and made it her new BFF. Matilda is auditioning for the Broadway version of The Princess and the Pea. And also staring into space.

New York Beauty

Guys, I might've started another project. 

I played with my Chicopee fabrics this weekend :) That first cut, I had to hold my breath. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them when I ripped open the parcel. A very rare thing indeed.

I'm making a variation of a New York Beauty quilt. I saw a quilt I really loved in a magazine but because I'm incapable of just following instructions, I rewrote it so that it made more sense to me. Please tell me I'm not the only crazy person who does this. I'm using random greys and other low volume fabrics for backgrounds because the lights in Chicopee just aren't light enough for what I want to achieve.

The first four blocks are pictured above, and I don't know whether I'll leave them together, but I think I might. I'm probably not going to get this done anytime soon, which suits me fine. Plus it gives me time to come up with more idiotic ideas instead of just following the pattern.

What's everyone working on these days?

Randomness

- I'm shopping for my first pair of eye glasses and I never thought it'd be this bloody difficult. There's always something wrong with the shape or colour, and then when you find the perfect one, you turn to the side and see a giant Chanel emblem on the sides of your face. Or some weird plastic criss-cross pattern. Not cool, Chanel. And then the hubs has me try one on a Gold & Wood pair that was perfect in every way... except the price. $895 before lenses or tax. Umm... NO. At least I didn't fall in love with the $7,500 pair. And no, I didn't add an extra zero there.

- This was my fifth summer in the States and I still haven't had a smore. I cannot explain this except maybe that the hubs is sleeping on the job.

- My sisters are arriving in two weeks and I'm going so crazy with anticipation!! I just hope the weather cools down a bit more by the time they get here because we might've grown up in tropical weather but none of us are fond of heat.

- This little kitty is 5 today. I can't believe I managed to keep anything alive for 5 years. That sounds terrible.

- Also celebrating birthdays today are my cousin, Lavinia, and Keanu Reeves. But not together. Because that'd be weird. Awesome, but weird.

- I remember seriously stupid and useless information.

- I started another scrap vomit quilt. If the hubs behaves, I'll let him have it. (It's already for him but shhhhh...)

- The number of fabric collections that came out last month is astounding. I went with Chicopee and Bella... I'm contemplating Field Study. What collections are you guys currently obsessed with? (Like I need help finding out new collections...)

Big Cat, Small Box

The hubs got something from Amazon the other day and left the box for the cats to play with. I thought it was a bit too small for either of them to bother with, but I was wrong. Matilda, the bigger of our two cats, has decided that she'll stuff herself into it and pretend to look comfy.

Look at her. It's almost pathetic hahahaha!

And the slightly smaller Isobel doesn't really care. She has claimed the big box for herself and isn't too bothered that her sister's face is all smooshed. I've caught her sitting in the small box a couple of times but she's a little shit stirrer so she won't do it while Matilda's in the vicinity because she doesn't want to get stuck with the little box. She is most definitely my child :)

Rouenneries Deux Runner

I made a friend of mine a very simple table runner for... well, no reason, really. Just thought of it one day. I used French General's Rouenneries Deux, and if you haven't worked with the French General collections before, they always have such a beautiful hand and wash up sooooo nice and soft.

I used three different reds, keeping it super simple, with cream fabrics for accent. I figured with five kids, she doesn't need anything too light on her dining table! Hehe :) I just quilted it in a crosshatch with ecru thread.

Hope you like it, Manda! :)

Because Izzy doesn't seem very impressed at all.

Randomness In Pictures

Here's some randomness for your viewing pleasure...

Pretty, pretty solids. Shannon came over and almost squealed at the sight of them haha There's no question why we're friends :)

The hubs had breakfast with an acquaintance and his wife over the weekend, and he came home with these lovely flowers from them :) So sweet! I had to cut the tulip stems way down because they kept drooping over the sides of the vase.

Daffodils! In the backyard! So pretty :)

Izzy continues to be cute and cross-eyed.

THE END.

Life According To Instagram

I realised I haven't been posting pictures I'd taken on Instagram so here's a few of my faves...

Quilty things... Basting the churn dash quilt; arranging blocks for a custom baby quilt; playing with the Moda Bella Solids card; and figuring out a layout for the Pickle Dish mini quilt I started.

Cooked, baked & eaten... Quesadillas; German pancakes; Italian wedding soup; and a mini white chocolate cheesecake.

And of course, there's the cats :) The cats have adopted a box and I don't have the heart to get rid of it even though the sight of it irritates me. Also, they're fluff monsters and there's always enough fluff on the carpet to make a small cat.

This Post Is Brought To You By Cats And Quilts

Anyone who follows me on Instagram should be very familiar with my goofball cats Isobel (Izzy) and Matilda (Tilly). I realised that I hadn't been photographing them with my camera since I keep snapping pictures of them with my iPhone. That's the only gripe I have with Instagram -- I don't use my camera as much anymore! Boo! 

To remedy this, here's Izzy in her usual spot on the back of the couch. With a dirty nose.

And Matilda with a dirty chin!

Izzy again, showing off her crossed eyes and how much she looks like a ferret.

I've finished the Swoon baby quilt top, and I'm trying to figure out what will go on the back. I think it's turned out pretty cute. I changed the pattern just a tad (I can never leave well alone), with the ladybug fabric in the centre instead of the entire star in the same fabric. The hubs suggested the green border because he thought there was enough white and pink on there. Once in a while, he's quite right with his suggestions... hahaha I'm so going to get yelled at!

Warning: Severe Cuteness Ahead

How does she expect me to get anything done when she keeps looking at me with those crossed eyes and I have no choice but to snuggle the crap out of her?

Izzy, you don't fight fair.

More Farmer's Wife Blocks... And A Redux

A few more blocks I made a couple days ago. I've almost exhausted the blocks that don't need templates, so wish me luck as I do battle with the printer!

1. Block 54 Kitchen Woodbox, 2. Block 48 Homeward Bound, 3. Block 73 Rainbow Flowers, 4. Block 61 Northern Lights, 5. Block 81 Snowball, 6. Block 70 Prairie Queen

If you'd like a closer look, you can click on any of the links to see the individual blocks, or you can go to my Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long set.

Also, I think I'm going to redo my Railroad block (top left corner). I LOVE the fabric and the contrast, but I think that dark pink fabric needs to be confined to making small appearances in blocks. It's one of my favourite blocks, but the dark pink just steals focus away from all the other blocks. Booooooo!

And I hope everyone who's affected by this loathsome heatwave is staying indoors and keeping cool :) The cats are insane, and still seeking out the sunny spots all over the house. Their current favourite is under the laundry racks in the kitchen. Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out how to live in the freezer and avoid death... Unfortunately without success.

Rainy Days And Mondays Always Get Me Down

My week so far in pictures. And the rain doesn't really get me down... just makes going outside slightly annoying. And damp.

It rained all day today. Finding some daisies in the garden that were starting to bloom made the rain much less annoying.

My breakfast this morning. The hubs turned me on to peanut butter on an english muffin. Sounds odd, but it's pretty yummo.

I found another cat named Matilda on a new-to-me blog called Kris Atomic! Heehee :)

The hubs, reading a book that he hopes will improve his memory. He learned to make up a song to remember a grocery list of four items. He forgot the last half of the song by the time he got home...

Isobel :)

And Matilda! She finally sat still long enough to take a proper picture :)

More Pictures From My Weekend

My hexagon flowers are coming along very nicely. I've made almost 1400 individual hexies, and have about 180+ of the little flowers sewn together so far. Sewing in front of the telly at night is super productive!

The hubs, sleeping while I sew :)

Isobel :)

I always end up taking pictures of Isobel only because she's always close to me. Matilda is always either wandering around the house or won't stay still when I try to take her picture.

Took more pictures of the hydrangeas since they've bloomed just a little more.

The other day they looked all sad and droopy because it was so boiling hot. I was just glad to see them resurrected.

And while I was out there, I saw a little bunny rabbit! He hopped away from me, stopped to peep at me out of the corner of his eyes, and stayed still as I inched closer and closer to take his picture. So cute!

Stick To Your Day Job

I found something out about the hubs yesterday. The boy takes a picture like he's drunk. I mean, I don't take the best pictures, but holy crap his were all super fuzzy.

Let's start with a couple of snaps I took...

Isobel in her usual spot on the couch.

And Isobel again, in the strangest of positions as the hubs scratches her head (even though it looks like he's trying to pry open her head, I promise you he's not hurting her).

Then he takes the camera from me...

Matilda...

Isobel.

Right? Drunk. Totally drunk. You just stick to reading books, honey :)

Summer Heat = Droopy Cats

This is how I find my cats these days. Flopped over and melted into puddles of cute.

They'd be a hell of a lot cuter if they wouldn't shed all over my dark carpet all summer long. I comb and comb but it always starts looking like a scene of a major disaster as soon as I put the vacuum cleaner away.