Christmas in July
Jul 31, 2006 Quilting
Last week was a vacation at home for me. Which means, I stayed up late, slept in, sewed to my hearts content, and ignored as many responsibilities as possible. Consequently, I have plenty of things to share. Today, I’ll share a Christmas present in progress. Yeah, I can’t believe I’m really planning this far in advance.
I’ve decided to make this quilt for someone special on my list.
Last week, I accomplished this much:
I love this quilt. The actual product actually resembles my design. I’m inspired by the simplicity. I don’t know a lot about the recipient’s color preferences. However, I do know that the recipient likes Asian things. Hence the Asian inspired design and Asian fabrics. All the piecing was accomplished with strip piecing. While I’ve used the strip piecing technique to make parts of blocks, I’ve never used the method to make a whole quilt. I think I assembled what I have in about 2 days, which is fairly good for me. I’m not the quickest sewer.
This weekend I’ll add the borders. Then it is time to think about quilting. In my mind’s eye, I see some sort of bamboo motif. This could get complicated. However, I think the end result would make the quilt worth all the effort
On another note: Last week was so hot, I only went outside in times of necessity. Today, the heat wave FINALLY broke. I never thought 90 would feel so cool. Tonight, I think the air might even cool down enough to open windows. A good night’s sleep might be mine for the taking.
My Cats
Jul 26, 2006 Life
I don’t write a lot of personal information on my blog. I’m not sure why. However, today I feel the need. About 2 1/2 weeks ago (Monday, July 10), I noticed that my cat Penelope looked really sick. Meet Penelope:
Ross and I immediately made an appointment with the vet. The vet agreed. She had a fever and looked dehydrated. The vet ran blood work and took an x-ray. Diagnosis? Inconclusive. Her blood work was normal. The x-ray was clean. Penelope did have a heart murmur. Before he did the blood work and stuff, he thought the heart murmur was the result of the fever. Afterwards, he decided that she my have a congenital heart condition. I should mention that Penelope isn’t quite two.
We took her home and treated her antibiotics. Over the week she started to look better. She played with our other cat, Cedric, and interacted with us.
On Sunday, July 17, I woke up around 8 am to see her having a seizure. I freaked out. The seizure would start then stop. When it didn’t stop, I called the vet. He promptly returned my call. I explained her condition. He told me even though it looked really bad, she would be ok in our home until Monday. Since he had just seen her, I trusted him.
The seizures lasted 1 1/2 hours. This was a horrible moment in my life. When they stopped, I decided to take a shower. I was kind of messy from holding her. I put her on the bathroom floor. She stayed right there. After my shower, I decided to research cat seizures on the Internet. Penelope was right by my side in the living room.
During this time, I realized that something was wrong. She didn’t move. Then I realized that she couldn’t move the left side of her body. Some how Penelope had a stroke! I was devastated. Ross and I spent our Sunday nursing Penelope. During the day we realized that she was fighting to live. Yet her little heart wasn’t strong enough to keep on going. Late Sunday evening, Penelope passed away. On Monday, we took Penelope’s body to the vet for proper disposal and to talk to the vet. Given her heart condition, there was nothing he could have done for her.
Penelope’s death upset me more than I could ever realize. I’m grateful for the time I spent with her on Sunday. While caring for her, I showed Penelope that I cared for her and I felt stronger as a human. My love for life increased while realizing that life is precious.
Ross and I spent the better half of Monday crying. By the end of the day, we decided we needed another cat. On Saturday, we adopted a kitten from the humane society. Meet Calypso:
She is an adorable, playful kitten. We needed her. She helps us feel happy. Even Cedric is happier. Instead of whining and sulking, he is playing with Calypso. I’m so thankful for the new little life.
Endless binding
Jul 10, 2006 Quilting
I’ve been working on a quilt that I started a while ago, at least 2 years ago. I finished the quilting and attached the binding. Now, its time to hand sew the binding down. I’m a little picky about my bindings. I use the double-binding method. On the front it is machined sewn. Then it is hand sewn on the back. I believe the end result is worth the time it takes to hand sew a binding.
As you can sew, the border is scalloped, which means a lot of things.
Like, this quilt is huge experiement and there is more binding to attach. I should really rethink about the work involved in my creative endeavors.
Hawaiian Summer
Jul 6, 2006 Quilting
A completed project: my Hawaiian appliqué quilt. I’ve named it Hawaiian Summer
I really like this project. I started the middle appliqué on a whim. The rest just came together. I wish all my projects came together this quickly. I must admit it helps to use big pieces like I did.
The quilt is displayed in my living room upbove the fireplace. It look nice and festive. Now, I can cross this project off my to do list.
