Sewing with Cat Assistants

 I enjoyed my day off of work by finishing the Charm Pack Cherry baby quilt today with LOTS of assistance from the cats.  They must have missed quilting during the time we were moving as much as I did.

Even if you do not have cat assistants, this is a super fun and super fast quilt to make.

In fact, it may be quicker to make without cat help.

Edgar Poe is alway a big help. Check out this post for his tutorial on pin basting a quilt. 

In this photo, he has all the pinned blocks stacked up and ready for me to sew.

Here he is listening to the gentle hum of my featherweight, or contemplating a snack, or getting ready for a snooze, or getting ready to pounce on something.  It could be any of these.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Zen sewing kitty













The second part of the pattern required Gomez's assistance.  Here he is supervising cutting the blocks are resewing them together.

Gomez excels at supervision. With his assistance, I successfully sewed all the blocks together without any duplicate patterns touching and with the castles and sailing ships right-side-up.

Looked who showed back up to take all the credit for the finished quilt.  It seems as though we may have another interloper assistant making an appearance.

Remy and Edgar are carefully checking out the seam allowance and making sure the edge stay-stitching is adequate.













One last photo before the whole gang jumps on the quilt.  I changed the pattern a little from the original.  I reversed the blocks in rows 2 and 4 so the motifs would be right-side-up.  I ordered the backing and binding so I could quilt this up soon and be ready way ahead of the August due date..  Another adventure with the cats, I am sure.

A New Project

My sewing space is still unorganized and full of boxes but after sorting through boxes of fabric and UFOs and missing my sewing friends back in Georgia, I decided it was high time for some sewing (mental health) therapy.

I decided to start on a new project with a deadline.  In August, a new niece or nephew is going to arrive!!  Yes, a new sibling for Mackenzie and Cameron who needs his/her own quilt.

Since I had just packed up (and moved) all of my fabric, I knew I did not have anything for a new baby quilt.  Really I didn't.  Hard to believe I know but nothing I had was suitable for a new baby quilt.

I was inspired by the Fat Quarter Shop's Charm Pack Cherry Quilt floating around in my favorite quilts blogs (click on the link for the free pattern).  The new Storybook line by Katie & Birdie for Moda is sweet and whimsical without being overly cutesy IMO.  I am pairing it with Moda Bella Solid in Off-White from my stash.

I watched the YouTube video yesterday and whipped up the first two steps between loads of laundry.  

I think this is going to be a great baby quilt and is a fun quick project to make.

Trip to Taos

How about some beautiful New Mexico scenery to start your week? These are photos from a day trip to Taos on February 15, 2014, that I haven't gotten around to blogging about until now.   

I may actually have quilty photos tomorrow if my day off goes as planned ;) 

One of the best things about moving to a completely different state/region/climate/altitude/topography/time zone is exploring. Since I had never visited the Southwest until we decided to move here, everything is new and exciting and exploration worthy.  One of the first places I wanted to go when I arrived was Taos Pueblo.  Mr. SBQ had already visited Santa Fe and Taos in 2002 but it was all new to me.

Sangre de Cristo Mountains from downtown Santa Fe

Mr. SBQ and I drove the High Road to Taos from Santa Fe. The High Road trends up through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains through Indian pueblos and historic Spanish villages.

El Santuario de Chimayó 

Our first stop was in the village of Chimayó.  The Santuario de Chimayó (left) was built between 1811 and 1816 and is now a Catholic pilgrimage site.  Interior photographs were not allowed but you can see the traditional painted wooden carvings and altarpiece on this page.

San José de Gracia Church, Las Trampas

Our next stop was the village of Las Trampas, established in 1751 by a Spanish Land Grant, and another stop at a Spanish Colonial church (right).  Built between 1760 and 1776, the San José de Gracia Church is characteristic of Spanish mission churches in New Mexico.  The adobe walls need to be continuously re-mudded to preserve the exterior.  It was not open the day we visited but the interior wood carvings, statues, and altarpiece can be seen here. 

San José de Gracia Church, Las Trampas

Here is a closeup of the front facade and painted, carved wood doors. 

After lunch in the town of Taos, we continued on to Taos Pueblo. One of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the United States (approximately 1,000 years old), Taos Pueblo is one of only 21 UNESCO World Heritage sites in the U.S. 

Taos Pueblo, North Building

[I took the above photo with my iPhone 5s with no filter or touch-up or alteration of any kind. I just love how it turned out.]

I don't even know how to begin describing Taos Pueblo; it's one of the places that needs to be experienced in person to get the full sense of space, architecture, and environment.  Here is a link to the pueblo's website for some basic information and history. 

Taos Pueblo, South Building

We took a guided tour and walked around the village on our own.  The pueblo has two buildings on either side of a large open space and creek. 

The pueblo has remained unchanged in modern times, there is no running water, electricity, or indoor plumbing. 

It is a living community with approx. 150 people living full time in the pueblo and approx. 1900 people living in the surrounding pueblo lands in modern and adobe houses.

People living in the pueblo still retrieve water from the creek and many cook in traditional horno ovens (beehive-shaped, outdoor, adobe ovens).

Pueblo dog 

You can see a horno oven in this photo. 

The adobe walls are remudded twice a year.

St. Jerome Church (or San Geronimo)

The present day St. Jerome church dates from 1850 and replaced an earlier church that dated from 1619.

Some of the rooms are open to the public as shop spaces selling jewelry, pottery, and baked goods. 

I couldn't resist a blueberry-raspberry fried pie made in a horno that morning.  I did share with Mr. SBQ after having him hold it for a photo. 

We went to the town of Taos for a bit of walking around the plaza and seeing the shops.  There was a quilt shop there and gift shops but nothing caught my eye.  The town of Taos is famous for its art galleries, ski valley, and wealthy residential areas--all of which we bypassed on this trip.

Our last stop of the day was the community of Rancho de Taos and the famous San Francisco de Asis mission church.  Built between 1772 and 1816 on the plaza, the church was made famous in paintings by Georgia O'Keefe and photographs by Ansel Adams.

 Here is the front of the church but it is more recognizable by the rear facade (below), the subject of paintings and photographs (and favorite bird perch on the day we visited).

We took the "Low Road" or River Road back to Santa Fe, which follows the Rio Grande river valley and is a much quicker route home.  I must have been tired because I didn't take a single photo on the way back.   

 

A Friday Finish and a Feline Friday Photo

Spring is here!  The sun is shining and the birds are singing.  I am looking forward to seeing what spring is like in Santa Fe.  Hopefully, I will not have the same problem with spring allergies as I did in Atlanta.

I am still trying to get situated here.  The house still has boxes--mostly my sewing stuff that I have no where to put.  Sigh.  It's just about time to start sewing something though because I'm tired of unpacking and I want to sew.

I still have a full email-inbox to wade through so if you commented on my previous posts or emailed me THANK YOU and I will respond soon-ish.

I am just behind on things.

Recently, I managed to hand sew the binding on Mr. SBQ's "Mad Men" quilt while watching True Detective (a riveting show! anyone else see it???).  I finished the top last February and quilted it myself using the easy wavy stitch in horizontal rows while I was in Georgia at the end of the year.  The backing is a dark green Kona solid.

Mr. SBQ is very happy to have his quilt finished--just in time for Mad Men to start back up again soon.

He is also doing an excellent job of being a quilt holder on a windy day.

Here is another view in our driveway.  It's a good size quilt and will be perfect for the bed in the guest room/sewing room or for watching TV on a cool evening.  

And for Feline Friday, here is a cutemous photo of Remy in his new favorite spot.  I put quilts on my purple upholstered Victorian chair to keep cat hair off of it and the chair has become the new favorite cat evening sleeping spot in the living room.

Remy likes having his toys nearby.

The "Black Cat" quilt is a Country Threads pattern that I made way back in 2005.

Tuesday Ramblings

I am still trying to get into a routine and get situated in Santa Fe and I realized I have neglected the blog AGAIN.  I started working last Monday at Starbucks here in Santa Fe so I've been getting used to a new store, new coworkers, new boss, new customers, and everything else that goes along with a new job.  Lots of new, which is more than slightly nerve-wracking for me (who is very much a creature of habit).

I'm still sorting through boxes and trying to get my sewing space somewhat sewable. It's also the guest bedroom so hopefully guests will like looking at bins of fabric..... The house we are renting is smaller than my house in Georgia with less closet space (hardly imaginable!) and less wall space for bookshelves.  It's basically a big jigsaw puzzle trying to get things unpacked and organized. (We won't even discuss all the stuff in the rented storage space....)

For instance, I unpacked this box once and turned around to find it occupied again

 Not wanting to disturb Remy's "new favorite" box, I left it for awhile and came back to find....

.....and I wonder why it's taking so long to get organized.

Belated Hello from Beautiful Santa Fe

This great sculpture downtown just says "Hooray, I'm here"  IMO

Here I am in Santa Fe.  Finally. Reunited with Mr. SBQ and the cats. Surrounded by boxes. But I'm here.  It's taken me awhile to get back to blogging.  No sewing posts at the moment as I haven't unpacked the wall fortress insurmountable  numerous boxes labeled "quilt room."


I thought I'd give a quick recap of the trip in this post.

My beloved Dodge Dakota "Xena" on her way.

My dad, who I cannot thank enough, flew down from Michigan to Georgia to load up the last of the stuff, load up Xena the truck, close up the house, and drive across the country to NM.

By some sheer luck and karma, I planned this move the week between two crazypants weather events in metro Atlanta (an epic 2-inches of snow snowstorm and a shutdown-the-city-for-2-days ice storm).  With all the crazy, unprecedented winter weather across the country, we decided to take the southern route to NM on I-20 through AL, MS, LA, way too much of TX, and head north to reach I-40 in Amarillo.  We left Thursday, February 6th.

Mississippi River in Vicksburg, MS

Glad we took the "southern" route (and that my dad is an expert winter weather driver) as we encountered snow in Meridian, MS of all places and generally freezing cold weather everywhere else.  Snow flurries and horrendous road construction was the highlight of our drive through Dallas, TX.

View of the most boring road in America

We drove on the most boring road in America for approximately an eternity plus 8 hours.

beautiful sky through a very dirty windshield

After two long days of Dad driving and me commenting on how cold it was every time we stopped, we crossed the state line into New Mexico on Saturday, February 8!!

(Bad through-the-windshield photo courtesy of the city of Amarillo, who had approximately 2 inches of salt brine solution on the roads which covered our truck and Xena to the roof.)

 Starbucks boxes are great moving boxes (perk of working there!)

Mr. SBQ and the cats were very excited to see us; we were very happy to see them and arrive safe and sound; and Dad was happy to be done driving.  After getting everything unloaded, we took Dad sightseeing for the two days he was here before he returned to Michigan on Monday, February 10th.  We went up the mountains, drove along Canyon Road, walked around the Plaza and shopped for souvenirs, went to a fascinating cowboy exhibit at the New Mexico History Museum, and ate lots of great New Mexican food.

The remainder of the week, I ran errands, got driver's license, etc. and started unpacking all the boxes.



The cats are very happy to have both their humans to boss around. They are also happy to have their sofa and comfy chairs.  I am unsure of my position in the rankings versus the furniture.

Last Night in My Old House in Georgia

By Saturday and after a little over 1,400 miles, I'll be at my new home in Santa Fe and reunited with Mr. SBQ and the cats!!!

I will post more about my last week in Georgia but right now I am too tired from packing up the truck and just a little emotionally drained from all the goodbyes.

We have taken over your side of the bed and are not sharing