Kitty Quilt Update

School.... takes up so much of your time. Wow. Will enjoy not having homework. Soon, very soon. In the mean time my life revolves around courses and homework. Right before classes started for the spring I was working on a project for my SIL.

When I last posted this was my layout and everything was ready to be sewn together.

I started by attaching the kitties to the corners. *cough* I mean the corners on the cat blocks.

Then I chain pieced the 9 patches and tried to keep the rows together.

(Obvs. my ironing board is my place to take pictures right now)

I ironed my seams open to avoid bulky seams, since this one is going to be hand quilted.

Trimmed all the corners on the cat blocks and pressed them out and open.

Now I have 4 lovely cat blocks all ready for the 9 patches.

Oops. Apparently I forgot to take a picture of the completed 9 patches before the quilt top was completed.

So this top is another WIP while I work on homework. Fortunately(?), this semester I have several hours between courses and nothing to do except club meetings and homework. I plan on packing small projects like this one and working on them when I find time. 

Vacations and New Projects

Most of us made New Years Resolutions. My favorite is the people who swore off buying any fabric until at least June. Some have sworn off all year. Cannot. Buy. A. Thing. Wow.
I buy for projects, but would LOVE to have the stash of fabric some people have. Oh My! I have seen people with whole bedrooms of fabric. To be honest I would just  really love to have the space to have my own sewing room.
I tried to make resolutions for the new year, but I don't really believe that they work. After all what difference does a new year really make? If you can't stop yourself from doing something that you should not the rest of the year, why would a few more days (and a number change) make that much of an effect?
My idea was to not start any more projects until I get a few of the ones I have as WIPs or UFOs finished. I really should finish a few things, but I like to design and I like to pick out fabric and start projects. Projects I finish are usually gifts or requests for others. For Christmas I visited my SIL and she loves my work, so she requested a table topper and a lovely snowman stocking.

There are a few companies that make these. This one is from Bucilla.

I love making these. They are felt, embroidered with thread and beads, making them a quick and easy finish. I love this snowman too. He is super cute and will look lovely on their mantle next Christmas. The Table Topper is made with some of the Light Fantastic I won from Barbara over at Wont-to-be Quilter during her giveaway in November.

I drafted a pattern made of alternating windows and 9 patch blocks. My SIL picked out some cute kitty fabric to be fussy cut for the windows and the Light Fantastic prints for the 9 patch blocks.

I started by cutting out all the pieces. There are 4 91/2" cat blocks, 16 3" window corners, and 45 31/2" 9 patch pieces. (My ironing board doubles as a cutting board with the addition of a small cutting board)

This is the 9 patch block layout. I fiddled with the arrangement until it looked good and then took a picture to save my favorite layout.