Music in the Morning…

It’s Friday morning. Usually I sit at my computer, drink my tea, read a bit, and write, and it’s all in dead silence. Some of that dates from when the kids got up after I did, so I had to be mom quiet to let them sleep. But then when they went to high school, that was less of an issue…they were up well before me. I’m not quite awake this morning, so I just turned the music on. It might help. Certainly there’s no one here who cares but me and the cats and the dog. And the fat black cat just wandered in, so apparently she’s not offended by morning rock ‘n roll.

I had quilt class last night, but I was crocheting. Long story. It will eventually end up on here. I’ve always known how to knit and crochet; was taught at an early age. I used to sit in high-school history class knitting scarves so I wouldn’t fall asleep. I find history classes kinda boring. Probably means I never took the right ones.

I came home and ironed after eating. I let Rubio feed me last night. Never met the guy, but he saved me from cooking.

So the plus with these little guys is that they iron so quickly. The minus is that because they iron quickly, I have to make fast, repeated decisions about backgrounds…which is hard. But I did it anyway, until I was too tired to stand. Then I sat and did some school stuff instead.

So first I iron the whole thing to a teflon sheet with the drawing behind it…

That’s some brightly colored cat there. Then I pick a background and iron it to that. Pretty much it takes less than 30 minutes per cat…some were only 15 minutes.

Easy peasy. And the ones with a lot of white in the same range, I will outline shapes with a dark thread, almost like drawing on the quilt with the thread. So those features will pop. This one is little…the littlest, I think.

Much happier on a background. I debated green, but there’s a little green in the background and she looked funny on the green. I actually pull a bunch of backgrounds and drop the cat on top of each one until it looks happy. Not washed out. Not lost. But happy. This one made her happy. The green did not.

I did a black and white bird last year, and the patterns made it kind of fun, so I wanted to try it with a cat.

This cat is a little perkier than the last one. All these cats are numbered so I can keep track of them, but I’m not doing them in order any more. Dammit. Because the boxes were piled up in no particular order. Wish I could tell you which one this was…maybe 5?

This is 3…and I used an actual cat as a model, although I changed the coloring. So calm.

Deserving of a calm background. She’s pretty. At some point, I’m going to run out of that fabric I love, the batik with the wispy cloud lines across it.

OK, you’re gonna laugh, because I had this sudden bug up my butt to troll the internet for that fabric, and realistically, it’s probably 4 or 5 years old, so I couldn’t find it, but I found three others that are similar that might give me as much joy. And utility. So yeah, I just bought them. The internet is such an enabler. It’s also amazing with all the fabrics I have that I always need new ones. Not quite the right shade or whatever. But I do try to use stuff up…I haven’t bought anything else for these cats. The background above is from my second mom, who died in June. The spiral blue is the leftover from another background on a larger quilt…can’t remember which one. Would have to go back and search for it. I think the other blue is also a leftover piece.

Anyway. So that’s what I do in the mornings before work. Troll the internet for fabric I need? Well, no, I don’t usually do that.

Tonight, I’m hoping to do another 4 or so…I have only 5 left, but I think 4 of them are the harder ones…more pieces, more complicated. So keep your eyes open.

These will be for sale, if you didn’t realize. I meant to do them over the summer and got sidetracked, but if you’re looking for a holiday gift for a loved one (or yourself!) and you see one you like, let me know. I won’t hold you to buying it until I have it completed with a price. I just keep a wait list. They’ll probably all be between $100 and 200, except for the owl and the weird cat. They’re way more complicated. Last year’s owl was $235.

Which reminds me, there are three small bird quilts from last year that never sold. The top two don’t have a binding or a sleeve…they’re finished with a satin stitch and have two small plastic rings on the back that they hang from…they’re each 8×10″ and $100 (cheaper because less finishing time). This is Dove 2, Bird 11…

And this is Diving Bird 2, Bird 13, same size.

This is bound and has a sleeve. It’s Purple Bird, Bird 8, 18.25“ w x 14.5“ h, $205.

And then I’m working on 7 cats, 2 hearts in hands, much like this one…

But not exactly. And a different owl than last year’s…coming up in the next week or so you’ll see them all ironed down. Actually, I wrote this part last night, and I’m hoping to see them all ironed down in the next 24 hours. We’ll see about that. I do have to grade papers too.

And I will be at the Visions opening tomorrow night…posing with my quilt? Who knows…