Quilting with Liza

My cat, Liza, gets a bit nutty this time of the year. She prefers to be outside, chasing mice and digging in the dirt (especially soft, easy to dig, garden soil in the flower beds). So this time of the year she is restless and a bit neurotic. The other day she came into the sewing room, sat down next to the chair and just sat there looking at me. I stopped and said what can I do for you? She meowed. I got up, thinking she'd run to her dish as usual. Nope, as soon as I was up, she was in my chair. It is not uncommon for her to walk into a room where someone is standing and meow. When you sit down, you are suddenly afflicted with COL- Cat On Lap- a condition which does not allow you to move or do anything until the cat chooses to find a new spot. Since laps are warm, she doesn't get up very often. her favorite spot is under the hoop while I'm hand quilting. What a nice warm cocoon that is- especially when the warm lap is a person suffering from frequent occurrences of "personal summer"!

A few years back, I found a wonderful online community of quilters on Yahoo groups, called "the Quilt Pocket". This weekend we are doing a challenge called "project Iron Quilter", inspired by the challenge of the same name at the Tompkins County Quilt Guild show last fall. They did it as a fund raiser, where well-known area quilters had three hours to make a quilt, which was then sold at auction. I made the supply list:
ONE focus fabric
FOUR to SIX coordinates(these can be scraps) You MUST include one stripe and one piece of orange
One piece of an unusual fabric, such as a lame, sheer, or lace
Embellishments such as beads, buttons, old jewelry, yarns, etc
Threads to match, including quilting threads

A scrap of batting large enough for a quilt to finish at 9” x 12”
Backing fabric
Tomorrow I will post the "rules" for the challenge:
You may do whatever you like with your fabrics as long as you include the following:
You MUST use the stripe, the orange and the unusual fabric in your piece. (they should be recognizable sized pieces)
You MUST "Insert" at least once in the construction of your piece.
Assuming that many of them do not know how to do an "insertion", here is a short tutorial.
( I apologize for any confusion caused by poor picture placement. I am still learning how this works.)
Cut strips in various widths to be inserted.












Make a random slash in the background fabric.









Align the edges and sew








Press toward inserted strip.






Align strip with background, offset slightly to maintain straight edges.









Press toward inserted strip.








Continue adding strips, cutting at parallel, or varying angles.









Insert strips across the first set if desired.








Careful alignment is required to keep all the inserted strips in a straight line. (but the piece may be more interesting if they don't!)












Ok, we'll see how this looks when I hit "publish"

This week I am grateful for:
A son who can admit he was a jerk
The fan I paid 79 cents for at Salvation Army a couple of years ago
The luxury of being able to hit the snooze alarm a couple of extra times
The end of February, and the robins in my back yard the other day- both are signs of spring (even if it's still a month away)