cats – Anodyne Design

Posted on February 19, 2011 February 25, 2013

Another Quilt-in-Progress

Finishing the Zig Zag Quilt really motivated me to tackle some other works-in-progress I’ve had hanging around for much too long. I have had the squares cut out for this quilt I’m making for my own bed for almost as long as the Zig Zag Quilt has been hanging around.

I sewed all the blocks into long strips, and then joined the blocks with thin strips of cream fabric. As you can see in the photo, Yoda is helping, as he usually does with my quilts. I did this a couple weeks ago, and have since been distracted with another project, which I hope to be posting about soon. I still need to make and attach some borders of cream fabric around the edges of the quilt, then actually quilt it and bind it, but at least I’m making progress! It’s an actually top now, instead of just a collection of fabric squares. Too bad I can’t Yoda to help with cutting out the borders I still need…

Posted on April 15, 2010 February 23, 2013

Just One Thing…

I walked into the fabric store yesterday with the intention of just picking up some purple fabric to complete a custom order. But then, of course, they were having a sale, and there were some great things in the remnants pile, and those little owls were calling my name, and and…

And I walked out of the store with a stack of new fabric.

When Roo saw me getting ready to take a picture of the pile of fabric, he hurried over to help me style it. Hence the errant paw. If he had his way, I don’t think there would be a stack of fabric or photo untended by him.

Posted on February 16, 2010 February 22, 2013

The Best Part

SciFi Man pointed out to me yesterday that I forgot to mention the best part of his Valentine’s Day gift to me. Which is that the “stem” of the flower is actually a retractable pointer, so I can tap things with it. (Apparently, he noticed how much I enjoyed tapping things the last time we bought wooden dowels at the hardware store.) And he’s totally right. Here’s some tapping in action:

Posted on January 22, 2010 February 22, 2013

Gratuitous Snuggling

Sometimes you have to interrupt the craftiness for a little kitty snuggle. I love the way Yoda and Roo end up hugging each other when they cuddle. Aww.

Posted on August 24, 2009 February 21, 2013

It Wasn’t On The List

Of course, as soon as I share my Crafty To Do List with you, I go off and make something that wasn’t on the list. When SciFi Man saw, he said “What about the quilt? This project wasn’t on your list.” To which I brilliantly replied, “How do you know about my list?” I guess he keeps tabs on my blog more than I realized. That’s sweet.

So, true to form, I wrote a list and promptly deviated from it. I followed My Spare Time’s very nice tutorial for making a simple baby blanket. The tutorial was easy to follow, although I think my mitered corners still need a bit of perfecting. Good thing these blankets are quick to put together, so I’ll be able to practice my corners. And until they’re perfect, I get to keep the spoils for myself, which is awesome, because I love how this first blankie turned out.

The top is a now-unavailable Tracy Porter print in dusky pink with brown branches and flowers. It’s paired with a soft green apple fleece that I had laying around from another unfinished project, and bound with satin blanket binding in cream. So pretty! Yoda, always my blanket model, helped me out with a photo shoot:

The Only Baby in This House... — The Only Baby in This House…

“Be sure you get my handsome profile…”

Posted on April 11, 2009 February 21, 2013

A New Bag

I made myself a new tote today. It’s a fairly simple design, with three pockets across the front. SciFi man tells me I ought to put a zippered pocket inside, too. That’s probably a good idea, and one I’ll try in the next draft. But for now, I’m happy with this little bag. What do you think?

And while we’re at it, here’s a gratuitous picture of a kitty soaking up the afternoon sun. Aww.

Posted on January 3, 2009 February 20, 2013

My Quilting Helper

My kitties always like to keep me company. Or maybe they are just supervising me. But Yoda has become particularly helpful when it comes to quilting. You may have noticed his helpful “product testing” in the last post. After finally finishing the quilt for my brother, I decided to put one together for my mom and her kitty. Yoda decided that if this was to be a quilt for a kitty (and aren’t all quilts, really?), he better monitor every step of the process.

First we decided that we would do a “Sew Easy Quilt” from the Winter 2008 Quilts and More. Yoda wasn’t able to come to the fabric store with me to pick out fabric, but I think he approved of the mix of Tracy Porter and M’Liss cats prints I selected. We cut them into squares, and then Yoda helped me to lay them out and piece them together.

Then Yoda supervised while I pinned all the layers together. Something tells me he had the better end of the deal.

After all the work of watching me quilt the layers, Yoda decided he needed a break, and let his brother Roo take over. Roo had the important task of holding the quilt down while I hand stitched on the binding. Again, I think he got the better end of the deal.

Once the binding was on, Roo made sure the quilt was comfortable enough for sleeping. It totally passed inspection, but Roo says my mom will have to bring it in again in a year for a check up.

After Roo’s inspection, I spread the quilt out on the bed for a quick photo shoot, and Yoda got back to work helping as the quilt model.

Yoda tried to convince me to keep this quilt for myself him. He was disappointed that we had to box it up and send it off to Mom and Abby. But thanks to Yoda and Roo’s hard work, I hear that it’s kitty-approved in its new home, too.

Posted on January 2, 2009 February 20, 2013

Catching Up

Happy New Year! It’s 2009! Since I was away from blogging for a good chunk of 2008, let’s do a bit of review. Then we can move on to starting the new year fresh.

Do you remember this? Like I said in that post, I’m kind of a last-minute girl. And I made it all the way to attaching the binding on this quilt. Then life came smashing along and the quilt got set aside with just a little work left to be done. I finally did get it finished and delivered to it’s rightful owner, my brother, in 2008. It was my first real, quilted-not-tied, bed-size quilt. It was beautiful, and it was so hard to give it away. But I know that it will be loved. Here it is, in all its finished glory. (Ignore the messy bedside table and the fact that my bed has no headboard. And the subpar lighting.)

“What do you mean this isn’t my quilt?”

Posted on July 7, 2008 February 20, 2013

A New Lightbox

I put together a new lightbox for myself tonight. The last one I had did not make the move with me, and I’ve been struggling to take nice photos without one. I followed the tutorial on Photodoto to make the one pictured above. It’s simple and quick to put together, and all you really need are a couple of pieces of poster board, an exacto knife, and some tape or glue. On Photodoto they use fancy flashes to illuminate the lightbox. I don’t have a lot of fancy photo equipment, so I settled for two desk lamps I had on hand. I think they do the job pretty well. You can see in the picture I immediately put the lightbox to work with a new wristlet. You can check out the resulting photos in the listing.

Of course, lightboxes aren’t just for pretty pictures of inanimate objects. They also make for pretty pictures of pretty kitties.