Tuesday Twiddling

No new pictures of the Baby M quilt, because I have nothing new to show. I have several more failed attempts at quilting that I could talk about, but I'd rather not. I will say that at the moment there is nothing that needs to be picked out. That's because earlier this afternoon I ripped out my latest attempts, pulled out all the pins, repressed all the layers, then put the whole thing back together again. I couldn't bear to leave it for the night yet again with a trip to the frog pond scheduled for the morning, so I just left it on the cutting table in all its unsullied glory. Tomorrow I'll give it another go.

I did satisfy myself today that the problem is not in the machine or the way it is set up. I unthreaded everything, cleaned out what lint I could see, rethreaded everything, and put the walking foot back on. Then I took a practice sandwich and stitched a few lines to see what happened. It sewed beautifully. So that's not the issue. I really hope I have good news to report tomorrow.


In the mean time I decided to see if I could move forward with some form of quilting and got out Calico Cats, a hand-quilting project that's been in progress for some time. It's too hot to quilt in my lap, so I've got it set up on the dining room table. The only glitch with that is I've turned off the AC in that part of the house since I can close it off, and only open it up at night after the cats have been put outside and Molly is asleep in her crate. In the early morning - like before sunrise early - I can work for an hour or so before it starts to get too warm. I'm out of practice and I had to hunt up the tools, and my callouses will need time to develop, but I have managed to quilt 2 of the cats so far this week.


I've been keeping my tatting handy for when I want to sit with my feet up in the afternoons. This is my newest creation, and includes a technique that is new to me, called the Josephine knot. It's the small circles between the larger rings around the outside. A bit fiddly, but I always like learning something new.


Molly wanted to be in the pictures today, so I finally managed to get one that was worth publishing. Between the fact that she's nearly monochromatic, and she doesn't stay still unless she's asleep, she's next to impossible to get a good picture of. But giving her a toy helped. She has always loved soft toys that are nearly as big as she is. (She also loves pulling the stuffing out of them, so they don't last very long; I usually buy them at the thrift store.)

The weatherman has promised us a break from the 100+ heat tomorrow, and I hope he keeps that promise. I can handle 90 a whole lot better than I handle 100.