Design Wall Monday 4-18-11

This project was featured in McCall's Quilting March/April 2011 edition. It's called Cafe Espresso and is a set of 4 placemats plus the coordinating napkins. The designer is Stephanie Sims and the fabric collection is Daily Grind Fabrics by Barb Tourtillotte for Clothworks.

The directions are perfect and I was able to cut everything out and machine piece it in just a few hours. All that is left to do now is sew the hem on the napkins, quilt the placemats (am still debating whether to machine quilt or hand quilt), and bind the placemats.

I ordered the kit from D's Sewing Center & Quilt Shop because after doing an internet search for the fabrics, it seemed easier (and cheaper after paying shipping charges) to simply order the kit.

While I love the smell of coffee, and coffee "stuff", I detest the taste of it! hahaha Still, I think they are neat looking.

Am linking up to Patchwork Times today for Design Wall Monday.

Critters - Ya Gotta Love 'Em

I feel lucky to have a 16 mile drive to/from work - no traffic lights! I pass a couple of small working farms that have critters and I get to watch them live their lives. Recently, a colt was born. His first couple of days were rather shaky on those skinny, wobbly legs, but once he was steady and his confidence increased, I started seeing him go at a full-tilt run around his pen area, kicking those skinny back legs straight up in the air. His mother gives him an exasperated "Kids!!!" look. I'll swear, if horses can roll their eyes, she did! hahaha


A pasture I pass everyday usually has a small-ish herd of cows grazing - I'd say there are ~50 cows in the herd. And a rooster. Yes, a rooster. I hope you can see him in the very center of this photo. He's been part of that herd for 3 years now. I don't know if he knows that he's a rooster hanging with a bunch of cows, or if he thinks he's a cow. But wherever the cows are, so goeth the rooster-cow. If they're taking a siesta, well, so is he. Last year there was one sheep with the herd as well, but I haven't seen the sheep yet this year. And lately they've added a lot of calves to the mix - they are so cute when they run and play with each other.

Last autumn another small farm I pass daily had a lot of baby goats - kids. Adorable! Right now that same small farm has a lot of baby sheep. To me, that farm is "the nursery".

I also pass a house everyday that has two labradors retrievers standing guard - one chocolate, one yellow. At the end of the day they await their respective masters. The chocolate lab sits on the west side of the property, looking eastward. The yellow lab sits on the east side of the property, looking westward. Maybe one belongs to the mr. of the house and the other belongs to the mrs.


And when I arrive at my burrow my Sweet Charleston's little face is looking out the window, like a ghostly apparition. I smile everytime I see it. I love his name, "Charleston", however "Casper" would have also been a good name for him. So would "Squirt" for some not-so-pleasant reasons. My cat probably thinks the name, "Skeeter" would be very appropriate for Charleston since he pesters the cat like a mosquito.

Design Wall Monday 4-4-11

The Origami Quilt - finally have settled down to work on it and am making progress. All that's left to do is sew beads onto 38 more flowers, and add the label. This pattern is from the book Fantastic Fabric Folding by Rebecca Wat. I first talked about it in my Design Wall Monday post from 11/2/10.

It has been a frustrating piece because I absolutely could not get the folded fabric flowers to be square. So I had to really work with them to get the 9-patches pieced together. So the 9-patches aren't square. And so on and so on. With the whole piece not being square, the outside border is ruffly. This is something I would never put in a show, but I'll enjoy it on my wall. I hope to finish it up this week then get it on the wall so I can move on to something else.

My hands started hurting so badly that I've had to put the sock knitting down for a few weeks - give my hands a chance to rest (arthiritis maybe?). But I did finish a couple more pairs of socks before I had to call it quits for a while.

I'll miss the next Design Wall Monday - we'll be on vacation.

Jump over to Patchwork Times to check out Judy's blog.