Awwww.....

A few posts back I showed a picture of the kitty pi that I had knitted. I decided to give it to my bil and sil for their cat, who is probably my favorite cat of all times. I've offered to cat sit, but we are all afraid that their cat and our dog may not see eye to eye........and we don't want to see the dog get hurt. Judging from the pictures that my sil sent, the cat is enjoying his pi. And yes, that is the normal size pi and kitty really is that big. He is part Bengal, a breed I hadn't heard of before meeting him, and he has a lot of 'dog' personality for good measure.

What happened to my Comments on yesterday's post???

I don't know what happened, but Norma has pointed out that she wasn't able to comment on my last post- there is no place to do so. Anyone have an idea as to what happened and how I can fix it?? Thanks, Norma!

Great week!!

This past week has been very busy- and wonderful. Last weekend my Marine showed up unexpectedly. We knew his enlistment was almost up and that he had asked for terminal leave (he had enough leave accumulated that if he takes it now it will carry him thru to his discharge date). He was granted leave, so while he is still 'in' for a few more weeks on paper, he is home and getting used to civilian life! What a Mother's Day present that was!! Yesterday we had all the family here for a BBQ to celebrate his homecoming. All my boys, their wives/girl friends, my grandchildren and my BIL and SIL. We laughed so long and so hard, I still ache.

Today, after my in laws left to drive home to NC, I went up to the sewing room for the first time in a little more than a week and put together the BOMs for this month, they need to go out in tomorrow's mail. It was fun to put together and I made an interesting discovery along the way. This is supposed to be a vase with flowers and leaves. The Moda marbled black is always the required background, then we needed a vase fabric, a leaf/green fabric and two florals. Have you seen many turquise flowers? As I searched thru the stash, I discovered I have precious few florals! Maybe 4 FQs that would qualify as floral. OH well, I'm not going to run out and buy more to make two blocks, these will have to do. You may not be able to tell from the photo, but the longer black sections on the sides were rectangles, not squares, so putting things together needed a little more thought than just assembling 4 rows and them sewing the rows together. Just enough thought to be fun, not enough to be frustrating.

Another deadline met

IFQ has a number of projects that one can participate in. One is the 'Sewing Muse' doll. They post instructions and the requirements for the project, in this case that a picture of the finished project be posted by a particular date. I have beaten the deadline by several days, only some bom swap blocks left to do on my commitment list. Here is a picture of my sewing muse- it was a fun project, but it feels so good to have it behind me instead of ahead of me! LOL

I finally finished the Hour a Day quilt for April--

and here it is. Made from scavenged pieces of 30s repros, some white on white, and a coral/pink fabric. Its light and soft looking, I like it. Thanks, JudyL- another great, easy, fast and thoroughly fun project!

Table topper

The IFQ group does an incredible amount of projects, there is something for everyone. When I joined, I signed up for a couple swaps and a couple projects- as usual, jumping in before looking! This double sided table topper is one of those projects. The directions and diagrams were wonderful, the suggestion was to do it in homespuns, and I did. While I enjoyed the fast sew together, the project reminded me why I avoid working with homespuns. I love looking at them, and the primitive, imperfect look they give, but I hate working with them because invariably one or more is very much off grain and I don't enjoy producing primitive/imperfect- I'm trying to improve my skills and want projects to reflect that! Hubby came up, looked at it hanging on my design wall and immediately informed me that it wasn't up to my usual standards, how was I going to fix it. He also expected that I should have matched the plaids as in garment construction. When I explained about the homespuns he told me if that was the case, I shouldn't have used them. Sigh. All it needs at this point is binding, but I'm not sure I'll bother. I am seriously out of love with this one. I guess I just love homespuns when someone else does them.

Of the two sides, I prefer the one that is more of a bulls-eye. As I said, the construction was fast and very enjoyable, so I would like to do the project again sometime. I am toying with the idea of using seasonal fabrics, ie. Christmas for one side, Thanksgiving for the other. I'd have to recalculate fabric requirements, but that's ok. I think it would be fun to do one project to be used for two seasons. Just think of the possibilities! If you put New years and Valentines day on one, St. Patrick's and Easter on another, both Memorial Day and July 4 on one, maybe with Halloween on the back, and Thanksgiving and Christmas on another. You would have year round decorations-and you wouldn't have to switch out as often in between, just flip it over and you are ready to go! LOL Sort of like Superman slipping into the phone both for a quick costume change....faster than a speeding bullet!!

New projects

I haven't posted in a bit, but I have been working on various projects. I have finally started working on JudyL's April HAD quilt. I am using some fabrics that I 'won' a few months back at my guild meeting. We have a 'raffle table' where members donate patterns, notions, books, etc that they no longer want/need. If you are interested , you put your name on a slip of paper by the item, and a quarter, or whatever $ is specified. Well someone donated some 1930's repros already cut into pieces, along with the directions for the project. I entered my name , figuring I'd never win anyway but it would help the guild. WRONG! I came home with someone else's UFO. Since they were already cut into 2.5" strips, I just had to subcut to make the 9 patch blocks. I have also started the goodluck blocks, but ran out of the background fabric. I am hoping to visit the LQS today to pick up some more so that I can get those finished today and tomorrow.

As my most recent spend the evening in front of the tv project, I knitted a Kitty Pi. I blame Amy (Calico Cat) for that one. I don't know why I knitted a cat bed, I don't even have a cat! I guess mother's cat will have another place to snuggle. In any case, it isn't as bowl like as it should be, so I will re block it first. Currently it looks more like a Kitty Pizza.

Scrappers ' survey

I've been busy trying to get caught up on different projects. Even though I spend time in the room, it doesn't seem to leave me with much to show. However, I did get a fast glimpse at a quilting magazine with a scrappy quilt on the cover. I really liked it, but it got me to thinking.....uhoh!

I have trouble with scrappy, I want to blend and matchy-match everything. I have forced myself a few times, and it turned out ok, but, as I said, I started wondering.

Those of you who do scrap quilts (like Bonnie's on Quiltville) do you do totally scrappy- whatever comes to hand, or do you keep your scraps 'alike'? For example, do you mix brights, depression repros, civil war repros, batiks, Kaffe Fassett all together? Or, do you do your scrappy within a type?

Its been a while....

I had a bit of a dry spell for a week or two. I just didn't like anything that I was doing, so I stopped doing. You know those times when nothing can please you??? However, tonight is the JoMorton club at my LQS, and I had to finish that project. We were working on the churn dash this month. Now, when I saw it, I liked it and was eager to start. I wanted to do blue and tan, not multi colored. I started.....then poof...all my enthusiasm vanished. Not sure just why, it wasn't a difficult block, but I didn't enjoy doing them at all. So, instead of making 13 as the pattern called for, I said the heck with it, why waste fabric on something you don't like. I made 7, used 6 and now have a placemat! The photo shows it quilted. By the way, that middle block on the bottom, that was on purpose (really it was) I read on another list that if you want an old-timey look to your quilt, put in a block or two with very low contrast, I decided to try it. Since I didn't love it anyway, I decided to try out a new quilting pattern on my PCQuilter. I haven't done crosshatch before. Actually, that worked out better than I thought for a first attempt. I still have some fine tuning to learn, it's all dependent upon where you place the needle at the start so that your boxes line up to look like continuous stitching. This one is also used in a larger grid to baste a quilt, and the placement wouldn't be nearly as important for that. I will definitely use it again. Now I just have to finish binding before class (picture is pre-binding).

Then I made and mailed out my online BOM swap block. The moda marbled black is the required background; this month the other fabric had to be something sewing related. If you look, you will see pin cushions, tape measures and such.

While I am at the LQS, I need to pick up some odds and ends, and my Thangles BOM for February.

As I mentioned in my earlier post

I also worked on a top for a class I took online at Quilt University. This was a pressing class. There were two choices for the top- this smaller one, or one slightly larger with an hst border and one or two plain ones. I chose to do the smaller one, having just completed a Jo Morton with the hst border. Now I am debating adding a little more interest to the small one......LOL never satisfied!

Hour a day for February

I spent the weekend working on the hour a day quilt. I must say, if I were buying fabric to make this quilt, I don't think that I would ever have chosen the fabrics that I did. However, working from stash means I had to use things I had enough of. Its much darker than I would probably have chosen, but I am pleased with how it turned out.

The star points are made from different red FQs that I had, although within each star the fabric is the same. The black was originally purchased for a backing, so I had lots and now have only scraps left. The gray is actually a gray with black/metallic gold and brown marbling which was also intended to be a backing. I still have some of that left-it may wind up as part of a pieced backing for this quilt. The 'worst' part of this quilt was that the black and the red I used for sashing were some of the fraying-est fabrics that I can remember ever using! But it is done and ready to take its place in the pile of those tops waiting to be quilted.

I don't have anyplace high enough to hang larger quilts, so the bottom is trailing on the wet deck. I'm happy to have gotten a picture between the rain! I also worked on a top for my Quilt University class, it is almost finished.

Jo's Little Women Club....

The instructor for our Jo's Little Women Club at our LQS just posted our February projects on the store blog. Mine is the first one pictured. http://littlequilts.blogspot.com/index.html

Something a little different

I haven't posted on my hour a day progress because, while I have been ahead of the game, I don't think things will look like much until the whole thing is together. Does that make sense? Since we are working from stash, some will appear very dark and drab until everything comes together. Then I hope things will pop.

Meanwhile, while cruising the blog I teased Cathy in Ireland about her knitting. I am so intrigued by what you knitters are doing. I haven't made but one thing, many years ago (probably before Cathy was even born!) and would like to take a class to brush up and learn more. I told her it would be but one more thread art that I fall for. As many of us, I have sewn garments, I have done some cross stitch, needlepoint, and crewel. I have attempted knitting and crochet- but mother is an expert at crochet, so why not let her do it for me?? LOL

There is another thread art that is perhaps a little out of the norm, I thought I would share some of my projects with you as a taste of something different. This is Temari, which is Japanese (some say it was Chinese even further back in time) which means embroidered balls. In Asia, they used scrap materials (hmm, sounds like sisters across the seas)and sometimes husks to form an inner ball. They would push and wrap until they built to the size they desired and until it was round. Today, we use preformed balls and wrap in layers of yarns and then threads so there is something to stitch into. It is amazing how hard it is to wrap so that things stay round! These are my humble beginnings-

Catching up on obligations and preparations

This weekend I have spent time doing my latest buck-a-block and doing my February block for the PClassic BOM swap. The swap is ready to go out tomorrow and the buck-a-block is done for another month.

Thanks to a recommendation from Quilt Pixie, Saturday I began a class at Quilt University on pressing, so that project will need to be worked on this month,too. The practice pressing on different size pieces of fabrics came at an ideal time- I used the fabrics for JudyL's hr. a day quilt and was able to begin cutting in preparation for that, too. I'm looking forward to doing that one, Judy always does such a great job on planning and instructing.

Judy's Feb. challenge struck a cord, but I have to adjust it a bit to make it work for me a little better. However, going through the blogring has also given me a few lightbulb moments. Nancy posted about her 'On Flamingo Pond' quilt, which would be an ideal for a set of fabrics that I bought years ago and that have been sitting waiting for the right pattern. Also, Cynthia posted her disappearing 9 patch, which would be perfect for a fabric I fell in love with and bought 'just because'- and if I can work that out, it would be at least one top that would satisfy Judy's challenge to 'just cut into it and use it'.

Of course, that would make three tops, and since I hope to make quilts for family this year's Christmas, I still have to cut out and work on those, too. I hope I can find the time to do it all.

Wish me luck - I'm off!

Finished another flimsy

Today I finished the last of the borders on the homespun and flannel star quilt. I loved it in the beginning, then disliked it, now I'm not so sure. Some of the instructions were ambiguous and I "went left when I should have gone right", so the results aren't quite what I had hoped. I will say that now that it is all together, I like it better than I did in the middle of the process. DH loved it until one fabric went in as to him, it doesn't 'go' (it was a kit)so I have decided to make it again in fabrics that I think he will like, and with the advantage of the mistakes I made this time, I think I will like the next one better.

Meanwhile I have spent the rest of today working on blocks for a swap and my buck a block- pictures of those when I get them finished. I've also been auditioning fabrics for JudyL's hour a day quilt so I can cut that quilt tomorrow and Sunday. Boy, if any projects actually come in at work, I'm going to have to completely readjust. The last 2-3 weeks I've been living the life of a retiree-and I'm getting to like it!

...and more about the weekend

I couldn't get blogger to take all the pictures I wanted to include in the last post, so I'm continuing here.....

While I was straightening up so my son could actually get to the frame that needs fixing, I discovered a box that a friend had brought me full of......you got it......scrap fabric. Actually, there is even yardage. The bad news is that it is not quilting cotton but drapery and light upholstery type fabrics. Some is awful, some are in little squares, but some is quite pretty. I discovered some lengths of chintz- I have been looking for some chintz at super cheap prices to make leaders for the quilt frame. Yesterday, after discovering this box, I made two sizes of leaders for smaller and lap size quilts, and there is a piece that will make leaders for the full size of the frame, too. Can you see me doing a happy dance??

Some of the pieces in the box were samples about 8 inches square. Some were polished cotton pieces about 11 x 14 with coordinating pieces about 5x14, cut into placemat shapes. These are mostly cutesy bear prints. Anyone have any ideas of what I can do with this non-quilt fabric?

I'm loving these weekends

I just had the third good sewing weekend in a row! Yippee! While I didn't get as much machine time as I might have, things were good in other respects. I've had trouble with my quilting frame getting out of square and vibrating too much. DS#1 came over to take measurements, we bought some lumber and he began working on a solution to my frame problems.

I finished another quilt (was a flimsy) that I was just going to hang in the sewing room for fun - it could be the Stash quilters banner, so many cartoon depictions of hiding and storing stash. I discovered that it is just the right size to use as a shawl and ward off the drafts during this colder time of the year. After Judy L's reminders of the blog ring focus, I must tell that I pieced scraps of batting to use for this quilt, and the binding and backing are both from stash.

I am in the process of finishing another quilt, also a flimsy, which now only needs a label; it should be done tonight. This top was made from stash, except for the background fabric. The backing is pieced from what remained of the fat quarters I used for the blocks on the front. This is my first pieced backing, and I learned something important for the future. I will need to iron seams open if I piece backs, I can see where the quilting boggles a little where it crosses the back seams and seams in the block.

Two more finished...

This weekend I was able to finish my Jo Morton log cabin, which is about 15 inches square. As I mentioned previously, I am not happy with my work on this one, the more I tried, the worse things became. I have a two part mantra for this quilt, repeat it with me "it is a primitive-its supposed to be a little off" and " it is a learning project". I quilted it with a baptist fan, which is a little wobbly on its own- something I digitized but apparently need to find a way to smooth out a bit. I'll also post a picture of the JoMorton Paririe basket again, with some of the quilting (on the back, you can't see it from the front in a photo).

Secondly, for all you cat lovers out there.........My mother has an ancient and venerable Siamese cat that spends its waking hours curled up on her lap. Because it will knead her lap, sometimes with claws out, mother sits with a towel folded up between her legs and the cat. With Amy and Nancy (among others) showing off their cat fabrics, I was inspired to check out what my LQS had. I found a very bright and fun print which I then stitched a batting, sewed and 'birthed' and then quilted some kitty faces randomly spaced. Mom is tickled with it.

I'm tickled to have had time to quilt this weekend. Rainy weekends can be wonderful, if you can lock yourself up with your fabric and machines!

A quilty weekend

I had a quilty weekend this week. Actually, it started before the weekend. Last Tuesday night was my Jo's Little Women Club meeting at my LQS. We shared what we had accomplished on last month's project and began this month's. I had gotten the two previous little tops quilted, so was able to show them at the meeting and then, during the rest of the week I was able to cut and machine sew the bindings, which I finished up while watching TV in the evenings. The teacher for the group had given us each a recent copy of the AQS magazine that has an article on quarter inch bindings. These quilts are small, so they really call for a small binding-but working with that little amount of fabric to turn and stitch is quite a challenge. I may have to redo the first one, I'm not thrilled with sections of it, especially one corner. The second is not perfect, but considerably better.

On Saturday I was able to make my January swap block for an online group. The photo doesn't show that the light design on the black triangles are actually silver/holographic and have wonderful sparkle and movement. In the photo, it just looks white.

Once those were done, I began this months Jo Morton project, which is little log cabins. I think these little blocks take a whole lot more time than bigger ones! I'm beginning to think I could build a real log cabin.....and they would all be wonky!

Forest Jane showed her latest round on her Ostrich. I had mine done early and posted a while back. Mine was done early because it was sooooooo much simpler than Jane's. If you haven't seen her incredible work, go see it! And speaking of Ostrich-Kim must have changed her site, anyone know what's up and if we have to repost our blocks?

Yippee--progress!

I have had a great day. It has been rainy and dismal all day and exceedingly quiet. DH slept very late, I cut mother's hair and put two small quilts on the frame. The smallest one is quilted and awaiting binding, if I can decide on which fabric I want to use. The second is still small at about 32" square, I have two rows left to do on it and then it will be ready for binding. Since I had to take it off the frame to turn it sideways, I figured that was a good place to finish for the day. I haven't taken any photos of them at this stage. I don't think that the quilting will show up enough in a photo, they will still look the same as they did in the flimsy stage. If you look back a few posts (Dec. 3 and Dec. 26), these are both Jo Morton quilts I made in a class at a LQS. I still have so much to learn about using the quilting machine that these aren't perfect, but they will soon be finished and not UFOs!