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Sunday, September 30, 2012

Question of the Day:  What do you do when your quilt has a hot flash?

you put a fan on it, of course.................

actually this is being blocked, and trying to get it dry to take a photo in time to enter it in a show for which the deadline is today - - eek, cutting it close...  do you think this photo, complete with dish cloth, would be sufficient to send???  perhaps not.

On other front, I have been PLAYING, PLAYING...

My blog friend Victoria sent out some squares of Santa fabric to internet friends with the simple direction of "make a block and send it back by Thanksgiving". 





Well, first I started the way I start any project:  making a huge mess:
 And then, this got pinned up.... i can't wait to start assembling and then appliqueing...
fun, fun.

Ho Ho Ho to everyone... now I'm in the Christmas spirit!!

Kate

 

Saturday, September 29, 2012

new fun

ooh ooh - I am taking an online class on Craftsy.com - taught by Cindy Needham on machine quilting...  So, I have been playing with this... it is made from a vintage table napkin...

I ran out of the thread I was using for the background fill, so can't finish until it comes in the mail... oh well, I'll just have to be patient.   i can't wait to get the blue pen off it... 

DH and I are going to the 'Moon Festival"  tonight - a Chinese holiday...  should be fun...

Kate

My Weekend 'to do' List


Hi everybody - - I am having so much fun quilting lately - long-term  projects coming to completion.  I can't wait to get these completely finished up and be sewing on brand new things  (or a few UFO's maybe)>........ 

Here's my project list for this weekend.  First, this hand quilting MUST be finished - I just have a little bit more to do.  Then bound and blocked.  I want to submit it for a show, and the deadline for doing that is Sunday night...  I can do it if I focus.








Then,  a little bit of binding needs to be sewn on this GIGANTIC BONNIE HUNTER QUILT







This next one is getting a good pressing, and then it will get sandwiched (yes, another Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt).  I love love love the colors...

OH --- or maybe I should say HO HO HO...
my blog friend Victoria sent this for a SPECIAL PROJECT - - stay tuned for more on this little cutie!!
In other news in my life, hmmm let's see...
1.  DH finally got the repairman in to fix the washing machine - he said I can't use PODS for the laundry anymore - rats I loved those little adorable squishy things filled with liquid detergent - says my machine needs powder cause it's high efficiency.... boohoo...I like fun better than efficiency...
2.  DH retired two months ago - he is thinking of going back part - time... woohoo I love that idea!!!

Everybody sew fast - there are lots of quilts to make!!!!

Kate


Monday, September 24, 2012

Quilting in the Oaks

Hi everyone - some eye candy for you from the "Quilting in the Oaks" quilt show in Livermore, CA....  The featured artist was Judy Niemeyer, and her work is absolutely fabulous...

The show is at a nursery that is graced with amazing old oak trees and gorgeous plants... a fabulous place to hang lots of quilts!!!  enjoy the walk.....








yep - that last one is mine - the blue and yellow one up there !  

So much fun!!!

Kate



Sunday, September 23, 2012

Finish and Finish Again !!

Well -  in my way of counting, each quilt has three FINISHES:

1) flimsy top finished - - party time!

2) quilting finished - - major celebration

3) binding attached - all night blow out!!

So - tonight I can celebrate a NUMBER ONE and a NUMBER TWO  !!!  (oh, that sounds a little risque, doesn't it?? - well, you know what I mean...


 So - here's NUMBER ONE - a little nine-patch number in Southwestern colors - I love the earthy red and the low-contrast deep gold...  and the binding of decorated pots - a manly quilt....  It does not have a "destination" - I think it may end up on my bed!!!!  you know, some quilts are for sleeping under - a novel idea, I know!

and now for NUMBER TWO:  does anyone recognize this?  Bonnie Hunter's "Roll, Roll, Cotton Bowl"  - well, it's a GIGANTIC quilt - and it is ALL QUILTED, on my DSM... yippee!!!  Next it gets binding and then I can party again!!!

I told you a couple of blogs ago I had finishes lined up and ready to go...  well, there's even more lined up behind this...  a couple of little charity blankets and some grown-up quilting as well!!!!

Tomorrow I am going to the Alden Lane Quilt Show - a fabulous outdoor quilt show at a  beautiful nursery where quilts hang from giant old oaks -  one of my quilts is there - I can't wait to see it... 

Happy weekend everyone...  one more day to go!!

Kate










Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Those Quilty Planes are Touching Down!!! Dual Finishes!!

oh my oh my OH MY

Two finishes in one night!!!!!!

First, this little quilt, started in a Sally Collins class...  is finished...  now I need to quilt it...  and probably trim the outside borders down - they seem too large a frame for this piece, but I will keep them large until I have quilted the center, and then I'll know...

NOW - I have to quiet the INNER CRITICS in my head - the ones who see every imperfection...  I really want to learn to appreciate my quilts by valuing the GOOD things, rather than by simply zeroing in on the imperfections!!!  WHY IS THAT SO HARD????  I want to do more of these little precise pieces so I can get better at this kind of sewing - one day I'll look at this and say "OH, I am so much improved now!""""

And SECOND - my Quilt of Valor top is completed!!!  As you see, I took the advice of those who said put on a small gold and then blue for the final two borders - I love love it, and now it is big enough for a soldier ...  My Guild is collecting these at our Quilt Show in March, so I can let this "rest" like a lovely roast beef, at least for a month or so until I pull it out for quilting!!

What fun this evening sewing has been...  now I'm going to work on some hexagons - no chance there for a finish tonight - LOL, I figure at least four months before the hexagon quilt could have a chance at being finished!!! 

GOOD NIGHT TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!!
COLOR ME A HAPPY QUILTER

Kate




Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Finishes Lined Up................

Yahooooooooooooooo ...  I just looked in my sewing room and I have finishes all lined up to come in for a landing, like airplanes lined up to land at Atlanta Hartfield after a summer thunderstorm!

About five - or maybe more - projects are within spittin' distance of finishes!!!!!  Oh me oh my I am so excited!!

So - here is the first one:  a small piece, made by Shadow Trapunto technique.  Pattern from Geta Grama in her book,  "Shadow Trapunto".  This is fun, fun...  I think I am going to teach a class in this technique this winter, so I am trying to get a few of these finished to use as class samples and to hold up for 'show and tell' during class!!

 Meanwhile, DH has adopted a new hobby - sorting my drawers of strips -  he likes to organize things - here he is with my 3.5 inch strips - there weren't many of that size ...  the 2.5 inch drawer kept him busy for an hour or so!!  But it is great to have these all sorted - now I just have to figure out what to do with them and find time to do it!!!  HA HA...  (I promised I would not show his head in the photo - - he's in the witness protection program today).  thank goodness his socks don't have holes.
 Tomorrow no sewing for me - work all day and then the Quilt Guild Board Meeting tomorrow night... I always take hand work, though, so get something accomplished...  I'm three months into my term as program chair - it was fun for - oh, about three months!!!  Actually I enjoy the visiting quilt speakers - but the board meetings are not my favorite -  oh well, i must grin and be cooperative!

One of my quilts will be in a show starting Friday - the 'Quilting in the Oaks' show in Livermore, CA... quilts hanging from hundred-year old oaks... it's breathtaking - and , yes, there will be photos!!!

More finishes soon..........

Kate



Saturday, September 15, 2012

A Fun, Fun Day at the Sewing Machine

Hello hello... 

I am working diligently on this little piece of trouble: 
 Just one more side of that little border of hst's to go...  and then the last two borders are easy...  yippee!

And then there's this piece of shadow trapunto - a pattern from Geta Grama's book Shadow Trapunto.  I love love doing this - have it pinned, ready to machine quilt...  this is so much fun.
Tomorrow I want to finish the little mini above, and put the last borders on the QOV quilt - thanks to everyone who left a comment -  we'll see how it turns out...  and then I just need to finish up around 15 UFO's and quilt up ten charity quilts, and, and.......... lol, I probably won't get that much done!!!

But I am definitely havin' fun...

Kate

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Your opinion , please!!

 Hello hello - I'd love some feedback, please, on the final stage of this Quilt of Valor.  The pieced border is finished and on... but the piece needs more width and height, so I want to put on six inches of border, both for size, and for some eye-calming solid space.

Pardon the grainy photo - the little stars on the fabric seem to have freaked out my camera and turned them into grainy dots - but you get the idea.

I have three options...

1.  a six-inch blue star border;
2.  a six-inch red star border;














3.  a combination border - like one inch of gold and then blue or red...  disregard the width of the gold fabric laid down there - i didn't want to cut anything for the audition... 

The trouble is that none of these three options is really floating my boat... 

What do you think, my gifted quilty friends???

thanks much,
Kate




Sunday, September 9, 2012

A Quiltin' Sunday

Oh, I am knee-deep in piecing and quilting and cutting, too!  Fun, Fun !!!

This piece got a three-piece border - I just have those miters pinned - will need to sew them by hand in order to get the mini-borders precise in the corners...then I will start on the outside borders...

 Making some lotto blocks for the Sunshine Guild.  The theme this month is "brights"... I love these colors together
 And, marking some feathered wreaths in the background blocks of this quilt... I'm a traditionalist regarding quilting, I like the quilting to follow the lines of the seams, so all the pieced blocks are getting a stitch in the ditch quilting, with wreaths in the neutral blocks... I am almost (almost almost) finished!
 and if I run out, there is this "in progress" stack - I took two quilts to my guild yesterday, and put two in a box to send to New York - and I swear this stack is not a bit shorter than it was!  Most of these need either binding or quilting - the problem is I keep adding to the pile - - oh well, that is the life of a quilter, isn't it????  actually I love seeing them in their varying stages of progress...  and I can just grab one from the stack, work on it, and then plop it back in until it is finished...
Hope everyone is having a great Sunday!

Kate

Monday, September 3, 2012

OHM - Channeling Sally Collins - OHM OHM


After starting the center in a Sally Collins class, this is on my sewing machine today.  I frequently have to stop and do deep breathing and calming exercises: 

It measures out at 6 inches (5 1/2 finished...  ) and it is not finished yet!  I don't know what is coming next... will just put it up on the design wall and see what it tells me to do next!!

I can only work in this small scale for short periods of time, and then have to go sew something that I can blast through the sewing machine as a balance to this detail work... 

Happy Labor Day Monday to all,

Kate

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Sunday Morning Finishes

Good morning - I do hope everyone is having a good holiday weekend.  I am having a fabulous time working on some quilty projects that have all been creeping toward completion... 

I do love to work on lots of different projects at the same time, which means you must be patient for finishes... but heck, that's how I work, so there.  First, a bright little baby quilt , using some of the giant pile of stripes that I just never find a way to use.............

 This next one was pieced by a quilty friend I 'met' on the Heartstrings Yahoo group - she was looking for a volunteer to quilt it - isn't it just gorgeous??
 and with a gorgeous print on the back!
 These will get boxed up today to be mailed out on Tuesday to the BASICS charity quilt program that Victoria of Bumble Beans is running - I think she is close to making the goal of 700 quilts - wowee!

Meanwhile, DH offered to help with some fabric "processing" - prewashing and folding - look at him go!  Don't you love the laptop poised on the trash can??  Guys - no woman would ever use the trash can as a desk!  Oh well, he is folding fabric, bless his little heart!  I'm a bit embarrassed at how much fabric I had sitting around in bins marked "unwashed"...  well, there is less unwashed fabric now!

go, hubby, go!!
And there are two more days of the weekend yet to go!!  Yippee.............

Kate
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