My Babies

Well, here is a photo from my house on Sunday afternoon... my dear hubby, and our two lovely cats George and his mama, Gracie... don't they all look so comfy and relaxed???

And me???? Well, I was off at the sewing machine, of course - no nap for me... but I was having fun nonetheless...

............but boy this napping idea looks interesting!!!

Kate

This is one of my favorites of all my quilts. I hope you like it...

The center medallion and the LeMoyne stars are made from the selvages of fabric that I cut off and saved for a year or two everytime I bought new fabric.... I sewed them on a piece of muslin, and then used that just like a fabric. It was REALLY fun to be able to use those 'wasted' parts, and made me think a lot about the early pioneer quilters, for whom every scrap of fabric was precious and not to be wasted...

I'm also proud of the design, because this is really the first top I have done that represents my own original design.. I don't take claim for the individual elements, but the way they are put together is my own design... I would like to design quilts some day - maybe this is the first step!

Well, its Sunday, and I have tulip blocks to piece today - there are no tulips growing outside yet, so I shall have to make do with the kind I can create in my sewing room!

Have you ever used the selvages????? If so, please leave a message and tell us how you used them!

Kate

WHAT A BLAST

I had more fun making this Linus quilt with this boy on a bike!!! It was a total blast...

I really should credit the book where I got the pattern, but I don't seem to be able to find it.. will see what I can do later to remedy that..

The hardest part was finding fabric for the wheel - this was really ugly fabric, but it works so well for the wheel of the bike...

I can't wait to make another one like this...

Kate

My friend Betty's Coins!!

Hi all - this bright cheery top is a wonderful collaborative effort between an online buddy and myself. Betty sewed up some strip sets from her scrap stash, and offered them up on the Yahoo Sunshine Quilt site... and I took them and made this lovely Chinese Coins top!

After quilting is completed, I will be sending it to Terry in Maine, who will put a lovely Sunshine label on it and send it to the Wrap A Smile Foundation, which sends quilts around the world with doctors who do various surgeries for children, including cleft palate surgery...

I just love quilters, and the amazing way we are all working together now through the internet and the mail system!!!!

Kate

RECYCLING AT ITS BEST

This little charity quilt was started about 20 years ago!! My dear hubby's mother made a huge blue Trip Around the World top and never quilted it.... and it got put away in a box in the attic.

Last summer she sent it to me saying "just do something with it"... so............. I cut it into four pieces (yes, this is just 1/4 of the very large top)............

So then I had four nice-sized children's charity quilts... but, they just looked a little - well, I hate to say it - but 'old lady'... not bright a fun like a kid would want.

SO - add one GIANT sunflower and a yellow border... and here's my quilt that went to the Wrap A Smile Foundation through the Sunshine Yahoo Group...

And best of all , I still have three more pieces to play with... I think I will put fish on one... hmm, that might be fun..

Happy Weekend everyone... even if almost over..

Kate

Are YOU failing scrap management?

I THINK I AM FAILING SCRAP MANAGEMENT...

although I did tidy this up before taking the pic... it was overflowing all over the floor - now it's just stuffed into this bin.

I have an image of this bin all cut up into the famous Bonnie Hunter scrap management system... and I DID buy all those rolling drawers, and labeled them by size... and they are nearly full... BUT I STILL HAVE ALL THESE SCRAPS.........&*()(*(*&(

and they are GROWING..........(*&)(*&)(*&)(*&

Actually, I guess I'm being too hard on myself, and will exercise the old Bell curve (knowing all of you have bins of scraps, too), and upgrade myself to a C..

So - on this beautiful lovely spring day - how about you? What grade will you give yourself on scrap management???? Come on now, it's time to fess up - Leave a comment and a grade...

A - almost no scraps - all cut up and put away

B - a pile of scraps smaller than shoebox

C - scraps bigger than a breadbox

D - scraps as big as a garbage can

F - scraps as big as Rhode Island

Happy Quilting

Kate

Sally's Block

What a cute little block!!!!

I made this little block this morning, after discovering the instructions on the Sew Wonderful website at http://sewwonderful.blogspot.com/2010/02/disappearing-4-patch-or-4-to-9-patch.html

It's really easy - starts with a simple four-patch, and quickly turns into this lovely little block.

Thanks, Sally, for the instructions!!

Kate

In Praise of Teachers

Today I want to say a thanks to quilt teachers. This quilt, being lovingly held for photograph by my dear hubby, whose head is slightly visible, came from a class I took at a LQS in Greensboro, NC a couple of years ago, taught by Karen Pervier.

In this class we learned pattern drafting - and each block was made by drafting the pattern out on Grid Grip, adding seam allowances to each necessary piece.

After taking this class, now I feel like I can create many patterns, alter them, or resize them.

This class also helped me get the design concept of floating blocks - using a neutral sashing to avoid that 'quilt block' look...

So - thanks, Karen .... this class helped me progress from one level of quilting to another - and it was fun to boot!

.....................quilt teachers are great!

Kate

The Furry Family, Part One

Well - it seems that most every quilting blog has a photo of a cat on it - well, we have TWO of them - and they are complete characters and rule the house. Today I will introduce you to George... he is a BIG (17 pounds) Maine Coon cat with a lot of ATTITUDE.

George is the son of a feral cat who lived in our neighborhood - and his Daddy had ATTITUDE, too! Let's just say George has LOTS of brothers and sisters in that neighborhood!

George has quite the cat vocabulary, and each morning he fusses at me quite vocally (I swear he says the f word) until I give him breakfast...

His favorite thing is to find something to put under his big, heavy head... so one time we put a skein of yard under his neck, and he loved it so that now he will hold up his head and beg for his personal neckrest, and then go off to sleep... what a job he has done training us to fulfill his needs!

Kate

Squares From the Past

Well, today I will tell you a beautiful story. The quilt on my design wall started with scrappy squares given to me by a dear friend named Steve. Steve's mother died recently, and while he was cleaning out some of her things, he found a small Whitman sampler filled with 1930's squares. At the bottom of the box was the small cardboard square that had served as a template.

Well, this would already be a good story, but it gets better. It turns out that these squares were not cut by Steve's mother, but by his GRANDMOTHER. His mother had gotten these squares when her mother had passed on. I believe the squares may have been original 1930s fabrics.

So, I have the squares (and the Whitman sampler box) now, and am putting them together into a quilt. I love thinking about the woman who originally cut these, and how she could never have imagined some unknown quilter would assemble them many years later.

So - this project needs a new acronym - not a PIGS (project in grocery sack) but a PIWS (project in Whitman sampler). I hope my work honors the woman who started this quilt so many years ago.

Kate

They Came, They Saw, They Commented!

Company Came !

Wow - some people visited my blog! This is starting to be fun...

This photo is a lovely Mystery Quilt I made last year on New Years Day with a mystery from the Quiltbug Shop ... they are on the web at http://quiltbug.com, so please visit! They do mysteries on holidays like New Years Day and SuperBowl Sunday (ok, I know that's really not a holiday)... great days when all is quiet and I don't have to work!

I am constantly amazed at all the generous and kind people in the quilting world... like Kris Driessen who runs the Quiltbug Shop and does these wonderful mysteries... thanks Kris, and others like you, for these wonderful events!

Kate

Company's Coming, I just know it

Well, hello world. I am reminded of the old adage that goes "if a tree falls in the forest...." - well, you know it.

So, I have this blog, and I really don't know for sure how to get anyone to view it. I am working on adding it to my posts on the Yahoo quilting groups I post too - maybe that will bring someone to my little corner of the virtual world. If you visit, please Comment so I can have a party because company arrived!

So - I will chat today about charity quilts. I have made well over 400 quilts or knitted blankets for Project Linus , most of them given to the Greensboro, NC chapter, where I used to live. More recently, I've been making quilts for the Sunshine Chapter of Yahoo, quilts that go around the world to children.

I think I enjoy these small masterpieces because I feel so free when I sew them - bright, sunny colors - great! Seams don't match perfectly - no problem! The only requirement, I think, is the love sewn into the quilt.

So - the photo above is a couch filled with charity quilts from a couple of years ago - I wonder where they are now??? Hopefully some small child has felt special and loved, well snuggled under my small gifts...

I am proud of us, generous quilters that we are.... this is good work we do.

Kate

The Blog Continues

Hi everyone - it was such a beautiful sunny day here - lots of the snow started to melt, too!

I'm working on an applique block -of - the month - all of the blocks are completed, and now I am doing what seems like endless borders..

Spring is surely on its way!!!!

Please leave a comment and let me know you visited!!

Kate

Birth of a Blog

Well, hello...

I hope we will be friends.

As you might have guessed, I am a quilter.

I love it all - buying and 'stashing' fabric..

Cutting and piecing... and appliquing

Quilting...

even binding..........yes, I even love binding.

Best of all is taking a photo of the finished quilt.

Welcome to my blog.

Kate