COME HERE, LITTLE GOBLIN

ooooooooooh I love Halloween!

The neighborhood I moved into is a perfect Trick or Treating neighborhood, and we have bags and bags of candy - come on little goblins!!!

Our neighborhood Safeway just started delivering groceries!!! This is heaven...
I do feel a bit guilty - and there is a $10 fee... but groc shopping seems to take forever, and then shlepping all the stuff into the car, and then into the house...

My groceries (with bags of candy) will arrive at 10:00 am this morning...

Goblins are expected around 6:00 pm.

What a fun day....................... and a bit of quilting in between!

Happy Hallow's Eve........

Kate

Neat Places

Hi all - from the nation's capitol - one of my favorite cities!

I came to DC for a business meeting, and had only a bit of free time, so went to Union Station - what a neat place! It's a combination of train station and mall, with great restaurants, and stunning architecture. Here are just a couple of photos of the main hall:

And in the basement is the world's biggest food court:

This shot of the vendors from all imaginable ethnic foods did something weird - actually turned out pretty neat - real Halloween-like:

After some lovely Greek food, I went to the National Postal Museum, where I found these great vehicles in postal history:

And I saw Amelia's 'personal' stamp collection:




Well - you may ask why I was in the Stamp Museum - well, for one, there was no quilt museum! But - truthfully, DH is a philatelist (stamp collector), so I am interested... we laugh about how I hobby with little pieces of fabric, and he hobbies with little pieces of paper! Between us we can make one heck of a mess, and fill up lots of Sterllite bins!!

Got to go home now - my quilting is neglected. Piecing, binding, quilting... fun,fun.

Happy Quilting,

Kate

A Two-Year Mystery

This lovely two-year mystery is finished!!! And I love it.

This was a mystery run by Kris Driessen at The Quiltbug in Esperance, NY. Kris runs wonderful one-day mysteries and often runs them on holidays - I think I did this one on Superbowl Sunday! - a great way to spend a day..It has been a finished top for around 18 months - finally got it quilted and bound this week.

One thing I like best about Kris's mysteries is that she runs a chat room on the day of the mystery, so you can see who else is participating, send photos, and compare notes. And sometimes she offers specials on various purchases during the mystery, too!

This one is a 'keeper' - staying with me... I just love the colors... I'm always terrified when I pick mystery colors, because it has the potential to be awful - but I like this one a lot.

Thanks, Kris, for a great mystery!

Happy quilting, everyone!

Kate

SLIPPERS !!!!

IT'S SLIPPER TIME!

Are not these the cutest little crocheted slippers? They have an even better story...






When I lived in New York, one of the staff in my office had a visit from her mother in law. Well, you know that a visit from MIL, especially an extended one, can be a tricky thing! Well, this MIL is from Yugoslavia, and speaks little English, so it had an even greater potential to be difficult.

My friend was mostly worried about how she would keep this lady entertained for three weeks... and then she had a great idea - she remembered that the MIL crocheted!!! So, she took her to a store, and let her pick out a pattern and some crochet materials... And, two weeks later, everyone in the office got a lovely pair of slippers for our holiday present!! Mine were green, as you see.
\
So - the best part - MY mother is coming to visit in Dec or January - now I know how to keep her happy - set her up at my sewing machine and let her loose with my string collection and some foundations and make string blocks!!!! Such a great idea - we can sew together - I can't wait.

Happy Quilting all,,

Kate

Collecting stories of your fabric friends

Hello everyone!

Do you have some fabric in your stash that has been there a looooonnnnnnnggg time???

Well, I do, too.

I am in the process of bidding farewell to some old fabric friends ... I have been on a 'tear' of making string blocks... out of scraps and small pieces, much of it from fabric that I have had for a while... but today I realized just how long...

This quilt was on my bed yesterday - an early quilt of mine, in the Bear's Paw pattern... made in 1990, and much used and loved since then...

Notice the plaid fabric in the bear's paw:

Now, fast forward - oh, a mere TWENTY YEARS !!!!

and there it is again - in this not-yet-trimmed string block!

Just think - that scrap has been waiting for twenty years to get turned into something lovely and useful... and there are some other old friends in there, too - that green is the end of a big piece I bought, and has been my 'go to ' green for a million applique leaves and stems... and now it is gone... and the lovely bright red - why that was a kids quilt, of course - all bright and cheerful..

And now it will be part of a charity string quilt, through the local guild's Community Quilts program, and I hope someone will love it...

SO WHAT'S THE OLDEST THING IN YOUR STASH???? LEAVE A MESSAGE, AND 'DO TELL'...

WHAT IS IT, HOW LONG HAVE YOU HAD IT, WHAT WAS IT ORIGINALLY FOR - AND WHAT WILL IT BE ONE DAY???

Happy Quilting,

Kate

Interesting Travels

Hi all...

On Sunday, DH and I went to San Jose, CA to see the Winchester Mystery House. It's an amazing place. It was owned by Sarah Winchester, the heiress of the Winchester Rifle fortune.

Well, it seems Sarah was more than a little eccentric, and was told by a fortune teller that the spirits of all the people (and Indians) killed by Winchester Rifles were going to harm her. But - here comes the house - if she kept building and remodeling her house, she would be safe from harm by the spirits.

So - for 40 odd (very odd) years, she worked on this house, adding room after room, in maze-like fashion. Sometimes the builders just built a room, tore it down, and then built another... The house had 140 rooms at the time of her death, with 6 kitchens... and lots of oddities - doors that open to nowhere - stairs that simply go to the ceiling and stop -

It is a beautiful estate, and the house has some wonderful Tiffany windows and beautiful woodwork.

A testament to a tortured soul.

.

PIQF Eye Candy for You

The Pacific International Quilt Festival was this weekend in Santa Clara, CA...

Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous! Here is some eye candy for you..

Happy Quilting,

Kate

We Have a Stripey Winner

CONGRATULATIONS TO ELIZABETH!

(The Random Number Generator picked Elizabeth as the winner! Sorry I can't show the Random Number Generator box, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to copy that silly little thing... so - scout's honor).

Elizabeth wrote that she likes to use stripes as bindings.... I do too, Elizabeth!

I'll be emailing Elizabeth to get her snailmail address and

send her fat quarters - since she is a follower of this blog, she will get an even fatter envelope!

Enjoy, Elizabeth...

Soon I will distill all your comments and put them up on this blog - it was really fun reading all your suggestions - thanks for writing in !!

Happy Quilting,

Kate

Scientific Test

The Proof is IN!!!!





Hand quilting is DEFINITELY softer than machine quilting - I have it from the expert...



I just laid it down for a second to go to the "Ladies" - and shazam - instant cat!!

Kate

One Week FQ Giveaway

I'm giving away some Stripey Fat Quarters !!! Just tell me what you'd like to do with them!




I love these stripes, but I don't have any great ideas of what to do with them ... do you? If so, write a comment, tell me what you like to do with stripes (in general, not these specific ones)... and I'll choose at random! I'll also collect the list and put it on a 'tip list' I am starting to build for my blog or for writing about quilting- (without your name of course) - so please understand that I may use your comment in that way!

For my follower friends - and if you win, I'll add two more stripey fat quarters! Please say "I signed up, or 'I'm already a follower" in your post ! (international guest welcome to participate)


I'll give them away next Saturday morning... bright and early... well, california time, that is.

Aren't they lovely?
Happy Quilting Saturday,

Kate

Now I Know It's Possible

You know that stack of UFO's in your sewing room? Well, I have the blue/green one - half hand-quilted....

then there's the tan/green one - 1/3 hand quilted...

and the yellow/blue one - handquilting barely started...

WELL - ALERT THE PRESS - I FINISHED A HAND QUILTED PROJECT. WHO WOULD THINK IT WAS POSSIBLE???

This little piece was started in a class in Ithaca, New York... I absolutely hated the colors when I cut it out... was certain it was going to be hideous... and now I dearly love it!

Now I must bind it... and put it up somewhere.

Happy Quilting everyone...

Kate