PROGRESS ..... lol

Well, isn't THAT exciting! For those who like "process" - this is about as process as you get... a gigantic pile of fabric that had been washed, and needs to get ironed... photo 1, on the left, was last Sunday - photo 2, on the right , is today... progress! I am determined to get all the fabric off the floor...........grrr...................

It takes longer than expected, because it packs down, and when you start to pull out the fabric, it lifts up the pile, and it GETS BIGGER - yes, i swear it does.

So - let me take this opportunity to answer "why prewash" . Because I like to, simple as that. When I first started seriously quilting, I had a sink near my sewing room that was made of some porous material - I used to soak fabrics in there - and the dye that came out of the fabric would stain the sink... so you could really see how much dye came out. Over a month or two, the sink became black - yes, totally white to totally black. I saw what really washes out of this fabric. And how much it shrinks.

So - now, no fabric goes on my shelves until it is washed, ironed, folded my particular way. Then it is 'prepped' and ready to sew!

Well, that's too much rant for so early on a Sunday morning...

I'm off today to play tour guide for my sister who is visiting - we are doing the Golden Gate Bridge, Pier 39, the Sausalito Houseboats... and the famous Lombard Street.... should be great fun!

Happy Weekend to all,

Kate

My Fur-Baby is Well !!

Hello everyone ! It's a happy time in my house... Our senior fur-baby, George, is doing so well! He has been feeling bad for months - eating less and less, and getting terribly thin. We were afraid - you know... he is a senior kitty, having just turned 17....

Well, a few weeks ago he got so bad he was only eating baby food from a spoon... and I thought 'well, there's no need to keep giving him this other medicine he takes for upper respiratory infections, which he gets all the time. He has been on this medicine for almost a year.

So - I stopped the meds, and we decided to enjoy the time we had with him...

WELL - four days later he jumped up, went to his bowl, and cleaned it!! And he hasn't stopped eating since... he plays with his toys, goes outside to sun, and sleeps with his head on his favorite ball of yarn. He is a happy boy. And I am a happy kitty-mama. Hopefully we'll have a good bit more time to enjoy. And the vet will find another med for his respiratory problems.

Tonight I put this top together from lotto blocks I won from the Sunshine Quilt Guild on Yahoo - it's very girly, isn't it? Just the thing for a Little Princess...

Hope everyone is set for a wonderful weekend. My sister is coming to visit tomorrow, and I am looking forward to showing her northern California... I'm also gonna ask her to help me pin-baste a quilt - but she won't know it's her Christmas present !!! Fun...

Happy quilting,

Kate

True Confessions

Hi all -

Does anyone remember a magazine called "True Confessions"?? It was a racy magazine published in the 60s - had some rather tawdry love stories in it...
I remember because my grandmother liked to read it, and would send me to the store to get her copy... probably she didn't think I knew what it was about!!!! (but I did, te he)

Why did I remember that? Because I'm going to make a confession at the end of the post - but it's not THAT kind of confession... honest!

I worked on some projects today - the hexagon quilt, and the flying geese top, for sure.
And I made four purple and yellow blocks for the Sunshine Block Lotto... I like these - high energy!


So - now comes the confession...
Here's the shelves my stash is on... the top half is just fine... mostly folded and sorted, although it's time for a tidy-up soon...
BUT - uh-oh - here't the floor in front of the shelves::::: confess, confess...
All that wadded up fabric has been washed, and needs to be ironed and folded and put away - and it's more than it looks like !!!! I am obsessive about pre-washing , and ironing... but I don't seem to be obsessive about not piling it on the floor!!!!

LET'S SEE - I need an ultimatum here - I will post a photo of this pic every Sunday evening until the pile of fabric is all gone... (oh i may regret this promise)))>..

Have a good week, everyone...

Kate

Hexagon is Growing!!!!

Hi everyone on a fabulous Saturday - I am having a great time - sewing on my hexagon quilt, which is growing... still a long way to go, however! But I am still having fun...
Also sewing on my geese top, and doing some binding on some charity kids quilts... and, of course, playing with fabric - doing some washing, ironing, and putting on shelves - I dearly love the processing of the fabric...

Happy Saturday eveyong - I'm back to the sewing room to make some more geese!

Kate

Just a simple progress photo

Oh, I am love love lovin' sewing this quilt together! This is such a nice pattern (Linda Ballard).... Gotta go make some more geese! I got up in the wee hours to work on the next row...I love quilting in the wee hours... my stolen time before the demands of the day take over my time.

happy quilting, everyone..

Kathleen

Treasures from 1970

Dpes anyone else remember picking out their china pattern? I do so well - going to the jewelry store, going through all the patterns... I chose this one.
It's called Savannah, by Noritake - sweet little green flowers and leaves,with a simple silver band - it matched oh so nicely with my china...



I got pieces of it for high school graduation, and later when I got married (the china lasted longer than that marriage did, thank goodness).

For a few years I used it on holidays - Christmas, Thanksgiving , with all the trimming...
then for about a decade I displayed it in the china cabinet - visible proof that I had "class" - I owned nice things...

And then, about 15 years ago, it went into boxes when we moved, and its been in boxes ever since....

And now I am ready for it to be gone - why, I could fit bins of fabric on the shelves where those china boxes live...

But - have you looked for a good home for previously "fine" things lately? No one wants silver, or china, or crystal... I read an article about how all the baby boomers are getting rid of all this really expensive stuff and no one wants it ...

So - any ideas out there? Don't say sell it on ebay - ebay has pages of this stuff for sale - no bids!

Will I ever want to entertain 8 on good china? Not likely - today I'm more likely to entertain on Chinette than China... in the yard instead of the dining room (that's another thing I might want rid of - that beautiful dining room table...

thoughts???? ideas?????

happy quilting,
Kate

Blissful Weekend

Well - it's been a blissful weekend here in California - I'm so sorry for those of you who are sweltering... but we're having a cold snap - temperatures in the 60s - great weather for - you got it - QUILTING...

I had the whole entire weekend free... yippee. So I started on this: it's from a pattern by Linda Ballard, from a class I took last weekend. I used to hate flying geese, but now I am starting to love them... honk, honk.

Other than that - hmmm let's see:

A bit of cleaning - and throwing some stuff out....

Putting binding on two charity quilts...

A trip to the quilt store....

Laundry...

A little bit of cooking (not much)...

And opened up a box from Connecting Threads... always nice to get those!!!!

Alas - Monday cometh...

Five days til another weekend...

Happy Quilting,

Kate

A New Favorite Tool !!!

Hello everybody - and welcome to the WEEKEND !!!! Hip Hip Hooray!!!! I have two whole days (and Friday night) to do whatever my little heart wants to do !!!! Wonder what it will be????

This is a picture of my new favorite thing: the Precision Trimmer... I learned about it at a class taught by Linda Ballard... it 's a square-up tool - and it squares things up just perfectly, not only square, but perfectly centered... I love it, I love it...

Here's how it works:

To square up a 3 inch square in a square: I divide by half to get 1.75.

and then I find the intersecting 1.75 lines on the ruler... I put tape on so you could see (the tape is not necessary): you position the lines on the points of the inside square, and trim right side and top, then flip it and trip again:

and - voila - a perfectly centered and trimmed square within a square:

Lord I love it when it's precise!!!!

If you're interested in this tool, go to Martha McCloskey's website,
MarshaMcCloskey.com, and you can find it!! (and no, I'm not the secret heir to her estate - I just love this thing!!!!

I think you can square up all other kinds of things, too - this is just what I know how to do today!

Happy quilting this weekend,

Kate

My Furry Baby

Hi all - this post is about my big baby, George. Mixed through the post are some photos of him - he has always been a "big boy". He was born to an unwed mother, whom we adopted. She birthed him in a recycling bin - poetic, huh? Talk about humble beginnings.

George has had quite a life - he is 17 years old now - he has lived in Louisiana, Colorado, North Carolina, New York, and now California. He has three times flown on a plane - in a carrier under the seat... and if you think security is fun - try going through security with a cat -he has a set of wings from Jet Blue.

In case you wonder how that's done - security, that is - the animal has to come OUT of the carrier, and be held through the magnetic tester - not sure what they do now with the nasty naked photo machine...


He is beautiful, isn't he? His daddy was a roving salesman in the neighborhood, and his mom was - well, let's just say she liked the boy cats...her litter had two fathers - OH MY ... she was "easy"...

Well - this post has a happy ending,I think. For several months George has not been eating, and has lost lots of weight - I thought we were headed to the Rainbow Bridge... so much so that finally I stopped giving him some meds that he always takes to alleviate some nasal congestion that he suffers from... and I figured it would be a week or two before ... well, you know.

Well, about five days later, he started eating... eating without being prompted, or being fed baby food from a spoon... yesterday he jumped on my lap and stole a potato chip from the bag... and today he ate CAT FOOD - he hasn't eaten cat food in about a month! And you can tell he just feels better. He is a skinny kitty, but he's eating, and not throwing up. And gradually eating a bit more each day.

My world is so much better today - my furry baby is snuggled up on DH, with a belly full of food (actually both of them have a belly full!)

Everybody keep your fingers crossed for George to keep eating!!! That will keep me happy!

Happy quilting, everyone. To close, here's a photo of the furry one at his "fightin weight"... that looks like a good sleep, doesn't it??

Kate......................... and George

hello hello hello everyone!!!!

Well - remember the other day when I was all freaked out about the MONSTER QUILT???? That would be the charity quilt that turned out to be TOO BIG, TOO BRIGHT, TOO HEAVY, TOO HOT.... JUST TOO TOO TOO ..........ARGH!!

Well, today I picked it up from the wad into which I had tossed it, and spread it out on the floor:::

oh my goodness - IT SHRANK! AND IT'S NOT TOO BRIGHT - OR TOO HEAVY - OR TOO HOT!!! It's rather bright and colorful - and today I like it...

JUST MAYBE - it was 90 degrees the last time I was playing with it, and today it is 60 degrees!!! Very different perspective!
So - I'm off to finish quilting it...

On Sunday I had a great class with California quilter Linda Ballard - here are some great photos of pieces that were "built" by my classmates!

and this next one is mine.............(smile)

you'll likely see it again as it grows... (until you are sick of it!!!)

Now I have to go unpack all the crap I took to class and put it back in my sewing where it belongs - oh, that's a joke - i'll put it back where it doesn't belong... but at least I will put it back!

Happy quilting everyone,

Kate

It's CLASS TIME !!!!

Oh yippee - lucky me... this weekend I am taking TWO classes....

Tomorrow I will take a class at the New Pieces Quilt Shop in Berkeley with Mary Mashuta on machine quilting... can't wait, been wanting to take that class for a while!

Then Sunday I'm taking a class in Livermore, CA with Linda Ballard - using some fabulous hand-dyed fabric I bought at the AQS quilt show in Columbus.

What better way to spend a weekend...

And my cold is a bit better, and DH's surgery went well...

So I intend to have fun tomorrow and Sunday and revel in my quilty friends...

Have fun quilting...........

Kate

oh MY !!!!

I FEEL LIKE THIS PICTURE...


Sometimes you just get a surprise!

I have made a MONSTER string quilt. I didn't mean to - I just had extra blocks, and on a whim, decided to use them by adding on another row...

Well, now, this thing weighs a TON... AND IT'S HOT HOT HOT just on my lap as I quilt it.

And I don't know what to do with it. Maybe I will keep it til winter, and then put it in with my charity quilts - and someone will think it is great cause it will keep their whole family warm!!!! Perhaps the family of little Tiny Tim with no money for coal - and they will keep all the children warm with this quilt..

ok, I am nuts... I really don't like this monster - but I'm gonna go finish it...and then I'm gonna weigh it!

any other ideas of what to do with it?




Kate

Keeping it Real

Lots of posts out there now about the need to keep it real - you know, put out our real lives and thoughts, not the sugar-coated stuff... well, today is a very 'real' day:

DH is having dental surgery tomorrow - he will be SUCH a whiny pain in the aXX ...

Our very old kitty is looking way too longingly at the rainbow bridge...

and I have a horrible head cold, and complete, total larygitis. I can't even produce a squeek. The phone rang this morning, I answered it, and they hung up...

I'm taking some drugs and going back to sleep.

Kate

July 4 Sewing Day

Hip Hip Hooray!!!!

I'm planning a great day with my Bernina - except for a couple of short errand runs here and there...

First, let me report on my progress on the Great Hexagon Quilt...here's the July photo. Wow, as this gets bigger, it takes more work to make the photo look different!!!! But I am plugging along.



Yesterday this box came, filled with lovely scrap fabrics from Sarah in Kansas. I promised her that I would use them in charity quilts, and that I would 'forward' the donation of the postage by donating at least that amount to the charity quilt initiative for my guild... thanks, Sarah . I can't wait to go through them and see what's there and how it can go together.

Why are other people's scraps so darned much fun???? go figure.

I'm putting borders on this top today - this will be a Christmas present for my sister (who does not read my blog!)

And I need to finish up these Lotto Blocks for the Sunshine Guild so I can pop them in the mail...

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY TO EVERYONE!!!!

and happy quilting,

Kate

Kickboxing or Quilting???? That is the Question

Well, hello all... I'm on my way home, actually sitting in the Raleigh-Durham airport at the moment, munchhing on some lovely steamed shrimp and a cold Diet Coke...

If you're confused - yes, I was in SOUTH Carolina in my last post, but flying out of Raleigh offered a chance to see some friends, so...

I got to the airport area a few hours early - and had two distinct options to fill the extra time:

Option A. A mobile kickboxing van... Yes - look at this - I happened upon a kickboxing studio with a mobile workout van - guaranteed to flatten your stomach, and make you healthy and happy... hmmm...

Option Two - not very far from the kickboxing: a QUILT STORE !!!! Took a millesecond for me to abandon the kickboxing idea...

WISH UPON A QUILT - ISN'T THAT A SWEET NAME???

It's a great store - bright, colorful, a filled with wonderful fabric, great patterns, and all sorts of good stuff... All the 'blenders' are in one room, and then all the patterns are out in the main room - bright and cheery!
I bought a yard of this fabulous novelty fabric....

Aren't these quilts lining the walls fabulous???

A great shop !!!! And literally only 3 miles from RDU airport!!!! Put it on your list if you ever fly through there...

Happy Fourth weekend,

Kate