Wed Before a Three-Day Weekend Yippee!!

Happy Wednesday , everyone... 

Next will come Thursday....

And then Friday and IT'S A THREE-DAY WEEKEND

YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I will be working on this: 

what was this little sliver

 became these arcs:

 and now is this quarter square:

OH, I love these colors...  and will show you more after I go finish the other three parts of this circle-in-a-square.  

I think I will just sew and sew and sew this weekend... sometimes I try to stay up all night and sew - I really don't like to sleep very much, because it is time I could do other things...  usually I crash by 2:00 am, but I have a really fun time sewing and watching movies in the still of the night...

Happy quilting...

Kate

Beginning Before Ending

Hmmm - "Beginning Before Ending" - sounds very Zen, doesn't it????

I wish I could say I finished all those other things I have been showing you, but I haven't....

But I started something new anyway!!!! OF COURSE... it's the quilter's way!!

I started it in a class... here's what it was at the end of Class #1:

And, after some "homework", here's what I'm taking back to class tomorrow night:

I'll keep showing it to you as I go along - will resist showing you how it is all supposed to turn out...

ooh I love starting something new... why isn't finishing equally fun?

Happy quilting, at the Beginning or the Ending,

Kate

A Quilting Saturday

Hello everyone - and my best wishes to everyone on the east coast....here in California, it's another beautiful 70 degree day... beautiful sunshine - I am watching the birds eat and bathe on our back patio...

I'm having a great quilty day - moving a few projects toward completion...
This will be a charity quilt - it's made of 1930s fabric blocks I got in a swap and finally got quilted - it is now being bound and then it's ready to give away.


This second one is a top, made of lottery blocks I won from the Sunshine Yahoo Guild - always fun to win blocks!!! the theme was flowers - but a kitty snuck in there! (sorry for the light washout - it was a bit too sunny I think)

And, there's the endless flying geese quilt - the center of the quilt is almost finished - a little bit more to do... then I have to figure out what I will do for borders...waiting for some inspiration!

ooh am I having fun - happy quilting to you..

Kate

I'm Taking a Class, Honey

So - you all know how this goes...

me: "Honey, I saw this great quilting class at the LQS" -
him: 'that's nice honey.

me: "it's a great paper-piecing project"
him: is it expensive?
me: oh, no, I will be able to use my stash fabrics...

him: did you finish the project from the last class?
me: silence

him: what about the class before that one?
me: ummmm

So - I paid for the class - ($50.00
I bought some stuff before class ($40.00)
Then I needed some more stuff AT the class ($35.00)

So last night I went to the class - it was an out of town LQS, so it was an hour there, a three hour class, and then an hour home...

So - for FIVE HOURS and $160.00, I have this::::



Only other quilters would understand!!! Actually it was a fabulous class - and this piece is just a small demo of all I learned - and it's a three-week class - why next week I'll have TWO of those !!! I'm sure it will keep us warm when the blizzard comes..

Lord help me but I love this hobby... or is it a sport??? Or are we just nuts??
I'm not sure which.

Happy Quilting, everyone,
Kate

Buy Me a Ronco Hex-o-Matic, Please!!

Can you believe I am still enjoying this???? I must admit that the big green diamonds are a bit tedious, but that outside border is really exciting... can't wait to see it develop!!!!

Of course, anyone under , what, 30 or 35 will have no idea what the title of this post means!!!! Oh, the good ol' days when a Ronco box under the Christmas tree was a fabulous thing to receive!

I'm also quilting hard on my sister's Christmas quilt, and working on the top of the Flying Geese quilt... photos to follow!!!!

Got to run - still more weekend!!!!

Happy Quilting

Birthday Treats for MEEEEEEEE

Yippee it's my birthday !!!! Well, I really don't like birthdays so very much recently, but have learned to compensate by giving DH great "hints" about presents... and he takes hints well!

For Christmas each year he gives me a quilty shopping spree - we go to my favorite store and I get to buy all I want... it's a dangerous thing to do!!!! Sometimes I manage to combine my spree with a big sale, and it's a gluttonous moment!!

Well, for this birthday I asked for marbled fabrics by Marjorie Bevis, from Oakland, Oregon... have you seen her work? Go to www.marbledfabrics.com and feast your eyes... what amazing colors!!!!

Aren't they glorious???? No, I don't know what I will do with them yet... But whatever it is, it will be fabulous!

Happy Birthday to me...

Kate

FLITTING

Hello all - I've been flitting from project to project like a summer honeybee - a taste of this, a taste of that...

While my sister was visiting, she did some tidying in my sewing room, so it inspired me to finally (after a year here) put some things up on the walls. first, two small quilts, from classes in applique taught by Sharon Stroud in Ithaca, New York

Then I am experimenting with hanging rulers on the wall, to see if it helps me find them more easily: Just hanging them helped me get some kind of inventory of what I have.


I quilted this little UFO from the "charity tops" inventory of my Guild -it had been tied, but was still way too floppy, so I just did some simple ditch quilting to firm it up. The Guild had 900 TOPS unfinished !!! We have been working diligently and now only 200 unfinished tops remain - the rest have gone to charity...I discovered a "boo-boo" on the quilt, so appliqued on some frogs to cover the booboos... I'm not at all sure the blue works, but it's better than ravelled seams, now isn't it???

And, I keep working on this Linda Ballard pattern, which I love so much... geese and more geese...

What fun it is to flit from project to project !!!

Hope everyone is having a great August... my birthday is coming soon - I will tell in another post about what lovely thing DH has agreed to order me for my birthday...

Happy Quilting,

Kate

Did You Know There is an Ironing Fairy???

So - you may remember THIS from an earlier post - the giant pile of washed but not-yet-ironed fabric... it was starting to compress down into a giant wad... or, as we say in the south - it was getting ready to "set up"... as in "has that jello set up yet?"

Well this week my sister came to visit and I learned that she has an alter identity - SHE IS THE IRONING FAIRY!!!!...... look:

That giant pile became these neatly stacked fabrics, all ready to put on the shelves:

WOW, SIS - THANKS!!!

I can't wait to use these fabulous fabrics...

Kate

more yosemite !!

Hi all - just couldn't resist a few more Yosemite photos::::



Natural Beauty:





surprise - hello mama bear -with a cub right nearby ... (we were safely in the car)







and a 'controlled' fire:





oh my but I love vacation !!!!



I did steal away a bit of time to sandwich a quilt today - photos soon...



Kate

Grandeur

Hi everyone - these photos just don't need a lot of dialogue - this is Yosemite National Park:

Back to work tomorrow - rats! But, what a great week we had...

Happy Quilting, everyone,

Kate

oh, my, California sure is pretty

hi everyone: we have been playing 'tourist' the past few days.... here are some highlights. First, the iconic Golden Gate Bridge:

And the fabulous California coastline, this shot in Big Sur

And the next one might not be on everyone's list, but it is taken in Gilroy, CA, the home of the fabulous "Garlic Festival"

Then there was the spectacular Monterey Aquarium:

Stay tuned for more California fabulousness in the days to come!!

Happy Quilting,

Kate