Weekend, Wonderful Weekend

Oh I love the weekend...  Friday night's wonderful promise, a long Saturday at home, the Sunday morning newspaper ritual, even the sunday night preparations for the coming work week...

There was some serious napping going on.    Gloucester, the Little Bit, is getting big  :(   .Growing like a week.

and there there was some chewing on the Big One's ear with the tiny Kitten teeth - ouch!!!!

I did some quilting - first a few Lotto blocks that were mailed off to Tammy in Texas... I love these colors - so crisp and bright...

And, here is my November 1 picture of the Enormous F'ing Hexagon Quilt - sorry...

I had set a goal of finishing the top left corner by Nov. 1 - as you can see, I am nowhere close to having the left corner finished...  now I can see its three months or even maybe four before this whole thing will be done...

AND - I HAVE ANOTHER FINISH TO SHARE TOMORROW - IT IS ON THE DRYING RACK RIGHT NOW, SO CAN'T SHOW IT... I'm excited about finishing this, as you can see by the size of my print!!!

Happy Saturday night to everyone ... and just wait, a great Sunday is here for tomorrow!


Kate

GEE I NEED TO FOCUS

Hi everyone -
 
I read about these quilters who work on one quilt at a time - HEY THAT"S AN IDEA - do one quilt at a time !!!  WOW... 

NOT...

Here's my quilty whirlwind:  First, some cuteness:  Gloucester, 13 weeks old - she likes to watch
UTube videos of - you guessed it - KITTENS!

 This one is getting  machine quilted on my DSM - just started the ditch-work.. Bonnie Hunter's "Orca Bay"..

 This one needs binding sewn down on three more sides... another Bonnie Hunter, "Roll Roll Cotton Bowl"...

 endless hexagons are still part of my life.............

 and a bit of applique in progress for my friend Victoria;

 this is being pinned -  and seems to be held down by a bag of sugar

 remember this one????  it's just stuck..........

 no comment - all that stuff on the floor needs ironing

 and more awesome sweetness -  Gabriel and Gloucester napping together.............

......i am sure there are several other projects around here that are in progress, but I will spare you a photo of laundry ... 

Kate

The Little Bit is Back Home, and I Need Your Idea!

Well, well.....  look who is back home...

My new kitty Gloucester, otherwise known as The Little Bit, all 2.5 pounds of her, is back home from two days at the emergency clinic, where she had x-rays, bloodwork, IVs, an enema, and a bunch of drugs.  She spent the afternoon on DH's lap and legs... 

I calculate her vet bill was equivalent to 190 yards of fabric...  well, you know, I have plenty of fabric , anyway...

So - I have been working on these crumb blocks, which have now sewn themselves together into this:

I can't tell if this is cool or hideous...  (but don't tell me if you think it is hideous...)

But eek, what should I do next?   big plain borders, perhaps?   something to calm it down...

..................all ideas welcome... it didn't look this manic until I sewed it together... 


Kate

Scrappy Happy Fun

Oh I am having fun, fun... working on some really fun projects: Easy 'pedal to the medal' sewing... 

I have drawers of crumb blocks... so I am putting 2 1/2 borders around them and making these cool four-patch blocks from them - aren't these great - they seem sort of abstract and modern, not at all just like leftovers!!  fun, fun...I love seeing these little bits, that could have been thrown away, become a lovely fun quilt.

 and I am working on my friend Victoria's Santa block...  next step is to put Santa on the rooftop...

 I am quilting on this little utility quilt, made from leftover strip sets that I have other drawers full...  good grief...  scrap city!

My Little tiny Bit of a kitty got sick and is at the emergency vet tonight - miss her tons!!  We thought she had an obstruction and might need surgery - I was so afraid the xray would show a PIN or  NEEDLE or something quilty...  but it just showed that she was horribly constipated and filled with gas...  she is getting a little enema and fluids and a tranquilizer...  who knew constipation could be so expensive...  but when they are tiny you can't wait , you have to treat them immediately... oh well, it's just fabric i could have purchased!

Goodnight everyone!  The weekend is coming - yippee!!

Kate

Furry Creatures Working Their Way into My Heart

Happy sunday - - hope everyone is having a great quilty weekend... 

Most of my time this past week has been spent working on building our new fur-family...  these two kitties are just adorable...

Gabriel is a six-month old flame point Siamese - a beautiful kitty with fur like a bunny rabbit... so soft, so sweet.   Gloucester is a 13-week Maine Coon mix - non-stop energy and play...

the playing is just non-stop... 

 and, then exhausted, they sleep...

it's so nice to have a fur family again...

Kate

In Love with Craftsy

Hi everyone...

Have you tried a Craftsy.com course yet???

I did - I took a Quilting and Design class from Cindy Needham.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE Cindy's work - and am already signed up to take a workshop from her in February... so thought this class would be a good little warmup...

My expectations were pretty low - just some tips, perhaps, and some talking head...

WELL wow, was I surprised... and now here is what I am working on...  This is made from a vintage napkin, laid over a piece of gold batik, and then I used pieces of several stencils to mark the quilting design...  using Kimono silk thread... 

I was really nuts to thread paint all those little diamond centers - chalk that up as a beginner's mistake!  But, this will be my "first" piece in this style - I can get better on the next one!

and , oh - I am taking tomorrow off from work and will be home all day - yippee!!  quilting, quilting!!!

I'll let you know what I can get done tomorrow...  hooray!!

We HAD A BABY

Look who came to live with us: 

His/her name is/was Gloucester.  He was a boy until Wed last week, when he was taken in to be neutered, and the vet found out he was not a boy but a girl !!!! 

Sweetest thing you ever saw/snuggled.  12 weeks old.  Ferociously brave.

We adopted two kitties, the other one around 6 months old.  His acculturation is not going very well, and at the moment he is in the closet... not sure how this is going to go with him....  time will tell.

Kate

PILGRIMAGE !!!!

Hmmmm... here's one little clue:

yep - I went to the Quilty Heartland of Pennsylvania:  Lancaster County...

I had a business meeting in Philadelphia, so DH went with me and we grabbed a car and spent the night in :::::   

 you know, we tried to be mature, but when your hotel has THAT sign on it, one just has to giggle...

We went to Sauder's in Denver PA, an amazing little house with a gigantic basement full of fabrics, including a great table of flat folds for $2.99 a yard... 

 Everywhere we looked there were quilts - real quilts, photos of quilts, murals of quilts...

 We went to Zooks - again, more and more fabrics...

We had such a great little visit to Lancaster county - it was a few years since I was there - and it was great to be there when there weren't so many tourists everywhere...  just seeing the Amish living their very focused lifestyle, listening to the clop of hooves, - I swear my blood pressure went down!

Thanks, Lancaster county , for loving quilts...  you are part of the lineage of all modern quilters!

Did I buy some fabric???  Oh, you bet I did...  photos to follow in another post - it's still in the suitcase...

...........oh, got home last night at 2 am - so very tired... 

got to go sleep.............perchance to dream of quilts in Lancaster County.

Kate