A Quilt for the Tall Man and His Short Wife

Well, a red letter day - the main body of the "Pineapple Crazy" quilt was finished today (pattern by Bonnie Hunter in her most recent book)...

so, I laid the two halves out on the floor to get ready for the final seam ....

CUE THE DRUM ROLL..

AND............... TA DA !!!

Now, before you think that I made a mistake and sewed that last row on the wrong half of the quilt (something I would never, never do)... wouldn't this just be the perfect quilt for a Tall Man and His Short Wife????   tee hee...

The quilt inspector was off duty, which explains how this could have happened in the first place. 
















A little rip and a little sew, and the body is now more appropriately shaped...

Now - can you believe that DH has removed ALL the paper on this paper pieced quilt??? Yes, indeed he has... just a little bit more to go, as he has been working on it all along.  

 And I am off to start on the borders...  yippee!

Hope everyone is having a great Sunday... 

Happy Quilting,

Kate

Lovin My New Project

Hello hello - I am so completely pumped about my new project... here are some teaser photos....  the colors are not very true, but you get the idea!!

uh-oh - AMBUSH !!!!

I almost didn't get to quilt it at all, because Mystic tried to take possession of it during the pinning process!  It does match his coloring nicely, doesn't it????



























More pictures when I get more done!!!

Take care, everyone,

Kate

What's the Best Way to Eat a Crow??

OK, I will admit it, I have to eat a crow...

It's the "Quilt of Valor"  crow....

I really didn't understand the Quilt of Valor initiative, I will confess...

But when my guild said "we are making Quilts of Valor, I said, fine, here we go... and I started this RWB for the Guild show in March (yep, LAST March, oh well!).

Isnt this a cool pattern?  It is by Joan Ford, in her new book Scrap Therapy:  Plus One...  I especially love that border, which wasn't nearly as difficult as it looks!  That big wrinkle in the right side is the cat's work - no worry, it lays beautifully flat, and has some of the best quilting work i have ever done.  When it's bound, I will take some better photos.

Well, one night when I was working on this, I asked Dear Hubby - 'honey, do veterans coming home from war really want a quilt?  wouldn't they rather have something like, oh, a fishin rod, or a tackle box, or one of those super-manly things?"

He got quiet, and then he said:  "When I came home from Vietnam, I flew into the Seattle airport, and some people saw me, and one of them called me a name and spit on me.....  I think I would rather have been given a quilt."

Well, from that moment on, this has been his quilt, although he doesn't know it yet.  Just needs binding now.

Thank you, Honey, for your service... Sorry it took so long.

Let me get a knife and fork, and start eating that crow...

Kate

RETREAT !!!!

FOUR DAYS !!!!  OFF WORK FOR FOUR DAYS... YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I have FOUR DAYS .... DH had some dental surgery, so I took two days off to take care of him, but once we got home from the early morning surgery, he is mostly sleeping - - so it's TIME TO QUILT...

I'm trying a new technique - basket o'ironing... i sew until I have a basketful to press, then press, then sew again... since I am doing some chain -piecing, it works pretty well... photos of results tomorrow...

 had some fun quilting on this little Sunbonnet Sue panel - very bright colors - a charity quilt someone else put together, I am just quilting - more photos tomorrow...

 I discovered what the kittens do while I am at work...

 oh oh - let me show you what I found on ebay:   a lovely pillow cover in redwork...and for a reasonable price.  I knew I just had to have it when I saw that it was about a quilting bee:::

OK, not so much of import to report at the end of day one - but just you wait til tomorrow...  I have a lot to show you... several finishes coming up soon - hooray!

Kate

More Linen Quilting

Well, hi - I'm back after a short hiatus to get through the busy time of the year in the Professor's life...

And now, yahoo, it's the summer and although I still work in summer (since I currently hold an administrative post), life is slower, and there are few extra commitments...

SO IT'S TIME TO QUILT, QUILT, AND THEN QUILT SOME MORE.......
First, continuing detail work on this little linen wall hanging.  This is a table runner,  and this is the fun part, detail work...this work does not have a name.  The runner is actually modern, but I just thought it was lovely, and I still think so!

 And then, I did my favorite thing - started something NEW - - yippee.......

This will be the 2nd of my Handkerchief Series... a series of handkerchief linen quilts, each given a Victorian name. 

This one will be called Isabella.  And she has a story..  Do you see the little black embroidery on the hankie?  Well, this is a vintage hankie, probably from the early 1900s.  It is in the style of a mourning hankie... you see, when a lady first went into mourning, she had a solid black hankie - gradually, over a year or so, her dress and her hankie became more white and less black - so, her original hankie would be solid black... then black with white trim... later white with black trim, then white again after the mourning period is over. 

 Isabella is set on a piece of slate gray dupioni silk, in an asymmetrical design that used an art deco stencil.  Lots more work to do on this piece - stay tuned!

oh this is fun, fun !!
And I'm doing a bunch of charity quilts, too!!  I'll show you those in a few days...

Hope everyone is enjoying summer..

Kate

COMMENCEMENT TIME

The Quilting Professor has temporarily given up quilting, because . . .
IT'S COMMENCEMENT TIME !


Joy, Joy, Congratulations!  Best Wishes...


oh my aching feet...

Saturday I must shake 2000 hands of graduates...

oh my aching hand....

AND THOSE ROBES ARE HOT!

I'll be back in the quilting world on Monday !!

Kate

Pineapples, Pineapples, and More Pineapples !!!

Seven more sets of four to go and the center of the quilt will be finished!!!!

Hooray !!

I'm such an optimist - I ordered the backing fabric for this quilt today... 

this pattern is a Bonnie Hunter pattern from her most recent book - great setting for pineapples!

Tomorrow is FRIDAY - yippee

Happy Quilting,

Kate

ooh ooh

ooh, ooh, quilting on vintage linens is just sooooooooooo much fun!  I have three projects going:

First, the handkerchief quilt named "Victoria" is now bound.

 I'm putting little gold beads on in some of the detail areas - aren'[t they yummy?

This little table runner is at the most fun stage, as I put in the parts that actually affix the linen firmly down on the underlayment..

 and the detail work is just started...

 and I just started the third one:  a 'mourning' handkerchief - to be used by a woman in mourning... in this case, the hankie is mostly white, and only a little bit black, so the lady is nearly finished with the mourning period...  I'm putting it on a piece of dark gray dupioni silk, and it will be set off-center.

As I go through this project of many hankies, I want to try different ways to set them - center, off center, and who knows what else... 

 Here are the "bones all drawn out with a Sewline pencil... that's my favorite white marker...  this stencil has a sort of Art Deco look to it.

 and Mystic just wants to know how all these quilt parts got into his bed - good grief, how's a kitten to take a nap????

Hmmm it's Monday - four more work days til another weekend   .... yippee!

Kate

Oh I Love the Weekend !

Oh I love the weekends...  I quilt and quilt, and DH does the cooking and cleaning (since he is retired)...  So, let's see what's been on my plate today...

Two years and three months into the Great Hexagon adventure - this month I finally finished the fourth corner area... now there's just that big hold in the left side, and some white "space around the edges to make room for binding.  My target date for finish is August 17, my birthday - - I'll do something to celebrate for sure...

Today I started another linen piece with this lovely little table runner... I already had it pinned and marked, so today I started quilting the 'bones'...

 isn't this thread just gorgeous??? It's Magnifico by Superior Threads - not really as pink as this photo... more of a brick color... but gorgeous and with a lovely sheen...  this is the first time I have used this thread - love it!

Happy Saturday Night everyone!  

Kate