Obsessively Tiny Piecing - - How Fun !!!

Hi all, and happy Saturday night !!!

It's snowing in the California mountains, which is good, good... so I am a happy happy lady....

I've been playing all day... on this tiny block:

 

That's a five-inch block... and all those small squares are 1/2 inch...  cute, huh?   It's the first block of a quilt called "Omigosh", pattern by Sue Garman.   I'll show you how it looks as I go along... probably not going to finish it right away !!!!

 

Kitties helped  lot today with the quilting...

 

Miss Bit ironed some charity quilts.  She has to sit on them a long time to get them nice and flat!

 

I'm not really sure how this is helping, but Mystic found a little space in this basket, which used to be brimming full of tops waiting to be quilted, and he snuggled right down !!!!  A nice way to spend Sunday afternoon...

 

and, believe it or not, DH ironed on a plastic bin of scraps that I discovered recently.  I had shoved them in a bin the last time we moved - these scraps are seriously wrinkled after four years of being crammed in the bin !  But oh they look lovely after ironing !!!!

 

Can't wait to see what I can get done tomorrow...

 

Happy Quilting,

 

Kate

Well Just Knock Me Over With a Feather !

YIPPEE !!!

Happy Dance!!!

I am tickled pink

I am soooo amazed..............................................


My quilt "Elizabeth's Legacy" won a prize at the Pennsylvania Quilt Extravaganza - which is open to the public right now. 

I know you guys have seen it before, but in case anyone is coming to my blog for the first time, here it is , one more time:  

I got a message this morning that I got a "Best Machine Quilting" prize... I can't , can't can't believe it.   

AND I GET A CHECK !!

Wowee...................  this is a first  -   and a fabulous.

OH BABY, I wish I could see it......................

If anyone reading this is going, please send me a photo !!!! 

OH BABY, I can't wait to open that box and see that ribbon!  (I'm told the check comes separately).

Oh I am just so pumped.

Kate

Certifiably Nuts.................... I Admit It !

Well, this is a Kitty post...  about Mystic..........

You see, he loves to climb - I mean he LOVES TO CLIMB

From the first days we adopted him, he wanted to climb on everything - so we bought him a cat tree, and he went straight up it, oh so happy. 

But one day repairman came and put up a big ladder in the living room.  After doing some work, he took a break... when he went back, he called me, 'come here, please'...  it turned out Mystic had climbed his ladder, all the way to the very top... the man was soooo amazed..........

So - this weekend, we built Mystic a gym...................

All it took was a stepladder and the leaf from my dining table...  which we never use to eat on !!

Up he went to the next to the top step................ but he couldn't get on the top.............

he tried and tried..

 finally.................................... hooray !!!

 oh, he was so tired, he thought a little nap would be good !

Do you think the ladder matches my décor?  Let's see, early Home Depot???? 

How do you teach a cat to put his toys away ??? 

no, it can't stay there all the time........... just occasionally.

One day we need to build him some high catwalks and steps and fun stuff............


Bye from Mystic.......

Kate

The Last Scrap of Virgin Stash

Well - I wonder if using the word 'virgin' in my title will mean a bunch of ne'er do well teenage boys will discover my blog !  Oh boy won't they be disappointed...

I finished up this little charity quilt today, all made from blocks from the 2.5 inch square block. 

and as I put the final binding on it, I noticed it - virgin stash...

See the bright grass-green blocks?  they are in three or four places ? 

Well, that's the first piece of "stash" fabric I ever bought.  And this is the end of it, ten years later.

I was living in Greensboro, NC, and had just gotten back into quilting after many years of not sewing at all... I took a couple of classes - and I learned about having a "stash" - wow...  and I discovered my LQS, a great little shop called "Randy's Quilt Store".   Randy's had great sales... 

I also learned that one could buy fabric on eBay - and I bought 9 yards - 3 yards of green, 3 of blue, and 3 of orange.  And that was the beginning of my stash !   The blue went first, then the orange.  And now, farewell to the green............... you served me well.   And it sure has been a good ten years!

..... don't worry, I have plenty more in my stash now...  :)  I got real good at stash building........

Kate

Just Working Along

Sometimes I get so frustrated reading blogs - everyone seems to have all these FINISHES to show...

and MORE FINISHES.... 

Well, I plug along on some of these linen projects - they take a VERY LONG TIME...

like this one...I've really been focusing on this, trying to get it all joined together so I can take out the pins.  I love this piece, a Madeira tablecloth that I found on eBay, on a piece of Dupioni silk - I just love love the color of that silk.   The first step is to stitch around the edge of every leaf, and outline every vein... 
 
 

 Next I will go in and stitch down the brick colored fabric - that takes forever!!!!  Then last, do decorative stitching on the ecru... Stay tuned - this is going to take a while !!!!

Meanwhile I have some other fun, quicker projects... like this sweet charity quilt, made from blocks I won in a block Lotto, and all quilted and bound...

 and then, while cleaning, I discovered a lot of these spikey squares below - I think they were left over from a Bonnie Hunter Mystery - so I put some novelty fabric in the center, and made some cute little blocks - - and yes, that cat tail on the right is real !!!!  I have no idea where these blocks will end up...

 

 

 



So - color me busy quilting - having lots of fun, even with those long-term projects...

 

If you are at the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza next week, stop by my quilt, say hi, and send me a selfie with it !! - - how fun would that be...

 

Happy Wednesday,

 

Kate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just Shaking My Head in disbelief..................

Hi there -

We just got back from a couple of days vacation - up the gorgeous California coast - -

you know...

     gorgeous coastlines...............this is around Bodega Bay, the little town where Hitchcock filmed "The Birds"..................

 and we saw a sign at a local restaurant that "Tippi Hedron will be here Labor Day weekend" - in the same spot where she ran for help from the birds so many years ago..............  oh well, missed that !!

more gorgeous coast.............

 and then, just a few miles inland - GIGANTIC redwood trees........ some over 300 feet tall, and more than 2000 years old... wowee......................

 

but you see, there just was no where to .............. well, you know............ pee...

 

So I ran behind a tree - mind you a tree that was about TWELVE FEET WIDE - - and then I saw this sign:::::

HOLY BATMAN....  pull up your pants and get out of here... 

 



But it was this scene that most fascinated me...  I watched this couple for a long time:

 

 

He is painting that big rock that you see in the edge of the photo;  she is reading a book.  They have all their "stuff"  all laid out - paints, food, drinks, water, you can tell this is not 'speed painting"... instead, every so often, he paints a stroke, and then sits for a while before picking up the brush again. 

She just reads, and reads.  No words, no actions.  I get the strongest feeling they have spent many many hours together, in this same partnership.................. it's just lovely, isn't it?  

 

Me, I would already have screamed "just finish it, it's cold out here" and packed up the car !

 

And thank goodness there was no snake.  I just can see me explaining how I got bit by a snake in my private parts !

 

I can not believe I wrote that.............................

 

 

Kate, shaking her head

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

Charity Quilts Sent Off to Duty

Three-day weekends... just love 'em.  Two days to have a 'regular weekend', and one BONUS DAY.... yippee, yippee..

On my bonus day, I spent some time collecting and packing up the charity quilts that have been assembling at my house over the past six months...  some I made myself, many were from tops made by other people, and I quilted.  Here they are, all displayed on my back fence.  

Twenty-nine in all...  Let me show you some of my favorites;;;

See those great red and yellow cars from a panel?  A fabulous boy quilt - - and look, orangutans and oscelots, too !  My quilting group has tried very hard to make a better mix of gender-friendly quilts... 

 

 oh look, kitties, too , all snuggled together...next to some crumbs, and something made from some pepto bismol pink that I have had for years - so glad to see that go....  and some big snuggly squares from my friend Valerie, who spent last year's vacation cutting squares, and now sends me piles of quilts made from them.... 

 and squares, andflying geese, and  strings, and some happy blocks, in the dappled shade...

Kitties supervised the photo shoot from the den... 

These quilts are for the Rotary Wrap-A-Smile project, they are now all bagged up and transported to Stockton, California, where they will be labeled and boxed, then they go to San Francisco to Rotary, and then, one day, they will go with a medical team to a third world country, and end up wrapped around some young patient who is having repair work on a facial disfigurement !

A good job for a bonus day - feels good to see these all together...  now I can start collecting the next batch - I already have a basket full of tops from my quilty friends that are ready to quilt for this ongoing project !

Don't you love the generosity of quilters?   So cool, friends, so cool...

Today is tidy up day - we're taking a couple of days off and going for a ride in northern California - some ocean, some redwoods, some vineyards...  I have a couple of more weeks before the university begins fall semester...  better enjoy !! 

Happy Tuesday... to all...

Kate
























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