Nearing the Finish Line ..... hooray !

Hello hello hello, I hope you are still feeling the glow from the holiday ! 

I had the whole week off, and just had a glorious time sewing and quilting...  and made significant progress on this little linen quilt...  that is now almost, almost, almost finished...

It's made from a Madeira vintage table runner, placed on some gold Radiance fabric, and quilted with Kimono silk thread... lots of it!!   Pardon the garage table - when it's totally finished, I will get some better photos !

Here are some detail shots...  I quilted in a line of little leaves to complement the leaves on the original piece - they were so fun

 I originally quilted the center feathers in white thread, but they just didn't show up, so I hand-embroidered over them using some Magnifico thread - much better !  Add a little bling, too!

BUT - you know how, no matter how hard you try, there's always something yucky on every quilt?  Well, I had several thread nests on the back...  and they were quilted over many times - in fact they were completely flat, and picking them out was going to be impossible.  I was sick...

and then I remembered that Cindy Needham often decorates the backs of her linen quilts - aha - an idea was born !!

 

I'll need to scatter a few of these lovely vintage coasters around the back to cover the uglies and to make it look like decoration instead of 'emergency' ... 

 

That's my 'state of the needle'  for today - hopefully in another week or so I can finish up all the last stuff, label, sleeve, etc.  I would love to call this a 'finish'.

 

Happy Sunday...  heading toward Christmas...

 

Kate

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WAY TO GO, MACY'S

Are you ready for one of those 'feel-good', make you cry stories?

Well, Macy's in San Francisco has done it again...

This is Union Square at Christmas - packed with people, pretending that it is cold, and Santa's shaking their bells - and an ICE SKATING RINK !!!! 

Macy's has fabulous windows on the square, and the crowds shop the gorgeous windows...

For the secon year, Macy's has set aside one of their fabulous windows, on the very busy Union Square section of the city,  for the SPCA, who brings kitties and dogs there for adoption, during the Christmas season... 

And it works - nearly 300 adopted last year !

Grab a tissue... and click below.

http://www.examiner.com/article/union-square-macy-s-features-spca-holiday-windows


Kate

What Happened to November ???

What Happened to November ?  Where did it Go?  Goodness it's been a while since I posted !

Boy have I been busy... work, travel, AND sewing...........

Very soon I will have some finishes to share with you... 

But today I get to start something new, which is always fun....

I've been trying to get some small pieces finished that I can use as class samples... 

Look at this little piece of gorgeous linen I found on eBay...

 Isn't it just gorgeous?   And it has lots of nice detail...

I like this sort of raspberry background - not a color I usually use, but I have vowed to try to vary my color schemes a bit with my linen projects... 

Stay tuned for more updates on this lovely project...

Finishes?   Yep, finishes - coming soon... lots of gorgeous stuff is near completion... 

What else have I been doing?  Charity quilts...  let's see....this one was a little piece I quilted, from a friend's top - Miss Bit thought it was a picture of her - looks like her, doesn't it???

This one is from Bonnie Hunter's pattern - in fact, I was originally going to make a full-size, then never finished, so found the blocks and made a kid-size from it - love it love it!

 

It's been a little nippy, even here in California -  so Bit is staying warm -  she has 'trained' DH to put a dishtowel on her for a blanket when she naps...  in this photo, she seems to have THREE blankets on, but she looks very comfy !! 

 

 

Hope you are all enjoying preparations for Thanksgiving...  my preparations include getting a new dishwasher today - yippee - finally the old one died...  and DH is doing the cooking - we decided not to travel - too many people, costs too high, you know........

So, I will be QUILTING !!!!

Kate

New Toys and Lazy Sundays

Hello my friends...

Today I have a new toy to share with you.

I don't know if it's just me, but I find cutting a truly square block the very hardest thing to do, especially if the block size is larger than my rulers, or is an unusual size.  

And, since I do a fair amount of applique, I just MUST be able to cut a block square... darn it ! 
I took a wonderful class in New York with quilter and teacher Sharon Stroud  (hi, Sharon)   about rotary cutter techniques - and I got a LOT better - but I still am always on the lookout for just the right tool.

So, last week I sprang for this beautiful box:

Even if there was nothing in it, I would want the box - gorgeous, isn't it?

It's Karen Kay Buckley's tool, called "  Perfect Square ".  


Inside the box are lots of pieces of cut plastic that snap together to make a ruler the size you want it to be...  almost any size...  with a cut out in the center... so it looks like this:

 In the center, you thread some strong thread or string through some holes, so you get a perfect X for the center of the block. 

After trimming, a perfectly square, centered block !!!

I have a few more to go !!!  And this isn't even all of them!  This is Sue Garman's design called "Sarah's Revival"... 

Can't wait until they are all neatly trimmed...  yippee............................

I've also been playing with these:

oh I do love crumb blocks, and I love them even more with black to set them off !  

What will I do with these next?  I really don't know... stay tuned.

Happy Quilting,

Kate