From Sea to Shining Pennsylvania

Hi !!!

My quilt is traveling !!!

 I named it "Annabelle's Wedding Feast"...  Wedding Feast, because it was, after all, originally a tablecloth... Annabelle?  I don't know.  I seem to be in a pattern of naming my linen quilts after a woman, with an old-fashioned, three-syllable name.  Like Victoria, or Elizabeth -  or Annabelle.  somehow it seems to fit.  Here's the photo - which I should crop, but it's a long story about three different computers, and none of them wanting to crop tonight, so here it is, as is.

It will be in the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza, which opens on Thursday.  And today I just learned that it has also been accepted to the Pacific International Quilt Festival in October - yippee !!!! 

oh it's fun to see my pieces journeying around and sharing their beauty with everyone... to be honest, its a little nerve-wracking, too..............  (ok just get over it).

Oh it's just inspiring - I need to go sew another one !!!

take care,  Kate

Guests and Good News !

Greetings !

Good news on several quilty fronts :

1.  My linen quilt just got juried  into the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza !!!  hooray.  Now I must put on a hanging sleeve....  (somehow it seems like jinxing a quilt to sew on the hanging sleeve until it is accepted in a show to hang , so I wait, and then do it at the last minute - lol !)

2.  I just got home from a four-day quilt retreat - got soooooo much done, ate too much, slept some, and for four wonderful days did not hear the names Hillary or Donald............. 

3.  I've been selected as a Board member of the Northern California Quilt Council.  I am very excited.  NCQC works to support and elevate quilters across Northern California, and to support local quilt guilds.  I think this is going to be a lot of fun. 

on the non-quilty side:  we have COMPANY:

Her name is Evie.  She was rescued by firemen in a drain pipe under a 10-lane freeway.  Now she is in the hands of are her "intake fosters".  We are giving her the first safe, comfortable place to be.  She had a choice between sleeping in her carrying cage or a cardboard box - she chose the box (works every time)... and has a couple of friends to keep her company.  She weighs 1.1 pound ! 

Even with the trauma she experienced, she is gentle and likes to be held.  She is very tired now, and just wants to sleep, especially with a full little belly.  She will likely perk up and play once she has slept and eaten her fill of both.  And tomorrow another kitten, a friend of hers, will join her so she will have real company. 

We will keep her a week, then she will be up for adoption.  Oh she will make a super-wonderful pet for some family. 

Kate

Long-Awaited Finishes

Hello hello - I do hope you are all having wonderful summers... I've been just wrapped up with mostly happy stuff.... travels, special projects, and, of course, some quilting..............

and we had COMPANY....................... look at these faces !!!!  ten weeks old... we kept them for a week while their foster mom went away... we tried to teach them some "manners" - basics like "don't climb up the human's leg !!!!"...............  that one is really important.

They have since been adopted, and gone to their forever home.  Hopefully, they are not climbing up any legs !!!

I tore into a stack of unfinished quilts...........  I'm just not very good at actually finishing quilts - I get close, and then lay them down...  so

this is a Bonnie Hunter mystery from a couple of years ago - called "Easy Street" I think.  I remember I picked these colors and thought "oh this might be a disaster" - and I love it.
We will actually sleep under this one !

and another finish:

this is a kit from Connecting Threads that will go to a sick friend.   Hope it snuggles her well.

Today I submitted my white linen quilt to the Pennsylvania National Quilt Show... wish me luck - I will find out if I am accepted by August 24.... 

enjoy August -   oh I love summer.

Kate

Released From the Bone Pile Yippee !

Well.... Hallelujah !

Remember this piece ???  I found this photo on my Blog from September........ SEPTEMBER ??? OH MY...surely it wasn't that long ago.

there was lots left to do at this point................
I loved these corner feathers..............

 

But I really wasn't happy with the center...............that mess in the middle just doesn't look right at all........ way too formless for the rest of the center medallion.  oh yuck.  That stitching is way too dense to rip out..................

 

So it went in the Bone Pile.

The Bone Pile is where stuff goes that isn't working.

It was sad to put this in the Bone Pile...................

 

But NOW - an idea.................when something doesn't work - well, cover it up with something else !!!!

 

 

So, this is three doilies.  the bottom is the biggest, the second one is the pale yellow/orange color, and then the smallest one on top.  I love how the pale orange peeks through !

 

 

 



And there will be BEADS, too ! They hold the lace down.

 

Oh I am so happy this piece is released from the Bone Pile .

 

Now to get it finished up.  Mostly that means finishing up this center medallion, and then finishing the binding, hanging sleeve, and label...

 

Deadline for the New Quilts of California Competition is August 1...  I'm just gonna make it, I think.

 

Stay tuned for finished photos.

 

Kate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Independence

Well -

Today I celebrate my ancestor Caleb Savage........  I just recently learned of my connection to Mr. Savage.  He is an ancestor on my Grandmother's side of the family.

Caleb was a Patriot in the Revolutionary War.

I grew up in Eastern Virginia,  so the chances are good that one is kin to someone who fought in that War...  but it feels really good to make the connection.

How did I find that out?  Quilting, naturally...... online in a Yahoo room, someone mentioned the Daughters of the American Revolution, and I wrote about my family history...  and that I couldn't get far enough back to know if I was kin to a War Patriot or not.......

So, that person took my information, and did some research , and found the connection to Caleb Savage.

Now I have to find the documentation to prove each step of the lineage before it becomes official.  We'll see how that goes.

But, today , I look at the little flag in my yard a bit differently.....  and wonder how Caleb imagined the future of America....... and somehow, the first Independence Day seems more real now......

And, I reflect a bit, just a bit, on the fact that we must never think, as Americans, that we have the "best" government, that we are "special" over others...  we must work to respect people of various heritages and religions, and to have better relationships with other countries.  And to respect our planet.  We must acknowledge the mistakes our country has made in the past so as not to make similar ones in the future.  And that will require us all to be involved - in lots of ways.........

So, Happy Independence Day  !

Kate

Visitors !!

Look who's visiting at our house.....  KITTENS !

Awwwww..............

That's Channing and Cammi.  They will be here for a week.  They are ten weeks old, and are up for adoption by the Maine Coon Adoption rescue organization in Oakland, CA.  We work with them.

These two are with us because the regular 'kitten mama"  who fosters all the babies, is away for a week.  And they are too active to stay in a cage.  So they came to visit, otherwise known as 'trash out our house'.  !!  Actually, they have been fine - sweet, snuggly  - - with a whole lot of energy and play all added in.

Channing and Cammi will be adopted only together, as they are deeply bonded with each other.  They go to the Adoption Fair next Saturday - so we are trying to teach them a few "manners ' and survival skills... yesterday they learned to climb steps - they were great with going up - going down was just a massive tumble and 'thump'....... but they did better the second time.......

Kate

Judging - and Quilting

Hi there, and Happy Fourth of July weekend...

I had a wonderful opportunity last week to observe the judging of the quilts for the Seven Sisters Quilt Show in San Louis Obispo, California........

Oh I wish that every quilter who has apprehensions about having their quilts judged could watch a generous, professional judge work...  it was such a wonderful day.  Perhaps I can summarize my reactions to the day:

1.  Good judges respect every quilter's work.  They know that some are beginners;  some are professionals;  most are somewhere in between.

2.  Every quilt has strengths and weaknesses;  the good judge appreciates the strengths, while noting things the quilter could do to improve.


If you have never been bold enough to have your quilts judged, I encourage you to do so - BE BRAVE.  If you don't want to read the 'constructive' criticisms, then just don't...  just fold up the page and throw it away........

But if you do - you'll learn a way to make your quilts better - and isn't that what we all want anyway !!!!

I was inspired by the quilts for the Seven Sisters Show,  and the excellent judging they received.  And the dedication of all the volunteers !  Wow, quilting sisters - We Rock !!!

Kate