Spring and Quilts

Hello everyone...  I hope spring has arrived where you live - here we already have hummingbirds - they are so wonderful, aren't they???

I've been having some fun working on some giveaway quilts for family...  This square ( it looks huge, but is only 18inches, is part of the center of a quilt for my younger sister... 

 and this quilt just needs the binding sewn down, for my older sister................ she will get this one soon as we will see her in a few days...  I'll probably not get to wash it - so she will have to wash out the blue lines !!! oh well, she is family...

And, of course, there is the giant pile o'charity quilts...  let me show you this - it's lots of fun:::

All these quilts are in some stage of progress - some are flimsies, some are pin-basted, some are quilted... some need binding.  I take one out of the pile depending on my mood, do one task to it, and then put it back in the pile.  Occasionally one gets finished and removed from the pile ....  It's a little bit frantic for some, but I like the ability to choose a task and a color combination that matches my mood.... 

A weekend is coming...  yippeeeeeeeeeeee...

Happy Quilting,

Kate

Finished One for Victoria

Do you know Victoria of     Bumble Beans  ????.  (Roll over the words to connect to her site)

This little "I Spy"kids quilt is for her initiative called "BASICS", which gives quilts to families transitioning from being homeless...  I'll be sending it on its way in a few days...

She needs some more... quilts, that is.............. so, go toher website  and read about it - and then send a quilt!!!!

Happy Sunday Quilting...

Kate

A Fun Little Finish and Happy News!

Hi everyone - the "real life"and the "day job" have been keeping me busy...  but I finished up one little fun project...  a shadow trapunto piece...I have a big one of these started, too - it's really fun...I did a little micro swirl on this piece, inspired by the Machine Quilting Challenge - see the button over to the right - ------------------------------------->

Third month in the challenge, and I am already feeling sooooo much more confident!!

And, since I have hexagons on the brain, I had to laugh when I saw this picture... amazing what a hexagon can be made into!! Can you see the hexies on the side of this tank - wow!

On other news, The Quilting Professor is SOOOO pleased to report that she will be staying in California a bit longer...  when DH and I moved here, we knew only that we would be here for two years... this week we learned we will stay here - indefinitely...

We are very happy - today we started clearing out the garage of all those piled up cardboard boxes from the move - it was great to see them go...  I am going to replace all those boxes with some lovely shelves where I can put QUILTING STUFF that is now in stacked boxes... yippee  - a new step up in quilting... 

Happy weekend to everyone - it's chilly and rainy here, so it's great for quilting!!

Kate

A Lovely Day's Travel

Today was my train trip... to Los Angeles....

I caught the train at Jack London Square in Oakland, where I encountered this gentleman - can you guess what he might be gazing at????

 Why - look - it's a quilt!!!

 Why, he's gazing at these quilts... perhaps he is a quilt judge!!!!

 The TRAIN, the train!!!!  The train is coming!!!

Take off your shoes... (oh, that's the plane, not the train)...
Take off your coat .... (ditto)
Let me take a picture of you naked.............grrrr

Oh, hello, welcome, come aboard........... how civilized...

 And breakfast was lovely - with a real knife!!!!

 I brought some lovely shadow trapunto to work on...

 And some hexies to sew...

 And there were lovely and interesting companions.

 And the most incredible scenery................. ahhhh

oh, what a lovely lovely day.... I recommend the train to you... it's slow, and one learns to breathe deeply and relax...  lovely state of mind....

Happy Quilting, friends,


Kate

Tomorrow Will Be Fun !!!

If I knew how, I'd put a little sign that says "I will be here tomorrow"  on the train, except I think this train is going north, and I will be going south...  

Oh I LOVE TRAINS!!!!

I'll write more tomorrow...

(Dear Hubby will be home to thwart off any wannabe robbers or n'ere -do-wells, so don't get any ideas from this post!!)  (I wonder if robbers or n'ere-do-wells read quilting blogs???)

There will be hexies on the train !!

Kate

Fun Fun Fun !!!!

I got home today in time to see UPS leaving me a box... fabrics from Jenny Beyer!!!!

 Aren't they yummy???? I chose the border, and asked the staff at Jenny Beyer to pick out the rest - didn't they do fabulous!!!! I'm using them for a very special class in May - soon I'll tell you all about it!!

So, after I petted those lovely fabrics, I put these blocks up on the wall - a friend from the Sunshine Yahoo Group did a scrap challenge - she sent out scraps in one color way and the recipient had to make blocks, and then return them to her to make charity quilts...  it was a small envelope of scraps, but it made a  whole lot of blocks!!!!  I tried not to think about the bins of scraps I already have - it was a lot more fun to sew her scraps!!!

And - oh - oh - next week I get to go on ........................................

More about that later!!

Happy Quilting...

Kate

ONE YEAR !!!!

It's been ONE YEAR.   ONE AMAZING YEAR...  

 Finally, it has a real corner - a 90 degree angle!!!! 

TARGET COMPLETION DATE:  MARCH, 2013. 

............maybe then I will stop dreaming of 3/8 inch hexagons!!!

Happy quilting ,

Kate