Thursday, September 22, 2011

My Crazy Cats project is moving forward.  Eight are done and two to go!  If you take a Buggy Barn workshop from Julanne she'll give to you your very own pizza box.  She's found it convenient to store Buggy Barn pattern pieces while you are working on the project.  You put your master at the bottom and then stack your individual fabric pieces together placing them in the correct locations according to the master.  When you sew each block you'll take pieces from the top layer and sew together.  If you need to stop and store you pin the individual fabric pieces together close the lid and DON'T shake!  When you are ready to sew again you remove the pins and you are right back where you need to be.  If you try this make sure you get the biggest "clean" pizza box you can find OR come to one of Julanne's workshops :)!  Next Thursday is the second part of the workshop.  We'll be working on the flowers and the cute mouse border that Julanne includes that is not part of the published pattern; wait till you see how cute these are.

Yesterday my spider had to build a new home...with time to spare I received the wool that I ordered from Primitive Gatherings.  The redish orange on the left will be for Kit Kat Mama and probably one of her kittens (there are three).  The ivory is for another kitten and I already have two other black pieces I'm considering for kitty three.  Wish I had the pattern to share with you now; I'll be getting it soon.  The class is October 7th at the Country Loft in La Mesa, CA.  I really like the blue wool; it will potentially be used for clothing that these cats will be "dressed" in.  The other two maroon and green will find a way into this project along with lots of scraps I have from making Kevin and Koraline (two earlier projects).  Haven't decided on names for Mama and her three kittens...of course all four must be "K" names.  Hmmm...what is a good name for a Mama?  Klaudine comes to mind...need a name like Alice (which was my Grandma's) or perhaps Thelma maybe...don't know why Thelma came to mind!

I found an error that I couldn't live with on my August UFO completion, the Iris block for my Kourageous project.  I put my Clover seam ripper to several very tiny stitches and carefully removed the two pieces.  I used the wrong color fabric in both of these locations which fortunately were two outside pieces; do you see them?  I know if I'd left them wrong it would have driven me crazy so the undesirable deed was accomplished.  Much happier now that its right.  I also have all 23 paper pieces cut for the sewing to start on September UFO, the Pansy block.  As I mentioned earlier this one is a doozy.  I'll be sewing it together on Sunday.  Ticktock!  The end of the month is looming closer.

Kolonial is coming along nicely too.  I'm in a holding pattern until the two time critical projects are complete (Crazy Cats and Pansy).  I'm getting so close its hard not to spend time finishing it.  When this project is finished there will be a happy dance when I post my Stash Report!

So what have you been doing so far this week?

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Hope every one's week is going well so far.  Mine has been really busy...but I treated myself tonight with a manicure/pedicure and a bit more.  I've been due for awhile now and finally decided tonight was the night.  I'm happy with the nice little massage my arms to my elbows and legs to my knees get...

Tuesday night as I mentioned in an earlier post was Sunshine Quilt Guild monthly meeting.  Crazy Jacks stepped out with a big bang!  YIPPEE!  It raised $67 for the evening.  There is one more selling night and the winner is drawn at the October monthly meeting.  We had our customary September meeting program to announce the officer for the coming membership year (I took on two responsibilities that were totally unplanned) and the Ice Cream Social.  We had lots of fun with two games and the ice cream with all the wonderful toppings was a nice touch to our earlier dinner at Outback Steak House. 

There is no right or wrong answer for the Nine Patch Retreat Packing Plan (which I took home a prize for a BINGO!).  There are right answers for the Quilting can be a Crime of Passion game.  I'll let you know them if you are interested in my Sunday blog post. 

I picked up the BOM for the month that will be due in October.  It is a traditional Quilters Cache pattern called Sweet Gum Leaf where we were provided a cream batik for the background.  We will choose a fall colored batik for the leaf.

I'm getting ready to take another doll making class at Country Loft in La Mesa.  It is scheduled for October 7th.  I ordered some wool from Primitive Gatherings Quilt Shop that I'm hoping arrives in time.  Wow...wool is much more expensive than cotton! 

I have a gray and black cat dolls already.  Kevin was my first and Koraline was last year.  So this time I wanted to have an orangish cat (like my cats Kaos and Komotion).  The pattern is KitKat Mama which has three kittens.  I'll be making Mama and one kitten in the orangish wool, and the other two kittens gray and beige.  Also picked up a couple of accent wools in indigo and periwinkle.  Wish me luck on everything arriving in time.  The orangish fabric is new and advertised as being available in September; we'll see.  Haven't named Mama or her kittens yet.  You do know that they'll all have "K" names :)!

Finally my Buggy Barn Crazy Cats pattern's first workshop is tomorrow at Amidon Quiltworks.  It was to be the second of two workshops for this pattern, but last Thursday's workshop was halted by the DARK SAN DIEGO power outage.  Looking forward to this workshop with the rescheduled second workshop on September 29th.

Yes indeed this has and continues to be a busy week!  Happy sewing to you all.

2011 Pets on Quilts, Wednesday, August 17, 2011

After learning about the 2011 Pets on Quilts sponsored by sewcalgal I read all the entries that had been submitted through mid day Monday…45 of them in total. There are so many great stories of cats, dogs, and even bunnies; not to mention all the great quilty projects. There is so much love expressed in these posts at times it was overwhelming to read. There are a lot of angels among us.

So where should my Pets on Quilts story start?

Dutchess

Dutchess came first; a beautiful, loyal, and very smart white German Shepherd. Dutchess has been gone for sometime now, but I’m always reminded of her when I see someone walking their white shepherd. For me there will never be another Dutchess. She never knew my sewing path would move to quilting, but she enjoyed the comfort on my bed with Grandma’s quilts.  I've had a quilt made by my Grandma since I was a child.

Kaos

Let’s fast forward to 1999 when Kaos came into our home. A beautiful tiny Abyssinian kitten of 12 weeks (our first experience with a cat). We were on the hunt for this particular breed of cat because of its dog like traits. Kaos is every bit of her name which is also completely true of “Abys”. It’s this same year when my desire to quilt took shape. Kaos is sitting on my second quilt Happy to be Scrappy.  Learning how involved a cat can be…it was ever apparent I needed to keep my tools and notions away from her inquisitive and playful soul.

Komotion

In 2000 at 10 weeks Komotion (KoKo for short) joined our happy family. Kaos quickly became friends with KoKo (like he had any choice). Here he is basking in the sun on the more recent Kapella.  He’s rambunctious too, but a bit more skeptical to attempt any of the crazy antics of Kaos. When he does a Kaos type antic it takes a moment to realize it's him. Yes it’s hard to tell the two apart, but you know parents always can.





Kitty Kandy



Kevin



My quilting projects have included lots of cat theme; from quilts and garments to dolls.  Dogs, bunny, lamb, duck, frog, bears, whale, eagle, horse, chicken, penguin, reindeer, dinosaurs, sea horses, bugs, and a monster are also part of my projects. These quilts are in my home, gifted, donated to various charities, and commissioned.

Dancing with the Dogs

Kerry and I have made quilts for the annual “Fur Ball” that is the annual main fundraising event hosted by the San Diego Humane Society and SPCA. This is our seventh year to donate. We delivered just this week Dancing with the Dogs for the 25th event that will be held this Saturday. Hopefully this will be a banner year for their “Fur Ball” with the quilt making a large contribution.

I have shown you just a few of my quilts with this post. Leave a comment to give me a chance to win some prizes (you can win too).  More can be seen on my Animal Theme Quilts Page on the side bar if you want to take a peek. Use the Home Page on the side bar if you want to return to this post.  Good luck to everyone!