Kaye England Seminar in Indianapolis

I love seeing FQ's in their little folded stacks. BUT...they need to be handy for cutting NOT looking! I have this method for storing the ironed FQ's. I press them all...starch if necessary...then cut. When done cutting I layer them all together and roll up into a nice fat log. I tie the log with a piece of selvege. When I want to cut them again I simply roll out the log. They may need a very light going over with the iron. But not a major ironing session. This group of 27 FQ's I bought on my last trip to The Quilt of Many Colors, my local quilt shop. Well, not so local but a nice country drive a couple of towns away.

I am going to Kaye England's quilt college this March. I love her wit and charm. And her patterns are so nice and easy to understand. Such quaint names too.

I bought this Amelia Earhart Voices of the Past pattern last April after hearing Kaye speak at a Gathering of Quilters. I knew I wanted to make this super scrappy. Yet I wanted to tie all my FQ's together
with a constant background. I went shopping through my stash and found this toile'. It is really quite a medium color and all the FQ's have good contrast with it. As usual, I overacheived. Needed 18 blocks so I made 27...one for each FQ!!!!!

My OCD was quite content. No repeats of center squares. No matching star legs(?).

I have all the alternate block pieces cut. Needed 108 4 patches so I made 210.

Gotta have that ease of selection so no colors are close to each other.

I can always use more 4-patches. These are made with 2" squares. I am sure I can use them somewhere!

The sun came out so I was able to get a good picture of the blocks.

This is not the layout.
I just wanted to see them all after I pressed them.

My oldest daughter, Lisa, says they look like starfish in this setting.

Orphan block, swap squares and Laura's BD quilt

I am the Hostess for a swap on my Yahoo Group Postagestamp swappers. Being a bit OCD, I love cutting 50 different fabrics into 25 sets. "Yes", I say to myself. "Love the stacks and counting!"

My Orphan block from the two Carolina Christmas quilts asked to be a small quilt all by itself instead of being in my daughter Laura's birthday quilt. So I listened to the fabric. I also used the leftovers of the backing from the two CC quilts. So, this little topper is totally an orphan medley. I have always loved the little "flanges" of color I have seen in magazines. I tried the technique myself for the first time and love the effect. The hot pink is a leopard spot print. The black border is a black Fat Cat print.

This quilt will be only 36" square. It will be a kitty quilt. Yes, I know, a lot of work for a kitty quilt but they love them so, I get to keep them and that protects my "real" quilts. Do you see MaggieMae in the background watching the birds?

I love that hot pink flange!

And here is Laura's birthday quilt. Her BD is not until May so I can still plan on a fancy border for this quilt. She just bought her first home and will have a new bed. So it needs to be bigger of course.

The pattern can be found in the book called "Loose Change". The quilt in the book is called "Jamie's Quilt".

My Carolina Christmas quilts are done, done!

I have the best longarm quilter in the whole world. Not only does she quilt beautifully and FAST! She picked up my two quilts and then delivered them when they were finished. You cannot beat that service. Her name is Lisa Olinger. A beautiful and talented woman who also rides a Harley!

She names my quilts! I totally understand that. When you are working on something it will speak to you. Lisa says the Brothers Grimm nursery story was what she saw while quilting my quilts for my two Pisces grand daughters. This quilt is called Rose Red.

And this quilt is called Snow White. Don't you just love those leaves and roses?

I really love hand stitching bindings down. It give me one last cuddle under the quilt.

I used 22" strips of all the backgrounds in the blocks. I did my math for the amount of strips I would need to bind both quilts.

And boy was I ever "right on".

I had 4 1/4" left of the binding! Nothing like master planning!

I am soooooo lucky!

Pat Sloan and Our Bonnie on Live Talk Radio

I was caller #2! WHOOOHOOO! I got to talk to Pat and Bonnie at the same time.
When I figure out ( remember) how to do it, I will link to the talk radio site.
I think all 7000+ fans are clogging the internet logs right now!

http://patsloan.typepad.com/

There is Pat's blog anyway!

And here is the link to the radio show.
http://toginet.com/shows/creativetalkradio

Bonnie also has a link on her blog now. I listened to the show all the way through this morning. I got to hear my own voice. Wow!

Gwen Marston's newest release Liberated Quiltmaking 2

My very own private copy of Gwen's newest release. Liberated Quiltmaking 2!!! WHOOOHOOOO!!!!!!!
I had pre-ordered this book way back in November. When it came it was such a pleasant surprise to myself! I also got Log Cabin Quilts.
Another WHOOHOOO!!
Now I need to get digging through my stash to match some fabrics to her vibrant colorsense!

I am soon to be a greatgrandma again. This May a little greatgrandbaby named Logan William will be wrapped in my crocheted creation. I have used up 1200 yards of yarn and need to buy another giant skein. I also have three giant skeins of a babyblue. I will make another afghan that is more light and airy. This one is a shell pattern and is quite dense.
Booties to follow of course!!!!

Unfortunately, no one signed up for my first teaching class.

I had enough pieces to make 16 more blocks. I had planned to use them for demonstration in various steps of completion. My DD #2 loves this color combination.

So, this quilt will be her birthday quilt.

And check out how great a leftover block from Carolina Christmas blends with the blocks from the Loose Change book!!!! It seems that if I use sashing I can merge these two patterns. I still need to finish making the smaller blocks. I am almost done but had to stop to feed dear hubby who is home today celebrating Martin Luther King's Day.

Now I feel like doing some hand work. I may need to move two kitties....hummmmmmm.

Tubs and stacks and cats and squirrels

Yes, I have many cats and LOTS of material. I do drape towels over any unprotected material to prevent too much cat hair collecting as they lay everywhere.

And I mean everywhere. MaggieMae has to be close to me. I try not to disturb her nap.

I quick trip to my LQS happily ended up with me bringing home 26 FQ's who needed a home. I also try to buy a neutral. I never know when I need some. A quilter's stash needs neutrals.

The temp outside is slowly melting the deep snow. We had freezing fog this morning. And a cloudy day. I felt the squirrels needed a treat so I gave them some apple slices. This young squirrel ate his apple in front of the window so I could take his picture.

Block_Swappers Yahoo swap blocks ready for mailing

Instead of doing sets all the same, I decided to mail out totally scrappy sets. That way I have scrappy sets to start my own quilt.

But I am having a brain drain in the setting of these Buckeye Beauties. Everyway looks great. But I do not want to sew a bagillion of them together and then decide I do not like the effect.

This way looks great too. I may just have to slap them ALL onto the design wall and let myself and Hubby play with them.

And that bit of block you see on the left is my one and only block leftover from the Carolina Christmas quilt designed by Bonnie Hunter: http://www.quiltville.com

My stacks of 4-patches in Autumn colors.

Snow in Indiana and sewing 4-patches for swap

Yes...it looks a mess....but believe me it is controlled chaos. I am now sewing the pairs together. But this mess is me selecting Autumn colored fabrics for the 4-patches. I managed to pick fabrics that are NOT in my half square triangles.

My "tubs" are soooo full. but they are a great size for me to wrestle around. Not too small, not to big, just right!

I shoveled this drive 5 times today. Yes you read me right. We have a BIG snowblower that drags me around and frankly scares me. So I shoveled all during the snow to keep it manageable. I did fall down twice. My knee is not happy. Bruised and bleeding...but I was able to go right back to work on the snow. So I guess I will live.

And doesn't the house across the street look great? My friend had all new windows and doors installed.

Too bad tomorrow is garbage day. Those bins sure spoil the view.

No birds eating at these feeders except for the green one. If you ever buy this type of feeder you will be pleased to know that squirrels are totally thwarted. They cannot get to the seeds. They try but fall off every time. Trouble is, the birds prefer the wooden feeders. Maybe the metal is cold on their little toes. But they will go to it eventually. I had a pair of Cardinals at the picture window feeder today. Along with Mourning Doves and my sparrows of course. The Blue Jays called for peanuts and I threw them out on the drive but they never got them.?????? They have me trained so well. Squirrels knock on the window and the Jays call me.

I have not seen the hawks today. But then I did spend a lot of time outside making shovel noise.

Hawks at my bird feeder and some swap blocks

When you click to enlarge this photo, I swear you can see disappointment on this hawk's face. He missed my birds.
I am totally aware of the "food chain". I used to buy feeder goldfish for my large aquarium fish. So I really do not hate this hawk. I feed the squirrels and birds. So I am also feeding this hawk as my feeder is a very popular place to be. What amazes me is that they ( yes, there are more one type of hawk coming to my yard) seem to attack between 10:00 a.m. and noon everyday. I fill the feeders at daylight, so that is not what triggers the attacks.

Monday as I was unloading my groceries, a hawk was almost in the back of my SUV as I stepped back out the door. The sparrows were flying wildly around and under my truck. The hawk was on the driveway. Empty handed again.

Last weekend a hawk was able to catch one of the DarkEyed Junkos. It was tearing the feathers off the poor thing. Once it spotted Hubby and I at the window, it flew off with the prize.

I am in another swap on the Yahoo site. We are swapping Buckeye Beauty block sections in Autumn colors. The color pallet is right up my alley. I have enough made for the two swaps (Feb. and July) this year. Just need to whip up some 4-patches....easy peasy. I do them all at once for these swaps for two reasons. #1-no duplicates and #2-I will be on time for the deadlines.

And I saved the dogears in my jar of course!