Butterfly quilts and kitties

Maggie Mae has a favorite perch in this house. She wants this wooden stool put in front of the screen door so she can watch her squirrel and bird friends.
She will stretch and even lay down on this small stool.
But...the air is on now and her stool has been returned to the kitchen where it belongs. Poor Maggie Mae!!!

With four cats in the house it is not rare for one of the cats to be "helping" me quilt. And they LOVE the Minkee backings. This smaller butterfly quilt went to daughter #2 for her 40th birthday. WOW! Time sure flies!

I work in controlled chaos as I sew. Making these 4 butterfly quilts was a labor of love. And as they were assembled I made 35 spool blocks as Leader and Enders per Our Bonnie Hunter of www.quiltville.com fame.
Then as I prepared to move to quilting mode I cleaned/straightened up a few things. Then somehow I lost my 35 spool blocks! ARGGGG!!!! I should have left the mess alone!
I sold my Janome 3160 QDC to a very good friend who needed a thread cutting machine for piecing the Bonnie Hunter Virginia Star quilt. I only sewed on it a few times...a waste to have it and not sew on it.
So, I got my my 1932 scroll face Featherweight and set her up for piecing in the back bedroom where I do all my cutting. What a fine sound she makes as she sews. I love that sound. And I made 30 more spool blocks. That back room is closest to the air conditioner and gets very cold. I love that fact! And as I was cutting more backgrounds for the spool blocks I found the missing 35 blocks. I am very near 300 blocks so far. WHOOT WHOOT!!! I have promised myself that I will try to not straighten things up too much in the future.
I have another butterfly quilt all pinned up and ready for quilting. And did 6 loads of laundry today! I am bushed!

This is butterfly quilt #2 and is destined for daughter #1's birthday in July.

This is butterfly quilt #3 and is going to my great son-in-law Kevin for his June birthday. He is such a fine man and a great father to all of Lisa's children.
My goal is to have two quilts that can be displayed in her family room which is decorated with butterflies everywhere!

Okay, DH is hungry and I need to make him something to eat.
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Sunbeam hot iron case

WHOOOHOOOO!
My hot iron case came today.
Our hero Bonnie Hunter blogged about this item and I must have been quick enough because I got the last one off Amazon!!!!
Hubby is doubtful about this item because it is made of plastic. I explained about the silicone interior...men!
I am heading for a retreat this weekend but I am only bringing hand work. Yet I am sure this case will still come in quite handy. I can also see me storing an iron in it here at home. Lots of possibilities.

I have my Great Grandson's quilt all sewn. I have the backing pinned into the quilting frame but have not pinned this up for quilting yet. I thought I had a good chunk of Minkee for the back but it is way too small. So I am going to use some turquoise polka dot fleece.
And as usual I have made way too many blocks. I can make another quilt exactly as the one below...what to do......
This quilt is 54" square.

Maggie Mae got her summer haircut yesterday. She never napped at all after returning home. She can lick places previously unreachable. She is such a happier kitty now. She is also trying to squeeze into places she should not be...we have created a monster!!!

How could I not take a photo of Pearl when she poses so sweetly. Our precious Pearl Piwacket. (from the movie Bell, Book and Candle)

This is one of the hand projects I am taking to retreat. I want this to be done so I can begin another Hexie project. I am loving this process...

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My Precious Pearl & eleven inch strip swap

The quilt she is on is NOT for the cats. It is my very own Minkee backed lap quilt. If I get up I MUST fold it up or this happens!!!
Pearl loves the backing so much she hugs it!!!!

I started a new swap over on the Yahoo quiltvilleswap group.
We will be swapping 11" strips of fabric with ten fabrics to each set.
Washed or unwashed fabrics...well just go join the group and read the rules in the Files section there.

In love again with Hexagons & Eye Fooler Quilt is done!!!

First off I have to say I am so very sorry to the HGTV group. I resigned from their swap. I had many good reasons.

The biggest one was that the hostess says she is deathly allergic to cats and their fur. I have four cats. Okay...I can deal with that. Clean clothes every time I sit down to sew. I used a lint roller to remove any hair from the chair I am going to sit in. I yelled at the cats to leave me alone while sewing. They did not understand.

I bought new papers for the swap from her suggested site. 1200 of them. I worked in a factory that had a metal stamping department. I understand about sharp dies and slag. The papers had such rough edges from a dull die that I was worried that the hostess would not accept the hexies from me for this reason. This is a issue that was NOT my fault.

I have a lot of fabric. But had to look at my fabrics with a new eye. Not  many had small enough designs to meet her criteria. And she also said no batiks...arrgggg. Half of my fabric collection is batiks. But I spent an anxious two weeks pulling enough fabrics for the 1st swap. I found all I needed. Thanks goodness I did not cut into them yet.

Then there were basting rules. I baste all behind the paper and not through it so I do not have to remove any basting when sewing together. She wanted all basting to be through the papers. And not only that but she wants them basted exactly as she had shown on her blog. Okay...I sewed for two weeks using her method. I kept her blog photos in front of me trying to make mine look exactly like hers. So slow....

The more I grumbled at the cats and complained about the basting through the papers, my husband had enough..."isn't the best part of sewing the "joy" of the journey?" he says. Yes...he was so right.
I wrote to her and told her the reasons I was resigning. She wrote back accepting my resignation.
Me? A weight has been lifted.

I  am working on an early hexie project. Little fussy cut sewing machines surrounded by fussy cut little kitties surrounded by my lovely batiks.

I had these already done. And I was able to sit in my furry chair with a warm kitty at my side and totally enjoy the process. I even let my work touch my body!!!
No contamination here!!!!

My Eye Fooler is done. I did some investigation on this pattern. It used to be called "Sparky". Check my earlier posts. The designer is still at the same address and is still offering the pattern.
http://quailvalleyquilts.com/eye-fooler/
The designer contacted me and this pattern is still available.

I want to make another one. But I am going to reduce the unit sizes. I need to go through and do the math. This is one big quilt!!!! Yet I loved the whole process.

As I enjoyed making the East Street designed by Our Bonnie Hunter. I am no longer afraid of patterns that have more than 1000,2000,3000  pieces.
Who cares how many????

We have been without a home phone for nearly a whole month. Turns out it was some squirrel damage. It had to have been the backyard squirrels as my front yard squirrels are very well fed.

This is Macy and my DH. Macy hates cold weather. She has her own heating pad. It usually sits on hubby's desk and she stays right there with him. He swears that she was trying to drag it to the couch yesterday. So he helped her. She is not spoiled at all.

And here is sweet Pearl. She looks so nice against a pink quilt. I am sure she practices looking deep asleep. Love her stripes!!!
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Second Easy Street completed.

I am totally in love with this color scheme of Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street pattern.
I had to remove one offending 31/2" square this morning. Somehow two of the same fabric made it all the way through final row assembly before I noticed that they were side by side. DH said to leave it...but I decided to replace it. If it would have been a more subtle fabric I might have left them together. But it was the hot pink leopard that simply just screamed at me!!!
So I fixed it and sewed the final seam this morning.

Right now it measures 65" square. I have a nice piece of pinky-brown batik that I will add as the 1 1/2"  outer border...then I may add a bunch of the extra 4-patches around it then add some of that marvelous striped border that I out on my Minkee backed quilt.

I use a piece of batting to lay out my blocks as a removable unit if I get interrupted from sewing. I can simply fold the batting over the pieces and put it away and they stay put.

I have LOTS of extra pieces. Someday they will become another pink/brown quilt!

I have so much help while sewing. Each of my four kitties has to try to claim the batting as a great resting area.

I have the best husband. He is a wheeler/dealer. He found a used bass amp that I can lift!!! It weighs only 35 pounds. We had to drive a little over an hour to go buy it. But it was quality alone time for us.

Macy (on the right) has the rewarding job of moving any kitty so she can steal their heated sleeping spot. For one of the other kitties to remain after she attempts the steal is nothing but amazing! So I had to photograph this episode as evidence that they all can share.
Macy and Pearl came from the same breeder. But different breeding lines of course. I really feel confident buying from this breeder. The cats are raised underfoot in their home and are people lovers.
Happy Sunday everyone.
Bonnie Hunter is doing a quiltcam in 15 minutes!!!
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Easy Street Clue#4 completed

Warning: lots of photos in this post!!!
See Bonnie Hunter's Linky post here: http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2012/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-4.html

I am doing Easy Street in two colorways. But those Flying Geese units were just so cute I made them in five colorways.
I know. I am just a little bit obsessive.

I cannot decide which way is the one I prefer. And I had to stop myself or I would have made more in different colorways.

But then I had a plan....more below.

Here is Sissy. I pieced most of the actual colorway on her. She sews so well. But the chair in this room just kills my back. And my big sewing chair is too big for this room. It barely goes through the doorway.

Love this little sidewinder.  I use her all the time when sewing with Sissy or at retreats. Well...she is packed in the truck if I need her. But I usually have many bobbins already wound ahead of time.

Found...my lost container of thread. When I moved the sewing table in here I found this container underneath!!! Was not doing me any good not being used!!!

Here is my plan: I am going to make lots of Flying Geese, HST, Birds in the Air and/or more and keep them in these drawers. As I cut for a quilt I will feed these drawers. WHOOHOOOT! I am going to get so much more done!!

I tried and really liked the Grace Tru-cut blade sharpener. But there was just a tiny little container of oil. DH found this for me at a Hardware store. I am pretty sure it is what I need...any advice??

I bought and received one of those really big seam rippers from the seller on Etsy. Later in the evening he was sold out! Like that was a surprise with Our Bonnie tooting his horn! Mine is wood...beautifully turned.
I really do not need this items.  And it sure was not inexpensive. The leather sheath smells so good!!!
I am thinking of having a giveaway to celebrate the end of Easy Street.
Would any of you enter a give away for this item???

While waiting on the next clue I was making some pink string blocks(32). Then I made 24 more neutral string blocks. I have no idea what these will be used in. I just love making string blocks. These are 6 1/2" unfinished.

I did throw away the pile of trimmings. The food chain needs to end somewhere.

I really spread out when making string blocks. What you cannot see is the HUGE container of strings on the floor.  I keep them sorted by color now.

And another find. As I was searching for a box to ship out two cat beds I came across these blocks made eons ago. Michael Miller fabric. Each star is made from a different fabric. There are twenty-four 12 1/2" blocks....they just need a bit of sashing to be called a quilt top.

And a token kitty picture. This is my Pearl. Whole name is Pearly Piwacket.
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My big log cabin inspired by Edyta Sitar

Finally the log cabin inspired by Edyta Sitar is now a flimsy!!!

320 blocks

lots of browns and tans with batik pink centers.

115" X 144"

and...

 Pearl approved!!!

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Log Cabin quilt with 1" strips

Here is my Edyta Sitar inspired Log Cabin quilt. I made this with 1" strips. So after both sides are sewn there is only 1/2" showing! The blocks in the corner are just some string pieced blocks. The border fabric was a leftover from eons ago. I found it in the bottom of a basket where it must have been waiting for 10+ years!

The quilt is a sweet 24" square. A perfect size for a kitty!

 I quilted each and every log. Despite it's small size it seemed to take forever to quilt it. But when I was done I was more than pleased with the end results.

 Pearl approved!!!

 A sewing machine cover???? front view

 A sewing machine cover? back view

  And here is the result of my Thangles journey. These are all batiks. I actually used every single pin in that pin cushion when prepping these for sewing!!!
I am now working on some Reproduction fabrics with varied backgrounds. After sewing just one line on the paper I am not too pleased with how these fabrics are behaving. They were pressed prior to sewing so there should be no stretching involved. Perhaps I had the stitch length too short. But the Batiks behaved well with that same setting.
I will let you all know the results of some tweaking the settings.

 I am the Hostess for the blue 2 1/2" swap on the Yahoo groups connected with Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville group. Here is the result of major pressing,cutting and packaging. A good collection of washed blue scraps and of course some blue strings for my collection!!!! WHOOHOOO!!

 I enjoy watching the Smithsonian channel. And so does MaggieMae. Honest, I found this show through the guide today. We have watched it maybe 3 or 4 times. As soon as I change the channel, here comes MaggieMae. She loves King Fishers! It must be their song on the soundtrack. She tries to get inside the TV!!! I pray that she does not knock the TV off the stand. I really like the fact that TVs are lighter. But it does make them much more of a tip danger for children and pets.

This is Macy's favorite place to nap. She has it sooooo rough!!!!

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King of Green is done!!!

What a job! And what great results! It took so much longer to join, quilt and bind this monster than I expected. I am so glad it is done way ahead of time. I always seem to work better under pressure to finish a project in time

 MaggieMae approves of the border treatment. Each corner has a square from Aunt Margie's blouse. And a square from Grandma Iole's blouse. This makes it a memento for DD#1.

 Much too big for my queen size bed. I am sure Lisa will like how it fits on her king size bed.

 My sweet Pearl Piwacket. She always looks so relaxed.

 And the label of course!

And it took hours to sew the binding on!

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