James' and my loss of a great companion.

It seems like only a couple years ago (not eleven) when we brought Our Macy Gray home.
She talked to us the whole way home. She was not upset just very vocal. And she stayed that way. We could always count on Macy to talk to us. She understood human talk. She could even spell. We tried to understand cat talk and I think my husband and I understood her very well.

She was a Tortie Point Oriental Shorthair. She was the Alpha cat in our home from nearly day one.

She was always a shoulder kitty even though she weighed 12 pounds!!!

And she started off so tiny. This picture was taken the first night home.
She was twelve weeks old.

This is a photo of her mother, Abby. They looked so much alike.

If you have made it this far into my post then you have read that I used the past tense in referring to Macy.
We lost her yesterday. She was only eleven. We had hoped for at least 20 years with this wonderful cat.
XOXOXO Subee

Laura's Birthday Quilt

My last post was in February??? What happened in my life?  I cannot explain except I guess I needed the solitude.

This is Daughter #2's birthday quilt. She wanted mushrooms and loves black and white graphic quilts. this is Bonnie Hunter's Strip Twist a free pattern on her website. ( www.quiltville.com )

Also during this trying physical and mental time my family doctor is retiring! He graduated one year ahead of me and I have been his patient since day one. I cannot blame him for retiring but golly gee...
I had promised him a quilt before I die. And with him retiring put this quilt on the fast track. Needless to say he was very surprised. I waited until the end of my appointment to give him the quilt. I also gave the head nurse a quilt. She moved on to a supervisory position in the office.

I bought this as a kit at a quilt show. Loved the colors!!!

Crochet on the internet and Maggie helping. She loves to snag her tail in my hook...grrrr.... and I ate that solid chocolate bunny in two days.

I had to have this gizmo after seeing it on April Lauer's Facebook post.  After finding it on Ebay and winning it I was so pleased. But my room is way too small for this little beauty. I cannot find a place to place it. And I wanted it soooo bad. I paid $40 for it plus $12.95 shipping. Any takers????

My usual quilting helpers...
don't you know black fabric and white cat hairs...goody!

My Lucky Lucy at a calm moment. These do not happen very often. Actually she has stolen my seat and is defying me to take it back.

I have been crocheting up a storm and not much quilting. I will get some finished photos for those of you who care!!!

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Lots of quilts designed by Bonnie Hunter, Pat Sloan and Edtya Sitar being sewn.

I am devoted to many quilt designers. Our Bonnie Hunter, Edtya Sitar and Pat Sloan.

Pat Sloan designed the block below. It is called Washington DC. I loved it so much that I made four of them and they then became this nice little lap quilt. My quilty friend, Victoria, is crazy for red. And her birthday is March 1st. She actually caught me sewing on it, oohed and awed over it and I lied and said it was for a grand daughter. Boy will she ever be surprised!

My heartfelt thanks go out to you Pat Sloan!!!!

And here is a small version of Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips. She said anything goes and that is what I did. All this came from randomly selecting 2 1/2" strips and sewing them into tubes. I know I am wanting to make a more controlled version of this great quilt pattern. Thanks Bonnie Hunter!

And lastly here is my version Of Edtya Sitar's Egg Carton quilt. I made two of these beauties. But only one is quilted so far. And this one took 10 bobbins and four hard days of quilting. But it is all done now and so beautiful.

I found a neat picture on the internet showing a crocheted afghan in shades of green. I dug through my yarn collection and was able to closely match the colors she used.

Here is my stack of blocks. I had enough yarn to make 16 blocks. Now I need to join them while adding another row of black all around them.

And this is the yarn I have leftover. I wound it into patties that are then a pull skein. Love my yarn winder. Have had it for eons. It is made by Royal. It does make a loud clicking sound but it winds great! ( made that sound from day one) Also the kitties love to help me wind the yarn. I know you all understand.

And here is Grand daughter Anna Marie and my hubby James. This is her first guitar lesson. James bought her the guitar and set it up for her. She seems to be a natural. They did the second lesson last night. He is quite pleased with her progress. And her fingers hurt. That means she is playing and her fingers will get callouses and no longer hurt!

XOXOXOXO Subee

Back from the dentist...should not cook or choose/climb fabric stacks.

I have been working in my storage/cutting room gathering my fabrics for Bonnie Hunter's newest mystery quilt, Celtic Solstice. I have been making a total mess.
My colors will be: pink/gray/red/brown/neutrals  Left the mess and decided to bake a new recipe I found on FaceBook. Screwed that up major. Looked at the list and saw 2 cups milk and 2 cups buttermilk. Right you all figured it out... it was either/or not both...later when it all overflowed (thank goodness I set both pans on a cookie sheet.) Hubby ate what I scraped off. The pans are now in the oven at a much lower heat hoping that my Amish cinnamon bread is not bread pudding.

I am thinking I have a very good excuse though......

I have been back from the periodontal dentist a few hours now. Had gum surgery on three areas and he pulled my broken tooth (HAS BEEN BROKEN AND HANGING FROM THE GOLD POST FOR 4 YEARS!!!!) I have not bitten into food for that long. A bite into an apple broke it for me...on a weekend of course

He also installed a "flipper" for the missing tooth and told me to remove it at night until that hole heals. I cannot figure out how to remove the darn thing!!! I am also lisping badly. Partly from the numbing and partly from the flipper. I am beginning to feel tingles so I am thinking my feeling is coming back. But I am in no pain at all. Except where the IV infiltrated, I woke up and said "hi I am here ", he said just a moment I need to start another IV and out I went again. The infiltrated site is very swollen, red and tender. I have weak veins I guess.

Okay more feeling coming back. My tongue says there are wires on my two last upper teeth connected to the flipper. Do I dare to try and take it out or wait and call the dentist in the morning? I am leaning towards the morning call.
With the way my fabric pulling (avalanches) and baking (cinnamon soup) I am hanging things up for the night.
But I am still without pain.

XOXOXOXO Subee

Egg Carton quilt progress

Although Bonnie Hunter was my first quilt designer crush I have another crush on Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts.
The pattern called Egg Carton quilt is in her book titled Scrappy Firework Quilts.

I love 1 1/2" strips, squares and small units of course. And after lots of seams you end up with a much larger unit. And Edyta uses batiks and cottons in my personal color pallet. Yummy!!

This is just half of the blocks I made. I have enough for two smaller quilts.

When I am not sewing I am crocheting. And here is Lucky claiming my place in the recliner last night. Sleeping upright until I snapped the photo.

We are surviving minus 15 temps with minus 45 wind chills. I have filled the bird/squirrel feeder with generous amounts of high calorie food. House is snug with rugs at the doors blocking any cold air seeping in. We have lots of quilts and lots of food. Parts of our small town lost power last night. Our power has been flickering but has remained on. The snow heavy tree branches and high winds are not powerline friendly!

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I own a Singer Sphinx hand crank sewing machine! Who knew???

When did I buy this?
Why can I NOT remember?
I am sure I was infected by Our Bonnie Hunter of www.quiltville.com fame.

The scary thing is I have bid on a couple hand cranks for the last month. Well, after she sewed on her hand crank sewing machine during a quiltcam broadcast.

I did know I had a machine major buried in the quilt frame room. And I also knew it seemed much longer than my other wooden case Singer.

I was looking for my 800+ Spool blocks that I had made earlier this year. I hate it when I clean because I cannot ever find anything. More to follow on the cleaning urge...

And here she is! A very clean and beautiful Sphinx hand crank. Wooden case with key that works. ( this is sooooo heavy I had to have Hubby carry it out for me)

But what is the model #?
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am guessing a Class 15.
Am I right?????? I need a manual but they do have her threaded.
Serial # says she was born on January 12, 1923.
She has a round bobbin case that looks like the Featherweight's case.

No pin rash...some rust on the bobbin slide cover. And there are decals on the crank wheel too!!!!

The decals are in amazing shape. There are some paint spatters on the wooden case. Not bad at all...

Isn't she lovely? They had the crank wrapped up...I never unwrapped her! Never tried sewing on her! Sure could have spent some quality time with her when we lost our power for 6 days last year!!!

See the rust??? It looks as if the finish was scraped off from pins and then it rusted. Should I or can I replace this one lousy issue?

And this is what I was looking for!!!! A stuffed full box of 3 1/2" Spool blocks that were last year's Leaders and Enders challenge. We even swapped spool and background fabrics.

I rotated my sewing area. My back is now to the front door. I am facing the TV and the computer. I swept and dusted and organized...that is how I misplace my things!!! GRRR!!!!

Four Strip Twist quilts done for Christmas gifts.

Four Strip Twist quilts done for Christmas gifts. The Grand daughters get a quilt for each birthday. But I have not done the significant others in their families. Four quilts to make in less than 2 weeks. (that is when the idea hit me).
I did it!!!
Well...the black/red/white one (that I finished minutes ago) still needs to be quilted but I can knock that out in one day.

I made two green quilts. I made 20 blocks each. The quilts finished at 60 X 76.

I only made one blue one. It also is 60 X 76.
These three quilts were made with 2 1/2" strips per Bonnie's pattern.

This black/white/red quilt was made with 2" strips and I made 24 blocks. I also controlled the fabrics. Meaning I used only four fabrics.

I finally used up this white RocLon muslin. 50 yards!!!
Where did they all go?
 I have not used white -white in any quilts for eons.
I am thinking I must have used this for many backings in the very beginning of my quilting journey.

Bess is so hard to get a photo of. She is so dark that she blends into everywhere she lands. I lucked out today she was sitting in the sunshine.

Lucky Lucy is getting bigger every day. And taking more naps. So I am able to run the sewing machine a bit longer before she comes to "help" me.

I am also cranking out these baby afghans. 30" square. Made from Bernat Baby Sport yarns. No homes for these yet as the next great grand baby is another boy.

XOXOOXXOXO Subee