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.