What would you do?

I have these 1/2 yard cuts...
They are "heavy weight" like canvas. & 2 similar but different 1 yard cuts... (the purple spider web and a honey comb that you can see at this quilt shop in NYC that I visited once upon a time ago...)

I want to make them into bags... Would you mix them together or get a similar weight solid to "go with" them...

I think they are too clashy to go together... I know they are too pricey to find that out too late...

quilty stuff...

Am I the only person who will choose to do 2 twin sized quilts (similar but different) instead of 1 queen, becasue you can use more novlety prints in the 2 smaller quilts that in the 1 big quilt? That is my story for my Nickel I Spy & for my Modern Workbook Once Upon a Time quilts.

Oh & why is it that when I am cutting for a gift quilt, I cut for me & for my cat charm quilt(s)?

I guess you can see that I cut I Spy's this weekend...

I also finished one last doll quilt - for the swap, not LAST by any stretch. They are very addictive. Maybe I have enough done of X,Y, & Z projects to just turn them into doll quilts & be doen with them...
I did a cat charm quilt that is "big" enough, but I was so not happy with it as a something to swap... Since the gal I am sending my quilt to has a small daughter, I sent the big enough cat charm quilt and the quilt that I liked as something to swap. I hope she likes at least one of them! (I forgot to take a photograph of the cat charm quilt...) The swap mistress said that my small one would be o.k. (the sizes were so that no one got a postcard or that no one slaved over something too big) but...

And they will both be in the mail tomorrow... They are enveloped and addressed & at home - not the office.

Purple...

Be sure to check out the Wisteria over at Quilting Bebbs. It is in bloom in the Washington DC area, too. Only it is not in areas that are good for photography - other peoples homes or the side of the road...

But I wanted to get a photograph, so that I could show it with a local tree that also bears purple/blue blossoms that this time of year - only the purple/blue blossoms last for the longest time. I think the tree may be called Jacaranda (if not that is kind of what they look like - I don't remember them from Arizona - I first remember seeing them in Baltimore, MD). While the wisteria are here today, gone tomorrow.

It's Official!

The Calico Cat & husband are going to the Houston Quilt Show in November! Did you say that you want to go too? Southwest Airlines has an internet special going in right now! The only "bad" part is that the internet special expires on November 2nd while the show ends on November 4th. No big deal, we can go to the show on the 1st and 2nd :o)! We will be staying at "chez dad" - which helps too. & My husband will get to meet my step-mother for the FIRST time.

The cats get to go to Kitty City - don't tell them. (Kitty City is located in the vets office.)

(I guess this means that I might not get to go to the Hershey Quilt Show this year...)

Dogwoods

The dogwood tree may be my favorite.
"My" back 40. (I live in a condominium that backs up to a wooded area, so "my" may be a bit to literal...)



A tree in the neighborhood.

Does anyone know why some are white & others are pink? What about why some are very light pink & others are dark?

RB the helper

Yes, a gratuitous cat post!

From 2 nights ago - last night it was all about he cat prints.

I got more charity quilts in last night, RB took over the box. He is hiding...

The neighbors had babies!

Isn't he cute? (He is number 1 of ? - Daddy wasn't going to let me stick around...)

This family had 4 babies.

She is one of several who is still waiting...

EDITED Doll Quilt Swap = the dirty secret....

SO I signed up for a swap & understood the directions completely... Heck, I ran home and made 3 doll quilt tops... (& I could have swore that they were all big enough.) I then set them aside...
Last night as I started to make my tops into bonafide quilts, I decided to measure them again... Not a one of them is big enough!

EDIT: I did not check the size until after I birthed the quilts... (I may be the only quilter who can not figure out how to end the binding - I usually pay my longarmers to attach my binding.) So even if I had enough of the "right" fabric (all of these are very matchy-matchy) I unfortunately can not add a border - good idea though!

I am NOW (originally typed as "not" - definately a different meaning there, huh?) going back to plan "A" - my signature look...

A cat charm, quilt - if any problems arise, I can always cut more charms! Too bad I did not cut my cat charms last night, instead of the I-Spy charms... I have to mail the doll quilt on Monday... IEEEE.

Have I mentioned school lately? Well I had 1 final & the next one is on May 8th & I am so nervous about it that I can not bear to think about it. I am frozen by the fear...

The Interview Game

DebR is interviewing me.

1. You've been told that you must leave the country and live abroad for exactly one year, but you have your choice of any other country in the world to live in during that time. Where would you go for a year and why?
Australia! I have been there for only a very short amount of time - there is soooo much more to see and do! I would love to drive around the Continent, stopping here an there as I please...
2. You'll be going on your first cruise in a few months. What are you most looking forward to about that trip?
EVERYTHING - I like that all of the meals & entertainment are included... I like the idea that the food will be "other than my ordinary fare & not Pizza - why I buy "out" most often. I love that I will be visiting several places that are BRAND new to me. I am excited that I will get to try rock climbing, yoga, & pilates.
3. When I say "relaxing" what's the first thing you think of?
I am a big couch potato... Just laying there with the boob tube on with a cat or two napping on me is pure relaxation!
4. When and how did you first get into quilting?
I first got into quilting right around 2000. I dove in feet first without a lesson or how to book. I saw (did not buy or read, just saw) a charm quilt book in Michael's and a set of acrylic charms. Not to far from that was a starter rotary cutting set... I was off! (I am lucky that my fingers are not also off - I nicked the heck out of them for a while!) Where did I first buy my fabric? Wal-Mart & JoAnnes... JoAnnes had a Art Nuveau Hanukkah print - I fussy cut all of the stars... I even had a roll of paper towels that were "quilted" with hexagons - I had a PLAN! Those stars had an exact placement...
No, I never finished it. No, I do not still have it. Yes, I did give it away - to someone who hopefully did something with it.
5. Imagine there was a fire in your house. You, your husband, and the cats are all safe and your basics (like furniture and so on) are all covered by plenty of insurance. You have just enough time to grab and save three things that insurance can't replace. What are they?
The quilt that my great grandmother made, the wedding canopy that I made, & my cat fabric stash - several hundred yards worth - that isn't too much is it?

This is a meme...
Here are the rules to keep it going.
If you want to play the Interview Game, here’s what you do:
1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.” (Many of you do not have your e-mails linked to your responses - hence my not replying to your comments - if you fit that category, leave your e-mail too.)
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions. (I have been thinking long and hard on my questions.)
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions. (Let me know when you do.)
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

The rainbow text is optional...

Stashbuster topics

1. favorite quilt shop... You know I agonized over this one FOREVER! I like several for different reasons...
IRL I like Capital Quilts in Gaithersburg, Maryland because they have the best buyer incentive program & their shop has everything from thimbleberries to batiks...
IRL I also like Seminole Sampler in Catonsville, Maryland because they primarily carr the bright stuff that I like & they carried a lot of the mass market taupes... (Their buyer incentive program - not so good.)
IRL I like G-Street fabrics in Rockville, Maryland, because it is close enough for me to walk to during my lunch hour... (& the prices keep me from buying! over $10 per yard of Dick & Jane, as an example)
On-line I like equilter - I can look & look at kitties all in one place!
On-line I also like meowscape.com (did they take over the catfabrics URL?)

2. Favorite quilting companion aka helper kitty - Do I really have to answer that one? I have two helper kitties, RB & Rhapsody. RB is the bigger helper... He will sit in my lap as I applique, he will sit on top of the sewing machine as I sew, he will rearrange blocks that I arrange on the floor, he will artfully display himself on my multitude of finished projects, etc. Rhapsody is just good support, she will sit next to me - when my lap is not still enough or when RB is being a holy terror, she will also hide in the stash closet when I am in the stewdio & she loves to help me browse through magazines and books.

My new book(s)

First I got, Making Scrap Quilts to Use it Up by: Lynne Edwards & I have started a Magic Lantern's quilt using Oriental prints (not taupes - but the bold cranes, origami, bamboo, & chrysanthemum prints. Links for illustrative purposes only, my prints are older...) and a not specifically Oriental, but goes well Caledon/Jade green. (I am never in the mood to cut & sew the bias triangles...)
& I like the blue & orange stars quilt that you can see on the front, but truth be told, I have enough blue & yellow/blue & white/blue & blue ufos! I like the I Spy too, but I have a few of those in the works too.
Since I had the first book, I decided to get the second one (back in December/January when I had gift certificates & when I saw it in a catalog)... Stash-Buster Quilts by: Lynne Edwards. It is o.k. - I bought it for the Layer Cake Quilts and the cover quilt... I am intrigued by the Pinwheels (I think the blue fabrics that I got from Patti would look nice in that pattern...) & there is a bright & black quilt that could look nice with my Jan Mullen prints...

Would I buy it if I saw the whole thing first, not sure (I really like the Layer cake pattern & you kind of need the book for the template...) would I recommend it? Again, not sure...
Not nearly as much as The Modern Quilt Workshop.

In my mini-group, the girls give small gifts for birthdays &/or the Winter Holidays... This year, Nancy is giving quilt books... She only recently came to this decision, so I got to choose a book during our last meeting. I chose Modern Primitive Quilts by: Laurie Simpson. (Not my thing, but it has a taupe basket quilt with an interesting border & I thought that I liked the hexagon quilt, but I know with my other EPP projects in line, that I won't "getroundtoit"& I know someone who will really like this book, so I can pass it onto good hands...) I did not find another to buy then, so I chose the one I chose.

The good & the bad of looking for links on Amazon.... I am reminded of books that I have & I see books that I want...

Why don't you share some of your books...

plain Spoken progress

Besides the quilt show, I worked on Plain Spoken this weekend.
Mistake 1 - turning my 1/2 yards into fat quarters... I could cut 2 blocks from each strip, but not 3, so I have relatively huge chuncks left over... (Not the biggest deal, because I also still have my inspiration pieces since Plain Spoken is all solids.) I could have gotten 5 instead of 4 cout of the 1/2 yards, which would have given me the magic number for a full/queen sized quilt - instead I will get a generous twin... Again no big deal.

(Yes, I should have been studying for my final exam...)

So here is a sampling of my blocks - with a lot of overlap...


Mistake 2 - I really wanted to finish cutting them out last night - I cut one too short... Again no big deal, because of mistake 1, I have too many anyway...

The colors are still odd for me - not my normal choices... But I also could not see this in blue & yellow, or, or, or...

Local Quilt show photos

These photos are from The Milltown Quilter's quilt show in Colombia, Maryland.
(I planned on jotting down the titles and names, but my motebook did not make it home form work with me...)
However, the "information" placcards were pinned to the quilts - so I thought I could crop into the the placcard & get the information... I could, but then getting that to the right quilt proved far to frustrating - so here they are without information - sorry.

It took me awhile to figure out why I like this quilt... (the colors are like my star struck quilt.)
Love thte leafy border & the scrappy solid dark borders...
I like "fun-ky" what can I say...
Notice the cat print border - that is almost my signature look (although you can't tell by my recent stuff...)
love the colors - not quite monochromatic, but close!
love the two gradiations.
I guess you can tell by the county fair ribbon that this is a miniature... (I can see small cat prints in those hearts...)
By the same quilter... (my new book has this pattern - in normal size. Oh did I forget to mention that my special order book finally came in? I'll share more about that later...)
A log cabin variation & check out that Piano key border! Nice selection of black on blacks!
Those are EPP hexagon wreaths. I have some hexagon flowers (they might even have leafs) hopefully I have enough to create 1 wreath!
I thought these were Dogwood blossoms, they are beach roses.
One of my favorite quilts from the show.
A lovely monochromatic Chuppah.
My favorite quilt. This was part of a challenge using a greeting card as inspiration.
Does anyone still have that streaky tealy-purple fabric in their stash? (80's vintage?) Not that I want it - rather to show that you can still use it!

The weekend...

I went to a local quilt show & saw some nice quilts that I will be sharing next week.

I also sewed all of my strips together... I hope to press and sub-cut tonight!

Thanks to all who gave me advice of both strip piecing and on using only solids. I am happy with both decisions. I will get at least two "blocks" of each strip combination.

I am going to play with how to use the leftovers, because I will have quite a bit of leftovers... (the difference between 15 inches and the fat quarter width/length - I don't recall which way I cut my strips.)

The last of the quilts from Lancaster - my favorite

Cats by: Barbara Barber (This may have been hanging in instructor's row - but it was still me favorite.)

1 kitty

2 kitty (I am not sure which blue is more true...)

some of the flowers

some of the quilting

I have a close-up of each of the cats...

Zipper done! (at least the top is done)

Here it is:


Who knew there was a matchy-matchy girl hiding in me? Done with out a design wall! Only 1 or 2 spots that I would have changed! I have a light turquoise flannel for the backing and a diagonal strip for ythe binding!

Carolyn @ StickKnits found through CrAP (yes, she knows about the acronym & she finds it funny)... when I wanted to know if there were any knitters for hire - I can not afford, nor do I need another hobby, thank you very much!

Why do I need a knitter for hire? This is why! (All I had to do was send the yarn - Knitters (& quilters) are the best! Thanks again!)
So I placed Rhapsody in the Kitty Pi...

(I placed RB in the kitty pi on the couch too, but here he is using it on his own...)

Rhapsody watching RB in the kitty pi (sitting on the couch next to mommy, thinking, "Why did you stop petting me?")

"O.K. so it did not swallow him up, let me chceck it out again."

My charmer, really likes it...

So much so that he brought his sparkly ball to play in it!

The only missing photo is a together shot, we'll have to wait for him to be resting & for her to want to cuddle...

Opinion

My next quilt to work on will be Plain Spoken (pattern in "The Modern Quilt Workshop" by Bill Kerr & Weeks Ringle) This is a picture from the book.

I shared my fabrics earlier...

My question is on construction...

The directions have you cut small and large rectangles then assemble them together randomly...
I have about 16 half yards, that I have split into fat quarters (I am more accurate with cutting fat quarters than half yards) so I have 32 fat quarters.

Do you think that I will have enough randomness if I strip piece, rather that cutting individual pieces? (I think so, I am just bouncing ideas for verification sake...)

The winners

Folkart Sundae by: Sandi McMillan 1st place applique

Through Tuscany by: Cynthia England 1st place pictoral

Feathered Star II - Spring by: Barbara Swimea 1st place pieced traditional

Heartson by: Elsie Vrendenburg 1st place pieced innovative

Miniatures

Pilgrimage by: Marie Karickhoff measures 6.5 x 6.625 inches - yes you read that right!

House and Garden by: Barbara Ellis 22.5 x 21.5 inches I like how she added the "closer views" around the house...

Close-up of House and Garden, theis portion is only about 3 inches square...

The Octopus's garden by: Debra S. Harry 3rd Place Miniature 14 inches square

close-up of Octopus's Garden

Laughing Irish Eyes by: Leigh Elking 18 inches square

Pineapples in My Garden by: Nina Know 17.5 x 15.5 inches

Lone Star by: Sally Collins 16.5 inches square 1st Place Miniature