Ta Da!

Look at me starting out with a picture!  Now isn’t that new….  This is the Disappearing 9-Patch pattern that I made for my Brother-in-law.  Here’s a close up of blocks not yet sewn together:

This probably doesn’t measure a ‘true’ queen size as it measured 84 X 98” but big enough for a wedding gift for a young couple living in a 5th wheel camper trailer and who my BIL says he doesn’t really expect they’ll stay together.  What!?  My hubby suggested that he take the quilt home, put it on his own bed and give said couple a card with some money in it …..

So that done and not ready to move on to starting another quilt, which  I really shouldn’t anyway because I have my stack waiting, I made a few pillowcases:

These will be given to a lady in Ohio.  There is a hospital where she lives that makes up Easter baskets for all the children in the hospital and also for a couple other places.  She estimates they give out approximately 250 baskets each year.  She thought it would be nice to put something in the baskets that the children can take home with them and have for a while.  The children range in ages from babies up to 18.  The main body of the pillowcase is a width of fabric measure to 27” (3/4 yard) the cuff is 9” and the little trim piece is 2” so this is a good way to use up some excess fabric and scraps.  I’m using the tutorial that appears on You Tube done by Jenny Doan from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  Speaking of Jenny…. I was watching the NBC news a few nights ago and she was featured.  I thought how great it was that someone from the general quilting world got some well deserved national recognition.

What’s next on my agenda?  I can think of at least 101 things I’d really like to do, but alas, I have my stack waiting…..  Hubby and I have what we call D & D night with our friends who were in Seattle 8 months while he underwent a stem cell transplant for Leukemia (he’s doing amazing!).  We love to play Dominoes with them (hubby doesn’t like to play cards….) and we’ve turned it into Dinner and Dominoes every Friday night.  We try to come up with new and different ideas for dinner.  We’ve had some really interesting (in a good way) meals.  We try to share the preparation of the meal and alternate between each other’s homes.  This week is my turn to host and we decided on soup and sandwich.  I will make a Tuscano soup and they are bringing the fixings for Ruebens.  Friday is supposed to finally be rainy here in AZ so this turns out to be the perfect meal…  Oh, yes and I was going where with this?  I’ve been wanting to make up some snack mats (mug rugs) for our D & D nights.  I want to make them look like a Dominoe tile so I may work on those today and quilting tomorrow…. I think it would just be a fun thing to do and have when we get together…

Okay, enough of the boring stuff…. Hope you all are staying well and being safe where there is so much bad weather (even be safe where there is good weather – there are some crazy drivers on the roads these days!)

Katie

Not again!

Sometimes I wonder why I even started a blog!  I seem to be getting worst and worst on posting… I think I only have a couple readers anyway, so again sometimes I wonder why I bother.  Ah well, if you’re one of my very few readers, thank you and I’m sorry I don’t post more often. 

I actually have been busy, busier than I’d like I almost say, but truly I do enjoy keeping my mind and hands busy.  QFC is in full swing again and again I have a stack of quilts waiting for me. ( By the way, Deb (if you’re reading), I put a box in the mail to you yesterday… ) I have a map of the U.S. panel also waiting not to mention a stack of my own quilts waiting.  Have you noticed I said “waiting”?  My brother-in-law (BIL) commissioned me to make a queen size quilt that he wants to give as a wedding gift.  He gave me a date of March 1st.  No problem, gave me plenty of time as he asked this back in December.  Fabrics chosen, pattern chosen – I am ready to rock:

Unfortunately – I rolled!  This is the Hidden Wells pattern and requires a lot of starch because once the strip sets are sewn, you’re working with bias edges.  Now, I know I’m not perfect – not even close.  And I am not a perfectionist by any stretch of the imagination, but I ended up with 3 different size blocks!  I was so frustrated, I even called a quilter friend to come tell me what I was doing wrong.  She checked my seam allowance, she checked the size of strips, she checked my squares and, like me, was totally stumped!  Well, I knew that trimming all these blocks to a matching size, I’d lose some of the impact and I also knew that frustration would make me crazy.  These are now all neatly put away and will be a UFO for when I get ready to simply throw it together and make it a ‘me’ quilt because I do love the colors and pattern.  So now what?  I still have a quilt to make by March 1st.  No pictures yet, but I decided on a Disappearing 9-patch using 9 different colors.  Moving right along and BAM – phone call from the police department in the town my sister-in-law (SIL) lives in.  They had to “breach” her home and she was being transported to the hospital.  Long story short, she was severely dehydrated and extremely weak.  If it had not been for a caring neighbor, we would not have my SIL today.  She is now in a rehab facility to try and regain her strength.  We brought her little rat dog chihuahua home with us and her daughter came from WA state to help.  But… consequently, I’m behind in getting a quilt done.  AND, my BIL calls last evening and was ‘wondering’ if the quilt will be ready this weekend.  Okay, let’s see.  the blocks are done, I just need to assemble the top – okay a couple hours there.  Get said quilt on the frame and get quilted – another 3 –4 hours there as I am going to do a simple free hand meander.  Cut and sew binding strips, get on quilt and thank God I do not hand secure binding but machine sew it.  So sure, I can do this …..  Yes, I will post pictures in a later post and hopefully, it won’t be too long from now…

Katie  who has to go to Tucson as Hubby has a doctor’s appointment, who has to buy a batting for a queen size quilt, who has to get some groceries, who really needs to get her butt in gear or Hubby may be later for said appointment ….