Make New Friends

Make New Friends

The group of ladies who participated in the last block exchange, with those gorgeous batiks, decided they wanted to do another exchange. 

We will do a traditional Bull’s Eye Block pattern.  The only controlled item will be the background.  Otherwise…it’s anything goes on the fabrics. 

We will use material from our…. stashes – what?  A stash?  Who has one of those?  And how many fabrics do we have that we just had to have but never have used?  Those are the one’s to go into this scrappy project!

Exchanges are a great way to stay connected with your friends who have scattered throughout the country.  Kate and I now live in Colorado and Maryland respectively.  We have a Floridian, a few Nutmeggers, and some Upstate New Yorkers in the group.  I have invited some of my new friends in Maryland and they happily agreed!    

This reminds me of that old scouting song:

 Make new friends

But keep the old

One is silver
The other is gold.

I hope to see some reflections of each of my friend’s personalities in their fabric choices – and maybe some threads of Hoffman silver and gold!

Happy quilting,
Libby

Project Quilting- Challenge 5- Print Publications

This was a fun challenge- grab a magazine, or a catalog, or any print publication and turn to page 28. Find something on that page to be the inspiration for your design.

Of course, it is tempting to sneak a peak at page 28 and then choose- but that is not cool!

I had three publications that I pulled from a stack, Coastal Living, Art Journaling and Where Women Create.

All great magazines- how could I go wrong?

I mixed them up in a pile, no peeking! and grabbed one.

Where Women Create, Autumn 2011.  Cool.



Now onto page 28- awesome! I remember reading this page and loving the chandelier! I think Heather Bailey is a lucky girl to have this! I love it!



Now what to do?

I was really hoping that for once, I would start this earlier in the week, but that would just not be my style.






So, I spent the week house hunting. And occasionally thinking about the project. Finally it was Friday night  and I was nowhere. Burned out from house hunting- FYI. real estate around here is flying off the shelves and you see a house and two seconds later, it is under contract! Craziness! Creates this heightened sense of urgency and anxiety.

Anyway, back to Project Quilting! So I showed dear hubbie my very tentative ideas, he made a suggestion and viola! An great idea started to form.

Saturday am- more house hunting, in the snow! It was wet and heavy snow but the roads weren't too bad. And we did not get the 8-14" that were predicted so that helped.

Finally I was back at the apartment and ready to begin.

A bin of scraps.

Trimming scraps.

Sewing scraps. A little hand drawing, fusible, machine stitching, quilting....


Done!

Spring on a Shelf

I had decided to use both elements that I liked in the picture- the swirls of the green chandelier and that shelf of fabric that just looked so pretty and spring-y.

I repeated the flower in the quilting in the upper arch of the shelf. 

FYI- I quilted with Aurifil thread- 50 wt white and a really pretty yellow. 

Lucky that I had them in my stash! Lovely thread.

Yea! I managed to squeak this one out. Happy girl. Loving how bright and happy this little quilt looks.

And if you get a chance to pop over to the Project Quilting Flickr pool- there are some truly amazing quilts over there! Check it out!

Have a great week everyone!

happy quilting,

Kate

Long Arm Quilting

Elizabeth and I are very lucky to be able to work with some amazing long arm quilters.

One that Elizabeth works with a lot is Sandi Verbridge  and she does an amazing job.

I have shown you some of my blocks for our Block Exchange- well, Elizabeth finished her quilt! Doesn't it look great! Can't wait to see it in person and get some detail shots.

This is Elizabeth's version of one of our new Cat Nap series quilts- meet Tiger Lily!

Made with a jelly roll- 

And here is a sneak peak of one of the giveaways for our new website launch! Keep checking back... coming soon!

Jelly Roll Jumble- made with the Marmalade fabric line

All were quilted by Sandi- check out her website!

happy quilting,

kate

Libby's New Sewing Machine

I know that Kate got a new sewing machine - well I just couldn't let her be the only one with a new toy!

Mine is the low budget model! My son Michael created this with the instructions provided on the following blog.

Kate's new sewing machine!

So...

I looked at sewing machines the other day while on my mini shop hop with my friend Wendy. While we were at Sew-ciety down in Castle Rock, I saw they had a Tribute 140C. It came out last year as the 140 year anniversary machine for Viking.

It has been replaced with the new machine Eden Rose. They are basically the same machine. And since the Tribute is last year's model, it was on special. Hmm.... soooo tempting.


While I would love to be able to afford a machine with a ton a bells and whistles, right now that is not possible. But this machine seems to have most of what I need.




So Saturday I went back to check it out. And, drum roll please, I bought it.

They were very nice to work with at Sew-ciety and they gave me a great deal so I splurged on a Sew Steady table for it as well. (Ever since I won the Sew Steady table for my featherweight, I realize what a difference it makes!)

Yippee! I am back in business and able to sew away!

Got to go- go some sewing to do!

happy quilting,
Kate

March!

My March decorations!

I have a spot on this little wall going into the kitchen area where I can hang banners to celebrate each month.        

Adds some fun to the very beige walls

I love this runner! Really brightens up the table.

Everyone is Irish on St Patty's Day! 

March is a big birthday month in our extended family. 

I have two sons who are both born in March- later in the month. 

I always wished one was born on St Patty's Day. 

I cannot believe how old they are- how is that possible when I am not getting any older! 

But they are wonderful young men and I am very proud of them both.

Happy birthday month Sean and Scott- momma loves you!

happy quilting,

Kate

Lucky Stars BOM- February block

Here is my February block for the Lucky Stars BOM going on thru Don't Call me Betsy.

No excuses on the piecing, you have already heard my sewing machine woes. I like it anyway.
Love the colors.

happy quilting,
kate

p.s. on a side note, I am so amused by the name of her blog- Don't call me Betsy. Reminds me of my family where there are a lot of people we don't call by their real name. My mom's name was Mary and she was called Bitsy (at 5'7" that was pretty funny) and her sister is called Sue but her name is Martha. Go figure!