Invitation from Nancy!

 National Cat Day! 10-29-21  One day late!  I wanted to post this yesterday, Friday, but had a computer glitch. GAH!

Back in August, Nancy at Grace and Peace Quilting made a quilt for National Dog Day! Then she invited us to make a quilt for National Cat Day!  I had a thought, but didn’t know if I could get it accomplished! Here it is, almost done. I have some more quilting to do and the binding. Then it will be a  Christmas gift for DS‘s cat, Phoenix!

Of course, now I have to make a cat quilt for my DD. She has a nearly all white kitty, King!

Yes, the top kitties are upside down. Imagine this used on the back of a couch, visible from front and back. The cat blocks were from a tutorial from Sally at The Objects of Design (for the kitties)and a pattern (for the mama cat) sent to me from Cathy at Crazy By Design.   I've been admiring Cathy's Mama Cat and Litter of Kittens for awhile. 

This is the back. DS is a big Denver Bronco fan! And I happen to have a piece of Bronco fabric. Imagine that!

A closeup of the serpentine quilting around the cat blocks. I’ll do more quilting in each cat block and a 2 inch grid in the, text print fabric, main part of the quilt.  I like the way it is going! 

Go check out Nancy’s posts for Dog Day, here. And  Cat Day, here!   She did fabulous little quilts. Such awesome fabrics and quilting! 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy! 

Finished or Not Finished Friday #70

 

Today I have one Finish and two Not Finished. Since this is the last weekend of the month, you would expect my finish to be my entry for the Table Scraps Challenge! And you would be right. You can read about that project here! 

A sneak peek!

My Not Finished items are a table runner and a couch topper. The table runner was started at the retreat I attended mid October. The pattern is named Waffle Time.  I’ve made it previously and it a great pattern to showcase a pretty print. I finally got batting pieced on Thursday, then Mr Busy set up sawhorses and two closet doors covered with a drop cloth in the garage so I could spray baste both projects. Boy that’s way better than getting down on the floor or the deck. My basting spray should be used with proper ventilation and that is difficult indoors. So that was great too! It was sunny and  57 degrees. Yesterday. I wish I had taken pictures, but the lighting was not very good and you would have seen our messy garage!

Table runner #1

The center panel is almost quilted. Sort of concentric rectangles. I used my favorite white fine Clover marking pen to mark the corner at 1/2 inch intervals. I think I have a plan for the borders. Finger crossed. 

Couch Topper 

The couch topper is a gift for our son's cat. DS has a light gray custom made couch in his Living Room/Great Room.so it doesn’t sit against a wall. This will provide a place for Phoenix to lay and hopefully keep some of his white  and orange fur off the back of the couch. Those of you who are owned by a cat, know that's a losing battle. But I had this cute fabric, purchased when we still had our Tux, and I wanted to use it. 

So far I have serpentine quilted all axis that border the cat squares. I plan on a 2” grid in the CAT print fabric. I’ll echo quilt with orange inside each kitty and and white around the out side of each one. At least that’s my plan.

So I best get busy. That’s a lots of quilting for this old lady…I have to take frequent breaks. I’ll share the finished projects next Friday! I hope! 

I’m linking up today with Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday! 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy 

October Table Scraps Challenge! Ready for Christmas!

 

This month the challenge had me wondering what to do in light/bright green. I knew there were lots of greens in my scrap basket! I like green! But what pattern? I had great success with Dandy Candy in July! 

Then I remembered I had a second charm pack of Holly Jolly by Sandy Gervais. Reds, lime greens, creams, aquas. I pulled just the mostly greens. Threw in some reds with green and one charm of cream with red, green  and aqua dots! Picked a white snowflake fabrics for the dividing strips. I would have liked to use a more beige fabric, but this is what I had. 

I put this together at the 3-day Sleep at Home retreat!  A good one to do. It requires very little concentration, which allowed me to visit and join in the camaraderie.  

When I got home I made a pieced batting (no photos)and pieced a backing. The larger piece on the right that looks like a brick wall is left over from my son’s 50th birthday quilt. It’s a Latifah Saafir  fabric called Grafic! I love it!  Ooh! You’re getting a really good look at my messy cutting area! I’m a bulletin board stashed. Always have been, even when I was working! 

It needed a little bit more length…so I added some red from Holly Jolly. I had red with tiny dots for binding! Will that work? Hope so!

You can see I did my go to red serpentine stitch, lengthwise. As I stitched the last of the binding down, I started to really like this happy little runner. I had planned to donate it to our library for their Silent Auction. Lord knows they need the support from the community right now! Saying that, I think I will take it to them. And maybe the other one on my design wall, if I can get it quilted in time. I think I have till Monday! 

I love this Dandy Candy pattern from Pieced Tree Patterns. Thanks Nancy from Grace and Peace Quilting for recommending it. 

I have had so much fun participating in this Table Scraps Challenge hosted by The Joyful Quilter. I’m definitely going to participate next year, if Joy decides to host again. I’ve got lots more scraps and lots more surfaces that need coverings! 

I'm linking up with The Joyful Quilter and her Linky Party today. Go check out all the other completed Table Scraps!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy! 

I LIKE Thursday # 67

                                     Hello! Are you ready to share your likes?

This little guy showed up on our son’s front porch. DS lives in Northern California and it has been raining the last couple of days. Don’t know what kind of owl, but a youngster, I think! 

I like WORDS!,

I keep finding these on Facebook, because I follow her page, Sweatpants and Coffee. Almost all of them speak to me! Thanks, Diann from Little Penguin Quilts for sharing Nanea Hoffman with me. 

I like ICICLES!  Winter, not so much!

I took this photo during out snow storm a few weeks ago! I like to look at icicles. Against the blue sky and cloud- shrouded sun, they are especially pretty! 

I like GREEN Growing Things. 

Of course, I brought my houseplants indoors. I rehomed a large scheffalera. My next door neighbor took it to her school room. There is an aloe Vera and several Christmas cacti. 

This is my Old Mother Christmas Cactus. She is 33” across and from crown to her longest frond, is 29” And she is heavy! I can’t lift her, and Mr. Busy struggles with her. 

I Like BOOKS! 

Upon Diann’s recommendation I checked our library for this book. The President’s Daughter.

 Then I discovered the first one, Clinton and Patterson collaborated on, The President Is Missing. So, I started with the first one, cause that’s how I am. They are stand alone stories, as I understand it. I really am enjoying The President is Missing! 

I leave you with another bit of wisdom! 

Go check out the other participants in I Like Thursday!  You can find a list at Not Afraid of Color .LeeAnna adds a list of all of us who participate at the bottom of her I LIKE post! Then let LeeAnna know and she’ll add you url. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy 

To-Do Tuesday #62 10-26-21

Here is my list from last week! I’ll link up with Linda at Texas Quilt Gal.  Thanks Linda for hosting this event. I really need to be accountable or I would just "piddle around" in my sewing room!  haha! That's a phrase my mama used to use!  

Last week------October 19-25

1. Keep exploring backing options for couch topper. ✔  I made a decision!.  The couch topper is for our son. He has an orange kitty. Yes, I know the upper cats are upside down. It's a couch topper so they will be right side up when viewed from the dining room side of the couch.

And he's been a Denver Bronco fan since he was in Junior High. I had this piece of fabric leftover from a quilt I made for his younger grandson. It just needed a little extra added to the width and length. 

2. Does Hollow Nines need a border? If so, what. Skinny white, then colored? Just a patterned wider border? ✔

Linda suggested a darker border....so I looked and decided on this one. This fabric is in some of the green 9 patches. It's not a lot darker, but I like it. It almost used up this fabric I used in my first great grandson's baby quilt. He just turned 10! Now I'll decide on a backing and get it and maybe En Provence to the quilter. She is going to Houston but will be back on Halloween and home til Thanksgiving, then they "snowbird" to Arizona! 

3. Finish lime/red/white table topper. TSC-October! ✔ 

I wasn’t sure I would like this color combination when finished! I thought I would donate it to our library’s Silent Auction. But as I finished the last stitch in the binding, I was really liking it! I know you shouldn’t donate only things you aren’t fond of! That’s not in the spirit of giving! But now it’s going to be difficult to give this away! 

                 Left:  Front      Right:  Back       
          

I quilted it with a Serpentine stitch (#4 on my Bernina) at the widest possible width and length at 3. It is stitched in a red Coats and Clark thread from my stash. It was the perfect match for the red polka dot binding. fabric. 

4. Work on Partridge in a Pine Tree. ✔  

And I have pieced a backing. I just need to find some batting, quilt it and do the binding!  JUST!

Next Week - October 25-November 1

1. Cut batting for Cat Couch Topper and quilt it. 

2. Finish Partridge in a Pine Tree table runner.

3. Post to Table Scraps Challenge at The Joyful Quilter and OMG at Elm Street Quilts. 

4. Work on UFO for Jack's Basket - Chunky Churn Dash. 

5. Bonus.  - backing for Hollow Nine Patch. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy

OMG October Finish!

 

My goal for October was to get 72 of my hollow 9’s into a quilt top. It looked like this on my design wall in September! 

Then, I cut skinny sashings to make the blocks easier to join and yet keep the diagonal slashes of color. 

Last week, it was done! But I wondered if it needed borders? 

 

Linda at Texas Quilt Gal was the only one who weighed in, but I agreed and took her advice.

This morning , 10-25-21, it is bordered!  It’s now 48 X 53! A good lap or “big kid” size! 

Now to think about a backing. 

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal - October Finish Link-up

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy! 

We got our boosters! Did you? 

ScrapHappy Saturday! Some Limey Green!

 Finally some green sewing! I’m linking up with Angela at ScrapHappy Saturday! My sewing of light or lime greens has taken a backseat sort of. 

   Lime green Christmas!

A lime green Christmas project! Part of a charm pack called Holly Jolly by Sandy Gervais for Moda. I picked the ones that read “green” then added a few red with green and a couple that are light with green and red and aqua! Added sashings of some left over snowflake fabric from my stash. 

 

Now I’m piecing chunks of light, lime green for the back. The larger piece on the right that looks like a brick wall is left over from my son’s 50th birthday quilt. It’s a Latifah Safire fabric called Grafic! I love it! 

Is the border on this bird and pine cones table runner “light “ olive green? I think it is. “ It’s my story and I’m stick in’ to it!”  

These two will hopefully get to the finding stage today! Then I can Sunday Slow Stitch tomorrow. 

Mr Busy and I got our Moderna boosters yesterday. I feel fine, just a bit achy! Taking it easy today and tomorrow! Lots of fluid, rest and maybe some Tylenol! The young nurse who gave us our shots told is our county was the least vaccinated with the most cases! I had heard that, but she confirmed it! I’m pretty ashamed of some of my fellow Wyomingites lately! 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy! 

Doves Finished or Not Finished Friday #69 10-22-21

 

I'm linking up with Alycia at AlyciaQuilts for Finished or Not Finished Friday. Stop by and see all the other finishes from this week. 

I have a finish today!  A squirrel of sorts, but not one that ran very fast!

The last day of August, I was reading blogs and when I got to Kelly's My Quilt Infatuation, she was introducing a new book. It is called Scrappy Improv Quilting. Now I loved her first book, Stash Statement so I read on. I read all about the small mini quilts and wall hangings featured in this book. Several caught my eye. She finished her post with a statement that she was going to do a giveaway. Just add a single comment and the names would be drawn at random. I told her how much I had enjoyed Stash Statement and how this book was "drool worthy"!

On September 6th I received and email saying I had won the signed copy of her book. I was "over the moon".  It took the USPS awhile to get it to me, but it was well worth the wait. 

I swooned and poured over the pages and the beautiful quilts. I shared it with my stitching friends too. They think I'm a bit "crazy about scraps", so I wanted them to see again what fabulous quilts can come from a bin of scraps. 

My sewing group, had a mini retreat planned for the middle of October. They had selected a challenge last year( when we did not meet) and it was to make some thing using yellow and gray. I finally decided I had better get on the ball. So I looked through the gray I had in my scrap box and found a muted dotted one. I could see it as birds. So Birds of a Feather was selected. This is Kelly's quilt from the book. 

I call mine  "Lonesome No More"!  I think of these as doves. Not Lonesome Doves though. 

Almost finished on Monday. 

I finished the binding, a solid gray, and hanging corners yesterday!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy! 

I Like Thursday #66

I LIKE THURSDAY! 10-21-21

 I’m joining LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color this morning to share some things I’m thankful for this week! 

I’m thankful that my brother and sister-in-law visited last Thursday and Friday! I was so busy “talking and sharing” that I didn’t take a single picture. ps: remember the baby from my post last Thursday, these are his grandparents. 

This is a photo from a year ago! Like most of us, they haven’t changed much in a year, except my brother’s hair is longer! No haircut since Covid! 

I found this on Facebook, I laughed out loud! 

My back yard….we got 13.8” officially! 

Then this showed up on social media! Again, I giggled! 

We have great neighbors! Kelly helping Mr Busy clear the drift in front of the garage doors! Our street cleared quickly thanks to our City snow plow crews! 

They worked 'round the clock for 36 hours. 

The first 3 days of this week were spent with friends,  sewing at our public library! Our library is awesome. They provide gathering space for us. The room was locked up each night , so we were able to leave machines, projects and stuff there. That made retreating easier! I always take so much stuff! LOL! 

Again, too busy visiting and sewing, no photos! 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy