Lime Green is a Neutral Color

Out and about

2011-05-19T09:36:00.001-04:00

Another rainy day here in Maryland but that's ok. I just planted my garden this week and I am hoping all this rain makes things grow!!! Especially the pumpkins! The boys wanted to try growing pumpkins this year so I figured why.....will see what happens.....

The last few weekends I have been out and about at local events and thought I would share some of photos....

Two weeks ago I went to the American Visionary Art Museum's Kinetic Sculpture Race. It was alot of fun and the entries are so cool to look at. The sculptures are human powered for 15 miles through the downtown area and face a water test as well as an obstacle course. We went to see the water test....

Here's Fifi the 13 foot poodle....

The Platypus entry....

The catepilar from Alice In Wonderland....

Some kind of mutant dog.....hmmmm....

Lucky the elephant....

the human element to Lucky.....pedal harder!

The catepillar takes to the water.....it was really funny watching some of the entries hit the water.....they had to go around the pier and back out again. Not all of them made it.....

Part of the fun for the day is to dress up......when I saw this costume, I knew I had to get a shot....

Yup, those are thread spools she is wearing.....and I love the tutu!!

Then last week it was off the BMA for textile day. They had lots of hands on activities for people to try.....

The boys tried out screening printing....

While they were in line waiting a turn.....I saw this on the back wall.....

Vincent's Starry Night done up in mixed media by kids......

I LOVE this!!!!

Looks like clay decorations, glitter, felt......

This would be so fun to try out.....a play day project!

That's what's great about doing projects with kids. They have no "rules" in their minds about art yet and just do what feels right.....try going fabric shopping for a project with a kid sometime. They have some interesting choices than can really make a project "bloom".

I saw this table in the museum.....it is over 150 years old. The craftmanship is amazing.....and it was all done in a time when there were no power tools, computers, etc etc.....

And it's a circle with wedges.....imagine if it was an off center circle with wedges. Now that would have been interesting......I wonder if they tried things like that back then or stuck to the tried and true....

Have a good Thursday!

kathy

The circle in nature

2011-05-16T07:11:00.000-04:00

My friend Amy has been on the hunt for circles lately. Man hole covers, clocks, portholes, you get the idea.

Now I have always had a fondness for circles. Hence my interest in the New York Beauty block. I always am cutting out the curvy and spiky patterns when I see them in magazines. But I also reallllllly like organic forms.

The uneven edges, the irregularity, those things add a level of movement and excitement to an organic design.

So when I was talking my dog for a walk this spring, I thought I would be on the lookout for circles in nature.

And they are really hard to find!

I came up with these......

Kinda of a circle with spikey edges....

A real irregular circle within a circle with the tree stump....

Yet another circle but this time with ruffles edges....

Now this one is closest to perfect circle.....but the edges are still off a bit....if I could fold it in half, both sides would NOT be equal.

It was really hard to find circles in nature.......interesting.....

Are they a mostly man made shape?

Do we humans find circles so pleasing for the regular perfect edges they give us?

If two pictures were made up of same colors and design but one had perfectly round circles and the other had organic circles would each invoke different feelings?

What would those feelings be?

I think this would be interesting for me to explore more.....

My faithful dog enjoyed our walk.....but sometimes got in the way of my photo taking....

Poor flower.....

I leave with with circles on the brain.....have a good Monday!

kathy

Charm Pack Challenge

2011-05-05T07:46:00.000-04:00

I joined the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild a few months ago and we are doing a Charm Pack Challenge sponsored by Robert Kaufman Fabrics.

I have a month to do the challenge. The rules are pretty simple:

Must use some of each color

Must use a new technique that is new to you

Can only add solid fabrics

Now I've been thinking about this and I want to go with either Curvy Flying Geese or Snakes.....

I actually really want to try both.....hmmmmm, maybe make two mini quilts for the challenge????

What do you think?

My good friend Amy is in the BMQG too.

She's very talented.....that apple she's about to take a bite out of? Its fake, she made it with wool....

Impressive huh!

Have a good day!!

kathy

Glass making Fun

2011-05-02T11:19:00.000-04:00

I recently set up a glass making workshop for our cub scout pack at McFadden's Art Glass.

His stuff is amazing!!!!

Here's an example.....

How fun is that!!! I want this sink in my bathroom!!!

They offer all kinds of glass making workshops for the general public so if you are ever in the Baltimore area, be sure to make this is stop on your must see list. I made a pumpkin and glass ball before, so fun!

There is a gallery and restaurant on site too.

The boys had a great time make glass pendants or marbles.

Even my 14 year old had fun and he wants to go back for more in depth instruction. That says something if your teenager wants to go for more!

While wandering around, I saw these.....

My kind of flowers.....yep, those are some random dandy lions mixed with glass flowers.

Have a fun Monday!

kathy

Post Easter

2011-04-26T21:19:00.000-04:00

I love Easter.....the chocolate bunnies, the colored eggs, the daffodils.....

My favorite cupcake store " A Flavor Cupcakery" made these for Easter.

Too cute for words!!!! And bunnies, being bunnies, multiplied!

The pink cupcake? That's a raspberry lemonade cupcake. Perfect for a hot summer day, you can bet I'll get more of those!

Then little egg dying action....

Aren't they pretty!!!

I finished a t-shirt quilt up Easter weekend too for a client. Her daughter is graduating from college in May and she wanted a quilt made from her favorite t-shirts.

It turned out really good!

Have a fun day!

kathy

Spring Break

2011-04-18T14:35:00.000-04:00

School's out for the whole week! No packing lunches, no 6:30am trips to the bus stop, no homework to review, horray!!!!! I think moms like spring break more than the kids!

I'm sitting out here on the front lawn on a cloudy day watching three small boys attempt to climb up a tree with a rope......and they created a pop up RV with a wagon and some old cushions.

The past month I did some traveling......headed to NYC to see the red and white quilt exhibit and three days later flew to Florida for my hubby's 40th birthday.

The red and white exhibit was impressive! Over 500 red and white quilts....hanging everywhere! You can get a free app for Iphone with pictures of all the quilts. Its called "Infinite Variety".

These are my faves from the show......

The interlocking design really intrigues me.....

And I was looking at this and realized that its a unicorn!!!

My all time favorite from the show......the circles!

Then we took in some sites!

Here's me and Janine at Time Square!

So hard to photos oneself with a jiggly hand!

Chris taking a break from walking....

The view looking up from the ground....

The view from the chair I was sitting in.....

Remember that red and white circle quilt I said my favorite from the show?

When I was on the subway, I saw this.....

Hmmmmm......I think its a sign I should do something with arcs within circles, what do you think?

I even own a wedge ruler that I was going to get rid of until I saw these and the possibilities enter my mind.....

Have a good day and if you are in Minnesota, get your shovel ready. I heard you are in for more snow.

kathy

Aprons

2011-03-24T21:59:00.000-04:00

I just finished an apron for my friend Kate at work. She is taking it to a bridal shower today. So cute!!!

And while waiting at the checkout line to purchase the needed apron items, I saw this:

Aprons Gone Wild!!!!

Of course I bought it to feast my eyes on all things apron......now I need to whip a few more up.

Mikey got creative with this ice cream sundae.He gave new meaning to the word overloaded....

There IS ice cream in there somewhere!

Have a great day!

kathy

Southern Comforters

2011-03-20T16:47:00.000-04:00

This is not a new drink nor is it related to Southern Comfort Whiskey.....its a quilt guild located in Bowie, Maryland. Though I do wonder if the gals that started this guild up had a fondness for Southern Comfort. Hmmmm.......interesting question to research!

I did my very first trunk show with them in February and it was so much fun!!!!!! They are a fantastic group of ladies!!!! Thanks for having me come ladies!

Then I came back and did a workshop with them......we did the Triple Star quilt.

And it was so much fun!!!! Everyone had such interesting colors and I can't wait to see how they turn out!

But I forgot to take photos of people's blocks, I'm such a yogurt brain.....so Southern Comforter ladies, if you send me photos of your blocks, I can post them here to share with everyone!

I did take photos of the crazy things that happened during the class though. Figures huh....I always go for the weirdness......

Take lunch for example....

Potato Chips on a Stick

Now how odd is that???? They were VERY tasty!!!!

Then there was the bunny incident.....you know bunnies are.....first there were two bunnies in my M and M bowl. Then I turned my head and this happened....

Next time I looked over.....

Geez, I thought I was going to need a bigger bowl the way things were going......

But then......

And that took care of the bunny population!

During the class, Amy was fabric dancing again......so I dared her to race through the parking lot with her ribbons of pieces.

Things got a little tangled in the end....the sacrifices we make for art.

Finally a new cool way to keep everything in order and together for the trip home.

Great idea that I am going to go share at all my classes!!

I am teaching this class again at MAQ if you want to join in on the fun!

Have a great day!

kathy

Blue Christmas

2011-03-14T07:46:00.000-04:00

Next up I finished and bound this one! Here's the back.....

Ready for the front????

Isn't that cute? Course Christmas is LONGGGGGG gone but there is always next year!

I decided to be lazy and not stitch down the edges of the applique. Just fused them in place and then I quilted it up with metallic thread. Which gave me a little trouble so I had to play around with tension, needles etc but it all worked and I think it was worth it.

I quilted what I thought looked like blowing snow......see?

I opted not to do swirls since I always make those....or maybe these look more like clouds......hmmmmm.

I stitched over the lettering too to keep it all in place.....

Now to wait for next Christmas and get this baby on the wall next to my Blue Christmas Tree quilt, which was done in honor of the King. As in Elvis.....maybe I need to get a blue Christmas tree to go with it. Now that would be fun!

My current fave Crocs......debating my spring Croc color.....yellow, pink, red????? What you think about it??

Have a fun day!

kathy

Snowflake

2011-03-12T08:02:00.001-05:00

No, there are no snowflakes falling here......actually the daffodils are starting to come up. I think spring just might be on its way!

But I did finish my snowflake quilt! Remember this back?

Well, here's the front all quilted and bound!

I even found some leftover snow to photograph it on.....next year this is going to be my lucky snow quilt. When I hear we might be getting snow, I am gong to whip this baby out and sleep with it. Kinda like how the kids throw ice cubes out the door, sleep with PJ's on inside out and put a spoon under the pillow so they can get a snow day. I don't remember doing any of that when I was a kid, so times have changed!

What's the snow ritual in your area? Does it vary by region? Hmmmm,. questions to ponder.

Have a great day!

kathy

More Wonky Churn Dash Blocks

2011-02-13T10:39:00.000-05:00

I made a couple more of these wonky blocks!

Check out how they vary from block to block.....and so easy to make!!!

Now go make some and send me photos to post of your blocks!

Have a great day!

kathy

Happy Birthday!

2011-02-11T07:40:00.000-05:00

Today is my birthday!

Happy Birthday to me,

Happy Birthday dear Kathy,

Happy Birthday to me!!!

For my birthday I am heading here this afternoon....

The cupcakes are to die for!!! It just opened up a month ago in Bel Air, Maryland.

So if you're in town, be sure to stop by!

Check out their menu.......so far my two personal favorites are the red velvet cupcake with cream cheese icing and the key lime cupcake......or is it the double chocolate cupcake and the luscious lemon???

Hmmmmmm, I might need to do a taste test!

For my birthday, I asked my hubby if I could go see this......

It's a special exhibit of over 600 red and white quilts from a private collection......imagine that, owning over 600 quilts in two colors! How do you even store them????

The exhibit is for 6 days only and is sponsored by the American Folk Art Museum in NYC.

Here's the copy.....

For six days in March, the American Folk Art Museum will dramatically transform the Park Avenue Armory’s historic 55,000-square-foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall with the installation of 650 red and white American quilts, all of which are on loan from the collection of Joanna S. Rose. It will be the largest exhibition of quilts ever held in the city. As an extraordinary gift to the public, entry to this unprecedented event is free. A café and a book and gift shop will be open during show hours.

Cool huh!!!! And even better, I am going to stay overnight and catch some shopping and sites in the city!

What great birthday present!!! Thanks hubby Ed, you're the best!!!!

Have a great day!!!!

kathy

A breath of spring

2011-02-09T00:33:00.000-05:00

I was out food shopping on Sunday and it was a balmy 42 degrees. I might have to break out the flip flops and shorts!!

Then I saw these at the food store.......I had to have them....their scent beckoned me.....

They are now down in the sewing room right next to the machine and smell great!!!!

When I brought the flowers down, I found this on the ironing board.....

Think he has the winter time blues????

I'm working on my wooly flowers and I am down to the final color, orange!!

Made four this past weekend and hope to get a few done tonight. Getting excited about seeing them all together!!!!

Have a great day!!!!

kathy

Wonky Churndash

2011-02-07T07:31:00.000-05:00

I was playing around and decided to have a go at making a wonky churn dash.

I followed the instructions in Gwen and Freddy's book, "Collaborative Quilting" except I changed the size of the finish block. My block is 9 1/2 inches......here's what I did....

First I cut out my fabric.....I cut:

Five 3 1/2 inch squares of the background fabric.

Then I cut:

Two 4 inch squares of the churn dash fabric. I cut it again on the diagonal to give me four half triangles.

Then I cut out:

Two 3 by 18 inch strips- one from the background and one from the churn dash.

Then it was time to sew!!!

Place your churn dash triangle on the corner of the background square like so.....

There is no specific points to line up....the whole point is that is looks wonky!

Stitch using the triangle edge as your guide using a 1/4 inch seam.

Press the triangle towards the background square. It should completely cover the corner.

Flip the square over and it looks like this:

Use the edges of the square as a guide and cut off the extra churn dash fabric.

Like this:

Make a total of four of these and set aside.

Then sew the two long strips together. Press the seam, it does not matter which way you press it.

Then it's time to cut again!

Angle your ruler like this:

Again exact placement is not important here, you are just going for the general idea.

After the first cut, it looks like this:

Now cut four pieces that are 3 1/2 inches wide. They look like this:

If the last one is a little short, that's ok......see mine was!

Now flip the section like this:

Square up one side of the shape like so:

Turn and cut the other side so the unit measure 3 1/2 inches square.

Now lay out all the pieces......

And sew them together.......you made a wonky churn dash!!!

I am going to make a few more of these tonight and then post them so you can see how none of them turn out the same way. That's the charm to this technique!

Have a great day!!!!!

kathy

Wild Wednesday Snow

2011-01-28T21:50:00.000-05:00

Wednesday morning I woke up to quite a surprise......let's call it four inches of snow.

Kids got off school but I still had to go to work.

Then in the afternoon I got an email from the hubby......let's call it heavy snow, up to 12 inches, during the evening rush hour.

Hmmmmm, guess who left early that day! And glad I did cuz when that snow hit, it came down with a vengence! It took some folks 6 plus hours to make the commute home......and some just abandoned their cars in the snowdrifts and walked.

But the next day, the sun shone for a few hours and it was pretty.....

The dogs had a load of fun in the snow.....see them trying to catch snowflakes on their tongues??

The butterfly bush did not have so much fun....

I even had a little time to get some quilting done.....

I love quilting leaves and vines......its very soothing to me and its really hard to mess up too.

Tonight I am going to quilt my snowflake top in honor of Wild Wednesday and to get ready for the next round of snow moving through the area.

Have a good weekend!

kathy

Happenings

2011-01-25T14:23:00.000-05:00

This past weekend my mini quilt group the Wild Threads got together for a marathon with my other quilt group, Baltimore Modern. I was stressing that day.....and not feeling well from a cold. But I managed to pin baste a whole stack of quilts.

That's the backs.....you have to wait until they are done to see the fronts!

Aren't I a tease.......

And here's the prize for the 100th posting......going to "From A to Z".

That should give her a head start on Christmas 2011! That blackish round thing???

It's a pincushion......

Now I just need a glass of milk to go along with it.

Now, taking stock of my 2010 sewing goals, I managed to obtain one out of the 5 or 6 I had.

I managed to clean out my UFO's so I am happy about that.

For 2011, I decided on a different kind of goal.......are you ready????

I am not going to buy ANY fabric this year.

Imagine that!!!!!!

From 1/1/2011 until Black Friday, cuz I love shopping on Black Friday and I can't give that up........so Black Friday 2011 will be Fabric Friday 2011!!!

Now to start digging into my vast stash......

Keep Warm and hope we get some snow here in Baltimore, all the storms keep missing us and we just have the dreary cold weather and no pretty white stuff.

Kathy

Back online!!

2011-01-19T23:17:00.000-05:00

Just a quickie.....my computer has been out of commission for the last month. Ugh!!!!!!

But now it's back and better than ever......

So drum roll please......the winner of the 100th posting drawing is.......A to Z with lucky comment number 5!!!

Thanks to everyone who left a comment and I will post the prize by the weekend.

Til then, keep on stitching up a storm and hope we get some snow in this part of the world!

Kathy

100th posting!!!!

2010-12-16T08:00:00.000-05:00

Wow! Where did time go???? Just seems like I started up this blog.

Thanks for all your comments and support. I always like to hear your thoughts on things.

We are now at C minus 9........and things are getting frantic around here!!!!!

The other night I was up realllllll late......with this friend.

Needled Mom shared with me this fantastic recipe for Choco Peppermint Blossoms.

There's lots of cocoa involved......

A frantic trip to two stores and I found those Hershey's kisses that are red and white striped. I bought two bags......just in case.

And now that I made these cookies, I'm gonna have to go out and get a few more bags cuz they were so tasty!

And PRETTY!!!!

In between cookies, I squeezed in a little sewing.

I'm doing Bonnie Hunter's mystery, "Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll".

I love how that rolls off the tongue so I walk around the house chanting it.

The youngest kid has picked up the chant and does it along with me.

Possible future quilter??????

I'm keeping up pretty good so far.

But now I am working on the string piece blocks and they are going to take me a bit of time to get done.

This is a help when it comes to make the blocks.

Tiime to get ready for the day.

In honor of the 100th posting, I am going to do a giveaway.

Just what it will be, well that's going to be a surprise!!!! Cuz its the season for surprises!!

Leave a comment between now and Sunday.

Then Monday morning, bright and early, I'll have one of the kids pick a winner!!

Have a good day!

kathy

Nine Years Old

2010-12-12T14:54:00.000-05:00

Today is Brad's birthday and he's 9 years old.

He asked for his birthday if I could do a blog post featuring him.

So Brad, this is for you!!!! Happy Birthday!!!

Blow out those candles and make a wish......

Did you get your wish????

I know you wanted this.....

And you wanted this too.....

For his birthday dinner, Brad wanted that new pizza from Pizza Hut. The one with all those cheese bites on it, its making hungry writing about it.

And Brad gets to sleep under this since he's the birthday boy........

Happy Birthday Brad!!!!!

Love,

Mom

Christmas Wishes

2010-12-08T09:46:00.000-05:00

What do I want for Christmas??????

The answer........nothing at all.

My life is good, we have enough to eat, a roof over our heads, and everyone healthy.

These past few weeks have been a reminder to count one's blessing.........

One friend is struggling to cope with the murder of her nephew days before Thanksgiving.....

Another friend faces the holidays without her daughter and grandson who were killed by an repeat DUI offender.

This morning I learned a child in my son's elementary school is in a coma from complications from her diabetes.

It has been hard.........but at the same time a reminder. Sometimes we let the little problems and ordeals of life get in the way of really just appreciating the day for what it is.

A gift.......because you never know when it is going to be gone.

So this year, my Christmas wish is to just enjoy life, each day at a time. And to remember that the small stuff really is small stuff and not worth sweating about.

Wishing the same for you.

kathy

Off to the post office

2010-12-06T21:28:00.001-05:00

Shipped out!!!!

Today I send three quilts to the Basic Quilt Gather which gives quilts to families who are in transitional housing. Bumble Beans started this project last year.

I had made some house blocks for it and cut out a whole bunch of setting squares. And then it all sat, and sat, and sat.......but then I went to retreat and finished it up!

And now its going to someone who could use a little sunshine in their life.

I had two other quilts that I finished up recently that I send along as well......

And the next one is double sided!

Front.....

And back!

Once again thank you to my quilt holders, Jack and Zach, for their fine work.

I'm starting to think about my quilting resolutions.......last year I made a bunch of them which on January 1st, I'll review. Then its time for some new ones and maybe keeping some of the ones I did not accomplish this year, cuz trust me......there was alot I did not achieve, LOL.

Are you planning any quilting resolutions for 2011?

Hmmmm.......

kathy

Tropical Puzzle

2010-11-28T15:54:00.002-05:00

Remember these??

They became this.

Let's move back a little to take it all in......

Then the sun shined on down and changed things.

Interesting to see how the lighting can so dramatically change the coloring of things.

Thank you to Jack and Zach, my quilt models for their assistance.

The pattern is called "Athena's Puzzle" and its from Blue Underground Studios.

I'm calling mine "Tropical Puzzle" for the colors I used. It reminds me of the Carribean Islands.

Go sew something.

kathy

Black Friday

2010-11-27T15:53:00.000-05:00

I go Black Friday shopping every year.......its a ritual, like eating mashed potatoes with LOTS of gravy with the turkey. This year, Amy told me about a very special Black Friday event at Material Girls. If you arrived between 12:00 to 12:15 am, it was 30 percent off almost everything in the store.

Hard to resist huh??? But I had to think about this one.......Material Girls is an hour and half drive from my home. And I had to be at my usual Black Friday stores by 4am......which meant there was no going to bed that night for me.

So I had to think about it.......and guess what??? The lure of fabric and quilty fun won out and away we went! Besides Amy, Tricia, Lisa, and Georgia went along too.....and so did Georgia's son Ryan.

I brought along Swedish Fish, black licorce, and a 6 pack of Mountain Dew......got to keep that sugar level up!!

And it was the right choice!!!! I found some fantastic fabric and had lots of fun!!! They held drawings for the first person who could show whatever the requested object was. Guess who won a door prize for a tattoo on the ankle and pix of a quilt I had made??? Good thing I have the I-phone cuz I was wayyyy quicker scrolling through my photo gallery than the other two ladies who ran up.

Then there was the shopping......check out these pretties!

Now I seriously lack whites in my stash cuz they are ususally mega boring. So when I found these...

I bought them up!! Lisa had shown me the squirrel fabric a few months ago and I loved it so. Then I found some and bought a whole yard. You never know when you'll need some fabric featuring a squirrel right?!

And I bought these too.....

Fun!!!!! But wait, I saw this realllllly cool shirt hanging up. In fantasic floral fabric. I drooled.....and I pondered cuz I NEVER sew clothes anymore. But the coolness factor won out.

Can't wait to sew this up and wear it to work!!!! Maybe in time for the holidays????

Finally there was this one fabric.......it was.......different......very very different......

So different it was ugly.

And I love the uglies.......

I bought the whole bolt.

It was like 3 or 4 yards of the stuff.

This morning Amy send me this picture.

Enough said about my taste in fabric.

Have a good day!

kathy

How to have fun at a retreat- part three

2010-11-26T17:24:00.000-05:00

Gobble, gobble, gobble......hope you are not sick of turkey yet. Today is going to be the last installment of how to have fun at a retreat and it bring us to one of the key decisions for a retreat......What to bring!!!!!!

I always like to bring too much stuff for two reasons. First, I under some delusion that I will actually be able to get it all done. Maybe if I did not spend so much time on the socializing and eating parts of the retreat, I would get more done but where is the fun in that! The second reason is in case I get bored working on one thing, I can switch to doing something else.

Following my usual plans, I packed LOTS of stuff!!!!!! And I even got some things done!!!!

I pieced these house blocks together last winter for Bumble Beans. She was collecting blocks to make into quilts for the homeless shelters.I missed the deadline for turning in the blocks, darn. BUT I still could turn in a quilt for the project. So I finally got it all pieced, quilted and bound! It is going to ship out this week. I am going to send two other quilts along that I finished up. Hopefully they will be keeping people warm soon.

Another view but you can see my new orange Crocs too!

Then I finished up the snowball quilt......you saw that before but here it is again.

And that took care of my tops. Then it was time to finish up some piecing on projects that have been sitting around a while.

I started these blocks about a year ago, made a few, and then pushed the whole project aside until now.

Now I love the blocks in this quilt and the colors so I really have no idea why I kept putting it aside. One of the mysteries of life I guess. But I sewed away at the retreat.......

And finished up all the blocks. They came out smashing!!!! See the one block in this picture, so much fun!!

No time to sew them all together at the retreat BUT when I got home, I laid them all out and finished the top.

You'll have to wait for a photo though, too rainy today for taking one.

And yes, those are stickers on my sewing machine. I added some bling......

Then I tried some of Bonnie Hunter's tricks. I had read in her book about using "enders and leaders" to start and end your stitching. You start and end your project with pieces from a different project. Alot less thread waste and long ends to deal with using this technique.

I thought I would give it a try......and I had a really good project to do it with.

I have 300 plus of these things to sew together. It is veryyyyyyy boring to do these at once so doing them little by little while working on something else at the same time has worked out great. I have about 50 of them done so far.

Near the end of the retreat, I was getting tired of sewing so I spend a few hours cutting up all my batiks scraps into the sizes of blocks that Bonnie uses in her Enders and Leaders book. She has a new one coming out soon and showed some of the quilts from that book at the recent Flying Geese guild meeting.

They were fabulous!!!!! And now I got my scraps ready to roll when the book comes out.

Now when I was done cutting all these up I had a pile of little bits and pieces left......

Pretty!!!!!!!

Toooooooo pretty to just toss. So I asked people for ideas.....and one gal suggested using the strings to fill those hollow ornaments you see at Christmas time.

Great idea!!!!!

So I chopped them up a little more......like confetti!!!

And mixed it in with some strings......

Ta dah!!!!! Fabric salad!!!!!

Now to find those hollow ornaments!!!

Before I head off, let's have a show of hands.....how many of you are Black Friday shoppers?????

I am!!!!!

And this year I found out a quilt shop got in on the fun!!!!!

And that's a tale for next time.....

Have a great day!

kathy

How to have fun at a retreat- part two

2010-11-24T07:09:00.000-05:00

One of the key parts to any retreat is........the FOOD!!!!! Think chocolate and lots of it!!! And I am not talking about the food the retreat place is serving, I am talking about what people bring to share. The Southern Comforters had some great food. See??

Apple Pie!!!

And I made these.....

Peppermint Patty Brownies

Then there was the chips.......I LOVE chips!!!!

Here's a view of the whole spread.....

Making you hungry???

Let's just say at 2am when the munchies kicked in, I was covered.

What's your favorite food to bring to a retreat??????

Now I actually did do some sewing when I was not goofing around or cruising the snack table.

I finished up this snow ball quilt.

A group of us made the blocks during a charity event with my guild. I put it all together and quilted it. Now its going to the Joann. She LOVES to do binding.

Me, I get the cold chills when some says binding by hand. Not on my list of preferred activities.

Here's the back side of the quilt, isn't it fun!

One more installment this week of how to have fun at a retreat and then on to new topics!

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

kathy

How to have fun at a retreat- part one

2010-11-21T18:20:00.000-05:00

I had a great time at the Southern Comforters retreat this past weekend. My friend Amy invited me to go and it was a barrel of laughs! Amy and her buddy Shelia are learning sign language and they got to practice on me. I taught them all the naughty signs you never learn in a class, snicker snicker. Lot of other ladies at the retreat got in on the fun too.

There are a few secrets to having fun on a retreat I thought I would share with you over the next few days. Plus I can show you what I managed to get done! The first key ingredient to a great retreat is great friends!!

I met Amy two years ago at a class I was teaching and we hit it off immediately. She decided to make a clothes line bowl but it got a litttttttttle too oval......

And somehow became known as the "bucket helmet".

Or here's a flash back to the 80's........"Blossom", remember her hat???

It was sooooo big, the two of us could it under it......

Note my sock monkey pajamas, it was kinda late at night.

We also played some dice game which involved having to ante up with fat quarters.

See the pile of fat quarters in the middle just waiting for a winner!

PS, it wasn't me.

So that's the first step to a great retreat, and if you don't know anyone, that's ok too!!! Cuz quilters are friendly folks just waiting for an excuse to blab, chill, and fondle your fabric. By the time you leave, you might know tooooo much information about some folks!

Stayed tuned for the next installment of retreat fun!

kathy

Retreat!!!

2010-11-19T07:55:00.000-05:00

I'm heading on retreat today!!!! And guess what?????? When I was taking a class with Bonnie Hunter this past week, I asked her when she would be heading back home. And she goes......well this weekend I am going on retreat with the Southern Comforters, and I scream!!! Cuz you know what, I am too!!!!!

Isn't that exciting!!! My friend Lisa wants to hide in my suitcase and come along......she took the class too. See the lovely letter she made......

And I really covet her sweater!!! It's a great shade of yellow.....and really makes me want to go out a buy a case of Mellow Yellow soda, remember that commerical "mellow yellow makes you feel so good so fast, right down to your toes!".

I got to hurry along and pack up the car before heading to work. But I need your help!!!!

How do I quilt this top??????

And a few notes, I hate echo quilting, so that is not an option. And I don't mark tops (unless its a grid).

I really just like to do things free hand......so any ideas what I should do???

Have a great weekend!!!!

Me and my peppermint patty brownies are heading to the car!

kathy

Class with Mary Lou!

2010-11-14T21:50:00.000-05:00

I had lots of fun taking class with Mary Lou!! And I picked up some good tips......with the most important one being about what Mary Lou calls "light giver" fabrics. These are fabrics which contain light, medium, and dark values all within one print. They help draw your eye into a quilt and give it some zing!

This print is a good example of a light giver.....

Mary Lou also talked about using a variety of prints....dots, stripes, plaids, tone on tone, large scale, etc to create interest within the quilt. Good to know I have been on the right track all these years!

The goal of the class was to begin making a self portrait. Mary Lou starts with the borders NOT the quilt center when she makes a quilt. So that's where we started too.

Now I have a hard time following directions sometimes.......a real hard time. So Mary Lou wanted us to start off making a wonky churn dash block for our border. But I have always loved her flower borders and reallllllly wanted to have a flower border for my quilt.

So I asked her if it was ok for me to make a flower instead.....and she said yes!!!

She suggested starting with an easy flower......so I picked out some scraps.

And added the background fabrics........my background is a purple polka dot print.

And my flowers were born.

The technique for making these is really loose. It's alot of free cutting and then fitting it all together like a jig saw puzzle. After I made these I had to make my favorite flower......the cone flower!!

I had so much fun making it......gonna make lots more of these in a variety of colors. That's another thing Mary Lou mentioned, that you don't have to have your colors true to the real thing. Hmmmm, maybe some green cone flowers!

I made a whole bunch of flowers in two days.

See.....

I made a little bird too......he's really cute. Might make some more of those.....

Then I worked on my game plan for the quilt center. The first thing to do was make a list of 30 things about the "star" of the quilt. Since I'm the star, I had to write about myself.

Then you narrow the list down to the 6 things you think are most important. Mary Lou said you always end up adding some more as the work progresses so leave some space.

Then you make a sketch.......here's mine.

I really struggled to figure out how to make a sitting on the ground me. Those legs gave me a tough time. So I asked Mary Lou for some help......

She's really good at drawing!!! I'm going to make the kids sit down and try sketching them so I can get better.

I have alot more flowers to make before I get to the quilt center, so I have time to refine my sketch and practice drawing more.

Tuesday is class with Bonnie Hunter and then a retreat this coming weekend. These past two weeks have been a festival of quilty stuff!!

Loving it!!!!

Have a great day!!

kathy

Halloween Revisited

2010-11-08T06:56:00.000-05:00

Halloween has come and gone but pictures last forever. A few of my favorites.....

Pumpkin picking!!!

The resulting jack o' lanterns!

All dressed up and looking for treats!

The cub scouts had a Halloween party so I made cupcakes.......

Since it's for Halloween, I decided to try making spiders to go on top......

First the body.....

Now to add some legs.....

And of course some eyes!!!!

I thought they came out pretty good and the cubs ate them all up.

These two helped with the licking of the bowl......

I have been cutting, cutting, cutting these past two weeks. I decided to get all my novelty scraps and cut them into a useable size. I want to make a snowball quilt AND a spools quilt with them.

I have boxes of novelty scraps so it is taking a while to get this project done.

I'm also dividing another giant box of scraps into strings and crumbs for a class I am taking next week with Bonnie Hunter.

BUT this week!!!!!! This week I am taking a class with MaryLou Weidman!!!! I can not wait and will post lots of pictures from the class. I promise!!!

Have a great day!!!

kathy

Socks Appeal Contest

2010-10-16T07:30:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone, remember her???

Well, Socks Appeal is running a contest for creatures created from the book!

Her name is Misty the Mermaid.......please consider voting for her in contest. To vote you need to click on her picture and leave a comment. Click here for the link.

A few weeks ago, my naughty dog ate Brad's lunch bag. So when I saw this book.

I knew I had to get it!!! There are so many fun lunch bags in this book.

I kept it simple for Brad since he is going to take it to school. I found some great fish fabric and in less than 45 minutes, whipped this up.

Cute huh! Now I am trying to decide which of the other bags to make. They are all so darn cute!

Going to be decorating for Halloween this weekend so get to dig out my Halloween quilts. I can't wait!!

Then heading to the pumpkin patch and going on a haunted hike.

Going to be a fun weekend!!!

Have a great day everyone!

kathy

Cakes is done!

2010-10-07T10:19:00.000-04:00

Last week I put my last stitch into the binding of Cakes. Now its ready to show you!!!!!

Do you like it? Isn't it bright!!!!

Some close ups......

Those are praire points for the candle flames....

Lots of circular quilting and I used DreamWool batting. I like how it shows the quilting stitches.

Brad gets to sleep under it first since he has the next birthday. Lucky boy!

Have a great day!

kathy

My quilting supervisor

2010-09-24T23:14:00.001-04:00

Last weekend was the most perfect weather for camping at Assateague. Sunny skies, no humidity, and temps in the low 80's. We had a great time and dug a really big hole.....

While we were digging we found him......

It's a ghost crab. And he was dead when we dug him up. These guys like to come out at night and feed on the water edge. We catch them with nets at night and then let them all go. They are really quick and it's pitch black out when we do this so it's a real sporting event. Give it a try sometimes....

Then someone went surfing in the big hole.....

Ride that board Mikey! Brad was more bold and we went out into the waves.....

Hmmmmm.........comtemplating life.....

It was a good trip. See you next year Assateague!!!

Tonight I am pinning Candy Cane Lane......my quilting supervisor helped.

Going to quilt this up tomorrow morning!

Have a great weekend everyone!

kathy

Heading out of town

2010-09-14T22:01:00.000-04:00

I finished the quilting on my work in progress! And it came out wonderful!!! But I want to put the binding on before I show you so you'll have to wait a little longer.....

I'm heading down to Virginia for a conference tomorrow morning for my job. It's a National Employment Conference and my day job in a nutshell is to assist people who are deaf and hard of hearing obtain employment. I work for the Division of Rehabilitation Services (DORS). After the conference is over the day, I am going to hang in the hot tub and then stitch down some binding!

Then heading to Assateague Island with the boys for the weekend. Weather is looking good at this point so keeping my fingers crossed that the forecast continues to be positive.

That's my chair......I'll be sitting there watching the sun come up on Saturday morning.

The last time I went to Assateague in June, I had a pop up camper I rented. This time I'm only there for two nights so we are tenting. Guess Choppy the Panda won't get any sewing done this time around....

Have a great day!

kathy

Quilting away

2010-09-10T07:58:00.000-04:00

I have a stack of tops and I promised myself not to stitch up anymore until I catch up on the quilting.

Here's a peek at the one I am working on now.....

Lots of swirly quilting....

A peek at the borders.....

And a little praire point!

With any luck I'll have it sometime next week.

Have a good weekend!

kathy

Summer Recap

2010-09-07T07:08:00.001-04:00

Miss me? Summer was full of adventures.......let's review the highlights:

In June I went to Assateague for a week and had a great time as always. Lots of friends came down to stay with us too which made the trip even better!

Assateague Island has lots of wild horses roaming around.....Ed's looking a little worried.

And of course we made s'mores around the campfire.....note the jumbo sized marshmallow.

My folks came down for a few days too.

And so did Hank and his family, and Hank is a fantastic cook! Me and Janine invited him back next year (actually we begged him to come back to cook for us again).

Then we went out for crabs.....

Janine and Brad hanging out at the crab place.

The boys of the summer......

We go back to Assateague in two weeks for a weekend trip, yeah!!!!

After Assateague, I went to MAQ for a weekend......you saw those pixs already.

Then I came home for a few weeks and went to my real job. Gotta pay for the fabric somehow!

Before I left for Califorinia for the wedding of the century, I finished this.

This took me foreverrrrrrrrr to sew together since there were so many pieces!!! But I used the Quiltsmart border product and that really went together quick and looks great. Here's a back view of the border.

Then it was off to California for my brother's wedding.......first time at age 40. Shocking huh.

We went to San Diego for a few days before the wedding crazyiness started. And we loved San Diego!!! Can we move there??

We went to Legoland....and yes, that's Jack in a Lego car.....Mikey too.

Went to tour the Midway.....now that's a big ship!!!! Brad is on the stretcher.....

The San Diego Zoo......amazing place! And we ran into one of my former co-workers there! Three thousand miles from home and we just happen to bump into each other, crazy huh!

And we went to Sea World, took a boat tour, ate lots of yummy food, went snorkeling with the sharks (don't have those picures developed yet), it was a fab time.

And no trip to SD would completed without a stop at Rosie's!!!! Good thing the kids were with me or I might have never left that place!

Having some lunch at the Jack in the Box......with Jack....

View from our hotel room.....

And I saw this cool catcus plant.....

And this wall paper would make a great quilting design!

Then I forgot my camera battery so my camera died and that was the end of taking pictures for me, sigh.

The wedding was, let's just call it interesting. But my brother is married and it's all over with. He's coming east with his bride in October for a wedding party with all the east coast family who were unable to go out to Califorinia.

At the end of the summer, one of our dogs had to be put down. She was 12 years old and a basset hound.
She was a good dog and had a good life. Miss you Hobis....

Now school has reopened and its time to get into the fall schedule which includes posting more frequently as well as getting more sewing done. I got 20 minutes til I got to get moving for work/school rush.

See you later!

kathy

MAQ

2010-07-15T00:47:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I taught at MAQC (Mid Appalachian Quilters Camp). I had a fantastic time!! This year I taught "Lazy Daisy Cats", "Wild and Wonderful Bindings", and "Happy Holiday Painstiks". My favorite class to teach was the cats since I had lots of hands on sewing time build into the schedule.So that meant lots of time to chat with students and get to know them better.

To keep everyone hopping, everyone got a some candy and tickets for door prizes......people could earn more door prize tickets by responding to questions like this, "Who had soft serve ice cream for lunch?" "Extra ticket if you put that soft serve on your brownie!".

Here's some of the lovely kitties my students made.

Carolyn had the coolest leopard print fabrics to use in her wild kitties, meow!!

Dawn made all purple cats and is planning to do purple and red flowers. I can't wait to see if when its all done!

Karin had lots of dotty fabrics. I love dots......and I really drool for that swirly orange print. Think Karin will notice her extra orange swirly fabric is missing??? Hmmm, who "accidentally" brought it home???

Just kidding!!

Kim was stitched and stitched and got not only the cats done but her flowers too!!!

Great job!! And I heart the red rick rack whiskers!!!

Margaret made these cats two years ago at MAQC when I taught the class the first time. She made her very own border and it looks fab!!!

Not to worry, Margaret does not normally have red glowing eyes like in the photo......I think.....

Cindy was in the binding class and LOVES stitching binding down by hand. I am putting her on my speed dial cuz I HATE stitching it down. Think she'll work for fabric???

Barbara is a friend of mine and she took a Mariners Compass class. Don't you love what she made!!!

And I finished up my churn dash quilt. My classes have a special feature I call "Midnight Sewing". The students are free to come back in the evening hours and stitch away with me. The little wall quilt is mine too.....I'm thinking quilt guild silent auction donation??? The chocolate and pink stars are a pattern called "Triple Stars" from the Buggy Barn.

I love the Buggy Barn!!! They made the cats and churn dash patterns you saw above.

I can't wait until next year to go to MAQC again!!! Come and join me next time cuz it will be a blast!

kathy

A winner!

2010-07-06T06:52:00.000-04:00

Thank you to everyone who left and comment for the fabric giveaway. First the fabric......

Don't you just love those flowers!!!!!!

Now the winner.........chosen by a random child (he woke up first).

The winner is Cheryl U!!!!!

Congratulations, I will email you about getting the fabric to you!

I had a fantastic vacation and have lots of pictures to show you. But that is going to have to wait til later this week, gotta go to work this morning.

Have a great day everyone!

kathy

Mermaid!

2010-06-28T08:33:00.000-04:00

When I was at the quilt shop on Sunday, a book caught my eye too......

Now I don't usually make sock thingys......take too much time and I get frustrated trying to figure out what goes where. But this book.......well is had so many great photo tutorials, it was easy to see how to put things together. And SHE was in the book too.....

Isn't she adorable!!!

And the book had hamsters, bunnies, jellyfish, and dinosaurs too.

After I got home last night (with my new fabric and book purchases). I rummaged throught my sock drawer, hey its summer, I don't need socks!

I stole one of my husband's white socks too.....he'll never notice. Unless he reads this, hmmm.....

Then this morning I whipped her up. She took about an hour and she's heading to Assateague with me today.

Have a swimmingly good week and remember to leave a comment on Vodoo Lady for a chance to win some fabric!

kathy

Vodoo Lady

2010-06-27T17:08:00.000-04:00

I taught the "Couch Potato" today and while I was at the quilt shop, I made a new friend......

See the pin?

Some people at the shop refered to her as "The quilter who's name will not be spoken" as they stabbed pins into Ms Vodoo during a recent quilt block making session. Seems that the blocks were trickier than anticipated. At least they were able to vent on the doll and not stick pins in the real person.

As I was sitting there with Ms Vodoo, I spied this pile of fabric nearby.....

One of these fabrics called to me......it said "Buy me, buy me".

Everyone says you should let the fabric in a quilt doing the talking so I listed to the fabric and bought it.

And then the fabric said, "Do a giveaway". So, I listened to the fabric and I bought an extra 1/2 yard.

Now that 1/2 yard of fabric could be YOURS!!!

Everyone who comments on this posting between now and midnight on July 5th will be entered in the drawing. In your comment you need to guess which fabric you think I bought.

If you guess correctly, I'll enter you twice in the drawing! Only one guess per person though.

Happy guessing!

kathy

Candy Cane- all done!

2010-06-23T22:31:00.000-04:00

I finished the holly borders this past weekend and got them stitched down........time for the big reveal!

That's Judy from Bears Paw holding up the quilt.....say hi Judy!

Go out and enjoy the day!

kathy

The Christmas House

2010-06-21T05:00:00.001-04:00

I have been busying working on Candy Cane Lane for the last few months. Here's the house in the quilt. This one stays pretty true to the original colors in the pattern.

Then I got a little wild with Citrus Christmas which more "me".

Today I went to the Gunpowder River for some swimming with Brad and Mikey. It was super hot here, 95 degrees.

Mikey is trying to avoid having his picture taken here but I got one on the sly.

Jack is already at Assateague Island. He send me a message tonight saying he saw a whale swimming up the coast. I can not wait to head out to Assateague in another week for vacation. It is the best place in the world. Stop by site D-9 if you are in the area over 4th of July weekend. I'll be there!

Have a great Monday!

kathy

School's Out!!

2010-06-19T09:58:00.000-04:00

The kids all finished school yesterday! Horray......no more homework, no more spelling lists, no more science fair until September!!!!!

That means more time to sew, alright!!!

To celebrate, I whipped together a little something this morning. It's a pocket portfolio. You can find the directions to make your own here.

The model of the day is.....Brad, a newly minted third grader.

The outside......

and the inside.......

Wouldn't it be fun to have a pink leopard print bra?!!

Have a great weekend!

kathy

It was an itsy witsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini.....

2010-06-16T23:39:00.000-04:00

I am almost done with Candy Cane Lane!!! I am sewing up the last two borders.....lots of applique on those borders. All kinds of holly leaves, berries and vines so the going is slow. But it is looking great!!
In the mean time......here's my snow mom from Citrus Christmas.

She's ready for summer!! Going to be pushing 95 degrees here this weekend in B-more.....think she might lose a few pounds??

Keep on stitching everyone and have a great day!!

Spring Madness

2010-06-15T07:58:00.000-04:00

I'm back!!! The past two months at my house have been hectic to say the least.......here's what I've been doing!

First I was captured by pirates!!!!

Well, not really. But I did take the Cape May-Lewes Ferry to Cape May, NJ and saw this pirate ship sailing around. That's gotta count for something......

We went camping at Cape May for the weekend. These guys had alot of fun. We even saw some dolpins from the ferry boat.

She came along too......it was her first camping trip. She had a real good time and met a few horseshoe crabs. Plus spend alot of quality time digging holes in the sand.

Janine came for the trip too. She did not spend time digging holes in the sand. Instead she hung out and caught a few rays with the guys.

Then we had baseball season.......now that sucks up time. Games start at 6pm and end at 815pm. We had baseball Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Jack umpired too and that was on Wednesdays.

Doesn't leave much time for other interests........but baseball ends this week.

Then we had the birthday boys......

He had tonsils out at the end of May.........

He had his tonsils out at the end of May too.....

In between baseball, tonsils, and birthdays I decided I was going to finally use these fabrics I bought a few years ago......

Hmmmmmm......pretty huh! Not my usual colors but I like the weathered look to the fabrics. They have a very nice hand to them too......You're going to have to wait to see what I am doing with them though!

Oh, I forgot to mention, this guy moved in with us too.....

His name is Rusty.......

Have a good day everyone!!

kathy

Potholders!

2010-05-16T19:22:00.000-04:00

I'm in a potholder swap and yesterday mine arrived from Alaska! How cool is that!!! I love how they turned out so a big thanks to Krista!!!

Krista also send me some tasty candy from Alaska and some special treats for my dog!!! Thanks so much Krista, you are the best!

Now don't read anymore Krista.......I made her potholders this weekend and I am going to mail them off this week.......she likes orange....

And I have some Old Bay and candy going along with the potholders. Nothing says Maryland like Old Bay!!

And here's a peek at my snowmen from Citrus Christmas......she's ready for the beach!

Have a great start to you week everyone!

kathy

Merry Christmas!!!

2010-05-07T07:51:00.000-04:00

Stitching away on Candy Cane Lane.......and Citrus Christmas!!

See how my beads dangle!

You can see more over at A Candy Cane Christmas.

Have a great Friday!

kathy

Purple Brad

2010-05-02T09:10:00.000-04:00

I got started on this late last night.......now I need your help. Lots of it!!!!!

I am very, very, very undecided where to go with the fabrics for this. I usually am very good with this part of quiltmaking but this time I am stuck.

So I need your advice! Please be honest....it will help me out.

When I got the idea for this quilt a year plus ago, I was at the copy shop playing around with enlarging images. I noticed how interesting it looked when different part of the image where just scattered on top of each other.....

So I made more copies and arranged them until I was happy.

Then I squared it up to 24 inches.

Now I am stuck.......I have my collection of purple solids.

But I am thinking I should mix in purple prints to give it more texture and life. What do you think????

Also, I am toying with the idea of assigning breaking down the orginal image into a certain number of values, then assigning each section/value a specific fabric. That way I can unify the whole image in the same way it currently is using the grayscale. So the individual sections would bend more into a united whole.

Now your feedback please!!! Should I stitck to just solids or mix the two of them together?????

Do you think the idea of assigning values to the original picture would work?

Looking forward to hearing from you!!

kathy

PS Here's the links to the original idea behind "Purple Brad."

Go here and then here.

Whitey the Eel

2010-05-02T08:19:00.002-04:00

Last night I was up late sewing......no surprise there right?? Anyway, I go out to the carport to put away a screw driver. Why I was running around with a screw driver at midnight is another story. Back the original story......I turn the light on and go outside. What do I find slithering in my carport????

Whitey the Eel!!!!!

Ed, Brad and Mikey went down to the stream yesterday and caught him along with some fish. They decide to keep him in the fish tank overnight. They had piled rocks, boxes, etc on top of the fish tank lid so he would not find a way to slither out BUT Whitey the Eel was more clever.

So there I was at midnight, in the carport, trying to catch Whitey the Eel in the net and get him back in the tank. Jack was still up and came outside to lend moral support.

I finally caught Whitey the Eel and got him back in the tank. Then I realized he would just get out again.......so I found a bucket with a tight fitting lid. And then I had to get him out of the tank and into the bucket. He's sitting in there now......plotting against me.

Do these kind of things only happen to me or what???

I'll go to work on Monday and people will ask, "How was your weekend?" and then I go......"Well it was fine except for when the eel tried to escape and I was running around with a net in my PJ's in the middle of the night". Hmmmmmm.....they probably wonder about me huh?

I spend most of the week stitching on Candy Cane Lane. It's coming along really nice.......here's a peek.

If you want to see more of the blocks and the process involved with making them, click here.

I have started working on Purple Brad and I will do another post about that. Have a good rest of the weekend and watch out for eels.

And you have to ask Brad why he named him Whitey......

kathy

Miss me?

2010-04-25T23:26:00.001-04:00

Where did time go??? I can say it sure was NOT spend in the sewing room......more like it was spend on baseball fields at endless children's ball games. And the season has just started!!

But I have managed to get a few things done.......I started cutting out more wool flowers. I'm on the yellows now.

And I made some house blocks for Bumble Beans. She is doing a charity quilt project......I am going to mail off my blocks and some extra fabric tommorrow.

I got a bag of scraps from my friend Lisa at the recent guild retreat.

That messy pile became........THESE!!

I like the pink houses the best......

I finally finished up another Paintstik project too. This nifty totebag/purse uses lots of scraps! I had alot of fun playing with the grommet hole maker. Gonna have to make something else with that thing!

Time to head off to bed. I decided today to do as much cooking as possible for the week ahead. I ended up making: a turkey breast, tacos, BBQ, pumpkin muffins, pea soup, and browned some extra meat. Hopefully this will make the nights go smoother. With baseball games four nights a week at 6pm, its been hard to get dinner on the table.

For the rest of the week I am going to be stitching away on Candy Cane Lane!!! I have four blocks done and it looks so cool!!! With any luck, I should have most of the top done by the next class on Sunday. Check it out at my Candy Cane Christmas blog.

Have a good start to your week!!

kathy

The candy cane picture

2010-04-15T22:20:00.000-04:00

Ok, I had some requests for a photo of the quilt......now mine is still in pieces down in the she-cave. So you are going to have to settle for a photo from the book. Click here to check it out.....

Isn't it adorable!!!! All the yo'yo's.....so cute!!!

And I am going to do my via machine applique since if I tried to do this using hand applique, I would be dead before it was done with.

Now hurry over to A Candy Cane Christmas and join the fun!!

Good night and almost the weekend, horray!!! Going to spend some time with Mr Bernina this weekend!!!

kathy

Done!

2010-04-15T00:07:00.001-04:00

I finished up a commission quilt on Tuesday. It was for a school that has a tradition of doing a quilt of the students in a particular grade every spring and then raffling the quilt off to raise money. This tradition was started years and years ago......and over time it has gotten harder for the parents to do the quilt since less people sew. This year, they were unable to find anyone in the class to put the quilt together. A call to the local quilt shop turned up my name........a couple of week later, the project was done!

My friend, Annette, did the embrodiery for me since I am clueless about that. She did a great job and the parents are very pleased with how the quilt turned out.

I am starting a new project this week for a class I am teaching. The quilt is called Candy Cane Lane and it is very cool. I decided to make a blog for this project so students in the class can have a visual reference for the different techniques used in the class. AND I thought it would be fun for my friends in blog land to sew along with us!!! If you would like to join the sew along, go to A Candy Cane Christmas and leave a comment. I will email you back with an invitation to join the blog. Then you can post pictures and comments of your progress!

Hope you can join in!

kathy

My Folder

2010-04-11T01:16:00.000-04:00

Tonight I decided to do a little playing around.......I saw this folder folio project over at Three Creative Studios and have been wanting to make it for a while now. So tonight was the night!

I got out scraps, heavy duty interfacing, and threads. I fused, stitched, and zigzagged away.....and when I was done, I had this.

Isn't that cute!!! Here's the inside.....

Lots of room to hold my stuff, a pen, and some paper. Now let's suppose I get bored during a class or meeting. I can take all my stuff out and gaze on this!

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Snicker, snicker, snicker......I am so bad.......if you want to make your own folder, here's the link for the instructions. You're own your own to find man fabric though....

Have a good rest of the weekend!

kathy

Wordy Wednesday

2010-04-07T21:15:00.000-04:00

Lots of people seems to do "Wordless Wednesdays" but I love to blab so that's not happening here. Hmmmm, what to say......its really hot here in Maryland. I heard rumors it was 90 degrees today, which is really freakish. It's supposed to drop to the 60's by Friday though. And that's a good thing cuz I have alot of weeding to do and I really hate weeding in the hot sun.

I'm getting my garden ready for the spring......the coneflowers are coming up all over the place and the parsley seems to have survived being buried under 4 plus feet of snow. I'm thinking of trying those containers that let you grow your tomatoes upside down. Has anyone tried those before?? If so, did you like it?

Gotta wonder what he's thinking about.....birds? bugs? or no thoughts at all......hmmmmm......

Ok, time to get back to work on that commision quilt. Only two more heads to sew, now that will leave you wondering!

Have a good day!!

kathy

The mail

2010-04-06T22:22:00.000-04:00

Last Friday I got home from work and look what I found in the mail.....

It's from Austraila! Now I am really curious because I have no idea who it is from or what is inside. Hmmmmmm.....what could it be??????

It's a lovely angel from Misteacrafts. I love her blog....she does the most amazing stitchery and it was really funny reading about how hot it was in February over in Austraila while here in Maryland we kept getting pounded with snowstorm after snowstorm.

Thanks so much for the wonderful surprise Misteacrafts!!!

We did some egg dying for Easter.....here's my two faves. I made the green one and my youngest made the purple one.

No one here is really fond of hard boiled eggs so two years ago, we started giving the dogs the Easter eggs. They adore them! We put them in the backyard and the dogs have a grand time finding them and eating them up. Their very own Easter egg hunt and a good way to use the eggs.

Working on a commission quilt this week and hope to have it done by the weekend. Wish me luck and have a great day!

kathy

The final retreat project

2010-04-03T08:54:00.000-04:00

Ok, here's the last thing I made at retreat.......ready???

It's a wallhanging and those flower blocks?? Those I made with paintstiks and rubbing plates. They were alot of fun to do. Paintstiks are basically crayons for grown ups. If you have not tried them before, then you should give it a whirl......you'll have a blast. Here's some close ups....

Got to run along......would you believe I still have not bought the kids Easter candy???? Ahhhhh!!!! I'm heading up to Log Cabin candies this morning to stock up and I am sure there will be another 50 crazed parents there too.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

kathy

Farmer's Wife continues on.....

2010-04-01T22:22:00.000-04:00

Here's another project I worked on at the retreat.......it's more of those Farmer's Wife Sampler blocks. They have such cool names.....

Like Buzzards Roost......where did THAT come from??

Calico Puzzle......

Now I realllllly like this block, Century of Progress.......but I put the blocks together the wrong way, see?

So I invented a new block!!!! What do you think I should call it????

Then there is this block.....it's called "Cats n Mice".

Let's put the photo into the editing program and add a few details.....

Viola! Don't you think that is funny.....I sure did!! And the cat fabric is from my friend Cheryl. She bought it at a store near the retreat, cut it up, and let me have her scraps. Couple hours later, I started doing these blocks and realized one was called Cats n Mice.....so out came the cat fabric scraps. Cool huh!

I still need to decide if I should add eyes, noses and tails on the real block.....what do you think?

Have a good night!

kathy

New York Beauty

2010-03-30T21:18:00.000-04:00

While I was at the retreat last weekend, I put all my NY Beauty blocks together. It took me a while since I was being careful to match everything up and have the setting pieces in the right order. I put all the blocks up on a design wall......some joker decided to add a little something to the layout.

Wonder who could have done that????? Could it have been this lovely lady modeling her niece's new apron?

Yes, yes it was......and she pleaded guilty as charged. I kept piecing away ready to see it??

What???? You want to see more of it????

You're still not satisfied??? Ok, ok......here's the whole top.

Now I have to get started on the borders and they are all paper pieced. It will be worth all the work though. The border really makes the whole quilt look extra special. Give me a few weeks and I will show you my progress. Have a good day!!

kathy

Bingo!

2010-03-29T21:33:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was the Flying Geese Quilt Guild retreat. I had such a blast and I have many things to share with you. Too much for one posting so I am going to spread it out over the week. Let's start with the retreat organizer, Nancy.......say hi Nancy!

Nancy has been doing the retreat for years and she does a fantastic job! Every year Nancy likes to try something new. One year she had us bring a piece of ugly fabric for a contest and challenged us all to make a quilt from the swapping that went on. Well, that is how my quilt "Ugly Kathy" was born. Thanks Nancy for inspiring me!

This year Nancy decided to have us play bingo on Saturday night. She had this giant container of spools and each one had a number on it. So she would pull one out and call out the number til someone got bingo. Now some of us in the guild are bad, bad people. Our minds are in the gutter......I won't mention names. We were waiting and waiting when it finally happened! Nancy pulled out this spool.....

And she goes........"O 69"......and what do we do???? We do the usual, we start screaming and carrying on. Never let it be said that quilters are dull people......but it gets better! Out of all the spools in the container there is only ONE black spool! And it just happens to be this one!! You bet we gave her some flak about that one, snicker snicker.....Nancy is a good sport though.

I even won a game! Horray!!!!! And I got a fabulous door prize, a giant spool! Plus just when we were packing up to leave Nancy told to close my eyes and hold out my hand.......look what I came home with!

Yup, its O 69 sitting there next to my giant spool......have a great day everyone and I stay tuned for the next installment of "How the Retreat Stitches".

kathy

Retreat!

2010-03-25T22:07:00.000-04:00

Tommorrow is my guild's quilt retreat and I can not wait!!! It is going to be so fun and I am really hoping to finish up my NY Beauty. I did not manage to sew the top together, sad face. Life got in the way.....but there is always tommorrow!!!

Have a fantastic weekend and I will be sure to post lots of pixs when I get back.

kathy

It's done!

2010-03-24T08:20:00.000-04:00

I finished all the NY Beauty blocks!!!! Now to piece them together and on to the border!!!!!!

I made a mistake in one of the blocks, can you find it????

Have a great day!

kathy

Three more blocks!

2010-03-21T18:44:00.000-04:00

I am getting down the wire with the New York Beauty! I finished up three more blocks and only have three left!!!!! So exciting! I am going to do two more blocks tonight and hopefully finish the last block tommorrow before I head off to work.

Here's the lastest three.....

I had a blast camping with the cub scouts. Yesterday afternoon, the boy scout came over to do some activities with the cubs. One of the stations was first aid.....here's an exchange between the kids.

Boy scout: "What would you do if you were on a hike in the forest and your friend hurt his leg?"

Cub scout: "I would call 911 on a cell phone."

Boy scout: "Ok, but what if you could not get a cell phone signal and make the call?"

Cub scout: "I would wait for the rescue helicopter to come."

Boy scout: "Ok, ok, but what if the helicopter could not land and you needed to get your friend to another place?'

Cub scout: "I would tell him to walk."

Boy scout: "Ok, but his leg is hurt so you have to make him a splint. You can use sticks and rip your shirt sleeve for bandages."

Cub scout: (tugging at his sleeve) "How do you rip your shirt?" and another cub scout: "I have on short sleeves."

At this point I thought the boy scout should get a merit badge for his patience. Here's my cub scouts just hanging around at spring camp....

Have a great day!

kathy

New Hair

2010-03-18T21:28:00.000-04:00

Here's a before and after picture......and then I am off to sew some New York Beauty blocks! I'm heading out tommorrow night for camping with the cub scouts and will not see the sewing room again til Sunday if I am lucky.

Before, and I almost always wore it up in a ponytail since it drives me nuts when I have hair in my face.

After, where did all the hair go???

Have a great day!

kathy

A Surprise!

2010-03-17T22:22:00.000-04:00

Thanks for all the great suggestions about what to do when you are in a rut. Most people suggested redoing a room in the house or going on a short weekend getaway. Would you believe I am planning to repaint my bedroom this spring and I am going on a quilt retreat next weekend??? The bedroom is going to be blue with some yellow stars and possibly a moon in the corner. Still in the idea stage though I did buy the paint already.

But today I decided to be bold and I went to get a haircut this evening. Now I have long hair......long, thick hair. People tell me all the time it is so lovely and thick......but thick hair has it's downsides. Here's they are:

1. Thick hair is heavy.
2. Thick hair doesn't want to do anything but hang straight.
3. Thick hair makes your head hurt when you wear it in a ponytail.
4. Thick hair is very hot in the summer.

So today I decided to get it all cut off! And I mean all of it!!! It is now what you would call a pixie cut. I like it very much though the rest of the members in the house are still adjusting. Now getting all your hair cut off, that is liberating! I'm all fired up to do new things!

Have a great day and go get liberated!

kathy

An Irish Gypsy

2010-03-16T07:17:00.000-04:00

My Irish grandmother had 8 children who produced 13 grandchildren. I was one of the middle grands and the only brown eyed grandchild (thanks to my Italian father). My grandmother always called me her "Wild Irish Gypsy"since I loved adventure and was always moving around once I left home after high school.

Where is this going you ask? Well, this time of year I always get restless......bored.....tired of the same ole same.....I just want to pack up my stuff and head somewhere new and different. Now this worked out ok when I was young but I'm older now and I have kids so can't just pack up on a whim. Instead I have to find ways to channel my wanderlust.

Any suggestions? What do you do when you are in the need for a change?

Here's my gene pool.......Hi Mom and Dad!

Have a good day!

kathy

Monday morning.....

2010-03-15T07:13:00.000-04:00

It's early Monday morning......and I am sure you thought I froze from the Popsicle Plunge and was still defrosting since I have not posted in a week. The truth is........I have not had much to say this past week, shocking I know, smile. I have been working away on my New York Beauty blocks. I only have 6 more to go and then I am done. Of course I still have to sew them together and make the border but the blocks will be done!

In other news, I had the the strep again.....it turns out Brad, who never got the strep this winter, was a carrier for it. He has been giving it back to us every time we finished a round of meds. So now he is on meds and hopefully we are done with the strep for this season!

Been raining here for the last three days, ugh. Snow is much prettier but at least it is starting to warm up so I can think summer like thoughts. Like where to plant more coneflowers and sunflowers this spring.....

Time to get started on my Monday.......and I have two more weeks to get my UFO's done! I will give you an update on their status this week.

Have a great day!

kathy

Popsicle Plunge!

2010-03-06T22:01:00.001-05:00

Today was the Popsicle Plunge! The weather cooperated too, it was sunny and 50 degrees. The wind was blowing a bit but it could have been much colder. Originally I was going to do this event with Jack but he had a basketball playoff game so Brad volunteered to fill in! He was so excited to be able to do this event.

Mikey came along and served as my official photographer when I went in the water. Here he is thinking about how to frame his shots.

The EMS guys are checking for rocks, logs, and other unknown objects before we head in. Not like anybody has done much swimming in the last few months! Don't worry, they have wet suits on to keep warm.

The Popsicle Plunge raisies money for the Marshy Point Nature Center. This year I was on the team "Katie and Wil Brady Foundation". Here I am with Brad and my friend Pat, she's a quilter too!

Almost time!! Ready Pat???

This year I went in TWICE!!! Once with Brad (kids group), you can see us in the picture below with our blue hats on. Sorry it's a little blury, photo boy Mikey is still learning the ropes. I ran all the way to the EMS guys, gave them a high five, and headed on back to shore. Then I did it again with everyone else. And I gave the EMS guys yet another high five and then sat down to so I would be "going all the way". It was a blast!!!

Got two more Karen Stone blocks done!!! Nine more to go!! Have a great rest of the weekend!!

kathy

Working away

2010-03-05T07:48:00.000-05:00

I'm still working away on my Karen Stone New York Beauty. I only have, hmmmmm.....11 more blocks to do!! I love how the blocks are coming out. This one is my current favorite.....

Maybe because the flowers make me think of spring. Have a fantastic Friday everyone!

kathy

Decision Made!

2010-03-03T21:25:00.000-05:00

Thank you for all your feedback, it was very helpful for me when I was stewing things over. What I decided to do was to finish up the commission work I have now and then take a break for a while. I'm really hoping to make some progress this spring on a few art quilt ideas I have been thinking about for a while. One of them is a follow up to "Ugly Kathy". I already have a name for it.......it is going to be "Purple Purple". Once I actually get started on it, I will fill you in on where that name comes from. I've been wanting to make this quilt for over a year but needed to think how to actually construct the quilt to my vision.

If you never seen "Ugly Kathy", here's a photo for you to enjoy.

I was involved with an ugly fabric swap challenge then I had two other challenges going on, a self portrait and a guild fabric challenge. So I decided to incorporate all three challenges into one quilt. I had alot of fun with this quilt and people either love it or hate it. I think it has a dark beauty to it.......kinda like those wrinkly dogs that are so ugly that they become attractive.

Today I was off work and decided to make Cincinnati Chili. Would you believe the recipe has chocolate in it? I am going to try it later on this week on top of spagetti. Here it is bubbling away.

And remember that Longberger basket I won last weekend at the Blue and Gold Silent Auction?? Someone decided it was a perfect place for a nap.

Have a great day everyone!!

kathy

Decisions.....

2010-03-01T22:36:00.000-05:00

Hmmmmmm......I need some feedback from you all. I am debating not doing anymore commission work. In case you are wondering just what I do, the answer is pretty much anything, but mostly I quilt tops for people and make t-shirt quilts. And I earn a good amount of money at it.....enough to pay for my family's summer vacation and Christmas expenses so it is not an easy decision to make.

But here's my problem, the vast majority of the commission work I do is artistically not very interesting to me. I do it and I do it well but it's not what I would call fullfilling. I went back to work full time during the day so quilting time is more limited now.

And I am interested in expanding my workshop teaching beyond the local quilt shop circuit and start doing trunk shows and workshops at guilds......I really like teaching and my students have alot of fun. But I need more time to develop this before it would be a financially viable activity.

So what to do? Suggestions? I would love to hear your thoughts.......in the meantime, no posting is complete without a photo. Enjoy!

kathy

One day til March

2010-02-28T20:02:00.000-05:00

Tommorrow is March 1st.....ugh.......I hate March! It is the worst weather month of the year. It's not cold enough for snow (usually) but not warm enough to enjoy going outside. And it's either raining or gloomy clouds.To make it worse, it's a 31 day month.......sigh.

What's your least favorite month of the year? And why?

Last night was the Blue and Gold Dinner for the Cub Scouts. That was fun.....I always enjoy watching the older boys bridge from cub scouts to boy scouts. To me they are taking their first steps towards manhood and it always tears me up to watch them leave childhood behind......

I did win a prize in the silent auction, horray!! It was a Longberger Basket with some baking goodies inside. It has a patriotic liner so I am going to use it when I go to Assateague Island over the 4th of July! I can not wait for that vacation to start!

See my basket?

I helped the tiger cubs make clay cupcakes for their centerpiece. Here's a picture of a few of them. They came out really cute. And they almost look real before you put on the decorations!

Well, that's it for tonight........I quilted the Storm at Sea today with wavy lines and added the binding. Just need to wash it and then get it to the inlaws. Have a fantastic Monday!!

kathy

Super Saturday!

2010-02-27T09:42:00.000-05:00

Ok, it's been a while since I posted.....life got busy. Training for work, strep throat kid, back log of events that were rescheduled from all the snow......but I did manage to sneak in a little sewing. First up, I made this purse to donate to the Cub Scout Blue and Gold dinner silent auction. That event is tonight.....I love silent auctions! Maybe I will get to come home with some goodies!

The purse pattern is called the "Rachel Bag" and comes from the book "Bag Boutique". I have made this bag a few times since it is easy to do, roomy, and looks great with large scale prints. For this auction I toned down my normal screaming colors so it would be more acceptable to the masses......what to you think?

If you are thinking that you have seen this fabric before, you're right!!! I used it in my Storm at Sea quilt. Since I orginally planned to make that quilt bed sized, I have lots leftover. And I decided to give the quilt to my inlaws for their anniversary! I think they'll like it, don't you.

I did two more Farmer's Wife blocks too.....they get kind of addicting because they have such cool names. Plus I only have to make one of each block so I can't get bored. That's a problem when you have to make 20 of the same kind of block with the same exact fabric in the same exact places....it becomes boringggggg. Probably explains why I am a scrap quilt junkie.

This one is called "Buckwheat"......interesting huh.......

And this is "Butterfly in the Crossroads", now this one I can visualize better. My butterfly is supposed to be a monarch. I grow milkweek every year in my garden so the monarches will come and lay eggs. Then I get to see the catapillars become butterflies. I love that. I did notice we did not have very many monarches last year compared to in the past. Hope this year there are more of them.

Time to get moving.......have a great day and I will let you know if I win anything at the silent auction.

kathy

More Farmer's Wife Blocks

2010-02-18T21:58:00.000-05:00

This week has been getting back to some kind of normal rountine after all the snow days last week. The kids are back to school though it is with a 2 hour delay to start time all week....and today it warmed up to over 40 degrees!! First time in weeks!

I've been busy making more of the blocks from the Farmer's Wife Sampler......here they are!

First up is "Box".......

Then there is "Bowtie"......

Followed by my favorite of this group, "Broken Dishes".......lots of little triangles but I really liked how it came out.

Then there's "Broken Sugar Bowl", don't you just love that name!

Have a fun rest of the week!

kathy

A winner!

2010-02-14T09:00:00.000-05:00

And the winner of my Valentine's Day giveaway is.......

Lisa from 9 Patch Nurse!!!!!

Congratulations!!!!

Today I need to get a new iron because this guilty party.....

decided to knock mine over and it fell onto the concrete floor then BAM! It broke the water tank......I loved that iron. It has so much steam.....so much heat......sigh.....now for Valentine's Day I will have to find a new iron to love.

Have a fantastic Valentine's everyone!! And be sure to eat some chocolate and buy some flowers, you deserve it!

kathy

Orange Peel Revisted

2010-02-12T21:34:00.000-05:00

One of my goals this year was to make one orang peel block a week as part of a quilt along. Now these blocks are hand appliqued and I am slow at hand applique. But I decided to give it a try and play along. Here's my first block.....

I was pretty pleased with how the block turned out. However it took me a long time to do it and I did not really enjoy the whole process involved with making the petals. One thing I often hear about is how it's important to enjoy the whole process of creating and not dwell on the finished product.

So decided this is going to be my last Orange Peel block since the process was not enjoyable to me. But I still wanted to do something "Orange". So I decided to make an Orange Zinger! Doesn't that like a cocktail?

The Orange Zinger is make from a base fabric and selvages. I had tons of fun picking out which selvages to use and stitching them down. Plus it was a little stroll down memory lane to see some selvages from past quilts.

So I'm swapping out my Orange Peel for the Orange Zinger! Here's the link to make your own Zinger quilt at the Selvage blog....

I also won this week a selvage needle case from a give away at Scraps n Strings. She has a really cool spiderweb quilt so check it out.

Anyone else done a selvage quilt?

kathy

Snowy Birthday!

2010-02-11T15:45:00.000-05:00

Guess what today is???? It's my birthday AND it stopped snowing!!

To celebrate my special day, I made black bottom cupcakes.....I am going to put one on here later.

Now it we have ALOT of snow here.....this is the end of the street.

I wanted to go out for dinner tonight to celebrate but that's not happening....instead I am going to have my very own Beach Party!! The first thing to do was make my cup holder....there is lemonade inside.

Now time to stretch out in the hammock and enjoy the rays....ahhhhh.......

Later on tonight, I am going to fire up the grill, throw on some burger patties and crank up the heat! You gotta let your hair down and live is my motto!

Have a great Thursday and some quilty photos tommorrow.....

kathy

A Snow Day Give Away

2010-02-10T09:47:00.000-05:00

Well, its snowing again......ALOT! See??

That white hill? It's my neighbor's car......I'm thinking.....maybe March til it all goes away. In the meantime, I thought I would have a give away!!

I'm doing a Secret Valentine's Day Swap with my group, the Wild Threads. I have my secret person's name, bought them some candy, a fat quarter, a cool book, and some socks. You also had to include a mini quilt in the swap package. I decided to experiment and found a pattern from ArtFabrik that I liked. I got to play around with my wave rotary cutter.

I still need to add the quilting.....and that is going to be lots of fun! Going to add texture to the flowers with thread and some kind of swirly design in the background.

I ended up making two quilts.....one for my secret swap partner and one for the giveaway!

If you want a chance to win, leave a comment on this post by 9am EST Sunday morning (Valentine's Day). I'll draw a name and post sometime that day who the winner is.

Good luck and have a fantastic day!

kathy

Black and White Baskets

2010-02-09T16:10:00.000-05:00

You're probably wondering if the only thing I have done in the last few days is shovel snow and cook.....the answer is no. I started watching season 2 of "Lost" with the hubby, he is always overjoyed when I spend time watching TV with him. I also got some sewing done. I finished up a teddy bear for a client. It's made from her dad's shirt......isn't he cute!

And I finished up another UFO!!!! I combined the leftover black and white blocks from the dead chickens quilt with my basket blocks which came from the Wild Threads group swap.

Now with all this snow, I thought some red would heat things up! I like how this turned out. These are my favorite three basket blocks.

And that is a witch on one of the basket fabrics! For the back, I am using another quilt top I did. My group, the Wild Threads, did a round robin. I like the individual parts but not how it looks as a whole.

And I was also involved with a strip swap block making adventure with the Wild Threads (say that three times really fast). I made all kind of blocks with my strips. Here's some of them.

Now I made these blocks in all sizes and shapes and stiched them up. And I hated the way the middle looked.....sooo......I took the round robin top and appliqued it to the center of the strips top!!!! Viola! I love how it looks now!

Sometimes you just gotta take some chances and get out the scissors! I cut the middle of the strips top out from underneath the round robin after I was done with the applique.

So this will be the back to the black and white baskets. I am going to quilt it with bright red thread and bind it with red binding. Any suggestions on how to quilt it?? I have those big empty black and white blocks that I could do something pretty in......hmmmm....thoughts??

Enjoy the day!

kathy

And it snowed...

2010-02-08T09:08:00.000-05:00

Unless you are living under a rock, you know that this past weekend the mid Atlantic region was pretty much buried by the storm of the century. Of course this century has only been going on for 10 years......hmmmmm. But it was STILL an impressive storm! Between shoveling, dressing children in snow clothes, and making food I took a few photos to share with you. And BTW what is it about a snowstorm that makes you want to start cooking enough food to feed a small army? I don't get those urges during a tropical storm or a thunderstorm.....someone should research this for their PhD.

Here's my snow pixs and at the end of this posting I am going to share my receipe for Peanut Butter French Toast, which is beloved by the members of this household except me, I hate peanut butter! Why do I make it if I won't eat it?? Because I live in house of peanut butter lovers and if it was chocolate french toast, I would eat it all up and gain yet another 5 pounds. My diet plan, make what you hate!

Here's me.....why am I wearing a dog leash? So I don't lose it under 2 tons of snow....the previous attached dog is now trying to walk thru 2 feet of snow. The dog stand about 2 feet at her shoulders so just her head sticks up. She does love it though!

Here's my car during the storm....see all the snow piled up on top!

Here's my hubby, Ed, dragging the pine tree off the backyard fence. The branches started snapping off from the weight of the snow. Ed is looking forward to cutting the branches up smaller with some man tools. Not sure what is it with men and chopping things up but keeps him busy.

Here's Mikey and Pepper at the end of street next to us. See the street sign sticking up behind them?

Post storm....the big dig out.....

Now that's ALOT of snow......some people have piles of snow 6 feet high on their front lawn from digging out their cars....it is an amazing sight.

Now Ed is 6' 3"........and the snow comes up to his waist in some places.

Guess what?? There is another storm coming.......5 inches and up.....I don't think the kids are going to school at all this week. Luckily I still have at least 20 rolls of TP still on hand....think that's enough?

Then the french toast......I whipped this up when the snow was coming down fast and furious.

It's really simple.....

Peanut Butter French Toast

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup sugar

6 eggs

1 3/4 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla

10 cups torn bread

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees

2. Spray 2 square baking dishes or one 9 by 13 inch baking dish with cooking oil.

3. Mix first five ingredients together with a mixer.

4. Stir in bread with a spoon.

5. Pour in prepared dish and bake for 30 to 40 minutes.

PS I like to cut in some chocolate chips or strawberry jam after I pour into the dish. The photo is the strawberry jam version. Certain people ate the chocolate chip verison before I had a chance to get a photo.

Have a great day!! I'm walking over to a friend's house today so the kids can climb the 10 foot moutain of snow at the end of her street.

kathy

The rest of the household

2010-02-06T09:38:00.000-05:00

Last week I wrote about all my pets. Today I am going to tell you about everyone else who lives here with me but first a weather update. It started snowing yesterday afternoon and there's 21 inches on the ground this morning with it still coming down. One of the trees in our backyard started losing branches last night under the weight of the snow. The weatherman are saying this storm might be a record breaker! Pretty darn exciting!!

Good thing I stocked up on batting! Might be awhile before we can dig out.

Now the cast of characters in my house. First there is my husband, Ed. He is a GED math teacher and a huge sports fan. He also kinda looks like his dog.....see?

Then there is the oldest son, Jack. He likes to play sports, Xbox, and is good with animals. He is in 8th grade this year and says his goal is to get at least two A's on his third term report card. You heard it hear first! I'll let you know if that actually happens since Jack is a real slacker about school. He's a real good kid

though.

Then there is the middle son, Brad. He is in 2nd grade and 8 years old. Brad loves, I mean loves, to talk. He also loves Godzilla. If you ever want to know any facts about Godzilla, Brad's the person to ask. He's got a real creative twist to his mind too. Maybe he will be a future Godzilla film director.....

Then there is the youngest son, Mikey. Or Mike as his friends call him. He is in 1st grade and he wants you to know he is 6 and 2/3rds. NOT 6 years old. Mikey loves animals, playing with his Legos, and generally running around. He also wants to go outside in the snow so I better finish this up.

Have a great day everyone!!! If you are under the "bubble of doom" (we are) for the Mid Atlantic storm then be sure to take it easy shoveling, make some chili, and wait for the plows.

kathy

Snow Supplies

2010-02-05T07:00:00.001-05:00

Well, the middle son came home from school yesterday and says "Mom, the bus driver said we might get 40 inches of snow this weekend".

Wow, that's alot of snow!!!! I could be stuck here for days!! So I went out and got some critical supplies needed by all quilters facing a snowfall of epic proportions.

First I bought some thread.....

Then I bought some batting......and in case the world as we know goes into a deep freeze due to the 40 inches of snow, I can always just wrap it around myself to stay warm.

Then I checked the TP supply. That's like religion in Maryland......

"Honey, it's going to snow"
"Ok dear, I checked the TP and we have 20 rolls, you think it will be enough?"
"Let's not take any chances, I'm heading to the Walmart to get another 12 pack".

In case you're concerned that I have only 9 rolls, not to fear. I have two more packages so unless it's March by the time I shovel out, we should be ok.

Then there is the most important thing of all to a quilter.....

Need I say more about that one?

Have a fantastic day!!! And I checked the weather forcast, the weather man said up to 24 inches, darn! The thought of 40 inches was way more exciting!

kathy

Lime Green is a Neutral Color

Out and about

The circle in nature

Charm Pack Challenge

Glass making Fun

Post Easter

Spring Break

Aprons

Southern Comforters

Blue Christmas

Snowflake

More Wonky Churn Dash Blocks

Happy Birthday!

A breath of spring

Wonky Churndash

Wild Wednesday Snow

Happenings

Back online!!

100th posting!!!!

Nine Years Old

Christmas Wishes

Off to the post office

Tropical Puzzle

Black Friday

How to have fun at a retreat- part three

How to have fun at a retreat- part two

How to have fun at a retreat- part one

Retreat!!!

Class with Mary Lou!

Halloween Revisited

Socks Appeal Contest

Cakes is done!

My quilting supervisor

Heading out of town

Quilting away

Summer Recap

MAQ

A winner!

Mermaid!

Vodoo Lady

Candy Cane- all done!

The Christmas House

School's Out!!

It was an itsy witsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini.....

Spring Madness

Potholders!

Merry Christmas!!!

Purple Brad

Whitey the Eel

Miss me?

The candy cane picture

Done!

My Folder

Wordy Wednesday

The mail

The final retreat project

Farmer's Wife continues on.....

More retreat stories.....

New York Beauty

Bingo!

Retreat!

It's done!

Three more blocks!

New Hair

A Surprise!

An Irish Gypsy

Monday morning.....

Popsicle Plunge!

Working away

Decision Made!

Decisions.....

One day til March

Super Saturday!

More Farmer's Wife Blocks

A winner!

Orange Peel Revisted

Snowy Birthday!

A Snow Day Give Away

Black and White Baskets

And it snowed...