February Color Palette Challenge - Iris

I didn't realize the iris had so many shades of blue! Oh, the beauty of Vicki's February color palette.....

I met the challenge with only two colors in the palette and kept it small - 8" x 10".  

But since the little iris eyes are only 1/2" x 3/4", I had to stay small! oops - do I see a typo in this picture??

Go see the array of art quilts on Three Creative Studios Flickr group

I'm verging on becoming another Picasso!!

When I found this little square of fabric today, I knew it had to complete the scraps of orange and blue I had left over from my latest CASA quilt.  And, since I haven't done a thread sketched  "Pretty Lady in Smart Hat" lately, decided this was the perfect backdrop for her.  Roll over Pablo - here's my Picasso-like in orange!

Under the deep blue sea - quilt

It's okay to double click on the picture to see how good the binding stitch looks!

I found this yardage of tropical fish on sale and decided it would make a great panel for a community service quilt.  Sashed it in deep blue (as in the sea) and then bordered it in this great orange.  Ran out of orange so had to finish the binding in the blue flannel I used for the backing.  I normally hand sew my bindings on, but because I really don't know how much tender love and care this one will get, I decided to use the scallop decorative stitch to stitch the binding.  Wow!  Did that ever save time....must do this again when it's not an heirloom quilt!

Marcy Tilton skirt pattern

I love this skirt! It's a Marcy Tilton pattern - Vogue 8561.

 Oh, to be a seamstress such as she, how beautifully dress would I be!

I would have one for each season - that would be only two here in Louisiana - a grey pinstripe wool for winter/early spring and a light blue chambray for summer/early fall.

Cherry House Quilts - quilt-along

Major proud - finished my Cherry House Quilts quiltalong quilt top.  Now for the quilting.  This should go smoothly enough.  I only had  enough of two fabrics for my columns - one a red/orange and the other melon - so I alternated dark-light-dark-light.  I like it!  Follow us in the CHQ Flickr group.

More than a semi-required!

I'm packed and ready to roll - I know I told you last week that a big girl pallet party quilt retreat was coming up.....well, we leave this morning.   I think at last count, 14 were going.  I hope all my stuff will fit into our sewing room!

Back Thursday afternoon....I tell you this because I probably won't have access to internet this week.  I'll take my little travel computer just in case, but the camp/retreat house is so far back in the woods, no hi-tech stuff can filter its way down to ground level.  But that's okay - my sewing machine will be humming a fine tune all week! 

Making Yardage!

I sometimes make yardage with one color scheme in mind, but today I decided that I would just pull lots of scraps and sew any color combo together. It's looking good here at my sewing center! I'll probably make a bunch of 24" squares then cut as needed and put into projects - such as (you might ask).....journal covers - or kitchen hot pads - or??

If I sash around the large squares with muslin strips, then a quilt top just might emerge out of my made-up yardage. Bet no one can buy fabric like I make!

FYI this is how I got the yardage to make Jailhouse Rock - just took my red/orange scraps and sewed them together.....did the same with my predominately black/white scraps, threw in some white alternate blocks and voila,  quilt top emerged.   Click photos to enlarge to see just how random these blocks are going together.  There is just no making a mistake while making yardage like mine!

Just Another Rolled Tree!

 They had fun last night.  Thankfully it wasn't one of our trees that got rolled! Around the corner on the next block....I could see all this fluff over the tops of houses.  They had really strong throwing arms!  It makes for a good picture, but whew, I wouldn't want this to happen to me (not at my age). 

Cherry House Quilts - A Quilt-Along Project

Well, I almost followed instructions - differed somewhat on the size of my quilt-along project!   I needed to make my journal quilt in a hurry yesterday for 3 Creative Studios journal quilt challenge so used my artistic license to alter the size!  Go see more here in the Flickr group.  I  do have the "real" quilt-along fabric already cut and ready to sew - perhaps I'll catch up by next week. 

Journal Quilt # 7

Placemats or Purses?

                                                          We do have choices - you know!

I found these three place mats on sale for less than a dollar each - so whether I make purses or use them when I dine alone (or when three of us dine in an eclectic frame of mind)  I'm still the winner!  I had this chain in my purse supply drawer and think the the bronze will look good with the melon and green mat - hmm, I mean purse!

The mat can be cut in half to make a smaller purse shown here.  I love this body hugger style when I fly out of the house and have no need to carry everything - including the kitchen sink! 

I used a pink drapery tieback for the strap which worked beautifully with the orange zipper! and yellow lining. 




















and this mat was so nice and heavy - no lining required.  I just stitched up each side and added the strap.  It's available HERE. 

Around the Neighborhood

I don't have my journal quilt made for the week - but I have been playing around the neighborhood. While we don't live in one of these neat cottage style homes, we do live nearby so when we go old-folks-Sunday-driving, I take my camera and get a few shots in and around the 'hood.

 
 
This one truly is a beautiful little cottage, but my picture failed miserably!  Just before deleting it from my camera, I decided the barren tree limbs were worth keeping.....cropped, rotated, layered - an image I can love ~
 

And look very closely for the silhouette of black cat in the limbs.

With photoshop, anything can happen!  Now, let me go cut and splice some fabric to get a journal quilt completed before sunset. 

"Brownstone" - A CASA Quilt

It's just a matter of time.....and how you want to spend it.  I just had to face it - I love to sew, especially when the fabric is donated.  Six inch brown and cream squares sewn in random order - Oh, the simple pleasures in life. 

Homespun continued.....

Homespun - a quilt with pieced diagonal binding

I'm totally pumped!  Finished the binding for "Homespun" last night before my head hit the pillow! 

Homespun - A CASA Quilt

Dorothy cleaned house the other day and filled box after box with fabric she no longer desired ????? and then donated those boxes  to our quilting group to make CASA quilts.  Our Tuesday Bees group is going to Camp Harris next week for our bi-annual girls get-away-and-gab-and-eat-and-sew-retreat and we are going to sew a few CASA quilts while there.  Well, I decided to get a head start so I brought one of Dorothy's boxes filled with fabric home with me yesterday and ran across a Ziploc bag filled with homespun scraps.  It's amazing what a few scraps can make.  I hope some little boy will enjoy snuggling into this quilt as much as I enjoyed putting it together. 

Now I need to dig deeper into that box for fabric for the back.  I'll probably piece scraps together to make the binding like I did here for my Jailhouse Rock quilt.  

I can't speak Italian.....

but I'm going to Italy!  In May....and to say that I am excited is an understatement! 



"You're the only one for me"

 I've been practicing phrases such as "Quante'e, per favore?"  - How much does this cost?

and

"Accettate carte di credito?" translated - Do you accept credit cards? 

and

"Capisce?" - Do you understand? 

I think this is a fine start.  Tomorrow I'll learn "where's the wine"  and "pass the bread and cheese my way."

But today I'll enjoy a little more Southern Sunshine!   We've had some picture perfect days and I'm basking in the rays. 

An Homage to St. Valentine - a journal quilt

~ Primitive Heart ~ a journal quilt ~

A practice in tearing and weaving fabric - added big primitive stitches using embroidery thread to hold the weave together- printed lyrics of "don't go breaking my heart" from the big songbook, tore a snippit from this printed fabric and big-stitched it on.  Then added the woven heart by machine.....that pretty much sums up the making of a journal quilt paying homage to St. Valentine!   

A Note To Kitty Paw!

What better way to use my mini-diary than to send a note to Kitty Paw....you see, Ashley Sisk has a beloved

kitty who  loves to get mail....so here's a note to Kitty Paw from The Mason Cats!  Go see and enter the fun

with us!

Hummmmmm I got up early this morning!  So??? How do you spend your time????

Color Wheel Opposites - Art Quilt

The Art Quilt Blog challenge this month is "Opposite."  Color wheel opposites - always compatible!

De-Clutter??

I've spent my entire afternoon undoing what I did a couple of weeks ago.....I'm not the minimalist I thought I wanted to become.  I thought I wanted to de-clutter my blog...so I did away with most everything on the sidebar, including the blogs I love to follow.  Oh, yes, I was still following but it was so inconvenient and such a waste of time the way I had it set up.  (Listen to me admitting to a  mistake.)  Now, my blog still has the clean look I want, plus the convenience.  I've re-defined de-clutter!! 

Southland Winter Brrrrrrrrrrr

Even the sparrows stayed indoors!

Amish Quilt Wall Hanging

 

You know when the kids start screaming....but mama he's touching me! and you decide it just has to be one of those get-over-it moments.  Well, when I saw these reds and blues touching each other, I started screaming for help.  No one came.  I just got over it!  Moral - don't dwell on the little things, look at the whole picture.  I can't even see the problem now.

Mama....he's touching me!

It's all over but the quilting -  My Amish Delight  - 36" square!

Stairway to Cat Heaven Journal Quilt

In between making my Amish quilt and mourning the loss of black cat, I finished my weekly journal quilt...but let me begin from the beginning.....several years ago, I found the Stairway to Cat Heaven quilt pattern as printed in McCall's,  October, 1997, Quilting Magazine.  It was such a delight to make.  I've since sold that quilt, but still have all my pictures of it which I love to browse through from time-to-time.  Here's one version of it after I played around with the original picture in photoshop: 

Now, this brings me back to today....while making the 9-patch blocks for the Amish quilt, I realized that some were too small so I just threw the unfinished/unusable ones into a pile and continued on my merry way.  Very slowly, I'm filling in the blank spaces...only 8 more 9-patch blocks to go then the borders!

Okay....so now it's afternoon and I'm back to the reason for this post - I wanted to make my weekly journal quilt and decided I would use one of the cats climbing into cat heaven.  Then I remembered the pile of unusable 9-patch blocks so I dug through them, put it all together and here is my completed journal quilt which commemorates the life of black cat who passed away Tuesday night. 

Steps 1-5

And here it is all quilted - finished journal quilt #5!

What a bargain!

Our quilt guild had a garage sale today - and here are the bargains I found. You know, their trash....my treasure! 

Yards of prairie points already made and ready to put into a project - in addition three pieces of fabric....granted, not large pieces, but I'll find a place to put them.

And this whimsical animal print was too cute to pass on! These little creatures lined up so sweetly just made me smile.






Oh my and a never used purse pattern and silk!!




Four bags of buttons and beads....along side a wonderful linen. 



 Last fall one of our chapter members suggested we have a garage sale....instead of a meeting!  Sounded like a good idea to the rest of us....February 3rd it was.    We set the date months ahead to give every chapter member time to gather and price their contributions for the big  money-making event.  So, for two hours today, we had a garage sale.  Sure was a lot more fun than having a business meeting....and  we made big bucks.  We'll spend it wisely, no doubt! 

A cat's meow

The day started on a sad note.  If you follow my blog, you know that our house is the one that every stray eventually finds.  And while we have no more bed space for an inside cat,  every year we change out the bedding and order up a supply of flea/tick stuff for the necks of any outside drifters and take those we can to the vet for attention.    The Walmart list looks something like this:  1.  milk  2. outside cat food 3.  bread   4. inside cat food 5.  bananas 6. toilet tissue 7. dish soap....and the list goes on!  And this week, I've been dragging out early to be sure the ice is broken on their water bowls so they can have a fresh drink after breakfast. 

We've had three regular boarders for the past year and I've gotten quite attached.  The black cat was my biggest challenge to date.  I told you about him here - boy what a day!  And gave you the follow up of that event here.  And  used his picture here.   He eventually became one of my most avid fans.  Every time I went out, he followed me around like a little lost puppy, so eager for his chin rub and bit of conversation.  Then when he tired of my chatter, off he would go to a shady spot to watch as I worked.  I always knew he was close by.  Until last week....he started roaming and wouldn't be back for breakfast.  Since he was a young male and we couldn't figure how to get him to the vet.....well, you know....I guessed what he was looking for!  But this morning when I saw him, I knew something was wrong.  He was being too still in the flower bed...it was too cold and he should have been in his bed.  When I called for help....my dread was confirmed.   He didn't appear to have been in a fight or to have been hit by a vehicle, so he must have been sick.  We'll never know.

What I do know is that we did our darnedest for him and yes, I know others will follow so I will continue to put "outside cat food" on the Walmart list and welcome any stranger to come on into the garden and stay awhile.    Farewell black cat...you were my friend....if only for a little while.  Now, the eulogy is said and my tears are shed.

Amish quilt work in progress -

Please don't hate me - we have had two most beautiful 60-70 degree weather days....it's raining today, but that's giving me a chance to sit and sew a bit on this latest quilt endeavor.

I found this quilt pattern in a book at our public library and thought I would give it a try.  Decided early on that 2" blocks were just a tad small for me so I increased the size to 3"!  Wow, did that really make a difference?!?  I cut strips at 2" wide so I can trim and square up as I sew. 







I've made progress...First cut the 3 1/2" solid squares and positioned them on the design wall and am now making the 9-patch blocks.  I'm only sewing a few of them at a time so the color combinations can be auditioned to get a good mix.....and the rain continues....and I'll continue to sit and sew.