Doll Quilt Swap...My Quilt

I put my doll quilt in the mail today!!! I wanted to show you guys some pictures but you can't see the label because I have written on it. (Something needs to be a suprise!) My cat Hallie really seems to enjoy it. You know what I say, "You're never really dressed until you are wearing cat hair". I hope my partner is not allergic. If you look in the corner you will see my, now trademark, stamp. My friend from Japan, Yuki, carved the stamp out of stone and if you look really really close, you can see that she carved my name in Japanese in the corner of the stamp.
ever since I received the stamp, I have used it on all my quilts. So if the label is ever taken off, the stamp will tell anyone that it is my quilt! Isn't that neat? My friend Liz, did the quilting on her long arm. She did it all freehand, she is amazing!

Enjoy the pictures and let me know what you think of the quilt...

Cats & Quilts

I just have a quick minute to post. Here are my helpers. Aiden the orange and white tabby and Mosen the black and white doing what they do best. I once heard it said that you are never fully dressed unless you are also wearing cat hair. This is a true statement in my house!

I was being quite sluggish tonight so I didn't do what I should have done but rather I did something at least. I cut out some of one of the baby quilts I need to get done and I did the blanket stitching on the first block for my friend Judy's quilt. (she doesn't own a computer so she won't know!) I know that my hand stitches are far from perfect (no pun intended) but I think it is cute. Let me know what you think.

Cat Quilt

I have finally decided what I want to do for my friend. I began some of the cat blocks from Claire's Cats last night. If anyone wants to help by sending a block, I need the unfinished block to be 10 1/2" so when I put it into the quilt it will finish at 10". If you are interested please email me at mamaspark@gmail.com and I will send you my home address. I would like to begin putting the quilt together in the next couple of weeks. My blocks are 30's reproduction prints but yours do not have to be. The block can be pieced using a cat print or any other fabric in an actual "cat" block, your choice. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help. I have so much on my plate right now that I need help with this. I feel blessed that I can put the quilt together instead of being the one going for chemo. This will be the second quilt for a friend with cancer in the last week that I have begun!

Doll Quilt Swap

I am soooooo excited. I finished piecing my doll quilt top and I am very pleased with the results!! I hope my partner loves it as much as I do. The top was made using only stash fabrics. I really want to show a picture but I will wait until my partner gets it to put up the picture. I found some err, ehh, *unique* fabric for the back. I kept looking at the fabric at the store and had no idea why I knew I was supposed to buy some but I finally gave in and did it. *Now* I know why. My partner loves this! I even made the binding today so all I will have to do is sew it on with a label and I can post it once it is back from the quilter. (Love piecing, actual *quilting* not so much, lol) I will probably make the label today too, but later. I have been trying to visit the other swappers blogs and I am through the K's. So far I have found one other person from Michigan. Are there anymore??

I have a friend that has bone cancer and she had to have all her teeth in her upper jaw pulled. She had to undergo radiation for awhile and has one week off before she begins chemotherapy. She has no family, or spouse just her cats. I am thinking about asking my quilt group if they will help me to make a cat themed quilt for her. I haven't decided but I think I will let everyone make what ever they want either using cat fabric or making a block with a cat on it. I have a book of appliqued cats called "Claire's Cats" by Darcy Ashton so I think I will do fusible and make mine appliqued. Any ideas or suggestions would be most welcome. I have to go to a graduation party now so I better shower and get ready. Hmmm, maybe I'll just dart on down the basement and see if I can find that book first...

St. George's Trophy

Let me say that I first saw this quilt "St. George's Trophy" on another blog, www.cottonpick.blogspsot.com I, as did she, fell in love with it. The quiltmaker and quilter is Helen Baczynski. I think it is one of the most inovative quilts I have ever seen. I liked it enough to ask Helen if I could make a similar one. She gave me permission and even told me exactly how she made hers! She is a very nice person and quite generous too. While I was at the LQS yesterday, I bought some batiks for the "scales". You can see in the picture here mine will be much more purple. That's because the person I will be making it for is really a purple person! And her dragon self *Sparkle* is purple. I wonder which knight will have this trophy??hmmmm, I'll have to think about this!

LQS Visit

Hey everyone! I know you probably thought I had taken a oong trip or something but I have just been incredibly busy and very uninspired to do any quilty things. This is changing, I am happy to say. I went to the local quilt shop with my friend, Yuki yesterday. The first 2 pictures are of a fabulous quilt that Yuki wants to do. They had this sample made up in the LQS and we both fell in love with it! I introduced Yuki to embroidery when I asked her to make a pansy block for my church quilt group. She really liked the hand work and made an adorable floral embroidered pin cushion. So when we were at the shop many of the embroidered quilt block type things really appealed to her. (They appeal to me too but I am a little more realistic about what I will find time to do!, LOL) Then there is a shot of part of the shop, followed by a picture of Yuki and me. We had a wonderful time. This shop is in Tecumseh, Mi and let me tell you, Tecumseh has everything! After we left the quilt shop we went to the cross stitch shop, the bead shop, the tea shop, then lunch at a BBQ place (Yuji's first time eating American BBQ), then off to the antique store, the winery and last but not least the cheese shop! (Wow, it makes me tired just telling you all about it!) This is all within a square block of each other. We spent about 6 hours in the town.
I also got some fabric for a baby quilt I need to do for our newest niece that is expected in the fall. I loved the aqua and pink combination. What do you thing? The pattern is in the latest McCalls mag, Bowdacious, where there are bows on the quilt.
Last but not least is UFO that I finally made a back for and sent to my LAQ. I thought the quilting was really nice. It made the quilt. I took a close up so you could see the quilting and my favorite block (with the bunnies). I have not decided who this will go to but I have an idea. They don't have a baby yet...but you never know:o)
I saw an amazing quilt on another blog that someone took a picture of. I am going to wait until I have the artsts permission and then I will put up the picture. I did receive her permission to make a similar quilt (no pattern, I will just have to try and copy it, no small shoes to fill there, let me assure you) and I am very excited about that. I actually bought some fabric for it but will show it later, maybe when I actually start the project or maybe when I put up the pic of her quilt.

More of my life...

I know it has been a while since I posted anything and I am truly sorry. Unfortunately my life keeps going no matter how much I wish for a breather!

First of all, we finally moved all of Shelby's *stuff* to her new apt in Madison. As you can see from the pictures, it was quite an undertaking. My dad, 80 years old, brought us his van and snowmobile trailer to use for the occasion and even stayed to help us load up. Then we hit the road. DH drove the van with the trailer while Shelby and I (and the cat, snake and mice among other things, rode in her Liberty. After about 7hours of driving we finally arrived. We unloaded until about 11pm when we called it quits. DH and I slept on a blow up mattress on the floor. I didn't care, at least it was sleep! The next morning we got up and I began vacuuming while DH carried in more boxes. Shelby jumped in the shower and we were ready to break and go to breakfast. There was one small (furry) problem, no one could find the cat! We looked everywhere, and I mean everywhere. No cat. Maybe she got out? Since she is slightly brain damaged so she has a short memory which would be a problem if she got out and tried to find her way back. So when we got back from breakfast I told Shelby to go in and I would stand at the kitchen window and see if said cat bolted from hiding (assuming she was even there. No luck. I thought I heard meowing but they thought I was nuts (which of course I am but that's another story). So we finished unloading and DH wanted to leave as soon as possible cuz we knew it would be a long ride home. We had to bring the van back to my dad and then drive home so 4 hours longer than the ride there. My DH is a sweetie, he stopped in Carmel IN at a wonderful quilt shop and let me pick up a few things. I got some very pretty batik's and a border to complete another quilt. I also managed to design an entire quilt in my head on the L-O-N-G ride home. I can't tell you much about it though as it is for Shelby and I don't know how much of this she reads (no it is not a pirate quilt) So Shelby called us once, twice and three times on our ride home(did I mention it was L-O-N-G?). The last time we were almost home. She kept hearing jingling in her LR but each time she ran out there it was the fan cords hitting each other. So she finally sat there to watch the cords as she was tired of being fooled. All of a sudden her cat bolted out from inside the oven!!! I guess we missed looking there,lol!!!

Tuesday morning I had to take DD#2 in to the oral surgeon to have all 4 of her wisdom teeth removed. This is a photo of her as soon as we got home. She was still retty drugged up! She is doing well and is only slightly puffy. The doctor said it only took them about 15 min to get all four out, so hopefully she will heal quickly!


So, I have been yearning to get back into quilty things but with not much success. Remember my closet cleaning extravagana? Well, I ran across some of the tee shirts I have been saving to make DD#2 a tee shirt quilt with. I decided to cut them down as I think they will take up less room that way. She won't part with the most recent ones as she says, "That's the major part of my wardrobe!" So these are mostly from when she was younger. If anyone has any suggestions about a neat tee shirt quilt please let me know. I don't want to just straight set them all the same size with sashing in between.
That's what's happening in my life. What's new with yours?

Doll Swap

I have decided to join in on the doll swap that I heard about from Amy at Thecalicocat.blogspot.com
If you are interested in joining you can find the information on her blog. I am trying to figure out how to put the inof in my sidebar but not very successfully yet! If anyone knows how to do this please email me.

http://dollquiltswap.wordpress.com/

Shelby's Apartment

These are pictures from Shelby's new apartment in Madison Indiana. We went down with her last week to try to find her a place. Having a cat made finding an apartment a challenge! Finally, after many phone calls, visits and LOTS of driving around we found this one. It is in a mansion built in 1839 that has now been turned into 7 apartments. The front of the complex used to be the back of the "house". So the large bow windows are looking into her back yard. The landlord still has some things to finish, lake an AC unit and a patio, but the brand new hardwood floors are great. It is just one bedroom and doesn't have a lot of storage built in but it is a good place for her. It is one street off the main street in Madison. Madison is 130 blocks of declared Historical District so you can imagine how quaint it is. Lots of antique shops too. Its funny but she is one street away from the quilt shop, it is almost directly behind her! Of course I *had* to visit Margie's Country Store. It was a smallish shop but they had a lot of nice things and the ladies were very nice. We told Shelby that everyone knows your business in a small town and she got to see first hand how friendly everyone was to her. She went into the local jewelry store to have a tag made for her cat and now has 2 new friends (the owners) who told her to come see them if she needs anything. Actually several shop owners told her this and offered their home phone numbers.
The photo of Shelby is in front of the fountain about a block from her apt. We still need to pack the rest of her things and actually move her stuff to IN but she took what she needed to at least live for a few weeks. DH is a pilot for a private company and he had an overnight trip to Indianapolis on Mon, so he took her bike, her printer, a radio and a box of misc. "stuff" and dropped it off in her car at the school where she is working. She called me on Mon before she went into the school. She was supposed to be there at 9am and was already there at 8:30, and she is NOT an early morning person. Just excited, I think. We are so proud of her and excited to see her spread her wings.
When she was a little girl she gave my DH an empty box with a note telling him that because he is gone so much she knew that he would miss home and be lonely. So she blew in kisses and hugs so he could take the box with him and never have to miss them. Well, he remembered and bought her a box with some IN stuff on it. I wrote her the note telling her not to be lonely that we are just a phone call away and that whenever she was missing us the box was full of our kisses and our hugs! We cried when she read it. It is bittersweet as the mama watching the fledglings leave the nest, but I hope and pray that she will spread her wings and fly as we have prepared her to do.
I still have more SF pictures but this was more important right now. How did you feel when your DK's left the nest?