Cats and Quilts

It seems like they are a natural combination. I happened to be on my computer looking for some other quilt pics and I found these of some of our cats. The first one is our cat Aiden. She belongs to my oldest daughter, Shelby.

In the next one, I was finishing up a Noah's arc that I designed around a panel for friends of ours that had twins and I had them draped all around. The pink and purple one was a graduation quilt I made for a friend of my other daughter's. In this pic Aiden and Mosen and my son, Thadd are all in the quilt "tent" and have appeared to have fallen victim to a "nap zone". You all know the place. You start petting the cat(s) innocently and then, WHAM, you are fast asleep. Well, my friend, you are in the cat's "nap zone". I believe they could take over the world if they could organize. Hmmm...maybe we should send cats to Iraq, we could use some of the Iraquies to fall into a nap zone...

The next pic is a close up of Mosen. Isn't he so sweet? He is napping on a flannel rag quilt I made for my dad for Christmas 2 years ago.

The last one is of Autumn, one of our 2 calico cats. The other one is Halloween, or Hallie for short. Then we have Captain Jack. I will have to snap some pics of him to post too.

I am working on a quilt for my son at the moment. He is a huge University of Texas fan so I found some UT fabric and finally settled on a design but I altered it, of course, so it works better for what I had in mind. I have all the squares sewn, but I need to blanket stitch around the applique before I can assemble it. I will try to get pics of the blocks and post them so you can see the progress.

I just wanted to get something new on this page so you didn't think I had forgotten. It has been a busy week and will be a busy weekend. I have to work tomorrow (every day actually) then the women at my work are having a Henna party. I am still deciding if I want to go. We have a lacrosse game for Thadd on Sat in the am and then Kelsey has her university swimming banquet on Sun at. She earned her varsity letter as a freshman at Michigan State University! The best part about the weekend is that I will *finally* be able to give the anniversary quilt to my sister-in-law and brother-in-law as they are in the same city as my daughter.

Have a good evening and let me know what you think of the kitties!!

The Heirloom

I had a few minutes so I thought I would post the story behind the "Heirloom" quilt. A few years ago, I made a rag quilt for my nephew, also our Godson, for his high school graduation. My intent was that when he went away to college, he could take it with him and it would be a nice utility quilt for college. You know the kind I mean, flannel, with cut, raggedy edges? Well his mother had other ideas. She told me it was an "heirloom" and that he would not be allowed to take it with him! I tried to reason with her but to no avail. So when his mom and dad had their 25th anniversary, I decided I would make a *real* "heirloom" quilt for them. Possibly, by anyone else's standards, my quilt is not an heirloom, but it is the second most intricate quilt I have yet to make in the 5 years I have been quilting, so for me it qualifies!
So when we went to their new home to get an idea on colours, Margie gave me the tiniest bit of fabric and told me to use those colours. So I have included the *bit* on the label. From tiny acorns grow mighty oaks! I guess this is the case.

Enjoy the pic and the story.

HAPPY EASTER!

I know it has been a long time since I have posted, it has been crazy busy with Lacrosse season going on! Now that I have a minute to breathe and no one is on the computer, I have uploaded the pics I promised. The first one is of the butterfly quilt the ladies in my church group made. I cut out all the butterflies and fused them to the background. The ladies took the blocks home and did the blanket stitch by hand around them. They also put on the antennas. I finally got all the blocks returned in Jan (it was handed out in Jan of 06). I put them all together and but on the borders. The outside border with the smaller butterflies had to be done after the center was done, so some of the ladies took the entire quilt and finished the hand-work. As you can see it was spectacular!! I took it to a long arm quilting friend of mine and she did the quilting. It doesn't show up very well, but she did 4 hearts in the white centers, 2 hearts along the edge and 1 in each corner, along with some other creative quilting on the borders. She did a fabulous job!

The next pics are of the Easter postcards I made. It was fun, and I think everyone has received them.

The last pic is the anniversary quilt I made for my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. They had their 25th anniversary last June. Their children planned a party but we had very little advanced notice. I wanted to make a quilt but did not have enough time. They had just moved so, I also did not know the colours in their new home. We went to visit them in August and she gave me a small swatch of fabric with the colours on it (which I included on the label, just to be funny!) When we got home there was an issue of Quiltmaker waiting for me with this quilt on the cover. I had been thinking about what to make and this seemed perfect, just what I had been thinking of! Unfortunately, it was a 3 part series, groan, so I had to wait 6 months (the mag only comes out every other month!) for all the patterns! I began making what I could and finally finished in March. I think it came out really nice and can't wait to give it to them. I sent them the fabric postcard I made with some of the fabrics from their quilt in it and told them to call me as I had something for them. She loved the postcard so I can't wait to hear what they think about the quilt!! There is a story behind the quilt in addition to the one I already told so I will post it another day with the label, so you can see the tiny fabric swatch I had to work with.

Have a blessed Easter!

These are the last 3 postcards I have finished. I sent most of them in the mail already. I think I may try to make some for Easter, but we will have to see, this week and next are extremely busy. Thadd, my son, has begun lacrosse season. They had their first game tonight in the rain, naturally! They lost but he scored a goal : ) I have quilting tomorrow with the ladies at the church so I may try to take the butterfly quilt and my sampler quilt and take pictures. I will post them as soon as I actually take them! Leave me a note and let me know you were here!

I had a busy weekend as you can see! I made some more fabric postcards on Saturday with the church quilt group. I tried to teach the ladies how to make them too. Some of them made some there and others took the things home to do it there. We meet again on Wednesday so we will see who has some finished! I am excited to put these in the mail. Some of them will go out now and some later.

I also sewed the label on the butterfly quilt that the ladies did for the church. I will have to take a picture of it and post it later (it's about 6:30am and the light is terrible!) I finished sewing the binding on the sampler quilt I made for my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. I was watching the most Dangerous Job, where the follow the Alaskan king crab fishermen on their boats in the Bearing Straights. If you have never seen it I highly recommend it. It is on the Discovery channel, but I digress. I also got the label done and sewn on. It feels good to get some quilts finished!

I didn't know what to begin next, but I had a wall hanging all cut out so I started that. It is called "Santa's Christmas Card". It is Santa standing next to a line of his reindeer. It called for 8 but I made it just a little bigger and added Rudolph! The pattern had him as the first one but there were only 8 including him and being slightly OCD, I had to have it correct! I got them all fused in place, no slight task as there were many small pieces. Then came the borders. I have decided to try to use what I have vs always buying new, at least whenever I can, so down the basement I went to my "stash" to look for border fabric. I almost gave up but this little voice kept nagging me to keep looking and go through the stash "one more time". So I did and I found perfect fabric for the border! So I cut them and put them on the wall hanging. Then I decided to cut and make the binding and I realized I would have to piece it and cut it smaller than I usually do to make it from the fabric I wanted to use (the same as the inner border), but I did it and I feel pretty good about it! Well, off to work I go now. Have a Blessed day!

I finally have time to post the pictures I promised I would post. The first one is of the stone stamp my friend Yuki carved for me. Isn't it beautiful? If you look really hard you can see the Japanese characters spelling out my name! The stone stamp has a top, which is the next picture. It shows what the stamp looks like. As I said before her mother sent me some coloured ink. I made her a "thank-you" postcard which is the picture I posted here. I stamped the back using the 3 new inks from Japan and of course wrote a thank-you note on the back as well. I hope you enjoy the photos. Don't be afraid to leave a coment. It would be nice to know if anyone is looking!

I've Discovered Fabric Postcards!!

Thanks Rebecca, for the easiest directions EVER!!! I made three tonight. It was fantastic. The only thing I had difficulty with was the Peltex I bought. It lists 3 kinds on the same directions, no fuse, one side fusible and both sides fusible. I discovered that mine is fusible on both sides, (now I have to clean the iron, : ( )

I took a photo of the one I made for my Godson, Mark for his birthday. He is attending Michigan State University so his has a Spartan theme. I forgot and wrote on it before I took the photo, so I will only post the front. The back is just plain white anyway. I promise I will post one of the other ones later. I made one for my DD that is also a Spartan so it is pretty much like Mark's. I made a third one as a thank-you for a friend's mother. My friend, Yuki, carved a stamp out of stone for me with a pinwheel on it. It also has my name in perfect, tiny Japanese characters! I really wanted to be able to use this on my quilt labels but could not find ink (like the kind used for rubber stamps) that would not wash out of fabric. Unlike rubber stamps where the part stamping sticks out this one is recessed. Anyway, her mother sent me 3 different colours of ink! Purple, Green and Red. I tried it on the postcards and it works great!! So, I made her a postcard as way of a thank-you. I will take a picture tomorrow and post it along with pictures of the stone stamp. That Yuki is a wonder! Let me know what you think of my first postcard.

WoW! I just found a great bolg containing directions on how to make a fabric postcard. I am going to post it here. You ALL need to check it out. I haven't had much time to look at Red Shoes Blog but I look forward to the exploration. Her instructions made me want to run right out and make some fabric postcards. Let me know what you think.

http://debrichardson.com/blog/2005/09/26/how-to-make-a-fabric-postcard-debr-style/

I had a fun girls day out with my friends Robin and Yuki. We decided to visit a quilt shop we had heard a lot about. It is in Bettsville Ohio about 2 hours from where I live. We left early in the morning and got there around the time they opened. It is a smallish shop in the middle of *nowhere*! An old barn packed full of fabric! Over 15,000 bolts!!! It was overwhelming! Here are just a few photos of some of the rows of fabric.





Door Mouse Visit


Here is a picture of Yuki and I and one of me, Yuki and Robin:



After spending almost 3 hours in the shop we went to the local golf course for lunch (there are NO other places for lunch!). We went to another shop in Sylvania, Ohio and then stopped at the Quilt Patch in Tecumeseh, Michigan for our final stop of the trip. We left just as a shop hop bus was arriving! Perfect timing!!

I told you I would post a pic of my siggy block. I finally got them all signed! WHEW!!


I have been working on the sampler quilt for my sister-in-law and got all the rows sewn together today too. It took an hour for each row! It is really beautiful. The colours are a red, green gold and chocolate brown (Moda kind of colours). I have to find a border fabric now. I will be going with some friends to a shop called the Door Mouse, it's in Ohio, next Saturday. I have to go and do some laundry. The fun never ends around here, hahaha!!

BIG TENS

Well, I have returned from the Big Ten championships in Minnesota. My daughter swam well, 2 lifetime bests! It was really, really cold there though.

This is a photo of my daughter and her teammate with frozen hair! She froze her hair and I am the one that returned home ill! go figure. I did manage to visit some quilt shops while on this little trip. We stopped in Hudson, WI and there was a nice little quilt shop right off the highway! I bought a few things there. Then between prelims and finals, I went to 3 quilt shops in MN. I found a wonderful book entitled, "Minnesota Memories". I loved some of the things in it, like the mosquitos and fish and bobbers! I want to make a fishing quilt for my husband and thought those things would work into it very well.

I finished my siggy swap blocks and now have to write on them and then get them in the mail. I am excited to see what everyone else has done. I will post a pic of mine here later in the week.

I am also working on 4 dresden plate blocks for a friend of my daughter, Shelby's. I got all the "plates" done and they are pinned to the background. I am hoping to get that done soon so I can move on. I need to finish the quilt for my sister-in-law so I can begin to work on quilts for my son and husband. I still don't have a quilt on my bed and that is one of the things I want to accomplish this year!

I was working on several quilt projects last night while watching the superbowl, or rather the super bowl commercials. I am making a sampler quilt for my sister-in-law and brother-in-law's 25th anniversary, so I worked on those blocks. The pattern was spread out in 3 magazines so now that I have them all I can actually work on finishing it. I have the blocks from the first month done and am now half way through the second month.

I signed up for a signature block exchange with Aussie Quilter. There are now 40 people signed up to participate. Thank you Cynthia for doing this! It should be fun. I was so excited about it I made the triangles for the siggy block last night too. I made them the same way as Bea did. Thanks for the tip! : D

Then one of my daughter Shelby's friends gave her some fabric that used to be her grandmothers. She asked if I could make something from it for her to remember her grandmother by. The fabric looks like it is from the 70's so I wanted something kind of old-fashioned. I decided on a dresden plate. I made one of the units last night. I will applique it down in the car on the way to Minnesota this week. I used a template from Elenor Burns that made the point east and no needle turn! The top was a straight cut, I folded the "petal" in half length wise and sewed a 1/4" seam across the tip of the petal. Well, when you turn the seam to the inside of the petal the point is made and you have no raw edge for the point! It was great! I then sewed the petals together into the ring. Now I will applique it down and make a center to cover my raw edges on the inside of the unit. I think I will make 4 of them for a wall hanging. The colours of fabrics are so varied that I think each plate will be a different colour scheme.

We leave for Minnesota on Wed. My middle daughter swims for Michigan State University. MSU is in the Big Ten Conference (see the quilt in the last post for all the schools). The championship meet is Thurs-Sat this week. She is swimming one event each day. Keep her in your thoughts and pray for some fast swims!!

Leave me a comment and let me know what is going on with you and your families!

It's been awhile since I have had time to post. Life has been hectic to say the least! I hope everyone had a nice holiday and is looking forward to 2007. After the U of M raffle was done I didn't think I would want to quilt for awhile, but I ended up making a "quickie" just before Christmas. We were doing a secret santa in our lab and I just happened to draw one of my friends. Well, she is from Brazil and had never heard of the poem "The Night Before Christmas. So I decided to give her small gifts from the poem. I was stumped for the final gift, which is usually something nice. My husband and I were in Shipshewana and I was in the fabric store (of course) and there I saw it. A "Night Before Christmas" panel! Well I *had* to buy it and make a quilt for my friend!! She loved it. So that was my last quilt before Christmas. Since January 1st of 07 I have finsihed and given away 3 more!!




My son has a good friend who was just diagnosed with Lukemia. He is only 15. They played football together. I made him a football field, complete with his number in the corners, "Go Rocks" (the school mascot) quilted into the sides and the school emblem appliqued on the back. It was all flannel so when he has his chemo he can stay warm. Well, we had a little party and all the football players signed the large label and Mike loved it!









The next one was for a raffle of a sister parish. Our priest asked out church group to make a quilt for them and as the leader, it sort of fell to me to get it done. I used asian fabrics and a variation of a friendship star and desigedn it, it was a simple one!




The last one was for a good friend's daughter. She has been having some health problems too. Not as serious of the lukemia (we hope anyway) but difficult anyway. She LOVES Curious George. Years ago I bought a panel that was a soft cloth book of CG. I made it into a quit for her. She loves it!!



I will post some pics of these quilts along with the "Big Ten" quilt, which was the other one I helped make for the U of M raffle. I actually made the MSU and Northwestern, and Big Ten blocks and I appliqued all the centers except Wisconsin and Indiana. We had 26 quilts and raised $11,000 for our charity!


Enjoy the pics and let me know what you think of the quilts!

I work at the University of Michigan in the Pathology department of the Medical school. Each year our department does things to raise money for patient charity here at the U. Last year we were able to give 27 families $1000 each at the holiday time. These are people that are in the hospital (or a family member is) and they are determined to be "in need" by the department of social work here at the University. One of the things we do is a quilt raffle. We made $7800 last year and are hoping to make even more this year. Many people donated quilts. Last year we had 13 quilts. I think we will have more this year. I am going to post photos of the quilt I made for the raffle this year. Let me know what you think of it! I am hoping it will raise a lot of money. Here is the link to view previous years quilts and to look for to view this years quilts (after Nov 20th).

www.pathology.med.umich.edu

Here are some pics of the quilt I made 2 years ago called "Oh Holy Night". It was a pattern published in the Jan/Feb 04 edition of Quiltmaker magazine.




I saw this quilt in an issue of Fons and Porter magazine and fell in love with it. My friend Liz longarm quilted it. If any of you need a good longarm quilter email me and I will give you her email address. I call the quilt "Star of Wonder". Enjoy!!




Here are a few close ups too:

I heard recently about a book called One Thousand Gifts. It talks about the things you are thankful for in your life, things provided by God. I think I am going to start a list too as I have soooo many things to thank God for. I am going to try to reach 1000 tings too. Feel free to let me know what you are thankful for and link here with your list! Happy Thanksgiving!!

1-A loving God

2-A loving Family

3-wonderful children

4-amazing cats

5-My mom and dad

6-My sisters, even though I didn't always appreciate them : )

7-Reliable transportation

8-A house to live in

9-My bernina

10-doctors, especially this last year!

11-Sunshine on a cloudy day

12-My wonderful friends

13-My international friends

14-the smell of clean hair

15-The smell of chlorine on a wet swimmer

16-The ability to watch my wet swimmer swim

17-Eye glasses

18-the smell of fresh cut grass

19-The smell of banana bread baking in the oven

20-Thread

21-My washer and dryer

22-My dishwasher

23-kittens and puppies

24-email and the internet

25-chocolate