March UFO Busting

It's time to link up with Carrie at A Passion for Applique with my March UFO Busting.

This is my half Hexagon Table or Baby quilt. 

And my EQ7 BOM quilt.

The third UFO on my list was my Primitive Primer....I'm sorry to say I never got around to working on it.

Well I'm off to link up.

Have a wonderful Easter weekend.

Hugs, Cathy

Another March UFO Busted

Yes!!  I finished another UFO that was on my UFO Busting list.

Here is my EQ7 2011 BOM.  I machine quilted it in the ditch.  I'm really happy with the way it turned out and I am very happy to have completed another UFO.

I also finished quilting and binding a cupcake quilt.

Don't know why the photo is so blurry....must be the photographer...LOL  One down and 4 to go.


I got my March Seasonal Applique BOM done.

Every thing is needle turn appliqued except for the shamrock.  It is fused.  I think that this block is very appropriate seeing it keeps snowing here and we are all thinking spring.


I got a few more blocks made for my Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt.

Like I said before I am using a Jelly Roll I got from Connecting Threads.  I didn't get a chance to work on it too much as I have been suffering from Sinus headaches.  I sure will be happy when this weather finally changes.


I have a few other projects waiting to be hand quilted and as soon as they are done I'll show them to you.  I've also been cutting some of my scraps into strips and square to use in some mini quilts I have planned.

Well the sun is shining and it's warming up a bit.  I need to run out and get a few things for Easter Dinner.  My daughter Kim is making dinner and asked me to make Potato Salad and Watergate Salad.  I think I better make extra as I love both.

Wishing you some warm weather, melting snow and friendship.

Hugs, Cathy

Is Spring on its Way...

They say it is.  I even saw a Robin.  However, the weather is not being very cooperative.  Cold, rain, then snow, sunshine, then gray skies.  I am so ready for some warm tropical breezes.  But until they come, let's sew.

I finished my Small Quilt Talk March Challenge Quilt.

The challenge was to use some ugly fabrics.  It's funny...what looked ugly on it's own doesn't look ugly in the quilt.  This is my first challenge quilt with the group.


My second finish is a project that I made about 4 years ago but never quilted.

It is a table runner I made using leftover block from a quilt I made my son Michael 6 years ago.  I finally pin basted and machine quilted it.  It is approx. 4 feet long.  I am slowly getting some older projects finished.


I also got the top finished from my EQ7 BOM.

Now I need to get it pin basted and machine quilted.  It is on my UFO Busting list for March.


And then there are some projects that weren't on the horizon....but I just had to start.

Last year my granddaughter Ashley asked if I would make her a quilt.  We chose a design, a plaid quilt, and she picked out colors.  I had her go to the paint store and get paint samples for the colors she wanted.  I took these to the fabric store and chose fabrics that matched the chips.  Then I got chosen for the Scrap Squad and was not able to start the quilt.  The other day I was digging for fabric and came across the fabric for her quilt.  I decided I had better start working on it.  I plan on making at least 1 block a day.

Notice anything funny about the top left block.  I didn't notice until I put it up on the design wall and took a photo.  I took it apart yesterday and resewed it.  
The dark fabric is navy with a lighter blue running through it.  Probably not the colors I would have chosen but the colors an 11 year old would.

The second project is a Bonnie Hunter free pattern, Scrappy Trip Around the World.  I have seen so many people working on it and I just had to make one.

I'm using a jelly roll I got from Connecting Threads and a jelly roll of Moda solid neutrals.  It won't be as scrappy as some I've seen but I like my first block.


I forgot to tell you....My son's girlfriend commissioned me to make a photo quilt for her friend.  She wants it in autumn colors.  I designed a quilt on EQ with Maple leaf blocks and log cabin blocks.  The photo's would be in the center of the log cabin blocks.  I just started working on it and really don't have anything to show you yet.

I just got the March patterns for the Sentimental Stitches Applique and Pieced BOM's.  The applique is a house with a shamrock on it.  The pieced is going to be fun...lots of y seams.

I finished the row for my Patchwork Posse Winter Wonderland quilt.  I need to do some embroidery on it before I can show it to you.

And I have another little quilt that I made 2 years ago in the quilting frame.  Hopefully I can finish it this week so I can share a photo.

Well, I guess I had better get going.  Putting on a pot of Cabbage Soup for dinner and then off to the sewing room.  Wonder what I will be working on today.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful day.

Hugs, Cathy

Happy Dance....

Another finish.   This is one of my three projects on my March UFO Busting.

 I so didn't like this quilt while working on it but now that it is finished I love it.  It is approximately 36"x 36".  I had in mind a table quilt but it looks like it would make a nice baby quilt.  You can hardly see where the half hexagons were sewn together (except on the large red check hexagons.)


I started working on my second UFO Busting Project.

 Here are the blocks from the 2011 EQ7 BOM.  I only made 9 blocks and really don't want to make anymore.

This is the layout I came up with.  I'm hoping it will look better once it is sewn together.  I'm hoping to get the top sewn together later today.


I also finished the hand quilting last night (while watching Hell's Kitchen) on my Stripy Triangles Quilt and plan on attaching the binding and finishing that up tonight.


I have to laugh at some of the comments I have gotten.  Mainly....Do I do anything but sew?  Well, occasionally I do vacuum, and I cook, sometimes I do laundry and dishes....but yes...I do a lot of sewing.  I have a very understanding DH.  He retired last year and believe it or not he likes to do dishes and the laundry.  As long as I cook he is a happy camper.  Also I get a lot of sewing done in the winter...but come spring, summer and fall we love to go camping.  I usually don't get as much done then.

However, since we bought a new trailer, I have one of the storage compartments under one of the benches which will be mine all mine.  I plan on taking one of my featherweights with me and some projects.

It's cold here in Michigan today.  We woke up to snow, wind and icy streets.  Another good day to stay indoors and sew.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Hugs, Cathy

So Much Done....

First of all a question.  What do you think of my new header picture?  It reminds me of the end of summer.
I've been busy this last week.

This is September's EQ7 BOM.  It was a difficult block that I made easier by dividing up the block into squares and triangles. 

Here is the nine blocks all together.  It is going to be a nice wall hanging when its done.

I got behind on my Barbara Brackman CW Blocks.  Now I'm up to date. 

I really love the 15 minutes play BOM.  I ran out of cheddar and bought some new fabric.  It is slightly different but I think it will work.  This is the Anvil block.  Victoria posted a tutorial for the block on the 15 minutes play blog.  The link is on my side bar.

Here is Cowen's quilt.  I just finished sewing down the binding this morning and had to hang it up to get a picture.  I love how it turned out.  I machine quilted in the ditch on the pieced blocks and had quilted either a heart or star in the plain blocks.  I backed it with some flannel fabric.  Now we await the arrival of Cowen.

I've mentioned before that I belong to a group called "Quilters, Books and Bindings".  We are all reading the same book and then we are making a quilt from some aspect of the book.  The book is The Lover's Knot by Clare O'Donohue.  It takes place in a town on the shores of the Hudson River.  In the book there is a scene along the river where the main character in the book is re-proposed to .  This is what my quilt is based on.  I made it small so I can kill two birds with one quilt.  When I'm done it will be my September AAQI quilt.

And finally.....

I'm changing out my quilts again.  I love this Log Cabin quilt.  I was given a ton of strips from a quilting friend.  At the time my daughter, Kim, was just starting to sew so I offered them to her.  She declined by saying you can't make anything from them.  Well I just had to prove her wrong.  This is what I came up with.  You know my scraps are getting bigger so I think it is time to make another Log Cabin quilt. 

I hope you have had a nice time visiting with me today.  I've enjoyed sharing. 

Wishing you a quilty weekend.

Hugs, Cathy

A Few Things I've Been Working On...

This is the latest EQ7 BOM.  I worked on it after I did my last post.  After I made it I put all the blocks from this BOM on the design wall.

I really like how these blocks are looking.  Can't wait to finish this one.

The latest Barbara Brackman CV BOW.  I was going to try an easier way but I really liked the way the stripes looked.

I was asked to show all my Floribunda blocks that I finished.  13 all together.  You know it is funny how they look so different in person than they do in a picture. 

Today I played around and did a border on my Follow Your Bliss Quilt-a-Long.  I was going to make log cabin blocks but really didn't want to do paper piecing for this.  I like how this one works.   I'm working on this with Sarah Vee @ Sew Joy (a link is on my side bar).

The heat has been terrible here.  Then last night we had rain, today we had rain, and now it is cooler but still high humidity.  Hope it is comfortable where ever you may be.

Just heard that my Nephew Nate who is stationed in Germany with his wife Ashley and adorable son Talin are expecting there second son.  Now I can start the baby quilt.

So as always, I wish you a quilty day.

Hugs, Cathy


Go Detroit Tigers!!!!

Just Had to Show You

This is EQ7 BOM.  It went together so much easier than it looks.  You sew it like a 9 patch.  Remember this is a free BOM.  If you make the month's block send a picture to EQ and you have a chance at winning a prize.  You don't have to have EQ because they give you the directions on their blog.  I don't have EQ7 but I do have EQ5. 

Their blog is listed on my side bar.

Have a great weekend. 

Hugs, Cathy

I'm Loving this Weather....

It's in the 70's, low humidity, sun shining, and a beautiful breeze.  Please excuse my excitement over the weather.  But we have had such crappy weather lately it's hard not to be excited about some sunshine.

Got up bright and early and went to the eye Doctor's.  I sat on my glasses and knocked one of the arms off.  I was so afraid that they couldn't be fixed but I was wrong.  5 minutes later I was out the door, glasses better than ever and on my way to Metro Beach for my morning walk.

Since this is the 1st of the month I had to work on the EQ BOM.  This one was a tough one.  Not happy with the way it turned out but it will just have to do.  To many projects so little time.

I've been having so much fun with 15 Minutes Play that I decided to do the BOM.  It started in April.    So I pulled my red and blue scraps and made some fabric.  I had some cheddar yellow for the background and went to work.  I was soooo happy with the results till I looked at every one's blocks.  I didn't follow the directions very well.  It's not the right star.  So back to drawing board.

I leave you with a picture of my granddaughter Cassidy at her first baseball game of the season.  (Technically it is the second as the first was rained out.)  She is sitting on her dad's lap.  I'm proud to say she got a couple of hits.  Parents, Nana, brother, uncle and various friends cheered them on.  We all had a good time.

I hope you are having the same weather we are.  Enjoy the sunshine.

Hugs, Cathy

I GOT A SQUISHEY IN THE MAIL

I received this in the mail yesterday.  It is for the 12" x 12" Something from Nothing quilt swap.  My quilt was made by Em of "Em Celebrates".  This beautiful quilt was wrapped in the fabric shown and tied with the pink fabric.  This picture does not do it justice.  The machine quilting is to die for.  She did such a fantastic job.  The flower and leaves are raw edge applique.  She thread signed the front of the quilt.  I adore this quilt.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, Em.

Seeing this is the first of the month I naturally went to the EQ blog to get the pattern for this months BOM contest.  I had to show you all of them together.  The block bordered in black is May's block.  I already sent a picture to EQ.  I may be late on everything else but I can't seem to wait to do the EQ BOM.

Made some more of the Disappearing Four Patch blocks.  I am going to make a lap quilt, 5 blocks across and 6 rows down.  Some of you may remember that I had spent 4 years in the Upper Peninsula taking care of my Dad.  Part of this entailed taking him every 2 weeks  to the hospital to get shots for his hemoglobin count.  The nurse who took care of him, Janet, was such a wonderful person.  When we found out Dad had bone cancer and his time was short, Janet helped me get him into the hospital, told all the nurses he was her special patient and did her best to make him comfortable.  She also helped me keep it together and get through a difficult time.  Well, this quilt is going to Janet for her Chemo Therapy room.  I'm hoping to get her a couple more.  Any way......

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday.  It is overcast and raining off and on here.  Another good day to stay in the sewing room making future treasures.

Hope you have a quilty day.

Hugs, Cat

A Light at the End of the Tunnel....

Although I still have that darn virus I am getting better.  This is the worse bug I have had in years.

Sunday Terry and I decided it was time I got out of the house.  Our plan was to do some antiquing and then go out to lunch.  We drove up to Holly and it started sprinkling.  While in the first shop it started snowing....not ordinary snow.  It was big drops of slush.  I was soaked to the skin walking to the car.  So thus ended our day.  The roads were icy and the freeway was a mess.  We counted about 20 cars either in a ditch or in an accident. 

With our bad weather lately I have had time to do some sewing.  I got the latest EQ BOM done.  I've been using hand dyed and batiks.  I redid all my blocks in these colors and am really happy with the way they are turning out.  

I made the latest Barbara  Brackman Civil War block.  I am enjoying making these blocks every week. 

I'm still working on my Farmer's Wife blocks. 

I've entered another quilt in the Quilter's Gallery weekly contest.  This week's category is applique.  So I have entered the quilt I made from a class I took with Gwen Marston.  Voting starts on Friday.

Most of my time has been taken up working on a 12" quilt for a swap I signed up with 15 Minutes Play.  I can't show you it yet since I don't want my partner to see it yet.  So I'll show it to you after I mail it. 

Wishing you all a quilty day.

Hugs, Cat

RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY....

But then again it is better than SNOW...

So what to do on a rainy day....why shop of course.  Got up early and headed to the grocery store.  Now where....well, down the street there just happened to be a JoAnn ETC.

Boy did I luck out today.  Usually I get to the store and all the clearance is gone.  Not today.  I bought a new lap quilting frame.  It has 2 size quilting hoops, 10" and 14"  The regular price was $49.99 and I got it for $15.00. 

Once I started looking I found a great ruler for $4.00, glass head pins for $4.00, rotary cutting blade for  $2.00 for 2, and Feather Templates for $4.00.  The funny thing is I just went in to get a light bulb for my sewing machine.  And yes I did get it.

This week has been a busy one.  I got more quilting done on Sunflower Quilt #1, a little more done on my Granny's Hankie BOM. (Nothing to show yet).   I re-did my EQ 7 BOM's.   Each month I did the blocks with different fabrics.  I really liked the way I did this months blocks so I decided to re-do the blocks and this is how I will be doing the rest of the BOM's.

There is only one block left for the Thread Head Quilt-a-Long.  Joanne said she would be posting it next week.  I had to make extra blocks because mine are only 6".  I showed the three rows I had completed in an earlier blog.  Here is what the remainder rows look like.  I decided to start sewing some of the completed rows together.  But as you can see, I needed to cut more sashing, corner stones and borders first.  I put the border fabric up where it wouldn't get lost in my messy sewing room.  Well, I looked high, I looked low, I looked under and I looked over.  But I couldn't find it.   So I decided to start on something else.

I have quite a few quilt tops, wall quilts and table runners that need to be quilted.  Most will be machine quilted, just some quilt in the ditch.  So I pulled out a couple of quilts to sandwich and pin so I could quilt them today.  When I grabbed my container of pins I saw something blue peeking out from behind some books.  Yeah, you guessed it....I found my border fabric. 

But since I already had my sewing table cleared off I decided to go ahead and get some quilts ready for quilting.  I am all set to quilt a wall hanging that was a mystery quilt from years ago, a table runner that I designed while living up north, and a lap quilt made up of some quilt blocks I made about 20 years ago (I could tell they were that old because it has a lot of polyester in it).   So today I will be working on these. 

Today Barbara Brackman posted the new Civil War block and Bunny Hill posted the newest BOM for Henrietta Whiskers (It is adorable).  So this weeks To-Do List will consist of:

1. Finish machine quilting the 3 projects I sandwiched.
2. Cut the borders, sashings and corner stones for the Thread Head Quilt-a-Long.
3. Do Barbara Brackman latest block.
4. Do the Henrietta Whiskers block.
5. More hand quilting on Sunflower Quilt #1.
6. More applique on Granny's Hankie BOM.

Wish me luck.  What are you working on? 

Wishing you a quilty day.  Hugs, Cat

It's a Great Day

The sun is shining, the snow is melting and the Robins are singing. 

And I got the book I won in the mail today.  Spotlight on Scraps by Cyndi Walker is the book I won from Kate, the Quilting Professor.  I couldn't have been happier since I have been making nothing but scrap quilts lately.  There are 10 quilts in the book including appliqueing and piecing.  The directions are wonderful.  Thank you so much Kate I really love it.  I already know which quilt I want to make after I finish up all the projects I'm working on. 

Well since today is the 1st of the month it was time to do the next EQ7 block.  I have decided to redo my other 2 blocks to match this one.  I pulled out my hand dyed and batiks.  I really like the way this one looks.  Now remember you don't have to have EQ7, (I have EQ5) in fact you don't have to have EQ at all.  You just need to download the block pattern each month.  They give you rotary cutting directions, templates, or foundation piecing.  So give them a try.

I also want to let you know that you can see a great baby quilt and get a chance to win a Go-Baby at http://www.pleasant-home.com/.   Good luck.

Hope you're having a quilty day.     Hugs, Cat

We Survived.....

Well, it wasn't as bad as we thought.  They said we got 6" to 10".  I think we were somewhere in the middle.  Although it's hard to tell.  The wind was so strong last night and the snow drifted quilte a bit.  This is a picture outside my front door.  It's snowing right now, but it is a fine snow.  It is suppose to stop sometime around noon. 

I hope everyone in the line of the storm survived as well. 

Besides worrying about the storm, I got some sewing done.  I worked on Barbara Brackmans Civil War Blocks. 

The sawtooth star block was easy.  It is one of my favorite blocks and I have made it many times.  Texas Tears is another story.  This is the second one I made.  I won't even show you the first.  It was sooooo bad that it wouldn't lay flat.  So I printed up the block in blockbase and found I was cutting the pieces for the X to wide.  I'm happy with my final result.
So now I have 3 done and 2 to go.

EQ posted February's block.  I'm always so last minute with everything that I decided to get this one done right away.  My choice of colors is so different from the samples they give, but I always did like to be different. 


And BTW I found the fabric for the center of my sunflower.  I was looking for something different and there it was.  So today I will cut out the center, baste it down and applique it tonight. 

Now I'm going to have another cup of coffee, one of my breakfast muffins, and then off to the sewing room.  Today I'm going to work on my Thread Head Quilt-a-Long blocks.

Have a quilty day.....Hugs, Cat

Snow Advisories Last Night....

And woke up to more snow this morning.  However, it wasn't as bad as they said.

As you can see it was just an inch or so.  Now if I were up north it would probably be 9 or 10 inches and the picture would be much prettier.







Well I worked on my to-do list.  I only got 3 petals of my sunflower appliqued down last night while watching TV.  I think I watched more then appliqued.  But 3 is better than none.

I did however finish the 4th border for my RRCB.  Today I'm going to make the corner pieces and sew the borders to the top. 

I got my EQ7 January block finished and sent it in to the webmaster but for some reason it has not been posted.  Oh well, at least I made it.  For those of you who don't have EQ7 (and I'm one of them) you can still make the block.  They provide the templates and cutting instructions for you to download and print.  Each month a new block and a chance to win a prize.

                                                                                                            

I forgot to add something to my list.  That was the mug rugs for the mug rug swap I'm in.  Both are now finished and I just need to sew the binding down on the second one.  Went with a different pattern for it.   I hope the recipient will enjoy them.  I can't wait to see what I get.

Well after one day I worked on 3 projects on my to-do list, finished one, added one and now I need to go in my sewing room and start working on the rest.

I hope you can get some things done on your to-do list or bucket list. 

Have a quilty day....Hugs, Cat