Prim Quilt Swap

 Good morning from rainy, windy and very overcast Marquette.  We finally got a chance to come up and visit my son and his family.  It rained coming up, overnight, and now today.  It's okay because we get to visit.

Now the quilty stuff.  I belong to a Facebook group called "Prim Folk Art Quilts".  Recently they had a quilt swap.  We were to make a Prim quilt with flowers.  It was to be between 15" to 20".   It sounded like fun so I signed up.

Here is the quilt I made.

The center flower pot is a design by Cheri Payne, from her pattern Camp Quilts.  I designed the border.  The recipient was very happy with the quilt.

This is the quilt I received.

It was made by Lorraine Hofmann.  It is a Jan Patek patter and the fabrics were designed Jan Patek .

This was a fun Quilt Swap and I was really happy with what I received.

Well, back to visiting with family.  Hopefully the rain will stop so we can go out for a while.

Have a great weekend.

Hugs, Cathy

Yippie!

So much has happened, so much to share.  This will be a long one so buckle up.

First off my UFO busting projects.

 I finished my table topper.  I still have a hard time sewing binding on a hexagon quilt.  But I'm happy with it.  I plan on making some more in holiday fabrics.

 Here is my finished top for my Scrappy Trip Around the World.  I decided to do it in diagonal stripes instead of circles.  My hubby liked this layout the best.  I didn't have time to quilt it yet....So much going on.


We went up north to visit my son Patrick and his family.  They have a 3 month old Fox Red Lab.  Her name is Roxxie.  She had a ball with our little Sammie.  Sammie gave as good as she got.  The trouble was Roxxie tired out Sammie.  While playing together they got a little wild.  I was out of the room and they knocked over my computer.   I thought a new cord would fix it...nope!  The battery charge port broke off from the mother board.  It would take about  $350 to fix it.  I got a new computer for $400.  It is not quite as nice as my original but I like it.  It is just going to take a while to get used to Windows 8.

This morning I learned how to upload pictures on this computer.  I took a few pictures while up north.

On Fathers day we went to the Ore Mining Museum in Marquette.  They had an antique car show.  Here are a few of the cars.

 It was such a beautiful day.  We spent a week at my son's.  I didn't take any sewing with me so I didn't get much done this month.

On the way home we stopped at Seney Wildlife Refuge.  We saw a beaver, muskrat, swans, turtles and ducks.  Here are a few pictures.

We saw quite a few of these huge snapping turtles on the road through the refuge.  I had to get out of the car a ways away because once I got close they rushed into the tall grass.  As you can see, this one was running.

 Once we got home I had to get to work finishing the commissioned Memory Quilt.  It took a while.  I finally got it all quilted and the binding on.  I just have to tack it down and make a label for it.  Now I can get back to my projects.

I tell you....when you don't have your computer you feel disconnected from the world.  I do have my Kindle and my Droid phone...but it's just not the same.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you have a wonderful weekend.  It is suppose to rain here all weekend.

Hugs, Cathy

P.S.  We leave next Wednesday to go camping with my Daughters and their families for the Fourth of July weekend.  Not much time to quilt then.

Happy New Year!!!

Okay, so I'm a little late.  Par for the course.  I am so looking forward to this new year, new projects and new places to visit.  Speaking of visits....

 We are in the Upper Peninsula visiting my son and his family.  It is so beautiful here.  The sun is shining and the temp is only 14 degrees but with the sun its not to bad.

This is the view outside his side door.  Later today we are going to watch my granddaughter Ashley play hockey.  She has 2 games today and 1 tomorrow.  Then we head home on Monday.

We brought our new dog, Sammie with us.  She didn't like being in the car at all.  She shook and whined for a while.  Once she got used to it she was fine. She curled up in the well of the back seat and slept.  She sure loves the snow.

I make some 12" quilts for the daughters, daughters-in-law and girlfriends as Christmas gifts.  I bought them each a table stand quilt hanger.  Her are the quilts.

I made a photo of each set of quilts and put their name under the description. That way when I make them future quilts I won't duplicate.  I think they were

pretty happy with them.

I am now finishing up my last quilt as part of Quiltmaker Magazine's Scrap Squad.  They will be announcing the 2013 Scrap Squad members soon.  I had so much fun this year.  Made a lot of new friends, tried new techniques and was kept very busy.  I look forward to new adventures in quilting this year and hope to show you many new projects and hopefully some old finishes.

Thanks for being loyal followers.  It is much appreciated.  

Hugs, Cathy

Going on Vacation

We leave tomorrow to go to the Upper Peninsula to visit my son and his family.  We are going to take my granddaughter Cassidy so she can visit with her cousin Ashley.

This is what they looked like 2 years ago.  They have both grown so much.  I will post a picture of this duo next week to show how much they have grown.  We always have such a good time when we visit.

Last week I showed you the blocks I designed for my New Bee swap on 15 Minutes Play.  Well here are the first set of blocks I have received.  I am going to make some more so I can have a large quilt.  I think I am going to use white sashing between the blocks.  All these blocks are made from made fabric.  We have taken all our scraps, sewn them together and then cut them into our patterns.  I thought this would make me use up my scraps but they seem to multiply instead.  lol

Weather here is beautiful hope it is the same tomorrow when we cross the Mackinaw Bridge.  I will be sure to post pictures of our time up north.

BTW...I finished my latest Scrap Squad quilt.  Just waiting to hear when it will be posted on Quilty Pleasures Blog (Quiltmaker Magazine).  As soon as I hear something I will let you know.

Hugs, Cathy

Summer is HERE...

And it is HOT. 

Not much to share with you today.  Wanted to say hi and hope you are keeping cool.  The temps are in the 100's and it is humid.  Some wicked storms have been going through our area and we have been having flash flood warnings. 

Thank goodness for air conditioning.  We have a room air conditioner in our bedroom and in mine sewing room.  I don't know how I would get any sewing done without it.

I am almost finished with my Scrap Squad quilt.  The quilting is done and the binding is made.  I'm going to sew it on the quilt today.  Then I just need to do the write up for Quiltmaker's blog.

So I am going back to the sewing room.  I wanted to share a picture of a beautiful sunset from the Upper Peninsula.  I will be going there on the 13th for a much needed rest and visit with my son Pat, his wife Courtney and my granddaughter Ashley.  We will be taking my other granddaughter Cassidy with us.

Stay cool and Happy Quilting.

Hugs, Cathy

I've Busy and a Giveaway!

I was recently contacted by Liz at My Memories Scrapbooking asking if I would be interested in hosting a giveaway of their My Memories Suite Scrapbook software.  Well I gotta tell you...I'm not a scrapbooker....I'm a quilter.  But I thought I would give it a try.

You know how much Terry and I love to go on nature walks.  So I decided to work on pictures from our walks at our favorite park...Kensington Metro Park.  It was sooooo easy.  There are so many different background pages, layouts, and embellishments to choose from.  I'm a minimalist so I don't add a lot of embellishments but I love how you can add text.

Since I am a quilter I thought what a great way to keep a photo and information of my quilts.

So if you are interested in receiving free software from My Memories, all you have to do is... Leave me a comment letting me know that you are a follower and want to be entered into the giveaway.  It's that easy.  I will be picking the lucky winner on Saturday, November 26, 2011.

Every few days I will post more pictures of what I'm working on.

We've been traveling.  Last week we went to the Upper Peninsula to visit my son Pat, his wife Courtney and my granddaughter, Ashley.   The weather was beautiful.  We walked around without jackets...it was wonderful.

It is an 8 hour drive to get to Pat's.  We stopped along Lake Superior as the sun was setting.  It was beautiful.

The next day we went to Presque Isle to go walking.

We ran into this fellow when we turned a corner on our walk.

I was so close I could have touched him.  I guess they are used to people.  It is so beautiful here.

It almost makes you feel that you are on the East Coast.

But the real reason we went was to watch my Granddaughter play hockey.    Now they live in Marquette and they had 2 games in Mackinaw.  That is a 3 hour trip one way.  We got up at 6:00am Saturday morning to meet a bus at 7:30 am.  Ah what a wonderful trip..  Nothing like being on a bus with 14 giggling, screaming, laughing and sugar crazed 9, 10, and 11 year old girls.  I wish I had there energy.

They lost their first game.  We had a couple of hours in between game so we had a picnic lunch by the Mackinaw Bridge.  My son got this picture of the team.

You couldn't have asked for a better day.  Ashley is 4th from the left.  Unfortunately they lost the 2nd game to but it was an edge of the seat kind of game.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.  It is sunny here although it is cold (38).

Wishing you a quilty day....

Hugs, Cathy