Kathy's Fancy Stitching News

Priorities…

2012-01-20T14:29:00.001-06:00

Today I have worked hard to… sew the binding on a customer quilt. Check the back of the super-king-size quilt that I finished quilting at (UGGHHH!) 10:30 PM last night.

Now I am going to go sew the borders on that “America The Beautiful” quilt top that has been waiting. I finished the body of the quilt at SIL Retreat 3 WEEKS ago, and it has been waiting, and waiting, to arrive at the “completed” stage. It has been sitting on the table next to my machine. Today it YELLED at me as I was finishing the customer quilt, “What about ME??” I heard it… I really did!

I know… there are other things I SHOULD be doing. BUT this is what is calling my name the loudest.

Yes, I fully realize that I may not have any CLEAN UNDERWEAR to take on the trip we are going on tomorrow. Priorities! I know that I will probably return to a very messy house, but right now I don’t care. Priorities! When the quilt/sewing muse strikes, one must just “go with it”!

Priorities… we’ve all got them. And they are subject to change the instant we view fabric waiting to be worked into a quilt top. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!

Have a great day! I HOPE to have pictures for you soon.

KAT

The Healing Power of Quilting

2012-01-12T11:15:00.001-06:00

All quilters know that sewing and quilting is great therapy. We can use it to either take our mind off whatever problems/issues we are facing at the time, or use it to bring the issues close to our heart as we work through the grieving process.

If you are interested in an inspirational quilting story, check out the link below from Jamie in Houma, LA. And as she says in her title, “Get the Kleenex!

http://babyboomerquiltingbee.blogspot.com/2012/01/quilting-to-heal-quilts-for-healing-get.html

Thank you, Jamie, for reminding us of the healing power of fabric, thread, and needles.

Be blessed today!

KAT

Just Playin’ Around!

2012-01-10T21:35:00.001-06:00

My friend Marty said, “I’m sending you a quilt to play on.” It is made from half-square triangles, and a few squares. Seriously! Now just looking at this, you would never guess that! Isn’t it neat? It is 32” x 32”.

Fleur-de-lis (Go Saints! Sorry, I just had to throw that in!) and feathers now cover her little quilt. (Click on pictures to get a better view of the quilting.)

It seemed to take FOR.E.VER. because I really have not done much with the custom quilting features on IQ.

I really learned a lot and found some short-cuts as I was working through this (for days and days). I did a lot of adapting designs for the unusual areas, then chunking them and starting over.

Tomorrow it will be sent zooming back to her.

I think she will like it.

I think I will be glad to get back to quilting pantos on customer quilt… Playing was fun, but it was HARD WORK! Work hard, play hard. Such is my world!

Be blessed!

KAT

I Did Not Intend To…

2011-12-29T12:44:00.001-06:00

I did not intend to take a blogging vacation for a whole MONTH, but that is exactly what has happened. Life was SOOO busy in December with customer quilts, working on gifts, and other Christmas preparations.

SO, I still won’t be blogging for a few more days because…

IN ABOUT 30 MINUTES I AM LEAVING FOR SIL QUILT RETREAT AT THE LAKE !! Let the sewing, fun, food, and fellowship begin!

My projects are ready…

1. America The Beautiful quilt top, a McCall’s Quilting magazine series pattern… (All blocks are made. I just need to join them together and add borders.)

2. Night and Day quilt, an Eleanor Burns pattern… (All cut out and ready to sew)

3. Farmer’s Wife quilt (I am hauling tons of fabric and will begin cutting my first few blocks for that.)

4. Plaid Obsession quilt, an Evelyn Sloppy pattern… (I made one of these for a gift, and DH loved it, so I will be working on one for him.)

I hope this is enough to keep me busy for 3 days!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL! I pray God’s blessings upon you and all your family in 2012!

KAT

Things Just Not “Lining Up”!

2011-11-29T15:28:00.001-06:00

Most days my job as a machine quilter flows smoothly. The quilt goes in the machine, Gussie and Inetta (my Gammill machine with IntelliQuilter Robotics) do their thing of quilting, the quilt comes out of the machine, and we are all happy.

Sometimes there are slight “issues” I have to deal with… wavy borders, puffy blocks, lining (quilt backing) issues, but I am well practiced at dealing with minor issues. MOST days things just “work”.

TODAY IS NOT ONE OF THOSE DAYS! I will admit… this is a whiney post. If you can’t tolerate a little whine you may want to just exit out now.

As I was loading today’s second quilt, I noticed the lining fabric was going to BARELY be enough. Upon further inspection, I realized that the cut on both ends of the wide lining the customer supplied was way off-grain. (PET PEAVE: I TEAR my linings to be sure what you measure is what you get. Why can’t other fabric sources do that? There is no way to cut a 108” wide lining fabric on grain!) A quick snip with the scissors, a strong tug, and I tore it across to get the grain straight. I lost 6” of fabric!! There is now no way this will work. I called the customer and she chose a red lining that I sell to replace the one that won’t work.

So, while dealing with this I decide to load another quilt in. I get to the lining fabric, customer supplied, barely enough, both ends are way off grain. Same scenario… except this one was so badly cut I lost 8”!! A quick call to the other customer, she also wants the red lining. No problem. BUT…

I check the bolt, and there appears to be just enough. I measure it out, and it is 6” short of what I need, so that means both linings will have to be smaller than I like on the sides in order to have enough fabric to do both quilts. OK… I may just have to sew extra fabric strips to the side of one of them to get the larger quilt done. I have a plan!

Then as I was loading the smaller one I realize there is super-sticky masking tape on several places on the right side of the fabric. I pull it off and of COURSE it leaves sticky residue. YUCK! I worked with it for a while and finally sprayed with alcohol, then rubbed a lot. The sticky stuff did finally come up.

I am now sitting here, a cup of strong coffee in my hand, whining to you all. It has made me feel better (the coffee and the “unloading”). A few more sips, then back to work on what was going to be an easy job, but now made more difficult by the short linings. I WILL make it happen! I am not going to let a little piece of fabric get the best of me!!

So what are YOU wrestling with today? I hope you are able to find solutions over a cup of coffee or tea, too! Thanks for listening!

KAT

What Happens When…

2011-11-23T16:32:00.001-06:00

What happens when your internet service is down for 9 days? You have 153 emails waiting for you. I did not realize how dependent I am on the internet.

What’s the weather going to be like tomorrow? Just go check the internet. Oh wait… it’s not working.

Are the Saints playing today? I can’t find the game. Just go check… Oh wait… it’s not working.

Quilters have been calling. “I sent you an email but I have not heard back from you!” The internet is not working.

When #1 son got to his South America work location, he was instructed to send me an email or comment on Facebook. But… it’s not working. (He DID get there safe and sound. I found this out from #1 daughter.)

My friend said, “I sent you an email about something special we could do at church for our Christmas program.” I just got it today, when after 9 LONG days of walking toward my office to check my email, then remembering it is not working, then turning around and heading back to the sewing machine (because if you can’t read email you might as well sew!), I am finally able to get caught up with what has happened while my misaligned Hughes.net satellite dish was not connecting us to the internet.

I am glad to say we are back connected with the rest of the world. The good in all of this? I got a LOT of sewing done! Pictures to follow later.

Now the hardest part? Catching up on what all of YOU have been up to while I was MIA!

Have a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving Day!

KAT

What Can You Get For $20?

2011-11-13T18:41:00.001-06:00

A TREADLE SEWING MACHINE!!

(You would think I would have at least DUSTED it before taking pictures, but obviously I did not, as demonstrated by my fat footprint left on the footboard!)

Yes, when I stopped at the garage sale they were trying to get rid of things. I found ONE man’s shirt that I could use for quilt making. I paid the man $1, got in my car, and drove around the circle drive to leave. WAIT A MINUTE! What was THIS I saw out of the corner of my eye?

When I stopped and got out of my car again, the man informed me that he had been asking $45 for it, but I could have it for $20. SOLD!

It is a small cabinet and takes up very little room in my house… good thing! This cabinet is not actually made for this machine. There is a gap of about 1/2” on the right side, but someone has made it fit nicely. The cabinet itself has signs of much use. That is OK…. I am not buying it for a museum piece… I want to SEW on it!

The decals are in excellent shape.

Here is what I could find out on the internet. It is German made by Adolph Knoch. It was probably made around the early 1900s, but that is a guess from the little bit I could locate on several different web sites. Info was hard to come by… when you type in “Knoch treadle sewing machine” on any of the search engines it assumes you are talking about a Singer brand, since that is the most common type.

The inscription above the bobbin winder is something I can’t read… no experience with German.

If you can help me find any other info on this machine I would be very appreciative!

SOOOO, as soon as I order a new belt for it and spend a little time cleaning and oiling, I will get to sew on my new baby. I have named my longarm, perhaps I need to name this machine? I’ll have to give it some thought.

What can you get for $20? A wonderful trip down memory lane. I sewed on a treadle machine in Home Economics in high school back in 1970. Yes, we had electric machines, but you had to SHARE the electric machines. If you were willing to treadle, you could sew every day, so that is what I did.

From now on, I will slow down and take a good look around at every garage sale I go to looking for shirts. Who knows what other treasures are there for $20?

KAT

It’s Not My Quilt…

2011-10-10T11:15:00.001-05:00

It’s not MY quilt, but I sure would love to keep it! These 20 hand-embroidered blocks belong to a customer. My task was to turn them into a completed quilt.

I have always heard that the back side of the embroidery should look as good as the front… these do! So much so, that I turned one of the blocks wrong-side up, but thankfully discovered it as I was stitching the rows together. They are absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

I wanted them to have an old-fashioned look, so I went for 30s reproduction fabrics. If you are a quilter, you will understand my dilemma… it was impossible to find a sold fabric (or ANY type of small print) to match the background color of the outer border.

The background was a very pinkish-lavender. All fabrics I could find (shopping 5 different locations in the “Big City”) were either too dark purple or a very light lavender.

I finally ordered something off the net listed as “Aunt Grace 30s Lavender, but it still did not match the background as well as I would have liked. It looks fine, but it just did not match the picture in my head of what the sashing fabric should look like. That “picture in my head” often causes MORE trouble when trying to find the right fabric!

All that is left to do is to hand-stitch the binding down, and that will be finished this week. I’ll have just a few days to enjoy being in the presence of this lovely quilt, and then will pass it back to the owner. I have really enjoyed working on this one, other than the fabric challenge.

Have a wonderfully blessed week! I’ll see you on the blog next week with an update on a wonderful garage sale find. What can you buy with $20? You will be very surprised!

KAT

Meet the Knitwits

2011-10-06T22:38:00.001-05:00

No, they are not crazy, they are a group of knitters who meet at the local library once a month to discuss the book we all read. Of course, we KNIT while we discuss. So maybe we ARE crazy… about knitting and reading!

Tonight was my first time to meet with them. This is going to be WAAAAYYYYY fun! We discussed the John Grisham book, The Confession. I highly recommend it. This was my first Grisham book (I usually go for light, easy reads) and I could not put it down. I passed it on to DH, and he really enjoyed it, too. (I also highly recommend, The Help. Great book!)

I worked on trying to finish Mom’s pair of socks. They are her birthday present. I let her pick out the yarn, Felici, from KnitPicks. I love these stripes!

So, I just thought I would post and let you know that I am still alive and doing well, but up to my eyeballs in quilts right now. It seems I deliver 1 and pick up 3 or 4 more. That is a good thing… I prayed for more business and the Lord is providing!

I’m also working hard because SOMEONE has a birthday soon, and SOMEONE wants to go back to south Louisiana to fish in the marshes again. That means I really need to get some of these quilts out the door before I can go. SIGH… I guess I will have to humor him since it is his birthday… Oh the sacrifices I make for him to be entertained. Perhaps I’ll catch the biggest fish… AGAIN!!

Work hard, play hard. Such is our life!

Be blessed in all you do today!

KAT

Bitten By The “Bug”

2011-09-18T23:01:00.001-05:00

Guess where we went this weekend? Here are a few picture clues…

It involved… Marshes.

Kayaks.

Seashells.

The beach. We made a trip to Lake Charles, LA. Our main goal was to go marsh fishing in the kayaks. We went just south of Hackberry, LA to fish the marshes.

We caught a few speckled trout. Guess who caught the BIG one?

It was 23” long, and weighed 4 lbs. 1 oz. That is a REALLY nice spec!! And then there is always the story of the “one that got away”… I lost another one just a little smaller than this one at the boat. RATS!! (Actually, I caught 4 of the 5 fish. I love it when I manage to out-fish DH.) It was too windy for fly fishing so we used casting rigs.

After fishing we drove a few miles further to Holly Beach, LA. This entire town was wiped out by hurricane Rita a few years ago. NOTHING was left. All buildings were completely leveled.

It is slowly being rebuilt. There are now about 30 or so beach houses that have been restored.

Saturday we went to the Contraband Fly Casters Fly Fishing Expo in Moss Bluff. I had an opportunity for some fly casting coaching. We both bid on boxes of flies at a silent auction, and came home with 100 new flies to add to our collection.

It was amazing to see the many different patterns the fly tiers could create!

I’ve been bitten by the “bug”. I think I see fly tying in my near future. DH has all tools and supplies needed, so it will just be a matter of sitting down long enough to figure this out. Realistically, this will be an after-Christmas-quilting-rush hobby.

And of course we ate good! Fried oysters and shrimp, then sautéed speckled trout. YUMMO!

It was so much fun, we plan on doing the marsh fishing again very soon.

KAT

Very Special People

2011-09-11T15:10:00.001-05:00

Today was a wonderful celebration at Zwolle FBC. A reception honoring the lives of James Q. & Verlyn Salter was held this morning. They are very special people in my life and the lives of many others. They will soon be moving to Virginia to be close to other family members. How do you say “goodbye” to people that have been a part of your life for as long as you can remember? It is not easy knowing that you probably will not get to see them again this side of Heaven!

When I was a child we lived right next door to the Salters. We played in their yard with their children and visited their home (often having a snack of some kind given to us). I loved for “wash” day to come around. Mrs. Salter used a wringer washing machine… I had never seen that before. We would spend lots of time watching her do laundry on that machine! It was an amazing thing to watch. I’m sure she wanted to tell us “Go home!” but she never did.

When I was young they moved an oil rig onto the land right behind our houses and drilled. (Mr. Salter reminded me this morning that it was 1962 when the well was drilled.) The Salter kids set up a soft drink stand and sold soft drinks to the workers and those coming to sight see at the well. (Small town excitement… there was little else to entertain us in Zwolle! ) Actually, they probably got most of their business from my brothers and I!! It seems we were always going over to get a soft drink for a dime. Those were the days! When the rig moved and school started, I really missed having a soft drink stand next door.

Looking back, we were always at their house it seemed, or their kids were over at our house, playing softball in the back yard. The Salters always made us feel welcome at their house. Right after I turned 7 years old, my family moved out of town. I’m sure when we moved from that old house the Salters probably celebrated… no more pesky Rials kids bothering them!

Mr. and Mrs. Salter both played a very integral part in my spiritual growth. Both of them taught me in Sunday School at one time or another. Mr. Salter was the choir director for many years, and I loved singing under his leadership.

In addition, they both were teachers in the school system. I have been in classes under both of them. When I went into high school, Mr. Salter was our principal. When I began my teaching career at Zwolle Elementary, Mr. Salter was principal of that school. I really enjoyed working under him.

So how do you say “Goodbye” to someone so special. You don’t… you just say, “God speed, and I’ll see you in Heaven! May the rest of your days be blessed, may each step of this move go smoothly, and may you really enjoy being close to your family!”

Love to you both for all you have taught me through the years!

KAT

Change…

2011-09-02T21:26:00.001-05:00

There’s a change in the ~~air~~ hair at my house. Really, this was brought on by a monumental event happening next week… I turn 55, and the result of that event is that I will need to renew my driver’s license. Because that means having a new picture taken, I decided it was time for a haircut. After the haircut, I noticed that the gray now greatly outnumbers the brown hairs on my head.

Because of that, I have been toying with the idea of dying my hair for the first time. (We are not counting the event in the 80s when I did the home “streaking” kit, that turned the streaks in my dark brown hair a wonderful shade of ORANGE!) Because of THAT fiasco, I have not even been tempted to color my hair. As I aged I enjoyed the subtle gray areas, the distinguished (HAHA!) look of graying temples.

The joy of graying hair is gone. I knew there was now a quick fix for the gray that is bugging me more and more these days.

I looked at that box of hair color sitting on my cabinet for a week before I got brave enough to use it. I even asked DH what he thought… he was not much help in the decision. Today was the day!

The box says, “light brown with highlights”. Upon further pondering I have figured out, what that means is your brown hair will still be brown, but the gray hair will appear as “highlights”. I really should have thought about that a little more beforehand. Let’s go back to one of my opening statements… “I noticed that the gray now greatly outnumbers the brown hairs on my head.” SOOOOO…

I now have a little bit of brown with LOTS of HIGHLIGHTS (read that as REDISH-brown). The box says, “permanent… lasts for 8 weeks”. That is a mighty temporary definition of PERMANENT. Truthfully, as fast as my hair grows and as short as I keep it cut, it will be a very temporary situation. I still wonder who that is looking back at me in the mirror.

I don’t necessarily dislike it, but I’m not sure I love it. And the wonderful news is, even if I decide not to color it again after it grows out, I will get to look at myself like this for the next 4 years because I will HAVE to get my DL picture/renewal next week!

Perhaps I should have used good reasoning and WAITED a little longer? Sorry, no hair pictures to go with this post. Just check my DL the next time you see me. Oh, and now that the deed is done, DH is VERY vocal about his opinion… wouldn’t you know it!

Good night. I’m off to shampoo my hair 5 times and see if this changes anything. Grow, hair, grow!!!

KAT

I Had Forgotten…

2011-08-24T17:40:00.001-05:00

I had forgotten… the smell of rain in the air.

I had forgotten… the wonderful sound of rain hitting the roof.

I had forgotten… the almost instantaneous perking up of the plants outside.

I had forgotten… the quick coolness (from 100 down to 75 degrees in about 15 minutes) brought on by rain-cooled air.

I had forgotten… the lift in your spirit, just knowing that we finally have enough rain to actually measure in the rain gauge. Well, we COULD measure it IF I had remembered to buy a new rain gauge like DH asked me to.

I had forgotten… what a blessing rain is because we’ve not had measureable rainfall in MONTHS at my house. Others around us have received small showers, but we only got “4-foot rains”, as my hubby calls them… 1 drop every 4-feet.

I had forgotten… but I now remember, because it has been raining steadily for the last hour. I am totally guessing, but I think perhaps at least an inch of rain has fallen, and the weather service says more is headed our way.

Our “brave” puppy PJ is curled up on the couch, shivering and tucking her tail each time she hears a clap of thunder. She will battle with snakes, but can’t stand the sound of thunder. Go figure! I guess we each choose where to display our courage.

I had forgotten… but I now remember to sing praises to the One who sends the blessing of rain to us.

Thank YOU, Lord, for the refreshing rain! What a blessing it is to hear “…the sound of abundance of rain” again! (1 Kings 18:41 )

KAT

Way To Go, PJ!!

2011-08-22T10:53:00.001-05:00

She doesn’t look it in this picture, but PJ, our “rescued” dog, is one very helpful pet! Not only does she keep good watch over DH as he works around the place, she also does not like any animal intruders and is quick to alert us when something encroaches on our yard (except for people… she doesn’t even bark at people!).

A few days ago we were visiting with friends in Natchez, MS and they were telling us about their dog, Hunter, being such a good watchdog. This summer Hunter has alerted them to the presence of 6 snakes in their yard. The first 4 were harmless, but the last 2 were rattlesnakes. They told us that Hunter has a special bark he uses when he spots a snake. They can tell from the sound of his bark that he has found another one.

This morning I was in my bedroom and PJ was right outside the window. She started barking strangely. After the story from my friends this really caught my attention… I usually just ignore PJ when she barks. She was staring at a spot on the ground and going around it in circles, but not getting close. She was barking and growling. I quickly went outside to see what was the problem. Because our grass is mostly brown from the drought, it took a while to spot it… there in the grass close to the steps was a 14” long snake. It was very hard to see, but I could see enough to tell it was a poisonous snake (stocky body, triangular head). DH had just left to go to a funeral. I could not let the snake get away… he might later bite one of my pets or one of us.

I looked and found a sharp-shooter shovel. The snake is now history. This is my first poisonous snake kill, and I hope I don’t have to do it again any time soon. Upon investigation, the snake was a ~~water moccasin~~ copperhead. (I have also discovered that I need a class in snake identification. Because he was in the process of molting, the coloration was not easily identifiable as a copperhead, but more the color of a moccasin! DH helped with the identification when he got home.) I hope he doesn’t have any relatives that come calling!! I will for SURE be paying more attention to where I am walking in the yard!

ATTA GIRL, PJ!! You have earned yourself an extra treat today. Right now, she is laying on her quilt on the couch in the COOL(after I spent a while dusting her off) . Tonight we will ignore the vet’s suggestion that she is to be on a stricter diet to lose weight and give her some sort of food treat.

Add one more thing to my list of country-living skills…

Kathy Ellzey --- SNAKE SLAYER!!!

Have a blessed day, with no slithery reptiles!

KAT

A New “Twist” On Painted Fabric

2011-08-15T09:13:00.001-05:00

I LOVE to paint my own fabric! Cindy Roth at Longarm University has a video on how she does this… very different than the methods I have used. Check it out HERE. Really neat technique!!

Here are examples of what mine have looked like in the past. I think it may be time for ME to grab the paints and “play” again!!

Speaking of which, I really must find a project that will actually USE some of this painted fabric… right now it is just sitting on the shelf.

Be blessed, and USE the creativity the Creator has given you! We all have it in some area of our life!

KAT

I Could Be Quilting…

2011-08-09T10:45:00.001-05:00

But I’m not. I have decided to actually do a blog post of unusual quilts I have done.

I could be showing you pictures of 2 really unusual quilts I did, but I’m not. I did a totally STUPID thing when transferring them from one album to another and they are forever gone! One was a quilt made from real FLAGS from foreign countries. A missionary collected the flags and a customer pieced this into a quilt… double sided with flags. It was most unusual… so sorry you can’t see it. The other one was a baby quilt made from bibs, shirts, and onesies. The customer cut out the cute pictures and sayings (such as, “Baby’s First Christmas, Baby’s first Halloween”, etc.) and appliqued them on quilt blocks. It turned out SOOOO cute and unusual!! SIGH… I know… a picture is worth a thousand words!

I could be quilting, but I am not. I AM kicking myself 5 times for being so STUPID on this! KICK-KICK-KICK-KICK-KICK! Quilt pictures are not the only things I lost… some hunting pictures, customer quilt pictures, other assorted stuff that I wanted to keep. UUUGGGHHH! That’s what I get for trying to organize my thousands of pictures without proper knowledge! Some of the older ones may be retrievable from backups… we will see.

I could be quilting, but I’m not. I decided to save my strength for dancing tonight. DH and I are taking Cajun dance lessons at NSU. We are making progress. Our heads know what to do, but that does not always connect with our feet. BUT we ARE having lots of fun and getting some exercise, too.

I could be quilting, but I’m not. I decided today is the day I start plowing through the stacks of things in my office/sewing room to get it in some sort of organization. (Actually, I am doing that today because I am looking for my other Cajun Dance Music CD, which I REALLY need! See above paragraph.) This will probably require me to totally unload the whole room and start over with placing things in some logical order so I can perhaps actually FIND things when I am through. Why am I such a pack rat?? I promised #1 son I would have the computer area cleaned out by the time he gets back from offshore, Sept. 1. I have a deadline! SHEESH! Why didn’t I tell him I would have it done by CHRISTMAS instead?

I could be quilting, but I’m not. Instead I am taking pictures of socks just so I have a few pictures to post with this. I know you are tired of posts with no pictures! So here they are… Of course, you are probably tired of sock pictures too, because that seems to be the only things I am posting lately. Hang tight… other pictures are coming soon, if I don’t accidently send them to the recycle bin before I can get them posted,

Top pair: Felici Rainbow. I LOVE these. (These are the pair of socks for August… all done.)

Bottom pair: handpainted Tree Fort, the pair for July.

And you know I can’t go without something on the knitting needles, so I cast on 2 pair.

The red pair is for me… cotton yarn with color accent strips. The purple pair is for Katie Bug. I’ve had a bit of a set-back on them… when she tried them on last night we discovered they were way too tight, so I had to rip WWAAAYYYY back on them and increase the size. I was almost through with it!! Now I get to do it “re-over-again”, as my Mom says.

The next post will contain QUILT PICTURES, I promise!! I actually have finished several of my quilts in the last month, so I will share those with you (and try not to lose the pictures in the meantime!)

Be blessed!

KAT

The Tale of SOMEONE and the OTHER ONE

2011-07-25T20:59:00.001-05:00

SOMEONE decided we might need some new toys. The OTHER ONE agreed that sounded like something fun.

So, on Saturday we made another trip to Lafayette, LA to Pack & Paddle to test drive sit-on-top kayaks.

Meet Ben.

Ben brought lots of “toys” for us to check out.

Meet Bo. Bo assisted us with the demo…

in this swampy section of Lake Martin, complete with an alligator. (CHOOT ‘EM!… obviously I have been watching too much Swamp People!)

We looked, we paddled, we pedaled.

These 2 twelve-foot, sit-on-top kayaks just really wanted to come home with us, so we obliged them. The camo boat is SOMEONE’S, and the olive boat (complete with a pedal system) is the OTHER ONE’S.

Sunday after church we loaded up and went to a local lake. SOMEONE got wet trying to get into his kayak. The OTHER ONE almost got wet, but managed to park herself in the kayak without going into the drink.

This is the view from the OTHER ONE’S kayak… the fish weren’t biting, so I took some time to snap a few photos. Note the pedals… this is almost like riding a bike, and the kayak really SCOOTS across the water. There is a little lever that controls the rudder so you can steer. It is really NEAT!

Here is SOMEONE, fishing and having fun. (Actually, he was picking out a back-lash, but you get the idea.)

The tower you see is the spillway to the lake… really neat, huh! Yes, it really DOES look like a castle.

SOMEONE told the OTHER ONE that the sunscreen was in the back of the truck. The OTHER ONE told SOMEONE that it was not needed because it was very cloudy. An hour later when the clouds left, the OTHER ONE was wishing she had applied sunscreen. The OTHER ONE’S legs are now COOKED.

Although the fish were not biting much, we did manage to catch a few small bass. We released them for another day. It was 100 degrees with a heat index of 105. We did not care. SOMEONE and the OTHER ONE just HAD to go play with the new toys.

And then SOMEONE and the OTHER ONE played and enjoyed themselves greatly… especially the OTHER ONE, who now has her OWN boat and can go where she wants to on the lake!

We are planning another trip later in the week… umm THIS time, the OTHER ONE suggested to SOMEONE that we go very early in the morning, and quit when it gets miserably hot. Sounds like a plan!

THE END

A Short List

2011-07-15T13:56:00.001-05:00

1. Retreat was WONDERFUL!

2. I’m tired.

3. I finished making 2 quilt tops… the green 4-patch posey for my bed and the t-shirt quilt (pictures later).

4. Company is coming.

5. No time for blogging.

6. We are going out tonight.

7. As in, “I don’t have to cook” going out.

8. Tomorrow will be a busy day, also.

9. You probably won’t have any pictures or posts from me until Sunday afternoon.

10. How will you manage without me? I’m sure you will do just fine!

KAT

Broken Promises

2011-07-10T22:12:00.001-05:00

So sorry but a post before I leave for retreat with pictures and dialogue is NOT going to happen. It is after 10PM and I still have not packed the first stitch of clothing. The quilting stuff is about ready to load, but that is it.

Since I will be pulling out very early in the morning, you won’t hear from me then, either.

(OK, Alicia… I don’t want to hear anything back from you about my failure to follow through on the promised post. I’ll just say, “You know me very well, my friend!” HAHA!)

Got to run… much to do still. I’ll “see” you all sometime after the weekend. I hope you all have as much fun as I am going to have!!

KAT

Are You Sick Of It?

2011-07-07T21:30:00.001-05:00

I am too! Sick of looking at that same post over and over. I promise I DO have other things to write about, and I even have pictures (trapped inside my camera at this point in time), but no time to get it all working together right now.

Why am I so busy?

I am trying to get all of my ducks in a row to go to quilt retreat in Cold Spring, TX. We leave early Monday morning, and return late Thursday afternoon. I am taking 3 projects to work on, and I am desperately trying to get all of the cutting done before I go so I can walk in the door and let the sewing marathon begin!

I am working on… the green 4-patch posey. This is for my bed, and I desperately need a new quilt on there! The one we are currently using is a “Mile A Minute” quilt done in 2004 right after I got the long arm. I am so ready for something new in there! The blocks are all made, the setting design is decided upon, and the strips for sashing and cornerstones are cut. Even though it is king-size, I think this will be a quick project.

The second project is to complete all of the first 4 parts of a series quilt in McCalls Quilting called “America the Beautiful”. Most of parts 1 and 2, and all of part 3 are done. Part 4 just came out last week, so I have been working on cutting out and bagging up the blocks I need to complete. I think this is a 6 part series so I am on the down-hill slide!

The third project is a t-shirt quilt. I have not even begun working on that, but I am hoping to get the interfacing ironed onto all the shirts and the blocks cut before I leave, so I won’t have to haul all of that bulky t-shirt mess with me.

My 4th project (back-up in case I run out of other stuff to do), is knitting on the rainbow socks (August socks!). I have one of them made but the heel is a little too large so I will rip out the heel and redo it. That is the neat thing about the Cat Bourdhi method… even after the leg is done, I can rip out and re-knit just the heel without disturbing the rest of the sock! I LOVE this method of sock knitting.

And in amongst all of that craziness, I got a wild hair to make a new quilt to take with me for my bed. It was quilted on Monday, binding applied, and I am almost through with the hemming. And then tonight I got another wild hair to make a matching pillowcase from the left-over fabrics. It is DONE! I’ll have pictures of these tomorrow, I hope.

WHEW! No WONDER I am so tired!

I promise pictures and a new subject matter before I leave on Monday… PROMISE!

KAT

So, How Do You Like Me NOW?

2011-06-30T11:05:00.001-05:00

I’m not fishing for complements, I just want to know if this background/photo combination works. The quilt shown is “Peach Smoothie”, and you can read her story HERE.

Of course, BLUE is my favorite color, so the background works for me! This is much more “restful” than the very busy background I initially chose.

So… How do you like me now?? Inquiring minds want to know!

AND while I am on your computer, what’s up with the disappearing FOLLOWERS gadget? I tried removing it and then adding again, but the pictures of my followers still did not appear. Does anyone have an idea how to fix this? I have noticed that the followers have disappeared on other blogs, too, so it is not just a problem with me (for a change). All help will be greatly appreciated!

KAT

Change Gone Bad

2011-06-30T10:26:00.001-05:00

SHEESH! I just wanted to give the blog a “fresh look”. I was tired of looking at that same background and header photo.

I struggled with this for several hours yesterday, replacing the background and trying to get a new photo to load in the header.

I am none too happy with the results… the background will be changed ASAP because I do not like the texture where the posts are… who wants to read THROUGH a checkerboard? It is really tough on the eyes.

The photo is the photo I wanted, but only the left half of the photo shows. It is a sunrise on the marshes, and was an absolutely perfect beginning to our day when we went fishing in south LA several months ago. I tried re-sizing it and then posting, but I can’t get it to load… blogger informs me there is an internal error, which I assume means it can not retrieve the photo from my computer.

It was an exercise in frustration, but today sometime I will try again. For sure what is there now needs some work because it just does not work together. Please bear with me while I redecorate… you know how frustrating home remodeling can be? The same goes for a blog overhaul!!

Have a great day and be BLESSED!

KAT

We Went…

2011-06-28T21:39:00.002-05:00

We went, we bowled (OK ,but not great), and we ate really great stuff! Lafayette, LA has wonderful food, for sure, and we sampled lots of it last weekend when we went to state bowling tournament.

Such as…
crawfish & shrimp chimichanga (at Coyote Blues)
oyster poboy (at Chris’ Poboys)
shrimp sampler platter (at Nimbeaux’s Cajun Restaurant)
shrimp and crab meat in wine sauce (at Don’s Seafood Hut)

Bad blogger that I am, I did not even take my camera. Next time I will try and remember that blog postings without pictures are rather dull!

We stopped by The Borne Quilter in Lafayette to take advantage of their 3rd anniversary sale. I was strong... I bought what I needed (border fabric for a t-shirt quilt) and 3 more fabrics that would do well for striped bindings. I'm hooked on striped bindings!!

While in Lafayette we also went to Pack N’ Paddle, a local sporting goods store. It appears there is a possibility that 2 sit-on-top kayaks may be coming to live at our house. We will be going back down in July to test-drive several to see if this is something we could use for fishing and recreation.

The Tree Fort socks are done… except I dropped a stitch when binding off the heel and now have to decide if I am going to rip out the bind-off and re-do it, or anchor the dropped stitch with more yarn and leave it as it is. The jury is still out.

After a very long day quilting I am ready to relax, so I will now go work on the Bible study that must be completed by tomorrow night. We are studying “Heaven” by Randy Alcorn. This will be our first session, but it appears to be very interesting.
Have a great evening, and be BLESSED!

KAT

I Couldn’t Do It!

2011-06-18T19:05:00.001-05:00

I just couldn’t do it! Today was our guild’s “Quilt Till You Wilt” Saturday, and I just could NOT make myself load up all the stuff I needed to sew. It was too hot, and I decided I was NOT schlepping the machine, fabric, notions, iron, ironing pad, etc.

I also could NOT make myself take fabric to cut. The project I am working on required lots of little pieces and it is scrappy. Each block is a different pattern so it is very tedious cutting… I tried cutting these types of things at QTW before and I make many mistakes… too many distractions for TR (thinking required) Cutting.

The blog readers selected “Tree Fort” yarn for me to work with next. I cast one sock on this morning before I left for QTW, and I got the toe completed. I spent most of the day working on it and HERE is what it looks like now!!

I will finish the heel and then open the instep to make the leg tonight. I had no idea I could get this much done in one day!! This is July’s pair of socks so I am way ahead of the game. Next weekend we will travel so again I will have lots of knitting time. It would be wonderful if I could finish July’s socks before July even gets here. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

KAT

A Really Neat Quilt (and other STUFF)

2011-06-17T13:10:00.001-05:00

Isn’t it absolutely gorgeous? This antique quilt top was purchased at an estate sale by a friend. I absolutely love the funky fabrics, which I am guessing are probably from around the 1960s. It is hand-pieced, and for the most part, nicely done. (Who in their right mind would try to machine-piece this pattern with all those set-in seams?) There was some fullness in some of the blocks, but for this pattern and the time period (pre-rotary cutter days) it was wonderful!

I spent over an hour looking through the Barbara Brackman Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns to find the name of this block. I FINALLY found it, only to discover it is an UNNAMED block… sheesh… what a disappointment and waste of my time! Why didn’t SOMEBODY give this wonderful block a name?

And on the sock front… the green socks are DONE! I just finished weaving in the thread tails, and I am ready to move on to the next pair. (Speaking of which, only 2 people have voted on which yarn I should use next. PLEASE go to the previous post and vote!! Pretty-please!! I will probably be casting the next pair on tomorrow, and I would love to have your input!)

There… you can see the pattern better when I am NOT using the flash. I am LOVING this pattern, easy to remember as I am working along, and the cuff is just stockinet stitch and is intended to roll on the top edge. For this cotton yarn it is the perfect pattern!

We have been busy this morning! DH picked and shelled peas, and I have processed them. Six more bags went into the freezer. The crowders are all getting ripe at once in this extreme heat (104 degrees yesterday), and perhaps we will get some purple hulls, or maybe not. I am putting as many as I can in the freezer to have this winter. YUM!

I must run… lots to do this afternoon. PLEASE go to yesterday’s post and pick your favorite sock yarn! THANKS BUNCHES!

KAT

So Close…

2011-06-15T21:39:00.001-05:00

I’m so close to finishing the green socks I can taste it! That wonderful feeling when you bind off the last stitch and weave in the last thread tail… I’m almost there. Just a few more inches of cuff on the second sock and it is done.

I promise a better picture when they are finished. WAIT! Before I can model socks I MUST shave my furry legs. Oh well… it is probably time.

By Friday, these will be seen ON MY FEET! Stay tuned! Now I am off to put on my nightgown, turn on the TV and knit until I decide to go to sleep. Life is good when the needles are clacking along, making progress on a sock.

Next up… (you KNOW I can’t go without a sock on my needles) is a wonderful hand-painted yarn, and I can’t decide which one to do. On the far left is “Pony Ride”, and on the right is “Tree Fort”. Top to bottom in the middle is : “Cartoons”, “Berry Patch”, and “Tiger”. HMMM… It appears SOMEONE has been doing a little too much yarn shopping lately!

So , 5 choices… Which one do YOU think I should use next. I will let my readers decide, so be sure to give me your opinion by Friday, because you know just as soon as the green yarn comes off the needles I will cast the next yarn on!

Thanks for your help, and in the event of a tie I will let DH pick between the top 2.

And I’m OFF… I can taste it, that wonderful “FINISHED” feeling! I must go get closer!

KAT

How Hot IS It?

2011-06-13T18:22:00.001-05:00

WWAAAAYYYYY TOOOOOOOOO HOT! This was taken on the front porch in the shade.

We have had several days of 100 degree temps, and more are predicted. Hold on here… let’s look at the calendar… Yep… we are still in SPRING here. Did someone forget that SUMMER has not officially arrived yet? UGGGHHHH! Too hot to do anything outside unless you do it early in the day. Temps this high usually occur in August in our area.

Our local TV station’s weatherman informed us today of THIS wonderful news…. We are in an EXCEPTIONAL drought in the area where I live. That was the highest of the 3 designations, with the lowest one being SEVERE drought, EXTREME drought, and our area with EXCEPTIONAL drought. That is because (as he also informed us) we are 30” behind the expected rainfall for this area in the last 18 months. Did you read that? 30 inches, my friends. And the outlook? No rain in sight.

I think I will take my hot, tired self into the kitchen now and stand over the pots of boiling water. WHY? Despite the drought DH has managed to keep some of our garden alive by watering EVERY day. Today he picked corn, crowder peas, and 2 tiny pods of okra to drop in the peas. Supper will be good tonight!

PROGRESS REPORT: As predicted, I did manage to work on both of my projects during yesterday’s lazy-gal events. I FINISHED hemming Jeremy’s quilt and made good progress on my other green sock. WOOOHOOOOO! Nothing feels as good as finished… especially since I have been working on Jeremy’s quilt for about 9 months now. Need I mention the irony of that number… it took that long to bring him into the world. Well, actually it took 10 months, but you don’t want to hear the story of how FUN it was being pregnant for 10 months!

Enough ~~ranting, complaining, whining~~ keeping you informed of our current situation and other things you don’t want to know.

Be blessed, and a prayer for rain in our area would be much appreciated!

KAT

Decisions, Decisions

2011-06-11T21:01:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow will be a vegetative (lazy) day for me after church. I plan on doing much of NOTHING! I have worked so hard this week at various things that I am just worn out, so I will truly make this Sunday a “day of rest”.

But I have a dilemma… which project to work on while vegging out in my Lazy Gal chair? I have several opportunities for getting a lot done. First there is NASCAR… that is good for a short while. DH records the events, then fast-forwards until he sees the yellow-light symbol at the top of the screen. He backs it up enough to see the crash several times, then proceeds to fast-forward to the next yellow light. If there are not lots of crashes he can turn a 4-hour show into about 30 minutes!

The second opportunity comes tomorrow night. I will be cheering Dallas on to victory (hopefully) in the NBA Finals game.

HMMM… I also have 2 projects that need my attention. I have about 3/4 of 1 side left to hem on Jeremy’s quilt. I would really like to finish that up, but boy is it HOT dealing with that! Our temps tomorrow are supposed to hit 100, so I think I will crank the AC WWWAAAAYYYY down so I can stand to work on the quilt. Then I would love to knit on the second green sock. I have finished the foot/heel, and have reattached my needles and made the opening for knitting the leg (Cat Bordhi’s technique). If you have not tried this method of knitting socks, I highly recommend it!

So, just MAYBE I can work on BOTH of them. I may even get a little sewing done on one of my projects in between the 2 shows. I have great plans… we will see how things go!

Be blessed!

KAT

Today…

2011-05-29T22:24:00.001-05:00

My day started well… but then when I arrived home from church I discovered that once again life is changing. It is inevitable, but none-the-less change is not always welcome.

I decided I needed some “sewing therapy” and proceeded to paper piece the tiny (2” finished) Roman stripe signature blocks our quilt group will be exchanging in August. Yes, that is right… I will be AHEAD of the game for a change, rather than getting them done at the last minute. I started with 23, I made a piecing error early on, and then made a cutting error when trimming the finished block; that leaves me 21. Thankfully I only need 18, but you never know how many times I will mess up when trying to sign these tiny blocks!

While sewing I decided some comfort food would surely improve the situation, and chocolate ALWAYS helps! Brownies and a pitcher of lemonade were fixed. More comfort food… pizza was fixed for our supper. And of course, DH did not fuss about having brownies with his coffee, and pizza for supper. My problems have not gone away, but my stomach is happy!

And now I think I will get in bed and read a good book. Did YOU read these when you were growing up? I LOVED Nancy Drew, and Katelyn has been reading this one aloud to me, a chapter a day. She is not going to be back for several days, and I MUST know who screamed at the end of the chapter she read to me yesterday. I think I’ll just go find out. Nothing like light reading to take your mind off things.

Change is coming, like it or not. It is not in my control, so we will just adjust. I’m so thankful there is One Who is the same yesterday, today, forever, (Hebr. 13:8) and He will see me through whatever comes my way.

Have a blessed week!

KAT

4 Updates….

2011-05-23T10:47:00.001-05:00

1. DH’s wrist did have a chipped bone. It is being treated as if it were broken. It is in a stabilizing splint 24/7 , he is to be very careful with that hand, and he is to return in a month for x-rays to check the healing progress. The ribs are getting better. He THINKS he is going to bowl tonight… we shall see!

2. Mom’s house repairs are coming along nicely. The roof is being completed this week. The sheetrock and “mudding” have been done. Painters are working on getting the rooms repainted. The chimney is being rebuilt this week. The flooring won’t be in for about another 2 weeks, but hopefully everything else will be finished by then so they can get right to replacing the flooring. This time she chose a vinyl that looks like laminate. It is in strips, just like laminate flooring and sticks down. I can’t wait to see how this works!

3. UFO update: Jeremy’s quilt is DONE except for hemming the 2 1/2 miles (or so it seems) of striped binding. I almost have one side completed. My goal is to finish it by the end of the month because this is my project for the UFO Challenge this month.

4. Sock update: I finished my May pair of socks using Knit Picks Stroll Tonal yarn. I LOVE these! Of course, I immediately cast on June’s pair (Saturday at Quilt Till You Wilt, when I should have been hemming on Jeremy’s quilt!). I am ready to make the heel on this one. This is Knit Picks Risata cotton blend yarn. Because it is a solid I decided to do a pattern. I am pleased with how it is coming along.

So there you have 4 updates and answers to questions you probably never asked…. I’m good at that!

Have a blessed week!

KAT

Things You Can’t Do With One Hand…

2011-05-18T15:13:00.001-05:00

Some activities require 2 hands. Here is a short list of things you can NOT do with one hand… and sore ribs.

1. Button your jeans

2. Zip your pants

3. Hold the jar of syrup while you twist the lid off

4. Cut sausage on your plate with a knife

5. Dry your back after your shower; put deodorant on your right underarm

6. Hold onto your underwear while trying to step into them

7. Hold a wiggling, clawing cat while the wife tries to shoot medicine down its mouth

8. Roll over in bed without moaning loudly and then laughing at yourself for being in this condition, thus waking your spouse

9. Cough or sneeze without regretting it

10. Get your own ice pack at 1:30 in the morning

Now none of those are complaining on my part, more like poking fun at him. Thankfully he has a very good sense of humor and more thankfully, he really is a VERY good patient and follows the doctor’s orders without whining. Keeping the hand elevated and covered with an ice pack around the clock are helping with the pain.

You may ask, “What happened?” Long-story-short, he had a fall yesterday morning while hauling fire wood. It is impossible to break your fall when you have wood in both hands, so he landed very hard on his left wrist and also landed with one stick of wood under his left arm. The doctor says the wrist is dislocated and possibly broken. He will see an orthopedic doctor tomorrow. The ribs… broken or bruised, and very painful.

This all means rather than “playing” around on the farm, he is spending time watching western movies on TV. He probably needed the rest anyway!

KAT

Just Playing Around

2011-05-11T08:40:00.001-05:00

Take 1 1/2 yards of black fabric with gold, purple, and green sparkles attached.

Spend many hours playing on the machine using Bottom Line thread and free-motion quilting.

And here are the results. This little quilt (32 x 32) was a donation quilt for a silent auction to raise money for CASA (Court-Appointed Special Advocates) program in our area.

The pictures are terrible… it was too bright and sunny on the day I was taking pictures… lesson learned.

Of course you can zoom in if you would like to see more details.

It was hard giving it up. I have more fabric… I just may have to make ME one!!

Be blessed today in all you do!

KAT

What IS that STENCH?

2011-05-09T11:09:00.001-05:00

That is the question I asked when I entered my quilting room this morning, ready to do a day’s work. It really smelled like something had died nearby, which is not unusual. I closed the window and turned on the AC assuming the smell was coming from outside. I’ll fix THAT! HAHA!

Living in the country has its rewards and its pitfalls. Sometimes woodsy critters meet their demise in our yard. Occasionally this is intended by DH (as in critters eating what is in the garden… Those pesky rabbits that have mowed down our green beans and now started on the corn better beware because he will soon be in hot pursuit of you!). Sometimes it is not intended. PJ may corner a possum at night and the possum usually looses the encounter. Sometimes DH forgets to pick up said critters in a timely manner and we get to enjoy their fragrance, which then notifies me it is time to inform HIM that I have enjoyed the fragrance enough, and the critter he forgot is asking to be given a proper burial, or tossing, or something far away from the house.

Closing the windows made the smell worse. I assumed that something had crawled under the house and died. YUCK! Then I remembered the mouse trap, which we set in my quilting room about 8 MONTHS ago when I saw some evidence that tiny rodents had been checking things out in there. The trap was behind some things in a corner, completely out of sight and out of mind.

BINGO! And GROSS! In this heat and humidity it does not take long for decomposition to begin and smells to arise. I won’t gross you out with pictures for this post… you REALLY don’t want to see that do you?

I tossed the trap, mouse and all, out into the yard per DH’s instructions. He will deal with the rodent when he gets home later. I sprayed the room with Bath and Bodyworks room scent. Now the room smells like coconut-vanilla with heavy undertones of dead things. The quilt I just took off the machine and folded up will now be unfolded and aired a bit. I don’t think the customer would appreciate the addition of dead rodent smell to her quilt.

I’m back in business, but cringing each time I walk into the room. As soon as I finish the quilt in the machine now, I will open windows and leave the fan running in there to help evict the smell.

OK… 6 paragraphs about a dead mouse is enough. Back to work for me! Have a blessed day, with no dead rodents!

KAT

UFO Finish

2011-05-02T10:08:00.001-05:00

It is finally pieced!! Jeremy’s quilt was the project that seemed to never end. This quilt is 107” x 107”. With 25 pieced blocks (each containing 64 pieces) and miles and miles of pieced sashing, then the pieced borders…. you get the idea.

I love how it turned out, and more importantly, JEREMY loves how it looks. This pattern is a Bonnie K. Hunter pattern found in her book, Scraps & Shirttails.

Some blocks I love better than others, and I learned a lot about using recycled shirts. I will now be on the look-out for shirts at a bargain. It seemed that it was especially hard to find really good light shirts. Medium value shirts are everywhere, and dark shirts are fairly easy to get, but really good lights… I’ll keep searching. The blocks I like best are the ones using really light shirts for the backgrounds. Admittedly, some of the blocks were rather busy for my tastes because of the background used. They will just have to be that way, because I used what I had.

Now my UFO goal for the month of May…. GET THIS HUGE THING QUILTED!!

KAT

Powerful Storms!

2011-04-27T18:05:00.003-05:00

Early this morning, very powerful thunderstorms moved through the area. We managed just fine, with only a few trees in our woods being broken off or uprooted. I received a call from my sister around 9AM this morning that my mom’s house sustained heavy damage.

I cooked lunch to take over for those helping, and here is what I found when I arrived around noon…

The storm blew the roof off Pop’s shop building. The roof smashed into the back of the house and…

gave a little extra ventilation in the breakfast room. It also…

Smashed into their chimney, breaking it off and sending it crashing through the roof into the living room! Wiring, duct work, and piles of wet insulation covered the living room. There was a HUGE hole in the roof. Rafters were broken and falling, sheetrock was crumpled, light switches were yanked out of the walls… They had lots of water damage. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you what water does to laminate flooring!!

See the mantle in the above picture? There was a hurricane oil lamp sitting on that mantle… it was perfectly intact. Lots of things were spared, but it was a huge mess.

Remember the quilt I gave her for Christmas 2009? The one that had those color runs?? I thought I had that problem SOLVED… HAHA! It was on the couch in the living room and got very wet. It sat there for a while before they could get to it, and there are black color runs! I brought it home for washing and we will see…. if they come out, fine. If not, it will be a souvenir of the storm.

My brothers helped put boards to reinforce where needed, and tarps to help protect from further damage.

See the hump in the above picture? That is where the chimney is SUPPOSED to be!

Freezers and refrigerators had to be dealt with because the house was deemed uninhabitable by the insurance agent. It will be a while before they have power restored in the area, and even then, they won’t have power in the house until repairs are made. They will have to stay in a hotel until the work is done.

This has been a very busy and trying day, but we are so thankful that Mom and Pop were fine. Things can be repaired/replaced, but they are priceless!!

There were lots of downed trees in the town of Robeline and the surrounding area. I have not heard any reports of injuries or fatalities, so despite the damage we were very blessed. I am so thankful today that lives were spared for my family and others in the midst of the storm!

KAT

Excuses, Excuses…

2011-04-20T09:56:00.002-05:00

Top 10 excuses for not blogging this week…

10. I am too pooped out after quilt retreat.

9. I was a bad blogger and took no pictures at quilt retreat. Now I am too embarrassed to mention retreat because I know someone will say, “Where are the pictures?”

8. Jeremy’s quilt is MADE, but it is so big I can’t get a good picture of it, so I haven’t posted.

7. A new quilt was started, but it is not one of my UFOs so I’m keeping it under wraps for now. I’ll let the cat out of the bag soon.

6. Easter preparations are under way… Today I am making cornbread for the dressing (8 packs of cornbread). I will take that to mom tomorrow and she will make the dressing for our Sunday family get-together. There will be about 30 of us there… it takes a BUNCH of dressing!

5. Easter preparations are under way part II… I also have to take a cake. I have no idea WHAT kind of cake to take. Today I will pour over recipes to see if something strikes my fancy. Jenn suggested pineapple-coconut, my favorite. But there are some people in my family that don’t like coconut, so I really need to take something else. Of course, there are some people in my family that don’t like chocolate… I am ignoring those ridiculous folks and will probably take chocolate cake of some sorts simply because it goes so well with coffee after a meal.

4. Quilts are POURING in the door. I prayed for more business, and things have REALLY picked up!

3. I have 2 HUGE custom quilts (I just told DH I was NOT doing any more custom… never say “Never” or “Not”. Didn’t I just post about that a few times ago? Obviously I did NOT (oops… there is THAT word again!) learn from that mistake!

2. Both custom quilts have very pressing deadlines, and my brain just is not flowing on what to quilt on one of them… the one with the MOST pressing deadline.

And, the number 1 excuse for not blogging is…

1. I’m a blogging slacker. I’ll admit it. THERE, I said it. Glad that is out in the open, you all know it, and now you won’t be expecting any posts from me and will be greatly excited when I do actually get a post up.

Have a great week and a wonderfully blessed Easter/Resurrection Sunday! HE IS ALIVE!

KAT

Another Gussie Saga

2011-04-10T17:55:00.001-05:00

I think Gussie Fay has been hanging out at the lake camp because…

The Gammill technician I called has determined that she is “LOOSE”! Technically that means that she coasts to a stop when I hit the stop button, rather than stopping the needle immediately. That also means that her gears are loose and need to be tightened.

SOOOOOO…. tonight we will load Gussie in the car and very early in the morning I will head to Vicksburg, MS to drop her off at the Gammill dealer. I guess you could say Gussie is going on a retreat, too! She will stay there until I finish quilt retreat on Thursday and go back to get her.

The repair isn’t something urgent, but since I was going that way anyway it will be most convenient to go ahead and take her in.

Taking “Inetta” off of Gussie was interesting. I took lots of pictures of how the pieces fit together and marked things with painters tape. A few scribbled notes will also be helpful I hope.

Retreat agenda is made…

1. Finish piecing Jeremy’s quilt. This should be doable on the first day I am there.

2. Start a new quilt. Yes, that is what I said. I have some fat quarter bundles that are demanding that I use them, and my SIL found a really neat pattern that will go well with them. It certainly won’t get finished because I only have 3 of the 6 part directions.

3. If I have extra time (which I doubt will happen) I will work on knitting socks.

I am hauling everything but the kitchen sink. You know you ALWAYS need something you left at home and I don’t want to be the one that left it!

So, farewell, quilting friends, until I return with stories to tell of the fun things the Cotton Country Quilters of Bastrop, LA have been up to. I am so glad they decided to “keep” me after I moved away.

I’ll “see” you sometime next weekend.

KAT

Remember that Olive Salad?

2011-04-07T17:55:00.001-05:00

Do you remember the olive salad that was a gift from my niece in New Orleans? Nancy asked what we would do with it… MAKE MUFFULETTAS!

If you want the traditional sandwich you need ham, mortadella (bologna), hard salami, provolone and mozzarella cheeses, and French bread or round muffuletta bread.

Go HERE for the traditional recipe

I used what I had for our lunch yesterday… left-over seeded hamburger buns, cheddar cheese, smoked turkey sandwich meat, and one slice of chopped, cooked bacon leftover from breakfast.

Place the meat and cheese on the bun and toast in the oven until the cheese is melted and the meat is warm.

Drain the oil from the olive salad and pile it on! We like lots of it. This makes a yummy sandwich. We don’t do these very often because they are loaded with salt and fat, so we really enjoy them when we decide to splurge.

YUMMO!

Kat

The Adventures of “Flat Debbie”

2011-04-03T18:37:00.001-05:00

Subtitle: What we did at SIL Retreat.

It was loads of fun! Since the REAL Debbie was not going to be able to attend we decided to let “Flat Debbie” join in our fun!

Our retreat location is noted for having some “interesting” people hanging around! This weekend it was just a few quilters with goals of sewing, visiting, and eating all 3 days.

Flat Debbie did not waste any time getting settled in. “AHHH, this bed is so soft!!”

Remember I told you I was doing some crafting last week? I created 4 collapsible trash boxes and shared them with my SILs. Flat Debbie really did like these.

SURPRISE! REAL Debbie DID show up for supper and a little quilting on the first night.

Friday morning we headed to Hemphill, TX. Flat Debbie rode “shotgun”. That gal must REALLY like ironing! She carried that iron everywhere she went this weekend!

Our destination was Cedar Tree Nest Quilt Shop.

Lots of LOVELY stuff there! Flat Debbie had a great time browsing for fabric. She did not buy anything, but Mary Anne and I did.

Flat Debbie is admiring my purchases… the blue fabric is for binding on the hand-quilted customer quilt I am working on. The batik swirl is for a batik wonky-house quilt I want to make. This will make fabulous borders.

Let’s eat! Hemphill Bar-B-Q was wonderful! I forgot to take a picture of Flat Debbie eating. I don’t think she had much of an appetite, but M.A. and I wasted no time in gobbling down the BBQ sandwich plate we each got.

Flat Debbie really enjoyed this backdrop!

As soon as we got back to the camp it was coffee time. I shared my coffee and treat with Flat Debbie. Thankfully she is not a heavy drinker, because after staying up late the night before I needed every drop of that caffeine! Afterwards we both got really busy. M.A. and I sewed all Friday afternoon, and all day Saturday. We got so much done!

Above is M.A.’s sailboat quilt made using a jelly roll plus a few other fabrics. SOOOO cute! Start to finish, she got the whole thing done at retreat! I am sorry there are no pictures of M.A. She declined all photo ops.

I made wonderful progress on Jeremy’s quilt. I am almost done putting the body of the quilt together. I will get this finished next week when I go to another quilt retreat. I’ll show you pics next week.

SURPRISE! My niece Salinda joined us for Saturday! She had a great visit with Flat Debbie. This young lady used the “never” word once, and it caught up with her. It was something to the effect of, “I will never be a quilter.”

HMMMMMM! This looks a lot like a quilt to me, Salinda!! She had the borders finished and it was ready for quilting by early afternoon. Way to go, Salinda!!

We really missed the real Debbie, but we were glad to have Flat Debbie accompany us. Hopefully next time the REAL DEAL DEBBIE will be able to come. Next time? Yes, we are already looking at our calendars to see if we can fit another SIL Retreat in soon.

Be blessed!

KAT

FINISHED Feels Good!

2011-03-31T08:56:00.001-05:00

I did it! I finally finished one of my UFOs!!!! It is quilted, bound, and packed to go with me to the camp today.

I call this one, “Camp Four-Patch Posey”. It was a quick and easy quilt to make. The floral fabric was from my stash and has been there probably 10 years. I found it on sale at a quilt shop in West Monroe, LA and bought all that remained on the bolt (about 8-9 yards, I think) because…

I actually bought that fabric to make a shower curtain for the house in Arkansas. The best laid plans… That project never got done. Now that we have moved and these colors don’t exactly go with this house, I decided it would make a great Four-Patch Posey. I’m not crazy-in-love with it but it will do well for my bed at the camp. The print was a little too open to get great, swirling results from the 4-patches. Some blocks are better than others.

The quilting pattern is “Willowy Weeds”. I think it imitates the vines on the print. Of course you can see it better on the back.

YES!!! ONE UFO done!!!

NOW… I am off to SIL Retreat with Mary Anne. Our other SIL, Debbie, won’t be able to make it this time, but we do have a surprise guest to hold her spot.

The first thing I will do when I walk in the door? Put my new quilt on my bed!

What am I working on? Jeremy’s quilt! I have all the blocks made. I need 348 half-square triangles for the sashing. I now have 230 so I am making good progress. I hope to have the body of the quilt all together by Saturday evening, then I will only need to add outer borders. IF When I finish this one I will have 2 more UFOs off my list (Making the quilt counts as #1; quilting and binding it count as #2.)

Tootle-loo, my friends! I’ll give you a FULL report of all our fun and shenanigans next week!

KAT

Gussie & Inetta… BFF

2011-03-29T12:53:00.001-05:00

Gussie Fay (the Gammill Classic Plus) and Inetta Qay (the IntelliQuilter) are now best friends again. The dialog I overheard went something like this:

GUSSIE: “Inetta, please come and play with me today.”

INETTA: “Not today, Gussie. I am just not feeling well.”

GUSSIE: “What is the matter? Are you not my friend any more?”

INETTA: “It’s not that, Gussie. I really don’t know what the problem is, but it seems I am just not thinking clearly today.”

GUSSIE: “Would you like me to take a look and see if I can determine anything?”

INETTA: “Sure, if you want to. But this may be WAAYYYYY over your head. I love you, Gussie, but you are not the most technically savvy machine around!”

GUSSIE: “I know, but I really want to help you if I can. I’ll see…. “INETTA!

What does this little white wire do… This one that seems to be loose?”

INETTA: “Uhhhhhh…. I don’t know. I’m not thinking clearly. WAIT!! When you wiggled it, my thoughts cleared up a little! Wiggle it again, please. YES!! That’s it!”

GUSSIE: “WAIT! I’ll go call KAT. SHE can fix it! She can fix ANYTHING!!”

And it was a happy ending. Gussie and Inetta are now beautifully stitching on the UFO that Kat thinks she MUST finish today.

Another fairy tale ending!

***Special thanks to my IQ dealer, Cristyn Merry, Zoltan (IQ inventor and technical support), and DH for helping troubleshoot.

KAT

Today In A Nutshell

2011-03-28T10:36:00.001-05:00

Today I will…

1. FINISH (I hope!) the hand-quilting on this customer quilt. It seems every time I turn it over I find another spot that the quilter (not me!) missed. This will take most of the day I think. It will be wonderful to get it done. Then to find fabric for the binding…. I feel a F.A.R.T. (Fabric Acquisition Road Trip)coming on! Friday, as part of the SIL Quilt Retreat we will be going to Hemphill, TX. I’m sure I can find something there.

Yes, I DO have TONS of blue fabrics in my stash, but this is a king-size quilt and will require almost a yard to do the binding. I only have a few things in my blue stash that are at least one-yard cuts, and none of them work for this.

2. A little crafting will be going on. I can’t tell you what I am making right now, but if you read the blog of a famous quilt teacher that loves to use recycled SHIRTS, you may already know. I’ll fill you in when they are done. You just might want to make one, too!

3. Waiting for a call/email from my IQ dealer. Gussie and Inetta decided they did NOT want to play nice together. Thankfully it is MY quilt in the machine. We have narrowed the problem down and hopefully today or tomorrow will have the issue solved. I think I jinxed myself by declaring to the world that I WAS going to get a UFO finished this month.

And, on another note… last night at 10PM I finished these socks! They turned out so cute!

And last night at 10:05PM I cast on THESE socks. Yep… hooked.

In my defense, I must remind you that my days of knitting wool yarn are very numbered. I just can’t work with it once the hot weather gets here, so I am rushing to get as many wool socks knit as I can. I will soon have to switch to cotton blend yarn. I have 2 different cotton yarns in my stash so I am set up.

That is life in my corner of the world today… What’s happening with YOU?

KAT

Git ‘er Done!

2011-03-26T20:04:00.001-05:00

Forgive me, Larry the Cable Guy, but I am actually accomplishing something and I need to celebrate it!

I finished up all customer quilts in the house and decided that Monday would be MY day to get a quilt done. And then it dawned on me… I have SIL quilt retreat at the camp next weekend. And one of the projects on my UFO Challenge list was the quilt made to go on “my” bed at the camp. So…why not just get that thing done?

I got the quilt put in the machine this morning.

Thread was chosen.

Bobbins were wound.

Quilt pattern was selected.

I got back from town this afternoon and decided, why not just go ahead and let Inetta and Gussie go to work on it? So I did.

I’m telling you all, a modern-day miracle is about to happen at my house. I may actually FINISH one of my UFOs. I mean, it has just been 3 MONTHS and I haven’t finished anything yet! Of course, life did get in the way of my schedule but I make no excuses. I almost decided to post a retraction to my participation in the UFO challenge since I was so far behind. I am so glad now that I didn’t.

The binding will be made and stitched on after church tomorrow, then stitched down by machine. This is a “using” quilt and not one that I am crazy in love with so machine binding will be just fine.

WOOHOO! I will have 1 UFO checked off the list! And guess what I am working on at SIL retreat… Jeremy’s quilt. I am making progress. About half of the half-square triangles for the pieced border are made. His birthday came and went, and the quilt is not finished. I told him it will now be a “First Day Of Squirrel Season” quilt ready this fall. After all, he doesn’t need a quilt this time of year in the South anyway!

AND… since the quilt is being done today, I just may get to work on something ELSE on Monday (like hand-quilting that customer quilt I showed you a few days ago).

KAT

Waning Willpower

2011-03-25T10:09:00.001-05:00

I tried to be strong… I really did. Yesterday while IQ was stitching I was working at the computer. I finished my task… Idle minds are the devil’s workshop! I got to thinking…

I really NEED some more knitting needles so I can get 2 pairs of socks going at one time. (I know…. that sounds like I am HOOKED on knitting!) And JUST in case something were to happen to ONE of the needles I have, I would be dead-in-the-water until I could order another one and wait for it to get here. (We are in the boonies with no yarn/knitting supplies anywhere near.)

After this purchase I need to block knitpicks.com from my computer for a while. Four new sock yarns will soon be heading my way.

Oh, my friend Felici! Your wonderfully soft squishiness is so enticing to me!

OH… and of course the 2 different sizes of knitting needles. Since I use 2 circular needles (knitting one sock at a time) it would be terrible if something happened to one of them, and I HAVE had that. Just let me say that size 1 needles can and do bend when you cram them into a knitting bag that is not quite large enough for your project. Voice of experience talking here.

Ahhhhh… Stroll handpainted… your beautiful interweaving of colors delights my senses as I zoom through knitting socks!

And also on my list of supplies arriving…. those wonderful yarn darning needles with the bent tip. I keep loosing my darning needles.

They creep out of my package when I am not looking. Perhaps they blend in with the woodwork when I set them down on the end table next to my chair. I have lost 2 packages recently, so I just ordered 2 more. I am currently using a needle the size of a size 4 knitting needle to weave thread tails… not a pretty picture!

Note that I am not affiliated with knitpicks… just a VERY satisfied customer.

Hurry up knitpicks! Since I chose free shipping it will take about 10 days for my package to meander from Washington state all the way down to LA. That is OK… I have plenty to be doing but I am so anxious to have some new yarns to squish and drool over. Don’t say it!!! (I have plenty.)

LALALALALALALALALALALALALA!!! I CAN’T HEAR YOU!!

KAT

Sock Quandry

2011-03-23T08:03:00.000-05:00

You KNOW I am hooked!

I did finish my pair of socks for March on the 10th of the month, but I am not really pleased with them. I do love the yarn, but as you can tell, they are not the same! There were only 2 balls of this yarn on the store shelf and I did not think to check dye lots, but they must be from different ones. It almost doesn’t even look like the same yarn. Of course I threw away the label from the first ball when I finished the sock so I have no way of knowing now what the deal was. The sock on the bottom is the one I knit first. I tried to find the same color spot on the second ball of yarn when I started. I thought I did but as you can see they turned out very different! It almost looks like the 2nd ball was reverse-wound, but on each of them I started from the center of the ball of yarn, so I just don’t get it! I do love the feel of this yarn… it is just a little heavier than the other sock yarns I have used and I think it will be warmer.

I don’t think I will be buying any more of this yarn due to the color issue and the difficulty making the 2 socks look the same. I will still wear these because after all, no one will even notice this unless I take off my shoe, hike up my jeans, and say “LOOK AT THIS!”. It is a personal trend toward perfectionism in some areas that drives me wild, but I just can’t help it!

I am still working with the Cat Bordhi technique and liking it more and more. I plan on doing a critique of her book in a blog post soon, perhaps next week.

SOOOOOOO… since I was totally disgusted with those, I immediately cast on another pair using Felici self-striping yarn (from KnitPicks.com) and here is my progress.

Felici has such a wonderfully soft feel… sometimes I just sit and squish the yarn ball and enjoy it!

Yep, I feel a 2-pairs-of-socks month coming on!! And of course I am already planning the next pair. And considering ordering more yarn. They just come out with new color-ways in Felici, and I MUST get some more!! What? Did you say, “But what about the other 12 different sock yarns you already have in that tote?” I’ll get to those later.

Hooked… totally hooked!

KAT

I Can’t Believe….

2011-03-22T20:08:00.001-05:00

that JEREMY has a birthday today! My “little boy” is 31.

He has always been a sweetie, and I am so proud of the man he has become. He tells his mom he loves her on a regular basis… all moms appreciate that!

And as you can tell from the photo, he does NOT like us taking his picture! This is one I sneaked at Christmas. I don’t think I have any recent pictures of him actually looking at the camera… I’m going to have to remedy that.

I cooked some of his favorite foods for supper… spaghetti and meat sauce, cornbread, purple hull peas, cream style corn from the garden, and cherry pie for dessert. One sure way to entice him to visit is to cook for him!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JEREMY! And many more!

Love, Mom

KAT

Never Say…

2011-03-20T15:38:00.001-05:00

the word NEVER! You KNOW it always comes back to bite you!

Early last week I was telling my daughter, “Your mom will NEVER hand-quilt again!” I have not done any hand-quilting since shortly after purchasing my longarm machine in 2004. I had not planned on doing any again. My hand-quilting rails and stands are hanging out in the woodworking shop because I knew I would not use them again. My bag of hand-quilting thread, needles, finger protectors, etc. can not be found… I looked high and low. Of course they are in “that” room somewhere! (The messy one I blogged about when I lost the perfect fabric. BTW, it is still pretty messy. I know that surprises you… HAHA!)

Last week I made a trip to pick up a quilt. The customer said she thought it only needed the edges finished. I interpreted this as “needs binding”. When I got there it was a king-size quilt in beautiful blue and yellow. Don’t you just love that pattern? (And I had not noticed until I posted this picture that there is a “mistake” in the color placement in this section! Perhaps it was intentional, a “humility” block?)

It was hand-quilted but not finished. Almost one complete row and most of the border seams need hand-quilted, and the quilter was going in every ditch… there are a lot of pieces in each one of those blocks!

The customer said she just wanted it finished, and for me to just put it on the longarm and finish it… she did not mind that there might be tucks and puckers on the underneath side. She just wanted it DONE!

My heart would not let me put this on the machine, therefore I am now eating those words I so positively uttered just a few days before. All things considered, it is going pretty fast because the other quilter used large stitches, so that releases me to do the same. I will have to do some patching on the batting around the edges. Evidently this one has not been worked on in a long time and the poly batting is in pieces! I have no lap quilting frame so I am just smoothing, pin basting, and doing the best I can. I am remembering why we should not hand-quilt when the warm weather gets here. It only takes about 2 minutes of being up close and personal with this quilt to bring on a major hot flash!

When it is all done and returned to the customer my heart will not have any regrets that I did something to the quilt that did not honor the first quilter’s vision. It is taking a lot longer than I thought, and of course I did not charge nearly enough for that time, but it was a heart-thing. I am sure you all would feel the same way.

Now I will NOT use those words again, because even though I sincerely hope I do NOT have to hand-quilt again, I am NOT going to bring more my way by saying “NEVER”!!

KAT

Top 10 List: Things That Make You Say “UGGGHHH!”

2011-03-04T10:37:00.001-06:00

These are all quilt related, and I am sure you have all been there, too.

10. When you discover the fabric you thought was mostly brown when you ordered it on the internet is actually GREEN and does NOT go with the quilt.

9. When you discover your speed-piecing technique for half-square triangles yielded a pile of slightly-off squares and each one will need to be trimmed individually. (So much for the SPEEDY technique!)

8. When you discover that your ruler slipped just a teeny-tiny bit on that last cut of your border fabric, and now all border pieces will need to be trimmed down to make things right.

7. Incorrect math in figuring amount of fabric needed. Nuff said!

6. Wavy borders on customer quilts. Nuff said!

5. Too-small linings on customer quilts. Nuff said!

4. When you roll the quilt and discover that SOMETHING in the bobbin area wasn’t quite right when you changed the bobbin, and you now get to rip out a whole row of quilting. What takes 10 minutes to quilt will take 6 HOURS to take out.

3. When people think you can make them a king-size quilt for $49.99. After all, they can get one for that amount at the department stores! HAHA!

2. When quilters pay $10 a yard for fabric and then complain about paying $80 for quilting on a queen-size quilt. (And this is usually prefaced with a remark like, “I’ve already spent so much on this quilt. I need the cheapest quilting you can do.”)

AND THE NUMBER ONE THINGS THAT MAKES YOU SAY “UGGHH!” IS….. (Drum roll, please.)

1. When your gut told you to do an overall pattern on your throw quilt. Yes, it has busy fabrics and the quilting won’t show much. But then you decided to do custom. And it took you 3 days to get it right. But you could have quilted the over-all in 3 hours. UGGHHHH!

Have a wonderfully blessed weekend!

KAT

Quilter’s Prerogative…

2011-02-28T10:02:00.001-06:00

It is a quilter’s prerogative (which my dictionary defines as “an exclusive right or privilege”) to change her mind!

I searched high and low for the missing binding fabric. I did finally uncover it… stacked UNDER a pile of other things. I know better! BUT in the searching I also found THIS fabric. So I thought, “MY…. that would make a nice binding too, should I not find the stripe.”

So here is the dilemma… which to use? Both work well, but the practical person in me says use the stripe… I bought it for this purpose. The free spirit in me says this Kaffe fan print is perfect for a cute binding and really brings out the other colors in the quilt.

Every quilter that wandered through my house got posed the question of which binding to use. Admittedly, that only involves 2 other quilters, but we reached a consensus. We all 3 chose the fan print! So, the stripe will go back into the stash to be chosen as the perfect fabric another day.

I love it when I am willing to move with the moment, exercise my prerogative (that EXCLUSIVE right or privilege), and be pleased with the results. It is even better when others confirm that you are doing the right thing!

So, GO FORTH AND EXERCISE YOUR PREROGATIVE TODAY!! It is a very freeing thing to know that most decisions are not etched in stone, and we are free to move as the Spirit leads!

Be blessed today!

KAT

SOMEWHERE….

2011-02-25T10:03:00.001-06:00

Somewhere…. deep in the recesses of my office/fabric storage room, is the PERFECT multi-colored stripe fabric for binding THIS quilt!! Yesterday I trimmed the edges, then went to get the fabric. I was going to get this project OFF my to-do list. HAHA!

I know the fabric is there…. I purchased it over a year ago. I have drooled over it on regular occasions, tempted to use it for something else. But no, I was strong. It was purchased to bind my Kaffe Fassett quilt, and that is exactly what it will do!

Evidently on one of those drooling fests, I did NOT put it back in the storage tub with the rest of the Kaffee fabric. Now I need it. Now I can’t find it! UGGHH!

I WISH I WERE BETTER ORGANIZED!! Flylady says that my problem is, I am a perfectionist, and since I don’t have time to organize everything “perfectly” I procrastinate until I do (have the time to clean/organize everything perfectly) and it seems that time never comes. I am not convinced. I am a perfectionist when it comes to quilting and piecing. The rest of life, well, everything can’t be perfect!

So, today after I get a few small areas of a quilt ripped ( a few “less than perfect” areas where IQ bumped into the belly bar and flattened the bottom of some rows… a rookie mistake that I KNOW better than doing!) and put back in the machine, I will commence the great SEARCH FOR THE PERFECT FABRIC THAT I HAVE ALREADY PURCHASED THAT NOW RESIDES SOMEWERE IN THIS TOTALLY DISORGANIZED ROOM!

I think my only hope is to empty the room out and start fresh…. and I’ll do that as soon as I have time to do it perfectly! (Seriously, I’ve been planning on doing that for over 2 years now!) Oh Flylady, what else have you figured out about me, that I have not discovered myself??

KAT

Top 10 List of Why I Have Not Been Blogging…

2011-02-23T16:20:00.001-06:00

10. Blame it on Mom! After spending several days in Houston with her to give my step-father a rest, I was worn out! Mom is now home from the hospital and doing well. Isn’t it amazing that only 11 days after having open chest surgery they send you home??

9. Blame it on Mom… while staying with her in the hospital I picked up a not-so-nice bug. (Yes, I DID wash my hands every 5 minutes, but this germ must have been persistent!)

8. Blame it on the CRUD. I had an appointment (made 3 weeks ago) for a wellness exam yesterday. Good thing! A shot and three prescriptions later, I am much better.

7. I am wimpy. I can’t REMEMBER the last time I was sick because, I just don’t get sick!! Yesterday was spent in the bed, and I did not even feel like knitting. Now you KNOW I was feeling cruddy!

6. The weather here has been beautiful and we have spent some time outside walking and going to the pond. Katie Bug loves to fish.

5. Blue/gray socks completed. These are the ones that I had to rip out 3 times before I got it right. I think I need a 12-step plan for over-knitters.

4. Jeremy’s quilt now has 1 more block completed. That’s little progress, but it IS progress.

3. Quilting on customer quilts. I am not super-busy right now, but I know things will pick up soon.

2. Being the social butterfly that I am (HAHA!) I have had several engagements on my calendar that have caused me not to post.

AND THE NUMBER ONE REASON YOU HAVE NOT SEEN ME POSTING IS:

1. The next pair of socks. (HMMM… still thinking about that 12-step plan!) I am still not convinced about the Cat Bordhi technique. I like it as a whole because it knits up much quicker than doing normal heel turns, but I am still struggling with fitting the heel. And I also need to adjust the leg fit. That is what happens when you have a long, wide, high-instep foot, narrow heel, thin ankles… but you have probably heard enough of my personal foot problems. Maybe I am too picky?

Hopefully I will be back in my normal (whatever THAT is!) routine now and will be posting more frequently.

KAT

Mom Update

2011-02-10T11:12:00.001-06:00

Her surgery went well yesterday. The doctors did 2 by-passes and replaced the aortic valve. Today she was sitting up in bed, ventilator and stomach tubes have been removed, blood ox levels are good. She was drinking water when my family went in for visiting time and was talking and awake most of the time they were there. Things are looking GREAT!! Next step: getting out of ICU and into a room.

Thank YOU, LORD, for answered prayers!! Thanks to all my friends and family for your prayers on mom’s behalf.

KAT

10 Things You Might Want To Read About…

2011-02-08T11:14:00.001-06:00

1. Ice is good entertainment for children living in the deep-South! It was just a sleet and ice mix (thankfully not enough to cause power outages or damage to our pine trees), but Katie Bug really enjoyed bundling up and playing outside.

Large sheets of ice are cheap entertainment! “Snow Days” are rare here, so she really enjoyed her unscheduled day off school.

2. Ground deer meat is yummy! We ground and packaged 55 lbs. of deer meat for the freezer last week. We have some mixed with bacon, some mixed with beef tallow, and some just plain for using in chili, sloppy joes, and spaghetti sauce. This is the last batch ready to go in the freezer. It was an all-day job between the set-up, grinding, and clean-up. WHEW! Glad that is done.

3. My Cat Bordhi socks are making slow progress. I have ripped out 1 completed sock and 2 that were up past the ankles. I am still struggling to get the perfect fit, but now know where I went wrong. Hopefully this next one (which is almost to the ankle line) will fit better. The problem is NOT with her technique or instructions… it is with my INTERPRETATION of the instructions. After reading the directions for starting again for the umpteenth time, I think I am now on the right path (hopefully). For those of you that knit with small thread and needles you know how painful it is to rip out hours and hours of work… try doing that 3 times! UUUGGGHHH!

4. Life is busy. Out-of-town bowling last weekend (and I did WELL!!), and in-town bowling tournament this weekend (not so well), bowling again last night (so-so results) for regular league. I am busy trying to get all my ducks in a row because…

5. Mom is having heart surgery tomorrow (Wednesday) in Houston. All prayers for a great outcome and quick healing are greatly appreciated, as well as prayers for safe travel for all of our family that will be going that way. That means my schedule (and posting) may be very erratic for the next several weeks. Please bear with me… I promise to get back to regular posts as soon as we get past this bump in the road!

6. Quilters are making quilts! Once again I have lots of quilts coming in the door, and I am very thankful for that. If perhaps one of those is YOURS, please understand that it might be a couple of weeks before you get it back (even though some of you were told I could get to it right away). I promise to get back to work as soon as possible.

7. More cold weather on the way and perhaps more freezing stuff, too. YUCK! SPRING, HURRY UP AND GET HERE!! We usually have flowers blooming by Valentine’s Day, but something tells me they may be a little late blooming this year.

8. Thank the Lord for a wood heater and a man that likes to cut and split wood!

9. No time for piecing right now, so no work is happening on Jeremy’s quilt. Therefore I am REALLY behind on my UFO challenge. It will be there when I can get to it, and the world won’t stop if it is not done soon. He may get this NEXT Christmas!!

10. (Because 10 is a good number to round out a list) Psalm 145:3 (KJV)
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.

Be blessed, and have a wonderful week!

KAT

Red Snappers and Gammill Machines

2011-02-02T14:56:00.001-06:00

There has been much discussion on machine quilting lists about a new product called “Red Snappers”. This product was invented by Renae Haddadin, and you can purchase them at Quilts On The Corner. It is a much quicker and easier way to attach your quilt and backing to the leaders on your quilting machine. Before the purchase I had been pinning quilts onto the leaders using corsage pins… OUCH!! I know I have stuck myself about a thousand times, and all of the shirts I work in have tears on the sides where I accidentally bumped into a pin while walking past the machine.

SO… this post is mostly for machine quilters, but if you are interested in such things, read on.

The discussion has been about tips to use the Red Snappers on a Gammill quilting machine. Renae has a wonderful video showing their use, but it is done on another brand machine and the leader poles have a different set-up. Here is what I have found works best for me…

When attaching the QUILT to the quilt pole… Use the side clamps to hold the leader at the top of the BELLY BAR (1 clamp on each side). This keeps the leader in place while you…

Place a few small clamps (being careful not to stretch the quilt),

then I start on the right-hand end and work my way down with the long snapper. I have found the best way for me to securely clamp them down is to grab the belly bar with my thumb and pull down with my fingers. This gives more leverage than using the palm of my hand.

Follow the same procedure for attaching the backing to the backing pole. THEN…

To attach the backing to the pick-up leader, loosen the latch and pull the leader out towards the BACK of the table almost to the edge, then fold several inches forward toward the roller.

You can see in this photo the leader is folded over on top of itself. Pull the backing up to the rod, snap on a few small clamps, and…

this time I DO use the palm of my hand to press down. Since you have the table underneath this works fine and is quickly done. Tighten up the quilt backing by rolling the backing bar, pull up your batting, pull up the quilt top, and you are ready to go.

One note to new Red Snapper owners… be patient. The first quilt I attached using the snappers took me a long time. You will get much faster after just a few quilts and after discovering what technique works best for you. THEY ARE WELL WORTH THIS LEARNING CURVE!

I hope this helps, and thanks for looking! NOW…. WHAT will I do with those 600 corsage pins I just purchased a few months ago??

KAT

I FOUND IT!!!

2011-02-01T13:22:00.001-06:00

The PERFECT stripe fabric to go on Jeremy’s quilt! It is a smidge darker than what it appears in the photo, but it looks great with the shirt fabrics.

WHERE did I find this, you might ask? At Mama’s Quilt Shop in Independence, LA (very close to Hammond, LA). And of course I can’t buy just one fabric when I have traveled that far, so these other things wanted to come home with me, too.

Patterns: I almost NEVER buy patterns, but she had a great sale on lots of them, and at half-price, I found several that I needed. I might keep them, or I might use them as gifts…. we shall see.

And she ALWAYS has great fabric in the sale room at 50% off… my kind of price! The stripe is for quilt bindings. I LOVE a striped quilt binding cut on the bias, so when I find a good fabric on sale I get some. The gold check was FREE! Yes, you heard right…FREE FABRIC! I completed all the punches on a fabric shoppers card from her shop and got to choose a FREE yard of fabric!! You just can’t beat that!!

SO, if you are ever in southwest MS or southeast LA you MUST go hunt Mama up!! A GPS would be helpful to find it, but you can just call the shop and they will give you good directions on how to find them.

HAPPY STITCHING!

KAT

UFO Progress

2011-01-26T16:36:00.001-06:00

We are getting there! I got 3 more blocks pieced today for a total of 21.

BUT…there are a couple of “rejects”.

The purple block is rejected just because the colors don’t belong in this quilt. The red/blue block is rejected because of the red fabric. It is a very large-thread flannel. I started not to use it when I was cutting the blocks out, and now I wish I would have listened to that inner voice. The feel of the fabric and the “busy-ness” just bother me, so it will not be used.

Another reject… the fabric I purchased for the pieced sashing. The print looked more brown on the internet. I do not like this… it looks too “Christmasy”. I thought I would like it better after piecing some but today I decided it will have to go.

What I am really wanting is a brown/gold stripe fabric but I have not found that anywhere. OH… and of course, I want it on SALE.

So, after all of that we can deduce that I have 19 keeper blocks and only need 6 more. They are cut out and ready to piece but it will be next week before I can get to them.

I’m very pleased with the progress I have made on this UFO, and I should not have any problem finishing the piecing and getting it quilted by the end of February…. provided I can find the FABRIC for the sashing!

Have a great weekend! And next week I will post my sock progress… you will be surprised!

KAT

Happy Birthday to…

2011-01-20T20:37:00.001-06:00

Katie Bug. My darling granddaughter turned 11 years old today. It is sort of sad in a way. Grandchildren grow up way too fast! It seems just a few years ago she was tiny. She loved to sit and read, play games, work puzzles. Now she is most attentive to the Nintendo DSi, her MP3 player, and the Wii. I guess technology has done away with some things. But I digress.

I was thinking today as I was working on her birthday cake, and really sort of bemoaning that my little honey is growing up. And then, she arrived home from school and turned the TV to “Sponge Bob”. Maybe she is not completely grown yet! Her heart is still young, she is full of laughter and a quick smile. I love looking at her smile.

After supper (Mexican chicken, at her request), birthday cake, and ice cream we plugged her new game for the Wii in… “Just Dance 2”. She does so well, and her mom can do a fair job of it to. We will NOT talk about how Granny does. Let’s just say that most of the music I have never heard, and most of the “moves” they want you do to, my body no longer goes that way!! It was a hoot!

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATIE BUG! But please slow down on the growing up… Granny wants to savor every moment I have with you!

KAT

Sometimes I Amaze Myself!

2011-01-17T16:17:00.001-06:00

Mama always says, “Stupid is as stupid does.” Forrest Gump

Sometimes I amaze myself… at the ridiculous things I can do! I was working on a customer quilt and she asked me to piece the lining for her…. no problem, I’ve done it a million times.

I measured the quilt top… 66” wide. Now that I have IQ on my machine I rest the machine on the end where I have the “0” end of my measuring lines. IQ is in the way. I have to add 10” to the measurement I want because the closest I can get to the starting point is the 10” line. I wanted my lining to be 10” wider than the quilt. (I bet you are a step ahead of me here.)

I need to cut 2 pieces 76” long. I lined it up to the 76” mark, cut it, sewed it together, put it on the machine mounted the batting and quilt top. When I pulled the batting up to baste it onto the lining I realized that my lining was 10” narrower than the batting. HMMMMM….

Yep… I added the 10” that I needed to the measurement but FORGOT to add in the 10” start point difference on my measuring marks! The results? My lining is only 1” wider than the quilt so there is no room to clamp. SHEESH!!

Time to improvise… I cut additional strips of fabric to sew to the sides of the lining. Rather than taking the quilt off the machine I sewed the edges together on the longarm using the tiniest seam I could make. It was a real pain, but it is done and IQ is now stitching away. I have to be SUPER-CAREFUL each time I roll the quilt so the add-on seam does not get quilted into the body of the quilt.

So, add this trick to the list of things I do NOT want to do again… the lesson was learned the hard way. That list seems to be growing longer all the time.

The bonus for my customer… no charge for piecing her lining. Since I made such a mess of it she gets a freebie.

Now I think I will go RE-NUMBER my machine bed starting from the other end so this does not happen again.

Time to laugh at myself and move on. I wonder what kind of goofy trick I can pull NEXT week?

KAT

Updates on Many Things…

2011-01-14T12:01:00.001-06:00

I am so sorry the blog has suffered from lack of attention lately. I’ve had lots of IDEAS for blog postings but just have not gotten them down on paper… errr, keyboard! And of course, you KNOW about the love/hate relationship I have with the digital camera.

UFO PROGRESS: I have 16 blocks and half of the 348 half-square triangles needed for the pieced sashing. That is PROGRESS! I will use the HSTs as “leader and enders” while piecing more blocks, so I will be working on both piecing blocks and piecing sashings at the same time.

SOCKS UPDATE: I have finished a pair in Oct, Nov., and Dec.! January’s pair is coming along nicely… I am almost through with the gusset decreases and then I can just knit around the legs. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new knitting book, Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters, by Cat Bordhi. (Thanks to DH… the book is an anniversary present for ~~putting up with him~~ loving and caring for him for 20 years come Feb. 15th.) This sock method has NO HEEL TURNS! I can’t wait to see how she does this. Reports I have gotten from a friend who uses this method says they are very fast to knit. That’s what I want!! I move along pretty fast until I get to the heels, and then things slow to a snail’s pace.

MOM UPDATE: We are still waiting to hear from test results and the doctors in Houston to see if they will perform her heart surgery.

PRAYERS NEEDED: Our family is really saddened at the loss of my little niece this morning. She was born very premature (24 weeks gestation) on Tuesday evening and weighed less than one pound. Although we knew the odds were against her, you always hope for a miracle. I pray for God’s peace to surround my sister and BIL. We know this tiny child is now with the Father, and we will get to see her again.

Have a blessed week, and give your spouse/child/grandchild/niece/nephew or ANYONE you love a hug this week… Life is so precious, and so much taken for granted.

KAT

Progress!

2011-01-05T19:50:00.001-06:00

I have completed 14 blocks for Jeremy’s quilt. I am trying to get one done each day. When I lay them out, a couple of the ones I have made don’t seem to fit in this quilt, so I will probably be remaking a few. I had second thoughts when I picked up that purple hound’s tooth check. And the red/black/white hound’s tooth also jumped out, but I thought I was just being too picky. I think they don’t belong in this quilt, but perhaps another one. I need 25 blocks so I am well on the way with this quilt.

I also finally found the fabrics to use for the pieced sashing. Hopefully they will be here tomorrow and I can get them washed and ready to cut. I figure when I am tired of working on the blocks I can take a break and work on sashing instead.

Other retreat projects: (I HAD pictures… I really did! Due to a camera/computer mishap they have been lost. So sorry!)

Mary Anne got the body of her Neptune jelly roll quilt done. She has since completed borders and has already given it to me for quilting. WOW! This really almost WAS a “Quilt In a Day”! I’ll post a picture after I get it quilted.

Debbie got all blocks made for her camp quilt, and has since gotten it all sewn together. I’ll get a picture of this on our next retreat.

We really did accomplish a lot on this retreat, and we are planning another one as soon.

KAT

I’m late! I’m late!!

2010-12-31T11:05:00.001-06:00

For a very important date.

No time to say “Hello!”. “Good-bye!”

I’m late! I’m late! I’m late!!

TRIVIA QUESTION:

What movie is that line from?

Now for the answer to WHAT I am late for…

Why the New Year’s Eve SIL Retreat, of course!! Bags are packed (for the most part), taco soup is ready to take, laundry is washing/drying, so things are well under way. BUT I wanted to be there EARLY today, and that is not going to happen.

Now to go throw my grungy self into the shower, then throw a few clothes in a bag and I’ll be ready to roll out of here.

So…. WHAT am I working on??

Nose to the grindstone, focused on the goal, I-don’t-break-for-anything sewing will occur this evening and tomorrow. I have 5 of the 25 blocks done. I would LOVE to come home with most of these blocks pieced. They are already cut out, so it goes pretty fast. We will see…

I think lots of coffee will be in store for me this evening. I didn’t sleep well last night so I know I will want to crash early this evening. I CAN’T DO IT! MUST sew! MUST sew!!

I’ll give you a progress report when I return. And of course I will show you what the OTHER SILs accomplish, too.

Have a wonderful New Year’s Eve, and HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!

KAT

UFO Challenge Projects

2010-12-28T21:59:00.001-06:00

I finally have taken the time to sort through my UFOs to see which projects I want to finish for Judy’s Patchwork Times UFO Challenge. Truthfully, I was surprised that I did not find more things! I do have several small UFOs tucked away that I did not even consider. I am going for the GUSTO! I want to get these larger projects out of the way, and then I can throw in a small one if I finish my monthly project early (HAHA! AS IF!!) So here’s what I am planning…

1. Jeremy’s Milky Way quilt… piecing (I have 5 of the 25 blocks done. Then there is a pieced sashing around all the blocks…. lots of work in that, plus pieced borders. And I also just remembered… I still have not found the fabric I want for the pieced sashing, so I better get to work on that! This will take a while!) *This was started about 5 months ago. It was intended to be his Christmas present but I just could not get it done. It will now be his birthday gift (end of March) so no matter WHAT number Judy draws I will work on this one first! I LOVE how the blocks are turning out. I think I will need to make another one of these after I have completed his. After all… I must do SOMETHING with all that shirt fabric I have been collecting!

2. Jeremy’s Milky Way quilt…. quilting and binding

3. Blue 4-Patch Posey …. quilting and binding *This is for the bed at the lake camp where we have our SIL retreats. I would love to have it ready for the next spring retreat.

4. Green 4-Patch Posey … setting blocks together and borders *This is for MY bed. Blocks are all made, but I have not decided how I would like to set them together. I want to do something different, but I just don’t know WHAT!

5. Green 4-Patch Posey…. quilting and binding

6. Glorified 9-Patch … quilting *The top was finished at quilt retreat about 1 1/2 years ago. Time to get the quilting done.

7. Glorified 9-Patch …. binding (This is a scalloped binding. I figure it will take me a whole month to hand-hem this baby!)

8. Jelly Roll Diamonds quilt… quilting and binding *This top was pieced about 2 years ago. It was my first jelly roll quilt and was loads of fun, but I never did decide how I wanted to quilt it. Time to make up my mind! I think this will be a great place to practice on custom quilting with the IQ.

9. Balloons Stack & Whack… piecing *I think most of the blocks are cut out, but none have been sewn together.

10. Balloons Stack & Whack… quilting and binding

11. Floral Stack & Whack… piecing *I think all of this has been cut out and 2 or 3 blocks have been pieced.

12. Floral Stack & Whack… quilting and binding *Both Stack & Whack quilts were begun as examples when I taught a class on how to do these. They have been hanging around for about 8 years now!

Now Judy, here is the thing…

I MUST get Jeremy’s quilt done first, so no matter what you draw, his quilt gets priority in January and February. And IF you draw a number that is one of my quilting projects but the piecing has to be done first, obviously I am going to have to do some switching around a little. Please don’t send the quilt police after me!!

SOOOOOO…. If I am able to keep up with this I will complete 7 quilts next year. It will feel very good to have these UFOs done and given as gifts or used in our home. I work best under pressure, so hopefully I can keep this going all year.

Are YOU up to the challenge? If so, hop over to Patchwork Times and sign up!

KAT

My Christmas Card to You

2010-12-24T12:11:00.001-06:00

Luke 2:1-21 (KJV)
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. [2] (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) [3] And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. [4] And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) [5] To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. [6] And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. [7] And she brought forth her firstborn son,

and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

[8] And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. [9] And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them,

and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. [10] And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,

which shall be to all people. [11] For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. [12] And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. [13] And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

[14] Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,

good will toward men. [15] And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. [16] And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. [17] And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. [18] And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. [19] But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. [20] And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. [21] And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus,

which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

1 John 4:10 (KJV)
Herein is love,

not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Are You Up To A Challenge?

2010-12-13T12:20:00.001-06:00

I have them, you have them, we all have them! They are UFOs or UnFinished (quilting/sewing) Objects. Judy L. at Patchwork Times has issued a challenge to get them done in 2011. Do YOU want to empty out those project boxes so you can use and enjoy those hidden treasures? If so, go HERE and read what she has planned for the coming year. It is a simple challenge with very few rules and no UFO POLICE involved.

I’m in! I don’t have nearly as many UFOs as I once did, but I still have more than I want to think about. I sometimes reach the point where I feel very guilty about starting something new when I have these TIPS (treasures in plastic sacks) sitting around my sewing room. I’m sure I won’t have any trouble coming up with 12, one for each month of next year. I have several that just need quilting (four, I think), so those will for-sure go on the list. And then there is the quilt I started for Jeremy for CHRISTMAS that only has 6 blocks done (6 of the 25 I need. SHEESH!) … think this one will be a birthday quilt instead of a Christmas present!! The end of March deadline sounds a lot better to me right now.

SOOOOOO…. are you ready to join in? Come on… you KNOW you need to finish up those things.

Sorry for the picture-less blog again. No time… I’m trying to get things ready for next weekend’s Ellzey Christmas at my house before I head back to the big city to stay with Mom. I hear it keeps you young to stay busy… I must be getting about a year younger per week right now with all that is happening around here!!

MOM UPDATE: No surgery for now. Her lung functions are too low for them to safely do surgery. All prayers for improvement in her lungs would be greatly appreciated.

Have a blessed week, and please, consider joining Judy’s challenge. Finishing up those UFOs feels SOOOOO good!

KAT

Progress Made

2010-12-09T11:33:00.001-06:00

1. My girls (Katie Bug and her mom, Jenn) got moved in yesterday.

2. Katie Bug is now at her new school. We carried her this morning and met her teachers. I was very impressed with the school. This appears to be a very good change for her.

3. Bindings are sewn to 2 quilts so I can work on hand-hemming them while at the hospital with my mom. Plus, I have turned the heel and picked up gusset stitches on my socks… it will soon be “home stretch” on those. I don’t think I will be bored. (Plus, I have the new Jan Karon book in my bag, just in case.)

4. I’m headed to the “big city” today to stay with her. Surgery may happen as early as tomorrow afternoon, or sometime early next week. Please keep her in your prayers. We are so blessed the doctors have determined what was causing mom’s problems and feel they can fix it.

5. I’m completely over my “tizzy” about Christmas preparations and have taken the “oh well” stance. This year Christmas will be what we can easily do, and we won’t worry about what is not easily done… there will be other times to get totally wrapped up in our traditions, but this will not be the year.

6. God is good, all the time! He is the Calm in the storm, the Anchor of my ship, the Light in my darkness. (Now I will probably be singing the “God Is Good All the Time” song all day… it is stuck in my head!)

Have a blessed weekend, and I will check in when I can.

KAT

Welcome to My Crazy Life…

2010-12-07T20:41:00.001-06:00

How quickly our situations can change! This week we have discovered…

One child and one grandchild will be coming to live with us in our tiny, overcrowded home. That is OK… we will know they are safe, warm at night, and have food to eat. In order to make room we will get back to de-cluttering and tossing junk. Now we have a good reason to tackle that job we have been putting off.

We found today that my Mom will soon undergo open heart surgery. This means many trips back and forth to the “big city” to stay with her while Pop gets to come home and rest regularly. This is OK…

I am thankful that doctors today have such knowledge and technology that they can diagnose and treat things that were fatal not-so-many-years ago. I am thankful that I have a job that is flexible enough to allow me to help. I am thankful for a supportive husband who takes up the slack at home when I have to go out of town. I am thankful that I only have one more quilt that absolutely MUST be done by Christmas… the rest can wait until I can get to them.

Christmas will be different this year. That is OK… this all has reminded us about what really IS the most important thing about the Christmas season… remembering THE GIFT that was given by our Heavenly Father. And remembering that all the decorating, shopping, cooking and hectic things really are NOT necessary… being able to spend Christmas with my Mom and other family members is so much more important that all the other things we have labeled as “Christmas”.

But I am MOST thankful that when life takes us on twists and turns, My Lord is there! When the unexpected arises, HE reminds me that He holds me in the palm of His hand. When we are unsure about situations He reminds me that He has given me HIS peace. When fear tries to come in He reminds me that He has not given me the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. When I wonder if others understand He reminds me that surely, He will never leave nor forsake me. When life changes quickly, He reminds me that Jesus Christ IS the same yesterday, today, forever.

Now those are some POWERFUL promises to stand on!! I am so thankful I have them to strengthen me this week.

1 Thes. 5:18 (KJV)
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Be blessed this week!

KAT

PS: Lots of sock knitting in my future! I finished my socks for Judy L’s sock knit-along, promptly started another pair, and am almost half-way through with them. Pictures coming later, when I have time to deal with the camera.

All Turkeyed Out!

2010-11-28T14:18:00.001-06:00

And I bet YOU are too! After the lunch-time re-presentation of turkey, dressing, and gravy I have decided that is ENOUGH! No more… the rest of the dressing is going out to the critters. I don’t know why I felt the need to make a “wash-pot” size container of dressing to take for the family Thanksgiving feast, and I had about half of it left over. The injected and smoked turkey was yummy, but it is time to move on to something else. The carcass will be frozen to be used for gumbo flavoring later, the trimmed meat will make sandwiches for lunch tomorrow, and then we are DONE with the leftovers.

The injected turkey was really great. I found a recipe from Emerill that calls for beer, liquid crab boil, lemon juice, garlic, cajun seasoning, and other assorted things. I kind of did my own thing, because his recipe was going to be WAAYYYY hotter that what I wanted. Katie Bug had a great time “shooting” the turkey, we let it sit overnight in the fridge, then DH put it on the electric smoker using hickory and sassafras wood for a little extra flavor. About 6 hours later it was ready (only a 10-lb. bird, so it cooked fast). That was so good I think we will do it again for Christmas!

OOPS! I forgot about the 2 partially-eaten sweet potato pies… they may be the next thing tossed!

I’m not looking forward to having to cook again, but I AM looking forward to something NEW being on the plate.

Have a great Sunday afternoon! I think I am going to go put one of MY quilts in the machine!!

KAT

Yesterday…. and Today

2010-11-26T10:07:00.002-06:00

YESTERDAY the temps rose to almost 80 degrees. We had the AC on as we ate Thanksgiving lunch at my sister’s house. It was muggy to the extreme.

TODAY it is 39 degrees outside. The high today will only get into the 50s or so. The wood heater is cranked up. DH built a nice fire in it after returning from hunting this morning.

YESTERDAY began with sunshine, then clouds, then some much-needed rain… only 3/10ths of an inch, but every drop was appreciated.

TODAY it is SLEETING! Yes, you read correctly. They say if you don’t like the weather in Louisiana, just wait 5 minutes… I think they are right!

I’m sure this won’t last long, it won’t accumulate, and shortly the sleet will be a memory of a strange weather event happening on Black Friday while some of my family members brave the crowds in the ‘big city’. Glad it’s them and not me!

Me… I’m about to put another quilt out to play with Gussie and Inetta (the Gammill and IQ), then I will work on bindings on 2 customer quilts. And of course there is the housework. My kitchen is a mess after all the Thanksgiving preparations, so I hope I have time to deal with those messy floors today. If not… there is always tomorrow.

Sock progress… almost done with the foot, and I’ll be working on toe decreases soon!

And a quick glance out my window tells me, the sleet is history. It has stopped, and it has melted. HMMM…. another Louisiana “5-minute” weather event. Back to life as usual.

Have a great weekend!

KAT

Sugar-Free Cheesecake

2010-11-24T17:06:00.001-06:00

It’s DEFINITELY NOT fat-free, but it is sugar-free (and very low-carb, if you count those)! I make this once in a blue moon, but we really enjoy it. Since DH has to watch his sugar intake, this is a wonderful treat for us.

Katie-Bug came to visit and cheesecake was on her list of things to do this time, so it is not my fault that we are indulging… it’s HERS!

NOTE: Everyone has their own idea about what makes a good cheesecake. I prefer a very dense, cheesy cake… no airy-fluffy cheesecakes for me! SO, if you like the light, fluffy cheesecake then this recipe is not for you. See the bottom of the post for exact amount used in the recipe.

Gather these ingredients, most of which are already in your pantry or refrigerator.

Mix graham cracker crumbs, Splenda, and melted butter.

Press into the bottom of a 9” spring form pan. Note my lovely assistant using a baggie over her hand to help press things in.

Beat 2 lbs. (Yes, that is NOT a misprint… it really does take that much.) softened cream cheese. Slowly add Splenda. Add 1 cup sour cream, and 4 eggs (one at a time, beating well between each one).

Add lemon juice, vanilla, and orange zest.

Pour into prepared pan, place on a cookie sheet,

and pop into the oven, 350 degrees for 10 minutes; lower the temperature to 275 and cook about one hour.

While that is cooking, mix the remaining 1 cup sour cream with 1/3 c Splenda, orange zest, and enough orange juice to get a nice “dolloping” consistency. Return this to the refrigerator.

The cake is done when it is lightly brown around the edges and the center springs back a little when touched. Turn off oven.

Remove from the oven, use a butter knife to loosen the edges, then place cake back in the oven to gradually cool. Leave the cake in the oven for several hours, then place on the counter to finish cooling (about 1 hour).

Now, my cheesecake ALWAYS cracks… I don’t know why! I watched the cheesecake program with Alton Brown on “Good Eats”. I don’t remember all the science behind the fat molecules binding or separating with the blah-blah-blah molecules but he said to add cornstarch to keep it from cracking. I tried it… it did not work.

I finally decided that it makes no difference! It tastes the same with or without cracks so I stopped worrying about it and just enjoy eating.

Cover the pan and refrigerate the cake (at least 3 hours). Add a dollop of the orange sour cream to the top and enjoy!

SUGAR-FREE CHEESECAKE

3/4 C graham cracker crumbs, 3 T melted butter or margarine, 3 T Splenda

Mix these and press into a 9” spring form pan.

2 lbs. (4 -8 0z. packages) softened cream cheese, 2 C Splenda (divided), 4 eggs (room temperature), 1 orange, 1 pint sour cream (divided), 1 t vanilla, 2 T lemon juice.

Zest the orange to get about 3 T zest. Cut the orange and juice 1 half of it. Reserve 1 T zest and the juice for the topping.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cream cheese until smooth ; slowly add 1 2/3 C Splenda; Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each one. Add 1 cup sour cream, 2 T orange zest, lemon juice, and vanilla; mix well.

Pour cheesecake into prepared pan and smooth. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees, then turn heat down to 275 degrees and bake for 1 hour, or until edges are lightly brown. Turn off oven. Run a knife around edges and return pan to oven to cool slowly (at least 2 hours). Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature for about 1 hour. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving.

ORANGE-SOUR CREAM TOPPING

To the reserved 1 C sour cream add the remaining 1 T orange zest, 1/3 C Splenda, and enough orange juice to get a nice dolloping consistency (about 2 T.) Refrigerate; drop a couple of spoonfuls on each slice when served.

ENJOY, and HAPPY THANKGIVING TO EVERYONE!

Gone Fishin’

2010-11-19T21:12:00.001-06:00

Our trip to Houma, LA to fish in the marshes was great fun, and I caught my first redfish on a fly rod.

Nope, he’s not huge (about 3 lbs.) but any size fish on a fly rod means you have to work a bit to land it.

DH, taking a lunch break. I promise he DID catch fish too, but declined the photo ops.

Our fishing guide and friend, Captain Marty.

After-lunch power nap on the deck of the boat, while DH conducted business via cell phone.

Marty offered to take us out again the next day. We rose early and were out in the marshes by 6AM.

We saw the most WONDERFUL sunrise! It came a short rain shower, and then we saw the most beautiful RAINBOW at 6:30AM! We could actually see the full arc of the rainbow. It was too faint to show in a picture, but we enjoyed its beauty for about 10 minutes before it faded.

Another redfish, caught with a spinning rig. This one is a little larger than the one caught the previous day.

Pelicans roosting on a tiny marsh island.

We did not catch huge numbers of fish due to the windy conditions. It is hard to spot the fish when the water is so choppy…That’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it! We did get enough fish to have a meal of speckled trout for supper tonight, a meal of redfish for tomorrow night, and several bags in the freezer. We had a wonderful time, ate good seafood, and will look forward to going again next year.

I also got lots of knitting done on the ride down there and back. I am working on the gusset decrease stitches so things are moving along on the socks. I am hoping to finish them by the end of the month, but we will see.

Have a blessed weekend!

KAT

Time Flies…

2010-11-15T12:54:00.001-06:00

When you are having fun, or working hard. This past week was super-busy, and I managed to quilt 5 customer quilts and sew binding /hem (by machine) 3 huge customer quilts. Add that to my normal busy-ness, and you get the idea that I am running!

I am making some progress on my socks, working on them until 1AM this morning. Once I get started on something like this I hate to put them down. I was determined to get past the heel flaps. They are not very “poseable” at the moment due to their needle positions, so I had to take shots of each sock separately. I have completed the heel turn and PU gusset stitches on one,

and am just about to start the heel turn for the other one. I feel like I am “home free” once I get past these gusset stitches and the decreases.

I finally finished my row-by-row "House Quilt”! This is a Debbie Mumm pattern and is free on the internet. (Be forewarned… contains tiny pieces!) I love the way it turned out and may be making another one when things settle down here. (Ignore that long-arm in the picture… no time to set up the photography stand, so I made do with the hanger in the quilting room.)

I put Legacy batting in this one. I LOVE that stuff! It is soft, very stable with scrim, and has a great drape to it. The quilting does not show as well because of its thinness, but I think once it is washed and puffs up some it will show just fine.

I let IQ do an over-all design because this is a “using” quilt. As a matter of fact, it is already in use at a friend’s house.

Do you remember the quilt I am supposed to be repairing for my friend? Well, progress is slow, so this quilt was loaned to her until I get the flower garden quilt repaired. She loves to curl up on the couch, covered with a quilt for her Sunday afternoon naps, so now she can do that.

Have I said I L-O-V-E this quilt??

Yep, I think another one will be in the works after Christmas rush is over. (But I think I will probably enlarge the blocks just a little to make the quilt larger and to make piecing a little easier.) That really means something because I almost N-E-V-E-R make the same quilt twice!

The leaves here are absolutely GORGEOUS right now!! We have had a few nights with a very light frost and that has caused the colors to really come out. For the next several posts I will include shots of our fall color. I so envy those folks that live in the mountains and get an easy view of the color changes. LA flat-lands make it more difficult to see them, but our colors are just as impressive with the evergreen pines thrown in for contrast.

So that is my “catch-up” post on a little of what has been happening here. We will be off fishing for a few days, and I’ll give a full report when we return.

Have a really blessed week! See you again soon!

KAT

A Few Quick Points…

2010-11-07T21:36:00.001-06:00

1. We went

2. Had fun

3. Learned a lot about IQ

4. Saw quilt show; minimal shopping

5. We’re home

6. I’m pooped!

7. Made good progress on the socks

8. No pictures tonight

9. Time change as thrown me all off schedule

10. Early to bed tonight… like RIGHT NOW!

More details coming tomorrow!

KAT

Care Package from “The Big Easy”; sock progress

2010-11-03T16:46:00.001-05:00

Our niece lives in New Orleans. Her “dues” to the hunting club this year were a few items from the area. It was a box load, and was brought a long way to N. Louisiana to feed our ~~addictions~~ tastes for something a little different.

#1 item: Blue Runner spicy red beans

We CAN actually get these here at one of the small stores, but only in the small cans. When I cook, I cook BIGGGGGGG (so I don’t have to do it again any time soon!), so small cans just won’t work. Since discovering these I NEVER soak dried red beans to make red beans and rice. Brown some sausage, throw in some onions, bell pepper, garlic and brown a little. Throw in a couple of cans of beans, then cook some brown rice. Supper in about 30 minutes!!

Item #2

Olive salad relish. We CAN get this here, but it is so expensive I can’t buy it… my frugality just won’t let me! She gets it for about half what it costs up here. Can you say, “Muffuletta”? YUMMO!

I haven’t had much time to work on my knit-along socks, but I now have 1 1/2” of ribbed cuff done. About 1 more inch of ribbing and I will switch to stockinet stitch, and my needles will fly! Since we will be traveling tomorrow I really think I can get this ribbing finished tomorrow…. hope, hope, hope. This is my least favorite part of the process. The changing back and from from knit to purl is slow and clumsy, but I AM getting better, and I am LOVING the Continental style. Hopefully the next picture you see of these will show me working on gussets!

Have a great weekend. We are headed to TX for a day at the beach (Galveston), IQ classes, and a quick run by Quilt Festival in Houston, but this will be a very LOW-budget shopping trip due to the IQ purchase. My friends tell me the venders really mark things down on the last day of the show so they don’t have to haul so much home. Perhaps I can find some real bargains.

KAT

Decision Made

2010-11-01T09:12:00.001-05:00

Which one should I use? Of course I am talking about knitting socks, and now is the time. Judy L.’s “Knit a Pair in November” sock knit-along starts today! Grab your yarn and needles, READY, SET, KNIT!!

I have so many options, thanks to KnitPicks.com. As you can plainly see… 10 different yarns to choose from, and I have only been collecting for a year. I really had a hard time deciding because I love them all.

And the winner is….. drum roll, please.

This Stroll Hand-painted "Make Believe” yarn. I have been drooling over this yarn for almost a year now. I couldn’t WAIT to get started sooooo…

I didn’t. I am using just an ordinary K2P2 cuff and stockinet stitch for the main portion of the sock. I decided the colors in the yarn will show best that way (plus I am SOOOO slow when knitting a pattern that it would take me until spring to finish this if I used a patterned stitch!)

I know… it is supposed to start Nov. 1, BUT I have to have something on my needles all the time. This is my “grab and go” project. And I knit so slowly I knew a month probably would not be long enough for me to finish this pair. (But I AM getting faster now that I have worked on learning to knit Continental Style.)

TIP: For those of you interested in learning Continental Style, Knitpicks.com has some tutorial videos on their site. This REALLY helped me figure this out, since line drawings in books don’t show you exactly what to do with the yarn tail when trying to purl.

I don’t think I really gave myself much of a head-start… I have cast this yarn on FOUR times before things went as I wanted it to go. The first time was “toes-up”, and I decided I was not going to use my beautiful hand-painted yarn to learn a new technique… I’ll use one of the kettle-dyed yarns and the toes-up technique on my NEXT pair. Then I cast it on “cuff-down” and played with Continental style. My tension was all over the place, so I ripped it out twice, did some practicing on another set of needles, and I think I finally have the hang of it, so the fourth time is the charm.

Too busy to knit much right now, but it is packed and ready to go. The road trip this weekend will give me lots of knitting time, I hope. And thanks to my SIL Mary Anne and my niece Salinda, I have a neat little bag to carry it all in. It is a pretty tight fit right now, but once I get a little more knitted everything I need fits right in this little shoulder bag, ready to grab and go.

So…. are YOU in the Knit-Along? Why NOT? Let’s knit a pair in November!!

KAT

Monday Design Wall; Socks

2010-10-25T10:55:00.001-05:00

It’s that time again! Boo’s quilt is FINISHED!! (Except for the label, and mailing to a friend who will stitch down the binding.)

You can click to enlarge pictures of the quilt (and the socks, too).

Katie Bug picked the quilting design, set it up on the IQ and hit the “start” button. I wish you could have seen her face when the IQ took off… she thought WE were going to have to move the machine to make the pattern. I am amazed at how quickly young people pick up on computer stuff.. she was clicking buttons left and right, moving things around, resizing the pattern. Her opinion, “This is REALLY COOL!”

The pattern is Tammy Finkler’s “Faster Posies” and it stitched up beautifully.

AND… as promised, here are pictures of the socks I finished last week. (HMMM… should have shaved before becoming a leg/foot model!)

The first picture shows the color the best. This is “Risata” yarn from KnitPicks… a blend of cotton, superwash merino wool, polyamide, and elite elastic. LOVE this stuff!

I got the pattern from Mary. These fit better than any of the other pairs I have done.

The color is not correct on the one above… taken without a flash so you could see the pattern better.

The next pair is cast on, but I am busy working on a practice swatch. I am playing around with Continental style of knitting. It seems to me it would be much faster. I can do the K OK (except for that very first stitch) but the Purl is a little more challenging. My book directions say to wrap the yarn counterclockwise, and I just can’t get a good stitch to pass through the loop doing that. when I go CLOCKWISE, I can do it.

So… do any of you knitters out there have advice for me on Continental style? Especially the Purl stitch.

OH… head on over to Judy L.’s blog for more design wall Monday postings!

Now… off to quilt… without IQ. Bulls-eye quilts (with raw, floppy edges) are not possible on IQ so I will be quilting the almost-old-fashioned way today.

Blessings to you all!

KAT

Just imagine…

2010-10-21T09:24:00.001-05:00

Just imagine that there are pictures with this post. I’m too ~~lazy~~ busy right now to deal with the camera (Now WHY do I let that little digital camera intimidate me?)

Life has been moving in a blur lately, and here is a little of what I have been up to…

We went on a camping vacation… did I take a SINGLE picture? Nope… just enjoyed the cooler weather, beautiful leaves and the hope of catching some trout (They didn’t bite, but we had a good, relaxing time which we greatly needed.) Heber Springs, AR is beautiful right now, and the weather was perfect for our little fall get-away.

Some close friends met us there, and we spent many hours just visiting, laughing, playing cards (Have you heard of 3-14? Lots of fun!), and relaxing, with a little fishing thrown in on the side.

I finished the pair of socks (cotton yarn) that I have been working on for MONTHS now! I really like them… can’t you just imagine, teal in color, a nice little design on the legs… oh well. I PROMISE to post a picture on the NEXT blog entry. I have already cast on the next pair using some hand-dyed wool yarn. This time I am trying the “toes-up” method. I’m not too sure about this… once I get past the toe increases I think I will like it OK, but for now it is WORK because I am having to THINK more since this is a new technique.

Inetta (IQ) and Gussie (Gammill Classic+) are so busy “playing” together. I did 2 quilts yesterday… CHA-CHING! While the girls played I pinned in a second quilt, baked cookies, prepared the lesson for church last night, and cooked supper. I am LOVING this multi-tasking thing!

Today is another 2-quilt day, and I will work on getting the borders sewn on Boo’s quilt while IQ stitches. I need to have that IN THE MACHINE Friday morning so I can mail it off to the lady that will be sewing the binding down.

My Katie-Bug will be visiting the farm this weekend, and we will cook and cook and play and sew and quilt… add in church on Sunday, and a possible birthday dinner for daughter Jennifer (if she doesn’t have to work) and then you can see that my weekend is filled to the brim with fun.

Must run… Gussie and Inetta are wondering where I am! Have a really-blessed day and weekend because…

“You are blessed and highly favored of the Lord!” (Luke 1:28)

KAT

All is well…

2010-10-08T09:39:00.001-05:00

Just a quick post to let you know that “all is well” on the home-front. My machine part arrived yesterday. It took a while to get things just right on Gussie but she is now back up and running. And then I introduced Gussie to her new friend. They are learning how to play, and doing a nice job of it.

My books arrived yesterday afternoon and now I am only waiting for the fabric. But that’s OK… even if the fabric were here I would not have time right now for sewing. SOOO, when it gets here, it gets here, and in the meantime I am getting ready for camping, quilting (I am doing one more “practice” session, then I will put on a “real” quilt this afternoon.), and all the other craziness that I call my life.

I promise pictures very soon of the 2 playmates and what they have been up.

KAT

Patience….

2010-10-06T21:01:00.001-05:00

Is a virtue, and one of the fruits of the Spirit (longsuffering). Mine is being tested greatly this week! Waiting, and waiting, and waiting…

This post will probably be categorized as a “whiney” post, so you may just want to hit the X in the corner and back out now.

The machine part is STILL not here… Please, Lord, let this arrive tomorrow. I MUST get my machine up and running again!

The fabric I ordered to finish Boo’s quilt has not arrived, either. I ordered from a Texas quilt shop on the 27th of Sept. I ordered from this shop because I felt it would arrive quickly, and they stated that they ship everything Priority mail… that means 3 days max. HAHA!! I finally called this past Monday. They don’t know WHY it didn’t ship already but it was going out THAT DAY. Well the post office notification says they didn’t get it until yesterday, which means I won’t get it until probably Friday. I really wanted to get this quilt made and quilted before we went to Arkansas… that is THIS Sunday. I wanted to deliver it to Boo when we went that direction. That means I’ll have to finish it after we return and mail it to her.

The devotional books I ordered from Amazon have not come. I don’t understand it, but I ordered 3 worship music CDs and 4 books (the same one). Two days ago I got 2 boxes… one contained 1 CD, the other contained 2 CDs. Supposedly the books were shipped the same day, but still have not arrived. I PAID for shipping on this one because I wanted them quickly…. a test of patience.

On the positive side, I am LOVING the IQ! I’ve done lots of playing with the pad and am SOOOO eager to get the whole thing up and running again. But I will be so busy trying to get things ready for the camping trip that I won’t have time to play much on the machine. Gussie Fay will patiently wait (unlike me sometimes) until I return, and then she will again work hard for me. I just hope this time I don’t crash her into a side clamp. I’m pretty sure I won’t make THAT mistake again. I wonder what OTHER kind of silly thing I can do? Only time will tell.

I really am working hard to be patient. I think I’ll also work on the OTHER fruits of the Spirit while I am waiting!

Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, [23] Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Have a blessed rest-of-the-week and weekend.

KAT

A Big OOPS!

2010-10-03T19:42:00.001-05:00

IQ is absolutely WONDERFUL!! I was having so much fun, until I set the quilt size wrong, walked away from the machine, and then when it got to the end of the row…

Bent needle bar when the needle ran into a clamp. UGGGHHH! NOT NOW!! Yep…

A new one is ordered but the machine is DIW (dead in the water) until it arrives. I am back to just playing with the tablet. Thankfully this is only a $36 mistake.

IQ STILL rocks, but I have learned something important… double-check that quilt size, gal! It would not be an issue on a regular quilt with larger lining, but I was using a regular width of fabric for the lining and top. Lesson learned!!

Hurry up, Linda, and get my needle bar here PLEASE!! I want to PLAY!

KAT

I LOVE This Man!!

2010-10-01T16:38:00.001-05:00

I don’t even know his name, but I love him. (Does that sound like an Allen Jackson song???) Sorry DH, but I just can’t help myself.

Why do I have these deep emotions for someone I have never met before? Because he brought me THIS….

Which contains THIS…..

I’ve played with the tablet some (it won’t be hooked to the quilting machine until Sunday) and all I can say is AWESOME!! I just know that she and Gussie Fay will have great times together.

KAT

Another Addiction…

2010-09-30T11:08:00.001-05:00

Like I needed something else to fill my “spare” (HAHAHA!) time??

Knitting socks is ~~my other~~ ONE of my other addictions. I just can’t sit with nothing to do, and it seems I have lost my zeal for applique. PLUS, it is hard to do needle-turn applique while riding down the bumpy LA roads. I have a whole collection of sock yarns now, thanks to Knit Picks. It does NOT rival my fabric collection, but give me a little more time. Knitting is my “grab and go” project that fills those little moments of time while waiting.

Here is my latest pair….

This is Risata cotton/nylon yarn and a patterned stitch which Mary shared with me. I’m on the down-hill stretch. I have finished the side heel gussets and will be knitting the foot portion of the sock. This next part goes quickly, so these should be done within the week (IF I can pull myself away from the IQ long enough to knit). My preferred method is “2-socks-at-one-time” on 2 circular needles. When you are done with one, you are done with both… I like that. No “second sock syndrome” using this method. I tried the DPNs, and the “Magic Circle”, 2- socks at a time on one VERY long circular needle, but this method works best for me.

WHY are socks on my mind? Because Judy L has challenged us to knit a pair in Nov. Starting on Nov. 1 lots of folks will be knitting socks along with Judy, and many of those probably for the first time. (I’m not sure I can wait that long to start my next pair… we’ll be going camping in a couple of weeks and I will have to have some knitting to take with me.)

I must give this little disclaimer… your first pair is a bit “testy”… it seems to take forever just getting used to the process, figuring out how to hold the needles, getting your yarn tension consistent, etc. I started on DPNs for the first pair because that was the easiest way to learn the process of sock knitting. The pattern I had was written for DPNs. I still use that same pattern but have converted it for the 2-a-1-t method. I do NOT recommend that beginners start with the 2-a-1-t method. After the first pair on DPNs you kind of understand where you are headed and then you can go for the other methods. OR you may decide that DPNs are just fine with you…. that is what Judy L uses and she cranks out socks like a sweat shop!

SO… I challenge YOU to join up and knit a pair in November. BUT be forewarned… it is addicting, and like eating potato chips, you can’t do just one! I’ll post here when Judy posts her sign-up for the knit-along. Any local folks that are interested and need help getting started, feel free to contact me and I’ll be glad to guide you along.

GREAT NEWS!!! I found out last night that my IQ has shipped and will be here on Friday. My dealer will install on Sunday, and then I will be up and running!! That means, the quilt in the machine today will be my LAST non-IQ quilt (except for those really wonky quilts I get occasionally… I don’t think I can use IQ on them when I have to be so careful not to stitch in pleats and tucks.). SO… I did the “happy dance”, and I celebrated with a chocolate bar that was stashed back in the cabinet for some special occasion. WOOOHOOO!!!

Be blessed today in all you set you hand too! I’ll see you again on Monday design wall.

KAT

Monday’s Design Wall

2010-09-26T21:29:00.001-05:00

BOO’S QUILT: A dear friend and member of the Cotton Country Quilters of Bastrop, LA had a massive stroke several months ago. She is still in rehab and making progress, but has a long way to go. The CCQ group made blocks for a throw-size quilt to send to her. I pieced it Sunday afternoon, and will be quilting it as soon as I can figure out what to do with the borders. I thought I had something in my stash that would do for the 2 borders, but it just did not look right. Aw shucks… a trip to the quilt shop will be needed. :)

This quilt is bright and cheerful. Boo loves pink and purple so I know she will enjoy snuggling in this quilt. We each wrote messages on the snowball blocks, and we hope she will get great comfort and joy from reading them.

Other accomplishments this week…

1. The shelf for my quilting room is painted and does really look nicer!

2. Termite damage to the floor (discovered when I moved the shelf to paint it) has been repaired by DH and BIL… it really is a good thing IQ was delayed. That allowed them to handle this before it was installed.

3. The housework I had planned on doing before IQ arrival has, for the most part, been done.

Speaking of IQ…… 6 more days!!!

I’m getting excited! Sure hope things go as scheduled. If so, IQ will arrive on Oct. 3. ‘Nuff said….

Have a wonderful week, and do go check out other design walls at Judy’s Patchwork Times!

KAT

Boo-Hoo!

2010-09-21T12:09:00.001-05:00

I just got an email from the IQ dealer… my installation has been delayed one more week. : ( I knew this was a possibility, but was on a very hopeful countdown… now let’s add 7 days to that.

10 1/2 more days. I have my fingers crossed (and Cristyn also suggested crossing my toes), my eyes crossed, I will cross ANYTHING if it brings my IQ to me on Oct. 2. This is harder than a kid waiting for Christmas to open gifts… at least they don’t MOVE Dec. 25th on you!

The good side… (I really AM trying HARD to find the positive in this!), I won’t have to be in quite such a hurry to get everything spic and span in the quilting room, which is good. I put the second coat of paint on the shelf this morning, so as soon as it cures I need to vacuum up all the paint dust and then start getting things back to “normal” in the quilting room. I will also get DH to help me lower the machine and get things back in level… a tough job!

And then, back to stitching customer quilts for one more week… I just THOUGHT I had done my last quilt without IQ! OK… no more whining… back to work, chin up, shoulders straight, wipe that tear from your eye, missy!! Just do it! Git-R-Done! How many other clichés can I come up with to stir me into action? LOL! And in the big scope of things, what is one more week?

EXTREME ANTICIPATION!! That’s what it is!!

KAT

Design Wall Monday

2010-09-20T11:28:00.001-05:00

OK… it’s not ON the design wall, and it’s not even ON the sewing machine yet, but here is what I am working on.

I have been oh-so-busy turning a pile of de-constructed men’s shirts into…

THIS…. because I found…

THIS book (Scraps & Shirttails, by Bonnie K. Hunter).

And I L-O-V-E THIS quilt. It’s not for me… but my son decided he needed a king-size quilt for his bed. Merry Christmas, Jeremy. I HOPE I have it done by Christmas!!

My design wall DOES actually have something on it. I finally am satisfied with the arrangement of the One Block Wonder blocks and will sew them when I get an opportunity. You can’t see them today… they are covered with black plastic because I am painting the shelf that sits right in front of my design wall. One coat down, one more to go.

Check out other design walls at Judy’s Patchwork Times blog.

IQ arrives SATURDAY!! 4 1/2 more days of dreaming about what I will do with my IQ. I have a whole pile of my quilt tops stacked up to practice on, and then will be back to customer quilts after a week of playing on my own things.

Company coming, IQ coming, church things, family things, other busy things… my life-cup runneth over right now. Be blessed this week in all YOU do, too. I probably won’t post again until about next Monday, when I will give you a full IQ update.

KAT

Almost There!

2010-09-16T20:02:00.001-05:00

SHEESH! It’s been a WEEK since my last post! So sorry, but things are really busy right now. I am working on finishing the quilting on my LAST customer quilt before my IQ arrives (9 more days!). I will finish that quilt TONIGHT!

The loggers are still busy working here… just a few more days and they should be finished with it all. This has been most interesting to watch them at work. Tomorrow morning early I will go down with DH and watch the shearer cutting trees… that is part of the operation I have not seen yet.

Tomorrow is Grandparent’s Day at Katelyn’s school. I was invited to come eat lunch with her at 10:30am… yep, I’m having flashbacks of all the years I taught kindergarten and we ate lunch at 10:30am. Some days now I don’t eat BREAKFAST until that time!

I’m packing things up for the local guild’s Quilt ‘Till You Wilt on Saturday. I will finish de-constructing some shirts, and hopefully finish cutting the pieces for my son’s quilt. This will be his Christmas, so I must really get moving on this.

Next week will be busy finishing getting ready for IQ’s arrival. I will lower and level Gussie Fay. I am probably going to take the casters off her legs and put the regular feet back on… the room where she is now is too small to move her anyway. AND if I were to move her any at all it would mean having to level her again because the room is so unlevel. That closet will FINALLY get cleaned out, also. The long shelf in that room will get sanded and painted. The later part of the week will be spent cleaning the rest of the house. Company and IQ coming means I will be cleaning like the Mr. Clean “white tornado” again. I certainly don’t want to have to do housework once IQ gets here… I want to PLAY with HER!!

I must run and finish that quilt tonight so I can get my things packed for QTW. We will perhaps be spending the night at the lake camp tomorrow so I need to have everything ready to leave in the MORNING. Run, run, run… but soon, I will be a lady of leisure, sitting around eating bon-bons while the IQ stitches. Yeh, right!

KAT

T-I-M-B-E-R!!!!!

2010-09-09T09:49:00.001-05:00

BIG happenings at the farm this week. Timber land belonging to the family (and a small section of ours) is being thinned this week. I went down with DH this morning to get a view of how this works.

Now before any of you say, “OH NO! They are cutting TREES!”, please understand that this is a pine PLANTATION… in other words… it was planted for this purpose. This is a cash crop, just like growing cotton… only it takes a LOT longer!! These trees are hybrid pines, planted for the specific purpose of harvesting and selling to plywood, lumber, and paper mills. The trees we are having thinned are 13 years old, and if they are not thinned this way they will begin to die out… natural thinning.

BE SURE TO CLICK TO ENLARGE PICTURES SO YOU CAN GET A BETTER IDEA. I also want to say, although the equipment looks like Tonka toys in these photos, these are VERY large pieces of machinery.

See how thick the woods are in this picture? Notice there is VERY little light reaching the ground level. Also notice… no lower branches on these trees. That is a sign they need thinning. They also go by the stump diameter to determine the readiness for thinning.

After thinning it will look like this… much more light reaching the body of the tree and helping it to grow in diameter. They will take out every 5th row of planted pine, and also take out any damaged or unhealthy trees. What damages trees? Wind storms, ice storms, animals…. Mother Nature! As with any type of farming, weather and nature have a great effect on your product.

I did not go to the area where they are cutting today (I’ll get a picture of that later for you), but this is how they get them ready to send to the mill.

A skidder grabs a bundle of downed trees and takes them to the load-out site.

The guy on the loader grabs several trees and places them in the de-limber. Knife-edged jaws close around the bundle and he pulls them through, which shears off the limbs.

When he gets close to the end of the trees a chain saw comes down from the yellow metal box on the right side and cuts the tops of the trees off.

He then swings the trees over to the truck… I was amazed at how accurately he was placing trees on the pile!

To market, to market…. almost ready to roll. Once the first thin is done, the trees will grow rapidly and will need thinning again in about 5 years, and then another 5 years…

At some point the stand of timber will be clear-cut, and we will start over with a new planting of pine seedlings. Why cut them all and start over? Mills are equipped to handle certain sizes of trees. If your trees get TOOOOO large they can’t be run through the mill, therefore you have no sale for them.

Do we get rich off of this? HAHAHA!! The first thin is not really a money-making event, but does help you recoup some of the costs of planting and spraying (to kill out unwanted trees and vines that naturally spring up in the middle of your nice, straight rows of pine trees). BUT if our trees continue to grow well, and IF we don’t have any catastrophic weather events, and IF we don’t have any insect infestations that kills the stand, at some point there will be an income from these trees. That’s a lot of IFs involved there… and a lot of time to wait and see.

Blessings to you today!! I’m headed to town to my favorite store (Russell’s Jewelry) to pick out something for my birthday…. rumor has it that SOMEONE (I guess the Birthday Fairy) stopped by the store and left me a credit there!

KAT

Design Wall Monday

2010-09-06T09:24:00.001-05:00

Welcome to all following links on Design Wall Monday! Please browse around for a spell. And if you are interested in a “Quilt Show” check out my archives for Dec. 09. Each day of Dec. I featured one of my quilts, starting from the first ones all the way to show quilts. ENJOY! And do come visit again!

The One Block Wonder is coming along. I have rearranged this about 10 times, but I am getting very close to what I want. It is amazing how I notice things in this picture that need moving, but it does not show so much on the real thing. I think the blocks with the mostly-white centers really “pop” too much, so I’ll have to figure out a way to de-emphasize them. Hopefully I will get this sewn together soon and have it ready to quilt when IQ arrives…. 19 more days!!

Veggie Tales quilts are done and almost ready to send to the twins… I just need to make labels for them. I found the most PERFECT binding fabric… it is called “Freckles” by Free Spirit. Of course, I forgot to take a picture of it when I was snapping the others. It is a tiny, tiny pin-dot of about 8 different bright colors on a black background… WONDERFUL binding fabric. It would also make a great background fabric for a colorful quilt. I’m going to have to hunt down some more of this!

Both quilts were quilted using the Curlz panto. I really considered custom quilting, but I kept reminding myself…

1. These are USING quilts… they will be washed a gazillion times.

2. I don’t have TIME for custom quilting right now because I am slower-than-slow at it.

I love these little quilts…. they are so bright and cheerful. I know Kyleigh and Ryleigh will enjoy using them.

Be blessed in all you do today!! I’m quilting like crazy on a super-king-size quilt. Can I get it done before I need to leave for bowling this evening? I’m challenging myself to do it.

Thanks for looking! If you wish to see what others are us to, bee-bop on over to Judy’s Patchwork Times and follow the links. I promise you will enjoy it!

KAT

Update… Lots going on!

2010-09-03T09:43:00.001-05:00

WHEW!! I’m taking a couple of deep cleansing breaths here, and sitting down just long enough to report in. I feel oh-so-guilty when I look and realize that I have not blogged in quite a while.

GUSSIE UPDATE: She is purring like a kitten. I never did call the service line, because once I threatened she straightened up and stitched right (for a very brief time… like until about the time the service line would be CLOSED for the day!). BUT I had finally realized that the whole issue was the rocking finger. I tinkered with her, tiny adjustment at a time, until I finally found the spot she likes. Result…. beautiful stitches, no loud clanking noises, and NO LOOPS! I might need to check and see if DH can WELD the rocking finger in that position since it seems to want to undo itself on a regular basis. But at least now I know I CAN DO IT!

QUILTING: I’ve been very busy with customer quilts! I’ve done 4 this week, and last night I quilted the Veggie Tales quilts for the twins. Today I will get the bindings put on and probably hem them on the machine. Then a H-U-G-E customer quilt will go in the machine. I waited until I was SURE Gussie was fixed before even thinking about putting this one in. Who wants to pick loops from the back of a king-size quilt? NOT ME!! I’ll drop off and pick up another load of quilts at quilt club next week. I’m in a rush because….

IQ UPDATE: More production issues have cropped up, but my IQ will arrive for installation on Sept. 25th!! So I’m on a new count-down. Plans are being made for painting and final cleaning the week before “she” gets here, so there will be no rest for me in the mean time. OH… and we have company coming that weekend… but we will deal with that. I usually clean house like a white tornado before company comes, but I have already started on the process because IQ was coming, so I am a step ahead of myself! DH can be “host” instead of me because I will be learning how to use my new baby. Can you tell I am excited? I am SOOOO looking forward to having access to some new patterns, and the creativity I will have with IQ.

PEARS: … are everywhere. They are just about to finish up and we are getting as many as possible dried in the food dehydrator. I had never thought of doing that, but JUDY mentioned drying fruit and suggested pears were yummy. Honestly, I don’t much care for regular pears. They are the one fruit I just don’t particularly enjoy, but the dried ones are YUMMO! It is a shame my dehydrator is so small. Eight-ten pears at one time is all we can do.

OKRA: It is coming out our ears! And I am SOOOO thankful for the 2 1/2” of rain we got this morning. That is the first measurable rain in a couple of MONTHS! No kidding! That should really revive the okra (which DH has been watering) and get it going some more. We should have okra in abundance until cooler weather arrives, and that will probably be at least another month.

Got to run… DISH is coming to install tomorrow. I figure I should at least wipe the months-old dust from the TVs and whatever they are sitting on!

Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend. I’ll see you again next week. And THIS time I will have something to show on Design Wall Monday!

KAT

WOO HOOO!

2010-08-26T23:00:00.001-05:00

I am 99.9% CERTAIN that I have FIXED Gussie!!! It was that finicky little rocking finger in the bobbin area that wants to be at a CERTAIN place at a CERTAIN time during the stitch. I CERTAINLY have had “fun” with that little buddy! You can be CERTAIN that from now on I will know how to work on that little sucker, because I have been adjusting and readjusting it for the last 3 days!!!

Thank YOU, Lord, for the wisdom to get it done! I CERTAINLY did NOT want to make a trip to Missouri!! Tomorrow’s plans…..

no-loop quilting! YAHHH!!!!!

KAT

We Went, We Bowled…

2010-08-25T08:44:00.001-05:00

And I won some MONEY!! YAAAAA! I won 2nd place in Women’s Singles Event!!! That “do-over” helped salvage my hurt feelings over the poor bowling of the previous weekend. DH also may be getting some money back on team event…. we will see how many places they pay. We think his team is in about 6th place, and mine is in 7th. We will see when the checks come out.

OTHER NEWS: I HAD Gussie FIXED! She was not leaving loops! BUT she was very hard to move while quilting, so…. I tinkered with her just a little bit more, and now she is definitely NOT fixed and I can’t get her anywhere NEAR fixed. I’m breaking down this morning and for the first time ever in the 6 years I have owned her, I am calling the Gammill tech hot-line. I am DESPERATE! If I don’t get her fixed this week, next week I am throwing her in the car and heading to West Plains, Missouri with her! Enough is enough, Gussie Fay! Play nice! Hopefully Jearld at Gammill will have some good advice for me today and we can get this issue solved for good. I am NOT looking forward to a 1000 mile round trip to the factory!!

OTHER OTHER NEWS: The garden is pretty much gone, except for okra. We have okra coming out our ears. Remember that picture back a couple of months ago of our okra patch? I think EVERY ONE of those little plants survived. They are now tall as trees and producing a bumper crop. They are the only thing that can survive our lack of rainfall. What are we doing with it? Freezing a little, eating a little, and giving away a LOT!

Also on the agenda this week is picking some more muscadines. DH picked about a half of a gallon last week. We need a little more to make a batch of muscadine jelly… YUMMO!

Got to run this morning… I apologize for no-picture blogging, but it is the best I can do right now. “Hello, Gammill tech, are you there…. HELP!”

Be blessed today in all you do!!

KAT

Do-Over!

2010-08-18T09:02:00.001-05:00

There are so many times I wish I had a “do-over”… when I do an “oops” on a sewing project, when that long cast while fishing lands in a bush instead of the water, when I burned or over-salted something I was cooking… the list could be endless. I just found out I DO have a do-over in one instance.

Remember in my last post I was ~~whining~~ sharing about how we bowled poorly at Natchez… WE GET A DO-OVER! Friends going to the tournament this weekend needed a substitute couple, and here we go again. Perhaps we can improve our scores, but if not, we will still have a good visit with friends from our area.

SUBJECT CHANGE: I thought I might get the twin’s quilts done this week… NOT! (UPDATE: They are home and doing well.) I picked up 6 quilts in my rounds yesterday. This is not complaining…. because it bring in $$$$ ! I’m in a time and money-gathering crunch before I have to pay for my IQ install, so that is a real blessing!! That also means that you probably won’t be seeing many posts from me in the next 2 weeks. Just know that I am doing well and busy as a worker bee, well, WORKING!

Somewhere in the midst of all this craziness I must find time to do a little painting in my quilting room. I have a very long shelf that can’t be taken out (too long to turn the corner with the quilting machine in there) that really needs repainting. Left-over peach paint from the hallway paint job several years ago will do nicely. I also want to paint the chair and perhaps the table I will be using in there… We will see exactly how much gets done but the shelf MUST get painted before IQ arrives. Once we get the install done I can not push the machine over to the other side of the room to work on the shelf. Once IQ is set up and level (in a very un-level room) I am not moving that machine for anything!

Now I am “off to the races” today… quilting, laundry, etc. Have a blessed day and rest-of-the-week, too.

KAT

Good Friends, Good Food,…

2010-08-16T09:10:00.001-05:00

But STINKY bowling!! We really enjoyed the visit with our AR and MS friends. We also ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant. BUT, we both bowled terribly. I got my average only 2 of the 9 games… that is pretty stinky. I did manage to pull out a 207 for one game yesterday, and then turned right around and bowled a 97 in the next game. Bowling was invented to keep us humble… and it does that to me regularly, and ESPECIALLY when I go out of town to bowl!! But yet we keep doing this…. does that make any sense?

The fun of renewing friendships and catching up on what is new with them keeps us going out of town a couple of times a year for these tournaments, and we are looking at adding a 3rd one sometime in the spring of the year.

Today will be spent wrestling with Gussie. She has decided to start throwing loops on the back of quilts again. I think she is rebelling because she knows IQ is coming… she’s jealous. I have picked 25 loops from the back of the latest quilt, and will open up the “guts” of Gussie again today. UUGGGHH! I tinker with her, she is better, and then back to the same old tricks. I MUST get this issue solved before IQ gets here… the clock is ticking… 25 more days!!

Got to run…. lots to do today. I am hoping to actually get the Veggie Tales quilts done this week and I will post pictures of them.

Have a blessed week, and may the Lord prosper everything you set your hands to!

KAT

Natchez, Here We Come!

2010-08-12T18:08:00.002-05:00

It’s that time of year again… we will venture to Natchez, MS for the Grandma/Grandpa Bowling Tournament. I hope we bowl well, but if not we will still enjoy a good visit with our AR friends and also eat well. (Starting the low-carb thing again as soon as we return, so this is like a prisoner being offered a last meal.)

My design wall has NOT changed this week (so I won’t be posting on design wall Monday) because I have been busy quilting and cleaning the studio… there were dust/lint bunnies the size of small dogs in there! YUK! It is a much more pleasant work-place now that it is clean and more organized! I did some rearranging and moved the batting rack into the guest bedroom. In it's place I put a small table and chair so I will have a place to sit while IQ stitches and I lounge back and eat bon-bons. HAHA! I am on an IQ countdown… only 29 more days!!

The twins arrived safe and sound. They weighed 6-13, and 6-8… big girls for twins! I am pleased to introduce Ryleigh Jean and Kyleigh Lynn.

SOOOO, I hope you all have a great weekend! I’ll give a bowling report when we return.

KAT

Design Wall Monday

2010-08-09T10:25:00.002-05:00

Aren’t these CUTE!!! They are for the twins my niece will deliver TOMORROW!! I would hurry and get them quilted, but since they are in Oklahoma, I don’t think they will exactly need to be snuggled in a quilt for a while… like maybe, FALL!

I LOVE Veggie-Tales, and these panels really caught my eye. I wanted something very bright and cheerful. These will be “using” quilts, and I think the twin girls will enjoy these funny and cute characters.

Hi, Larry the Cucumber… nice to see you again!

Bob the Tomato, don’t be so shy… show yourself!

And during the construction of these quilts there was a slight “oops” on my part. WHAT did THIS??

SURELY it was NOT ME! It MUST have been Panasonic’s fault (see below)!

I have NEVER left an iron sitting down on the ironing board in all of my fifty-plus years, but while working on this I was in a time crunch, and just walked away from the ironing board. Twenty minutes later I came back to the room to iron another seam and there was my iron sitting down. Yep, a great big scorch is left behind, but I am thankful that it does cut off automatically so at least I did not set something on fire!! SHEESH! I never cease to amaze myself at the ridiculous things I can do!

And also still on my design wall is the OB Wonder I showed last week. I’ve done some rearranging, but am still not completely satisfied with the look, so I will play with it some more.

Now you have read about my silliness and seen my project, so go to Judy’s blog and follow the links to other design walls. You will be amazed at what others are doing!

Have a blessed day, and please keep my niece and the twin girls in your prayers. They will arrive via C-section tomorrow.

KAT

Blogging Comment Issue, and Farm Visitor

2010-08-07T21:44:00.001-05:00

Is it just me, or does this happen to you, also? I’m having a real issue with commenting to blogs.

When I try to leave a comment on any blog (and I have heard others remark they have this problem when trying to comment on my blog), the security word does not show up. I type in my Google account, password, and hit enter. I then get an error message, but this time the security word DOES show up… What’s up with this? Does that bug you, also? Any cure for this that anyone knows of? TIA!

We have company at the farm this weekend. Katie Bug is visiting again, and has really enjoyed a home movie and popcorn, bowling, Chinese food, 4-wheeler riding, and her most favorite, picking muscadines.

They are just beginning to turn, and the outside critters are getting them quickly. Perhaps we can save enough to make a small batch of jelly, but for right now we will just eat our fill. YUM!!

IQ update: My dealer called and my IQ install is now scheduled for Sept. 11th… HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! (The 10th is my BD.)

That’s it for now. Tomorrow will be busy. Jenn will be coming to church and lunch afterwards. I am splurging and making chicken and dumplings, purple hull peas, okra, and fruit fluff for dessert. (Lime flavored. Katie Bug picked that and has already helped make it.) And while Jenn is here we have some quilting projects to work on planning.

Have a great weekend, and be blessed!

KAT

Design Wall Monday

2010-08-01T21:00:00.001-05:00

I know you are about to faint… 4 posts from me in the same week! Perhaps I am over my blogging block! Either that or else things are moving very quickly in my life right now… that’s the truth!

This is my first time to join in the “Design Wall Monday” hosted by Judy L. If you want to see some really neat things, go HERE and click on the links. They will take you on a tour of design walls of other quilters… very interesting!

And, if you are visiting here for the first time because you are following my link on Judy’s post, WELCOME, and come back again soon!

What is on my design wall?

I finally got bitten by the “One-Block Wonder” bug, and I must say, this is a very fun and easy project! The fabric I chose (before I got the book) was not the best for this technique, but it is a good practice. I was so surprised at how quickly these sew together. Now to get the rows sewn… that probably will be a little slower.

I still have some rearranging to do to make things flow a little better. I also have to decide if I am going to make it larger. This is 38 blocks. I have enough fabric to do another 2 stacks, which will give me another 76 blocks. The thing is, the repeat on this fabric is so small that the new blocks will all look just like these, so I’m thinking I may just call it quits and make this a wall hanging. I can always use the remaining fabric for lining.

This was so much fun I have already picked out another fabric to make the next one from… Today while digging through my stash I uncovered 5 yards of beautiful fabric (obviously bought on sale, because I never buy that much unless it is a good sale) that will make a beautiful One Patch Wonder. So that will be on my design wall soon!

Thanks for looking… Come back again!

KAT

I Went, I Saw,…

2010-07-31T20:35:00.001-05:00

I fell in love… with the

They are the MOST amazing things! I was very impressed, and so was DH (I think). SOOOOOOO…

It is ordered!! :) That’s the good news…

Bad news… due to production issues it will take about 8 more weeks to get it. :(

Can I STAND to wait that long? I don’t have a choice. Hopefully production issues will work themselves out soon, and my IQ will be on the way.

So, pretty soon the quilting duo (Gussie Fay and I) will become a trio. I’ll keep you posted.

<><><><><>< HAPPY DANCE!!!!<><><><><><><><>

KAT

Neat Gift!

2010-07-30T08:43:00.000-05:00

It pays to be nice to your relatives, especially if they are quilters! Recently my hubby’s aunt and uncle needed to store some things here at our house because they were heading toward Ohio to a tool show and quilt shop hopping along the way. It was no problem for me… we stacked the boxes in a room that is seldom used this time of year. It contains the wood heater, and heaven knows we don’t need THAT right now!!

When they returned to pick up their boxes, here is what she gave me as a thank-you…

That top item is a pot holder with a recipe pocket. SOOO cute and useful too!

The lower item is a “Fat-Free Cheeseburger”.

Which looks like this on the inside… 7 fat-quarters of fabric.

Don’t you just LOVE the tomatoes, pickles, and lettuce fabrics? 2 tan fat quarters are the “buns”, yellow for the “cheese”, and brown for the “meat”. COOL IDEA!!

Thanks, Mary! You can leave your things at my house anytime! And did I mention they also carried us out to lunch? I have a spot reserved for her boxes next year!

KAT

Texas Retreat Report

2010-07-28T21:37:00.001-05:00

We went, we ate, we sewed, we laughed, we shopped…

Retreat theme… UFO ROUND-UP. We were challenged to finish up UFOs. (So I hurriedly started some before retreat so I could finish up what I wanted to work on. NOTE: I am NOT saying I do not have any closet UFOs… I’m saying I didn’t want to work on THOSE! )

We danced and sang, “One-Eyed, One Horned, Flying Purple People Eater” about 50 times. That was our “time to move around” song, and we almost knew the lyrics by the end of retreat.

Many of us FINISHED up some UFOs!!

Kathy A.’s quilt… STUNNING!

Jo Ann turned embroidered roses into a quilt top.

Cut a gazillion small squares, and stack them up NEATLY, Gayle! (Take a close look at her stacks… they are so neat you would think these were die-cut pieces!)

Barbara fell in love with a new square-in-a-square technique, and made these.

SOMEONE REALLY needed to do some “housekeeping”! No names to protect the not-so-innocent, but you can see her picture below!

Barrett (above) is a real “nose to the grindstone” kind of gal. Could THAT be why she gets so much done?

This is one of several projects Barrett had on the design wall.

LOVE the fish quilt, Diane!!

Sailboats for a baby boy… Really nice, Mary Anne!

And this is Mary Anne’s other project, a 4-Patch Posey.

Judy worked hard on finishing this UFO… a house block gifted to her by another quilter.

This is Carolyn, who LOVES PINWHEELS…. NOT! Love the look of her “row by row” quilt, minus the pinwheel blocks.

Another row quilt… I think this one is Mary Anne’s. So sorry, but I did not get pictures of Linda’s or Debbie’s (or mine). This is a guild project we have been working on since the first of the year. Many others are making these too. (It is a free pattern designed by Debbie Mumm for the “Country Register”. Click HERE for the free pattern download. Be warned… it contains lots of tiny pieces! Not that MY group would COMPLAIN!! HAHA!) They will add the final borders and we will all have some really CUTE quilts!

My 4-Patch Posey. This will go on my bed for the lake retreat. This fabric was bought umpteen years ago to make a quilted shower curtain for my home in Arkansas. Never got done. (So that should make this a REAL UFO quilt, right?) I decided it was perfect for my bed at the lake.

Lots of other busy-ness went on. We all got lots done, but unfortunately I was so busy working I didn’t get pictures of everything.

Don’t get caught ripping, or you got THIS placed on your work station, and you had to mash the button and let it play music so EVERYONE knew you were ripping. The name of each self-confessed or caught-in-the-act ripper was placed in a drawing and…

Pat won. She really fussed when I caught her talking about ripping and went ahead and passed the frog on… now I bet she is GLAD, since she won the prize.

That’s quilt retreat in a nut-shell, and a bunch of pictures. Hope you enjoyed our retreat… WE all really did, and can’t wait to go again next summer.

KAT

Blogging is like…

2010-07-22T22:11:00.001-05:00

Exercising… Once you stop, it is hard to get going again! So sorry my posts have been few lately. I have several things to post about (especially the quilt retreat and all the things I finished) but I have been SOOOO busy!

And you are probably saying, “Where were the quilt retreat reports you promised us?” Well, we have upgraded our wireless router at home and SOMETHING we did during the set-up on my lap top has caused it to have a problem connecting to other wireless networks. Others could get onto the wireless at retreat, but I could not. So that is something else I must spend time trying to figure out…. what setting did we click on that causes my computer to want to configure other people’s networks instead of just hooking up?

Along with all the busy-ness I have come to the conclusion that I am going to HAVE to add computerization to Gussie Fay. I never thought I would feel this way, but I have lost the joy of quilting. Standing there hooked to the machine for hours at a time has lost its thrill.

Perhaps it is because I do 99% pantos. That’s not a complaint… because I am so slow at custom I can not make any money that way. This has become mind-numbingly boring. Perhaps it is because I seem to be doing mostly the same patterns over and over. Perhaps it is because I have a stack of my quilts ready to be quilted, but no time to work on them. Whatever the cause, if I am to stay open for business I am going to have to go computerized so I can do more intellectually stimulating things while the computer stitches. It will also make me more time efficient, and help with the aches and pains caused by standing behind the machine all day. Most people don’t realize how physically demanding machine quilting is. But those pains will soon be behind me, just as soon as I get Gussie Fay connected to a computer.

I am counting the days until I go to Houston for my demo on the IntelliQuilter system, then I will decide which system to buy. It is interesting that Gammill has greatly reduced the price of their retrofit to a Statler. That is great timing, but I am really leaning toward the IQ because it has a very important feature that the Statler does not… automatic shut-off if it encounters any resistance (such as a thick seam allowance). Other systems can possibly get hung right there and stitch in the same spot until they have damaged the quilt.

OK… so just like climbing back on the exercise bike, I have now ventured back into Blogville. Hopefully I can keep myself revved up to post about twice a week for the rest of the summer. (Fingers crossed, making plans for posts, determining NOT to play computer games until I have posted, etc…). Stay tuned… pictures coming in a day or two!

KAT