Top 10 List of Why I Have Not Been Blogging…

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

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…

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

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!!!

 

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

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…

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!

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