Feline Friday

 We had quilt along at my house today.  Pippi was her usual help, she always has to be in the middle of all of the action!

 We are still trying to get this quilt quilted!  It is a very slow process!

We had four people come today, Me, Siouxsie, Marie and Lynn.  Well, ten if you count the cats.  See, Tiger is ready to help!

Pippi was pooped after everyone left.  She decided to work on her tan.  It's in the 80's today here in TX!

I made a pineapple casserole for lunch.  Everyone kind of looked at me funny,  until they tried it!  Here's the recipe, it is very good!
I'm having a yard sale tomorrow.  I hate having yard sales, although I love to shop them!
Tomorrow is national quilting day and this weekend only  you can watch free quilting videos here at the Quilt Show.  Boy do I wish I had more time to watch them!
Have a great weekend ya'll!
Missy

Barn Block

I made a new barn block today!  Here is the tutorial, this is my first 6 1/2"  block for the side of the barn.

I have never done a log cabin block before, so I'm hoping that will be one of the blocks!

I'm not very sure about the background fabric for that block, I used my French chickens from last week to tie it in.  Do you think it is too busy?  I put two chickens on each side of my barn owl!  I also used my red and black material from last week as another way to tie it together.

My favorite part of this barn is my window, I put a sleeping barn owl in the window, with shutters that match my door!

Of course Pippi had to be right by me and took a nap on the pinwheel quilt, which by the way is 3/4 done quilted!  I had to make my block today or I would have finished.  (I say with a sheepish grin)

I really liked using my little rotary cutter to cut all of the small pieces.  I felt like it gave me better control.  There are a lot of 1 1/2 inch and 2 1/2 inch pieces.

I also liked using my 4 1/2 inch square to cut the small pieces, it was a lot easier to handle than the big ruler.

See the blue tape?  I used that to mark my 2 1/2 inch mark so that I did not accidently cut the wrong size, which is easy when you are cutting a lot of squares and your eyes go cross eyed after a while!

I also cute extra pieces for more barns later, the only thing that will change is the quilt on the side of the barn and the fabric choices.

And, yes, I do talk the way I type with a lot of exclamation points and sometimes very fast, with a cross between a Texas drawl and a Southern (AR) accent!

I just learned something irritating!  Google Reader is going away!  I just got this notice:

How can I download my Reader data?

"Google Reader will be retired on July 1, 2013. If you'd like to download a copy of all your Reader data before then, you can do so through Google Takeout. You'll receive your subscription data in an XML file, and the following information will be downloaded as JSON files:

• List of people that you follow
• List of people that follow you
• Items you have starred
• Items you have liked
• Items you have shared
• Items shared by people you follow
• Notes you have created
• Items with comments

Click here to start downloading your Reader data from Takeout. Once downloaded, your subscription data should be easily transferrable to another product, where you can continue to keep up with your online reading."

What is everybody going to use to keep up with their blogs?  I'm open to suggestions!

Is anyone else making barn blocks?  I'm making mine on my hand crank of course!

Missy

Isaiah  40:31  "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

Design Wall Monday

I've started quilting the pinwheels quilt.

I've gotten a quarter of it done.  There are 9 rows by 10 rows and I started in the middle and am working my way to the edge on one side only and then moving to the next one down.
I am making loopy loops.  I am still new to free motion quilting, but it is better than my last quilt, but still needs a lot of improvement since this is only my second quilt to FMQ!

I am using off white thread on the front and light pink in the bobbin for the back.  I'm not sure how well you can see it.

I bought some quilting gloves and love them!

When I did FMQ on my other quilt I had a hard time gripping the quilt to move it around, but these gloves have these grippers on them to grip the quilt!  I got them half off at Joann's.

I plan on finishing this quilt and getting it in the mail by Saturday at the latest!

I have also finished 21 scrappy trip along blocks.  I have 34 blocks I have strip pieced ready for the next step.

I have four waiting to be assembled.

That makes 59 blocks so far.  I have decided that I do not want to make 100 blocks!  I think I need 86 - 12 1/2 inch blocks for my king size quilt.  Please correct my math if I am wrong.   I figure if it is not big enough then I'll just add a border to it!  Much faster!

What are you working on this week?

Missy

" Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands."

Proverbs 14:1

Feline Friday and I built a barn!

Have you seen Lori Holt's new barn quilt along at a Bee in My Bonnet?  I loved it and decided to join along!  I've been collecting black and white material and this is the perfect quilt for them!  I made mine in polka dots and love the way it turned out.

I did not have a farmer's wife block, but used some fabric of French chickens I bought a couple of years ago.  After all, you would probably find some chickens in a barn, right?  I have never made a block like this before, I loved it!  I might make some 6 1/2 inch blocks for the side of the barn, but I'll have to figure out what colors to use!
I got a new cat a few weeks ago, a door stop for .25¢ , Pippi was not very happy with it!

For the first few days she would hiss at it and knock  it over every time she walked past it!  I had a cute video but am having problems getting it uploaded.
She has finally figured out it is not real!
Here is Muffin's favorite spot in the mornings, curled up next to me while I blog.  Isn't he sweet?

If you have any suggestions on the colors for me to use for the quilt blocks for the side of my barn, let me know.  I can't decide between the colors from the chickens or black, red and white.  What do you think?
Have a great weekend!
Missy

Prayer Quilt Ministry

We met together yesterday for the prayer quilt ministry.  I did not take many pictures though!  Only two in fact!
We had a very low turnout so not much was accomplished, but I did get the pinwheel quilt basted!

I forgot to make the label so I do need to go back and add that to the corner before quilting it.  I also ran out of curved safety pins since I had half of them still on the granny square quilt.  I guess I need to buy more if I'm going to be using my pins for the prayer quilt ministry, because now I don't have any for my personal quilts!  LOL
I think hand quilting is a great family project, here is a picture of Kristi quilting with her daughter and step son on the other quilt.

Caleb said he was bored so I sent him in there and had Miss Debra teach him how to hand quilt!  Never say in my presence you are bored because I'll put you to work!  That is a lesson my nephew has learned and I think Caleb is starting to learn!
I have a really bad sinus headache today, so I am not sure how much I will get done today, although I do have a quilt block that I'm  hoping to finish, I'll share it with ya'll as soon as I do!  Of course, I also need to make my quilt label and then get started on quilting the pinwheel quilt!
Have a great day ya'll!
Missy

Design Wall Monday - Pinwheels

I have one quilt on my design wall this week, the pinwheel quilt.

I had the pinwheels all laid out, but when I was sewing them, they got mixed up.  I had the girls over working on their quilts (whoops, forgot to take pictures) and since I only have two hand cranks, I sewed while one of them was ironing.  Which means I was switching back and forth between machines, so it is no wonder I got them all mixed up!

I love the border fabric that was sent to me from K. Yoakum, it does a great job of tying all of the colors together!  I think Kenzie is going to love looking at all of the different colors!
I know Tiger likes it for bath time.

Muffin thinks it is a great place to take a bath also!  (Yes, I'll wash the quilt before I send it!)

This is one of my favorite blocks!  It's also a closer view of the border.

The quilt was bigger than I expected, but I think it will be okay!
I plan on basting it at the quilt along on Wednesday since Joeann has more floor space than I do.
I'll start quilting it this week too, I'm going to FMQ loopy loops on it.  If anyone knows of a good tutorial for that pattern, please share!
Last year at the TOGA (Treadle On Gathering Academy), a lady gave me this spool pin doily

I brought my husband some yarn and asked him to tat me some more!

And one for my friend!

I think he did a great job since there was not a pattern!  He's tried to teach me to tat, but I'm not any good at it!  Bonnie Hunter has a pattern for a crocheted spool pin doily here.  If you have a pattern you wish to share, please do so in the comments for other readers, or if you sell them and have a link, feel free to share that also!
I'm also going to finish those capes this week!
What are you doing this week?
Missy

Feline Friday

Good morning (or evening or whenever you happen to be reading this).  This will just be short post today.  I have some cute pictures today to share.
Here's Pippi hamming it up.

She likes to sleep with her tongue sticking out and when she stretches, she stretches her tongue out too!

I thought I would fold my quilt up for easy access under my desk, Squeeky though it was a great idea!

So far I have seen all but one of my cats sleeping under there!  Precious claimed it this time.

 Squeeky found another quilt to sit on, she likes this spot because it is right next to where I sew.

I was reading an old article in a magazine called Kiwi.  As most of ya'll probably know by now, I try to treat things naturally and I love essential oils.  There are two essential oils that could be poisonous to your pets.  They are okay in the small concentrated form that might come in all natural pet shampoos, but do not use them alone on your pet.
Tea tree oil, I use it for myself a lot!  It is anti-fungal and antiseptic.  I'll use it in homemade shampoo or to clear up acne or any kind of rash.  It can make your pet very sick, so never use it on your pet.
Pennyroyal oil can poison your pets, so keep it away from your pets.  I'm not sure what other uses it has because I've never used it before.  Call your poison control center if your pet gets into it.
The natural, sugar free sweetener, xylitol, often found in chewing gum and vitamins is also toxic to your pets.

Just thought I would share that with you!
Have a furry friday, and a wonderful weekend!
Missy

Scrappy pin cushion

What do you do with all of your scraps?  I decided to make a pin cushion, I really did not have time to make a cute one like on of these on my pinterest board. .

 I just grabbed some of my scraps and started sewing them together willy nilly like a crazy quilt.

I trimmed it up with my ruler on a slant.  I then sewed up the sides leaving an opening for the stuffing.
Wanna know what I did for the stuffing?  I took a bunch of those little bitty trimmings I usually throw away, I really like it because it made my pin cushion a little heavier than regular stuffing would be and I didn't have to buy any rice or sand.
Here is the back of it.  I put a pin in it to hide the thread from the button.

Unfortunately, I could not get my button to give me a "dimple", oh well.
This is where I'm keeping it, in the door of my green cabinet.  A couple of my cats like to pull the pins out of my pin cushion and the pin cushion I have will not ft here, so this is a perfect set up for me!

I finally decided what to do with the machine in the cabinet, I'm selling it to a friend.  She is going to convert it to a treadle.  I put my Singer Redeye 66 hand crank in it.
My husband helped me.

He used the sander to make it fit better on the edges.

 I love the way it looks in the green cabinet.  Did you know it is also called a redhead?  It takes class 66 bobbins.  It was made in 1918 and sews better than my newer machines!

I've been sewing my scrappy trip along on it, I love sewing with my hand crank!

Here is my trail of chain stitching underneath the cabinet.

Happy quilting!
Missy

Goals For March

I am going to keep my goals pretty simple this month.  Instead of making Scrappy Trip along blocks, I am going to strip piece them together so I can see how many more strips I need to cut.  I want to take these to retreat with me in April and this way I won't have to bother with  taking the individual strips since they will be half done.  I have no idea how many I will finish, it just depends on the pinwheel quilt.

I also need to finish the pinwheel quilt this month so we can get it sent to sweet Kenzie, her casts are coming off in a month.

And I have more that have been sent to me!  I did not make any of the pinwheels above, but will be sewing them together to make one quilt!

I also have three capes to make like this one for a friend.

I'm hoping to finish the granny square quilt this month, but that depends on other people, not just me since we are all hand quilting it.


These goals should keep me pretty busy this month!
What goals do you have planned for this month?
Missy