Pat's awesome quilts

 My friend Pat has been quilting for over 50 years, so she has a lot of quilts to share!  The above quilt was designed by Pat and won first at the Houston quilt show a few years ago.  It was even featured in a magazine spread with the pattern!  It is hard to see in the picture, but it is a 3-D log cabin quilt with appliqued vines and flowers.

 Here is another version of a log cabin quilt, it is a version of the courthouse steps that she calls "dogs on the court house steps", What a great scrappy quilt!  Pat says " Courthouse Steps quilt is from a book by Mary Ellen Hopkins. It was tricky to piece, since each block shares two fabrics with each of the blocks around it. "

 I love the secondary design on this quilt.

 Don't you love the 3-D effect with these butterflies?  She fussy cut the butterflies from a piece of material and then appliqued them on.  What a magnificent twist on the churn dash, she called it another name, but I can't remember it.  She also designed this one!

 She saw a similar pattern for this quilt and made her own design that she drew out and then appliqued.  She says that she uses Wonder Under for her appliques.

 The quilt below is the one on the guest bed that we used.  I love the bright colors!

 Nothing like sleeping under a gorgeous quilt!

 I love the border!

 Of course Boy Cat matches the quilt perfectly!

Pat designed most of her quilts and she quilted most of them, although she says she's old enough now to let someone else do the quilting!  LOL  Most of her quilts from the past 10 - 15 years have been done on a treadle!
Her husband said that he loves to see the excitement on her face when she is designing and piecing a new quilt pattern.  Now that is a husband who "gets it"!

There is so much I could learn from her, I wish I lived closer!

Missy

Jeremiah 31:34  "And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

Quilting in Dallas

My husband had a work conference in Dallas last week, that is why I was so quiet around here!  He does not like for me to tell me people when we are not home for security reasons.  I HATE driving in Dallas, but I love to walk!  Since I only live an hour from Dallas, it really was not a big deal to me vacation wise.  So what is a girl to do staying in a ritzy hotel (paid for by his work) and 100° outside?  You take your hand crank sewing machine and quilt!  The light was not great, but it was so peaceful, no thinking "I should be cleaning or cooking, etc."!  Guilt free quilting!

I finished six of the sailboat blocks, only to realize that I did not cut enough 3 1/2 inch squares for the boat hulls!  So frustrating, I could have been finished with one of my monthly goals if I had!  I only had to finish the boat hulls and attach the top white strips, hard to see on the white comforter.

That makes seven out of twelve quilt blocks completely finished!  The other four just need the boat hulls attached, and one that still needs to be assembled.

Luckily I also brought the pinwheels, without counting I believe almost all of my half square triangles have been sewn together, they just needed to be ironed, dog ears snipped, and then sewn together as pinwheels.  Which I did a lot of in the hotel room.   I finished 16 more pinwheels, Bringing the count to 32 out of 80 finished!  These are the sashings.  I don't think the quilt will be finished before my step brother's baby comes., we'll see what happens!  If I had thought about it, I would have done a plain sashing instead of the pinwheels, then I'd already be done!

I decided that I really like this stool to sit on while sewing!  After I move to MO I am going to start looking for one.  See those water bottles in the room for the guests?  They cost $4 each!  Needless to say, they stayed there!

In the mornings I walked around the downtown district of Dallas, I just made sure I was back in the hotel before noon so I would not get too hot.

 I had already seen things like the Holocaust Museum, The Sixth Floor museum (where JFK was shot), and the Dallas Aquarium on previous visits.   Such an assortment of architecture in downtown Dallas!

Red Corner Museum, 

There was also a nice full size cattle drive etched in stone, right next to a cemetery from the 1860's.

I bought that dress on clearance from Wal-mart, I cut five inches off it before I hemmed it!  I think maybe I should have left and extra inch though?

This week I need to finish cutting out the pieces needed to finish those sailboat blocks.  I finished snipping my rag quilt, I'll take it to the laundry mat on Saturday to wash it and I'll share the finished pictures then.  I need to play with my new industrial treadles and decide which one does better FMQ so I'll know which one to keep!

What are you up to this week?
Missy

Feline Friday - cat quilt

Here is another one of Pat's quilts.  She did not make this one though, it was a birthday gift for her from the two sewing groups she was a member of.    They surprised her with it by hanging it in a quilt show!

She like cats too, so there quite a number of cat blocks in this quilt, it is such a fun quilt!

I love this quilt!  I've been wanting to make a cat themed quilt, I'll have to make it a sampler quilt!

So, we were in Dallas all week and had a friend taking care of our furbabies while we were gone.

Muffin (the big cat) and Custard

Pippi

Oreo and Cupcake

Don't they all look so innocent?  It used to be that when something happened, we knew to blame Pippi, but know she has three kittens that she has been training to be trouble makers also!  We got home from a long week in Dallas last night and the first thing we noticed, was that they had swiped the roll of toilet paper from the bathroom and shredded it to pieces all over the living room floor!  What a mess!
The second thing I noticed, was the the hanging Ivy I had hanging in the dining room room was now all over the floor, the treadle cabinet, the chairs, the dining room table and a sewing machine!  I swept up what I could, but I still need to move the treadle to clean up the rest of it.    That was not exactly the welcome I was expecting when I got home last night!  LOL

What kind of trouble are your cats getting into?  Check out Sarah's Feline Friday for more cat fun!

I need to go clean their mess, talk to ya'll later!

Missy (aka the crazy cat lady - LOL)

Seven Dancing Sisters

My friend Pat is very talented, I had her show me all of her quilts while I visited.  I am only going to show you two quilts today.  She calls this quilt "Seven Dancing Sisters" and says "It's a bit like the classic Seven Sisters pattern, but with elongated star points"

 Pat saw a version of this quilt online and then drafted her own version.  I believe this is Boy Cat, she has a brother and sister that look identical, of course she can tell the difference!  LOL

Here is a closeup view of the quilting she did on this quilt.

 Don't you love it?  As for quilting it, she did some straight line stitching on her Davis Vertical Feed (a treadle), but her friend finished it on her long arm

She put a piped binding on this quilt.  She says it is pretty easy to do, I'll have to try it sometime.

This is an applique quilt that is hanging above the bed.  Her applique looks flawless to me!

I still have a ton more quilts to show you later!  I've been in Dallas all week with my husband's work conference.  Pictures will follow later!
Missy

Drunkard's Path Blocks

I was visiting my friend Pat this weekend.  I bought two industrial treadles from her, I'll have to take pictures of them to share with you later.  She gave me an UFO.  It is a variation of the Drunkard's Path called the Devil's Puzzle Box.  It is a pattern that I would not have started any time soon.  She had five completed blocks done.

She used 30's reproduction fabric.  She had started the quilt before her mother became ill back around 2008, but then just lost interest in it, so she passed it on to me.  And of course I was more than happy to take her ufo, especially since she had done all of the hard work with the curved seams.  She had enough of the 4 inch blocks completed for me to make one more block.

Her Kitty Rosie helped make sure I sewed the blocks together right.  Of course I had my hand crank with me so I sewed that block up while we all sat there and visited.

Here are all six of them together.

It will be a nice throw size.  There are enough of the small blocks for me to put three in each corner of the border and use four to make the label in the back.  I'll put a four inch border around it.  She also made some yo-yo's to use as flowers, to applique on a second outside border which will be white muslin.  I'm anxious to finish it, but I have to be practical and pack it up and finish it after I move.  I have too many things going on right now to start another project.
I have a ton of her quilts to show you, she is a very talented lady!

Missy

July Goals

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I am going to try to keep my goals for this month simple, even though I have deadlines on all three of these quilts!

 I finished the last bit of the sewing on my denim quilt on my Franklin treadle.  Wow can that thing go fast and the stitches are perfect!  I had to put a staying stitch (I think that is what it is called) all the way around the edges of the quilt.  My first goal this week is to clip the edges and get it washed.  I have a 6 hour car trip coming up so this will be perfect job for the car!  The kittens like the new quilt.  You can see a full view of the quilt here.

My second goal is to finish the sailboat blocks on the baby quilt.  The baby is due August 12, so I hope to get more than that done, but with my schedule this month, I'm not sure if that will happen!  My Singer 15 is skipping stitches again and I'm not sure why!  I hope I have time today or tomorrow to take it apart and just give it a thorough cleaning!  Too bad I can't make Muffin do it, lazy cat!  To see what else I have done with this quilt go here.  http://missyscakesandaprons.blogspot.com/2013/06/pinwheels.html

 My third goal is to get this quilt, basted.  If I have time maybe I can get it quilted too!  I'm thinking of outlining all of the Gerber daisies in the sashing and then free motion quilting a giant daisy in each square.  What color of thread would you use?  I'm thinking a a very light pink?

An acquaintance from Lubbock will be in town August tenth and since my family lives in Lubbock I'm hoping to get my nephew's quilt (denim) and my niece's quilt (great granny square) completely done so that I can send them back to my mom.  They are Christmas presents but since I won't be going home for my birthday this year in September (I'll be moving), I want to send the quilts back with Ruby.  This will save a lot on shipping and I won't have to worry about them getting lost in the mail.  I also won't have to pack and move them!  LOL  I really hope I can get the quilting done, but I'm not sure I will so it is not a goal.

To sum up:

1 - clip and wash denim rag quilt

2 - finish sailboat blocks

3 - baste great granny square quilt

I should be able to meet these goals!  I'm even thinking of maybe taking the sail boats with me and work on them at the hotel when my husband has his work conference in Dallas.  I don't really want to spend any money since we are moving in two months.  I'm sure they have some nice covered tables outside I can set up in, it's a great way to meet people because everyone stops to see what I'm doing!  LOL 

Have you set any goals for July?

Missy

P.S.  Did I mention all of these quilts have been made on either a hand crank or treadle?

June finishes

I finally have a finish to show you!  I still need to clip the rag quilt and wash it, but I am calling this a finish!  I'll do the clipping in the car the next time we go out of town.  It's going to take a while!  I used six inch blocks, 13 across and 17 down.  This is going to be a Christmas present for my 17 year old nephew.  I'm not really sure how I ended up with a almost a whole row of light blocks on the right side.

When I sorted my blocks, I made sure that the colors were not next to each other, then when I chain stitched my blocks they got all messed up, but that's okay, boys don't care.

My husband even said that he liked the quilt and would not mind one!

On the label I put the first part of Psalm 143:10 - "Teach me to do thy will; for thou art God" .  I pray that my nephew takes this verse and pays attention to it.

Of course the second a quilt is laid down Tiger has to lay on it!  You can see his tail at the bottom of the other pictures, he was just waiting!  LOL

I also finished all of my barn blocks.    http://missyscakesandaprons.blogspot.com/2013/06/barn-update.html

I worked on my sailboat quilt.  http://missyscakesandaprons.blogspot.com/2013/06/pinwheels.html

This means that I finished all of my June goals!  Yeah!

Have a great day!
Missy