I am so blessed - Life is Good!

My Husband is the greatest!   After 29 1/2 years, I think he's getting the hang of giving gifts.  Crazy man that he is, he went out yesterday afternoon to do his Christmas Shopping.  Now mind you, he only has one person to buy for, but still he waits until the very last minute!

Hubby is so supportive of my quilting habit - he bought me a 5 pack of rotary cutter blades, and 10 yards of Red and blue fabrics.  How cool is that?  He knows I want to do more quilts for soldiers, and figured that red and blue would be safe.  He picked it out all by himself from my favorite fabric stores.

My Mom also got into the act with several fat quarters of red and blue and cute pirate cats,  a rotary cutter blade, template and scissors.  She was so cute - she wrapped all our gifts in these wonderful snack boxes.  I asked her to save me a few from Dad's favorite snack.  I use them to put parts of my quilts in to keep them organized.

Right now, I'm using several to keep my Celtic Solstice parts organized...

Speaking of Celtic Solstice - Check this out!  I have to date made the following:



Clue 4 - 2 patch Segments for my 4 patches

Clue 1 - Tri-Recs Triangles: 90 of 380 total. Long way to go yet
Clue 2 - Chevrons:  70 80 of 288.  Long way to go here too
Clue 3 - Half Square Triangles:  420 440 of  488 - Almost there!
Clue 4 - 4 Patches:  I don't have any finished, but I'm almost finished sewing the 120 sets of  10" x 2"
strips and cut them up into 2" segments of 2 patches.

Clue 1 Tri Recs have been put aside to work on the others.  I'm about ready to get them out because I'm kind of bored with the Chevrons. 

Clue 2 Chevrons

Neutral Squares for Chevrons

Clue 2 Chevrons are coming together, and I'm getting the hang of getting the stitching lines to work out right so I have very little trimming to do.  They are very intense though so I'm finding it hard to do more than 5 at a time. 

420 Half Square Triangles

Clue 3 and 4 are all cut and I'm using them as leader/enders for the others.  I find that I'm making steady progress.

My favorite tools right now are the little red wonder clips to hold my parts together in groups of 10,  my Bloc Lock HST ruler which is getting quite the workout, and my shape cut ruler which is helping me cut multiple strips at the same time.

Linking up with Bonnie Hunter's Linky Party over at QuiltVille. Take a look at all the other's progress.  Even a few guesses at what the block might look like!

Squeaking in under the Wire - Clue 3 Celtic Solstice

I've been pretty sick this week - a miserable time to be sick really - just before the holidays.  Darling Hubby's cold caught up to me and I've been laid low.  He was laid up for a couple of days just before Thanksgiving - this has been going on a week for me - it settled in my chest, and I think I've pulled a couple of ribs from coughing. Ouch!

I was able to get the 2" strips cut for step #3 of Bonnie Hunter's Mystery - Celtic Solstice, a few triangles cut and sewn (about 40).  They're working out pretty good, with only about 1% having to be tossed in the slush pile for another quilt.

 

I also finished a few (about 20) chevrons from Step 2.  All pieces are cut and marked, just need to feed them through the machine.



 

I'm linking back to Bonnie's Linky Party.  You should see what the others are doing.  I'm hoping to be caught up by the end of next week

Gatitude & Appreciation - Finished!

 Last week I was able to finish the Red White & Blue quilt for my client's son.  She commissioned me to make this back in July after their wedding.  It was a real labor of love, since it turned out to be 69" x 79".  Big enough for both of them to snuggle on the couch with. 

I added words of encouragement in the inside border, love, family, freedom, peace, country, courage, grateful, etc.  I hope they are as pleased with it as I was to have it finished.  It is winging its way to Mom to be presented as a Christmas Gift this year.

I'm still working on the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Celtic Solstice.  You can see my progress in Part 1 and Part 2.  I have yet to start part 3 since I still have some Christmas stuff to do.

Linking up with Can I get a Whoop Whoop from Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Well, It's still a Mystery - Celtic Solstice Part 2

This week is Part 2 of Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt.  I was able to finish about 50 Neutral and 40 Orange triangle units from Part 1.  This week it's Chevrons!!!  So I am practicing smiling when I say this because 'flippy corners' are not my favorite thing to do.

Since I'm using the scrappy look, I had many fabrics to cut into little 3 1/2 x 2 rectangles for the green part.  I dusted off my previously unused ShapeCut ruler and went to town

 See the purple painter's tape - that's so I only hit the correct slots for the 3 1/2" strips and the sub-cuts of 2".  This made cutting these strips and rectangles super fast. 

 

 

The Greens and Neutrals are all done

 

 

And Hubby was kind enough to help me with drawing the lines on the squares for the neutrals.  Now I only have the yellows to do!

In other news, I finished quilting a quilt for a solder-son of a client.  The binding is on, I only need to finish hand-stitching it down before I get it in the mail this week.

Join me at Bonnie's Linky Party and see all the progress others are making on their quilts!  I'm loving some of the alternate color combinations.

It's a Mystery! Celtic Solstice Part 1

I'm excited to participate in my very first Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt.  When the colors were released back in October, I started gathering up fabrics that I thought would work. It was fun choosing fabrics from my stash, but I had to do some shopping as well, since my colors tend to run towards the more muted country colors.  Any excuse to shop right?  I'm still lacking in the blues so I'll have to shop some more. Yaaa!

 

Last Friday, the first clue was released!  If only my smart phone would have loaded the page, I would have been in heaven!  We had to wait until we checked into the hotel before I could see it.

 

Since I was out of town until yesterday, I wasn't able to make as much progress as I would like.  So far I've cut all the orange triangles, some of the blues and a few neutrals.

 

 

 



It's a good thing I have all week to work on this step because I have a long way to go!

 

Thank you Bonnie Hunter for being generous and sharing your creativity with the quilting world!  I am excited to see how this is going to turn out.

Linking to Quiltville's Monday Linkup.  It sure is great to see so many other quilter's progress, colors and styles.

Today is Veteran's Day - A day for reflection and gratitude

I have a soft spot in my heart for Veterans.  My Papaw was a veteran of World War II, my Dad is a

veteran of Viet Nam, my husband is a veteran (though he wouldn't agree with me) of the Cold War and the first Gulf war; my Son is a veteran; my cousin is a veteran; and my nephew is a veteran.  I am proud of these men, and honored to know them and call them family.

I used to think veterans were these old guys who would swap war stories and sometimes jump at loud noises. But I look around me and I see all these young guys and gals who are 18, 20, and 30 who are veterans! 

I am honored that these fine young men and women volunteered to serve our country.  When called to service they go willingly, sometimes excitedly.  These sometimes nameless, faceless patriots face unspeakable conditions with grace and courage. Their service and sacrifice humbles me.  I am profoundly grateful that they stand for the freedoms we all enjoy; stand up for the weakest among us and stand between us and the evil that lurks in this world. 

Veterans past, present and future have seen and done things most of us cannot even imagine in our worst nightmares. They pledge their loyalty and service to our great country, sacrifice holidays, birthdays, and witnessing the births of their children to do their sworn duty.  Their families miss them as much as they miss their families.

I once heard the term veteran described this way:  A veteran writes a blank check payable to the United States of America, for all that they have up to and including their very life.  It is a sobering and humbling reality.   Too many of our service members have wounds we cannot see.  Still others are undeniably and irreparably harmed.  Far too many have paid the ultimate price.

So I'll leave you with these thoughts - where would we be without our veterans?  Would our lives be better or worse? 

If you know a veteran, thank them for me.

I never really thought about it before....

What would it be like to Quilt in Space?  In a weightless environment where your needles, pins, fabric, scissors will float off... Oh my goodness!

NASA Astronaut Karen Nyberg talks about Quilting in space, what it's like, the challenges she's faced, and shows off her own hand pieced star block.  I know this has happened to me, gone on a trip with a project and forgot a key piece of equipment.  How easy is it to pop into a LQS or Wal-Mart for pins or a rotary cutter blade?  There doesn't seem to be a plethora of Wal-Marts in space, however, and like our pioneer ancestors, she had to make do. 




She's also inviting quilters to contribute a star block to bee included in a quilt that will be exhibited at the 40th International Quilt Festival in Houston.  See more information at Quilts.com about this awesome opportunity.  Deadline for entries is August 1, 2014.  It will be here before you know it!

Her block is awesome.  In my book it is a masterpiece.

You can read more about Karen Nyberg and her amazing journey here. 

I'd love to hear your thoughts about this.

Kathy

FMQ Friday - A great finish and other fun stuff

It's been a busy week here at the family homestead.  Our son and his lady friend were going to make an appearance with their two fur babies (very large dogs) so we needed to pick up and dog proof our home.  To say Buffy and Sassy were not happy is an understatement.  But the deal was he'd come to visit if he could bring his friend and the dogs.  Since we haven't seen him since July - the joys of having adult children - we agreed. It's interesting how the dogs are attracted to me, and are at my side every time I'm in the same room.  I'm a CAT person!

On the quilting front, I was able to find the fabric I wanted for the Quilt of Valor I'm working on for a client.  I love how the flag fabric sets off the blocks.  Now to make the time to piece the rows together and get the border on!   Because of all the white in the top, I decided to pre-wash the border fabric.  Good thing, because it took 3 washings with color catches to get the red to stop running!

I'm really excited to get  this finished and given.  I'm hoping they'll have many hours (years) of snuggling under the quilt.

 

 

My little quickie project this week is a fabric box.  We've been talking about them a lot at the Missouri Star Quilters Forum.  They are so quick and easy to make!  Check out the Tutorial from Seaside Stitches.  Tina Craig shows us how to make them.  I have plans for many boxes in the future for gifts and giveaways. 

This test box was made from a 10" piece of striped fabric with a great green piece from a layer cake. 





But by far, my favorite and best finish yet is the Big Brother quilt I made to go with the Baby quilt I told you about a couple of weeks ago.  I found the Tutorial at Wedding Dress Blue called Brotherly Love.

 

There are  many half square Triangles in this quilt!  I scaled it down to use 4" and 2" finished Half Square Triangles.  Buffy was right here to give her seal of approval.

Quilting it was a bit of a trial with all the seams and intersections.  My thread broke a lot!  But its done and on its way to a special little boy with his baby brother's quilt tagging along.

I'm linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
 

and Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project.

 

Until Next Time ~ Happy Quilting!

A Peek into My Creativity Zone

... Warning ... It's pretty messy!

This is the new ironing center that I picked up at Joann's a few weeks ago.  It's nice and big - but following the flat surface rule - it's starting to get piled up too. Do you know the flat surface rule?  Something about the project expanding to fill the surface area of the available space.  I have a lot of surfaces that are covered like that...

 See the calculator on the end of the ironing center?

 

Behind the center is a 4' x 4' design board covered with flannel, and test blocks of various shapes, and a multitude of other things.  Between the ironing center and the wall is a TV tray to catch the fabric from going on the dirty floor.  See all the clip-on lights hanging off the shelf?  The light in the room is behind me when I stand at the ironing board.  This illuminates my work surface, at least until I find an under-shelf light that works better.  I love the "daylight" CFL (Compact Fluorescent Light) bulbs I picked up from Walmart for $.88 for a set of 4! 

 

 

This is a project I'm working on.  I love my bins and containers!  The cardboard container on the left is from Hobby Lobby.  It's helping me corral the pieces until they are ready to go up on the design wall.  The little cup is an applesauce cup (that I washed) and now holds a few pins or whatever I need handy...

It's all sitting on top of my extension table next to my spare machine that I'm using for piecing while my lovely Elna is set up for FMQ. 

 

Here's another project I'm working on - it will be 1/4 square triangles, but first I need to mark them.  One of those projects for when I get 'a few spare minutes'... Yeah, right.  Hubby and I have a road trip coming up, so I thought I could do that while he's driving.

This is my cutting table.  It's one of those big drop-leaf jobs from many years ago.  There are little tubs and boxes all in and around the pile of 1 1/2" squares cut from scraps, 2 1/2" HST cut from scraps, Dresden plate blades to be sewn into Dresden plates, extra fabric for projects I'm working on, and well, just a pile of who knows what.  One of these days I'll get it cleared off





There are days when I wonder how the heck I even function in this clutter.  But I know, if I put everything away - I'll forget where I put it! :)

Until next time - Happy Quilting!

Not MIA - I've been Quilting!

It's been a busy couple of weeks here at Kathy's Cache.  In my other life, I'm a bookkeeper, and with the late-filing tax season winding down, I had my head in someone's books for a good 2 or 3 weeks.  I was still able to snatch a few 15 minute breaks for cutting, sewing, quilting, pressing and trimming, but mostly book work.  I'm glad that's behind me until after the first of the year again.  Now I can concentrate on my list of UFOs...


Last weekend I went on a Quilting Retreat at Susan's Calico Creations in Fulton IL.  I had a blast!  I sewed to my heart's content until late into the night, and was up bright and early the next morning to sew again.  I made great progress on a number of different projects...

First up is a Quilt of Valor I'm making for a client's son and his wife.  Recently married, he's done his time in the sandbox (more than once).  On my last business trip to visit with her, I showed her some Quilts of Valor blocks I was making for the national block drive for Quilts of Valor.  She instantly fell in love with one of the blocks and claimed it as her own.  She signed her name to the block, and I added it to the pile I dropped off at the local quilt shop to be added to the others from across the country.

I was able to pre-cut the pieces before the retreat, so all I had to do was sew the blocks together.  I was able to finish 25 of the planned 30 blocks.  I'm going to have to re-think the plan because, well the numbers aren't coming out right - so I'm thinking on it.  I need to have it finished by November 7 when I plan to present it to her to give to her at a workshop we're both attending.  She will have it in plenty of time to give to him for Christmas.   A triple blessing.  Stay tuned for pictures of the finished quilt.

Big Brother quilt is assembled.  This one is made up of something like 300 half square triangles.  Did I mention I spent a lot of 15 minute work breaks pressing and trimming?   This one is from one of my favorite designers at Wedding Dress Blue - a take off of her Brotherly Love quilt.   I scaled it down to 4 1/2 inch and 2 1/2 inch half square triangles, and made a toddler-size quilt for the big brother of the baby whose quilt I wrote about last time.  The pieces were also pre-cut and the triangles were made, so this one went together in a snap once I got the pattern figured out!  Wouldn't you know, I left the directions at home!  Thank goodness for Wi-Fi, and a very generous hostess who let me tap into her internet.

I also made 7 pillowcases for gifts 21 split nine patch blocks, and a big batch of chili (sorry no pictures it was all gone!)

I really enjoyed my time away from home, pushing the fabric through the machine and visiting with all my new friends.   I'm planning on doing this again in the future.


So a big old Whoop Whoop for getting so much done in one weekend!  Linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict!

Linking up with Leah Day's FMQ Friday

So what else have I been up to?

Bin dumped out on the cutting table

 While my machine was set up and being used for FMQ this week, there were times I wanted to play with my fabric, but not necessarily quilt.  Do you get that way too? 

Pile of strips on the ironing board

Pressed and hanging on a drying rack

I finished up cutting strips for a swap, and got a good look at my 2 1/2" bin of strips.  I knew I would have to do something sooner or later with this mess, so in my 15-30 min of fabric play at a time, I pressed and sorted out my strips by color.  And pressed, and sorted, and pressed and sorted....




 This is what I ended up with by the end of the week.  Strips of fabric sorted by color, just waiting for me to do something with them.  And an empty 2 1/2" strip bin. 

For now, I'm going to enjoy looking at them, I think.  Except, that monstrosity is in the way of the cutting table.  Maybe I'll put them in Ziploc bags by color family and put them back in the bin.  What would you do?


My next challenge will be my 1 1/2" strip bin.  I wonder how many of those I have?

FMQ Friday - Lots of Quilting Going On Here

 

 

First up:  Welcome Home is completed, with the binding finished and everything!  We're hoping to be able to present to our Soldier friend very soon.

Next up:  Bella's Beauties is done but for the binding (see all the clips?)

Just waiting for a few hours of quiet time to stitch down the binding.   Chief Inspector Buffy is checking the workmanship.


 I love the bright pink binding.  It makes me smile every time I see it.  I'm thinking I'll have to use the rest of that fabric for a pillow case for Miss Bella...  Maybe for Christmas.  The quilt is for her birthday next week.  Nothing like a deadline to push a project along!

I used a Lollipop Chain for the pieced border

Next:  100 Hugs a Day - Blue

The binding needs to be finished on this one too.  Notice how neither of the cats wanted to get too close?  I wonder if they know it's not all the way done yet...  Nothing fancy in the quilting here, just an all over loop and circles design.

On the machine now:  The Grinch Won't Steal This Christmas!

 

This was a kit from Quilts for Kids.  Not sure I would have chosen the white backing for a child in the hospital, but this is what they sent, so this is what I used.  I'm on the last corner for quilting, then I can get it bound, washed and on its way back to the organization to be given to a child in need. This will be my first foray into machine binding (I usually do mine by hand).

Quilts for Kids is (are?) asking for volunteers to make quilts and donate quilts.  With so many projects on my plate through the end of the year, I would be hard pressed to squeeze out another quilt this year.  Maybe you can help? 


I'm linking up with Leah Day's FMQ Friday, and Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Check back later this weekend for what else I've been up to this week.  It sure has been a busy one!  Until next time - Happy Quilting!