KatyQuilts

And that is exactly where I have been! I flew out to Phoenix for a week to visit my son.

 He lives on the west side in Avondale and goes to school at UTI. It was a wonderful week of visiting, playing mom and even cooking for him! While he was at school/work, I did some work on my Dear Jane (or not!) blocks. I got 9 of them finished, only one short of my goal. My son doesn’t have much furniture so I mostly worked sitting on the floor. Here is my set up:

I highly recommend the June Tailor cutting mat/ironing surface. I got mine with a coupon at JoAnn’s a while back and never used it until this trip. It is the perfect item for traveling!

While he was home, I helped a bit with a small project on his ’77 Trans Am. This time he was replacing door panels:

We also spent some time exploring the desert! I loved it! Here are a few of many pics I took there:

The colors and textures were amazing! I took a number of close ups of textures and I will post those later this week.

Until next time….

Wil is having a giveaway on her blog to celebrate her 333rd post! Click here  for details and to see her lovely work.  She is giving away a piece of her snow dyed fabric. Get a cup of coffee, you will be there a while. The first time I visited, I had to go back and read every post!

Until next time….

We lived in France for a few years in the late ’90s. We were so blessed to be able to travel and see some of Europe. On one trip to the Netherlands, I was able to visit Den Hans & Wagenmakers in Amsterdam. I purchased some of their lovely blue and white wax prints as well as a grouping of repro Dutch fabrics. They were pricy but lovely. I have long enjoyed handpiecing, particularly hexagons. So I decided o do just that with these lovely fabrics. The problem is that since completing these pieces, I have taken them out and put them away a bazillion times becuase I could never figure out how to put them together! They looked lovely all bundled up with a ribbon. Now I keep saying, do they even go together?

What do you think?

If I go with this layout, I will need to piece a lot more diamonds in something plain to tone them down a bit. This is the best I can come up with at this point. I need a good hand project next week and thought this would be it. I guess I need to sleep on this one, one more time….

My son is a Trans Am fanatic. His first TA was a 1995 and he now drives a 1977. A few months ago, he sent me a link to a picture from one of the Trans Am forums showing a quilt with a Firebird appliqued on it. He came home for Christmas with a Year One catalog (for Trans Am and Camaro parts)  to show me the appropriate bird for a ’77 TA…….

I highly doubt he will look at my blog so I will post my progress here:

Sorry about the plant in the way! I appliqued this using Teri Grant’s method using Liquid Thread, a fusible glue. It was a LOT of work to get to this point and I haven’t even started stitching yet! I am thinking this won’t be done in time for his birthday next week…..

So I guess it will be a graduation gift. He is currently in school for Automotive Technology at UTI in Phoenix. I am going to see him next week. Time to start packing my projects to take but sadly, this wont be one of them.

BTW, if anyone knows any good quilt/yarn shops in the Phoenix area, let me know!

Until next time…

I love reading blogs! Here are a few I have enjoyed recently:

Bumble Beans – great funky stuff here!

Simply Robin– beautiful art quilts!

Attic 24 – mostly crochet but beautiful color and yummy ideas!

Inspired by Antique Quilts – just what it says!

Sew Many Ways – lots of clever ideas for stuff you find in the hardware store!

Repro Quilt Lover – again, just what it sounds like!

Exuberant Color – wonderful, fresh, full of bright colors!

Fibermania – breathtaking art quilts, hand dyed fabric, luscious knitting!

As you can see, I like a wide variety of quilting styles. I love art quilts. I love traditional quilts. And pretty much everything in between!  I will post more faves at another time. You probably have something to do today besides reading blogs!

What kind of blogs do you enjoy?

Until next time…..

My daughter and I made this quilt together a few years ago (sorry about the terrible photo). It was just a fun thing to do together. She pieced the blocks with some help and I machine quilted it doing random free motion work in each piece. It is based on the Turning Twenty patterns though not exactly as I never had the pattern. I saw a picture and came up with my own measurements.   It doesn’t match her room at all. She really hasn’t used it. I was recently cleaning the linen closet and wondered what to do with it as it was just taking up space. 

Then my niece’s house burned down. She and her room mates lost everything but they are all okay. That is the most important thing!  She is a college student so everything to her is different than everything to a couple that has been married forty years but still. She is a good 600 miles from me. Then I thought of this quilt. It was perfect, unused, ready to go. I had it in the mail the next day along with all the school supplies I could fit in the box.

I was so glad it had been sitting in my closet. You just never know when these things will come in handy. I can’t imagine losing everything I own but it does remind me that the stuff that is most important in life, isn’t stuff.

Until next time…

I made this a few years ago and try to remember to hang it for Valentines Day. This year, I remembered! The pattern was from a magazine, not sure which one, but it was supposed to be shadow applique. I hand stitched it as redwork instead. It is machine quilted and about 20 inches square.

Hope your Valentine’s Day was wonderful!