Tuesday Archives #10 - Cat and Charity Quilts

It's late Tuesday, but I think there is still some time to write a brief post for Tuesday Archives.  

This week's topics are Cat and Charity Quilts.  I actually have at least one of each.  Last year I made quilts for several of Drama Teen's middle school teachers, one of which was made from a pattern called Fat Cats that had been on my bucket list for a few years.  

To read about the start of what became my Keeler's Cats project, check out this post.  The finished quilt can be seen here.  

I just recently finished a Quilt of Valor, but it's not been sent off yet, so I'm not sure it counts as a charity quilt yet.  My first and second charity quilts haven't ever shown up on the blog. Both quilts were donated to the annual fund raiser at Drama Teen's school.  The first was part of the silent auction.  

Oklahoma Reds started as as "save my sanity" quilt.  We were in the process of moving back to Oklahoma and were living in a hotel during the week while we worked, but staying at my sister's over the weekend so we could do laundry and get away from the hotel. For a couple of hours each weekend, I'd work on these blocks.  When time came for the auction, it seemed like a good option to find this project a good home.  

The second charity quilt was the "class project" for the year. 

The auction theme that year was "Growing", hence the green and brown color scheme.  The art teacher worked with the kids to make the tree in the center of the quilt.  I collected photographs of the kids at various school functions from the parents.  Each child is in at least 2 photographs.  One of DT's classmates promised to give up her allowance for a whole year if her parents would bid on this quilt.  Her parents were the ones that ended up winning the bidding war.  

To see more Tuesday Archives, check out the links over at Val's Quilting Studio.  

July - 2013 Year of the Finished Project

It's time to link up with Lynn over at Never Too Hot to Stitch and confess how well things are going with the year of the finished project.  June was a really good month for me on the finishing front.

June
1.  OSU Quilt                 Done                  

     Finish binding

2.  Sweet Treats             Done
     Make binding
     Sew binding on

3.  Calico Cats               Done
     Make Binding
     Sew Binding On

4.  Neutral Gems
     Make 23 blocks         Only 9 blocks completed

5.  Mon Ami
     Make 12 blocks         Only 3 blocks completed

Three quilts were finished last month, bringing my 2013 total up to five completed quilts.  Only two of those were quilts started last year, three of them were recent starts.  At least that's three quilts that will not be on next year's UFO list.  I'm pretty happy with how the finishes are going.  I hope to get one or two more done by the end of the year, but I'm not going to rush to get them.  

So what are the goals for July?  We have a busy month with a lot of family stuff on the weekends, which is my prime sewing time.  I finished up all of the quilts that I had deadlines on,  I'm thinking that it might be wise to lay back a little bit this month.  So just three goals this month.  

July
1.  Back to Square One
     Finish Clue 4
     Finish Clue 5
     Finish Clue 6
     Finish Clue 7
2.  Mon Ami
     Make 3 blocks
3.  Neutral Gems
     Make 5 blocks

Number 1 is a pretty ambitious goal, but it's good to have at least one "stretch goal".  Hopefully it will inspire me to keep a regular presence in the sewing room this month.  

So what are planning to work on that might get you closer to a finish on a project?  Link up over at Lynn's if you want to bask in your success or if you need moral support it's a good place for that as well. 

Design Wall Monday - July 1st

It's Monday again.  Weekends really are too short.  Oh well, I can look forward to this week.  Just three days of work and then a 4 day weekend due to the 4th of July holiday.  I'm looking forward to having a few days off.  I'm sure there will be some stitching time in there somewhere.  

Most of this week was spent on getting the binding sewn onto the Calico Cats quilt, so there's not a big change on the design wall.  However, I did get Calico Cats finished off this weekend.  

Calico Cats
Pattern is Fat Cats from the
The Quilter Magazine (July 2006)
by Lucy A. Fazely and Micheal L. Burns 

This quilt has been on my bucket list since I saw it in the July 2006 issue of The Quilter Magazine.  The original pattern was done in black, white and red.  I immediately wanted to make it blue, with delicate florals for the cats.  I'm happy with how it turned out.   Trudy Lindemann did a beautiful job with the quilting.

Drama Teen adores the "meows" that show up randomly in the meander.  The binding is the same dark blue as the outer border.

The backing is a yellow/blue/green wide floral stripe.  It doesn't match the front real well in color, but it works.  

This was finish number 5 for 2013.  Calico Cat's is the last of those 5 quilts I was trying to finish by the end of May.  I was just one month late.  Which was fine.  Even though it was late, it's new owner was still pleased with it.  

That's it for my design wall this week.  Hopefully next week I'll actually have enough new stuff up on the design wall so it's worth posting pictures.  Check out Patchwork Times to see what else is in the works.  

June NewFO

It's the last day of June, so it's time to link up with Cat Patches and show off any new projects (NewFOs) that were started in June. This  month's project was first on my NewFO list for 2013, but I committed myself to finish 5 other quilts by May, so it got put on the back burner until this month.  

This is Back to Square One, Judy Laquidara's 2013 mystery quilt which is posted over on her Patchwork Times blog.  Judy has been giving one clue a month since January.  So far, I've managed to finish clues 1 through 3 and complete step 1 of clue 4 .  So I'm not too far behind.  I love the rich jewel tones of the blue, green and purple used in this quilt.  Hopefully, I'll get caught up to clue 7 in July.

Back to Square One was the only new project this month.  However, I did finish up three NewFOs from previous months. 

Designed by Judy Laquidara
(pattern available here)
Quilted by Trudy Lindemann

Sweet Treats was NewFO #3 in 2012.  

Pattern is "Day at the Spa"
Quilters World, Feb 2013
designer Carolyn Vagts

The OSU Quilt was NewFO #2 for 2013.  









I finished sewing down the binding on Calico Cats last night, so no picture of the finished quilt yet.  It was NewFO#1 for 2013.  

So if I look at my "progress" with the NewFO challenge it shakes out this way:

January 2012:         4 UFOs to start
December 2012:     Added 8 NewFOs
as of  June 2013:    Added 6 NewFOs
                               Finished 3 2012 NewFOs
                               Finished 2 2013 NewFOs

Quilt list Status       6 UFOs (projects older than 1 year)
                               7 WIPS  (projects less than 1 year old)
                               5 finished NewFOs

The UFO number has only jumped up by 2, so not bad at all.  

June - 2013 Year of the Finished Project

Lynne over at Never too Hot to Stitch decided that 2013 needed to be a year of finishes.  Since it's always more fun to deal with UFOs and other unfinished projects as a group, she's hosting a challenge to help the rest of us finish up our projects too.

I had some pretty ambitious challenge goals for May as I was hoping to finish up 5 quilts last month.  So how did I do?  

May

1.  Evening Star          Done

          Finish binding

2.  The Sofa Quilt          Done

          Make binding

          Sew binding on

3.  OSU Quilt          

          Make binding          Done

          Sew binding on

4.  Sweet Treats

          Make binding

          Sew binding on

5. Calico Cats

          Make 4 blocks                                 Done

          Assemble blocks and sashing            Done

          Add borders                                    Done

          Make backing                                  Done

          Ship off for quilting                         Done

          Make binding

          Sew binding on

Not a bad month at all.  I finished 2 quilts and had a third almost done.  Plus managed to finish the blocks for a fourth quilt and get it assembled and quilted.  Though I didn't get all 5 quilts done, it was still an excellent month.  Evening Star and The Sofa Quilt are my first finishes of 2013. 

So what are my goals for June?  One thing they are not is as ambitious as my May goals were.

June

1.  OSU Quilt

          Finish binding

2.  Sweet Treats

           Make binding

           Sew binding on

3.  Calico Cats

           Make binding

           Sew binding on

4.  Neutral Gems

           Make 23 blocks

5.  Mon Ami

           Make 12 blocks

I have a lot of binding to do this month, which is slow stitching.  I plan to mix that up with some machine stitching on some ongoing projects. Neutral Gems is a gift for a friend who just recently retired and Mon Ami is intended to be a QOV, so these are the next two quilts I want to finish. 

Lynn hasn't posted this month's linky party yet, I know she's been busy. Once that post is up, I'll link up with all the others striving to reduce their UFO piles.  

Finishing Projects - Mid Month Update

Hard to believe we are already half way through May.  Lot's going on this month, especially with Drama Teen graduating from 8th grade this year.  Even with all the extra stuff going on, good progress has been made on this month's sewing goals.  

Goal number 1 was to finish getting the binding on the Evening Star quilt.  That's done.

Evening Star
Pattern from Calico Carriage
Designed by Debbie Maddy

That's my first finish of 2013.  If I get the rest of this month's goals done, I'll end the month with five finishes.  

Goal number 2 is to make the binding and get it sewn onto The Sofa Quilt.  The binding is made, attached to the front, and I'm working on hand stitching it to the back.  

The Sofa Quilt

Pattern is Nicole's Sofa Quilt by Judy Laquidara

(available here)

I'm just about to turn the corner on the first side.  This will be finish number 2, hopefully sometime this weekend.

Goal number 5 was to finish the Calico Cats quilt.  Since the beginning of the month all the blocks have been made, the blocks have been sewn together, and the borders added to make it a finished flimsy.  

Calico Cats
Pattern is Fat Cats from the
The Quilter Magazine (July 2006)
by Lucy A. Fazely and Micheal L. Burns

It was sent out for quilting, which is finished now.  It should be back here next week all ready for binding.  

I'm feeling really good about what's been done so far.  Goals 3 and 4 were to make and sew the binding on the OSU Quilt and Sweet Treats.  No progress on those two goals as yet, but I'm sure it will happen this next week.  

Hope your sewing plans for the month have been going well.  I'm ready to get these 5 quilts done.  It's been a bit of a forced march with these as they are gifts that need to be done this month.  It's definitely made me manage my time more effectively, but I'm ready for a few months being able to sew without deadlines.  Too bad, I really should start looking at what I want to get done for Christmas gifts.  

Design Wall Monday - May 13th

I was thinking this morning how the tempo and rhythm of life in this house has changed as Drama Teen has grown.  From making sure that she had clean outfits in her diaper bag for daycare to making sure that she has clean spandex and jerseys for a weekend volleyball tournament.  From chasing her around the house when she wanted to play, to driving all over town for 8th grade pictures.  From taking her to the park to play on the slide to dropping her off at the movies for a "date".  In a few years she'll leave for college and the rhythm will shift as dramatically as the day she come home from the hospital.  I'm both looking forward to and dreading that day.  But that is a few years away, so for now I'll just enjoy the ride.  

One reason for all the reflective thinking is the time I've been spending in my sewing room working on 5 quilts that need to be finished before the end of the month.  The last of those five , Calico Cats, became a finished flimsy on Saturday.  

Calico Cats
Pattern is Fat Cats from the
The Quilter Magazine (July 2006)
by Lucy A. Fazely and Micheal L. Burns

The backing was pieced yesterday.  Hopefully this will be on it's way to Trudy for quilting before the end of the day.  The colors are actually brighter than what the picture shows.  I like how it turned out.  I just hope the family friend enjoys it.  This quilt has been on my bucket list since I saw the pattern in the magazine.  It feels good to get one more project off the PIGS list and the fabric out of the stash.  Now that this one is going out for quilting, I'll be spending the next week binding the previous four quilted projects.  There should be lots of finishing in May.  

That's my design wall this week.  Check out Patchwork Times to view more works in progress.  

Design Wall Monday - May 6th

It was a wet and cold weekend, which was perfect for sitting in the sewing room doing some stitching.  I did get to do a bit of that before and after the volleyball tournament this weekend.  Club ball is now ended, but this week are the try outs for the high school team.  So practice sessions may still be going on, but at least there won't be any weekend games for a while.  

Over the last week I've been working mainly on Calico Cats as it needs to be finished this month.  

Calico Cats
Pattern is Fat Cats from the
The Quilter Magazine (July 2006)
by Lucy A. Fazely and Micheal L. Burns

The blocks are all done and the sashing has been started.  The rows haven't been sew together yet, hopefully I'll finish adding all the binding strips and make some head way on sewing the rows together tonight.

The Mon Ami blocks are back up on the secondary design wall. 

Quilt of Valor
Modified from Mon Ami
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

The half square triangles that make up the Friendship Star blocks are a good leaders and enders project while I finish up Calico Cats.  

That's it for my Design Wall Monday.  Check out all the other Monday design walls over at Patchwork Times.  

May - 2013 The Year of the Finished Project

It's the first Thursday in May, time to fess up to what did and didn't get done in my quest to finish up a few quilt projects.  I'm linking up with our lovely hostess Lynn over at Never to Hot to Stitch.  

My list of goals for April was pretty ambitious.  How did it work out?  

April
1. Evening Star
	Finish binding
2 The Sofa Quilt
	Make binding
	Sew binding on
	Hand stitch binding to back
3.  OSU Quilt
	Add borders				Done
	Make backing				Done
	ship off for quilting				Done
4.  Sweet Treats
	Assemble blocks and sashing				Done
	Add borders				Done
	Make Backing				Done
	ship off for quilting				Done
5.  Calico Cats
	Make 8  blocks				4 done
	Assemble blocks and sashing
	Add borders
	Make backing
	ship off for quilting

Here's a visual of last month's progress.  

So two finished tops and one more row added to Calico Cats.  Really not a bad month.  I'll have to step it up in May as I need to finish the above three, plus get the binding on two others.  

May
1. Evening Star
	Finish binding
2 The Sofa Quilt
	Make Binding
	Sew Binding on
3.  OSU Quilt
	Make Binding
	Sew Binding on
4.  Sweet Treats
	Make Binding
	Sew Binding on
5.  Calico Cats
	Make 4  blocks
	Assemble blocks and sashing
	Add borders
	Make backing
	ship off for quilting
	Make Binding
	Sew Binding on

A very ambitious list.  I'm sure 1 through 4 are doable, but number 5 is going to be a stretch.  Wish me luck!  

Click on over to Never to Hot to Stitch for more finished project progress.  

Design Wall Monday - April 1st

Hope everyone had a happy Easter.  The weather here was gorgeous yesterday.  We spent a lot of time outside with the cameras.  Not a lot of flowers blooming yet, it's been so cold that spring is a bit delayed.  It's cooling off today to the high 40's.  I'm so ready for spring to get here and stay for a while.  Still, we had a wonderful weekend with family.  Not a lot of machine stitching going on, but the binding is just about done on Evening Star, just one side left to stitch down. 

There was a lot of sewing going on during the week.  All the blocks for the OSU quilt are finished.  

OSU Quilt
Pattern is "A Day at the Spa"
Designed by Carolyn S. Vagts
found in the February 2013 issue of Quilter's World

The sashing was added as the blocks were done, so all that is left is to add the borders and piece the back.  The quilt is a lot brighter in real life, it fact it almost glows.  The main border color is going to be black, which should calm it down a bit and frame all the orange really well.  

Progress on Calico Cats has been a bit slower, but it's moving along as well.  

Calico Cats
Pattern is "Fat Cats" from the
The Quilter Magazine (July 2006)
by Lucy A. Fazely and Micheal L. Burns

Three of the five rows are done.  I like how the blocks are turning out.  Once all the blocks are done, I may play with the layout a bit, but it looks pretty good the way it is. 

That's it for my design wall this week.  As yet Judy hasn't posted her normal design wall post over at Patchwork Times, but you might pop over there to see if it's up.  Edited - Judy posted later than normal today, it's up now.  

Design Wall Monday - March 11th

It was a busy weekend.  Unfortunately, work has also been busy and I ended up working a couple of evenings last week in advance of being out of the office for a few days.  So not a lot of sewing this last week.  But there are a few new blocks up on the design wall.  

The OSU quilt has two new blocks up on the wall.

Pattern is A Day at the SpaDesigned by Carolyn S. Vagts
found in the February 2013 issue of Quilter's World

So that's two of 5 rows done.  I hope to get the between rows sashing added tonight.  

The design wall with the Calico Cat project is also sporting two new blocks.  

Calico Cats
Pattern is Fat Cats from the
The Quilter Magazine (July 2006)
by Lucy A. Fazely and Micheal L. Burns

Block 10 is in progress, so I'm almost half way done with piecing the blocks for this project.  

I'm hopeful that this week will be a bit slower and that I'll get in a bit more stitching than I did last week.  

For more eye candy, check out all the design wall links over at Patchwork Times.  

Design Wall Monday - February 18th

It was a  long, relaxing weekend. Some things got done around the house and there was time left over to get some sewing done.  A few other sewing room chores got done too.  I washed some fabric, pressed some other fabric and moved a few things so I could try out a new to me way to store fat quarters.  More on that tomorrow.  I also worked on my NewFO for February.  I've got the pattern worked out, some of the fabric cut, but didn't get enough of it cut so that I could make the first block.  Hopefully that will happen sometime this week.  

My big goal for February is to get The Sofa Quilt to the finished flimsy stage.  All the blocks are sewn together now and I can start adding on the 6 borders.  

The Sofa Quilt

Started June 27, 2012

Pattern is Nicole's Sofa Quilt by Judy Laquidara

(available here)

I'm really happy with how this one is turning out.  Though I'm a bit less thrilled with the the task of adding all those borders.  Looking at the practical side, that will burn up a lot of fabric.  OK maybe it won't be so bad after all.

Progress was also made on Calico Cats.

Calico Cats
Pattern is Fat Cats from the
The Quilter Magazine (July 2006)
by Lucy A. Fazely and Micheal L. Burns

Block 5 is done and block 6 has been started.  So I'm a quarter of the way along, only 15 more blocks to make.  It's been fun to see how each fabric works in the block. 

That's what's on my design wall.  To see others, check out Patchwork Times.  

Kats with Kates - Late Friday Edition

Kate (of Katie Mae Quilts) and I are working on Kitty Kwilts.  Not the same pattern, we both had Kitty projects on our bucket list for this year and decided to start them at the same time.  

You should check out her purrfect blocks (here).  She already has enough blocks done to come up with 2 layouts.  Me, well I suppose I could do a bit of shuffling of what I've gotten done to date.

Calico Cats
Pattern is Fat Cats from the
The Quilter Magazine (July 2006)
by Lucy A. Fazely and Micheal L. Burns

Number 4 lies in pieces next to the sewing machine, it may make it to being a full fledged Kitty by the end of the weekend.  Then I only have 16 more to do!  

January NewFO - 2013

Barbara over at Cat Patches has graciously agreed to host the NewFO challenge again for 2013.  The only requirement for this challenge is to start a new project, definitely not one of the harder things on a quilters list.   I had planned to start three new projects in January, but I only managed to start one of those.  

Calico Cats has been one of those projects that's been buzzing around my brain since I saw the pattern in the July 2006 issue of The Quilter Magazine.  The original pattern did the cats in blacks and whites, my vision was for "calico" cats with a blue background. So far I've finished 2 of kitty blocks.

Calico Cats
Pattern is Fat Cats from the
The Quilter Magazine (July 2006)
by Lucy A. Fazely and Micheal L. Burns

Only 18 left to go!  I'm hoping that I've learned all the problem spots with this block so that my unsewing time from here on out will be minimum.  The challenge doesn't require that you finish quilts, but this project needs to be done by May because it is a gift.  I best get busy on those remaining blocks.  

Hop over to Cat Patches to check out all the other NewFOs started this month.  

Design Wall Monday - January 28th

Not a lot of sewing this last week.  Between the business trip early in the week and than having a sick kiddo over the weekend, sewing time has been a bit scarce.  Drama Teen came down with the flu on Friday.  Poor kid has had a rough weekend.  She's gone from feeling like she's been run over by a bus on Saturday to being run over by a VW bug last night (her descriptors).  She's not up yet this morning, so I'm not sure how she's feeling today.  I took a day of vacation so I could be home with her today.  Hopefully she'll turn the corner today and start feeling more herself.  

Not much has changed on the design wall from this week to last week.  I've added one block each to Mon Ami and the Scrappy Star projects since last week.  I did finish block 1 for the Calico Cats quilt and am almost finished with block 2. 

Calico Cats
Pattern is Fat Cats from the
The Quilter Magazine (July 2006)
by Lucy A. Fazely and Micheal L. Burns

These blocks are tricky, I've had to do a bit of unsewing during the construction of both.  Hopefully the third time is the charm and I'll have the assemble process down for it.  

For more eye candy, check out the links over at Patchwork Times.  

Forgetful, Fraught Friday and Kats with Kate

I knew I was forgetting something this morning.  It nagged at me most of the day.  But it never clearly came into focus as I had meetings all day.  Then just before the last meeting of the day I get the following text from Drama Teen who was in Tulsa for a Math Counts competition.

        "Can u schedule a doctors appointment i have a fever and my
          throats sore and i feel really achy"

Oh no!  She hadn't looked good that morning, but didn't want to miss the competition.  She thought it was just the usual sinus crude that she gets sometimes.  Thankfully My Guy had taken the day off and I caught him at home just before he left for a bike ride.  I had him on my Blackberry and school on my personal cell phone trying to figure out where she was.  Turns out she's on her way back from Tulsa and was still 30 minutes from home.  My Guy wants to me to call the doctor and deal with this, but I was already late for a customer meeting, so I dumped it in his lap.  He got her into the doctor.  The doctor confirmed type A influenza.  My Guy was able to locate a pharmacy that had Tamiflu.  Poor DT is currently sacked out on the couch sleeping peacefully at the moment.  We tried to get her a flu vaccine earlier this year, but I couldn't find any place that had any  left.  Hopefully the Tamiflu will blunt the symptoms enough that she'll be much better tomorrow.   

So what was it I forgot?  To link up with Katie Mae Quilts and Kats with Kate projects.  She's making Cat Tails and I'm making Calico Cats.  She's finished block 3 and started on block 4.  I've finished block 1 and started on block 2. 

Calico Cats
Pattern is Fat Cats from the
The Quilter Magazine (July 2006)
by Lucy A. Fazely and Micheal L. Burns

Reasonable progress had been made on block two, till I realized I'd assembled the ears backwards.  So on the agenda tonight is a bit of unsewing.  I don't usually have this much problem making blocks, but this pattern is tricky in that the cats don't all face the same direction.  Hopefully, I'll get better as I go along or else the next 17 blocks are going to be really painful.  

Design Wall Monday - January 14th

It was another volleyball weekend, this one out of town.  So not much going on in the sewing room this weekend.  Though we did get home early enough for me to spend some time playing in the sewing room a bit last night.  I wanted to get the first block of Calico Cats made, I didn't quite get there.  

Calico Cats
Pattern is Fat Cats from the
The Quilter Magazine (July 2006)
by Lucy A. Fazely and Micheal L. Burns

I had to do a bit of unsewing at the start.  The cat blocks reverse every other block, which means you have to be careful to get the corner pieces added to the right corner.  Hopefully I'll be able to finish the first block tonight.  

What else is up on the design wall?  A couple more blocks of the QOV project, Mon Ami, have made their way to the design wall.

Mon Ami
Pattern by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

Scrappy Stars is still up on the design wall, but it doesn't look that much different than it did a couple of weeks ago.  

Slow progress, but at least it's still progress.  That's it for me this week. Check out all the other eye candy over at Patchwork Times.