Tuesday Chitchat

Well, it is dandelion season here in KC. I decided while plucking the little beauties from around the water garden, that if America would only adopt these yellow lovelies as the national flower, their status would immediately rise--saving me lots of time, energy and sore muscles!!! Remember when we used to rub the yellow flower on our chins and if they turned yellow, that meant we were "in love"? Or we would chain them into stunning necklaces if clover was not to be found? I never have eaten dandelion greens or sipped dandelion wine. Maybe it's time...

Playing a little catch-up in the sewing room, I have finished stitching and trimming up the redwork blocks for Paperdoll Memories. There's a small look-see of the pattern there to the left. Today I am pulling all reds, pinks, red-pinks, etc. from the stash to see what could work for the piecing, of which there is much in this quilt!!! I know that I have mentioned this on my blog before, but as a child I was a major paperdoll player. Hours on end could be spent developing the storylines, designing new clothes on typing paper, acting out the fantasies. Such great memories.



Block 4 of The Circuit Rider (KC Star BOM) has joined the first three. It is the one on the bottom right, called Rambling Rose. Using rickrack for stems has really made light work of these babies--and added a decided folk art look.











And in the "Oh, No, Not Another New Project Department", I just had to have the kit for this Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt. (Click for big.) The pattern is in the new Fons & Porter magazine and the minute I saw it, I went online and ordered the kit! (Sorry for the messy pic, but I was just laying everything out to take inventory.) One of my favorite things about teaching primary grades was the incredible children's literature available nowadays. Picture books are just plain works of art. It was a weakness of mine to purchase books for my classroom library (school districts do not allot much money for classroom libraries, unfortunately) and I have boxes and boxes of children's books stored in my basement. Like old friends, I can't seem to turn them loose. Eric Carle is a particular favorite. His collage-style illustrations have always seemed so quilt-like to me, as if he were a fan of batiks!!!

We Have a Winner!

Yippee!   We have a winner for the two-year-blogiversary giveaway!!!!    The names were carefully cut apart and put into an egg basket.   Ceremoniously one name was drawn out.   TA DA   Nancy over at with thread in hand is the lucky recipient of the seven patterns.   Congrats to Nancy and thanks to all who left comments.    Fun, fun, fun.

Winter has returned to KC with a vengeance.   Started the day yesterday with capris, shortsleeved shirt and sandals.    This morning I am digging out long socks, jeans and a sweatshirt.    Cruel April.

The fourth month of the Circuit Rider BOM in the Kansas City Star magazine is nearly done--just need to blanketstitch the appliques.    Worked a bit on the paperdolls redwork quilt blocks too.   Today I MUST devote to guild show projects!!!!     Photos of quilty stuff will come in the next post, I promise...

Two Year Blogiversary

Happy Blogiversary to Me, Happy Blogiversary to Me, Happy Blogiversary Dear Me, Happy Blogiversary to Me......and Many More! Yep, hard to believe but two years have gone by since I first wrote in this bloggie journal. And you know what that means here in Blogland (drum roll please) ...a Giveaway. These seven patterns will go to some fellow Blogger whose name will be randomly drawn from a basket. They are oldies but goodies, unused, delightful patterns. Click photo for a better view.

Just leave a comment between now and Friday, April 25th, in the comment section and your name will be entered. Do ya feel lucky, Bloggie, do ya? (Apologies to Dirty Harry)

Been busy here at Casa KC Quilter's and not a lot of sewing has been accomplished. Out of town company for four days, mini group, tending to the diabetic cat, etc. etc. Things look to be getting back to normal, though, and I hope to hit the sewing room this week. After all, the new installment of the KC Star BOM was in the paper this morning!!!

Blogland Royalty Visits

I have always considered Judy Laquidara as one of Blogland's quilting royalty, not only for her wonderful website but as the ringmaster of our Stash Quilts ring, the author of Nine-Patch Extravaganza and many individual commercial patterns, and the generous provider of lots of free patterns and directions. Imagine my surprise and joy when I attended my guild meeting this morning and found that she was our speaker!!! I had missed last month's meeting so didn't really know what was planned for today (should have read my newsletter more closely, huh?) Let me tell you, her quilts are even more gorgeous and amazing in person than they appear in the book and on the web. They are just stunning. And her machine quilting is to die for. We all enjoyed her program so much. And--she is working on a second book! Yay!



















I came right home and got out my copy of her book and tried to decide which one to start on first. The patterns lend themselves so well to stash-busting.

Thank you so much for all your positive and encouraging comments about our kitty Natasha's fight with diabetes. You'll never know how much I appreciate it. I kinda just knew there were lots of animal lovers out there in quilty blogland! She seems to be doing pretty well, although her blood sugar count is higher than the vet would like. But her ketones are back to normal and that's a good thing. I'm sure it will take some tweaking of her insulin dosage to get things just right.















Natasha is the blondie in the first photo. She has reclaimed her favorite chair and is recuperating near the window where she can also keep an eye on the robins who have been very active in the backyard lately. Of course, alpha cat Rocky would not be ignored LOL! He's not happy with all the attention Natasha is getting, but he is putting up with it!

A Little Scrap Fun

Just a quicky little top I cooked up in the sewing room in a coupla hours, a wallhanging made from leftover little bits and pieces of the Madeira line, a charm pack from the Madeira, and a stashy-border. Such fun to just play. I needed something to bring some more teal over to the side of the bedroom to kinda balance the Ups and Downs quilt on the bed. I toyed with the idea of a large flower appliqued in the center, ala Georgia O'Keeffe, but decided simple was better. I'll just do a quick meander quilting all over, bind it and call it done!

On a kitty note, we found out Thursday that our precious Natasha is diabetic. I had suspected something. When we returned from Mexico, I noticed she had lost weight. Being the egotist that I am LOL, I assumed she hadn't eaten well while we were gone because she had missed us so! But when she began to drink, drink, drink and pee, pee, pee, I knew something was not right. She spent several days at the vet's while they got her regulated. DH and I learned how to give shots (easier than I thought it would be) and how to test her urine (harder than I thought it would be!). DH and I have learned way more about diabetes, ketones, triglyerides, etc. than I ever thought we would need to know. But she is home and seems to be doing much better. Never mind that we had to mortgage the house to pay the vet bill!!! We now call her our Million Dollar Baby.

Playing Catch Up

Such a dreary, rainy day here in KC.   Good for the soil, not so good for the soul.    Gloomy weather does make for good sewing time, though.    I am all caught up on the Farmers Market BOMs.   The photo looks kinda washed out--I think it is much brighter in "real life" but it's hard to get a good pic inside.

Now I can get back to my Civil War Diary blocks.   I am having a tussle with myself though.   I started out gallantly hand-piecing them and consequently, have not completed very many!!!!    I am thinking of wimping out and machine-stitching the rest.   It would be nice, though, to have that handwork to take out on the deck and sew.   Yes, I do believe nice weather will appear again someday; I am an optimist  LOL!   The other thing weighing on my mind is the amount of items I DO NOT have sewn for the June guild quilt show.   Need to come up with a mini or a baby quilt for the charity silent auction and a few things for the quilters' boutique.   No rest for the wicked, as Mom used to say!