May - The Family Month

A little earlier this month, when my husband said he was going to take the Dude to see Godzilla, I said the good movies don't come out until May.

It might have been May 16 when this conversation took place.

So... I also didn't notice May was pretty much over by this morning. So this is a bit rushed during my precious Daniel Tiger distraction time.

Finished

Cat Tails - and my family! My AYOLF for the month.

Piecing

Running T-shirt Quilt - all but the two hardest blocks are pieced! They require very careful cutting, so I saved them for last. And I need to wiggle around the color placements to break up the darks.

Weekly Churn Dashes - a lovely set of green. It was hard to choose this month; I really like my greens!

Cardinal Charms - my NewFO - I started this Christmas quilt as my leader/ender, since it's easier to have out than Celtic Solstice.

Other

And I made a running skirt for the Portland Rock'N'Roll Half Marathon...a mere 7.5 days after getting back from Korea. YEAH. That was insane.

Other than that, this month has just been getting to know my toddler and making this new family dynamic work. We're slowly getting there. Most things are good, other than communication. And I know that will come...eventually. And since most other things are good, I can't really complain.

But I'd really like him to learn "more" and stop slamming his plate on the table.

Linked:

Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ SoScrappy

A Year of Lovely Finishes

Fresh Sewing Day @ Lily's Quilts

NewFO @ Cat Patches

Weekly Progress - Back from Korea

So, yeah, the adoption/new toddler thing was my major progress within the last two weeks. {Three? How long has it been since I posted one of these? I may be sleep deprived.}

Also, I finished Cat Tails. Don't be too impressed - it was done to the binding before I left, and it took three days to do 90 minutes of binding. The Little Man and I are slowly working out a routine of distract/sew/distract/sew/stop fingers from pushing buttons/sew/sing a silly song/sew/distract/give up.

I finished all the blocks for Spin Cycle and set them aside. Not because I'm too lazy to sash them - but because Bonnie & Camille named their next collection after me, so I'm waiting for its release to decide on borders and put the whole thing together.

And I made a running skirt in Half Fanatics colors for my half marathon on Sunday. Yes, that's right - I ran a half marathon on Sunday. When I scheduled my races back in December, I really thought I was cutting it close with the January one. Never once did I think I would be coming home within a week of the May one.

Finished some quiet book pages before I left. The button one was the biggest hit.

In piecing, I started to catch up on my green churn dashes.

And started my leader/ender, a simple charm pack tessellation-esque thing.

And finally, in planning, I started on a t-shirt quilt order - they came very well labeled! All the shirts are measured and the design is worked out, so now I have to wait for nap time to get some steady stitching done.

Nap time is the BEST.

Linked:

BOMs Away Monday @ What A Hoot

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times

WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

Linky Tuesday @ Freemotion by the River

Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ SoScrappy

Scrap Basket Sunday @ Kim's Big Quilting Adventure

Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric

Cat Tails - Finished!

This one didn't linger too longer on the UFO pile. It was slowed down by the move, and a delay in getting more background fabric, but it got done just over a year after I started it. That's really not that bad, for me!

Cat Tails was born from this pattern, although I knew from the start that I didn't want any incomplete cats. That means, of course, I planned it out and knew how many fewer cats to make when I started the quilt.

Haha, yeah, right. I just merrily made cats until I was done with my fat quarters, and only when it was finally laid out did I realize that it was going to be HUGE.

But, you know, my family expanded this week with the finalization of my younger son's adoption, so we need a bigger couch blanket to snuggle all of us. See, I did have a plan!

I used Civil War reproduction fabrics because I love the rich tones with this pattern. I can't quite imagine it in the neon of the original pattern. Plus, I got to use some fat quarters that I got for free in shop hops, giveaways, or just didn't know what I was thinking when I bought them.

Weird blue ferny-thing looks okay as a cat.

If you care about matching directional prints, this is NOT the pattern for you. I normally care, but decided to throw caution to the wind on this one.

I used the same background fabric in several different projects, and to my horror, ran out with a half yard to go. And no one around here carried Dimples, which I thought was the most basic of basics! I ended up sending a scrap to the actual Dimples store, and they quickly matched it and sent it back to me. Excellent service!

I'm still not sure how I feel about the quilting. On the one hand, I watched a series of videos on swirls and I love the quilting in the background.

I knew I wanted to do more than an allover design with the cats, but I wasn't sure what. Because - ugh - the thought of changing colors so often, and all those threads to tie off...

After consulting with my long-arm rental place ladies, I decided on a spiky...thing in each cat. I don't love it, but I'm not changing it, so I'll learn to at least like it.

And it makes the back look weirdly impressive.

Wrapped it all up with a binding from the thrift store. It's more of a 50s reproduction, so the blues and reds are bit brighter than the cats, but I think it's a good frame.

Quilt Details

Fabric: various reproduction fabrics, Dimples beige

Backing: blue flannel

Binding: no selvage info

Size: 78x87"

Pattern: Kool Kats Kwilt {modified}

Linked:

Blogger's Quilt Festival @ Amy's Creative Side
Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict

TGIFF @ My Quilt Infatuation

Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts

Link A Finish Friday @ Richard and Tanya Quilts
Sew Darn Crafty @ Sew Many Ways
Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story

I Quilt @ Pretty Bobbins

Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation

Let's Make Baby Quilts @ Michelle's Romantic Tangle

Feline Friday @ Sarah Did It!

Finish-Along @ The Littlest Thistle {FAL List}

May Goals

I don't really have many goals beyond, um, getting and then getting to know my toddler. I think that might keep me busy this month.

But hey! I can be unrealistic anyway!

In old news, there's plenty of binding to do, especially Cat Tails, which will be my Blogger's Quilt Festival entry and therefore my AYOLF goal.

Ripples and Reflections needs to be started since the official one-year-countdown to my MIL's 60th birthday starts in a few weeks.

St. Paul's Cross should be an easy one to do a few steps here and there. Save me the slow frustration of hating paper piecing when I'm only doing it in spurts.

And if I move enough things through the columns of my spreadsheet... {Yes, I have a spreadsheet tracking quilt progress. Doesn't everyone?} 

I think I'm going to call the Cardinal Charm Tessellation the new leader/ender project. I want it for Christmas for my FIL, and it'll take a while as a l/e. But mindlessly sewing squares to corners is a good l/e.

Linked

A Year of Lovely Finishes

Something Old, Something New @ Never Too Hot to Stitch

April - The Adoption Month

Our adoption was finalized this month. Does anything else really matter?

Well, actually, since that was all done in Korea with no input from us at all, I had plenty of time for other stuff this month, actually.

Like finishing the Little Man's quilt - my AYOLF goal.

And finishing Pretty in Pink, which was one of the several quilts listed on my Facebook page and already sold.

I also finished up a bunch of quilting, mainly of the striped table runners, but also of Cat Tails. I'm saving Cat Tails for the Blogger's Quilt Festival, so only sneak peeks for now.


Since the table runners have hand-stitched bindings, they finish up slowly. This one went to a silent auction for my church, so that's why it's done.

In piecing:

My four weekly churn dashes. Definitely a range of purples!

A couple extra RSC'13 blocks.

Finished the block piecing for Spin Cycle. I'm setting them aside now because I don't feel like sewing sashing I'm waiting for the release of MISS KATE for the borders of this Bonnie & Camille tribute quilt. I mean, really - obviously they named the new collection after me, so it only makes sense.

Some progress on Celtic Solstice. Last month I decided on a new layout and unpicked all of the secondary blocks. This month I actually started on the new design. I like it. The pinwheel was just too distracting, IMHO.

And then I made it all the way to the 29th without a NewFO! Instead of whipping out a kit, I decided to work on a quiet book for the Little Man. No iPads allowed at the embassy, so I have to have some way to entertain him. I know, weird, right?

But it is a sewing project, so I think it counts. The Dude and I have been having fun Pinteresting and designing the pages. The monster is completely his design. Unzip the mouth and unroll the tongue!

I'll have a post on Friday with more pages, or you can catch a sneak peek on Instagram. {@katiemaequilts}

And in family news, besides the whole finalization thing, the Dude became a Webelo. Momma cried. So did the Dude, when we had to rip that mustache off.

And I realized CC is the same size as Tycho now - and she's only eight months old. He still barely tolerates her. She manages to snuggle up with him if she creeps up slowly while he's not looking.

Linked:

Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ SoScrappy

A Year of Lovely Finishes

Fresh Sewing Day @ Lily's Quilts

NewFO @ Cat Patches

Weekly Progress - Not in Korea

I was supposed to be leaving for Korea this week. But, I'm not... So my sewing plans changed up a little.

Goodnight Monkey - I did finish the Little Man's quilt.

And I quilted Cat Tails and allllllll the table runners.

And then, since I now had another week, I thought about prepping something else to quilt. But, eh. I decided to spend this coming week on a couple of projects for my boys, and cleaning up the sewing room, rather than rushing through some backings.

So, in other sewing...

Bound one of the table runners to donate to my church's silent auction.

Weekly Churn Dash - I'm almost positive this one was in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Maybe. Gah, is purple over already??

But while I'm complaining, I also pulled out some of the good purples from Fractured Four Patch and made a couple more RSC'13 blocks. Sad that I don't have enough of any of these for churn dashes.

Spin Cycle - three blocks added. Four to go! {Oh hey - it's Bad Kitten!}

And then I realized I made it all the way to the last week of the month with no NewFO! Oh no! Hmm, what to pick, what to pick?

Linked:

BOMs Away Monday @ What A Hoot

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times

WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

Linky Tuesday @ Freemotion by the River

Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ SoScrappy

Scrap Basket Sunday @ Kim's Big Quilting Adventure

Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric

Weekly Progress - Final Approval!!

Sewing? Who cares about sewing? WE HAVE FINAL APPROVAL!!

This long, long, loooooong journey is finally at an end. But not without another little government hiccup - the embassy is closed for most of next week, so we have to wait just a bit longer to go pick him up. Because of course.

But, deep breath. It's almost done.

And I did get some sewing done this week!

Pretty in Pink - finished!

Goodnight Monkey - quilted and binding prepped. That will be finished off ASAP so it can go with us to Korea. Because I get to get my son soon!! {Have I mentioned that? I don't know if I mentioned that.}

Striped Table Runners - started quilting the myriad of these. I finished the daisy ones and the long spring-y ones. Hexagon spring-y ones are pinned and ready to go, witch ones are on the bottom of the long backing piece.

Oh, and once I remove the daisy backing, I'll add Dutch table runners. Because when you cut one off, another grows in its place. {Hail Hydra!}

{I should probably remove my row markers before quilting...}

And since by the end of last week, I knew I wasn't going to be flying to Korea this week, I went ahead and finished Cat Tails and scheduled quilting for tomorrow. Just because I really want to finish Cat Tails.

Weekly Churn Dash - this one...hmm. I know I've used it before, because it's not a full FQ. But I can't remember where. I told you the purple scraps weren't all that meaningful!

Spin Cycle - two more blocks added. 18/25 done.

A random question. I've been working on updating my pages at the top. Since I do a lot of baby quilts, there's...a lot of quilts. I think I have 50-60 finished ones?

Anyway, what do people think is the best way to display that? Quilts by year? By category? Smaller thumbnails so you don't have to scroll past twenty quilts? Collages? No one actually ever checks past works so who cares?

And lastly...I finally gave in and joined Instagram. In case you want to see daily pictures of Bad Kitten being bad, instead of weekly ones. {Or Korea pics. Because I'm going to Korea!! To get my son!!!}

Linked:

BOMs Away Monday @ What A Hoot

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times

WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

Linky Tuesday @ Freemotion by the River

Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ SoScrappy

Scrap Basket Sunday @ Kim's Big Quilting Adventure

Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric