9PP sewing date

Ready to rock and roll here in the central time zone. We had tornado warnings and thunderstorms again yesterday afternoon so I didn't get to sew my strip sets together till after supper. (I got my friend's king sized quilt cut out for her prior to that--cutting time only because I kept track because she was paying me to do it 2.9 hours)

I just took a picture of the short strips I will need to get the nine patches out. You only get 16-2.5 cuts across the width of the goods and I needed 18.


One of our few rules: sew the strip sets together ahead of the sewing date but wait till this morning to do the subcuts.

I'm ready to "rock and roll" on these nine patches. Design "wall" is up. My EQ sketch is up to follow--that helps me get the colors I will be using in mind rather than what is shown in the book pattern. Don't have to keep wondering which I substituted for the red she shows this way.

Found out last night that Cher has and is using the same green print as I am! Of course, we know that Norma has to have green in hers as that is her neutral. Yellow is mine and Pam took care of that by providing a piece to the group. Scroll down to see her bright fabric picks. Pat is going with the "mooshy" look described in the book--low contrast, sorta water color feel for some of the blocks. It is going to be fun to see how these all turn out and of course, email and chat in between. Even better, the quilts are all going to be donated to M2M.

Well I best get to sewing or the bunch in the PNW will catch up with me!! Nine Patch or Bust.

9PP, part two

Here is the layout---much, much brighter in person. I am not happy with my sewing on the green and moda marble sections though. Old eyes on those strips? Several threads off on the nesting thing and I can do so much better than that. How can the simplest things become more complicated than they need to be?

BUT as Pam often says, IIWII--it is what it is--and it will probably quilt out or another way of looking at it, how can see it in all this mish mash of color??


Look who decided to try to help me sew this morning? I did a whole top the other day and he didn't bother me once but this morning his curioity got the better of him. He was biting at the thread and getting a paw a little too close to the needle. I know he has been unthreading the cone thread because I caught him biting at it and don't leave that temptation but this was a new trick.


From there he decided to be a little more docile and climb aboard DJ's lap. The book just got put aside while he made himself comfortable. Later both were napping--DJ in his recliner and Skyler on the couch. Hard to say who was doing the better job of it, LOL.

Okay, I'm off to join the sections together. Pam has her top finished minus borders but no one ever said I was a speedy sew-er.

9PP completed

The finished product---the colors are not quite right but the bulbs in the living room tend to make everything look more yellow than it is but no matter. The flimsy is done and a day's goal accomplished. Plus it is just plain fun to sew with your friends online like this. Stop by their place to see how differently the tops turned out--links up in the first post of the day.

break time

It has been a busy day today already. I decided that it is about time to get on the summer walking schedule and set the alarm to get up about an hour earlier than I normally do though it is supposed to call off this weekend with the possibility of stormy weather again tomorrow. I am consistently going 3.08 or 3.3 miles usually 5-6 days a week. It takes me an hour to walk and about 10 minutes of driving there and back.
In spite of getting up early I barely had time to get showered and dressed again in time for a hair cut appointment. I had a grocery stop on the way home and once returned made a no-bake pumpkin pie to go with the turkey breast I was putting in the crockpot for tonight's supper. By the time I heated and ate lunch plus cleaned up the kitchen, the day was half over. DJ will be parked in the chair sometime this afternoon for me to cut HIS hair but I have other things to do in the meantime. I warned him against asking me to do this right when I need to be back in the kitchen making the rest of the meal.

So I am taking a break ---I just finished cutting out the challenge fabrics for the 9 Patch Pizzazz quilt that the FABS are doing "together" on Saturday. It is from Judy Sisneros' book of the same name. My copy arrived yesterday--- just in the nick of time. We can sew the nine patch strip set stuff together but that is all till 8 a.m. Obviously mine will have a much higher degree of contrast that the Lilly Pad Wallhanging she shows. I think we picked this one for the size since it is more in keeping with the donation quilt parameters.

Norma showed the fabrics she is using for quilt mentioning that she is doing 2 challenges in one. Turns out I am as well. My mom had sent me a yard of the novelty print (cows and other animals driving sports cars) awhile back and Pam sent each of us the yellow print with blue stars. The resultant quilts will be going to Pam's M2M project. I probably would have used a more orange-y yellow otherwise but this will be just fine--that shade is in there as well. The blue moda marble and the lime-y green print are both leftovers from my merkitty challenge quilt so I'm busting stash as well. By the time I cut borders and binding out of those two, they are virtually gone except for some leftover squares and a few odd strips.

This is what I am going to start cutting next. Nancy had purchased both of these quilt kits to make a king sized version of the X-quisite block. She asked me to cut them up for her and is paying me to do so. I thought if I at least got one of them done, she could start sewing if she wished while I finish up. The pattern is called "Paisleys on Parade" and named for the fabric line from Camelot Cottons. She spotted it in #88 April/May 2008 "Quilt" magazine. Bright fun fabrics but a ton of squares to cut!


And the obligatory cat picture. Skyler seems to love the window seats. Sometimes he is stretched out with his head hanging on the sides and almost looks like a the classic art pose. He is settling in well. Fun to watch play and a little lover. We are taking bets to see how long it takes him to climb up to the highest rafter between the kitchen and living room (vaulted ceilings so open at the top) He has gotten as far as the refrigerator top that I have actually witnessed.

DJ was reading an article in the paper the other day about people not adopting black or black and white cats as much as their feline counterparts. Don't know if people are superstitious or just don't like their looks?? Well, I went to the shelter with the intention of a female orange tabby but came home with a male black tuxedo cat. What did I know? He's home now!

Quilt meeting pics tomorrow if the weather doesn't force me offline.

checking in

Today was my quilt meeting day and while I have some "quilt show" pictures to share, I will do that in my next post. Linda C also had a couple of personal quilts recently picked from the longarmer that are quite pretty too. Okay, enough of a teaser to lure you back to visit, LOL.

DJ was deep into watching the Men's NCAA game between Kansas and Memphis last night. No way was I going to go in there and ask him to hold up a quilt top!! I waited to take it this morning when I could hang it up at the meeting place. This is my "Pippi Garden" quilt that will be going to Pam's Mission to Mexico or a she calls it, M2M. It is a free pattern on the Benartex site HERE and real name is "Rose Garden". Pop on over to her place to see the top she had made in honor of my kitty. It is an easy, peasy pattern but I think I will adjust it so the center is a rectangle, maybe 12 x 18 next time.

This was a stash quilt. The cat fabric if I remember correctly was given to me as a birthday present from one of the Belles a couple years back. The other fabrics, donation fabric that recently routed through my house. There was enough of the lavender print to piece together for the backing but still yardage of the others. The only thing I can think is the donor was planning on making several wall hangings from the pattern that featured those prints as there a 4-1/4 yard cuts of each color--all the same colors but three different tone and tones of those colors. Enough for another use down the line. I'm thinking that old standby Snuggle Up. It felt good to be sewing again.

And here is Skyler, testing the quilt top. So far he is not so interested in the quilts but those have mostly been out of his reach. He seems to be adjusting fairly well. No more hiding behind the washing machine as he did the first day here. He does get under my bed and sleep periodically but mostly he stays out with us or in the window perches. The last two nights he has slept most of the night in the bedroom perch and is keeping me company in the sewing room version.

Last night he was snuggling with me on the bed as well. Gets on the lap too but doesn't exactly sit still. Maybe you can see his markings a little better in this picture? Gail, one of the people who commented on my last post, told me this makes him a "tuxedo" cat. It has been a trip watching him play with the cat toys but he also has done a couple of things to get himself into trouble with his nosiness. DJ said that he managed to jump up on his bathroom hamper and got stuck behind the venetian blind in the window above early this morning. How exactly, we don't know. Some dishes on the microwave stand didnt stay put either but the resultant noise scared the heck out of him--back under the bed, LOL. Guess we are getting used to a rowdy teenager now and realize just how much Pippi had slowed down in recent years.


It is quite lovely outside these days. I love spring anyway though the yellow pollen dust is a killer on sinuses. It is a pleasure to drive and see all the plants and trees flowring. Right now the dogwood is in full bloom, the wild native stuff sprinkling the woods and the bushes in yards along the way. My little dogwood tree did not survive last year's drought so this is one from our next door neighbor's yard. Only had one bloom on our camellia though the bush does look healthy. Usually it opens too early in March and then gets zapped by frost.

The azaleas are also open in full glory though ours is not all the way in bloom yet. The lilac is also in bloom. Lupines, jonquils and iris are out and we even had a few surprise tulips come up. I have also noticed the snowball bush up in the nearby subdivision is also out. Apple blossoms, red buds and flowering cherry too. Even better is that we are not so far behind on the rainfall totals--they aren't saying we are out of the drought but every bit helps.

DJ had to mow the weeds that pass for our yard Sunday and today while I was at the meeting, weedwhacked.

Guess that's it for this post----till next time. Thanks for stopping by.

this one is better

I am going to change my profile picture to show the newbie kitty--need the url for google. I'll also tweak the name of blog to indicate the changing of the "guard" SOOOOOO here is a much better picture of Skyler---yep, that name is it. I like it, DJ likes it so Skyler it is. Think I'll ever get used to saying him, he or kitty BOY instead of her, she or kitty GIRL??


I have cut out a quilt top to make a memorial quilt for Pippi from a stash cat fabric and some donation fabric that I newly acquired. Pam wanted to do this for her and donate the quilt for her quilts for Mexico. She emailed the other day with a link for the pattern she chose to use--her top is done or near done. Isn't that a sweet thing to do? I'm using the same pattern and will sew a bit after supper. I want to see how the Viking is doing for piecing. BTW, my diagnosis was correct--I needed a new bobbin case in addition to the normal clean out and maintenance.
K. best decide what we are having for dinner and get out there to rustle it up.

thank you all

I would like to thank you all for expressions of sympathy at the loss of my precious Pippi. So many of you have been in my shoes and know what a loss of a furry family member can be. It has been a long week though I have tried to keep busy---mostly by getting my new computer back up to speed but also getting ready for the floor installers. Here is a view of the completed kitchen though we still need to move back one bookcase that goes near the windows. Tomorrow, the boss man says.

The floor was down by the time a friend and I returned from picking up my sewing machine yesterday. (3 hours, there and back). Nancy had a quilt to drop up with the long armer on the way up. I got my name in line right behind her for the t-shirt quilt that STILL is not completed. No way have I felt like sewing this past week. DJ had to paint the trim board this morning before we could move the furniture back in but he had that done by the time I got back from my hour's walking.

I got all the cat paraphelia in place shortly thereafter as we were going to the animal shelter after we had lunch and ran an errand near the restaurant he had chosen. From looking at the petfinder website last night I thought I wanted a orange and white tabby. We had one when I was a kid and I wanted a cat that did not remind me so much of Pippi in coloring. Last night I couldn't sleep for thinking of names for cats if we did find one today. Abby, Molly, Gracie, Chloe??? All good names but I was drawing a blank for boy kitty names. Silly, huh?

So meet the "newbie kitty" and I apologize for the picture quality. Bigger just makes it worse, I'm afraid. He was in explorer mode and I can't get him to hold long enough. Perhaps you can see his markings though--white nose, chin, belly and paws. Black and sleek, very pretty coat. Medium sized cat, I would say. Tyson (my first kitty) was a much bigger boy in comparison. He licked my hands quite thoroughly at the shelter and was sitting on my lap cuddling so I have some hope of his being a lap kitty.

We came home with the sirens going off--tornado warnings and then severe thunderstorm warnings. Oh boy--I would have been hiding behind the washing machine too if I could have fit back there. A bit of tuna tempted him out of there a couple of hous later. Since then he has been off and exploring the house ever since. Oh a little hiding under my desk but basically exploring. Definitely knows where the food, water and litter box is. He can crawl back in the carrier if he needs a small close place to rest tonight. He will find his own way and learn that he can trust us and this is home.

So, a name then? The shelter was calling this sweet faced boy "Nasty" and that will not work at all! No one seemed to know just why either but whoever was naming cats that day stuck him with that moniker. DJ and I figure that we will see what his personality suggests to us in the next few days. I had text'd Pam this afternoon to tell her we had found our furbaby and she had some interesting suggestions. The one I liked best was Oreo--some of the others were food related so I almost wrote back to ask her if she was hungry, LOL. DJ made some goofy suggestions too but the name "Skyler" might actually stick. When I looked it up on a baby name site, it said it is Danish (our last name is actually of Swedish deriviation I think) but Skyler means "fugitive; giving shelter" Might work for a shelter cat??

Again, I so appreciate your comments to my Pippi tribute post. She will always be in my heart.