Saturday, January 30, 2010

FREE $5 VALUE!!

Here is a close up of my giveaway. A larger picture of the pattern is shown in an earlier post. The pattern is for a Mariners Compass block. It is a paper pieced pattern and includes enough fabric of the 4 colors shown to make a 12 inch block. The beige fabric is for the background. The fabrics are from Jinny Beyer's line.

There are 9 posters so far. Snowflake is at the ready, sniffing at the box ready to grab a piece of paper with the name of a lucky recipient.

I hope I don't have to chase her too far to snatch the paper from her mouth. That may be a challenge, but not to worry.

Just send me a post, say hello and your name will get entered into the drawing. Snowflake will choose a name tomorrow, Sunday!

The giveaway next week will be another variation of the Mariner Compass block and will include coordinating fabric from Jinny Beyer's line.

The critters are off today visiting with Jan downstairs so I have a couple minutes of peace & quiet.

Snowflake will be here tomorrow with the name of the lucky recipient for this giveaway.

ttfn :) Yuki

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Quilting progress

I was out playing hookey with a couple of my quilty friends last week and they took me to a new store!! I've been trying not to buy anything. I don't need anything.

Back in November, the quilty shops in my area had their shop hop with 12 stores. I bought stuff in almost every shop. I didn't need a single thing but when I see color, something happens. I get carried away. The next thing I knew, my cart was full.


I just wanted to pick up a little something for a friend. I hope she enjoys what I've selected.Anyway, the shop hop stores were giving away patterns & fabric if you made a significant purchse. The patterns are Mariner Compass Blocks designed by Jinny Beyer. I have enough projects on my own without taking this on, so each week I am going to give these away until they are gone.

This weeks block pattern & fabrics are here.

Leave a comment and I'll have Snowflake pick someone at random next Sunday.

I've been working on my Baltimore Bunny quilt for 2 years now. I don't work on it every day but every now & then when the inspiration strikes. Needle turn applique takes a certain discipline and some days I'm just not feeling it. Sometimes I just get the urge to work on something new. That's how UFO's start. I have too many.

This is block 6 which I just finished.

So here is a close up of block 6.

My friend Jane is also doing this quilt. She has long since finished her blocks & is working on the borders. I asked her how she did the little bird. She embroidered it. I was determined to applique this thing. WHAT A PAIN! I hate those little tiny pieces. I hope it doesn't unravel. I'm concerned that little yellow basket may need some yellow topstitching or embroidery to show up when this is all finished. Oh well, I'll deal with that later.




Simba likes to help while I sew.




I worked on the jelly roll quilt. I've laid out some of the blocks which need squaring up. I like the spareness of it. This is a lot different from the colorful things I normally do.



Snowflake likes to supervise while I work. Here she is under the cutting table.



It was getting late and supervising is tiring work. Snowflake fell asleep. She had a tough day.





Simba wasn't content helping me sew and decided to check out my tote bag.


These critters are always getting into mischief. I can't even go the bathroom alone but that's another story.


ttfn :) Yuki


P.S. Leave a post to be entered into the GIVEAWAY. Winner will be announced next Sunday.


Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Stitch and Bitch Quilters

Had a great time at S&B Saturday. Jenny made 2 kinds of soup and we had cheesecake for desert. Yum Yum I completed block 6 of my Baltimore Bunnies. 6 more to go. Yay! All in all it was a great day.

One of the things we talked about was odd habits. I have a friend who recently got a new male office mate. She didn't mind getting a male office mate but he's a nose picker. ick ick. My friend likes to keep a bowl of candy on her desk for people who stop by. One day my friend went to the bathroom and came back to find her office mate eating a handful of her candy. She didn't mind that he was eating her candy but questions arose. Did he wash his hands before putting his hands into her candy bowl? Now she keeps her candy dish in a locked drawer.

Years ago, I had a male co-worker who had the most atrocious manners. He would belch unashamedly everywhere he went. One day I wore my Vulcan Science Academy sweatshirt to work for casual Friday. He asked me if that was where I went to school. I said, 'Yes, it is!'. Did I also say this guy was clueless. He proudly announced that he went to Dartmouth. 'Good for you', says I. He went on to spout off his accomplishments and how great he was. In the middle of this conversation, he casually lifted his left leg and FARTED! (Ok, some people would politely say 'pass wind'.) It was so loud, it was a fart. I was stunned. No excuse me followed. He just continued blathering on, wondering why he couldn't meet someone nice. I wonder if anyone has enlightened him.

Ok, back to Stitch and Bitch. I photographed 20 of my UFO's. I couldn't believe I had so many. In the course of taking pictures, I realized that there were a couple that I could not find.

Here are some photos of more of my UFO's.

These are supposed to be pillow covers for my sofa. I used to have a beige sofa. Now I have a purple one. I think they will go ok.


This is a Piece of Cake BOM. I love these colors. Snowflake seems to like it, too.






This is a turning 20 project. I have all the pieces cut out ready to go.





This is another jelly roll project. Love them jelly rolls. Half the cutting is already done.

Snowflake likes having her picture taken.
This colorful quilt was to be a gift for my daughter's friend but they aren't friends anymore. oh well

Here is Snowflake posing again on my quilt. Is she a cutie or what?

ttfn :) Yuki

Friday, January 15, 2010

UFO'S and other questions

Do you have UFO's (unfinished objects)?

I'm meeting my quilty friends tomorrow. We have been getting together to sew since 1990. We call our group Stitch and Bitch. Some of our members have moved away but several of us have been sewing together since the beginning.

We are going to compare our UFO's in an effort to get motivated to finish projects. So today I thought it a good opportunity to use my new camera. My guy friend bought me just the camera that I wanted. YAY!

What do you call your male/suitor friend? Do women past 50 have boyfriends? If you don't want to get married is your guy friend really a SO (significant other)? Carrie in Sex & the City refered to Big as her Man Friend. That sounds like Manfred, the wonder dog. LOL

Anyway, this camera is great. I have jiggly hands and the camera adjust for that. Is that cool or what?

Ok, so here are some of my UFO's. I have a lot more than I thought and there were even a couple that I could not find.

This is my oldest UFO. I started this in 1991 with my dear friend MJ. We worked together for several years. She moved to NY, got married and last I heard had a little boy. As you might guess, I have 7 blocks to go.

These pinwheels were started in 1998 in a class with Alex Anderson. This shouldn't take too long to finish. Maybe I can finish this one first.




This was another Alex Anderson class. I love stars. These were really fun. I bought a ton of star fabrics to make star blocks. I should post a picture of the bin full of fabrics. LOL

I had bought a square in a square template and just had to try it out. Love those bright fabrics.






This Lone Star top was a quilt in a day class in 1991. I took this class with MJ and Christie, who also moved away and got married. Last I heard, she also has children. Snowflake is checking it out.

Here is Snowflake taking a bath on my quilt. Cats have no respect! I hope the recipients of your quilts are more respectful.

Snowflake is checking out my BOM.

I am on block 6. I'm 1.5 yrs behind. This is a Bunny Hill Design pattern. Block 1 is on the bottom right. That block has 52 leaves!



Snowflake is tuckered out.

Quilting is such a tough job for little Snowflake. LOL

Actually, she's not so little. She's a whopping 14 pounds. She's an emotional eater. When she gets upset, she runs for the food dish but that's another story.

ttfn :) Yuki

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

I've been thinking about things I accomplished last year and what I want to do this year. Last year my New Year's resolution was to finish projects and not to start new ones. LOL I know lots of folks had the same one. So here are a few pictures of stuff I did finish.

This was started summer of 1990 something. The guild I belonged to had an all night quilt session. This is the mystery quilt that I made that evening. They sent out directions for the fabrics but being somewhat nervous about outcome, I went to Walmart to buy the fabric. Oh horror of horrors! I hate Walmart!

Everybody who knows me, knows that I am a fabric snob. I am a perfectionist at heart and want to use the best fabrics I can find. I was very apprehensive about making a mystery quilt and did not want to use "my good fabric".


Anyway, by nights end, I was very pleased. I wanted to make it bigger and wished I had bought more of the light purple fabric. I put this top away hoping to find more but several searches proved fruitless. In my travels, whenever I came across a Walmart, I'd go in hoping to find this fabric but there was no more to be found. So I finally finished it. It looks good on my purple sofa.


This blue quilt is a fine example of what happens when your fabrics match too much. These are Kitty Cucumber prints. They are very cute and I loved the 9-patches when I was making them but the end result is boring. The back is much more interesting. It's a beautiful blue floral print with big cabbage roses.


My younger sister lost her beloved Biscuit this past year, so I gave her this quilt. Biscuit looks a lot like my Simba.


Biscuit was a shy kitty. One day I went to my sister's house to visit. Biscuit came over and I was petting him and he was purring. Then my sister came down the steps and Biscuit looked at her and looked a me and ran away. My sister thought it odd that Biscuit would let me pet him. I think it was a case of mistaken identity.


I bought my first jelly roll and went nuts. I loved having most of the cutting done. The white is a white on white print. I almost never use solids because they show mistakes and I'm always spilling something. This quilt is about 90*90. I sent it to my daughter. She says it's her favorite quilt. I'll have to show you the quilt I gave for her 21st birthday. Have you ever seen a quilt that was loved to death. And she wants me to resurrect it! I'm not the miracle worker.


This last quilt was a gift to one of my dearest quilty friends. She turned 50 a couple years ago. We had people at her birthday party make blocks for her. It was so much fun. Our quilty group worked on putting this quilt together. I worked on the center block.



Her husband had t-shirts made for the occasion so of course it's in the center. The sashing and binding are all hand dyed fabrics. We presented the quilt last year. Our friend was so happy. It made us happy, too.


I've been quilting with these ladies since 1990. I remember when my friend was pregnant and when she brought her son as a toddler to a quilt show in his stroller and now he is off to college. Time sure flies.

What is it about quilters and cats. Seems we all have them. Someone posted about de-clawing cats. Years ago, I had a little kitty named KiKi. Kiki was a gift from the x 20+years ago. I wanted a dog. I was not a cat person. Someone he knew found Kiki and gave her to the x to give to me since I wanted a pet. Anyone who knows anything, knows that a cat is not a dog...duh... That should have been a clue. Anyway, Kiki was so tiny and needed a home. I took her in and the x went on travel. (That was a very familiar theme but I digress.) She stayed next to me when I slept. Whenever I opened my eyes, she would be looking at me. She stayed on my lap during the day and would nap. I became a cat person.

As Kiki got older, she would run up the drapes and hang on the cornice and then howl. I would have to get the ladder to get her down. I couldn't stand it and had her de-clawed. I didn't think much of it until I brought her home a few days later. She was so upset. Every day when I came home from work, she'd sit up with her paws up in the air and I'd pick her up and hold her the rest of the evening. It was so sad. Later I realized that, they did not remove her claws, they removed the first joints. I was stunned.

When I went to the podiatrist to have an hangnail removed, they cut it out and put some stuff on the nail to keep it from growing back. For some reason, I thought they would do the same thing for cats.

Kiki recovered and went back to being a feisty little kitty. Unlike the x, she would come when I called. I even taught her to fetch. That was a big accomplishment. LOL She lived to be an old lady of 17. I think she'd still be alive if not for contaminated cat food, but that's another story.


Well no post would be complete without a kitty picture. So here is Simba again. He likes to help me work in my office.

He even likes to help me with the sewing machine.

Doesn't he do a good job?

ttfn :) Yuki

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Adventures in Shopping

I finally got out to shop for a bed for my dear friend, Jan. I mean my guest room. I found a nice double bed which wasn't too pricey but then the guy asks if I need a frame since that is not included. Ok, a bed has to have a frame. Then the guys says what about a mattress cover. Got to take care of the mattress against mites & bedbugs. Yikes! What's up with that? Ok, I says, don't want mites or bedbugs. So, then the guy says, "Do you want to pick that up?". Wait a minute, I'm only 5feet tall. How am I going to pick up a bed? I ask him, don't you deliver? He says delivery is another $65. Ok, gotta have it delivered. That relatively inexpensive bed sure got expensive real fast.

Sure hope Jan appreciates it. Now to get all those bins of fabric out of the guest room, to make room for the bed.

Actually, I am really looking forward to her visit. Jan has excellent organization skills. I have a ton of boxes & bins filled with books & quilty things that need sorting out. She's going to help me organize my sewing room. YAY!

I've started organizing but it's not going that well. I got rid of a lot of stuff but there is so much left. Some of these fabrics, I wonder, what was I thinking? At least, there is room to walk in front of the bookcases.

So, since I was in the shopping mood, I went to Sears to check out cameras. I know the one I want but have been having trouble finding it. It must be a popular one this year. Anyway, Sears has it but it was attached to this big security thing with a chain. It was really heavy! I ask the clerk, is the camera this heavy or is it the security gizmo. He says it's the security thing. Ok, I ask him if he can take it off so I can better handle the camera. He says, no. That surprised me but, Ok. So, I'm looking at the camera checking out the various settings and it looks like all the pictures I've seen online. Looking through the view finder, I don't see anything. The clerk says it's because the camera is not charged. I don't think this guy really wants to sell me a camera, so I leave. Had enough.

Is this the state of customer service these days? Am I missing something here?

Since I don't have a new camera, I will post some photos taken before my old camera konked out.

This is Snowflake, a Maine Coon She has beautiful green eyes. Her nickname is Diva. She had a lot of hair and had gotten all matted. She would not let me touch her body or brush her. Tried clipping mats off but that was an ordeal which left me with too many cuts & scratches. I left her with the local groomer. Groomer said she has seen worse, not to worry. As soon as I got home the phone was ringing. Groomer says, to come and get Snowflake. Snowflake is not cooperating and I need to take her someplace else. I call around and no one wants to take care of my poor little Snowflake. Finally, find a vet who has a groomer. They will take her after a complete physical. Ok. $650 later, a shock to my visa card, Snowflake is in great health, needs to lose a couple pounds and has been shaved, except her face & tail. These pictures are 3 months later.

Do you like miniature quilts? I love them. This is a Pineapple Quilt. These blocks were paper pieced and are 4 inches square. The whole thing measures 12.5 * 16 inches. The fabrics were hand dyed. This is probably one of my favorite quilty patterns. I have so many. LOL I laugh at my own jokes, too.

Have a Quilty Weekend.

ttfn :) Yuki

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Tired and Rambling

I just wrapped up a big project for work. I've worked long and hard and am looking forward to a weekend of vegging in my sewing room. YAY!

I called my sister to tell her that I posted a picture of the cake we made together. She started laughing. Can you tell it was made by quilters?

I was too tired to go camera shopping after work so I'm hoping that I can do that tomorrow.

My sister recently finished a quilt for one of her granddaughters. She brought it over to photograph. My sister is just a bit over 5 feet tall, so that gives you an idea of how big this quilt is. The blocks are Dora the Explorer.

My Silas couldn't wait to check it out. He found it very comfy. Silas is a big boy.

Here is another picture of my handsome boy when he was about 9 months old. He had all this gray fur which went away as he got older. It was very odd.



He loves visiting on my bed. It's so curious. When I am in bed, he will come over to cuddle and play but when I am in my office or on the sofa watching tv, he's not interested in visiting. Is that just like a guy or what!

Well, I couldn't post a picture of Silas without putting up one of Simba. This is typical Simba playing around. The color is off but you get the idea.

The date on my last post is odd. It was posted yesterday but has Sunday's date. oh well

ttfn :) Yuki

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Do you love free patterns? I do.

One of my current UFO's is a BOM from Bunny Hill Designs that I paid for. I mentioned this particular UFO in my previous post. Last year 2009, Bunny Hill had a free BOM. The patterns were sooo cute!

The patterns are still available here BunnyHillDesigns Last year's patterns may be gone soon, so if you are interested take a look. They also have a new BOM of Snowmen for 2010. I love Snowmen. Maybe I'll make this one. In between all my other UFO's.

I'm always downloading free patterns. So far I have not made a single one but do look at them from time to time. They make for a nice past time. They are inspiring. I look at them and think of the possibility.

My camera has conked out and I'm shopping for a new one. In the meantime, I found a couple sort of interesting photos.

This is a cake my sister & I made for her son's future wife bridal shower. I don't know where we got the idea we could make a fancy cake but we did. It cracks me up to look at it now. It was the driest cake I have ever tasted but everyone was very gracious and ate it.

The next photo is of a t-shirt quilt, I made for a friend. I sure hope he appreciates it. It was a lot of work.

Thanks so much for your comments. I do appreciate it. I've been trying to figure out how to respond. Some emails are easy to find, others a puzzle. So, if you really want me to answer, please leave your email in your post. I will respond.

Everyone has been so kind regarding my stash. I've been reorganizing and have tossed a lot but still have a ton of fabric. My name is Yuki. I'm a fabricaholic. LOL The bookcases are still waaayy too full. I hope they don't collapse. At one time, it was so bad that there were piles of fabric on the floor. There was only a small path in between piles of fabric where I could walk. I'm almost embarrassed to tell you that I now have bins of fabric stacked in my guest room that need to be sorted out in the next couple of weeks.

I have a very dear friend coming to visit for 2 weeks. I have to buy a bed and get it in there somehow. I can't expect a guest to sleep on a cot or sleep sofa for 2 weeks. Maybe she can just sleep in my bed with my 3 Maine coons and I'll sleep on the cot. LOL ttfn :) Yuki

Today is Sunday and I'm taking a little break to post.

I work way too many hours as a computer programmer. As much as I love my work, sometimes I'd rather be quilting. Quilting is my therapy. It's a beautiful sunny day, albeit windy and cold. It looks very nice. I can tell from my office window. LOL I really enjoy seeing what other quilters are doing and thought I'd share a couple photos with you.

This is a photo of a quilted postcard my sister made. I thought it very cute. She makes a ton of these postcards and sells them at craft fairs.

This is another photo of my sewing room. See I told you it was a disaster area. You can see a UFO under my table. It's a grandmothers flower garden that I have been working on for years, by hand! My machine is an old Kenmore that I've had for 30+ years! Can you believe it? It's a great old machine and makes the best buttonholes. I used to sew professionally many years ago and have made everything on it. Wedding gowns, Christening gowns, even a Jewish Hoopa. I used to even sew my own clothes. Then in May 1990, I got a job where there were women who quilted! Can you imagine? There were professional women who quilted. I thought only housewives quilted. Boy, was I wrong. They sucked me in and I've been wearing store bought clothes ever since.

Here is my little helper Simba. He's always around when I am trying to sew. Behind his head is another UFO. It was a BOM. I'm on block 6 but still a year and a half behind. It's a BunnyHill pattern. I wanted to learn how to do needle turn applique. I think by the time I finish, I'll be an expert. I hope to finish it this year. LOL

This is normally where Simba sits. He likes to see what is going on outside. Usually, it's squirrels running around. Occasionally, we will have a visitor and he really gets excited. He's a very friendly little guy.

Hope you enjoy the photos. I'm still figuring out the software and where things go. I'm really not much of a writer but always wanted to try it out.

If you're not bored, leave a comment. If you are bored, tell me that, too. OK, back to work.

ttfn :) Yuki

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Happy New Year

I'm new to blogging. I certainly read a lot of blogs. I love reading about what other quilters are doing and especially enjoy reading about quilters in other countries. This is my first entry and we'll see how it goes. I think my life pretty boring as I tend to be a workaholic. A change that I am going to try to remedy this year.

Here's a picture of a quilt that I made a few years ago. I used several colors that are normally not in my palette. I think it turned out well. It currently hangs in my sewing room. Yes, that is me holding the quilt.

Here is a picture of one wall in my sewing room. It's a disaster area.












I hope you find these pictures interesting.

ttfn :) Yuki