A Prairie Home Quilts

Just how mischievous can one cat be? Well… Mom had seeds for some Bird of Paradise and Red-tipped Yuccas that she was planting in rows along the fences. Ludo was apparently digging them up as fast as she could plant them which then encouraged the birds to try and make off with the seeds. (Maybe it was his plan all along to entice the birds… LOL) After all that mischief, he decided to nap in the pot of freshly planted day lilies.

After Rachelle snapped the third picture of him, he’d had enough of his sleep being disturbed…

He doesn’t look very happy with Rachelle, does he? LOL

After several attempts, I managed to get a picture of Josh’s quilt. I was having a difficult time getting a picture where the quilt looked straight. I had Tyler and Rachelle hold the corners and Tyler’s about a foot taller than Rachelle so the quilt kept looking a little lopsided. I should have checked this picture closer before I packed up the quilt and mailed it. For some reason the top right corner is fuzzy. Maybe the lens needs to be cleaned…

and the detail shot…

I like the method Evelyn Sloppy gives for making flying geese for this quilt, but I’m not happy with the way too many of the flying geese points got clipped. I’m assuming it has to do with the ruler I used to square up the flying geese. Here’s a tutorial showing how the flying geese were made and I used the ruler like the one pictured in the tutorial. I have Eleanor Burns small flying geese ruler and have used it successfully to make flying geese without the corners getting clipped but it was too small for these units. I think if I’d had her bigger ruler and used it to square up these units, they would have come out okay. That’s my plan for next time. Live and learn everyday, right?

In a week oldest DS, Nathan, and his girlfriend, Koren, will be here for a visit and in ten days oldest DD, Jessica,will be home from Montana. This happy momma hen will have all her little chicks at home for a short time.

Yes, I’ve been gone from blogland for about 3 weeks… I was trying to escape my life for a while. It didn’t work. LOL

I finally got the upgrade installed on my machine quilting system after waiting for parts, etc. etc. I just finished up a Quilt of Valor someone sent to be quilted and quilted Josh’s quilt. I’m half way done with the binding on his. I hope to get it sent on Wednesday when I have some money.

There’s another person I know that could use “A Quilt of Comfort” so I’m going to be starting another one later this week. It’ll be a scrappy one from Evelyn Sloppy’s 40 Fabulous Quick-cut Quilts and mostly from my scraps. I’m going to need 2 FQs and the backing. (I really like this book!) Before I get started on it though, I need to finish up another QOV and machine baste 2 quilts with water soluable thread before I can machine quilt them.

Here’s the QOV. This is #1 of my QOV quilting goal of 20 for 2007. Here’s a detail shot… Here’s Ludo “helping” me sew the binding on Josh’s quilt… and he worked so hard, he needed a nap! (You know, the only reason he tries to “help” is because I’m sitting in his favorite napping chair. He figures if I’m annoying him, turnabout is fair play.) I’ll post more pictures of Josh’s quilt when I get it done.

Last night as I was trying to square up Jessica’s quilt top before sewing on the binding, our youngest quilt inspector, Ludo, would not leave me alone to get it done. First he jumped up on the cutting table to see if he could help…

Can I help?

Then, unfortunately, he decided it was a good spot for a nap…

Think I’ll take a catnap right here…

Later on, I finished trimming and went to sew on the binding. Guess who showed up to help again?

You *have* to let me help now…

It’s impossible to sew when he’s laying right there. He attacks my hand the minute I try to put the presser foot down. [sigh] I just let him be and a short time later…

Hmm… think I’ll take another catnap!

Today I finally got the binding sewed on. Not without more “help” from Ludo, I might add… (What is it with cats and quilts?)

This is the mystery quilt pattern Jessica and I both started over Labor Day weekend last September. The mystery quilt is called Chain Event and it’s from an email loop called A Pocket Full of Mysteries. Mystery quilt designer Dorothy Young hosts a mystery weekend a couple times of year. She shares her pattern for free during the mystery weekend. I actually started 2 of this particular pattern and I’ve finished one. It’s my Autumn Night quilt. I entered it in the Fiber Arts Show that’s this weekend. (I can’t believe that there are only 2 pictures from the 2005 show on that link… somebody needs to get some more up there!)

Tomorrow morning, dd Rachelle, dfs Alice, Cindy and I are going out to breakfast and then heading over to the quilt show. Hopefully, I’ll remember the camera and have a few photos to share afterward.