November block swap

This is the block I sent to Jen 

 

 And here is the lovely kitty block I received from her!

Kitties block

If you have read my blog at all you can probably tell I love cats.  I was browsing pinterest or instagram and I found this post (picture links to post):

I loved it!  I love how there are so many kitties, the colors, all of it.  So I did some searching and I found Better off thread, who made the pattern herself with partial seams.  I do not like partial seams.  So I went to recreate it myself.

This is just a test block, if I were really going to make a quilt of them I would add quite a few more!

 So for each CAT you need:

4.5" square (body)

3" x 4.5" rectangle (head)

2 - 1.75" x 4.5" rectangles (legs)

2 - 2" squares (ears)

2 - 2" x 4.5" rectangle background - for legs and ears.

4.5 square background for space without a kitty.

To start you take one 2 x 4.5" rectangle, and two 2" squares and sew from one corner to the other.

Then you need to trim the excess off (if this was any bigger I probably would have saved them, but not this size.

Then take the 3 x 4.5 rectangle and sew it to the ears.

Sorry this one is on its side!

Take the two 1.75" x 4.5" rectangles and sew them together with the background in the middle.

This is where having a design wall would come in handy.  I wasn't planning on making this much bigger so my cutting board worked well.

I sewed it together by rows. So I pressed opposite directions for each row.

And voila! Finished kitties.  I think I will eventually make a full quilt out of this!  After I get through everything else I have to finish ;)

Vintage Quilt

When I went home last my grandmother showed me something.  It was a quilt that her mom (my great grandmother had made).  It was LOVELY!!

I liked the fabrics here.

And anything purple tickles my fancy!

Her points were spot on!

And here is a shot of the full quilt! I love the colors on the diagonal!  I posted in a quilting group on facebook, and I was told this was called periwinkle or hummingbird.  I did find a few similar patterns.  I think once I am done with my bow tie quilt I am going to make my own periwinkle quilt.  Granted mine will be slightly different than my great grandmas.  Hers was all sewn by hand.  I will be doing mine by machine.

I was so excited to find out my great grandma had made this because I am a first generation quilter.  My mom sewed a little (I have clothes she made my sisters and I when we were younger).  My grandma used her machine for mending, but that was the extent of it.  To find a quilt that my great grandma made means the world to me.  I guess there might have been more but when my grandma was younger there was a flood at their house and they lost a lot.

Log Cabin

 I love my log cabin that I made myself a few years ago. Here is a link to mine. I also recently finished one in all blacks & whites. 

I think I am going to make these blocks large, bigger than 12"! We will see how I feel with a few more "rounds" on it.

New iron

I greatly dislike this time of year.  I don't have as much time to sew as I would like.  I could go to sit n stitch on Tuesdays, but I have so much school work to do I am at school late, and then I don't have energy for the drive down there (and the prep it takes Monday night).  So I haven't been able to sew a lot, I have been working on a few things, but they are Christmas presents, so I cannot share them just yet.

But I can share this! I have a little rowenta that I have had forever. Well technically I have only had that one for about three years.  Because I'd bought the same model when the first one died.  Well the second one died.  I figured since I had a bigger ironing pressing board I should get a grown up iron.  I went to a few different stores, read some reviews online and decided to get this one.  It's a black and decker, and it does have auto off, which kind of annoys me, but heats up quickly.

I am definitely loving it so far!! Bring on the quilt blocks :)