Long Weekend

Never have we noticed the long weekends as much as now that we have a daughter affected by the extra day.  She comes home to see us!   JP was busy drumming at church on Saturday and Sunday.  K arrived later Saturday night as she had late appointments that day.

While JP was gone on Sunday a.m., the 3 of us went out for a breakfast buffet.  (He doesn’t like to go.)   So yummy and we all ate too much food!  I asked for photos after eating.

Phil’s first idea was ….

As we drove around town, K wanted photos at this old school building.  We both loved the peeling paint on the columns.  🙂

We had a bonfire with hot dogs & marshmallows Sunday night, watched several thunderstorms MISS us 😦 , dyed fabric, made cinnamon rolls & the caramel version, and she spent time with the kitties.

She and her new kitty headed back this afternoon….

So far, all is well.  We’ll see how much sleep they get tonight!

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Long Story about Little Kitties

Way back when K was home for Easter Sunday, she asked her dear dad if they could go hunting for baby kitties.  He was pretty sure one momma had delivered but hadn’t hunted for them yet.  So they headed to the barn.  Sure enough, the momma came out of hiding and after some digging in the bales of straw, they found 4 kitties!  After lunch and after naps, I went with them to the barn and this time we had the camera.

He moved some bales and then did a belly dive to stretch to reach them! One was speedy quick to hide and he retrieved 3 for us.

We are guessing they were 3 weeks old at this time (above)

April 15 —

A week later, Phil helped me get them out again and we had 3 again but a different 3.   This set is nearly all black ones.

April 30 — K was back home  and brought 2 up to the house. They liked being able to hide in this box!  She & Phil also found we had lost one.   😦

Back to the barn

May 4 —

May 4 — in an effort to prove we still had 3 kitties, I juggled them outside for Phil to get a photo on my phone that doesn’t have a flash. A funny event!

May 5 — Phil noticed the other momma cat had had her babies since I was there yesterday!!  Easy to find & easy to get a peek!  🙂 This is just with my phone without a flash but it looks like 4! May 6 — I took my camera and found them again.  Only 1 bale down so much easier for me to see!

May 13 —  K is serious about coming home in 2 weeks to get her own kitty.  So I’m working this week at making them like me and come when I call (ha!!)! I took some deli turkey and milk to see if I could find any kitties that wanted to eat treats!  I ended up feeding 2.

May 14 — I was able to catch 2 and bring them to the house.  It is easier to feed them when momma isn’t there trying to get my kitties treats too!  This is Miss Small and Mr. Medium.

They are loving the milk in a saucer idea!!  I’m deciding that we only have these 2 as these are the 2 I find every time.  One has a white line straight down its nose.  The other has a crooked white line down its nose.  One male, one female = one big, one little.

May 16 —

This set is about 10 days old now.  It was a hot day and they are against the south metal wall of the barn.  HOT!!  They all wiggled around while I peeked in and took a few photos.

May 16 —

Here (above) are Miss Small and Mr. Medium.  And note that tube….. about 8″ in diameter.  Look who is inside!!

I think this photo is the cutest thing EVER!  We were sure he was in there, this is Mr. Large, but Phil couldn’t coax him out with the ham.  I just snapped this with a flash hoping it would turn out.  🙂

PLUS….

I’ve now gone down every day this week.  They are starting to recognize the red food dish but only after we coax them out and stick them right at the dish.

P.S.  I hate cats and have allergies to them and straw and all the dust in the barn…. !!  How do I love my daughter… let me count the ways….  😀

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Mother’s Day 2012

We took Phil’s parents to see K’s stomping ground on Sunday.   After a tour of her apartment, we had lunch, and then drove to where she works for an outside view.

And once we were home and exhausted, I begged to get a photo with JP for my day as well.

I have GREAT kids!!  ♥

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Oh Yes, The Vendors

Ok, finally getting back to you with my “stuff” from Paducah!

This might be my favorite fabric I bought. The designer called it adult pastels. 🙂 I’ve been hunting for the perfect set of FQs for the swirl table runner. I decided this is it. The light green could be the backing.

This layer cake (10″ squares) was just pretty! I’ve seen this combo at stores and like it every time. Hancocks of Paducah had it for $10 off. The coordinating batiks were from the $6 per yard table. I am planning to make a large Twister quilt. I think I’ll hunt down some coordinating prints for the borders at the LQS.

This Kaffe Fassett jelly roll from Hancocks of Paducah called my name (and K’s). I’ve since added the solid gray Kona for the sashings for this pattern I found in a book I already had. I hope to find some of Kaffe’s fabrics for the borders.

After seeing this example piece on the right, I got the pattern, noted her changes (extra borders w/ permission to take the photo) and collected fabrics I preferred over her pre-packaged kit. On the to-do list now.

Two books from the AQS $5 book sale, the Flip Flop template that goes with a book I have but could only be purchased with more patterns (??? this author is a piece of work!), and another paper piecing pattern.

I just LOVED the paper piecing pattern on the left but NOT the fabrics in the kit at all!! A pattern to make my own gift bags (not so sure about the lettering but that is easy to change). Cool neutral batik for an accent on a black jacket and Civil War reproduction charm packs. Some for a neutral quilt I saw and maybe some for the background on my 1/4″ hexie project. And this new thread — seems incredible! Some current customers sold Sue & me on this. Will totally disappear on my hexies.

I stopped at the Jenny Haskins booth just because I love her embroidery patterns. Fell in knee-deep! LOL!! I bought the CD for these embroidered 3-D flowers and the krinkle stuff for textures and the rest of what I needed. Of course, because I hesitated on Thursday morning about the purchase, when I returned Thursday afternoon they were sold out!! Already!! They shipped it and I just got it yesterday. However, there is no time in May for much play here. Plus they gave me some samples of various stabilizers and good advice on embroidery tips.

So you see, I really didn’t buy THAT much, depends if you are a quilter or not, but I’m pleased as punch with what I brought home.   I also got some quilters jewelry and a tshirt from the show.

And herein ends your tour of my trip to Paducah’s AQS show.  🙂

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Friends at Paducah

Before I went to the quilt show, I seriously wasn’t sure if I was more excited for the show & shopping or for seeing dear Elaine.  It was all wonderful!!  On top of it, I had a super-duper traveling companion, Sue.  🙂   She enjoys driving as much as I do and that was so nice to share the load.  She actually did a lot of driving and I loved it!

Sue & I were great companions; about the same style of shopping & quilt viewing.

For Friday lunch, we met up with some of my SL online friends.  They aren’t quilters but live in Paducah so I was thrilled with a chance to meet them!  {It was our SL day to honor, Megan, the daughter of one of our mutual friends who saw Jesus face-to-face just on Sunday after her long battle with leukemia.   Megan’s mom asked us to wear pink or purple that day.}

So here I am with Jessica & Lori… I’ve known them for so long but just met them here.  🙂

Here is just me… clogging up the downtown Paducah traffic!

Sue & I finally figured out that visiting the main convention center in the afternoon was much less crowded!  So I asked for another photo shoot.  Sue is sweet to oblige her more outgoing friend…

Seriously, someone needs a new haircut….

Only one take of this… I have no idea what is on the camera lens here….

The Yo-Yo Club of Paducah!

On Friday afternoon, we were just ready to head to another building when a 20 minute thunderstorm broke out.  I’m sure there were cats & dogs falling out of the sky!  And we weren’t even in the temporary building at the time!!   So on our way to wander another area in the same building, we walked a new route and then had to back up to see these ladies!  The bills of their hats were adorned w/ tiny fabric yo-yo’s!!  And they were so cute!  Once we stopped to chat, they told us about their 4 member club and the vast amount of money they have raised for charity.

I have no idea if it they are open to new members but Sue & Elaine would love to join!!  I’ll just support them from the background as that would be too much hand-sewing for me.

My saddest part of the week… heading out of town and realizing I didn’t have any photos with Elaine.  😦  We were too busy visiting or eating to think of the camera in the few hours we had together.  I will fix that next year!!  ((hugs))

I must leave you with these thoughts….

A number of groups came in matching tshirts.  Whereas, it could have been helpful if Sue & I always wore the same color each day so when we’d look for each other we didn’t have to think what she wore today… there is NO way we’ll have matching outfits.  We are PAST kindergarten!!  🙂

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again…  I will not join the Red Hat Society.  Oh. brother.   (I have more opinions on the matter but will refrain from printing them.)

And then… we have no idea what is going on here.  As a dear niece-in-law would say, “What were they thinking???”

 

I do plan to show you my loot from the week.  I started to take those photos this afternoon and the camera battery was dead!  It has lasted through all of the quilt show and numerous visits to the kitties.  It is now taking a break.

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Miniatures

I thoroughly enjoy the miniature quilts juried into the Paducah show.  So very impressive!! So very tiny!!  This year the miniature quilts were in glass cases.  A wise idea but it did make photographs difficult.

Here is my hexies quilt! 🙂 The hexagons (over 2000 of them!) are 1/4″ per side. This whole quilt was only about 14″ per side. I like the baskets of flowers layout.

This winner is a wholecloth quilt with the design created by the black thread. Even the binding has a decorative machine stitch around it. This one was about 14″ square. Well, about the size of those large ribbons.

Beautiful quilting and the color choices are dynamic! Hand applique. A larger quilt in the category… 20″ or so.

This is seriously tiny — 49 pieces in each 1″ block.

The block inside this circle would be one block = 1″ square. Click to enlarge the photo.

This quilter entered many in the wallhanging category with her kids and dog and this one in the miniature category. Cuteness!!

Fused machine applique with hand & machine embroidery and hand embroidered loop border. Probably only 11 x 14″.

Do you make miniatures?  Do you like them or only prefer to make & see full-sized quilts?

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Spirit of the West Exhibit

One of the special exhibits was titled, “Spirit of the West”.  From memory, I think this was a guild that had a group challenge with this theme.  Some of the quilts were western, aka cowboy styles.  I had more connection with the west as in scenery of the west.  Here are some of my favorites:

The one above is my very favorite from this exhibit!  The artist used photos printed on fabric (make me think of the myriad of my dad’s sunset photos!) and fabrics that mimic the sunsets.  I just love this!!

Just interesting fabrics and the lay of the land with subtle – simple quilting.

This one just took me… the childlike shapes, the clear colors, the purple mountain majesty!  The repeating circles are a great design element.

These were just medium wallhangings and all hung in a special area.  I would estimate (now in hindsight) that maybe there were 20 in the exhibit.  These quilts were not numbered or included in the show book.

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In Depth on a Winning Quilt

I just saw this video posted on The Quilt Show.  It is the creator of the Bernina Award Quilt, Radiance.  So fascinating to hear her describe the quilt (well, fascinating to me) and thought you might want to see this too.

Radiance Quilt creator

I do not think you have to register to see the TQS blog and to see this link.  But I am not sure.

I didn’t notice that the diamonds were pieced first.  Such beautiful work!

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Show Quilts

This is very photo heavy…. continue if you wish.  🙂  If you click on the photo, you can see it bigger for more details.

I loved the quilting on this!

Yes, I keep my eye out for beautiful quilting.

Top left is a segmented quilt by an artist from Japan. The other 2 photos show a big award winner…. hexies anyone? 🙂

Various quilts I liked…

Very cute quilt in brights on white & black!

Beautiful piecing and stunning quilting!

Large assortment of quilts from the show. This one gets even bigger than the others if you click on it. Amazing work!

The front & front details of the Bernina winner. A lot of machine embroidery topped off by beautiful quilting!

The back & back detail of the previous Bernina quilt winner. Stunning!

Loved the piecing on this and the neutral colorway.

Any of these just grab your attention?  Want to make a quilt like one of these?

More to come in another post….

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