kerrykatiecakes

Yes, that is Alex Anderson in the top left corner!  You will likely recognize a lot of other quilters here too in this collage.  The "Feed Dogs" are facing off against the "Rotary Blades" in the playoffs and you can root for your favourite "player" to make the winning goal!  Check out all the fun on the AAQI website here . Being Canadian, and a hockey fan (Go Flames!), I think this is great fun.  My only objection is to the blacked out teeth in the photos.  Believe me when I tell you that professional hockey players can afford really good dental work nowadays! lol

After spending an hour weeding huge thistles out of the playground by hand, ending up doing it on my hands and knees because it is easier on the back, I am recovering slowly and the only thing working is my head.  But, that is good, because it gave me time to think about ideas and invite my muse for a visit! Lately I have been indulging my love for fabrics and fibers more.  An example is this cushion cover I picked up at the thrift store.  How could I resist this?  Well, since I have it here to take a photo of for you, the obvious answer is I couldn't.  But throw cushions are not a big part of my life style so, of course, this is going to become a little art quilt...  The main section will be cut from the center panel and then heavily embellished with beading.  The four corners will make terrific fabric for the Fast Finish Triangles for the back, all cutesy-coordinated.  I'll be getting a start on this later tonight when my 15 minutes of stitching (or more!) is scheduled. 

Well, it's that time again - time to look at my Goals for this year and see how I am doing on them.  I know this makes for a boring post but it helps keep my honest with myself!  So, here they are: 1. This year I am going to continue with teaching crazy quilting that I started last year. I will make as many opportunities for myself as I can to do this. I am also going to build a workshop or class around a specific project that I'll design and submit an application to teach it wherever the opportunity presents itself. More of the same as last year - just stretching further with it. Not doing tooooo badly - have 13 classes scheduled for October and November and one already for the new year.  Of course, it depends if we get sufficient registration!  I've also been approached by my LQS so I need to get back to them, I guess.  I've made two types of classes on projects I've designed so not bad, not bad at all! 2. I will try to go ahead with the "Homemade Chris

It took me a little while to get this one ready - lots of photos in the tutorial.  This Build a Seam (BAS) Challenge is for Raised Fishbone Stitch leaves.  With a little practice you will get much better results than I did - this was my first attempt on these as well.  For some reason I have basically avoided fishbone stitch but no time like the present to learn!  I hope you enjoy this BAS Challenge! Begin by marking your leaves on your fabric.  You will find it handy to have an outline to follow while stitching.  I used a mechanical pencil to lightly mark mine - hopefully not so lightly you can`t see them! To begin, bring your needle up at the point of the leaf and take it down again about halfway down on the center vein. Now come up again directly to the left of that, on the outside edge of the leaf. Take your needle down again just barely to the right and down from the top leaf point. And bring it up again just barely to the left and down of the point of the leaf. Now you take y

Here is my donation quilt for AAQI for the month of August.  The basis of this quilt was a round robin block that I cut up.  Yes, I know, sacrilege!  Well, cut it up I did.  This was from a round robin very early in my cq experience and I had pieced the block from cottons in colours I just wouldn't use now.  As I worked with it now though, adding seams and embellishments, I did end up with an end result I quite liked.  I really outdid myself on the finishing this time - even the back is pretty!

As much as I have complained lately about my job at the lake and how difficult it has become to keep up with all the physical work, if I don't come back next year there are many things I will miss.  I have learned many lessons here, one as those taught by the swallows.  These little birds have such tenacity,  perseverance and they are downright stubborn.  They come back every year to build their nests in the same spot, constructing them of dirt and spit.    If their adobe-type nests are destroyed, within a day or two a duplicate will appear in the same spot and they return to business as usual.  This pair of young birds has decided the place for their nest - where it belongs this year and forever - is on the outside sill above one of the outhouses doorways.  I don't think they have chosen an easy path, but I am confident they will persevere and return to this spot for the rest of their lives.  How much could we accomplish with this kind of tenacity?

Well, this is my little quilt donation for July for AAQI.  I had it already to mail and then I realized I had not put the Fast Finish Triangles on it for hanging.  So, off came the binding, on went the triangles and then back went the binding.  Unfortunately, since I hate "frogging"  (rippit rippit) the whole thing became very late to get in the mail.  Hopefully I will be forgiven!  The base fabric on the front is some sort of taffeta from the stash, one of those yummy fabrics that changes colour as the light hits it.  It could even be silk but I'm not sure.  The back is gold silk (for sure) and the binding is a batik.  Nothing like mixing it up! The kimono itself is made of quilting cotton and is a sort of folded, origami type of thing.  And, yes, you are correct in assuming that one strange little button in the corner is not really an artistic statement - it is because I couldn't get that corner to miter properly.  Well, it could still be an artistic statement!

I don't usually do this but just had to write about my latest book purchase since I love it so much!  Brian Haggard has written this wonderful book, subtitled "Beautiful Embroidery Brings Your Family Portraits to Life" and the photos of his quilts, such as the one on the cover, illustrate his skill at this task.  The book is full of wonderful eye candy, with his quilts and projects that incorporate old sepia tone family photos with the elegant neutral colours that make up his palette. Brian has included chapers on how to add history to your quilt, design and layout, embellishing, stitching techniques and combination stitches, 10 projects for you to complete and an inspiring photo gallery and section on design inspiration.  I was pleased to find motif ideas that were new to me as well as the most adorable button bee you've ever seen! The chapter on design and layout was of special interest since it is a subject often overlooked in crazy quilting books.  With good clear

What a wonderful surprise I received in the mail this week when this beautiful birthday ATC arrived from Marilyn.  I love it!  Thank you so much, Marilyn! The edging on this ATC is a very cool technique.  You might want to enlarge the photo so you can see how Marilyn did it.  I have to figure this out! 

 I know, I know, you get tired of the puppy pictures, right?  But you have to admit I have been good and refrained for awhile now.  How could I resist sharing photos of Bear in her new bright orange hoodie though?  It must be comfortable because she doesn't even mind wearing it!  It will be good for the coming cold months as well because it is super warm.  Such a good thing for little dogs who have to go outside in the snow and cold to do their business.  How stylish and cool does she look?!  The embroidered logo on the pocket on the back is "Ridedogsride" and this is where the shameless plug comes in.  I am lucky enough to have the Garlands as campers out here at the lake occasionally and they have a wonderful business online called, of course, RideDogsRide , where they creat helmets, goggles, jackets, hoodies, and so much more so that folk's pets can be just as cool and safe as their owners are riding their motorcycles.  I was thrilled to bits when they gifted Bea

Well, I can't remember the last time a couple weeks have gone by between posts but I think it has been awhile.  Things have not been going that well for me out here at the lake this year - the heavy work (moving picnic tables, toting all the trash to the landfill, digging firepits, etc.) is simply getting to be too much for me and as a result I have been sore, exhausted and depressed.  Now DH has hurt his back at work and although he is managing to drag himself in there every day he can't do much else, so I've started sneaking away and running home for a few hours every couple days to throw supper in the crock pot for him, mow the lawn, clean house and tend the critters.  Actually, I think this may very well be the reason I have started to feel better and this cycle of depression is lifting.  Maybe the key is to crawl out of myself and do for someone else??  But, I've  philosophized enough, now on to some great thrift store finds! I am always on the lookout for embro

From August 1-10 the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI) will be offering 20 quilts that were part of the "Alzheimer's: Forgetting Piece by Piece" exhibit in an online auction like no other. "Confusion" was created by Elsie Campbell of Dodge City, Kansas.  Elsie is an award-winning quiltmaker, international teacher, writer, and editor. She is the author of Nine Patch and Snowball Quilts and /Winning Stithces. Her 75 plus awards include Best of Show—Quilt America! 2000, Mary Krickbaum Award for Best Hand Quilting—National Quilt Association, 2001, and Excellence in Hand Workmanship Award—American Quilters Society 2003. Be sure to read the Artists Statement on Elsie's quilt! Quilts made by Sue Nickels, Diane Gaudynski, Marsha McCloskey, Nancy Brenan Daniel, Melody Crust, Mary Stori, Elsie Campbell, Debbie Bowles and others will be auctioned. This is a rare opportunity to acquire quilts by nationally acclaimed quilters who rarely sell their work!