My Entry Pets on Quilts 2011 Contest

If you  are a follower of my blog, you know that I'm a cat lover, cat(s) owner, feral cat colony manager.  So, it was only natural that I wanted to enter Sew Cal Gal's 2011 Pets on Quilts Contest. 

 This is Roxie ....and oh, how she loves to eat.  She's sneaky too....and I hear her crunching in the night when I leave food in her bowl.  I raised her by bottle after her Mama abandoned her at 4 days old.  This particular quilt was made by my daughter as a gift to me after we had been to the International Quilt  Show in Houston.   It says "We went to the quilt show and all we got was everything!"

Here's a couple close ups of the details.....beads on the shoes, ribbon, threads, ribbons, buttons for the eyes....on the 3 Cats who went shopping at the Quilt Show.

Roxie was posing so well for me, I got another Kitty Quilt for her to "inspect".  You do know she's one of my "quilt supervisors", don't you?

This one is called Beach Kitties and I used it for a quilt class in applique that I was teaching. 

I hope you can see the fabric in the background of these blocks, as it's fish underwater. 

My other two cats, Braveheart (the KING)  and his sister, Princess, were getting jealous of all the attention Roxie was getting during our photo session, so here's  Kitty City.  I think this is my favorite quilt of all time that I've made, except for my King Size 1000 Pyramids quilt.

Each block depicts a different cat in a different profession; artist, beauty pageant winner, fireman, Dr., bird watcher, Sheriff, Chef, Pirate, Carmen Miranda, Amelia Earhart, etc.  I bordered it with dimensional prairie points and cat paw fabrics.

Sorry, they're a bit blurry 'cause I was paying attention to the cats....not on my picture taking.  Besides, I have to hurry and get this blog post finished to have time to enter it in Sew Cal Gal's contest...yikes! 

Here's a few close up  pictures of the Kitty City blocks.

Miss Kitty USA

Pierre' the Chef

The Sheriff.



The Bird Watcher

If I haven't bored you senseless .......YET, .....there's more to this Kitty City quilt than meets the eye. 

Did you notice the fruit bowl in the Carmen Miranda block? 

Well, after I was finished with all the detailed quilting (you can see some of the different background quilting in the close up photos) when I was trimming some threads, I cut a small 'v' shaped  hole in the sashing on the bottom of that block.   I was just heartsick, 'cause I was entering it in a Quilt Show that next week. 

I called my sister, told her what happened, and was almost in tears.  She came right over (we live about 1/2 block from each other) and took a look at it, and said......"well, looks like Carmen's fruit bowl spilled some fruit"   She told me to think "outside the box" and I did. 

The fruit appliques falling from her hat and underneath the block were added to cover up the small hole. 

 I added a fish bowl to the Chef's block, a bird's nest to the Bird Watcher.....etc., and what started out as a BIG boo boo, ended up  adding more interest and uniqueness to my Kitty City Quilt.

I was even more pleased when it won a 2nd place ribbon in the Quilt Show.

If I had a glass of wine, I'd  toast to everyone reading this blog....."Here's to quilting, here's to our beloved pets, and here's to winning a prize in the contest, but most of all ....here's to Sew Cal Gal for doing such a great job organizing this"! 

When it's time to vote on

Sew Cal Gal's blog, I hope you'll vote for me.  Thanks.

Thanks for visiting.

JOINING THE Black Friday FUN!

I'm joining the Black Friday fun today and hope you will too! 

I decided to have my own Black Friday sale in my Etsy store.   


Have you ever used some of my pre-cut Charm Squares in one of my Time Saver Kits?  Now's your chance to try them, and since there's many colors available, I'm sure you'll find just what you need for that next project.   

My lace icicles, snowflakes & angels ornaments are just the thing for that special doorway or window. 

or maybe you know  a little girl who needs a special Christmas quilt for her dolly.

Ok...time for the nitty gritty.........

For every reader of my blog who places an order in my Etsy store and uses the code blogblackfriday when they check out,   they will receive 15% off their entire order.  This savings code is good starting today and will last through midnight on Friday.   

Have fun shopping!  Tell your friends too!

Thanks for visiting my blog. 

GIVEAWAY & GO BABY from AccuQuilt Was Born Today!

Today's the last day of the AccuQuilt Bloggers Blog Hop,  so I will be sharing my hints/tips and GIVEAWAY below.   We hope you've enjoyed our Blog Hop and learned some new things you can do with the AccuQuilt Cutters.  Be sure to visit Beautiful Seams blog post too.  Thanks GO to Sew Cal Gal for creating this blog hop....it's been fun.




BUT, ................first.....tada  tada  (drum roll, please!)            It is my great pleasure to announce that  the new GO Baby.......from AccuQuilt was born this morning.    How exciting! and I'm so privileged to be able to share this wonderful news with you.  (Just click on GO Baby words to see the video)

GO! Baby and GO! side by side for size comparison!

Along with the birth of GO! Baby, 10 new dies were announced,  including a smaller tumbler die, dog, cat, more flowers,  more triangles & a 2 1/2" strip cutter for GO! Baby.  All of these new dies will fit both cutters. 

Congratulations to AccuQuilt! 

Now.....my post for our Blog Hop and my Giveaway.

All the standard size GO cutters come with a Value Die,  which has 3 different shapes; 2 1/2" square, 2" finished triangles, and 4 1/2" square, and a 10"x10" cutting mat.  I know every GO owner gets excited about the different appliques, the strip cutters & designer dies.......but this Value Die is wonderful too!  Let's take a look at it. 

This Value Die is the one I like to use to cut my small scraps into useful shapes.

You can fan fold your scraps & cut up to 6 layers at one time.  It's okay to let part of the scraps hang over the end of the die.

You can see by my cutting mat, I've used this die many, many times.

There's very little waste....and you've got scraps cut into useable shapes.



I've cut a lot of my white muslin scraps using the 2 1/2" triangles too, just didn't show them.  They stack & store very easily in a plastic tub.

And what can you do with them??  I know you'll think of lots of things to make with them.  I have a lot of fun making small Dolly Quilts to sell  in my ETSY store.  

For this Giveaway and the end of the AccuQuilt Bloggers Blog Hop, let's make it easy, peasy;  Just follow my blog, tell me;  leave me a comment on this post by midnight Sunday night - 10/3/10.    The winner will be randomly chosen and receive 100 of these squares;  plenty to make a small Dolly Quilt, placemat, or table topper.   Remember...to leave a way for me to contact you. 

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you've had fun on our Blog Hop.    Now GO take a look at AccuQuilt's  new family addition.

Disclosure:  I am not being compensated for these blog posts or the blog hop, nor am I being compensated for posting about AccuQuilt's arrival of their new GO! Baby.  I just love my GO cutter and enjoy sharing about it with you.

QUILTING IS on ETSY Storque!! Thanks to WarmnFuzzies on Quiltsy Team.

Here's  a wonderful article written by one of our Etsy Team members of the Quiltsy Team on Etsy.  If you want to know more about our wonderful hobby/obsession and see some BEAUTIFUL quilts & artisans...just click on this link.  It's wonderfully written and  "covers" it all.

http://postserver.etsy.com/storque/reviews/facts-and-fancies-quilts-5107/

Some of us have even taken quilting  further and now incorporate quilting into our purses, bags, book covers, postcards, journals, wallets......and on and on.....

Here's a couple of my recent  bags you might not have seen.

I hope ya'll send this link to your families, friends and even your enemies (tee hee) to help us educate everyone about quilts and quilted items.   Hey...I've got another good idea; why don't ya  tweet about this blog post on Twitter, and share it on Facebook too. 

Thanks sew much from all the quilters out there.

Eye Candy for Quilters! "Stay in Stitches" on Etsy Treasury West

I've never been able to do/make a Treasury List on Etsy until today and it's named Stay in Stitches.   It has lots of Quilted Treasures from Team Quiltsy and Team Etsy Tx.  Lots of sewing hours involved with all of these great goodies from sewing enthusiasts; journals, quilts, totes, baby shoes, bags, wallets, raggy quilts.

The more clicks we get on it the closer we get to being on Etsy's Front Page, so please go click your little hearts away!  Thanks.


http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=88273

This is my purple minky toddler quilt I put on it.

I hope ya'll enjoy it!  It's wonderful eye candy for anyone who sews!

QCG (Quilters Corner Group) on EBAY is having a Sale!

There are lots of things listed on Ebay, but the best things are from our QCG (Quilters Corner Group) and our Red Tag Sale that starts today and lasts for 1 week.  There are auctions starting at $.99 and some have free shipping.  Can't beat that! 

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3984.m38.l1313&_nkw=QCG&_sacat=See-All-Categories

Now go buy something!  AND don't forget to place a bid on our Charity quilt for SGK Cancer Research!  Thanks.

HAVE YOU SEEN 'EM YET??

Have you seen my fun little DOLLY QUILTS yet??  Snuggly warm for all the "babies"!

Go to my etsy store to see all 5 of them:  http://sewfunquilts.etsy.com/  They are all different and there are a couple of tiny ones from 30's reproduction prints too!