Better Late (Whitney, TX)

Than never...right?  Late on posting...Late on wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.  I hope you were able to spend time with your love ones.  Since we traveled the day before, we spent a quiet day at home and had a couple of our favorite dishes.  No big spread this year with just the two of us.  I rather enjoyed the change of pace.  The only turkey I prepped this year were the two below for my shop.  

The WiFi has been very weak here.  We are in Whitney, TX until 17 December.  Hopefully, the new location will have a stronger signal and I can do a better job of posting my blog.

In between sewing, I have been doing a lot of reading.  This one is a quilt theme cozy mystery:

Motif for Murder by Karen Lowe
This story addresses women living in abusive situations more than it does about Browen's quilt detective work.  There is an old quilt along with a past and present mystery, but for most of the story, Browen is busy trying to help and support several abused women while the local community seems to close their eyes to the situation.

In between helping others, Browen has been asked to help with the opening of the new art museum in the renovated old mill.  Reading about the history of sheep farmers, spinners, and weavers in the little Welsh town really kept my interest.  That and Browen fiber art quilt portraying fairies dancing in the woods from an old Welsh story.  The ending wasn't too much of a surprise, but the reading was pleasant and left me feeling good.  It would probably be nice if the world was filled with more gutsy Browens around.

Before the cold front came through, we were getting the cats outside every day.  Hitch shows his approval of our new location by running up and down the motorhome.  "Time to go outside!  See all this energy I have?"  He is wearing a trail into our wood floors with all the running back and forth.  He rarely shows that much enthusiasm.  This one is perfect for him.  I can hear him counting off the good points: trees to climb, bushes to explore, campgrounds to snoop, and dirt roads to walk along with no traffic.

Hitch enjoys his new chin scratching place

Can I take this with us?

We haven't been out exploring too much due to the colder weather.  We did drive to the east side DFW a couple of days ago, but I did not take my camera.  It was such a dreary day with icy cold wind!  Brrr!  So, I took some photos of the fall colors that I have been enjoying around our site.

On The Cutting Board

We have been spending time at the park's community center, so I have been able to load up all my new photos for Etsy.  I have 21 new items to list.  I just need to do a little tweaking here and there in the listings and I will be ready to open my shop for business again.  Here's a sneak peak of my new items.

I have been missing my southwest style garden since our return to Texas.  I decided to design a trailer with a southwest theme by embroidering a Pueblo ladder, a flowering barrel cactus, and an ocotillo cactus.  I plan to add morning glories to the ladder just like I had in my own garden.  I'm enjoying this so much that I have already cut out three more SW theme trailers so I can make more desert gardens.

I also put together two more Santas from Nancy Halvorsen's pattern.

Actually, I have a whole pile of more mug rugs to embroider and sew together, so I better get back to them!
Happy Quilting!

Not So Wordless Wednesday (Patagonia, AZ)

Flight of the Hummingbird

I spent the afternoon watching the hummingbirds fly around the feeder.  I wanted to catch their wings in action.  The lighting was perfect for action shots.  Some of the wings are a little blurred, but I am quite happy with the following photos.

not sure about me

coming in for a landing

taking off from the feeder

twisted wings

Quick note:  The Preserve will be close until Saturday unless we see the Mountain Lion again.

QuiltinCats' Black Friday Sale!

I'm having a 10% off all items in my store on Friday only (Nov 23) with this code QCATSALE  

Below are some new listings that I have just listed in the last couple of weeks.  Also listed:  small quilts, small stockings, and a stuffed Angel Bear as well.  I working on three more Santa Mug Rugs and I hope to have them listed in time for the sale.  Please stop by Quiltincats Etsy Shop and browse for a while.

Plaid

Rose

Maroon

Green Witch

Santa

To you and your family ~ 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Black Lotus Quilt (Somewhere in California)

We traveled 300 miles yesterday and we are going another 300 miles today.  Early start today so we can finish a little earlier.

Here's a couple of more photos from Sutherlin...

munching apples

This jack rabbit wasn't moving no matter how close I got for a better picture.  He was so still even his nose wasn't twitching.

I'm a statue..I'm a statue

 Meet Fang..a Burmese rescue cat.  I just love his eyes.  We met his owner taking him for a ride in her golf cart on one of our evening walks in Sutherlin.  He really enjoyed all the attention he was getting from the people.

He is also well trained.  She said "sit!" and he sat.  hmmm, I wonder if I can get our cats to sit like that.  shh! don't tell my furbabies that I was out with another cat!

On The Cutting Board

So, the customer decided not to buy this quilt.  I have made a few changes to it and I am posting it on Etsy.

Here are the specs:  A contemporary style lap quilt with abstract appliquéd flowers.   All appliqué is hand stitched(no machine was used).

• Multi-colored top: pink, turquoise, lavender, and black
• Backing & Binding:  black
• Size:  37 inches x 45 inches  (94 cm  x 114.3 cm)
• Batting: 100% polyester fiber filling
• Quilting: free-form meandering
• All applique is needle-turned under and hand-stitched. 
• $75 + shipping

Happy Trails!

A Stitch Before Dying (La Conner, WA)

A Stitch Before Dying by Anne Canadeo
This is #3 in the Black Sheep Knitters cozy murder mystery.  This time Maggie - owner and teacher of the Black Sheep Yarn Shop is invited to teach at a new age health spa at a mountain resort over a weekend and she is able to bring all her friends from the knitting circle along for free room and board.  I'd like to have Maggie as my friend.

So, you are probably wondering what a knitting instructor would be teaching at a new age health spa.  Yea, me too!  Meditative knitting or as Anne Canadeo put it - Is knitting the new yoga?  I'll probably stick with my yoga practice, but I do understand where she is going with this idea.  I think anything a person does with their hands that has them meditating to a point of calming their mind, getting rid of their anxieties, and slowing down their heart can give a person a zen feeling.  I often pull out my quilting or crocheting when I am worried.  It is nice to keep my hands busy and let my mind roam free...soon I am breathing deeply and my shoulders have relaxed.

Okay, back to the story.  So, the Black Sheep Knitters are sharing their meditative knitting when one of the guests is found dead....yes, murdered.  Suddenly, the new age health spa doesn't feel so healthy and the zen moment is gone. What's even worse is the fact that no one can leave and that probably includes the murder.   Of course, that doesn't keep Maggie and the others from their knitting with an open invitation for all guests to come join them as they stitch together the clues of who done it.

Source: etsy.com via Sandy on Pinterest

Not only did I enjoy reading this book, I also learned something new. Anne is real good about slipping in lessons about the knitting world while she entertains her readers with her story. This time I learned about Random Knitting. After doing some online searching, I found a perfect website with great examples in Knot Just Knitting and it turns out Prudence is also selling her PDF patterns in Etsy! As you can see from the photos from Etsy via Pinterest, she does some fabulous work. It sort of reminds me of crazy quilting.

Source: etsy.com via Sandy on Pinterest

According to Maggie, you just stitch whatever you feel like doing. If you want to see what can be made from this free-form knitting, click on this Gallery link or the one above. Prudence has some examples of clothing and handbags. They are gorgeous! But, I'm not taking up knitting. I can get plenty of meditative time with my quilting and embroidery projects.

On the Cutting Board
Speaking of quilting....I put it aside for the last couple of day to sew together this little bear.  I finished putting him together last night.

I'm not quite done with him though.  I'm going to give him a coffee bath to age him a little.  I used some high-quality muslin with a tight weave and a 200-thread count.  I hope the coffee gives the muslin a good stain.

Oh, and the bear also has something to do with the crazy quilt from the last post.  If all goes well, this project will be done in time for the next posting.  ;0)

So peaceful

Happy Quilting!

It's Vegas, Baby! (Las Vegas, NV)

I have to admit that I was ready to dislike Las Vegas.  I'm not a gambler...I did gamble a little bit...I lost a whopping $3 or for me - I lost a fat quarter of fabric - oh no!

I don't smoke and I try to avoid smoke-filled rooms, but the newer casinos must have a great air filtering system because I have not had any problems from cigarette smoke.  When I'm around cigarette smoke for a couple of hours, I usually end up with a 2-3 day sinus headache.  

And I can't sit still in a movie theater let alone sit through a live show, but I don't mind standing around waiting for a fountain or light show...I'm strange.  I know.  

Bellagio's Fountain

Here's the shock for me - I'm so surprised to say that I love it here despite the noise and the crowds!  This city is amazing!  

But, it's not just The Strip, it's the whole city.  We have come across two large outdoor and upscale shopping center/villages.  One is called Town Square Las Vegas.  These new outdoor malls are becoming quite popular because we are coming across more of them as we travel around.  Albuquerque built one just before we left.  I was always finding excuses to go to ABQ Uptown just to walk and window shop.

On the second floor of The Venetian

For our first day, we walked two Las Vegas blocks which felt more like 5 miles+ when we were done.  Most indoor areas were a maze of casinos, lobbies, restaurants, and shops.  I can see me getting lost in most of these places.

Well, I hope you do not get tired of my Las Vegas posts because we have just begun exploring.

On  The Cutting Board

Oh hey! Do you remember these three tops?  Probably not.  Or if you do, you are probably thinking "gee, I thought she finished those three a long time ago!  Nope, just collecting dust.  

So, I dusted them off...okay, no dust on the quilt tops because I store my projects in plastic bags. So, I removed them from dusty plastic bags and pinned all three yesterday.  

I started quilting on the Dresden Plate last night.  It felt good to start working on some UFOs.  

The Dresden Plate and Teddy quilts are going to charity.  The floral one will be going on Etsy.


A BIG Thank You!
I want to Thank Suzie from Suzie's Imaginarium for mentioning my shop in her blog "Trying to bloom where I am planted....are you?".  It is so sweet of her to mention me that I wanted to show my appreciation by returning the favor.

Isn't this fleece Bunny Blanket cute?

One More Thing!
It was brought to my attention that not everyone can follow Quiltincats Shop link through Craftcult, so I have added a new blog page called "Etsy Shop". (please see page tabs above)  This page will link you to my shop.  So, now people can find my shop two different ways.  If you have a suggestion for a different way to link my blog and shop, please let me know!