I'm ENGAGED!!!

It's official, I am engaged! :) May 16th (Sunday) my boyfriend Scott proposed while on a walk down by the Monomonee River! I still can't believe it!!! Let the planning begin.....



So the other day I set off to Barnes and Noble to find a wedding planner! I found one, but it's "punch you in the face" pink! So I had some fabric that I used to make a cover for it. And I had some vinyl laying around, so I made a pocket on the front to put a 4x6 picture in there. Pretty good for winging it eh? :)

Clean.....not even CLOSE!

Scott lit a fire under my butt to get cleaning tonight. While I was going through everything I was reminded that a few people wanted to see where I keep everything. Here's a couple pictures that don't even include my sewing table (it's too much of a mess to make digital proof of it) and my notion boxes on my ironing board (which you can't even see at the moment). So, here you go everyone that asked me about where I put everything. Remember, you asked for it! And if you didn't, maybe it's wise to quit reading while you're ahead! :)

We'll start with my kit cubby. I keep all of my thread on the top. There's really no other place in the apartment to put it! :)


People ask me what I do with all of my fabric and kits when I'm not working on them! For the most part with my fabric, every once in a while I "pet" it. All you quilters know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. To everyone else I just sound crazy. Hey, some people have lots of cats, some have lots of fabric! Choose fabric, it's more hygienic, and PETA doesn't come after you.

Here, I'll start from the top and move my way down and explain where I quite literally shove all of my goodies! :)


Shelf #1:
My 505 spray, a container of beads, a mug of miscellaneous....
All of my quilting books and a couple of sketch notebooks
A binder for everything I print off or have rolling around the place here
About half of my patterns!!!



Shelf #2: (this one's a biggy!)
Besides my Retayne, pens, glue, angelina fiber and some steam a seam.....
6 Bali pops
a fat quarter bundle of Eva
About 6 charm packs of Eva
About 10 charm packs of Neptune
4 Neptune honey buns
6 Neptune jelly rolls
A Crazy Eight turnover
2 Arcadia jelly rolls
2 charm packs of Blush


Shelf #3:
All of my Bigfork Bay Cotton Company kits

• Wild Girl (2)
• Wading
• On the Prowl
• Summer Serenity
• Spirit
• Spring Storm (2)
• Tatanka
• Winter Wolf (3)

Plus a kit to make a pinwheel with some fuschia Maywood Studio fabric
A few more McKenna Ryan kits (about 6 or so)
A fat quarter bundle for Holly Taylor Canoe Country
A kit for a rubber ducky baby quilt
Some yardage for Urban Couture, Figgy Pudding, and Neptune
Two plastic containers of scraps from previous quilts


The Bottom Shelf:
A purse pattern
4 Twiggy jelly rolls
A couple of wall hanging kits Scott bought me
McKenna Ryan's Out and About (the complete kit)
McKenna Ryan's When Friends Gather (the complete kit)
McKenna Ryan's In Full Bloom (the complete kit)
A fat quarter bundle for Urban Couture and Crazy Eight
And then there's a few more random kits stuffed behind these too.....


Here's a picture of the pile of stuff I still have to go through. In the bottom tote is huge pieces of fabric, backings, flanel for pants, stuff that I don't use very often.....The light blue tub is where I put some of my quilts when they're not out and about. The other various tubs hold thread, hangers and pieces for my gingerbread cookie men that I make at Christmas. And then of course there's fabric that I haven't put into it's correct "category" in my stash!


Last but not least, here's a picture of my stash. I know. OUT OF HAND!!! You should have seen it before I had the shelving. One day Scott told me to go out and buy shelving for it if I was going to have this much fabric, so I did, and I do! But yikes. Enough already Katie!!! My only saving grace is that I have it organized! On the top first three piles are batiks, then outdoorsy stuff, cartoons, bugs, a few by "things-I-thought-I'd-make-but-am-just-not-getting-around-to", and then holiday is on the bottom! :)


Well, what do you think? Besides the obvious reason that I have too much of everything. What would you do differently? And no mom, I'm not giving it all to you!

She loved it!

Well, my cousin graduated with her master's degree, and I gave her the quilt. She loved it!


It was a little difficult to say goodbye to that quilt, but it's where it's supposed to be! And I know it will be taken care of! I love that quilt!!! Scott didn't really want to part with it either, it's one of his favorite quilts that I've made!

Well, on to the next quilt! Can't stop now! I'm on a roll! Maybe I'll get an applique quilt going....or maybe I'll start on this new table runner pattern that I got in the mail the other day. It's a Judy Niemeyer table runner. I want to do a quilt of hers, but 99% of them have huge curved pieces and I'm not sure if I can hack it. So I'm trying this seasonal table runner first. Yep...that decides it. I'm going to stop at Patched Works and pick out batiks tonight! :)

Keyhole Quilt!

Well, it's finally finished!!! After a whirlwind affair with my sewing machine and this fabric, my little Frankenstein is finally done! The jelly rolls I used were from Island Batik. They worked out pretty well, but there was a few strips that were "bow-ed", and that made for lots of trimming.....


It's a little bit larger than queen sized so it drapes over the edge of the bed at a great level. I didn't have a pattern, so I made one up! Whoever invented graph paper is a genius! Although some of the seams were way off for some reason, and I'm sure Diane must have had a great laugh when she was quilting it! :)

I took the quilt outside and laid in it....I never wanted to get up! The pattern was easy enough to make, so I might have to make another one in the near future - but maybe in a different color scheme. I'm not so keen on making quilts that look identical. It just seems to cheat the first quilt of it's uniqueness.

Applique, McKenna, and Me!

Well, my very first applique project was a whole McKenna Ryan quilt....Storybook Farm. I made the whole thing without an applique pressing sheet - what a nightmare!!! ALWAYS have an applique pressing sheet! Since then I have a small, medium, and an extra extra large! :) This quilt is a wedding present for a friend of mine....I hope she likes it. If she doesn't, I'll keep it!!!

I've completely fallen head over heels for McKenna Ryan designs! This block (Bear up there) belongs to the quilt Calling Me Home. I made one for Scott's parents as a Christmas present, and another for our wall. They're so much fun to make, and a block doesn't take long to quilt at all! Plus, this kind of art is cheaper than prints or paintings!

Last but not least....my moose!!! I love this guy! Bigfork Bay Cotton Company has all sorts of wildlife busts that just suck me in! This one is Summer Serenity. This is also a wedding present for a couple of friends of mine that love the outdoors!!! I hope they like it, but again, if not, I'll keep it! Oh wait, I have another one that I had made for myself....so maybe not! :) This one I had quilted at Patched Works, Inc. here in South Eastern Wisconsin. The one that I made for myself is unquilted at the moment (I plan to quilt it myself) and hanging by pins above my bed.

I always thought that applique - the quilting part itself - was scary and intimidating. As it turns out, it's not! The only way to get over a fear is to jump in and see how it turns out. I'm so glad I jumped! :) Now that's led to me teaching my own McKenna Ryan class at Patched Works! I have so many kits to keep me busy! Some of them include:

McKenna Ryan Kits:
No Trespassing block (from quilt Calling Me Home)
Walrus you a Merry Christmas block (from quilt Once Upon a Star)
In Full Bloom (complete quilt)
When Friends Gather (complete quilt)
Petals of my Heart (complete quilt)
Out and About (complete quilt)
Gingerbread Lane block (from quilt Gingerbread Lane)
Bottoms Up block (from quilt Gingerbread Lane)
Cucina Italiana (complete quilt)
Just Coffee block (from quilt Coffee Classics)
Four Big Shots block (from quilt Coffee Classics)
Fisherman's Bend (a classic quilt)
The Chickadee's (a classic quilt)
Beneath the Boughs (a classic quilt)

Bigfork Bay Cotton Company Kits:
Autumn Eyes
On the Prowl
Spirit
Spring Storm (2)
Summer Serenity (ready to quilt)
Tatanka
Wading
Wild Girl (2)
Winter Wolf (3)

Not to mention the many jelly rolls and honey buns and few fat quarter bundles I have stashed away....I can stop buying fabric and be busy for the next 10 years! And that's without touching my stash!!!

Quick lap quilts

Here's a couple of lap quilts that I made in late 2009, and finished in January, 2010.

This first one is a Moda Arcadia lap quilt! I love the colors, although Scott thinks it looks like 1970's vomit. To each their own I guess! :)

And I don't particularly like just piecing two fabrics together for the back. I'd much rather put some eye-catching piece in there! This was also the first quilt that I bound by hand. It took me a while....I'm not used to sitting in one place hand stitching!

I fell in love with this Nordic lap quil pattern the moment I saw it, and I've loved Figgy Pudding but didn't quite know what to do with it! Fate has a funny hand in things sometimes! I found this pattern at a quilt shop that was going out of business, so it was about 160% off....I couldn't resist!

I know the angle is funny, but the quilt was on the floor while I took pics. I used a tear-away interfacing for the snowflakes. It worked pretty well, but next time I might use something else, just to try it.

Once again, I cannot resist putting something interesting on the back! And this way it helps me know which way is up and down on the quilt! All of my piecing on lap quilts is perpendicular to the direction of the quilt!

More past quilts.....

This quilt I made over a year ago for my boyfriends sister, Carrie. She's really more of a purple/blue person, but I thought this would be fun and add a bit of color! :) There's over 33 different colors pieced in this quilt.


This little quilt I made for my great aunt. The colors aren't necessarily hers, but she bought a french style love seat at a garage sale and these colors match it.


This last pic is of a table runner I whipped up in 2009 before I sewed the binding on the back. It's a Kim Schaefer pattern, and all of the fabrics are hers! It goes great on the coffee table! :)


Holy moly! There's still more quilts that I have to catch up on! Only a few more to put up here before I'm all caught up!

Well, it's time for me to run! I'm headed out to dinner at Mo's Irish Pub! I love that place! They have some of the best food around! Don't wait up for me! :) I'll post again soon!