My Baby Bella.

My Baby Bella is so precious. She has the best personality. I can only credit the cattery and the careful breeding for her attitude. She loves people. Hardly anything scares her. It is easy to see her puzzle things through. She also has a very long attention span. And her least favorite word is "no"! At least now she knows we are talking to her when we say it.
HA!

This is Bella on September 19th 2015.
She went to the vet for a checkup and to get her up to date on her shots.
She weighed 2.65 #'s.

I was worried about the transition to baby kitten dry food. I bought 4 cases of her Royal Canin Baby Cat Instinct mousse. Her eating schedule has changed a bit. I am allowing her to dictate how much she eats. So, she is still eating 2 -3 cans a day. BUT is eating more at each sitting with a longer time between. And my worry about transitioning to dry food was not a worry at all. I witnessed her eating the big kittie's dry food! I swear she doubles her size every couple days.

And she has found the people's bed and joins us at night. She is an under the covers kitty. A natural. Look at that belly!

I moved some containers around and have been discovering wonderful components to blocks. I think this section is called Birds In The Air. Anyway I have a bunch of neutral 2" HST cut with the EZ Angle ruler.

Gotta go...made chili for hubby. Nearly the last of our tomatoes from the garden.
XOXOXO
Subee

Playing with the shirtings I have to use the Blue and Gray pattern book.

I bought this book a couple weeks ago when the Yahoo group decided we wanted to swap Civil War fabrics in January 2014.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Blue-Gray-Patterns-Fabrics/dp/160468254X

This was the pattern that drew my eye. I am thinking because of the 16 patch blocks using 1 1/2" squares. You all know how I love that size of patch!

But before I ever commit myself to a quilt, I do what I call "cut as I go". This saves a lot of heartache down the road. Believe me when I say I have cut out an entire quilt and then found my error! GRR!!

It does make for a messy sewing session. But I found my first mistake. I faithfully use the EZ Angle  and Companion Angle rulers. There is a learning curve to change someone's cutting instructions to work with these great rulers.

I was converting a 3 1/4" square cut on the diagonal twice to using a 1 1/2" strip and the Companion Angle. But the instructions from one side of my brain to the other was garbled. I was cutting with the EZ Angle ruler not the Companion ruler as I wanted. I soon learned my mistake. So see what I mean? Sample cutting and sewing is a good habit to have.

One 6 1/2" block made...despite all of Lucky's help. I have been distracting her with a laser light. But she eventually decides that messing with the sewing machine is more fun. I am sure she will grow out of this dangerous habit. So I put everything away and give her my undivided attention.

The pattern only calls for 18 star blocks. I did make 19. Then decided I wanted to use some of the shirt fabrics I had prepared for the current swap. Back to the cutting room.

And then another memory of a shirting swatch card I had bought eons ago on E-Bay. But where have I stashed it? Two days later as I was searching for something else and I found them!!!! 5" X 9"...enough fabric to cut one block!!! WHOOHOOO!
XOXOXOO Subee

Dancing down Easy Street!!

A great day to sew. Cold, windy and snow is coming. And until I saw the first clue for Bonnie Hunter's newest Mystery called Easy Street, I had not decided on my color scheme.
I knew I had yardage of these two fabrics. Of course it was buried. It was in a long plastic container about half way down the stack. The stack was topped off with more loose stacks of fabrics. Did I want to move it all? Not really but I wanted those two fabrics.
So I spent a productive hour unstacking and fondling fabrics and pulled these two fabrics out. They are major old fabrics. And the funny thing is that I bought them twice. Yes...different sacks of them in the container proved that I must have really loved them enough to buy them twice.
This was long before I discovered scrap quilting. So an 8 yard purchase was normal for me. Don't want to run out!!!!

I started sewing on my main machine. Then got a backache and took a nap. I woke up cold so I finished the strip sewing back in the cutting room. Cozy and warm there. A bit crowded but I started out my quilt sewing life back in that room. And my little Janome 3160QDC needed to be sewn on. She was getting lonely.
So now my two colorways are all in "twosies". Who knows if I will be able to sew tomorrow.
But as I was cutting them down into 2" segments I was marveling at how nice the fabrics went together. Each pairing was my favorite until I picked up the next strip!

As I was waiting for the Easy Street mystery to start I did some sewing therapy. I made 240 2 1/2" HST just because I could. I bought a smaller EZ Angle ruler. It seems much better for the smaller size units I like. The larger one works great too. But I am really enjoying the smaller ruler.

And a couple more Moth in the Window blocks were also born.

XOXOXOXO Subee

Cutting hints for the EZ Angle & Companion Angle rulers

When I need some Companion Angle ruler cuts, I first prepare the cutting edge using the EZ Angle ruler. I have no plans for that first cut but it avoids wasted fabric and sets up the perfect angle for the Companion Angle.

 I have so many non slip dots on my rulers. But they do NOT slip!!!!

 And here is the end result from 1/4 of a WOF strip. A few squares a few HST and a few QST!!! WhOOOHooooo! Fill those bins!!!

 And as I was searching for crumb fabrics I came across this container of Bonus HST from my Batik Star Struck quilt.. I went through just a few while watching the news. I cut the dog ears off and they went into that small container on the left and then gave the HST a quick press. I have no idea what I will do with these. But they are precious to me anyway!

 Here is MaggieMae loving on her new catnip mouse that was sent to me from Victoria P. She is in the Yahoo groups swap and knows how I spoil my kitties. Even though Victoria had this packed in three different layers of plastic, MaggieMae still knew she wanted in that package real bad!!! Otherwise the cats ignore the swap packages that come through the house.

 She is my sewing helper kitty too. Just lays there and watches the row of units as they slide across the table top. And yes, she always seems to forget she has her tongue out. Does she not care? Or does she not know?

I broke down and bought a new feeder for right outside my picture window. The other one had to be 20 years old at least. And the critters keep knocking it over during the night time hours. I need some kind of pole or stake instead of having it balanced on an old barrel.
XOXOXOOXO Subee

Pink Mariners' Star

After the Saturday paper piecing class I had such a great desire to sew on the units I was using as the teaching lesson. I had only sewn two seams to demonstrate the technique to my students. I then turned them loose and was like a bee flitting to each quilter answering questions and helping with machine issues.

I now totally understand why Our Bonnie Hunter sews in her hotel room after teaching. Watching others sew while you are teaching is a bit frustrating.
I only spent a few minutes and I had the block units done. After feeding DH I then sewed the units together.
With the following results:

 Below are the units...I love the spotlight that little Ikea lamp produces.

 Today I am mindlessly sewing more hourglass units.
This time I am using browns and neutrals. I had these already cut and just sitting in this little container gathering dust. I am about halfway through the sewing. My goal is 500 units.

And I am clipping my little dog ears as usual!

I love those EZ Angle rulers. This unit is made with the Companion Angle ruler cut from 1 1/2" strips.

Orca Bay Mystery Clue #3

I did try the Inklingo method but went back to my Trusty EZ Angle ruler to complete this grouping of HST. I am so comfortable with this ruler now. At first I had the same issues I have been reading about on the quiltvillechat at Yahoo. I can only say "keep trying the ruler" because the results seem perfect every time now. No sliver trimming is needed. No marking on the wrong side of the light squares. And only one set of dogears to trim.

Our Bonnie did have a great tip about lining up the edge of the ruler with the strip edge. She said no fabric should be extending past the ruler. She is right on with that tip. If your fabric hangs out a bit it will make the HST's seam a bit thicker than you want/need it to be.
I made 480. I did not mean to go over what we needed. (350) But then again one never knows how large I will want my final quilt to be.

 They are now all nestled in their own little basket. All safe from the "Magnet" kitty named MaggieMae. She is called a Magnet because all my fabric pieces seem to be attracted to her fur as she waddles by. She cannot help it. She is long overdue for her trim but she is not tangling at all and seems to really enjoy the brushing time. Last night I brushed every single bit of her backwards. It was so funny looking. She looked like she had been electrified. I should have taken a picture of her. She was looking like a punk rocker!

I am now ready to make my gray/neutral combination for clue#3. But tonight is our guild's Christmas party. I need to wash my hair. And that is a day long event. My hair is below my waist and very thick. Takes forever to wash and dry it. Then I have the fuzzies around my face to deal with. My hair always looks better the day after I wash it. Should have done it yesterday. Sigh!

INKLINGO vs EZ-ANGLE

I bought the Inklingo programs in June of 2009. I know the date precisely as Linda Franz had autographed my copies of Shape Collection #1 and #2.
I also remember an e-mail she had sent me in which she said that her husband loves customers like me. I think I had told her I wanted ALL of the collections. But could only afford two.
I bought these when I had Windows XP. BUT...I had never even opened the plastic wrap on the CD's.
I am so bad.
So now my OS is Windows 7. When I put the CD in the drawer my computer said there was a compatibility issue but there was a fix for it. So I let the machine waltz me through the steps and then I was able to access the CD. It was easy to follow the instructions. So all of you should have no trouble doing this step if needed.

 Above are the results of this morning's play session.
Can you tell the Inklingo from the EZ Angle HST?
There are many ways to get to a finished product. You just need to find what is easiest for you. And also what will give you good results.
Timewise there seemed really no difference in making these units. I made 48 with Inklingo and 48 with EZ Angle. It is now 11:00 a.m. I started at 8:00 a.m. but I am also doing laundry and waiting on my DH hand and foot during his recovery from the recent surgery. He is doing much better everyday.

 I did make a bit of a boo-boo when choosing the color to print on the back of my neutral. It was too light and I had trouble seeing on the first page I sewed. So above I took a pencil and traced the lines a bit darker for me to see. I sewed the entire sheet without breaking a thread. That means continous sewing. (what we love to do) I also decided I prefer cutting the HST out with the scissors rather than the rotary cutter. But then again that could be the too faint lines with the first sheet.
I also had fears of paper jams. The first sheet went through great. The second one did not. But I was able to retrieve it and start from the other end and it printed fine. I have a Lexmark Pro 205. Linda says she prefers her Cannon printer to her Lexmark for fabric printing.

This fabric is by MODA. It is part of the new collection called Etchings. It is a yummy neutral with grays. I am in love with it! I have been on a "no buy" to use up my stash but when I saw this collection I shouted out loud! I must have this!!!!! So I bought 9 yards.

I love EZ rulers!

From one 3 1/2" square I can get two side triangles using my Tri-Recs ruler set. I was just trying the ruler out to see how I like cutting and/or sewing these units. There is a tiny notch you MUST cut. It tells you where to line up the side triangles PERFECTLY!

 I used the Tri-recs tool for this unit. But...............................................................

 I found that I have two sets of these triangles! Boy oh boy! I must have not been able to find the original set and bought another set. Anyone else ever done that? I have also bought the same fabric more than once!!!!!

 When I went to Kaye England's Quilting College in Indianapolis I bought her entire set of rulers. It was for a good cause and I do like the lines on them. This set is like my Tri-Recs set but it makes an inch bigger blocks. And I am sure that SOMEWHERE I have a set by Fons and Porter.

LIFE IS GOOD!

I heard from the book winner, Laura. She is so pleased to have an autographed copy.

She also was blessed to have some one on one time with Bonnie.

(She helped her load her car after a show.)

She said she was tongue tied like meeting a "rock star". I so understand how she feels.

But Our Bonnie may be rock star famous but there are no "put on airs" with this wonderful woman.

She is as down to earth and friendly as your next door neighbor.

I sure wish I lived next door.

Hey Bonnie! I will do your housework for you if we lived closer!!!! HA!