All Decked Out

Happy Anniversary!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011 8 Comments »

Happy Cottage Quilter just posted about Singer's 160th anniversary website. There's lots of historical information about Singer, (and a plug for their new machine, of course), but the real purpose of the site is to allow Singer owners to share their stories. As of the last count, there were over 1,200! The other thing that the website allows you to do is register you pre-1970 Singer machine by typing in the serial number and your name. Once you do that, you will be able to download a PDF certificate that shows the year your machine was "born". Here is the link: My Singer Story

My story is not nearly as compelling as many of the others that are posted. I don't come from a family of women who sewed. I don't have my grandmother's machine. I started sewing in college because I needed to make some clothes that were presentable for student teaching, but I never got into it much until my children were little. Again, it was mostly necessity that got me making clothes for the kids. I didn't start quilting until 6 years ago when my daughter decided she wanted Vera Bradley type bags for her bridesmaids, and I became PattiCakes, the Crazy Bag Lady.

One thing led to another. I bought a new Bernina, took some quilting classes at the store where I purchased it, and Pat, the ADQD* quilter was born. I kept hearing ladies in those classes talking about Featherweights. How great they were for traveling. What a nice stitch they made. How every serious quilter HAD to have one. DH, who is addicted to flea markets and antiques, got interested in them too. Here I thought he was just letting my ramblings about quilting and machines go in one ear and out the other. Au contraire!

The morning of our 32nd wedding anniversary, I came stumbling downstairs, looking for a cup of coffee, only to find Baby. She was sitting on top of an antique sewing stand and was sporting a big blue bow. I don't know what touched my heart more, the fact that I had been given this wonderful present or the fact that DH had actually LISTENED to my ramblings and gone out of his way to find this very very special present. My Bernina mostly lives in the sewing room, but it's Baby who goes to classes, retreats, quilt days with our quilting posse, to my kids' homes when I babysit, and on vacation. I even bought her a folding table so she can help me sit in front of the fireplace in the winter and sew. She was born in 1951, Singer's 100th anniversary, and is what's called a "centennial". Machines made during that year sported a special, blue-rimmed oval seal on the front to commemorate the milestone.

Now, of course, DH fancies himself somewhat of a FW guru, and is always on the look out for them when he's out prowling the markets. And I've turned into somewhat of an Evangelical Featherweighter, spreading the word of what great little machines they are.

Do you have an older Singer? What's YOUR story? Go check out the website and download your certificate. Thanks again to Happy Cottage Quilter for speading the word!

* ADQD: Attention Deficit Quilting Disorder

The Angst of the No Reply Blogger

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 7 Comments »

Junior, my #1 Quilting Inspector, is very unhappy. I woke him up out of a sound sleep, with my agitated grumbling. OK, my loud swearing. It seems that a number of you are "no reply bloggers"!

What, might you ask, is a no reply blogger? Well...........

All comments made on my blog are automatically emailed to me, and if you have the correct settings in your Blogger profile, your email address comes with it, allowing me to reply directly to you via email. If your settings aren't correct, you are a no reply blogger. Instead of a real return email address, I get an address that says noreply-comment@blogger.com.

Not thecatatemyfabric@yahoo.com, not rumplequiltkin@comcast.net, but noreply-comment@blogger.com.

What the heck??

I enjoy replying to the comments made on my blog. I can't always reply to them all, but I'm trying to spend a little time every few days replying to comments. So if you haven't received a reply to your comments on my blog -- especially on my giveaway post -- that probably means you're a no-reply blogger. Here's how to fix it, if you're so inclined:

In blogger.com, click on Dashboard.

Select Edit Profile.
Check the box for "Show my Email Address."
Save changes.

Easy peasy. Now go fix your settings and make Junior happy. Having a ticked off cat in my sewing room is not my idea of a good time. And you won't like it either if you win the giveaway drawing and I can't contact you! Yikes!

Finding Homes

Monday, October 10, 2011 6 Comments »

I love when quilts finally find their homes. Two little ones did just that on Saturday. We went to visit my son and his wife in Sinking Spring, PA, taking along a couple of small quilts that began this summer.

The first is a Schnibble pattern, and will go on the wall in my granddaughter Maddie's room. Maddie is 19 months old, very much her own person, and loves bright colors. I name all of my quilts, so this one is "Maddie's Picnic". I'm sorry that part of the quilt is washed out in the bright sun, but this is where my official quilt holders wanted to stand.

That's Annabelle (she'll be 6 in February), and Ian (he'll be 5 in March),
showing off their baby little sister's quilt.

The second is a flag I made using Civil War repro fabrics. The blocks are little tumblers cut with the Accuquilt Go! cutter. I thought son Andy would put it in his office, but he decided it's going above the fireplace in his family room. It's called "O'er the Land of the Free" in honor of the fact that Andy is pursuing the American dream by starting his own company.

And here is Miss Madeline herself, kissing her daddy. There is no quilt in the picture, but it was too darned cute not to post.

The next project is a flannel baby quilt and a bunch of burpers for #4 -- a baby brother, due December 4th. My daughter-in-law is a saint!

More Jelly

Sunday, October 09, 2011 7 Comments »

I'm not shy about admitting that I have ADQD (Attention Deficit Quilting Disorder), and those darned jelly rolls make it sooooo easy to start a new project at the flick of a rotary cutter. Here's the latest little project that called to me from the cover of the November-December issue of McCall's Quilting. One jelly roll, plus the extra yardage for the background, sashing and border, would make two tops. I betcha you could make the quilt more of a table-topper size by just doing away with that wide outside border. Looks like a couple of quick holiday presents to me!

Thanks so much to all of you who put your name in the hat for my Jellyroll Quilt Magic giveaway. I'm not having much luck training the cat, but have made great progress teaching my hubby. He's been practicing & will be ready to pull a name on Thursday night : )

FREE BEER!

Thursday, October 06, 2011 100 Comments »

OK, it's not free beer, but it is a giveaway! Lots of the bloggers I follow have hosted giveaways, but this is my very first. I’m giving up my giveaway virginity!!

In my last post, I told you about my friend Kimberly, who has written her second jelly roll book. Her first, Jelly Roll Quilts and More, was wonderful; I’ve made many quilts from her patterns, all of which went together easily, finished beautifully, and were quite satisfying to do. Her new book, Jelly Roll Quilt Magic, continues where the first book left off – and it is a doozie. It takes jelly roll creativity to a whole ‘nother level. The patterns are more challenging, but oh the quilts you can create!

Just to let you know how good this book is, thinking about it kept me up most of last night. Yep, I was tossing and turning because all kinds of ideas for fabric combinations kept running through my head. First there was the Amish-ish Lone Star quilt using solid brights on black to go over the fire place in my son’s new house. Then there was the Autumn Leaves quilt in batiks, and that really pretty Christmas quilt.......

I have a copy of Kimbery’s book to give away!! As it turns out, I was sooooo anxious to get it, I pre-ordered it twice from Amazon. My mistake is your good fortune! I am making the deal even sweeter by including two companion rulers created by Kimberly. They make using jelly rolls and pre-cuts so much easier: the Easy Star and Geese Ruler, and the Simpli-EZ Jelly Roll Ruler.

So what do you have to do to be eligible for this fabulous jelly package? Just post a comment on my blog telling me why you like working with jelly rolls, or why you would like to try working with them. If you want an extra chance at winning, post about my giveaway on your blog and include that info in your comment to me. How easy can it get? You have until Thursday night, October 13th, to enter. I will be spending the rest of the week training my cat to pull a name out of a hat.

DISCLAIMER: For those who might be wondering, although Kimberly is a friend, she is not in any way sponsoring this giveaway. This is strictly my deal. When I run across something I like and think will make life easier for my fellow quilters, I am not shy about promoting it.