National Cat Day Celebration!

Happy National Cat Day, the day to share our love of all things feline!

Currently, I share my home with two 11 year old kitties, Winston and Toby, and how perfect that they are shown both lounging on quilts.

Winston is especially sweet and soft, while Toby, he's a bit jumpy, so... well, he's Toby. Along with those two fur babies, I also have several cat quilts and runners, such as Pumpkat Patch and Pumpkin Peek-a-Boo,

and also Wrap Up Some Love and Sheba.

Yes, I do so love the kitties!! Which brings me to my current project, a cat inspired UFO from around 10 years ago.

For the celebration today, instead of dreaming up a new cat quilt, I've decided to finally put together my hand appliqued cat blocks that I designed so long ago. Here's a sneak peek at two of them - I'll show the others when it's finally together.

With all of those projects, I'd say I've done pretty well honoring our feline friends, and hope that you join me by sharing your cat or cat themed project today to celebrate National Cat Day. And do let me know if you would like to make this a yearly party - I'm good with that! The dog lovers certainly want me to continue with National Dog Day on August 26. So let's not leave the cats out in the cold!

OH! Did I mention there's a couple of giveaways??? 

The first giveaway is your choice of 1 (one) of the above four cat patterns. One lucky winner will be emailed the PDF pattern of their choice.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The second giveaway is a copy of the new cat-themed quilt book, Purr-fect Patchwork (affiliate link). 

Purr-fect Patchwork is full of a ton of creative projects with a cat theme - here's a few:

Just too cute, right? This is the purr-fect book for cat-loving quilters! Enter to win this book with the Rafflecopter widget below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Both the giveaways and the linky party are open until midnight October 31. Winners will be announced at the November 3 Midweek Makers.

Now let's get to celebrating those kitties!  

• this party is for cat related projects only - dogs and others pets can stay home!
• please link directly to your post not your home page
• visit with the other guests and spread the cat love!

Have fun!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Midweek Makers 303

Welcome to Midweek Makers - let's do some sharing!

I have a two client baby quilts to show today, this adorable peach one, quilted with lilac thread in a butterfly design,

and this colorful quilt with an open leaf design done in Glide Celery.

Both were fun quilts to quilt up. And let's not forget the winner of last week's Beyond the Tee book giveaway - congratulations to Betsy! 

Now, how about a few blue quilts from last week?

From Bell Creek Quilts, this in-progress QOV,

this monochromatic beauty from Den syende himmel,

and a pretty blue pineapple quilt from Quilts etc.

And don't forget to share your feline love this Friday for National Cat Day!

So, what's your share today?

• please link directly to your post not your homepage
• please link a quilt related item
• visit the other guests and leave some quilt love

Have fun!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Halloween Quilts

I you were reading Friday's post about my new runner, Jack O' Lantern, you may have noted that I'm more of a traditionalist when it come to Halloween images. Along with pumpkins, bats, witches and ghosts, Frankenstein also came to mind, specifically my Frankenquilter mini wall hanging.

 

Full of many parts along with the tools to make him, Frankenquilter is quite handsome, don't you think? Well, maybe that's a stretch, but he sure is a fun take on a Halloween favorite!

Here's another quilt from a traditional favorite, Just Batty.

I love all of these bats swooping and twirling up in a moonlit sky - can't you imagine it? With more bats in the larger twin size, that whirling group of bats could be called a cauldron or a cloud. Personally, I like the cloud term - seems fitting.

I'm also okay with spooky eyes peeking out at me from the dark, like those found in Halloween Fright Night. 

Owls and cats are watching in between a variety of Halloween fabrics - spooky yet fun!

Of course, I can't leave out everyone's favorite right now, Pumpkat Patch. There's something about this runner that appeals to everyone!

And me included, as I have it displayed on a hutch every year for two months.

Of course, Halloween wouldn't be complete without candy! And it's back to tradition with Candy Corn, seen here as a block,

or with the candy pieces used separately, along with some wrapped candies to make the fun and festive Halloween Candy table runner.

See? I've definitely gotten into the Halloween spirit, updating those traditional spooks. Hmm, wonder what I'll dream up for next year??? But for now, all of those quilts above are available in my Etsy shop so you can make your own.

Happy Haunting!

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My Favorite Patterns

Jack O Lantern Runner

Welcome to my day of the Ghastly Ghouls Blog Hop! I'm excited to introduce you to my newest friend, Jack O Lantern.

This easy runner is not only cute and adorable, it has just the right amount of spookiness for Just Let Me Quilt's Halloween themed Ghastly Ghouls blog hop - Carol and friends always come up with the best hop ideas!

Though I love Halloween (probably because of all the orange), I'm not a big fan of zombies, ghouls, goblins, or anything too creepy, preferring to keep the holiday on the lighter side with the traditional pumpkins, bats, witches and ghosts. 

With that in mind, here's a little creativity background: When the Halloween themed hop came up, of course I had to join in. I certainly couldn't resist playing with all the orange fabrics I've accumulated - they were my inspiration. Lots of different oranges, from pale to dark, and yellow to red for a ton of variety.

After stitching all the oranges together, the final touch to my Jack O' Lantern runner is the addition of the pumpkins. Reversing the traditional pumpkin color so that the shell is black lets the oranges of the background shine through the eyes, nose and mouth. The appliques make for a nice twist on the traditional carved pumpkin!

For the quilting, I decided on a straight line - pointy - triangular fill. Think of stippling, but use straight lines and points instead of a flowing curves.

And that spiky quilting was the perfect touch to make my Jack O Lantern a bit more spooky!

Now, if you're just finding the Ghastly Ghouls blog hop, the list of all the quilters over the week can be found on this page at Just Let Me Quilt. For a quick check of today's ghoulish projects, visit my other fellow quilters:

OCTOBER 22
 
Just Let Me Quilt
Quilt Fabrication
Selina Quilts
Ms P Designs USA

And there's still plenty of time before Halloween to make this super easy, beginner friendly runner. The Jack O Lantern pattern includes two additional faces, in full size templates, and is available at special pattern launch pricing now through Halloween night, October 31.

Happy Haunting!

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My Favorite Patterns

Midweek Makers 302

Welcome to Midweek Makers - let's do some sharing! I've got these lime green scrap blocks for RSC2021, 

which finishes up the colors for the year, according to the RSC2021 page at the SoScrappy hostess site. November and December are designated for assembly and finishing, which is good cause I haven't decided how I'll set my blocks. Then with the new year, we'll start the RSC challenge all over again - yay to using scraps!

I'm also sending out another reminder that my National Cat Day linky party is next week, Friday, October 29. Grab any cat themed quilt item and/or your cat and start getting those cat-themed posts ready. Let's see if the love for cats can beat out the love for dogs!

While we're on the subject of cats and dogs, these pets showed up last week.

From Scrapbox Quilts, an in-progress dog quilt,

from Sew Preeti Quilts, an endangered species project about the Iberean Linx,

and from Time 4 Stitchn, a retro Halloween kitty panel.

Now it's your turn to share - come link up!

• please link directly to your post not your homepage
• please link a quilt related item
• visit with the other guests and leave some comment love

Have fun!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

FREE Sew Much Fun Quilt Blocks 9 - 12

There's more FREE sewing themed quilt blocks to be had from Quilting Around the Block! 

This post covers blocks 9 thru 12, and you can find pictures and links to blocks 1-8 at my FREE Sew Much Fun post back in September.

Now, here's blocks 9-12.

Block 9 is a fun seam ripper from Katie Mae Quilts,

while with Block 10, you can get your groove on with these headphones from Always Expect Moore.

Scrapdash brings us Block 11, a cute spool and bobbin block.

And for Block 12, it's bobbins from Penny Spool Quilts, just so you don't run out.

This should now bring everyone up to date on the FREE Sewing blocks, with more still to come. I'll be back again in a month or so with the next group. Until then, 

Happy Quilting!

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My Favorite Patterns

Beyond the Tee - Book Giveaway!

The construction of my neighbor's memory quilts over the past couple weeks incorporated both the T-shirt quilt and the quilt-as-you-go quilting styles. In some ways, it was nice not to deal with stabilizing knit fabrics, though cutting button-down shirts had their challenges too. 

Personally, I'd rather work with t-shirts for the greater creative process. I know that scares a lot of quilters, which is why I think it would be a good time to have a giveaway of Mary and Jen Cannizzaro's book, Beyond the Tee (affiliate link).

Mary and Jen's Beyond the Tee book covers using your basic t-shirt in creative shapes and settings. This is not your standard t-shirt as a square or rectangle shape. The two quilters have created t-shirt quilts using diamonds, hexagons, circles, or ovals for some truly stunning quilts. Check out these below.

Personally, I'm thinking I need to up my game - these make my memory quilts look quite amateur!

I guess I could have incorporated some of Mary and Jen's ideas into my quilts, as the two provide hints and tips for dealing with clothing having buttons and zippers, pockets, over-sized images, or an embroidered design. And check out this idea for using ties:

My neighbor did hand over a bunch of ties as a 'use them if you can' sort of idea. Right now, I don't have the time or energy to deal with them, though I love that little wall hanging using ties that Mary and Jen designed.

So, has all of this inspired you to tackle a t-shirt or memory quilt? Would you like to make one of the quilts from the Beyond the Tee book? Then enter to win a copy!

The giveaway for Beyond the Tee starts today and ends midnight, Tuesday October 19. Giveaway is open to continental US resident only - no Alaska, Hawaii, or International entries at this time - sorry. Enter via Rafflecopter below. Winner will be announced on Midweek Makers. Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Quilting!

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My Favorite Patterns