Pin It Weekly #88

Because I'll be in Houston tomorrow, I thought I'd pin a few pics from previous shows, especially those that I don't remember very well or that I haven't posted pictures of before.  

Let's Go to Houston!

This year we have plans with the children and grandchildren on Saturday to do some Trick or Treating.  That means going to Houston would require either a date change or a time change. 

I am not willing to drive five hours just to cut down on the amount of time I have for viewing the quilts.  That leaves a date change. 

Since Sundays are for mass and resting, we've decided to go on a different day of the week.  Friday is out because I need to be at school.  Thursday it is, then! 

I'm like a little kid waiting to go to Disney World, I'm so excited!  

 Richard has a bad cold, so I may have to drive part of the way, but I don't even mind the idea of driving.  It means seeing some beautiful quilts like the ones in these pictures from 2013 and 2012.

So who can blame me for the excitement?  Or for missing a day of school?  Or for wanting to spend every moment of my day in the George R. Brown Convention Center?

Will you join me?  I truly hope you get to come, but if not, I promise to take tons of pictures.  And I promise to do the best I can to get some fairly decent ones.   (As long as I don't have to be rude to anyone.)  And I promise to post lots and lots of them next week.  So come back and join me, will you?

Modern Mondays

Last Monday I told you about one of the Louisiana Traveling Quilt blocks that I worked on in an attempt to catch up with everyone else. 

I had fallen behind while the studio was playing storeroom to the house, so I needed to work on several blocks as quickly as possible. Happily, I am now caught up.  Or at least I don't have a quilt top right now.


So I thought I'd tell you about the other quilt that I worked on.  

Unfortunately I don't have very many pictures of the quilt.

This is the quilt as it arrived at my house (only it's much prettier in person).  Of course, I fell in love!  I decided to add one more color by adding another border to the bottom.   

I made a long strip of piano keys in the neutrals that are so dominant in the center with a little of this teal that I've been saving for a special quilt.  It has a fun pattern of strips of newspaper. 

Eventually I had enough piano keys to reach from one end to the other.  Then it was just a matter of stitching them together and sewing them in.

If you look closely in this last photo, you can see the newspaper strips.  It was the reason that I bought the fabric.  As a reader, I simply could not walk away from it.

Visit the Louisiana Traveling Quilt Pinterest site to see more pictures of the quilts as they are added to.

Kitties and Kiddies

So we have stray cats around the farm.  It's normally not kosher to have feral cats, but there's not much we can do since we can't catch them.  Adding to the problem is that people tend to use our area as a drop-off place for animals they don't want.  

It's sad but the reality is that the cats are here. I can't let them starve nor can we afford to spay/neuter every one.  This sometimes means babies also arrive.  

The babies are always cute, mewing under bushes, peeking around corners, darting under equipment.  As soon as the grandchildren hear them, it's on!  Dusti and Jolie have searched for hours.   Kittens are great at hiding when they don't want to be found--especially once they grow a bit.  

Last weekend Marley and Dusti did the searching.  Once found, the kittens were treated to a bath, food and TLC.  The only problem with getting TLC from a four-year-old: tight squeezes and fewer escapes under the furniture.  If only for an hour or two, these four little kittens certainly were appreciated.  I'm hopeful that we'll be able to find a couple of good homes for them.  They quickly took to being handled and ate soft food, but they are still very young and can't leave their mother quite yet.  

Pin it Weekly #87