In the Red . . . Scraps. And a Finish!!

The highlight of my week was on Monday when our daughter Emily (actually, she’s Bruce’s daughter from his previous marriage, but now she’s mine too!) brought her 3 kids over on Labor Day. Her hubby Chad in in the US Air Force and is stationed overseas for a year. So, since her son Deacon (age 8) needed help with a Cub Scout balsa flyer project, Grandpa (DH) was happy to step in.

That means that Emily and I, along with Abbie (7) and Gunner (3) got to hang out. We picked veggies (that is always great fun for little kids) and grapes, played, made pizza for lunch and talked and talked. And one thing I found out is that granddaughter Abbie is now bonkers over CATS. I knew that two of my other DGDs, Remi and London, were crazy for cats, but this was a new infatuation for Abbie and news to me. So, that means I now have THREE cat quilts to make for Christmas.

You know the cat quilts; each consists of a mama cat and 12 kittens per litter, like the red one on the right that I made this week. Six litters per quilt. I would have been finished with sewing felines after this month. And then..... dear Abbie. Needless to say, I will be sewing an additional six mama cats and 72 kittens in the next two months.

Anyway, I ran out right away and bought another couple yards of Kona white for cat and kitten backgrounds and so far I have made two more red mama cats for this month. Can you see them at the left? They are pregnant! LOL. But their litters are not due for another couple weeks because I will be on vacation in Missouri at a quilt retreat next week. Yes, we will be making a trip to Missouri Star Quilt Company. I went last year, too, but it will be nice to see the newly-remodeled store.

And I hope to get the rest of the mama cats (not to be confused with Mama Cass) cut out and sewn this month; one each in green, pink, blue and purple. Then next month I will do three yellow cats and kittens.  And somewhere over October and November the kittens for Mama Green, Blue, Pink and Purple will be stitched. But that is OK!  It’s not like I have anything else to do..... oh wait.....

Now I'm hoping we might be able to hold off on the living room remodel until after the Holidays. I have my RSC quilt to finish, these 3 cat quilts, plus four more quilts for DS1, DS2, DDIL, and DSIL2 (one started/shown last week) The vintage sheet quilt will wait until January, and when Aria comes back from the quilter, I'll only have to bind it.

The RSC blocks for this month were a breeze, and not only did I finish them, but I sewed them to the gray blocks from last month. In fact, although I don’t have a picture of it, everything is sewn together now except the yellow column.....

That was yesterday, and Alfalfa was feeling either very needy or very bossy, because he was with me in the studio supervising everything I did. And he is sitting on my lap this morning as I type this.

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This week I finished quilting Notting Hill, which will be one of the quilts that goes into the pile of 4 quilts that Emily and her sister Stacy will get to choose from for their Christmas present quilt: Notting Hill, Valentine, Birds & Bees and the RSC Sampler quilt). The other two I’ll keep.

Notting Hill done!

Notting Hill was also #3 on my 3rd Quarter Finish-Along goals.  I used the sampler format to practice old free-motion quilting skills and try out new ones. Overall, I am pleased enough with how it went. The sashing was all done in a line pattern. Stippling was used in 2-3 of the blocks.

In one block I used the zig-zag style. It was easier than I thought once I wrapped my brain around it, but it does need practice.  You can also see the border where I did free-form flowers and leaves.

Some blocks had hearts, spirals, waves, or loops. This wavy line quilting, below, turned out to be one of my favorites.

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This week I also finished another block in the Cozy Christmas Sew Along;  Cozy Tree.

I have started on next week’s block so that I won’t get behind while I’m away for a week. Next time I report on these I should have 2 more to show. Yes, Cozy Christmas is another quilt I would like to finish before Christmas.

And yes, I plan on moving into my studio/sewing room and forsaking all housekeeping, cooking (have a month’s worth of meals already made and frozen) and other “extra-curricular” activities. 

Linking up to:  So Scrappy Rainbow Scrap Challenge