Kitty Cats

One year ago, in June, there was a black cat in my side yard.  I called him and he came running as fast as he could run, meowing at the top of his lungs and then wrapped himself around my legs.  I thought he looked a bit thin, so I fed him.  :-)   He showed up for another three days and then on the fourth day, I looked out the window and there was a different kitty.  She looked really bad, very thin, her hair looked bad.  So I fed her.  About the fourth day, I looked out and there is the second kitty nursing baby kitties.  I named them, Mama Kitty, Baby Girl Kitty and Baby Boy Kitty. 

Where Black Kitty loved me, Mama Kitty would hiss at me and one year later she is still hissing at me.  To shorten a story, they are still here, they are outdoor kitties and they love my food.  I got Baby Boy fixed and my intentions were to get the girls fixed, but that is not easy with wild cats.  So this month, Mama brings me 5 babies and Baby Girl brings me 2 babies.  Help!!!!  They are going to break me buying kitty food. 

 

Moochers

 



The little kitties still run off when I go outside, but they are getting a little closer to me.  I think in a week or two, I will be able to pick them up and pet them.  Hopefully I can find nice homes for them.   The little black kitty,  came often to eat.  I really believe that he belonged to someone because he was not wild.  He was very friendly.   I think he got run over on Parish Road.  I was over there and there was a dead black kitty by the side of the road.  I never saw him again, so I am sure that it was him.  For those of you who don't know, I have two kitties and a dog in the house.  I have enough pet hair, I really cannot bring in more kitty cats.  They are as safe as I can make them. 

 

They are very entertaining.  The kitties are doing what kitties do, running, chasing and wrestling.   They keep Jack (the dog) entertained. 

 

Hope you have had a great day.  We have had rain, rain and more rain.  We are about to float away. 

 

 

It is Quilt Time

Since I last posted, I entered a quilt show and I finished a top. 

The top is one that I started many moons ago and you can find the story of the quilt farther down in the blog.  There is a mistake in it.  Just in case you find it :-) I am fixing it.  Pattern: Sharie's Quilts of Many Pieces

 

The three following quilts are the entries in the show.  The show was held at Sulphur, LA and had approximately 300 entries. 

 



There is Something Figgy Going On - Pattern: Sharie's Quilts of Many Pieces

 

 

Eyelashes for a Lady - Pattern:  Judy Neimeyer

 

 

Alaska - Nebraska
Pattern: Judy Neimeyer - I added the border

 

 

The show was great fun.  I saw many many many quilters that I have not seen for awhile.  The vendors were great, and of course I can always find something to purchase.  There was roughly ten of us for lunch.  Lunch was good and great conversation. 

 

Tomorrow - I hope - I am going to post about my kitchen and then the following day I hope to post about my kitty cats and then there is - what is on my wall???? 

 

Hope you all have a great day.



 

Chester

 

This is Chester, my daughters cat.  Chester is a wonderful cat, and he liked Fred

See the following post for   Fight For Fred Info.



Fight For Fred

FRED

Several years ago, Victor, my son,  was living in Sulphur.  He was on his way home from work.  It was raining, and dark, and as he drove up a busy street there was a Bassett Hound trying to cross the street.  He stopped, and put the Bassett in the car and took him home.  He attempted to find the owner without luck.  A couple weeks later, someone said to him, that they thought he belonged to the people that lived behind him and a house over.  Fred's owners, said for Vic to keep the dog, it looked like he would have a good home.  Vic had a fenced yard so Fred's wandering days were over.  Fred was a wonderful dog with lots of personality. 

Victor moved to California, back to the area that we had lived in for many years.  He took Fred with him.

A few days ago, Vic was in Walmart and he saw a Dynamic Ham Bone.   Vic thought Fred would really enjoy it.  Fred ended up at the vet's where they had to put him to sleep.  The bone had splintered and destroyed his insides. 

Vic and his girl friend Khristy and her sister have been hard at work trying to get these bones banned.  No dog or any animal should have to go through what Fred went through.  If you go to Fred's facebook page you will find there are many, many dogs that have been seriously ill or died from chewing on one of these ham bones.  

Go to Facebook

Fight for Fred...Ban products that are unsafe for dogs to consume.

 

Please sign their petition.  They have over 200,000 shares on this page.  

One More Shade of Blue............

This is a quilt I designed a while back.  I had designed another quilt and started to make it and it just did not "do it" for me.  The background colors were backwards.  I decided to change the dark to the light, and the light to the dark.  I was not  satisfied with the medallion center.  It wasn't working either, so back to the drawing board.  I think I like it now. 

 

One More Shade of Blue

 

I have always wanted to make a two color quilt.  I think they are gorgeous.  Me, being me, I knew that it would never happen. Two colors, never, never, never.  So I decided that I would make it in batik and use many shades of blue.  My white-tan background is all one fabric.  The quilt will probably not qualify as a two color quilt because as we all know, most batiks has other color running through them.  For me it is close.  

 

I watched The Quilt Show this morning.  They had Sharon Shamburg and Tom Russell as their guests.  For those of you who don't know Tom Russell passed away recently.  I met him once in Paducah.  I was with a group of people and Tom and the people he was with joined the people I was with and we all had supper together.  He was a very talented quilter.  The quilting world, and his family and friends will miss him. 

 

It is cold outside.  The wind feels like it is coming off the North Pole.  Before long, I will be saying, it is hot outside. 

 

Hope all is well. 

 

 

I'm Back..................

I am back, but I think I have said that before.  I have been dragging my feet a lot.  But, I do have some quilts done or nearly done.  I should have more done in all reality.  My brain really has not been on quilting but on selling a house and buying a house.  I am so tired of looking at houses (on the net).  And I think I am tired because it has been a chilly winter and a very gloomy one.  I like sunshine.  I do much better if the sun is shining.  But, when looking at houses, you can sure get a lot of ideas.  I have looked at www.zillow.com a lot.  They post the houses that are "for sale by owner" plus those that are for sale by realtor.  I have been looking primarily at the Cedar Rapids/Marion, IA area.  Here is my soapbox  I cannot believe the people vote themselves a tax and if they are not voting for the tax and letting the politicians tell them what is best for them, and the politicians are adding the tax unto an overtaxed situation already, there is something wrong with that picture.  Actually, I cannot believe that I am moving there, I have to be out of my mind, between the taxes, the snow, the cold, I have to have rocks in my head.  I keep telling myself - it will be okay.  It just makes me wonder how many of the people of Iowa loose their homes because they cannot pay the tax? 

Quilts - The World of the Wild Goose
As I said I have been quilting.  Here is one that I have been working on.  I am going to post more in a day or so.  So if you want to see the latest do come back. 

The World of the Wild Goose

 

This quilt has a long story.  I started this at a retreat a few years ago.  Each block has 27 pieces.  It takes a lot of time to make one block.  I didn't make very many at that retreat.  I took the blocks home and put them in a box, marked the box, put them on the shelf.  Next year, retreat, take the box down, go to retreat, make a few blocks, take them home, put them in the box, and put them on the shelf.  I was quilting with some girls at night and I decided this would be a good project.  The problem was, I only met with them usually one time a week.  It was for 2 hours.  I was lucky to make one block.  I decided I was not going to get this quilt done.  I took it home, put it on the design wall and made a few blocks and decided I was bored.  So I put another quilt on top of it, made it, then made a few blocks for this quilt, got bored, made another quilt and it was vicious circle.  Maybe three months ago, I decided I needed to finish this quilt.

 

I looked at the quilt, I still had about 50 blocks to go.  I thought - there is no way on this earth that I am going to finish it.  So I looked at and thought - I will redesign it.  So off to the computer, I took it from 144 block quilt to a 100 block quilt.  That cut down the blocks a bit that I still had to make.  I had nearly all of them done, when the thought came to me - what are you going to do about the border?  The border really needed something, but not too busy because the middle is busy, really busy.  I was standing in front of the quilt looking at an outside block and thought - what would it look like if I expanded this lavender piece into the border.  I got some fabric, folded it, slapped it on the design wall, stuck a pin in it and did the same to the gold.  I stood back and looked at it and thought - that will work. 

 

Now, what am I going to name it?  I had thought of it many times over the period of time that I have been making it.   I knew I had to name it something with geese or goose because of all the flying geese in the pattern.  Lots of times I will get an idea from doing searches on line with just a word.  Well, I tried that, but I could not get anything to fit.  I really wanted to bring in the color of the quilt so it would have meaning.  In the end, I came up with "The World of the Wild Goose."  And it is the world of the wild goose, the gold fields, the blue water, the red sunsets, the purple mountains and the white snow.   Now, wasn't I lucky, I picked those colors :-)  You might want to enlarge this picture so you can see the pattern better. 

 

When I made the border blocks, my quilt went from 100 blocks back to a 144 block quilt. 

 

Genealogy

I am trying to solve the mystery of the "M's."  In my Crago/Craigo line beginning with Nathan born 1783 his name is Nathan M. Crago.  What is "M?"  Nathan named nearly all of his children with an "M" for a middle name.  It tracks through the generations.  I find that the Crago's named all of their children for somebody.  Continental Congress, Revolutionary War, VA governors, anybody who was anybody, the Crago's borrowed their name.  We do have Marion used for a middle name, but I would like to see it in the earlier generations.  Francis Marion, most of the towns, and counties that are named Marion, are named for Francis Marion.  It is hard to find any documentation that lists a full name.  Anyone doing Crago/Craigo/Cragow genealogy if you have an answer, I sure would like to hear it.  Contact me by my email address. 

 

Hope you all have a great day..................

 



 





Moving - still moving - Quilting Alaska/Nebraska

Moving...........
A while back I mentioned that I was looking on Whidbey Island for a house.  I also said it was a woman's prerogative to change her mind.  As you know I change my mind.  I looked at Whidbey Island - it being an island it is limited on housing.  Property is expensive and scarce.  Trying to find that perfect home or even something close is just not happening.  I will say property taxes are reasonable in fact they are about 1/3 of what the taxes are in Iowa.  I am looking again at Iowa.  Property I can find but again that perfect house is just not happening.  Iowa has very high property tax, it is the 7th highest property tax state in the country.  I don't understand it, Iowa is cornfields.  Where is that money going?  There are a lot of words that I could say on the subject and at a later time I might do that.  I will continue to look for a house, and I will probably find one.  It certainly won't be my dream house. I am not rich, I cannot afford $500 plus a month for property tax.  It would be nice if I could have a few coins to buy quilt fabric. 

Speaking of quilt fabric...............
I have all the parts made for Alaska/Nebraska.  Today I start putting it together. 


On design board 1 - top of quilt
 

 



 

On design board 2 - bottom of quilt

The quilt will look better once it is sewn together.  Believe it or not there is a method to my madness.  This is a scrappy quilt, planned scrappy.  You can read more about this quilt in previous postings.

 

Genealogy --- Crago variations and McGahey variations of names

In the right column, under Genealogy, I have added a paragraph.  If you are doing genealogy, or you know people with those surnames, please read it, just in case you might have some information for me.  I would really like to find these people and what their relationship was if any.  We are talking in the period of time around 1750 to roughly 1850.   Contact me through my email address.  Thanks a bunch.

Kittie Kats

My daughter is an artist and she lives in Spokane, Washington.  She has just started a shop on Etsy.  You might want to stop in and take a look.  Here is an example of what you will find.

Ellen's  etsy store is: www.etsy.com/shop/EllenPaulsonArtist

Ellen's art facebook is: www.facebook.com/ArtbyEllenPaulson

 

Alaska/Nebraska, and other things too................

Alaska/Nebraska

Alaska/Nebraska
 

Bottom of Alaska/Nebraska
 

I am making slow progress with this quilt, but it is coming together.  I now have the outside blocks finished and have started the center.  I do not have all the "borders" on the outside blocks as yet, so it may look like it is not "quite right."  Hopefully by the end of the month, the top will be done.  The picture to the right is the top of the quilt.  I could not get the whole quilt on the same design wall.  I am not tall enough.  Also, on this picture you can see I am  auditioning fabric.

The picture to the left is the bottom of the quilt on the second design wall. 





        
Sitting Bull
In 1984, my Aunt passed away.  The state of Arizona had made me first her guardian, then conservator and the executrix of her will.  I sold most of her things but there were a few things that did not sell and so thus I kept them.  These items are amongst my "treasures."  One of these treasures is a small dish.   I have looked at this dish for years wondering why there was an Indian decal on a dish made in Germany.  On the back of the dish it says Royal Saxe E S Germany.  The other day, I decided I was going to look this up to see if I could find anything.  I have made I think a pretty good guess.



Sitting Bull
 

On the front of the dish is the decal of an Indian and in very fine print it says Sitting Bull.  In about 1885 Sitting Bull was in jail.  He was released and went with the Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show to Europe.  This dish must be a souvenir of that show.  Sitting Bull had quite a history.  He was born in 1831. He became a Chief of the Sioux Indians, and was at the battle of Custer's Last Stand in 1876.   He killed his first buffalo at the age of 10. It makes me wonder what must have went through his mind about his life before he died.  He died when he was shot by Indian Police in 1890.  

How did my aunt get this dish?   In her things were many old things.  My guess is that they may have belonged to her grandmother.  Or I had a great grandfather and a grandfather from Denmark.  Back during that time, Denmark was sometimes part of Germany.  That is a part of my history that is lost forever.  Me, being a genealogist, I could kick myself a thousand ways for not being more inquisitive about things.  I grew up during the period of time when children were seen and not heard.  That went with me into my adult life.  So, a word of wisdom, if you have something old and you do not know the history, ask someone.  Once they are gone, that information is gone. And, be sure to document it somewhere.  If nowhere else, put it in your Bible. 

A bird came to visit...........
My office has wonderful windows and outside these windows are large bushes cut like trees.  The birds love them.

In the last few days, I have had visitors.  They will show up for a day or so and then they are gone.  This little birdie, one of many, I managed to get his picture.  I need to look in my bird book to see what he is.  He has interesting markings.  At the tip of his tail it is bright yellow for about a quarter of an inch.  His breast is pale yellow and he has interesting eye markings.  I think they are gone now, but they will come back, maybe in the fall when the birds fly south. 

Hope you all have a wonderful day..............  

Change is in the Air

Moving.......
I have heard that women have the prerogative to change their minds.  I am sure by this time most people think that I am over doing it or have just gone bonkers.  Change is in the air............ I have done it again.  I have a new destination for my move.  At the moment, and if I can find a house, I am moving to Whidbey Island, WA.  Why, why, why............My son lives there and my grandchildren, I have a daughter in Spokane and a son in Vista, CA.  All much closer than Louisiana or Iowa.  It would have been nice to go to Iowa, it is my roots, but they have had a winter that I would rather not experience, so when #1 son said come to Whidbey, and I do love Whidbey, I said, "why not?"  I am house hunting.  Come back, see what happens in this little saga. 

Quilting..........
In 2012 I went to Alaska and in 2013 I went to Nebraska.  If you would like to know the stories and see the pictures go to the label section and find Alaska and then Nebraska.   Of course I went to quilt shops and shopped and shopped.

Alaska - Nebraska
 

I decided that I was going to make a quilt using only the fabric that I bought on those two trips.  This is a Judy Neimeyer pattern with a slight adjustment.  When this quilt is farther along I will fill you in on what I am doing with the fabric.  I am making slow progress and that is because I have my head on a move instead of on quilting, but, hopefully before I do move I will have this quilt done.  I have put these blocks on this design board in no particular order.  There is many more to go. 

Hope you have a good day.

A New Year...............

Christmas and New Years............
Hope everyone had a  Merry Christmas and have a great New Year. 

I had a nice holiday, a Merry Christmas and the dogs, cats and I watched the festivities at Times Square and listened to my neighbors blow up their money.  I have never understood this, people so willing to blow up their hard earned cash.  I guess because I grew up in a state where it was illegal to have fireworks unless they were done by the city, state, or county I have just never understood the want to take the risk of possibly blowing off your hand.  When I lived in California, my son had a friend living in the house behind us.  He had a terrible accident and lost most of his hand.  I guess I just find it scary.

New on the quilting front............

X Marks the Spot
 

X Marks the Spot
 

This is one of my "quick quilts" to use up stash.  I had this line of fabric "Fandango" in my stash for some time.  I would look at it every now and then and think how pretty it was, but it was also very busy.  I would think what am I going to do with this and stuck it back on the shelf.   I was looking through a Quilt Sampler magazine.  That is probably my favorite quilt magazine.  In one of the pictures there was a quilt hanging.  Only about one block was showing going down the quilt.  It did not have borders.  This quilt was busy.  I thought maybe "Fandango" would work in this quilt.  I call this quilt, "X Marks the Spot."  You have to look hard.  See it?????  Here is a hint - it is brown going top left to bottom right and yellow top right to bottom left. Also going across the rows - top row: red, blue, red, blue etc - 2nd row: blue, red, blue, red etc.  This should be a quick quilt, notice I said should be.  I always get delayed trying to figure the right pattern of the fabric with the right color of the fabric.  It slows me down a bit.   In the second picture, I have the corner.  I put the binding fabric under the quilt corner so you can get an idea of what it will look like when it is finished. 

My next "quick" quilt is going to be "dotty."  I have always wanted to make a "dotty" quilt.  I have been saving polka dots and anything that looked like it might be a dot for a very long time.   I don't think it will be very quick, but hopefully, maybe in a month or so I will have it finished. 

Hope all is well with you.........

December Pineapple...........

December Pineapple Pattern
 

Not much new here.  We had frost again this morning.  We have had frost several mornings.  I am hoping that all the foliage in the yard makes it come spring. 

December Pineapple.............

This pattern is a 2 block pattern quilt, both are 5" blocks and are paper pieced.

There are 144 blocks in the design.  The quilt measures 77 X 77.  The paper piecing patterns are included.  How-to paper piece instructions or how to put a quilt together are not included. 

Cost - $15 - if you are interested in a pattern contact me through my email address.

I am working on this quilt.  This is what I have at this time.  

December Pineapple



Hope all is well with you.............

Pattern, Practicing

PRACTICING
I am practicing for my move to Iowa.  Yesterday I went to a craft sale.  It was cold.  I wore a coat and gloves.  Thankfully it was held inside.  It was about 40 degrees.  I noticed this morning it was below zero in Iowa.  Now that is cold.

SHARIE'S QUILTS OF MANY PIECES


December Pineapple
 

I am working on another pattern.  I have always said that there is no way that I could make a two color quilt.  I would get bored, I would start it and never finish it.  Well, I have decided that I am going to make a two color quilt but it is going to be many shades.  My background color is actually a tannish white with brush strokes of color, very faint, but it is there.  In the end, it probably will not qualify as a two color quilt.  I am using blue batiks and most of the batiks have other colors blended in them.  It is about as close to a two color quilt as I will probably ever get.  Here is a "teaser" of the pattern.  I am working on the pattern and should have it finished soon.  The quilt you see under it, I will make a pattern of it also possibly in January.

Hope all is well with you.