Pukeko Kittens

I just got back from visiting my brother in California. Apparently, I got there just in time for rain and wind advisories. But hopefully now that I've returned home, their weather can return back to normal. And I was quite nervous to leave an unattended sewing room. Fortunately, the devastation I returned to was the devastation I left.  However, these two kittens sporting the New Zealand pukeko showed up...once and for all proving there is some mysterious cat portal under Mystic Quilter's control.

White Singer Featherweight

My niece said she was thinking of taking sewing lessons but her mother didn't know what she would do for a sewing machine. My sister-in-law had an old featherweight that she had inherited from her mother, but she couldn't imagine her daughter would want to sew with that old thing. Needless to say "that old thing" is now getting a spa treatment and will be quite a cherished birthday present for my niece.

Pink February

Now that I've gotten your attention...

Here's a pink card trick block that is very easy to piece. I show how to construct it here. Other amazing feats of pink are on display at the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge.

Pink Flamingo revisited

Thinking pink.

I was able to remove the tree from driveway, but unfortunately it involved a fatal chainsaw accident. We are often told to wear protective clothing when using a chainsaw, but I have never heard of protections for the chainsaw. As I was maneuvering around the log, I tripped over my girly battery-powered chainsaw and broke the latch that holds the battery in place. If the chainsaw had been wearing a helmet, it would have survived this fatal blow. So all you chainsaws out there...be careful around people...they are very dangerous!

High Wind Advisory

I always find Cathy over at Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting so inspirational. So when she described her power outage and fallen tree, I thought "Count me in!" Of course, I don't want to be just like everyone else, so no snow was involved. Just wind.

Card Trick Easy Piecing

I have to confess to being an extremely lazy piecer who plays the game "the one with the fewest seams" wins. I started quilting just before the rotary cutter made its debut, so at that time there was a lot of emphasis on how to make things simple. Needless to say, I have been amazed at the intricate piecing techniques of the card trick over at the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge. But I do have to protest when quilters claim that piecing the card trick on the diagonal is easy.

In particular, I remember back in the late 70s when Mary Ellen Hopkins advised us to tip blocks on the diagonal to look for easier construction. And she often used the card trick block as an example.

This is what I would call the easy way to assemble a card trick block. Because I have an abundance of 1.5 inch strips, I made the pink card trick block using a one inch grid. Admittedly, if you are making your card trick to meet the size requirement at the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge, you will have to adjust your measurements. For the turquoise card trick, I cut 2 inch squares and 2 by 3.5 inch rectangles and my final card trick block came to 6 5/8 inches square...overshooting the 6.5 inch mark by 1/8 inch. Of course, your results will vary and you will want to cut, trim or sew accordingly.