color me happy kittens quilt

i have had this fabric for YEARS and never came up with a plan for it.
it was ideally going to be a quilt for my bed when i bought it (which was 3ish years ago i think?) but clearly THAT never happened.
instead, 100 days 100 blocks happened for my bed which was perfectly fine in the end... and probably better than what i would have done at the point in time i bought this fabric.
when it came to spring break last year, lisa and i wanted to plan another sew together to do, so we picked these kitties to do as quilt for us!  (see twin dogs in sweaters quilt for our previous adventure) i decided to run with the "color me happy" line of fabric i had, but couldn't decide on a background color.  i had initially purchased kona leprechaun, but it was just too blah when it all came together.  don't worry, the leprechaun went to a good cause... like a certain 4 turtles.
lisa and i did some shop hopping while together in utah, and i found this FANTASTIC grunge to use (i believe it is deep jade) and it became the perfect blend of blues & greens to go with the main colors of the prints.
i also swapped in some grunge for the main parts of the kitten faces that were cohesive between all the kittens instead of a kona cotton.  when in doubt, get grunge.
the craziest part was that i cut all of the eyes the first night, and then when i came out the next morning, they were gone.  like, straight up vanished in to thin air.
my bet is going to be that when lisa moves out of that apartment, she's going to find a stack of grunge squares waiting for her to start another kittens quilt! yes, even the kitty eyes were grunge...
when it was time to quilt it, i felt like the perfect pantograph was the loop the loop one i have used many times before on music quilts, but this time it fit perfectly like it was yarn the kittens were playing with.  the grunge hits the spot backing was perfect, and i used bits of the same fabrics to create a scrappy binding to go around the outside.  this meant i had to jump back in to my hand binding skills after a good chunk of time practicing my machine binding.
it is safe to say i just love elizabeth hartman patterns for so many reasons.  they're adorable, east to follow and i also just love how she names each of the characters.  each of these 6 kitten blocks have a different name, which was really funny when lisa and i hit late night sew fest tiredness and were discussing these cats by name like they were real.  my mom is intrigued by this pattern, probably because it is much bigger than the cat blocks, so it will be interesting to see when she does it and how her cats turn out!
pattern: the kittens by elizabeth hartman
quilt count: 127

this week

please enjoy this random rosco
starting tomorrow, i'm off to austin, tx for my first ever quiltcon experience!
for years i've seen posts about quiltcon on instagram, and since i joined the sacramento modern quilt guild 3 years ago i've heard about the amazing experience of going.
as fate would have it, with erika moving to texas last year, this was the perfect series of events to create all the reasons to take time off work and make the trip.
i'll be at quiltcon tomorrow thru sunday, and then sunday to monday i'll be getting in some long overdue best friend time.
i'll be sure to recap my experiences both here and probably on instagram as they're happening, so be sure to check back in soon!  also follow me @wereradletshug if you don't already :)

atomic kitty cat baby quilt

this summer sure felt like a wave of baby quilts passed through.  or maybe i just got vary spur of the moment ideas to make great things happen in a short period of time once baby shower invitations arrived in my mailbox.  because if you know me, you know i cannot show up to a baby shower uncrafty in one way or another.  this first quilt was for an extra special someone who dates back to the early 90s, as lacy was one of my very first friends from kindergarten!
she announced she was pregnant, and i instantly knew i had to make her something animal themed.  then, to all of our surprises, she kept the baby gender a secret until they arrived in to the world!  how to make an appropriately gender neutral quilt was the big question on my mind, and then i remembered this pattern i saw time and time again on instagram, and knew it was time to make it happen.
the atomic kitty pattern by paula steel quilts was just as adorable as it was easy to piece.  everything is either a square, a half square triangle or a flying geese block, and the trickiest part was keeping them in order!  i pulled fabric from my stash to make these colorful kittens, and it ended up being perfectly gender neutral as i hoped. keeping these rainbow colored kitties bright and cheery, with a hint of sparkly black did just the trick. originally i was planning to just use prints, but these kitties just needed some grunge and dimples fabric mixed in to the bunch!
this was another experience with machine binding, which i am getting more and more confident with each time i do it.  the red helped frame the quilt nicely, plus it was a print that i had enough of that wasn't used in the kitty faces at all!  i finished a day or two before the shower, so i didn't long arm it.  instead, i used my trusty chalk liner and walking foot to grid these kitties out.  having a more structured straight quilting also helped the kitties remain the main focus.
the backing was a perfect rainbow kitty mix, which tied in perfectly with the front.  i don't think joann's could have done a more perfect print for me to stumble upon to go with this random quilt idea.
and the verdit?
a sweet baby BOY was born just weeks after the baby shower, but a month before his due date.  he came in happy, healthy and ready to venture out in to the world!  it has been so fun to watch my dear friend become a momma (to a furless child, that is!) and cannot wait to meet him :)
pattern information: atomic kitty quilt block - paula steel quilts
quilt count: 121

the official pudge catvent post

here it is, friends...
the moment you've all been waiting for.
in reality, it's more than likely primarily the moment i've been waiting for, because it means that this beast is DONE.  alas.  no more wip photos here, there and everywhere in between.  but that's all groovy.  because....
taa-daa!
100 pudge cats, all buddy buddy like on a quilt just for me.
only took about 5 months in to the new year to get it done, but better late than never, right?  i have to say, despite the one crooked side that really doesn't show in these pictures (yep.  i'll state flaws in my quilts.  adds in some uniqueness to each one), i am very pleased with this quilt.  everything came together rather well, and the pink noses are probably my favorite part.  but i'm also a little biased to my pink nose grump cat.
this one here is the most elroy-esque in layout and such, and i still have YET to test out the glowing bits all over this quilt. should have done it right after i took all these pictures. oops.
so since the back is one solid piece, i decided to forgo the entire photo of it, and show off more kitties!  the thread is variegated black, white and gray, which blended in well with the front and back without being too "in your face" in contrast to the kitties.  this was round 2 with my walking foot, and it went a million times better.  though, i opted for chalk lining everything instead of using the guide, so that will take some practice.
i love this little yarn ball looking gray.  when i saw it initially, i bought yards and yards of it for this quilt.  good thing i did at the time, because when i was it the store last weekend, i saw none of it at all!
i attempted to lint roll this quilt, but there was no use. it took one layer off, but then i think it attracted even more as it hung there. my kitties became more realistic. look at that fur texture! amazing!
i'll wrap things up with this almost calm looking elroy.
you'd think he'd be a little bit happy that he has a gang of 100 friends now.
whatever elroy.  i'll just keep loving you, and you'll just keep being grumpy about it.
punk.
to the rest of you, happy friday!

kitten mini quilt swap 2015

i participated in my first instagram hosted swap this year, and it was quite the experience.  i have done plenty of craftster swaps, where you know who you are sending to/from and all that jazz.  this one, i knew who i was sending to but i had no idea who would be sending to me (i still don't, as i haven't yet received anything!)  the theme for this swap was a kitten/cat mini quilt, so of course i was easily swayed to create something kitty related.  when i got my partner assignment, i was super excited, as it was someone i already followed on instragram, and started to get some ideas from her likes as well as her fur babies.  i found this paper pieced pattern on craftsy, located the awesome retro backing fabric on ebay, and found some fantastic crosshatch fabric to create the gray tabbyness of the kitty.  alright, without more delay, here's the full piece!
loved this paper piecing pattern. everything went together quite smoothly, with the exception of the nose.  that had to be the trickiest part.  the pieces were so tiny!  i found the blue background fabric and the red swirl "blanket" fabrics in stuff that i had acquired from my grandma, and it worked perfectly to make this kitty stand out.  i went with a stitch in the ditch quilting around the kitty face parts and left it at that to not make things too busy.
such a nice kitty. sure looks like our cats. sleeping, sleeping, sleeping.
i just love the back fabric. these little kitties are red and blue cross hatched on them, which went perfectly with the front. the order i got from ebay also had the same fabric on a blue background... so i have more of these kitties to play with on my own time. yay! and i'm certain it will end up in my scrappy square quilt that has yet to begin... yep. some projects are all talk, no action right now.
it is perfect that there is a little kitty right above my nametag, but that's not what is really exciting here... would you look at that corner?! i don't think i have EVER gotten one to look so perfect in my life... hall of fame right there, folks.
with all the school and life chaos happening at the time, i lost track of time and didn't have a chance to make her any special extras to go along with her mini quilt like some people were. i still wanted my wonderful partner to feel special, so i found this cute kitty shaped pen at target, and i also ordered her a silly book that my parents also got me for christmas. i saw my first "how do dinosaurs..." book when i was last in colorado, and something later on popped up on amazon regarding this one and i just cracked up and sent it to my mom. i hope my partner appreciated this silly nonsense book, and that her kitties love storytime too :)
next swap theme?
who knows yet... i'm hoping for another disney round, that's for sure!

weekend wips

insert random photo of tawny scrawny cat that has been showing up in our yard every so often.
why?  because i realized last night i had zero in progress photos ready to share with this post.
onward with the past week of crafting!
baby girl quilt:
this quilt is SO CLOSE to being done... but i've been so focused on churning things out with the sewing machine that i really haven't sat down and "relaxed" to do hand sewing on the couch.  i knocked a good chunk out last week, and could probably churn this out this week.  the goal will be wednesday, since thursday will be the last day i could deliver it before heading outta here.  the sooner, the better though.  i'm sure i have a slew of dvr shows i could watch.
room extravaganza:
failed to really work on.
i rolled a few more fabric pieces on to boards, but still have yet to really dive in to getting the final tub of fabric dealt with... as well as the rest of the room chaos.  chaos is probably an understatement...
sewvivor:
i suppose since i'm trying to knock out two projects before i leave friday morning, i'll break this down in to two parts as well.
challenge one: nautical
this past week i really knocked out this quilt.  and now its just down to the final parts.  i cut and pieced triangles on tuesday, and then got a few rows connected together on thursday.  finished the top on friday and knocked out all the quilting on saturday.  the binding is attatched and is 3/4th of the way done, so i forsee it getting done tomorrow.  which is perfectly perfect.
challenge two: bag
i purchased the fabric for this on monday, made sure i had all the bits and pieces i needed when we did a joann's run again on saturday, and once the binding gets finished, this will be next up.  worst case scenario, this one comes to colorado with me.  oh bummer.  something to sew with my equally crafty cousin.  rumor has it she has dual sewing machines at the moment.  win win for all parties.
quilt block swap:
we just got assigned partners this weekend, and here's an idea of the blocks i'll be making for my groups
group member's own pattern (waiting on pattern for this one)
quilter's choice paper pieced pattern (never paper pieced before, so this should be exciting...)
split 9 patch
double aster
garden fence
home town, state, country theme block (this will be an interesting one to decide)
cat block
ribbon star
and for kicks, here's the choice for what i'll be getting:
broken herringbone
each of these i have to make 3 blocks of, and then will receive 3 of my own blocks from each of them in return.  i haven't done a swap in years, so it should be interesting!  send outs don't have to happen until october, so that's a plus.  once i get through sewvivor, it will all be easy simple crafting from there.  which will come in handy when school is back in action.  ugh.  and that's just two weeks from today.  where did the summer go?  oh well...
happy monday everyone :)

just an average day

quilt. camera. cat in the way.
just another average day here at the house.
and yes, this is a hint at what is yet to come.
a handful of finished project posts are on the way :)

black & white cats kaleidoscope quilt top

i'm still not sure if "kaleidoscope" is spelled right.
google chrome hasn't told me it's wrong yet, so i'm going with it...
this quilt reminded me a lot of the daisy chain quilt i did for meagan's wedding back in 2011.
not necessarily the exact same pattern and layout, but general assembly idea.  with a few tweaks here and there.  but it was fun to put together!  well... until about the last two rows.  then all sewing chaos broke loose.  more on that in a bit.
the original tutorial had all scrappy materials (which i may do again with this style of quilt. but more blocks) and was pieced on basic computer paper.  i decided to use muslin for my back pieces, which i guess was a good thing since we had no computer paper in the mouse anyways.  the cat fabrics were from my bag making overload days (one of them made for a craftster "cat lovers" swap here) and stashed away to make more for the craft shows lisa & i used to do.  when i started this "stashbust" project, i really wanted to do a black and white quilt, and when i came across this hoard of cat fabrics, i knew it was what had to be used!
the tutorial i used was really easy to follow, and i knocked out the majority of this quilt in one day.  of course, minus the cutting part that is.  i used the turquoise blueish fabric to create the "window" effect of the kaleidoscopes, and also keep it from being a little less of a black & white eye sore.  haha.  the hardest part was trying to get everything to line up so that no two fabrics were the same touching from block to block... which is where all my oops started to come in.  i got down to the last two rows, and somehow, no matter HOW hard i tried.  something was touching the same.  even though when i had it laid out on the floor, all was good.  or so i thought.  so while half watching "hitch" i ripped and resewed.  ripped and resewed.  and bumped in to the iron that was sitting on the floor (which i thought i turned off) and now have a lovely burn on my leg...  wheeee.  eventually, this little 4x6 problematic quilt was done.  and i think having the backs pieced on muslin helped my hulk style seam ripping.  it was intense...
here's how the back looked. much neater with the raw edges from each cat fabric hidden in between.  stashbust in this house also means using random spools of thread...  this one had that burgundy color, green, and i think some hot pink in the mix as well.  i emptied three spools from the drawer, so that's a plus!
tutorial used: film in the fridge's string quilt block
stash bust quilt tops total: 9.  whoop whoop!

day 27:30 - 30 day challenge

day 27: pets
well, here is just one of the clan at the house. my ever so snuggly (haha not) mr. grumpy gills elroy.
i know, he looks so relaxed and chill in this picture... you'd think that i had drugged him up or something.  nope.  not at all.
i've had elroy since 2004.  born at the end of october, he was my "garage christmas present" for the year.  (garage christmas present = the big present of the year.  in other years, i've gotten my holga camera & backpack, current computer desk, and savion glover tickets)  his three other siblings went to homes for christmas eve gifts, and apparently he was supposed to go to someone, but i guess they changed their mind and never came.  oh well.  lucky me to get the grumpy one!  i'm not sure why i chose the name of the character from the jetson's for him...  but it is what it is.  if i ever get him a kitty friend, it might just be necessary to name it "astro" just to keep with the theme :)
in recent months, he's become pretty mellow.  well, still hissing and growling at me, but he makes more appearances out to the living room during the daytime, sitting on my mom's lap when i come home from work or bryan's, and flopping around on the floor like a fish out of water.  trap him in the bathroom, and he's even been known to purr and act all cutesy.  very strange.
yes, he's known as the resident devil cat, and i've already been informed that the day i move out, my parents are gladly paying the pet deposit to take him with me.  it will be interesting to see if he remains an under the bed monster when it's just me that he has to deal with, or if he will change his ways.  i guess we'll find out in a matter of time.
other cats in this house: buzz, murphy, velcro & mushu.  outside cat: rufus & buster
fun cat fact: murphy, velcro, elroy & rufus all came from the same mommy cat who used to hang around.  we called her bootsie.  pretty sure elroy & rufus were from the same daddy cat.  we called him daddy cat.  creative, i know.

wordless wednesday

introductions

have you met my cat? no? well today is your lucky day.
the "orange cat" is not the only one roaming the house here (and oddly enough hasn't been shown in any photos) but there are 5. 5 cats of varying chubby-ness, and this one here is mine. the fact of him being "mine" should actually be hypothetical, because i'm sure the last time he liked me was in 2004, when i got him as a christmas gift. ready? let's meet elroy.aww... so cute, right?sure, he appears as he is hissing... but i'm sure it's because he is just saying "HIIIIIIIIIIII"alright. so truth is, the "soft kitty" song was not written about elroy, thats's for sure. i'm sure he hates me even more today for making him go outside... his under the chair bat cave is so not photo worthy. but there you have it. my "el diablo" panda cat in all his grumpy glory. and i was so pleased to find this sketch of the two of us on my pinterest account. yes, it has currently become my facebook cover photo for the time being ;)

wordless wednesday

wordless wednesday