Are YOU ready for 2019?  Isn't 2020 still 10 years away?  It feels like it is a small dot on the horizon most days and then I refocus and realize it is NEXT YEAR!  Yikes!  Okay, time to scurry back into my little quilt world like the proverbial groundhog (did you notice the groundhog quilt in the movie "Groundhog Day"?).  Besides the day to day of running Black Cat Creations, I like (and need) to step away and get perspective on what is happening in this big wide world -- of quilting!  I do this by socializing with other quilters and I am sure this is an activity that you, dear reader, share with me!

The two sewing groups (actually, by name, three, but two of them share the same membership!) I belong to will continue to meet this year!  I hope!  The Frayed Knots meets the first Thursday of each month and the Material Girls meet every Tuesday at our local quilt shop (LQS), Cupcake Fabric and Quilts in Humble, Texas. 

The Frayed Knots  group has been around nearly 20 years with a few of the charter members (Judy P., Joan S., Lynn F. and me) still attending.  We meet at a community center in a room shared with "yarn" people which is really fun.  Handwork often involving finishing up UFO's and Angel Gown assembly (disassembly of wedding gowns, too) and some small machine projects are the norm, all accompanied by lively conversation, laughter, and sometimes tears as we say goodbye to members who must move on to other towns or states, and members who have passed on.  Guests visit who may or not be quilters which always adds to the mix!  In the past we have participated in challenges and displayed our results at the Kingwood Area Quilt Guild Quilt Show. 

The Tuesday meetup is a working group (Material Girls); everyone brings their machines or handwork to work on new projects and to resurrect UFO's.  This group shares membership with the Queen Bee which meets at members' homes the second Friday of each month and revolves around show and tell (often prefaced with "If you weren't at Cupcake on Tuesday you may not have seen this....") and a potluck lunch.  We never know what kind of food will appear--desserts or main dishes.  We have dined on main dishes and no desserts and we have dined on all desserts and raided the hostess' freezer for some protein-like dishes!  Occasionally, someone will demonstrate a new technique or tool.  These two(?) groups (Material Girls/Queen Bee) are rowdier than the Frayed Knots but share the charm and laughter and inspiration.

So even though the years pass way too quickly outside my quilt world's time-space continuum, these groups help to keep me grounded within it and inspire me to start new projects, finish UFO's or just reorganize my sewing room.  

My new passion this year?  Yo-yo's!  What am I going to do with them?  My idea today will be different tomorrow so it will be a surprise to me too!  Don't you love ADD? 

I hope you have a great, fun year full of new UFO's, old and new friends, and always inspiration!

Today, Jamie Janow Elfert is guest blogging on Confessions of a Fabric Addict  http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/  highlighting her block, "Have Faith", for the Hands 2 Help Quilt Challenge of 2018.  Check it out!

Hello, hello, hello?  I guess this is working!  Can you hear me?  For some reason (I can only assume it's my age!), I thought this blog was no longer active!!  Looks like I am waking the sleeping beast from a three year hiatus, so here goes nothing!  Well, hopefully not "nothing" but I am going to give it a go in 2018! Baby steps!  I hope I can remember how I got here!

We (I) have finally monetized our "new in 2017" website, https://www.black-cat-creations.com, so you can order directly from us!  I could not have done it without the patient, helpful people at Like Sew.

Some brand new patterns we are adding are Fire Fall by Minay Sirois, Native Spirit by Kris Holderness, and Summer Wedding by Jamie Janow Elfert. 

Fire Fall uses our Blooming Template for raw edge applique leaves.  It is especially interesting with striped fabric.

Summer Wedding uses a very simple to piece "H" block and creates a double wedding ring effect.  I wonder if you could use other letter blocks that are especially pertinent to the receiver?  Hmmm....

Native Spirit has alot of pieces but it is simple to piece and only has two blocks!  Plus we include instructions for a table runner!

 

I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Joyous and Prosperous New year!  Now I have to get back to baking my cookies for tomorrow's party at my son's place.    Hope you are spending time with loved ones too!  Bye til next time.  Happy sewing!  ---  Jackie

Celtic Solace #1

I am so excited to be working on Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt, Celtic Solace.  I've never done a mystery quilt before.  I'm the person who has to lay out the finished quilt, count the pieces, get the fabrics chosen - all the gritty stuff - before even beginning the quilt.  I never just jump in and wing it.

After waiting impatiently for a couple of weeks to get the first set of directions, my first blocks are finished! 

If you would like to join, just click this link to get started - http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2013/12/celtic-solstice-mystery-monday-link-up-1.html

 

Can't wait for the next instructions.  Thanks Bonnie!!

I've been surfing for awhile on Pinterest, Facebook and different blogs that I like and I've come up with a list of trends I see emerging.

Trending:

Modern quilts
Hexagons
Zig zag - quilts and fabrics
Owls
Fresh, clean prints
Scrap quilts
Gray as background
Big stitch quilting

Have you noticed any trends?

I've recently gotten interested in "big stitch quilting".  I've been seeing it all over the internet and magazines and now I'm hooked.  It's just hand quilting using perle cotton thread (size 8) and big stitches.  Nothing fancy here. 

 

One of the quilts I made was this rail fence. I purchased 1 1/2" strips in a coordinated set called Honey Buns and wanted to use them in a "big stitch" quilt.  Would you believe it only took me 1 week to hand quilt this? It's not large, but I was surprised how quick it went.

The other one I did was this cute triangle quilt. I had recently learned how to make half square triangles super quick and wanted to try that out. Then I added the big stitch quilting.  I used a wool batting and that made it really soft and drapey.

Now I'm dreaming up a couple more quilts just so I can hand stitch them. Crazy how everything old is new again!

Hello Kitty Quilt

A few years ago, I started a "Life List of Quilts".  This is a list of all the people I want to make a quilt for in my lifetime.  As I make a quilt for someone, I take a picture of it and save it in a binder. You wouldn't believe all the quilts I have made and given away. I've forgotten some of them, so the binder serves as a reminder. Plus I warn the receipents that this is the only quilt they will ever get from me, so take good care of it!

This is the latest quilt on the Life List.  It's Hello Kitty for my niece, Jenny.  She loves anything Japanese, especially Hello Kitty.  She's 21, but nowhere does it say you can't have a fun quilt at any age.

This quilt sprouted from my Pinterest obsession. I saw a version of this quilt there last year and my passion began. I went to half price book stores and found Hello Kitty coloring books. Then I shrank and enlarged them to fit the background block size. I also used Transfer Eze to transfer the designs onto fabric.  Fabulous stuff. I really enjoy hand embroidery, so this quilt was the perfect project. What's your favorite embroidery?

 

Last month we introduced a new division of Black Cat Creations, www.quickepatterns.com.  The site contains only downloadable patterns. So, you can have all of your favorite Black Cat patterns in minutes! 

 

I'm still in the process of converting some of our older patterns into PDF's for download, but all of our new patterns are already up. Please go to the website and sign up for our newsletter. You'll get emails whenever we download something new to the site and I'm working on including a freebie pattern every month.

 

We made it easy to navigate and included lots of information on each pattern. 

 

We hope you like it and include it as one of your "go to" sites for quick and easy quilt patterns.

We have been working hard on new patterns and I'd like to share our latest with you. 

The first is Soldier's Friend by Jackie Theriot (left).  She has created a block that looks alot like a feathered star but is much easier. She used reproduction fabrics, but I can see this in batiks, bright Kaffe prints or stunning blues.  I think I have to make this one for myself!    

The other new pattern (right) is Eagle's Lake by Jamie Elfert. She has also used reproductions but with a totally different look.  I love her setting.  Again, this would also be stunning in other color ways.  Plus, both would be great stash quilts.

We do not have them up on the website yet, but if you signed up for our What's New email blasts from our website, you will be informed when they are up and for sale.  Now, back to work....

This is a quilt I designed that is not a Black Cat pattern.  But it is available as a PDF download at www.quickepatterns.com.

I have a group of GFs (you gotta have good friends) and we all got into "rusting" fabric.  That's where you take muslin and some old rusted metal, put them together and sit it out in the sun to set.  We had Texas stars, chains, nails, horseshoes - all kinds of stuff.  You can see my rusted fabric in the large rectangles in the outer border.  I had also purchased some fabulous cowgirl prints from www.oldeamericaantiques.com and really wanted to use them in a project.  When my friends saw what I had designed, they wanted to make one too.  When you design stuff for other people all day, sometimes it's fun to just do something for yourself. 

You can put a pieced picture in every block, but I chose to use the embroidery designs from our Rodeo Stars pattern, enlarge them, and stitch them in the blank blocks.  I think it makes a really unique quilt and we all had a blast doing it.

One tip - the cowgirl prints were not washer safe so I dipped them in a color set solution before sewing them up.  Let them dry and they're now completely colorfast.

Come on ladies!  It's time to get your embroidery on!!   

If you're like me, this time of year I'm itching to start new projects.  My brain is screaming - Be creative!!  I've gotten a little hooked on Pinterest - a good and a bad thing.  They have these darling pillowcases with crocheted edges that I'm dying to try.  I also have many embroidery projects waiting for me.

If your brain is screaming at you, you need to try our Afternoon Tea designs. There are 18 teapot designs in this quilt and Judy has put them in a great setting.   (http://www.black-cat-creations.com/item_details.php?id=147)  I always have a zippy bag with a project going in it.  This is a great take along stitchery.  We even have the threads in a kit available on our website.  We like to use Perle Cotton Size 8 threads.  You can't always find all of the colors at Wal-Mart and Hobby Lobby.  So, we've put them all together for you. 



Don't like teapots?  No problem.  We have some other beautiful embroidery patterns on our website that I'm sure you'll love.  And if you don't like to hand embroider and machine embroidery is your thing, these designs are also available on a CD.  http://www.black-cat-creations.com/item_details.php?id=151

Now, I just need to find the time to sit still and stitch....

Here's Minay at Houston Quilt Market next to her pattern, The Big Block Quilt, as made by Timeless Treasures from their Wild Ginger collection.  It looks like a totally different quilt! I think Minay was just as surprised when she walked past and saw it.  Kuddos Minay!!

Here's the original Big Block Quilt done in black, red and white fabrics.  Both stunning.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving with lots of loved ones and great food.  I know I did.  My son and his family came in from South Padre Island for the holidays and it was so great to hang out with them and the baby.  My grandson is 16 months old and like a shark.  He never sits still and is super curious.  Loved kissing his sweet little face and making him smile.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, the Christmas holiday season has begun!  The tree and decorations are up and I'm ready to shop.  Plus, now I can take out my Christmas quilts and snuggle up with them.  This is our Night Before Christmas quilt.  It's pretty much our only "holiday" design.  We don't usually do many of them.  This one came about as a request from a fabric company to use their new collection.  It's a pretty simple block using flying geese units.  Kinda slick, I think.  Anyway, it's going on my couch cause we just got a cold front and my feet are chilly!  I think this pattern would be great in an assortment of reds and greens with one stunning border fabric. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas holiday filled with lots of good food and friends.  Be sure to take time to sew every day.    Amy

Quilt Market 2011

Quilt market is over and we think it was a great success.  We had lots of compliments on our designs and our booth layout.  We even had fun wearing our newly designed t-shirts.  We had bouncy cat headbands, but decided not to include them in the picture since I want this as our new website pic.  All in all, a very successful weekend.

Our Sugar 'n Spice quilt.  Notice the yo-yo pillow on the chair.  I went a little crazy after having to make so many yo-yos for the quilt and I just continued on to make enough for this cute little pillow.

The completed booth.  It's really hard to coordinate the quilts when we have so many different styles and colors.  But I think it looks great.



We had this outside wall to also display more quilts, so we put Minay's Love It or Leaf It quilts up.  They were very eyecatching.

More finished booth.  We like the open layout of a double booth.  It allows customers easy access to see the quilts up close.

If you made it to market and visited us - thanks!  It's always nice to see our customers.  If you couldn't make it to market, please check out our website to see all the great patterns you missed seeing up close and personal.  
 
Amy & Judy

We're getting ready for fall market in Houston and decided we needed something different to add to our garland surrounding the top of our booth. 

So, after many ideas, we came up with these fabric flowers.  I think they came out great.  We just layered different fabric shapes, tied them together with wire, then painted them with fabric stiffiner.  They'll be placed in groups around the garland to add some "zing" to the booth.  I hope it works!  If you're coming to market, stop by (#2113) and let us know what you think. ~ Amy

We've been working like dogs getting 13 new patterns ready for market!  That's right 13.  We'll have a double booth (#2113,15) and we have lots to fill it with.  This quilt is one of them.  It's Claudia Atchison's "Wild in Texas".  She used Texas wildflower fabrics to create this eyecatching quilt.  She also used Texture Magic to create the flowers.  That gives the flowers a 3-D effect on the quilt.  Very cool!  That just leaves 1 more quilt to get done and I'm in the home stretch!  Stay tuned and I'll post it when it's ready.      Amy

I was in Houma, Louisiana this past weekend for a family reunion and happened across this great quilt shop, Quilting Niche.  They had the greatest Saints and LSU quilts and after striking up a conversation with Janelle Moen and Jamie Elfert, discovered they were our pattern, Short Stacks!  I didn't even recognize them.  The shop was hopping - literally - they had a shop hop going on.  They also had these great one piece quilts made up in different colorways.  You just had to get a kit before you left.

All in all, a great shop.  If you're ever in the area, you need to drop in.  And if you're a die hard LSU or Saints fan, you need to order their fabric kits with our pattern!

Quilting Niche
1220 St. Charles St.
Houma, LA  70360
985-876-9077
www.quiltingniche.com

This quilt, Wingdings, was designed by Judy Dohrman.  She used lots of batiks to create these whirling blocks.  I think her border design adds alot of interest to the quilt.  This pattern will be ready in a couple of weeks.

Cheerios

 

Here's a great scrappy quilt from Judy Reynolds.  It's called Cheerios.  We give you a foundation template and you sew 'n flip till it's covered.  Then add light fabrics on each end.  That's the block!  So simple.  I think I'm gonna make a couple of these up and just keep them on hand as baby gifts.

Nancy's Fancy

Nancy Altsman, one of our guest designers, has designed this gorgeous block of the month quilt.  It's also a teaching quilt, which means you'll be learning piecing skills with each block you construct.  It would be great for groups or shops to use for a class or just when you get together every month with your quilting friends.  Look for it soon on our website.