Stash Report Sunday - Week Two

Remember those nice round zeroes last week? Week Two shows some activity.

Used this Week:     10.5 yards
Used year to Date:  10.5 yards
Added this Week:    11.5 yards
Added Year to Date: 11.5 yards
Net Used for 2010:  + 1 yard

Those 11.5 yards came in as the result of 8 yards of fabric I earned doing inventory at the shop, and also receiving a very generous $50 gift certificate for the shop as a Christmas gift. So in addition to the 8 yards I used the gift certificate to purchase some fabric to use in the pay it forward gifts I'm making.

Fortunately, by finishing Monica's Tea Roses quilt my numbers aren't as bad as they could have been!

Today I'm making pillowcases for the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge through American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine.  Since each pillowcase uses 1-1.25 yards of fabric, I'm looking forward to a great report for next week.

Monica's Tea Roses

This is a story about  Monica and the significance of this quilt.

Monica and Momcat met when they were in the seventh grade. After graduating from high school, Monica went on to study art in college, get married, have two terrific sons, and be very active in her church and community.

Unfortunately, kidney disease runs in Monica's family. Her mother, Therese, is herself a kidney recipient. When Monica's kidneys began to fail she went on dialysis and the search for a donor began. Her mom was ruled out, for obvious reasons.  The rest of her large family was tested, but none were a match. The call then went out to the general public.. Her husband, John, decided that he should be tested on the off-chance that he could be of help.

He was a match!!  Monica received John's kidney 11 years ago. She's beautiful and her artwork is full of blessings. She's won several awards, and will be receiving another honor tomorrow.  Her artwork was selected for the Loveland, Ohio Valentine Card and will be unveiled tomorrow.

You can visit Monica's website here:  www.MonicaAchberger.com.

When I think of all that she has done for the world thanks to the tremendous gift of her husband I am in awe. God's ways are wondrous.

The Tea Roses quilt is an original pattern from Best Friends Quilt Shoppe, designed by Katy Doench. I created it to represent the love between Monica and John, and the eternal love of our Savior Jesus Christ.

I had Cheryl at our shop do the quilting. Here's a couple of close-ups of the terrific loopy hearts that Cheryl did. I can hardly wait to give this to Monica tomorrow. She's already told me that this is going to grace the foot of her and John's bed.

Sadly, kidney disease runs in Monica's family. Her sister Ursula is herself on dialysis and on the transplant list. None of the family is a match. The ideal situation is a live donor, although the odds of a match are tremendous. I'm starting the first steps to see if I am a suitable match (Momcat, not Piwacket!!)  Please pray for Ursula and all those who are in the position of waiting for organ donors.

If you haven't already signed your driver's license to donate your organs, please do so now. The world is a better place because my friend Monica still lives in it.

Linda and Piwacket

Tea Roses Top Finished

Linda and I have been sewing most of today. We put some more strips onto our pretty log cabin quilt, but the big news is that the borders are on the Tea Roses quilt.



We are purring with delight. This quilt has been in the works for about a year. The next step is for us to pick a backing fabric. And then we get to baste the backing, batting and top together. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! That's the favorite part for those of us of the feline persuasion.

Imagine all five of us kitties as we rearrange the batting, crawl under the top as Linda tries to smooth it out, and steal safety pins. Good times.


This is Logan. That hand petting Logan belongs to Darren, a member of our human family.

Logan was rescued from the woods. She was emaciated with matted fur, covered in burrs, had worms (including a really nasty tapeworm) and had a bite wound on her neck. I've asked her to tell me more about it, but she prefers to concentrate on her present life. If Keith and Linda hadn't brought her home from Hocking Hills, she probably would have died.

At first, I wasn't very happy to share our house with someone else. But now she is my favorite sister. We're about the same age. We are both having to get used to new kittens in the house.

We'll save the story of Butch and Sundance for another day.

Some of My Favorite Things

I have a very full life and enjoy many, many things. Here are just a few....

Decorating the Christmas Tree
Having a full dish of food

My "snake." I have to protect the house from this snake over and over again. It just won't stay dead. I grab it by its neck and then drag it from room to room, straddling over it and dragging it through my middle in between my legs. I hunch over and have been told it looks as though I have a second tail . I also make a very funny noise that apparently can be heard only when I have my snake. The family knows that my snake has been resurrected when they hear me throughout the house, making my high-pitched growl. And then they discover the snake in a new area of our home.

My kitty condo. It is six-feet tall and I enjoy the throne (or the crow's nest as my family calls it). This is what it looks like. That's my baby sister Sundance on it. I don't like her much. She's only 15 weeks old and pretty annoying.



Here I am rolling around in my crow's nest. Good times! And just look at my view of the family room. This is the ideal way to supervise all of my inferiors.





The quilt spread out on the couch is a recent completion. It's Idaho Beauty, one of Pat Speth's patterns from More Nickel Quilts. Notice that from my perch I can easily supervise my 17-month-old sister Trouble. She's moving up from an apprenticeship and going into a junior management position. She owes it all to me.

Here's a clearer view of the same quilt.










This quilt is called Tea Roses and is the next UFO we plan to complete. It needs a couple of borders and setting triangles before the top is done. We'd like to finish it in time for Valentine's Day, but no promises. My lady, Linda, always seems to go to work just when I'm ready to sew.





Be nice to cats. Not because we'll thank you, but just because you should.

And I'm going to instruct Linda on how to take better pictures. These sepia tones are making my cat eyes crazy. And the images are HUGE. Bear with her. She's only human.