What is Your Superpower?

Welcome to the Superpower Blog Hop! It's my day to share my Superpowers!
I bet you didn't know I have Superpowers! Well, I do! But I only made a quilt about one of them! LOL
Guess which one?!?
I SURVIVED BRACES!

Getting a full set of railroad tracks put on my teeth when in my 50's was not a good idea. It was agony at times, and the rest of the time it was just plain miserable. My mouth was full of sores and my teeth constantly ached from being poked, twisted, and shoved around.
But I survived having braces and lived to make a quilt about it!
Now...more about my quilt...

The stitchery was done with variegated   DMC floss. I added some metallic thread to the word 'braces' but it doesn't show up well enough to make it worth the trouble of struggling with it!




The machine quilting is a combination of some walking foot straight lines, and some free motion quilting.



The centre block is a paper pieced mystery block from Paper Panache. This is one of my favorite websites, and you can buy this block and many more here.
Did you see the braces attached onto Ms. Sunshine?!? This is the real piece of hardware that was attached to my bottom teeth for 2 years. And now it is stitched onto my Superpower quilt!  

What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger!
A big thanks to Madame Samm and Pauline for giving us another fun blog hop celebrating the Superpowers of our blog friends. You can visit the blogs of the day by clicking on the links below and discover what their superpowers are:

Kathy's Quilts (that's me!)
Made by Me in Red
life, quilts and a cat too
Val Spiers Sews
Quilt Doodle Doodles...
Quilting My Way-5th Generation Quilters Blog

And as a little giveaway for the Superpower blog hop readers, I made a couple of little scrappy mug mats. If you'd like to win one, leave me a comment about what your superpower is, and I will draw two winners from the comments.

"Be a Hexie Queen" Blog Hop

We interrupt the regularly scheduled blog postings (Design Wall Monday) to bring you the Hexie Blog Hop!  Thanks to Madame Samm and to cheerleader Debby for another fantastic blogland adventure.
This is what I created for the blog hop:

This project started in the spring with the "Stitch Me Up" 
blog hop. I enjoyed stitching the embroidery, and then it sat unfinished and waiting for the inspiration to finish it. As soon as I saw the hexie hop posting, I immediately thought of using the hexagons as a border for my stitchery. Always trust your creative intuition!
I am new to Hexie stitching. If you are asking yourself "what is a hexie",  it is a hexagon shape that quilters use as a quilting design unit. They are traditionally sewn together using the english paper piecing technique (click here for a tutorial), which is what I tried.

I made enough hexies (31) to make a frame. I can not explain why the frame's shape turned out to be so odd and asymmetrical, except that it seemed to "fit" around the embroidery. I appliqued the hexies to the red border, and did not enjoy prying the paper out from behind the hexagons. Perhaps you have an idea to share about how to do that in an easier way?

Then I placed the whole border on top of the embroidered piece, and hand appliqued it to the yellow fabric.

It worked out perfectly and I couldn't be more pleased with the result. The hexies make a perfect frame for the stitchery! 
The quilt's finished size is 10.5" x 9".
I added a bit of hand quilting and embellished the stitchery a bit more. I might add a few more quilting stitches around the hexagons (still waiting for the quilt to tell me that it is finished!) 
If you enjoy hand stitching, I invite you to stop by my blog on Sundays for the Slow Sunday Stitching link up where you will find inspiring eye candy and creative ideas every week!

You can see all the amazing hexie blog hop projects by visiting the Pinterest board.
And I hope you will visit my blogging friends and see what they are posting for your enjoyment today - here is the list of stops:

 Scrapbook-ChickaDoodle

    

Kathys Quilts 

    

A Quilt and a Prayer  

  

I Piece 2 - Mary 

    

Life, Quilts and a Cat, too   

Quarter Incher 

    

Sew Much 2 Luv  

   

Kwilt Krazy 

    

Selina Quilts 

    

Espritpatch 

   

Nunu’s Quilt World  

Beat the Winter Blues Blog Hop

Are you sick of the winter weather? 

I do love the snow, and enjoy the opportunities that the snow provides to take interesting photos.








But I really hate feeling cold all the time, and am tired of the boots, coats, hats, scarfs, and mitts routine. And I miss the sun :(

To help us "beat the winter blues" the Quilting Gallery is hosting a blog hop starting today. You can hop around to various blogs, see what quilters are doing to beat the blues, and enter draws to cheer you up!
I am doing lots of hand work this winter to stitch my way through the cold weather. I also host Sunday Slow Stitching link-up parties, and would love to have you join us if you are a blogger who enjoys hand stitching.


I am offering stitching patterns to all you blog hoppers as my giveaway. 

Do you prefer a winter pattern to work on...like this Crabapple Hill "Let it Snow" pattern.
Or if you are sick of snow, and want to look forward to spring, I have the Bird Brain Designs "Easter Sampler" pattern.
Leave me a comment and tell me which of these two designs you prefer and I'll pick two winners on March 15th when the blog hop is over. Happy Stitching!
And P.S....
Happy International Women's Day!
What are you doing to celebrate? I am going to sew a few more blocks for my Votes For Women quilt....and as recommended by the IWD website, I will do whatever I can to "ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe, and rewarding". I also plan to watch some of the films posted on line by the National Film Board of Canada. My favorite so far is the film  "Flawed"...enjoy!

Hugs and Kisses Blog Hop

If you are new here, welcome to Kathy's Quilts! Make yourself at home, look around (not in the UFO closets) and enjoy your visit. 
Who could resist a Hugs and Kisses Blog Hop?!? Not me!
That is exactly what the world needs more of, and we are thankful to Madame Samm and CheerleaderJane for helping to spread the love!
Here is the love quilt I made for the hop, in soothing pastel colours...

The pieced heart blocks are 1.5" and the quilt finished at 10" x 11.5". I love the little sparkly heart buttons I found for the corners (at Triangle Sewing). I machine quilted some hearts and loops in the border, which you can maybe see a little of in this photo.

And here are some chocolate kisses to go with the love quilt...
one kiss for every heart!



If you would like to be in the draw to adopt this little quilt that I am calling "Spread a little love", just leave a comment. I'll draw the name of the new owner on the weekend.

Here are the other bloggers that are sharing their quilty treats today...spread the love and leave them some sweet comments!

Wednesday February 13th The 4 R's Em's Scrapbag Kris Loves Fabric Kathy Quilts Cherry Blossoms Quilting Studio The Distracted Domestic  Selina Quilts Terry's Quilting Time Rosemary B @ that other blog as sweet as peaches  Karma Willow Designs

Dots on Dots Blog Hop - A Dotty Finish!

If you are a new visitor, welcome to the Kathy's Quilts -one of the stops on the Dots to Dots blog hop! 
Grab your dotty mug and some tea or coffee, and enjoy all the blogs on today's hop:

It's Sew Kiki

VroomansQuilts 

Kathy's Quilts

Quilt Doodle Designs

A Quilting Sheep

selinaquilts

Jane's Quilting

Dream Quilt Create

The Peach Patch

I just love love super love all dotty fabrics, and have made many projects over the years with dots. Here are some of the little pin cushions I made a while ago with some dotty scraps, and to see my most recent dotty quilt top called Sweet Treats - click here.

For a long time, I wanted to sew Amber's Scrap Jar Stars. I first saw the blocks on Darlene's post on July 16th showing her beautiful quilt. This was the first dotty star block I sewed. Want to make a blue drink to match your blue dotty mug?!? Don't try this one...you won't like it...it's called Blue Sky. Yuck!
You can check out the other two amazing Scrap Jar Stars quilts that inspired me....Lisa Ann's and Karin's. I started collecting some bright fabrics and planned to combine my favorite Kaffe Fassett Paperweight fabrics with scrappy dots. 

What fun I had searching for polka dot scraps! A big thanks to Janet and  Diane for sending me some extra polka dot fabrics to mix in from their stashes!

I used a slightly varigated yellow Aurifil thread for quilting and enjoyed every minute of the machine quilting with my newly repaired Brother sewing machine.
I pieced a few more paperweights and dotty fabrics for a fun scrappy backing. 
And here is my finished quilt...
"Dotty for Kaffe"!  
I used my favorite yellow paperweight fabric for the large blocks, and the binding...yum!

Thanks again to Madame Samm and Corrie for organizing more blog fun for us quilters...you give us so much inspiration! And thank you to Amber for her great tutorial and pattern for these star blocks, and for giving me permission to use her pattern for this blog hop.
I am going to draw some names from the comments left on this blog post to win a little dotty pillow, so leave a comment and maybe you'll be a lucky winner!
**Draw is closed - the 3 winners drawn are:

**Debbie said...Adorable! Fun colors...fun blocks...all fun together.

**Sara (My Semi-Creative Life) said...

I love how colorful your quilt is! So beautiful!

**Denise :) said...What *fun* dotty projects! Your dotty star quilt is gorgeous--love how bright and colorful it is! Terrific post, Kathy! :)

Congratulations to the winners! Have a great dotty day!

Bowls With Borders Blog Hop and Giveaway

I am so excited to be part of my first official blog hop ever - the Bowls With Borders Blog Hop! If you haven't visited here at Kathy's Quilts before, welcome to my quilting blog! And if you have visited before, welcome back!
I live in Ontario, Canada, and have been blogging about my quilting addiction adventures since 2006. I joined the Bowls blog hop because I enjoy paper piecing, and I loved the pattern that inspired this blog hop.
I had great fun dreaming up creative versions of possible bowl quilts to create, but went with my first thought:
"If life is a BOWL of cherries, what am I doing in the pits?" (which is a book written by Erma Bombeck)
Here's are my cherry bowls...

A big thanks to designer Regina Grewe for providing such a fun pattern to sew! And thank you to hop cheerleader Carol and hostess Madame Samm!
Paper piecing is one of my favorite block sewing techniques, but I must admit that I always make a big mess. I do try to contain the bits of fabric and paper but find it impossible to be neat and tidy when paper piecing. Do you have the same problem?
In my attempt to be a little more organized,
I like to precut as many of the pieces as I can to the approximate sizes. I picked out my bowl fabrics and cut a piece from each fabric 5" x 2.5". Then I subcut that into 5" x 1.5" and 5" x 1" for each bowl. I also precut the red strips that go across each bowl at .75"...these pieces are small! Then I was organized and ready to start sewing.

I had a great time piecing the bowls (that was my favorite part) and stacked them 7 high. Then I appliqued the cherries which I fussy cut from "Oh Cherry" fabric and embroidered the stems (no, that was my favorite part).

Then onto the border...

I sewed together small scraps from the flower fabrics in the "Oh Cherry" line, and attached a tiny red rickrack at the beginning of the border.

I hand quilted around the bowls and in each border square (really, that was my favorite part). 

Then I hand beaded the bowl bands in beads to match each bowl (okay, for real, that was my most favorite part).

Can you tell that I enjoyed each step of making my cherry bowls?!? LOL

To celebrate the blog hop, what better way than a draw for a "Oh Cherry" honey bun by Me and My Sister. Just leave me a comment below and let me know what you have enjoyed about the Bowls with Borders blog hop. 
What I enjoyed, aside from seeing all the great quilts, was the number of brave quilters who signed up for the blog hop and were beginner paper piecers, but were willing to try something new...bravo! 
Thanks for visiting my blog and enjoy the rest of the today's bowl blogs:

Rosemary B.

Susan H.

Christel G.

Alice
Peggy S.
Suzanne K.
Books, Hooks, Sticks, etc.
Marla's Crafts
Kathy's Quilts (me!)
Sunshine Quilting
The Learning Curve Quilts and Such
Glitzy Me