BH Mystery! Clue 3

Finished 139 Clue 1 of Bonnie's new mystery and got about 49 of Clue 3.

Awaiting the fabric for Clue 2 (and I need a Tri Recs ruler, Hummm).

Here is Clue 1 so far:

And here is clue 3. Love the colors! Back to Bonnie's Clue 3

Face plant

Amazing how a face plant on asphalt while running will really stop you in your tracks and send you to the hospital for the day but then you get home and you sew 20 blocks of Clue 1 for Bonnie Hunter's new mystery.

I even FORGOT to check the next clue.

Good grief, Charley Brown!

Oops! Fell of the no-buy wagon

Oops. Had to buy the constant fabric for the new Bonnie Hunter mystery. Also got some Kona Snow and Kona Premium Black which are allowed as they will be for backgrounds and borders!

Cut out and sewed four or five 21" strips of neutral fabrics for the Clue 1. So lovely to touch my fabric and sew something simple.

I don't have to stress about what I haven't done. Sigh.

DS completed his first day of work ever. He is exhausted but so am I from all of the driving. He only has a learner's and no car (obviously).

Now I am facing this driving adventure for three months. Sigh.

That's why I HAD to cut and sew some fabric last night. It's my therapy! (LOL)

I guess you could say that I am already behind on this mystery but I don't care. I love the colors and I am inspired!

Christmas Cleaning

Well, had to move most of my sewing stuff out of the living room because it was time for a Christmas tree. Wow. That was a lot of work.

While moving everything, of course, I had to peruse my fabrics for Bonnie Hunter's new mystery. I found everything except 3 yards of magenta. And I love that color. I couldn't believe that I had almost none of it.

I did find two pieces of fabric in the exact right shade but neither total to 3 yards and she is using that color for control to balance the scrappiness. Humm....

I'm currently working on "NO BUY" but I really want to do this mystery. AND I really really want to do this entirely from stash.

 First, my light lilacs:

Now the dark purple...

My pale yellows. Rather fuzzy. I will have to retake this picture...

And my greens...

No picture of my pieces of magenta yet.

And finally my neutrals...

5" D4P - quilted!

Moved my machines around and now I have my 221 set up for piecing. So funny how she sounds as compared to my newer machines!

Finished the 5" D4P yesterday! It was really windy. Not a great shot but here it is.

100-Patch progress

A little windy today but I got a picture of some of my 100-patch squares. I have another 100-patch without the white and another partial one in progress.

4" D4P is now quilted as of today and needs squaring, a binding and a label.

5" D4P is being quilted now.

My Ohio star is waiting to be sandwiched on the table I use for quilting. So queued up and ready.

Quilting along

I managed to finsh my shadow quilt to flimsy stage, pin baste two baby quilts and begin ditch-quilting one of the baby quilts during this long weekend. Made some more 3.5" bowties too.

Ironed a bunch of fabric and cut some into my standard sizes, ala Bonnie Hunter.

Border Progress

Finally added the white borders for my 16-patch Jewel quilt yesterday.

Monday Update

Some progress made this weekend.

1. Cut out fabric for 3 dish towel thingies and the associated toweling, all from stash. These use a button and wrap around the oven handle. Very useful. The 2 extras will also make nice gifts. I had made a pattern from an old one. Don't know where I got the original.

2. Made at least six 3.5" bowties for my Bowtie project (Bonnie Hunter pattern) so now I have about 120 done (out of 720+ needed). Also sewed three more rows of three 2" blocks for the side borders, all as leader/enders.

3. Cleaned off my PC/sewing desk so we could replace the black ink cartridge. Now I can update my project sheets; some haven't been printed for the first time either.

I am taking a project management approach to my UFOs and am writing detailed outlines for all projects with a list of all items needed and a plan to get to the finish. Each project is also being contained in a large plastic bag along with its printed project outline.

Volunteer Mushrooms

Mushrooms are volunteering to be eaten! We harvested some more to go with our burgers tonight.

These were peeled first then sliced as they were so large!

Totally awesome!

Inching along

Since I broke down my newest machine and moved the table around, I still have not gotten around to sandwiching any of my waiting tops. Having two large cutting mats on it is nice. I did manage to cut some fabric last night.

1. Cut two contrasting 6" strips of coffee fabric, one a coffee-themed print, and the other was coffee beans on a beige-ish background.
2. Started cutting fabric for a very scrappy Trail Mix quilt (TMQ).
3. Sewed some 3.5" squares together for the TMQ.

Weekend progress

• Got some 6" squares cut for my scrappy denim rag quilt that I am working on (for the other side).
• Attached most of the binding on my red-and-white storm at sea. 
• Started the hanging sleeve for it.
• Bought a new ink cartridge for my printer so I can now print a label for the red-and-white.
• Tore into a bunch of boxes and made an absolute mess in the living room (that where I sew). Sigh.
• Sewed some 2" square pairs together.
• Turned my table around, put two large cutting mats on it and taped them together. I am preparing to layer some quilts and will NOT do it on the floor.

Mushrooms!

Our vineyard has now grown mushrooms that are volunteers and are also edible!

Here is a shot with DH. These are LARGE!

It was a learning experience for DGS. 

 We left one to repopulate.

5" D4P = Flimsy!

5" D4P became a flimsy today.

 You can see our vineyard behind it.

5" D4P growing

Rows 1 & 2 are together and Row 3 is pinned, awaiting my return home.

Last night was spent preparing for Saturday's workshop with Nova Montgomery in Williamsburg, learning to maintenance my (April 1947) 221 featherweight sewing machine.

Its decals are in sad shape and paint is gone in spots.

When I opened the shipping box (bought it on ebay), it had been doing the pogo stick on its spool pin, hammering it through the top of the matching 221 box and breaking it off. Boy, was I mad about that!

But she sews just fine and that's the important part.

I haven't tried winding bobbins (and I only have two) so we'll see about that function on Saturday. I suspect I will be buying a few items to keep her running well.

I did buy two replacement LED bulbs via the internet, right before we moved back home. I need to find them. The regular bulb runs really HOT!

Happy Friday!

5" D4P Progress and an Inherited UFO

I laid out the blocks for my 5" D4P yesterday and sewed all the rows together this morning before work. This is not the final layout as I noticed issues with the bottom right-hand corner blocks.




A while back, DH & I were going through what I thought was a cedar chest of his stuff.

Come to find out, it was a chest full of his (passed on) mother's stuff.  In it we found a hand-pieced quilt top with coordinating fabric that is 22-23" selvedge to selvedge. (Weird, right?)

I laid out the quilt top yesterday and got a picture of it. So now I have to add one more item to my UFO list.



I love it on my bed but it needs to be a little larger. It barely covers the top and just starts down the side by a few inches. I also need to fix a couple of blocks around the edges where the stitching has come undone.

Here is a picture of the hand-stitching. You can't really tell but there is a lot of yellowing. I wonder if ironing will set the yellowing ??? I should iron before quilting, right??





I think I will create a "Gifted/Inherited UFO" section to distinguish these from my personal UFOs.
I was thinking using the yardage to add sashing but it is faded in spots and is only 22-23 inches from selvedge to selvedge which is also very odd. Perhaps this is a way to date it?

DH thinks this may have been made by his maternal grandmother Mary Marguerite Pedneau Lindamood, as he doesn't remember his mother quilting. He does have examples of crocheting and cross stitch that she did. She passed in 1957, the year he was born. WOW!

None of the sides has any sashing at all so the first thing to do would be to add sashing at a minimum. I worry that any white I use will be whiter than what is there and certainly will be a better quality. Then I could add a row all around to make it bigger.

I need to ask if this would lower the eventual quilt value. At least the utility of the quilt would rise if it was at least a double-sized quilt. But is that the right thing to do?

I guess I need to take some more pictures for reference and review!

Yesterday, I did go to Quilting Adventures and purchased 4 battings and nothing else! My no-buy (except for the "B"s: batting, binding, backgrounds, borders) has been successful. I have gone no-buy since July. I feel very proud of myself as I was VERY tempted. So many yummy fabrics were touched and viewed but not purchased.

If I had gotten there earlier, I would have pinned up my 4" D4P quilt. I had everything in the car but only 30 minutes before closing was just not enough time. I wish I had a table at work that I could do this with.

One more 100-patch block done

I sashed one more completed 100-patch block (2" squares) last night and made one more 3.5" bowtie for projects 8 & 9 on my WIP list.

I don't get much done on the weekdays as I come home tired from working.

I dream of retirement daily. I have many, many quilts to make before I die. Ooo, that sounds morbid but a friend of ours passed away last Saturday and Tuesday's funeral was an intense day of reflection.

Biking to work

Well, it's been two weeks since I last rode my bicycle to work. Yuk. My legs felt like lead.

But, HEY, I did 23 miles today. Felt a lot better on the way home, even though it was like in the 90s. This morning? Like 70 or maybe in the 60s -- awesome!

So about 2 hours of cardio - the real way. LOL

No sewing tonight. My DGS and DSIL came for dinner. Eli is 3 and a half and full of energy and beans.

No critters in the trap since the possum so maybe no more??

4" D4P is a filmsy!

My 4" Disappearing 4-patch is together (a flimsy)! YEA.

Didn't do much sewing this weekend since DH and I are working on clearing a bunch of privet that have grown tree-sized and making a firewood stand for the wood from the ash tree that we recently cut, although the wood still needs splitting.

We can actually see the well house. Hum, maybe that's not so good.

A place for the wood.

Now this still needs cutting up.

First things, first. A place in the sun to put it.

No additional critters in our trap, inspite of fresh applications of peanut butter. Maybe we got them all? Hummmm...

Went to Southern States and bought too many winter veggies and spent hours getting those planted also. Talk about tired on Sunday night!

SO we have brussel sprouts, Swiss Chard, Kale, Collards, white head lettucd, red leaf lettuce, arugula, spinach, and beets. Ok, I went a little overboard...

But the rosemary likes its spot...

Border blockage & Critters in the Vineyard

What is it with me? I can't seem to put the borders on two of my quilts. It's like I'll be disappointed that they will be official flimsies...? I usually feel a let down after finishing the piecing. I do like that part.

I sewed a bunch of the 5" D4P last night and then finished them all this morning before work.

Straightened the living room and made just one fabric pile so now the sofa is available for use. My youngest grandson (3 yrs old) is coming over tonight for an overnight visit.

DH found a 5th critter in our trap. Our vineyard has been decimated by critters this year.  We have caught 4 racoons and now 1 possum.

FYI - We take them 6 miles away to a park beside the James River and release them.

Here is a picture on one of the racoons.

Looks like we will get ZERO grapes to make into wine due to these suckers.

4" Disappearing 4-patch - in progress

So I didn't get everything done that I had wanted to. Still fighting with my head cold.

DH asked for my help while he cut a huge busted limb from our ash tree. Definitely a worry but he got it down with no problems, resulting in a huge truckload of limbs that he took to the dump the next day. I should have taken pictures...

Here is the tree where the piece came off after he cleaned it up.

And the whole tree... it's a big one..

And here is what is left over to be cut up.... O, and it's not next to the original tree because, well, men and tractors, what can I say? DH shoved it all over the place until he got it where he liked it.

Laid out several WIPs on the design bed this weekend.

Here is my 4" D4P with the individual rows put together, awaiting an ironing prior to the final sew-up.

Then there is the shadow box quilt. Here is the point where I realized I needed 3 more blocks...

It is still not finished but here it is also awaiting an ironing and then more sewing for the white between the rows and on the outsides. I am calling this Fall Shadows.

This morning before work, I got the rest of the 5" D4P sliced up and pinned. It is sitting by the sewing machine waiting for me to get home again.

I sewed the 10th row on one of my 100-patch blocks so that is also awaiting white borders. I have another partial block started as I sewed and added row 2 this weekend.

Made 10-11 more 3.5" unfinished bow-tie blocks this weekend.

Quilt borders are still calling my name....

Friday and a long Weekend!

Going to do some more sewing on this nice long weekend!

Looking back at my last post, I am disappointed to say that not much got done this week. Been feeling a bit under the weather so I also didn't ride my bike in to work all week. <sad face>

I did get a few more 5" D4P squares completed.

I am going to whip out a mini project this weekend with the Shadow box mini quilt-along (https://colorcreatingandquilting.blogspot.com/2016/08/shadow-block-mini-quilt-along.html). This looks like a lot of fun.

I am going to experiment with some of my gifted browns. This is a color that I haven't really liked. In the past, I would say that I actively DISliked it. Since then, I used it in an attic windows quilt and must say that it looked really great, to my vast surprise.

Looking forward to stitching up a storm on this coming long weekend!

To Do List:

1. Shadow Box Mini Quilt 

2. Add the final yellow border to my blue and yellow Ohio Stars flimsy.

3. Add the final white border to my 16-patch star quilt.

4. Do some more quilting on my red and white Storm at Sea wall hanging (a John Flynn kit that I purchased at MAQF in Feb 2015). I am quilting it with my walking foot, easy but I am quilting the snot out of it so it takes time. 

5. Sew some more 2" squares L/E fashion for my 100-block quilt.

6. Sew some more 3.5" bowties for my Bowtie L/E project (Bonnie Hunter bowie pattern but NOT using Cheddar for the background - shudder - I'm using white Kona). These are so cute, I want to pinch their cheeks, if they had any.

7. Sandwich and pin my blue and yellow Ohio Stars top (so that means I have to do #2 right away!!)

Busy planning...

It's the process

It's Friday. Looking forward to the weekend!

I just love my current set up.

I put my piecing machine right in front of my PC. This forces inspires me to also turn on (and USE) my machine (and light) every time I sit down at my PC.

My new machine is set up on a nearby table for quilting my red-and-white "Storm At Sea", my second using John Flynn's pre-cut kit (wall-hanging size). All I can say is "LOVE IT!" Usually I only work on that one on the weekends because I need to be well rested before plunging into that one. I have to put my 'specs on to do it. So I haven't touched it since last Sunday.

Rode in to work today on my bicycle. 11.5 miles in 56 minutes. Not bad. Not my best time. But this is the third day this week. Also did it Monday and Wednesday. DH rode 3.6 miles with me, to the Capitol Trail. Then he went one way and I, the other. He does a 16-mile loop a couple of times a week. 

Finished sewing the five-inch four patches together last night, pressed them and then started slicing them this morning for the Disappearing four patch (D4P) baby quilt I am making. I finished sewing two blocks (of the 30) before work.

The four-inch D4P is finally squared up and waiting for me to layout it out. I will do that first thing tomorrow, so I can get this one into flimsy stage. This is another baby quilt in process.

There are three new babies in the family to sew for and another on the way. I love it.

My quilting group is working on quilts for West Virginia and also knocking out our UFOs (Unfinished Fabric Objects). #4 is the one to finish. Need to check my list and figure out which one is #4.

I will confess to having over 25 at this point. It is SO time to start finishing stuff up.

I have cut out the white Kona for borders on my 16-patch Star quilt. Need to take measurements and cut on (and sew on) the first two borders. This is also at the top of my list for tomorrow.

My Ohio Star flimsy is also awaiting its final yellow border. Must check my EQ7 layout and start cutting the yellow fabric.

A trip to JoAnn's this weekend will probably happen to obtain a wide-back for the Ohio Star quilt.

This quilt has a definite due date (November) and I want to present it early. If I can finish it quick, I am going to enter it into the Va State Fair this year.

My next task is to measure the "Variable Christmas Roots" quilt for backing and batting. If I don't have a backing to fit, this will also be on the Joann's list. Needs a white batting.

Then I need to measure my Cross-Stitch quilt for backing and batting. I think I have that already. Needs a white batting. I may have that one but will not know until I know the exact dimensions.