Mystery progress

... of which I haven't much to report as I write this post!

I didn't have any time Friday or Saturday to work on the Quiltville mystery, thank goodness it's not a race!

But I am a little bit ahead of the game ...

I already have a lot of neutral 2" strips cut!

I have to sort through them and pull the ones that show up well against the constant gray I chose.

I love this fabric... words!  What do they MEAN??

Who knows, but I love it!

That's it for now, sew forth and sew on til later...

Busy at the bee!

Three things to be happy about:
(1) bottled water
(2) a freebie
(3) keeping busy

We were plenty busy at the bee yesterday!

I love a bee atmosphere as compared to a regular guild meeting, somehow they just aren't the same!

Sandra (Yetunde) shared some of the projects she made at a felting workshop; aren't these pin cushions pretty?

And Sondra showed one of her lovely quilts made using 2-1/2" strips and solid fabrics... I don't think Sandy's capable of making a quilt that's NOT lovely!

But before all that, here's the remainder of a basket-o-scraps Lynora brought in - thanks Lynora!

I was in there up to my elbows!!

Linda made a block of the month - pretty!

Willie Mae worked on a Christmas bow...

clever!

Felicia worked on a t-shirt quilt while I sewed the binding on a quilt - we were busy bees yesterday!

We also had a workshop taught by one of our members, check it out at our Bee's blog - Wee Bee Quilting!

That's it for now, sew forth and sew on til later!

Top's done!

Three things to be happy about:
(1) Thanksgiving leftovers
(2) finishing up
(3) Black Friday sales

I just threw that last one in for those of us who indulge!

I finished piecing the black and white passion top, then moved on to the border decisions...

The fabric on the left is what I did not use, I don't have enough left of that one.  You gotta love the 3 Stooges!

My next thought was to use up odd strips of black and white, just to move them out of my stash... but I didn't want to go that way.  

Pulling and matching and measuring and piecing - I'll save that idea for another quilt!

Here's the fabric I went with, I had a pretty large piece in my stash and it goes well with the quilt.

BUT it didn't stop there...

I had made four patches for the corners!

I tried them out, but they didn't add anything to the design no matter how I turned them, so I tossed them into the parts department.

So here's the top, with the borders added - ready to be quilted.

And just in time - the first Quiltville mystery clue came out today!

That's it for now, got some running around to do!  Have a great day, grab those bargains, sew forth and sew on...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Guild meeting show and share

Three things to be happy about:
(1) hiccups
(2) hot oatmeal
(3) Cepacol mouthwash

That Cepacol is great stuff!  I had such a pain in my tooth for a few days, I'd even called the dentist to fit me in the next day because I thought I had a cavity.  So I did some aggressive brushing around the area, along with rinsing with the Cepacol, and whatever the problem was went away.  Good stuff!

This month's guild meeting had great projects for show and share, first Azalia's Christmas trees...

on her sweatshirt...

for a quilt...

and a lighted one for the door!

At our guild's retreat last month (I couldn't go!) one of the projects was a group round robin contest; here are two...

This is Charley's "mine!" quilt...

A visitor's first quilt - hand pieced!

and a community service quilt from Jennifer...

work those strings!!!

Unfortunately my camera's battery got exhausted and I couldn't get more photos.  But as always, it was great eye candy - my favorite part of the guild meeting!  

That's it for now, have a great Monday, sew forth and sew on til later...

A little hitch in the big web

Three things to be happy about:
(1) Getting on with it
(2) Coffee pods
(3) James Lee Burke novels

Right now I'm listening to "A Morning for Flamingoes" by James Lee Burke - you gotta love Dave Robicheaux, he's so laid back!

I was tooling right along with webbing the Passion quilt, but then my bobbin thread ran out and I air-sewed through three pairs without knowing it - monkey wrench!!!

I changed the bobbin and resumed sewing without realizing a pair had dropped behind my sewing machine, throwing the pattern off.  yeeeeeech!

Had to spread my stuff back out on the floor and figure out where I went wrong, thank goodness I took that photo of the right-side half!

Okay ... so I fumbled and stumbled til I figured out where the problem was, and had to unsew a few blocks... well, it was quite a few blocks!

Then I thought it would be smart to make sets of foursies and sew them together...

It was working til I spread it out again and saw a 9-patch that got turned.

Sheesh!  How'd I do that???  I was so frustrated that I put it aside for two days...

So now I'm ready to tackle it again.  The sideways block has been removed, I'll continue sewing my foursies and hook it all up together.

Borders will probably be black and white fabrics, no big deal; my goal is to get the flimsey out of the way before Bonnie releases her first mystery clue!

That's it for now, just wanted to show some progress, sew forth and sew on til later...

Webbing the top

Three things to be happy about:
(1) Monday mornings
(2) a new Costco sales flyer
(3) Listening to Old School music

Do you ever listen to music on your TV?  I don't mean Pandora... most carriers probably carry the music stations, on Direct TV they're at channels 800 and higher.  I like channel 844 - Old School Funk - it takes me back, back, even waaaay back!

I'm at the sewing stage for my Passion quilt!

I've been webbing the top and it has gotten a bit unweildy? unwieldy? - awkward! after sewing a few vertical rows...

But before I got to that point I played with a couple layouts.

I sorta liked the boxy effect of the blacks in this layout but I couldn't figure out how to make consistent boxes and also allow the reds to stand out.

My whole point was to let them step across in order, and shine!

On the other hand I didn't want a plain slanted stripe as this would have done...

so I twisted it a bit!

To the right...

... then back to the left.

I think this will do the trick!

Half the rows are done at this point.

Because I didn't stack the blocks at my sewing machine (afraid of getting them out of order) I've been gathering one column at a time - up and down the stairs!

Great exercise, but sheesh!

At this point it's getting awkward to handle as I mentioned above, so I'll put aside the left half, web the right half, then combine the two.

Looks like a plan!

Time for breffus, sew forth and sew on til later...

Units done!

Three things to be happy about:
(1) qwerty keyboards
(2) warm fuzzy slippers
(3) the color red

I finished the last of the 9-patch units I need for my Red and Black Passion quilt!

I've said it once (or twice?) and I'll say it again - laying out your squares and webbing the blocks as Bonnie Hunter instructed makes for a very quick process!

84 9-patch units and 84 alternate units - all done!

Now I only need to press the 9 patches I just finished and start laying them out on my design floor.

(I was up before the sun this morning!)

Here we go!

Two of each unit will go into the 12" block, I want to set them 6 across and 7 down which will give me 72 x 84" before borders.

I hear you - "that's a large quilt!"  Yes, but I want it to be large enough to fit my bed; throw sizes are okay sometimes but I want to use this one on my bed.

These are the original 9 that I showed you some time ago, to be incorporated into the layout as I play with them!

I even had a lot of the of 2-1/2" squares left over - quilt seeds!


That's it for now, enjoy your Saturday; its time for breffus!

Sew forth and sew on til later...

Road trip revealed!

Three things to be happy about:
(1) #2 pencils
(2) scented soap
(3) just going for it!

So, where did we go on our road trip two days ago??

Here's a broad hint!!

It all started with an idea... Sauder's just took further reductions on their entire store, why don't we go back to Lancaster just one more time?? As I mentioned in an earlier post, I wanted to beef up my blacks for the 2015 Quiltville mystery, so we just took advantage of the new reduction, and headed out!

I got these blacks - they'll add a lot of texture to the quilt, something other than just black-and-white.

The colors don't read true in this photo, they're not that dusty looking.

Words - I like words!!

Just can't resist em.

Sauder's was deliciously empty of crowds, but look at some of the shelves!

This is just one aisle, there was still fabric left but not as much as when we took our bus trip three weeks ago!

Can you say "echo!"??

A girl can always use more neutrals, right?

... right??

I ended up with two - yes, two! - pieces of grey for the constant fabric.

I bought the one on the right at Sauder's, then when I saw the one on the left at the Old Country Store in Lancaster I liked it better - so I got that one too!  Words, ya know?

Either will do the job, I think.

With these additions, I'm all ready to start the mystery when the first clue is revealed!

So, that was out road trip - another go at Sauder's before they closed the store!  In addition to Sauder's, we stopped at a Weaver's General store (red!), Good's Drygoods (and Shady Maple smorgasbord, of course!), Zook's Fabrics and The Old Country Store.  We both had a great day and got what we went for - and what we didn't go for too!

So long again, Sauder's, we're sorry the farmer's son is taking over the house ... even your leaves all deserted you...

Sew forth and sew on...