Clue 7

Here is a picture of my finished Clue 7.  This clue was posted early this morning but I just now finished it.  We were to make four of the smaller triangles and twelve of the larger ones.  It was really a lot of sewing to get this done today.  This is going to be a very colorful quilt!  The colors don't show up as brightly in the picture as they do in person.  I wonder now if it was wise to change Bonnie's gray to the much brighter yellow/orange I am using.  The next clue will be posted tomorrow morning and I wanted to have this clue done before hand. 

Happy New Year everyone! 

Clue 6 and Christmas Pictures

Bonnie Hunter is not putting a linky on her blog about Clue 6 of the mystery quilt this week because she is posting Clue 7 on Monday morning instead.  I have documented each step of this mystery so far so I am doing the same this week.  She had us make 128 double-bricks of the background black-on-white fabrics and 16 5 1/2" squares cut corner to corner twice to make 48 triangles.  Maybe on Monday we will start putting all these parts together!  This was the easiest step of all.  This quilt is called "Easy Street".

 Here are a couple of pictures I took during our family gift exchange.  In the first picture Jason and Adam are talking while Audrey was showing me one of her gifts.   

The second picture shows Richard opening one of his presents while conversing with Jason and Adam.  I got him a set of tools for Christmas.  By the way, the tools were made of chocolate!

All this was done on Christmas Eve.  The next day I made a nice Christmas dinner of a big ham while Richard spent the day at work.  I also made two graham cracker pies - just like my grandmother used to make.  They are work-intensive, so I don't do it very often.

Easy Street Mystery Quilt Clue 5 Done

This is a picture of my clue 5 pieces.  I hope I used enough variety in these pieces.  I really love the turquoise and purple together, and I can't wait to see how it all looks together, when we add the green and other pieces to the whole.  I know this will be a beautiful quilt, because all of Bonnie Hunter's designs are georgous.  I am so happy I used Bonnie's colors, except her gray I changed for an orangle/yellow print that is as saturated as the other colors.  Without seeing her quilt (after all, this is a mystery) I think gray would be dull.  At least, the gray I had in my stash was a downer for sure.  I have laid out some of the pieces from all five clues and still have no idea what this quilt will look like.  I understand we now have over half of the quilt made.  I guess I can wait a while longer.

On another note, one reason I am glad Christmas is almost over.  Turtlenecks.  I hate them.  I only wear turtlenecks from Thanksgiving until Christmas each year.  I hate having that fabric directly under my chin.  I always feel like I am strangling to death.  If it wasn't tradition I would give all mine to Goodwill and never look back.  I love my Christmas sweaters and I wish they had a design on them that I could wear all winter.  I also love the Christmas denim jumper I am wearing in the picture.  I bought the jumper at Goodwill a couple of years ago and machine embroidered Santa's sleigh on the bodice and each of the nine reindeer around the hem.  I got the designs from Embroidery Library (emblibrary.com).  I got the Christmas blouse at Goodwill too.  My friend Diane took that picture at work the other day.  Sorry the picture is on its side but I couldn't see any way to change that. 

Clue 4 of the mystery quilt finished

I finally finished clue 4 of Easy Street, Bonnie Hunter's new mystery quilt.  These are 64 stacked flying geese and 145 green 3 1/2" squares.  My flying geese turned out pretty well only needing to be trimmed a sliver.  I cut as many different green squares that I could.  I had some small scraps in green and I used them up.  So glad to use something up small enough to throw away the tiny scraps!  Added some strings to my strings collection, soon have to make something wonderful out of them.  I got my fabrics cut for this clue on Friday morning and then turned on the TV and found out about the massacre of the schoolchildren in Connecticut.  I was not able to sew after that - and I was not able to turn off the TV and get away from it.  I spent the day in tears and horror.  Saturday morning I just refused to turn on the set and stayed away from it that way.  It was still hard to sew because I am left in my thoughts.  In my mind I see my grandson, Damien, being slaughtered in his first-grade classroom.  That's enough!  I am going to get away from it now!

New Addition to the Family!

Meet Opal - my new sewing machine!  This is one of the newest sewing machines that Husqvarna Viking makes.  It is an Opal 650, just came out about a month and a half ago.  I took our floor model machine to the retreat with Bonnie Hunter last month and fell in love.  I wanted this machine to take to retreats and sew-ins and any other time I need a sewing machine so I won't have to take my Husqvarna Viking Designer SE LE.  My SE - Essie - can stay right there in the sewing room and won't get knocked around or dropped or mistreated.  Essie is an embroidery machine and a darn good sewing machine and I want to keep her in good shape.  She is still my go-to machine here at home, but I am taking Opal anywhere else.  Essie and Opal use the same bobbins and the same feet (even the walking foot) so they can share.  They even feel about the same while sewing!  The only thing is that Opal doesn't have the sensor system that raises and lowers the presser foot but that isn't a problem.  I got Opal as an early Christmas present to myself!

Clue Number Three is Done!

Yesterday morning Bonnie Hunter posted the third clue to the new mystery quilt, Easy Street.  I got right on it and started cutting my fabrics.  I had some errands to run so only got the cutting done, and the black-on-white prints sewn onto one side of the purple squares.  I took them to work with me today and sewed the rest in between customers.  I had shorted myself two blocks so I made those two this evening.  I almost forgot to cut the two green squares and slice them in half as Bonnie said to do for a future part of the quilt.  Now I have many other things to do until next Friday when she will publish the next clue.  I have done almost no Christmas shopping and Christmas is just around the corner!  My tree is bare!  I have decided to reduce the dollar amount I spend on everyone this year.  Well-thought-out gifts don't need to be expensive! 

My Bonnie Quilts

The other day someone on Bonnie Hunter's Quiltvillechat group asked how many Bonnie quilts have we all made?  The lists people have posted is staggering!  I knew Bonnie had a lot of quilt designs out there, many of them free on her website, others offered in books.  Many have done 25 or 30 or more!  I have done quite a few myself.  I first found Bonnie when she was starting her mystery quilt Double Delight.  I jumped right in and got that one made and many more now.   Here is my list.  I may have forgotten a couple.

Double Delight
Cathedral Stars
Fourth of July
Pineapple Blossom - throw, king
Streak of Sunshine - at least five of six baby quilts
Strip Twist
Orca Bay (I call mine Almost Heaven)
Roll Roll Cotton Boll - ufo (center of quilt made, border made, not put together)
Carolina Christmas
Wild Child - in progress

Pictured are Cathedral Stars, Almost Heaven (Bonnie's Orca Bay), and one of the Pineapple Blossom quilts.  I have pictures of most all my quilts, some on my old computer.  I guess I am going to have to get them onto the new computer.  I am most proud of my Almost Heaven quilt, called that because it is made of the colors I see out my front door all summer at my house in West Virginia.

I have also made several quilts by Judy Laquidara - Note to Self, Connect the Dots, and the June 2010 mystery quilt.  I am learning to design my own quilts on Electric Quilt 7, or EQ7.

Clue Number Two Finished

This week Bonnie Hunter posted Clue Number Two of her new Mystery Quilt, Easy Street.  Participants were told to make 128 flying geese units using purple and the white/black print fabrics.  I got all mine done this evening.  She also said to cut 64 2"X3 1/2" rectangles out of the white/black prints for a future clue.  My rectangles are on the lower left corner of the picture.  I also got some more done on my Wild Child quilt.  I now have three rows put together.  I still have seven more rows to do, but I haven't put those blocks together yet.  It's really turning out great.  Of course, I haven't made a Bonnie Hunter design yet that wasn't great.