By the Third Week of the Mystery, Bonnie had me make:

350 Half-Square Triangles  (322 to go)

74 Little String Blocks (36 to go)

& 224 Hour-Glass Blocks (156 to go)!

The Twelve Days of Christmas kept going through my mind with these new verses!  I have a lovely pile of blue strings & crumbs building up, so I couldn't resist making a little (3 1/2") crumb block from the trimmings of my string blocks.  Not sure if I'll make more, but it is a great way to keep things out of my garbage can!

I'm thinking of my mystery quilt as a marathon, not a race, so as long as I plug away at each step until the next one comes along, I'll be happy for now. It's just so busy between work, getting ready for Christmas and playing with the little ones that I'm not going to stress over yet.

Ocra Bay - Part 2 - Ornt'cha glad you started!

I got a really late start on Step 2 of Bonnie Hunter's Orca Bay Mystery Quilt but I'm loving it so far!

 This past weekend I decided to try Black Friday shopping in the U.S. for the first time, and what turned out to be the last time!  I can't stand the crowds, the mayhem and when the manager in Wal-Mart couldn't tell me where the line-up for the checkouts began, I abandoned my cart right then and there!  I did pick up some bargains elsewhere, mostly crafty things for me (alot) and clothes for the grandkids.

I was actually down in Monroe, WA for a scrapbooking retreat.  Between the shopping and our scrapbooking supplies, the van was packed coming home!

And there was still two suitcases and some groceries to fit in.  Good thing there was only 3 of us!

I had internet access so first thing Friday morning I checked in to see what Step 2 of Bonnie's mystery quilt was.  It just about killed me to have to wait til I got home to get started.  Amazingly, there was no lineup at the border considering it was the American Thanksgiving weekend, but I think everyone was home watching the Grey Cup (Go, Lions, Go!).  We got home about 7:20 p.m., I unloaded everything into the house and went straight to my sewing room.  Within 1/2 hour, I had 3 of those little 3 1/2 inch beauties done. I've only managed to get 7 done because I had to work today, but I plan on tackling it this week.

The colours aren't totally accurate because it was late at night, but I'm using the colour range from blue to aqua and teals and purples.  I can see myself making these blocks in monochrome and setting them in a rainbow style - a project for the future.

I still have to finish Step One but my little mini-bin is filling up - I have 67 in there now.

I also had two finishes this month, but only have a picture of one.  Some of my friends and I exchange birthday gifts, so this year I made lap quilts for everyone.  The last two had their birthdays this month, and I made their quilts with batiks I picked in the sampler sale in the fall, and a free pattern from Hoffman Batiks website called "Go With the Flow".  Of course, I forgot to take pictures, but one of the girls brought their quilt to the retreat and I managed to get a picture of it - she loves purple so every block has purple in it.

See you next week!

2011 Mystery Quilt - Part one- a whale of a project!

Just over a year ago, when I discovered quilting blogs I was drawn to Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville.com as I needed to do something with my stash/scraps. Shortly after I started reading her blog, she launched her 2010 Mystery quilt, Roll, Roll Cotton Boll.  Not knowing much about her and her scrappy quilts, I wasn't convinced that a mystery quilt could look good.  Boy, was I wrong!

This year's mystery quilt, Orca Bay sounds like it's going to be a beauty and I'm in with bells on!  I couldn't wait to get home on Friday after work to get started on Part One, 224 quarter-square triangles that finish at 2" each.  I wasn't able to get them all done because we had an early family Christmas gathering on Saturday and Sunday was a project-finishing day (more later), but here is what I've accomplished so far:

37 finished Quarter-Square Triangles (also known as Hour-Glass Units)

Pretty maids all in a row!

Fifty or so more quarter-square triangles ready for sewing.

I use my design boards (made using this tutorial from Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet) to have everything lined up nice and neat, but sometimes it still fails!

FAIL!

Whoops.  Although Bonnie was very clear to make sure to have all the triangles neutral side up, I still managed to flip two of them.

Good thing I have Bonnie right by my side!

And just for you, Bonnie (in case you are reading), I'm even using some Jinny Beyer milleninum fabric!!  Thanks for the great inspiration you provide.



I love a good mystery but I've never tried a quilty one!

I've learned a lot in the last year since I discovered quilting blogs, but I have learned the most from Bonnie Hunter and her quiltville.blogspot.com site. For the last few years around this time of year, she launches a quilt-along without revealing the final result until the end.  This year's mystery is called "Orca Bay" and is inspired by this picture she took in Alaska.  I love the colour combination so count me in!

This reminds me of the sunsets around here in BC, with the purply-blue mountains reflected in the water and the sun peaking through the clouds, with that lovely pink glow.  Bonnie is suggesting pulling scraps of fabric in colours of red, blue, black and light neutrals.  I think my choices are going to include a lot of pinky-purple in the red selections, and blue-purple for the blues.  Black is going to be tough, I might have to buy some fat quarters or eighths. 

Be sure to visit Bonnie's site for more information and consider joining the mystery club.  I'm not setting any lofty goals - if I manage to complete a few blocks each week just to get the steps down pat, I'll be happy finishing it in 2012.

Which comes first - sewing or blogging?

It's been two months since I posted anything, and in that time I haven't sewn anything either.  I also didn't do a lot of blog-surfing until last week, which seems to have inspired me to do two things - sew a little and blog a little.  I'm still not sure if I sewed so I could have something to blog, or if I'm blogging because I sewed something!

I've jumped (crawled) onto the Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long (FWQAL) started by Amanda and Angela back in June.  I didn't really want to start another project and resisted most of the summer, but all those cute blocks out there had me digging through my stash. The only requirement was to purchase the book by Laurie Hird, so when I saw it at my local LQS Hamels, and I had a $25 gift card, it was meant to be. The original quilt is kind of dull and old-fashioned looking IMO, but when I saw what people have been posting, I wanted to try. Hamels, my local quilt shop, also sells great sample packages of new fabric lines which I have been collecting, so with some modern bright colours, I have become a "Farmer's Wife". 

Here they are in the order I've done them:

Block #1 - Attic Window

This one took me the longest.  It's been about 4 years since I learned how to foundation-piece and about 2 years since I've done it, so I had to relearn some of the essentials - like getting the fabric positioned correctly.  My seam ripper became my new best friend. I got the foundation pieces from a wonderful group online http://groups.yahoo.com/group/farmerswifesampler/.  I like foundation piecing for accuracy.

I must have ripped out the lime green about six times, then when I had it right I trimmed one edge 1/4" too small, so I had to redo both the orange and lime on one side.

Deets:  Fabric used:  Dilly Dally by Me & My Sister Designs for Moda (orange); Green & Blue - unknown coordinating line

Time: About 2 hours due to my ineptness

Block #2 Autumn Tints

I am using the book as a bit of a guide for colour choices.  The colours in the book used Fall-type colours, so that's what I went looking for!  Not even close to the book's choice.

This is the block I remembered that the numbers don't refer to the colour choice, but to the sewing order.  Took a little bit to figure that one out, but still not as long as the first one.

Deets:  Fabric used is from an unknown coordinating line from a sample pack. Took me about 1 hour.





Block #4 Basket Weave

I jumped forward to Basket Weave because #3 involved some applique, which I wasn't in the mood for yet.  I didn't bother foundation-piecing this one.  I sewed three 1 1/2" strips from a Honey Bun of Oh, Cherry, Oh I've been saving (hoarding) for a couple of years, waiting for the right project.  I then cut the strip set into 3 1/2" blocks, twisted and sewed and voila, my basket weave appeared. The bright colours and white background are perfect for the this project.  I've decided that white is going to be my background colour, so I eliminated anything that has a creamy or natural background (good-bye, Central Park and Fandango).

Deets:  Fabric used: Oh, Cherry, Oh by Me and My Sister Designs for Moda

Time: about 20 minutes

Block #3 Joanne's Basket

The last block of the evening was the basket with the applique handle.  I struggled with the book's colour placement, as the centre squares were the same fabric as the background, which to me made the basket look like it had a hole in it. Once I replaced them with the darker green print, it looked finished to me.  I forgot that the handle should have been appliqued on the top triangle before sewing it together, so I fiddled with it for a bit to finish the ends of the handle.  I'm still not happy with it, but I'm movin' on!

Deets:  Fabric:  Me and My Sister Designs - Green Dot from Happy, Pink Flower from Birdie (?), Darker Green print from same unknown sampler pack as Block #2

I have several scrappy projects on the go.  I've tried to get organized by putting my smaller scraps in colour-coded bins:

But that didn't last long, once Alex discovered them!



BUSTED!

Now he is helping me (very slowly) putting them back into the right bins - he's pretty good at knowing his colours, but a 3-year-old's attention span is short so it will be a long process!



Saturday Nights are different now!

And I am thrilled!  Instead of rattling around the house with nothing on tv, I've been spending the last few babysitting.  Last night was 2-month-old Zoey's first sleepover at Gramma's and the little sweetheart slept through the night and even slept in until 8:15 a.m., much to her mother's chagrin.  Isn't it wonderful to wake up to this smile!

Last weekend, Alex had a turn.  He made a fort with quilts and then pretended it was a train.  I had to sit behind him and be the whistle for a while, but was able to talk him in to letting me get off.

The next morning, I pulled out the old rocking horse that was my brother's and he had a ball pretending he was a cowboy.

Such concentration!

This horse has quite a story.  It was made by prisoners at Oakalla Prison in New Westminster, BC in the early 1960's and shipped to the military base on northern Vancouver Island, where a sister of one of the guards (and we) lived.  She would help sell them so the prisoners could make a little cash.  My brother got it for his first birthday and our children all used it too. Now the next generation is here and using it!  It still has its original paint job and leather ears. I plan on passing it to my brother's daughter when she has her first child, but in the meantime my grandbabies can use it.

Not much has been happening on the quilty front.  I hit a by-the-pound sale at a LQS, and spent way too much money on scraps (they sell off manufacturers samples), but scored about 5 lbs of wonderful batiks, and about 4 lbs of mostly new and unreleased fabrics, including selections of Parisville by Tula Pink, Amy Butler and more.  Here they are piled up in my new wicker laundry basket I got for $5 at a garage sale.  This basket stands about 14" high, and it was almost full!

Here's another perspective, with my foot adding a sense of scale.  Most of the fabrics hide a stack of coordinating fabrics underneath.  This pile extends almost 6 feet.  In case you are wondering, 9 lbs of fabric equals about 22.5 metres or 25 yards of wonderful, glorious scraps!  Now I can create scrappy quilts a la Bonnie Hunter to my heart's content.

While the babies visit and sleep, I do work on my hexagons.  Here is my little kit that I like to travel with, including my punch for more cardboards in case I run out.

I'm still thinking about doing a Red & White challenge, and I'm floating the idea around that I might make blocks from the Midget Blocks, Barbara Brackman's Civil War blocks, and the 100 Block magazines (I have Vol. 2 & 3).  I'll end up with a buch of different size blocks, but I can visualize a pretty fun quilt with sashings of flying geese and other designs.

Bad blogger update - Garage Sales, the Beach and Free Block Patterns

I am such a bad, bad blogger.  I scan blogs everyday and consider adding a post to mine, then either don't have pictures to upload, or get sidetracked or just plain lazy and I don't post.  Since I do this blog mainly to keep myself accountable and motivated, that means there hasn't been a lot of sewing or crafts or scrapbooking going on!

But I have been doing some fun things.  Yesterday morning I saw this ad in the local paper:

Can you imagine your friends advertising you are a hoarder (that's what one of them actually called her)?! I called my sister and off we went, where the friends were hosting the garage - and they weren't kidding, the driveway was lined with tables on both sides from the front to the back yard, and they weren't shy about talking about their friend's hoard.  It turns out she used to own a shop, and a lot of the stuff was leftover from those days.  And so were the prices - only about 50% of the original retail price, which in my opinion is not a garage sale price. Needless to say, I left without getting a thing - I can buy a lot of the same or new stuff cheaper on the 'net.  I overheard one friend tell someone they were trying to help her recover her costs.  Unless she was dire straits, I consider a garage sale a way to save the environment by passing on usable stuff at ridiculously low prices.  In fact, I don't even hold garage sales anymore, I just give my stuff to charity.

Here in BC the first Monday of August is a statutory holiday called BC Day.  Since summer seems to have only started around here on the weekend before (July 23rd), we couldn't wait to spend the day at the beach.  My kids and grandkids and I all headed for White Rock, a beautiful beach on the ocean just south of Vancouver and only about an hour from home.  Can you imagine having this view from your home?

Across the bay is Washington State.

These homes run upwards of $1,000,000 and more!

The rock is how White Rock got its name.  Apparently, it is a erratic boulder left by glaciation and was white from guano by seagulls over the millenia. It is even featured in the local natives' legends. Now, it gets painted regularly by the city to hide graffiti. (This is one of my infamous UBIs, as my friends and kids would say! UBIs = useless bits of information)

Sarah dipped Zoey's toes in the ocean for the very first time. She is such a water baby - she just splashed around. She is now seven weeks old in this picture.  Her little friend Logan, who is 3 weeks younger just curled his toes up almost behind his ears !  No way was he putting his toes in.  I can't post that picture cuz I don't have permission yet from his mommy.

Alex took his time to warm up to the beach and the ocean - it's been a year since he last got on the beach because of our poor weather this year.  He loved taking pictures with his camera, though.  A future scrapbooker maybe?

I haven't done much on the quilty front.  I have made more hexagon flowers - I love a portable project!  I also found a block I had done 3 years ago, which was the beginning of  another project that I wanted to do eventually. It's called Midget Blocks and the patterns come from Gay at Sentimental Stitches.  I had forgotten about it because I had saved the .pdfs on my old computer, which was stolen when my home was broken in to almost 2 years ago.

Here is the one and only block I had completed.  Just like Gay's original find, I wanted to name each block in the sashing, but knew I would never stick to hand-embroidering each one, so I used my sewing machine's embroidery feature to put the name in the sashing.  I'm not crazy about the look, but that was before I knew about stabilizers.

I learned a lot doing this block. This is the first foundation-pieced block I've ever attempted.  I liked the process, and felt confident enough to take a class from Judy Niemeyer, the queen of foundation piecing!  I also made this block before I knew enough to trim the seam allowances on this very small block (finished size 4 1/2") to 1/8".  Check out this back - very ugly!

I pride myself in having neat backs on all my craft work, so I wasn't very happy with this result.  That's probably why I put it aside.  Thank goodness for the internet and my LSS, I feel my skills have improved so much in the last couple of years that I'm ready to tackle this again. Gay is redoing her blocks in Red & White, inspired by the Infinite Variety Quilt Show in New York, and I think I'm going to do the same!  Is any one up to a challenge starting in September?  Here's a link to Gay's free Midget Blocks patterns if you are interested in joining me.