Celtic Solstice

I am one of hundreds of people joining in on Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt, Celtic Solstice. I love the bright, clear colors, and with my husband and I both having Irish ancestry, it was a natural.

 

My quilting bee did a fabric exchange to freshen up our stashes prior to clue one being released. This is a picture of the first set of fabrics.

 

 

I forget to get a picture of the second set, except for the nutty zucchini fabric.

I had a couple of stumbling blocks with clue one. I thought my 60 degree triangle ruler would work, but it did not make the same block size. I've been making the blocks using the templates while the tri-rec rulers are on order.

 

Clue two does not use triangles - Yea!!! I was busy busting out some cheverons yesterday. I hope to have a big chunk of time to work on it this coming weekend.

 

 

 

 

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The little engine that could

This blog title composed by my daughter when I told her I had completed 30 of the 36 blocks I need for this Karen Stone quilt. I've been working on it off and on for about six years.

 

 

I was on quite a streak this fall when I dug into some new color combinations.

 

 

 

Now it's on the back burner again while I join in on the new Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt.

Who knows? 2014 could be its year yet!

 

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Friday Flashback: 9 patch quilt

I don't ever get tired of looking at nine-patch quilts. I always seem to give them away, however, and I really need to make one for myself.

 

This was my favorite: "Coffee and Cream."

 

I was in the middle of piecing it when my dad was diagnosed with cancer. When I went to be with him, 1,000 miles from my own home, I took the appliqué sections and amused us all by incorporating some wacky pieces that represented our family.

A hammer to represent the woodworking my mom and dad enjoyed; love birds representing the rekindled love my parents experienced;

 

coffee - my dad's favorite drink; a five-person "papercut" family for my parents, brothers and I; and a pinapple to represent our trip to Hawaii when I was a teenager.

 

My Dad's illness lasted an astoundingly short 6 weeks, so he wasn't with us when it was finished. I sent the quilt to my mom soon after and she was very moved by it.

 

The quilting is much less than perfect, but it was stitched with a lot of love.

 

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Another UFO surfaces

I've finished all of my blocks for the Mistletoe Manor Christmas Quilt, and I'm still in a sewing mood, as I wait to get batting and backing to quilt the recently finished tops. After the repetitive, yet extremely satisfying, construction of 99 triple 4-patch blocks, I was up for a little more challenging piecing.

 

This fit the bill!

 

 

I've revived another UFO. When I last left off in February of 2012, I had 21 blocks done, 15 more to go! (Now 14) I had begun the project as a gift, but when the gift-giving occasion came and went and I was nowhere close, I abandoned the project for the first time. I revived it at a craft camp, planning to buy more fabrics for it when I got home, and it, unfortunately, was abandoned a second time.

 

Now I've dug deaper into my stash and began pulling colors that weren't considered the first time around, when it was for someone else. These are a little brighter (orange, pink and lilac used in the single block above), and I think they're going to work in just fine.

 

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Quilting spree

Since I discovered Bonnie Hunter's Quilt Cam a couple of weeks ago, I've been on quilting spree.

 

I'm working on the binding for the secret, special Christmas gift, but I've been reserving this work for car trips, of which I have many over the next few months.

 

I finished the Crabapples top (worst photo ever), and am on hold until I get backing and batting.

 

I'm also making good on my resolution to "use the pretty stuff." I've finally broken into the charm squares, "Mistletoe Manor" by 3 Sisters for Moda.

 

I bought these years ago when I was on a quilting retreat and I've saved them, unsure of what to make. I ran across this triple four-patch pattern and knew it was a perfect fit. I ordered a back issue of the magazine and set to work.The strong lines help keep it from becoming hopelessly feminine, as I'm making this for our bedroom for the Christmas season, and so far DH hasn't commented on there being too much pink. I think the plaids and stripes also help. I've supplimented the charm squares with things from my stash, including some plaid from DH's "toss" pile. He didn't know I scavenge from there, and thought it was pretty cool when I showed him how I was using it.

 

 

So this will be Christmas quilt #2 - My son claimed last year's. Just one more to go for my daughter, although no promises that it will be completed for 2013. :)

 

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Digging into a UFO

The other day while I was working on a quilt for a Christmas gift, I tuned into Bonnie Hunter's quilt cam. What fun! I found out that she archives the episodes on her YouTube channel, so that weekend I loaded up another one while I finished quilting that project.

After that, I was inspired to dig out one of my quilt UFO's, which is one of my favorite Bonnie Hunter patterns, Crab Apples. This quilt I had designated for ME. I had completed the blocks and bought most of the setting fabrics, so I started putting the blocks into rows. I always underestimate the time this step will take. In my head, I sew a few seams and the quilt top magically appears. But no. There are cornerstones and sashig strips and it's easy to turn the little triangles around so they are facing the wrong way... Don't get me wrong, it's all fun, but what I think I'll finish in an afternoon usually turns into a couple of days. (Darn that pesky day job!)

 

I've decided on an olive-y green fabric for the inner border next to the checkerboard to compliment the trees, so I just have to cut and sew those strips on. Then I have to finish out the checkerboards (I made the quilt a bit bigger than the one in the book, so I'm adjusting). I haven't completely decided on the outer border. I had originally thought more of the pink, but that's not ringing my bell, and I don't think I have enough anyway. After trying several colors, I think I like red the best, but of course I don't have enough of the sashing red left, so I'll have to figure out when I can get to the quilt store next to match something up.

 

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Choosing a new project

I just finished quilting (still hand stitching the binding down) a quilt for my daughter, and now it's time to begin thinking of something new for my young man. I've seen some blue and brown quilts floating around the blog world, and it seems this would be just the right combination for my teenager.

I saw this quilt on Pinterest, fell in love with it and immediately downloaded it. I thought the pink and brown could easily be switched out for blue and brown. The little scattered stars give it some interest, but it's still unfussy enough for a boy.

 

Then I started to figure out how I would resize it for a twin or an extra long twin (that he could take to college in a few years). First I mapped it out using the orignial 2 inch stars and immediately chickend out when I realized it would take 115 of the 2 inch stars for the first layout I had in mind.

 

Then I started over using 4 inch stars. This looks more doable at about 40 sawtooth stars. It might work, adding a couple of stars to each corner to even things out.

 

 

I then reconfigured it so the 4 inch stars were again represented by one grid sqare each. And I started to try to figure out the square-in-a-square border (represented here by triangles). I kept playing with the borders to find a number that would work to jump up to the outer border of larger squares. At one point the area inside the square-in-a-square border was so large, it didn't need the outer border.

 

But I really like the floating square-in-a-squares.Maybe with less space in between the sawtooth stars?

 

 

After a couple of hours of this, I'm thinking I just need to find something else for the young man and make this quilt as per the pattern directions. It would make a cute throw or baby quilt.

 

It's a good thing I have one more quilt in line that I'm sashing and adding borders to while I let this gel in my mind a little bit more.

 

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Alexander's Christmas Quilt

It's Finished!!!!

I'm not 100% sure a white backing was a wise choice for a teenage boy, but I wanted to clear it out, and I thought the red stitching would be neat on it.

 

I was looking for Christmasy quilting patterns and remembered this wonderful site. I thought the star flower looked like a poinsettia, and I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

 

 

 

 

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On a quilting spree

I finished quilting "Alexander's Christmas Quilt" (he called dibs) and am working on the binding. I took advantage of the weekend, though, and pinned the next quilt to be quilted, another one by Bonnie Hunter. This one I made using all of her original colors, and I love it.

 

 

I'm not sure when I'll have another block of time to quilt it, but I'm ready! I loved glancing at the hundreds of fabrics in it when I was pinning it, and it'll be fun to see each one as I quilt it.

 

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Back to basics

Chain piecing yards and yards of soon-to-be 9 patch blocks!

Bonus triangle project

I've got dozens and dozens of bonus triangles that resulted from making the quilt blocks for Calendula Patterdrip's Cottage. I'm planning on making an embroidered project bag that will have a lot of wool leaves. I've needed something new to work on at Wooley Bee.

Amazing embroidery inspiration can be found at www.facilececile.com. She has a new book out and I'm trying to decide if it matters that it's in French.