Just my musings about life, quilting, my family and my dog.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Design Wall Monday - Cuteness



I'm on Step Two of Bonnie Hunter's Orca Bay Mystery.  We are making a gazillion 72 3.5" string blocks.  They are SO CUTE!  I love making string blocks but I hate the mess they make while in process.  Just look at that tangled mess of pink strings.  I have three boxes of strings that I dug through to pick out all the pinks for my version of Orca Bay.  Apparently, I am not such a pink girl.  I found the most miserly pile of pinks you can imagine.  Nevertheless, I think my tiny blocks are adorable.


Head over to Judy's to see what other people are working on.

Head over to Bonnie's to see other people's progress on their Orca Bay Mystery.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

All done!

And ready to move on to Step Two of the Orca Bay Mystery.  Check out Bonnie's blog. There's still time to join in.

In case you are wondering, that is 225 2.5-inch hourglass blocks. Aren't they adorable!   The next step is only 72 of something.  I am crazy.  That's OK, right?

Chris.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Orca Update


I am determined not to look at Clue Two of Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery till I finish Clue One!!
All the triangles are cut and paired, approximately 1/3 are stitched into pairs and 14 have been made into complete hourglasses.

Only 210 more hourglasses to go.

Am I nuts?

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone is enjoying this day with loved ones.  



I read a wonderful quote once:
"Feeling grateful without expressing it is like buying a present and not giving it."

Use today to give thanks to those who enhance your life.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

I love these little quilts


This is the little quilt I was binding for FNSI.  It measures almost 12" square and I can hardly stand how cute it is.  LOL - I crack myself up.

I made this with the cut-off corners of snowball blocks from this quilt that I made in a Mystery Quilt Weekend Retreat in Palm Springs. 


There were 10 of us in the same group and most of them gave me their "bonus" triangles so I should have many more tiny quilts to post before the next retreat.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Design Wall Monday


Is this the sign of a troubled brain?  This is the actual state of my design wall today.  The scary part is that it isn't even everything I am currently working on. 

Hanging on the wall are the projects I have yet to finish as well as all the cool stuff that I pin up there to give me inspiration.  To the left I have several photos, some tiny 4-patches I've stitched together just waiting to be included in a quilt, and some red and white striped fabrics.  On the right is my screaming flying monkey.  He's very annoying and that's why I always take him to retreats. There are my Jacob Ladders - no progress has been made on those.  There is my latest bonus triangle quilt and a pair of curvy blocks (only one shows) that I intend to use in a quilt some day.  There is even a cut-out Raggedy Ann pinned up there.

In the center is a blue and yellow panel that I stitched together.  It's on the way to becoming a tote bag as soon as I figure out what to use for handles.  Unfortunately, the fabric sample I had didn't yield enough for handles.  I'm thinking of using recycled denim for the handles.  The red and white blocks have shown up here many times.  I keep thinking I'll put them away till after the holidays but the thought of forgetting I have them scares me a little.  "Out of sight out of mind" rings very true in my life!!

What's on your design wall?  GO check out some other design walls over at Patchwork Times.

Friday, November 18, 2011

FNSI progress?

My DH sprang dinner guests on me leaving me very little time to sew :(

This is all I got done:  binding attached and 3/4 sewn down on a 12" quilt .   I'll show the front when it's all done.

FINALLY!!


 

If you follow my blog at all then you know that I am a huge Bonnie Hunter fan.  I discovered her website many years ago while I was on the Stashbusters yahoo group.  She always posted great patterns and her website is full of information and tutorials that just improved my quilting immensely.  I was at the point where I was getting overwhelmed with all my fabric and all the projects I wanted to do but was having trouble really moving forward.  She has wonderful patterns and three great books with patterns for using your stash.  All her patterns are scrappy which is what I really love.  Making block after block with the same 3 fabrics bores me.  I find scrappy much more exciting visually and more satisfying creatively.

All of that is the very long-winded intro into what FINALLY!! means!

Bonnie has posted clue #1 to her 2011 mystery.  I've only made two of her mystery quilts but they are two of my favorite quilts ever.  One I will never give away the other is open to bribes - if the bribe is substantial enough!    This is the one up for bribery.  It hung in the San Diego Quilt Show this year.  It's BIG!

2010 Bonnie Hunter Mystery: "Roll Roll Cotton Boll"

This is the one I am unlikely to part with:

2008 Bonnie Hunter Mystery "Carolina Crossroads"
For some reason, the brown and blue combo just speaks to me.  (Note to self: buy a better camera to actually show off your quilts)

My color palette for this year's mystery is brown, blue, pink and white for my neutral.  At the moment, I am trying to decide which will represent which on Bonnie's colors.  She is using red, blue, black and 'whatever' neutral she has.  I pulled several shades of off white, tan, etc and the bright white looked best.  I'm planning to raid my black and white collection and use all the white with tiny black motifs that I have.  I'm thinking my blue will be her black.  my pink will be her red and my brown will be her blue??  I don't know (there should be a whining font).  It would be simpler just to substitute brown for her black but the first step is to make a gazillion 1/4 square triangles with black and the neutral.  (more whining and pulling of hair).

Any thoughts before I'm off to cut some fabric?