Mystery Hexagon Quilt

It will come as no surprise to several people that I started another hexie project. LOL.

It's a 16 clue mystery project hosted by jemimascreativequilting.com. We had the choice of fabrics and paper sizes - mine are 1" because it allowed me to fussy cut my inspiration fabric and end up with a bed sized quilt. The clues are posted every fortnight so you still have time to join in.

I started with the fabric in the back to pull my colors

I found out about the project after it started so I was already late to the game when clue 5 (a doozy of a clue) was posted. 

Clearly, my sleepy assistant has helped pick the black & white fabrics

Clue 6 was just posted this weekend and here I am still finishing clue 3. I just have to remind myself to take one bite of the elephant at a time and enjoy the process. 

These are so not my normal color combo and I am loving every minute of it. Clue 4 will be more of the wine color and then 5 brings in the dark green. I will be near a non-local store this weekend and hope to pop in to see if they have a green I can fussy cut, otherwise I'll be using the minimal strip I have on hand.

Quiltville Mystery Clue #4 and Shooflies

Clue #4 for this year's Quiltville mystery sewalong came out on Friday and I finally had a chance to work on it Sunday afternoon. I was surprised at how quick it came together.

The clue asked us to cut HSTs and QSTs from strips of blue and aqua, keeping the sets together. I'm not sure my aquas are just "right" (in person there is less contrast) but it's what was in my stash so I'm hoping it will look acceptable when the quilt top is together.

And here is my paltry little Jolly Green Giant box of clue parts. You can see that I have the approval of my little furry photobomber. What he isn't telling you is that I knocked over a half glass of cranberry ginger-ale getting the box out of it's storage space. And I was even clever enough to knock it over in the perfect spot so it dribbled into 3 drawers of paper and fabric supplies and then on to the carpet. Z investigated the spill but knew it was better to stay away from mum when she was sputtering naughty words...

I also finished 8 more shoofly blocks this weekend. Only 70 more to go!!

I've cut sufficient green squares to match the pattern. When I start laying these out I'll decide if I want to make it a wee bit bigger. Bigger could mean more blocks or it could mean a panel in the middle. If I find a panel it will need to match the 115 green squares and Let it Snow green border fabric I already have, which could be difficult.  Right now, I just need to keep plugging along on the shooflies I have kitted...

As I was proofing my post I also thought it could just be fun to have some of the let it snow fabric be a "panel" in the middle. Only time will tell what other fancy ideas pop into my head at the weirdest of times...

Happy Day before the Day of the Night Before Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!!

Wednesday Weather Report #27 - 11/22/17

Oh. My. God. I just, like 2 seconds ago, remembered that I didn't take a picture of my temperature rosette this morning. I sooooooooo need this four day weekend to happen like now. Anyone want to tell my boss we should close early today? There won't be any customers! They're all on vacation. I'll be donating blood after work so it's for a good cause if I get to leave earlier. Anyone? Anyone?

I'll share both rosettes next week. I promise!

That bottom left fabric was part of the FART but not for the
mystery - the dark green is for my temp quilt.

I'm ready for Friday's release of clue #1 for Bonnie's annual mystery quilt after going on a recent FART. When I mix these with my stash I should have a decent variety. I'm going to do the same as I did last year - make half of the required bits for each clue and when she reveals the final design make what else I need to fill out a a smaller quilt.

I'm slowly making progress on my jewel hearts. I'm hoping to have some time this weekend to cut more from my donated scraps.

Happy Thanksgiving from Z and me!

An InLinkz Link-up

FART = fabric acquisition road trip

Design Wall Monday - 2/13/17

Have you ever found such a good deal that you just couldn't pass it up and figured out a way to make it happen? It feels like that just keeps happening and happening to me...

Generally when I buy quilting supplies it's paid for with quilting "income" - not so recently since the deals were just too good to wait until I had the money. My savings account is a little thinner than it was last month but I've got some sales coming up so I have no doubt I will repay myself soon enough.

First, it was the sale on wide backs down in Addison, NY at the store of a friend's sister. I bought 4 fatbacks.

Then the same friend told me that Joann's was having a 50% off sale on batting. How could I pass that up two days ago when my schedule suddenly cleared??!! Joanne's is 60 miles away! I bought 4 batting packages.

All my favorite basic colors!!!
Grey Master Piece for piecing and King Tut colors for quilting.

And there was also the 25% off sale at Superior Threads (the only threads I use) last  week. They arrived today!

Everything I've bought recently has been bought with a purpose - that stack of quilt tops I posted recently. Now I just need to squeeze in some time to get them spray basted. I am hoping that I'll be able to get a lot of that done this weekend, since it's a three day weekend.  Wish me luck!

The first quilt to be stitched will be En Provence!! I'll be using the purple and neutral threads to get me started. Who knows what other colors I'll be using...I'm waiting for the quilt to speak to me...

Please ignore the mess!
I Spy a pile of quilts and tops on my great great grandfather's trunk, a Bonnie mystery
on the wall, hexie borders ont he table in front of the tv, Birdie vision
 (my current fav) on the couch and a fluffernutter on his dolly bed.

For anyone stopping in from Bonnie's linky party - check here to see how I basted my quilt.

Design Wall Monday - 1/23/17

Saturday morning -

Sunday Evening -

Oops - I neglected to take a good photo of the finished quilt front. Instead I was still gungho and kept right on going to make a back and size the batting.

Within minutes of finishing the back I was hoofing the block to the fire hall to take advantage of the tables and space to get this baby spray basted.

You can see the quilt is bigger than the tables but I like this as it lets me hang parts of it off the table so I can work on the "middle". It was less than an hour to get this 70x70 quilt spray basted.

I've already started thinking of quilting designs and just need to check my thread stash. I am just about out of my medium gray Masterpiece thread for basic stitching so it's time to stock up :)

I'm also still gungho to finish off some other projects. I have many tops that just need batting and backings. I might be going on a FART this weekend to a friend's sister's store that has 80+ wideback fabrics on sale this weekend. She doesn't carry my preferred batting but what she has is also on sale so I'll need to decide if I want to save money to get them done or stick with what I like...

Feline Friday - 1/20/17

Momma was making neutral 4patches last night for her mystery quilt.
I thought I would give her a paw or two...

She says I'm a neutral myself but I have NO idea what she's talking about.

I'm pretty sure that Z doesn't think I'm neutral.
I'm pretty decisive where that dude comes in to play.

Eventually I just couldn't think about what she said anymore and moved to the "drawer".

Momma says I'm a little chunkers to be on this drawer but I was not neutral on this item either. I WAS going to sit on it and I WAS going to play with her rulers.

An InLinkz Link-up

Design Wall Monday - 1/16/17

I spent Friday evening making the last 2 blocks as well as 4 more purple 4patches so that I could finish making the sashing for this year's mystery quilt.

Saturday morning I laid out the blocks and started adding sashing. Can you see my QCO?

Maybe this helps?

Bleu has started hiding out at the top of the cat tower. This was ZET (Zorro Exclusive Territory) until last week but more and more Bleu copies anything and everything that Z does. I keep telling Z it's a form of flattery...I'm not sure that Z believes me.

It appeared that Bleu was plotting to attack my quilt when I left it out on the floor to run a few errands. I was impressed that it was all still in position when I returned an hour later.

Bleu was a very good boy and walked around the quilt instead of over it the entire weekend.

I spent the rest of the Saturday adding sashing and the first border until it was in 9 large pieces. Woo Hoo!!

I won't tell you that I had to make 2 more pink and 3 more purple tri-recs to get this far. Apparently I can't count very well.

I've started making the neutral 4patches for the outer border but I probably won't get much done before next weekend, too many meetings this week.

The quilt looked the same overnight and for most of Sunday.

Eventually it just became too much for him to walk around so he created some space in the middle. He still never steps on the quilt blocks, just over the corners. Such a well trained little Momma's boy.

Mystery Monday and Design Floor Monday

Hello! By Saturday afternoon I had made as many blocks and sashing pieces as I could with the mystery bits that I had completed for clues 1-7. It was time to lay out what I could...

I've already attached sashing to one side of each block.

Love it! Purple/Yellow/Green are my fav colors (in that order!) so this is just the quilt for me. I also like that all the bits are 3.5" - the blocks come together very quickly.

Of course, Bleu thought maybe the blocks weren't laid out quite right.

How's this Momma? Better?

After Bleu helped with the layout I did some math (eek!) to figure out how many more bits of each clue I was going to need to make a 3 by 3 quilt. If my math skills are any good, I think that will net me a 70" square quilt which is plenty big for a couch quilt.

Hey Ma! I'll be here with you while you work on the pink blocks.
We CAN do it together!

On Sunday, I got to work on making the rest of the bits and decided to work on the magenta tr-recs first since it had been the first clue. That and pink is my least fav color so let's just get it out of the way.

OMG - are we done already? I can't take the pink any longer...

You do coordinate your snips to your fabric, right?

I think I needed 28 more purple 4patches. I had just pulled out strips willy nilly and sewn them together with no idea how many twosies or foursies I would get. Well I got 28 4patches and an extra 1/2" of fabric. I couldn't have planned that if I tried.

All that's left to finish is 15 yellow QST. They are half cut out so a few minutes of stitching and I'll have all the bits I need to finish the center. I don't have enough fingers and toes to figure out how many neutral 4patches I'll need but I'll get to that soon enough.

My plan is to lay the blocks out on the floor again (while entertaining Bleu elsewhere. Maybe with Wobbert?) and then lay out all the border pieces to attach to the nearest block. I think  I can sew it together into 3 rows and then sew them together into a finished quilt top. It sounds so much more fun that finishing the center and adding long borders later. I know I'm not the only person to get bogged down with borders...

Linking to Design Wall Monday and Mystery Monday Link Up.

Working Wednesday

I've been plugging away at finishing Bonnie's mystery blocks.

I've completed 4 already - can't believe how easy these are with all the bits already made.
It's funny how those are 4 completely different yellows but in this washed out morning picture they almost appear the same.

This will be the next block. I'm trying to get at least one block done a night which means I might have the blocks done by this weekend. And then it will be on to sashing.

I've probably got enough bits to make 3 more blocks. I'll need to finish up the bits that I've made and lay them out to see if I need to make more blocks. Remember, I'm only aiming for lap size.

And while I was working on the mystery blocks I needed some leaderEnders so I resurrected my Puss in the Corner blocks. These are made with 2.5" blocks but can be made in any size - 2.5" blocks just happen to be an easy size to cut when I am trimming my scraps down into 1.5/2/2.5" strips. Check out my tutorial if you would like to make some with your own scraps. Or send me your scraps and I'll make even more. LOL! I think I have around a 100 blocks already but I'm going to need a ton more...

HeLP for Hexie-aholics, DWM and Mystery Monday

Hello all and welcome to today's trifecta of linky parties!!

Let's begin with the easy one ... Mystery Monday Link-up #4.

As you will recall ... I'm making a smaller quilt so I've cut enough neutral "tri's" to make 42 tri-recs. I'll need to cut some more purple "recs" but that's ok cuz I spent an hour or so trimming scraps and found some nice dark purples in the pile that I can use right away.

 And since that was the boringest photo ever, how about a little entertainment?

Attack!!!!!

This was taken shortly after Cookie Day baking finished, while Bleu was still hiding under the bed. And you're right, there are no ornaments on the bottom 2 feet of the tree for a reason...

The rest of the week/end was spent working on the owl quilt, which I am thrilled to say now has the penultimate row of the neutral batik attached to the top and bottom!! Woo Hoo!!!

Next up was deciding how to fill in the top and bottom notches so the neutral was "straight" before adding the blue border.

Given how little neutral was left I thought it would be easier to sew a strip of blue and neutral together in a pieced hexie fashion instead of making 2 half hexies to sew together later. I also added a strip of blue to the other side so I could get the most use of the neutral. I needed 22 of these split hexies which left a very small, goofy shaped piece of neutral. You can thank me later for forgetting to take a picture of that small piece of fabric.

You can see how the split hexies fill in to give some separation between the rose stars and the blue border. Phew! My idea worked!

You can also see how someone learned how to rearrange quilt blocks. Given that I had to encourage him to even sit on the quilt the last time I had it on the floor, he certainly has upped his QCO skills pretty quickly.

Sew... I've linked to Design Wall Monday and Mystery Monday but now I want all my hexie friends to join my Hexie Linky Party (HeLP).

Any paper shape and any vintage project is more than welcome. We look forward to seeing your hexie projects!!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Design Wall Monday - 12/12/16

I survived the party at my house yesterday! Barely, since I have another cold/sinus/asthma thing going on, but it was lots of fun, with lotsa good food and now I can relax for 2 weeks before the big day.

Did Zorrro survive? Yipp! Who knew he could be a social butterfly?! He did got outside when the 2nd friend arrived but he came back inside soon after and stayed close by for attention from everyone. I have a feeling it's cuz he's on the injured list *again* but lets not look a gift horse in the mouth...

What about Bleu? Not so much but he'll tell you about it on Friday...

Can you spot Babar?

The girls stayed longer than usual so I didn't get as much sewing done as expected but that's ok...cuz I still managed to finish my magenta/neutral tri-recs from clue #2. As you will recall, I'm making a smaller quilt so I stopped when I got to 48.

I was a little surprised to hear that this is the only step with the magenta. Why I thought I needed to buy a "little" extra magenta when I'm making a smaller quilt eludes me but I've got plenty for binding/backing/???



The other "excitement" at my house this weekend was Dad coming over to replace/switch out a couple outlets in the quilt lab and living room from when Zorro tried to burn the house down. Woohoo! Now I can plug my sewing machine and iron in without running extension cords to the next room!

Was this USB/outlet combo a little pricey? Yes

Is it convenient to have the USB port next to my stitching chair to charge my iPhone? Yes

Does my brother, the electrician who has everything, have one? Hell No!!!!

Worth it? Oh Yeah!


Linking to Design Wall Monday and Mystery Monday Link up #3

Not much to share this week...

There hasn't been much crafting going on at my house lately...I had a craft sale on Monday and since then I've been putzing around, trying not to get sick again and preparing for the annual party at my house this weekend.

I completed 3 more tatted snowflakes. Today I was even asked to teach a tatting class at the "Fiber Flurry" in March, a local event now in it's third year. I'm excited!

I've spent a little time on my En Provence mystery quilt. I went to a non-LQS last weekend and finally picked out the "frame" of my colors - now I'll pull from my stash to fill out the scrappy variety that I adore. When I go up to the city (and another non-LQS) next week, I'll fill in more.

I'm still planning on making a smaller version of the quilt so I shouldn't need to purchase a lot more. Bwahaha - who am I kidding??!! I go to the city store once a year - I'll buy what ever jumps in my shopping basket!

You can see, in the front, that I cut out my magenta tri-recs - I still need to cut the neutral section. I'll do that Sunday after my party. I think it will be a nice way to relax after the stress of party prep (cleaning, decorating, gift wrapping). Any excuse, right? Especially since there will be another clue out tomorrow to play with...

Linking to Bonnie's Mystery Linky Party.

Design Wall Monday - 11/28/16

(Once again, pixler isn't working to edit my photos...when it feels like working I'll replace these large photos and remove this note)

Other than a killer sore throat (like lets not even thinking of eating or drinking or swallowing) on Thanksgiving day, I had an excellent long weekend. I can't say that I accomplished much but I had fun cleaning up the quilt lab, prepping cookie dough for cookie day and whipStitchin'.

This was where I spent a good deal of time. I'm putting the fillers on the sides and the quilt is just too big to handle in my lap, especially since a certain FlufferNutter would prefer to be occupying my lap instead of any quilt. The cats don't bother the table so I can leave it set up for the next time I have a few extra minutes. I've got both the filler pieces on the right side done. Tonight I'll start the left side.

Hexie Club is Friday night where we will reveal our UFO challenge projects so the pressure is on. There is still a lot to do to consider my project "finished" but since I still needed to make 6 out of 23 stars back when the challenge was thrown down in June/July and it's now it's almost in one piece with just the pieced borders to go, I'm considering this a win!

I decided to make Bonnie's Mystery Quilt this year! The colors are right up my alley so I'm all geared up to do another mystery. I'm not soooo geared up that I actually have fabrics pulled but the mystery uses my 3 favorite colors so it was a no brainer to join in. That and I love her mystery style of making all of each unit (4patch, 9patch, HST, etc) at once.

Can you guess how many 4patches I had done when I took this picture?

It just so happens that my 2" strip bin had a ton of neutrals already cut so it was easy to whip up 93 4patches. I'm making a smaller version of her quilt so this will be enough for now.

I also received 2 squishies recently!!!

LOVE the bowtie selvage!

Sharon surprised me with a box of selvages - my January honeyDo list includes playing with selvages.

She also included this great hexie fabric. Yes - the search for new hexie fabrics continues - if you find one at your LQS I would love to hear about it!

I also won this great pair of tea socks from a new to me tea blog: http://www.friendshiptea.net/. Thanks Linda!!! I've got them on today but I just couldn't finagle a decent photo.

Joining Design Wall Monday and Mystery Monday Link up #1

Mystery Monday Link Up!

Thankfully last Friday's clue #5 was a super simple one - other than 45 minutes of hexies it was a go-go-go weekend. I was lucky to finish what I did and that was because I stopped working on town taxes long enough for the first hour of Quilt Cam. It was nice to take that break amongst the chaos.

Yipper - my little Quality Control Officer was checking my work and blocking my light =^..^=

Did you ever think your food is laughing at you??
Well, today, I finally caught it on "film". LOL

Me thinks he looks a little worried now that he's on "film" !

Have a great week!!

Grand Illusion progress update

Whoo Hoo! In between cookies and gift making this weekend I finally made some progress on my Grand Illusion mystery quilt.

I finally finished Step #1!! OK, so I still have to press open and pinwheel the seams but they are cut and sewn.

And it's not like I've been slacking on the other steps:

I've been having trouble getting the diamond pdf/template to print the correct size so the strips for step #2 are ready but I am at a standstill. Me thinks I'll have to improvise :)

I have also been cutting strips for Step #3.

And don't forget I already have those 80 pink/turquoise HST done for step #4. LOL!

I'm hoping I'll get some free time Wednesday or Christmas Day for some "fun" sewing so I can make some progress. I'll have to start working on taxes the day after Christmas so probably won't get much sewing time over the weekend.

And just because I though this was hilarious...this fabric was the perfect color for my mystery quilt! In small pieces you can barely tell they are onions.