April Progress

I decided to forgo setting goals for April and instead just work on whatever grabbed me at any given time during the month. Initially when all of the pandemic-inspired sew-alongs and projects started coming out I wanted to do them all, but soon reality set in and I decided that other than jumping into the Village project (too cute & fun to resist), the little bit of extra time I have gained from all of my travels being cancelled would be better spent focusing on existing UFOs. 

I decided that I would dust off an old hooking project that has always been one of my favorites. I planned this one in a workshop with Sally Kallin in 2012.  Here's where it was when I pulled it out of the project bag.  I've made decent progress on it over the last few weeks and plan to continue to work on it even if I am able to go anywhere and start anything new in the coming months.  I still really love this pattern! 

Down in the sewing room, I decided I needed to make myself assemble my Frolic! pieces and parts. I finished assembling all of the blocks:



And then pieced the sashings and started assembling the top:



I have to say that this is not my favorite of the mysteries I have participated in.  There were so many leftovers after piecing the blocks - dozens of flying geese and HSTs that weren't needed.  I understand why it was set up how it was, but can't help but find it highly frustrating that I spent so much time sewing and trimming flying geese (which are not my favorite to make) that won't even be used!  And then there's the assembly - so many seams don't nest that it is a challenge to get everything lined up. I'm about half way done with the top and then will be forced to make a decision on the border. 

I also decided it was time to get the 2018 mystery quilted. I reverse-sewed the block in the inner corner and was able to turn it the right direction and piece it back in with surprisingly little difficulty.  I loaded it up on the longarm with a backing I pieced from a batik I happened to have a lot of.  I knew it was a bad idea - Bonnie Hunter quilts do not work well with batik backs - but thought I could run the machine slow enough for it not to be a problem.  Wrong!  I had five thread breaks on the very first pass. I slowed it down even more and have had a little better luck with the next three rows.



I have two rows left to quilt and this one will be ready for binding.  I've decided that my next quilting project will be custom.  I have a couple of tops purchased on ebay that I plan to practice on. If all goes well I may even get my Starlite Skies (2017 Primitive Gatherings pieced SBOW) finished this year...G

Williamsburg, Wool Club, and FNSI

I am slow to get my post completed for FNSI, but for good reason - I was actually sewing!  Well, sewing, preparing for and attending a TAS meeting and Wool Club but I did spend the vast majority of the weekend on fun stuff.  There’s still a lot more cleaning out and moving around to do to finish the sewing room, but I decided I would rather play this weekend.

I attended the Williamsburg Applique Academy the week before last and did a workshop with Missie Carpenter.  I really enjoyed it!  We were working on her Gardens of a King pattern, which involves some very complicated piecing.  We learned her technique for starch-prepped EPP.  I can’t say that I was completely in love with this technique for those particular blocks - my method of choice would be traditional had piecing.

While I was not thrilled with using the starch prep EPP method for piecing the tiny points, I am completely in love with it for prepping hexies. Missie shared some of her prepared hexies with us and they stitched together so easily - it was SO much better than with the papers inside, and there’s no paper to remove at the end.  I practiced preparing some so I could demo the technique at TAS.

They were so much fun that I almost want to start a new hexie project (or perhaps I should get back the the PG summer BOW from a couple of years ago).

I worked on binding Floral No. 5 at Wool Club.  I’m only about half way around so no picture this time. My reason for mentioning it us actually because I’m all excited about starting a new rug next month.  Our topic next month is “hit or miss” and after recently organizing all of my leftover worms I have been wanting to do a hit or miss rug.  I remembered one I loved at Warsaw a couple of years ago - I’m thinking of drawing up a similar pattern.

I mainly forced myself to get back to my mystery quilt this weekend.  I made good progress, finishing the alternate blocks and starting to piece the rows.  There’s still a long way to go, but I am motivated to keep pushing now.  I really like how it is coming together.

I will be finishing up the weekend working on my Schoolhouse Sampler rug.  I’m almost down to the grass now so the end is in sight.  I need to have it ready to start binding when I’m finished with the other one - and I can’t wait to get back to the rug I started in Eureka Springs!

Linking up with Sugarlane Designs for FNSI this weekend...

One Monthly Goal - Feb 2019

I have so many new projects and sew-alongs that I want to jump in on but just can't seem to get off the starting block this year!  I still haven't started my Circa 1880 blocks or my String-Along project, I'm rethinking my first Crazy Seasons block (I think I want to go more neutral) and I had planned to jump in on the Temecula Quilt One Block Wednesday but haven't gotten to that, either. I'm still working to get my new sewing space organized and that is taking precedence over working on projects. I am purging loads of fabric and projects (thank goodness my local guild's annual yard sale is coming soon!) but am still completely overwhelmed by just how much stuff I have!

I did manage to finish piecing the four patch/string blocks from my Good Fortune quilt, and pieced a few more of the star blocks, so I was able to get a better idea of what the finished quilt will look like.

I love it!  I need to power through and get this one finished, so I am sticking with it as my OMG project for February also.  It would be great to get the top together this month. Maybe then I will be ready to jump in on one of the many other new projects on my list...

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal for February.

January Progress Report

This post might be better titled “Lack of Progress Report”...  I’ve spent nearly all of my spare time at home working on my sewing room move.  I’m amazed at how efficiently I had stuff packed into my old room - there seems to be no end to it!  I don’t function well when things aren’t organized so it’s been tough to get any sewing done at all.  I did manage to get a few more of my Good Fortune blocks pieced:

And I couldn't resist getting a start on the first block in the Crazy Seasons Mystery.  I am using Japanese fabrics and am planning to keep the applique somewhat muted. I may have gone a little too muted with the little bunny in the center.



I also spent some time starting a new rug for the new year. Yet another floral with a number in the name (Fraktur Floral 2). I am using taupes for my background - you can see some of it around the center flower - and have had to make a few adjustments along the way to make sure my design shows up. I'm not really a pink person but I am loving these colors!



I did achieve my goal of getting the alphabet hooked on my Schoolhouse Sampler before starting the new rug. My next step on this one will be to get the background in around the tree on the right and figure out what if any adjustments are needed to make it show up against the background.

So overall the month wasn't a complete fail.  I am looking forward to a weekend at home to continue organizing the sewing room. I don't have any hope of finishing (will that day ever come???) but am really hoping I can get to a point where the chaos isn't so distracting!

One Monthly Goal - January 2019

I am trying very hard to avoid being sucked in to all the various sew-alongs, mysteries and other wonderful initiatives I keep seeing online - that all-too-familiar syndrome Kathy over at Kathy's Quilts describes as a "New Year Flare up of Startitis".  I decided to do away with the list of 12 UFOs this year and focus instead on just sticking with One Monthly Goal. It's so much easier to make these decisions one month at a time!  I'm not promising that I won't fall victim to a sew-along or two (I've already caved on the Moda String-Along), but at least I won't disappoint myself by not working on the "assigned" UFO!

My OMG project for January is Bonnie Hunter's Good Fortune mystery quilt. As I looked through my past UFO lists updating my blog it was interesting to find that I have consistently finished the mystery quilts within a fairly reasonable timeframe. Good Fortune is my 7th Quiltville Mystery.  I am not 100% caught up but fairly close - a little over half way finished with the step released at midnight New Year's Eve.

I am also working on my Schoolhouse Sampler rug, hoping to have at least the sampler portion completed by the time I head to a rug hooking retreat mid-month.

I'm dividing my free time between projects and a massive sewing-room clean-out/move. I started moving everything from my current sewing room to my basement over the holidays and must say that I'm a bit overwhelmed...the amount of stuff I have borders on ridiculous...but I am determined to get it all organized!

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal link-up for January.

Goodbye, 2018!

I have done a terrible job of posting progress this mystery season!  Thankfully I have been better at keeping up with the sewing - I am finished with all but one of the steps.

I have no idea how all of these pieces are going together but I am liking my colors a lot.  I opted to strip piece rather than string for those steps.



I am running dangerously low on my neutrals - hopefully we won’t need them in any further steps.  

And while I elected not to sting piece for the mystery quilt, I quite possibly have been sucked into the Moda String-a-Long vortex.  I stumbled across the blog post about the String-a-Long that included links to strip quilt inspiration on Pinterest.  It was there I saw this quilt:

I couldn’t resist giving it a try.  I found an ancient (2003) phone book and cut a page into a foundation for an 8” finished block.  I folded the square in half to try out the split light/dark block.  I struggled a bit with getting the split down the middle - I’m thinking that it would be better to sew those two strips together and align and pin the foundation paper to that to start.  I also found that I really struggled to sew a straight line when adding strips - I definitely need to do a better job of that!  This block will likely end up in the trash, but I do think I’m going to have to add this project to my “to do” list!

I am joining in on the Monday Mystery Link-up on Bonnie’s blog this week and will be spending New Year’s Eve finishing up the half square triangle step so I am ready for whatever comes next!

Good Fortune Week #2

A bit of a slow start for week #2...  I had a couple of other commitments this weekend so I didn't get as far as I would have liked on this step.  I did manage to complete the first step - I was so close that I figured it made sense to do so before moving on - and then got a start on the HSTs. I am using dark blue for Bonnie's blue so this step looks pretty much the same as her colors.  

Sadly I didn't get much else completed this week.  I still need to steam Floral #5 so I can get started on the binding. And while I have nearly finished my wooly tree (that thing took the better part of a day to do!) I still need to get all the branches attached to the trunk before I can share that one.  My "to do" list this week is getting longer by the minute!

Linking up with Bonnie's Mystery Monday Link-up to share my somewhat limited progress. I am amazed by the number of posts already - and how creative some of the folks are at arranging their pieces for their photos!

Good Fortune Week #1

Oops - I'm a little late to the party!  I was up to my eyeballs yesterday catching up from being out of work a couple of days and totally forgot to post my week one progress.

I finally decided to go with blues to accompany my gray and black. As I was pulling fabric I ran across a fat quarter bundle of one of Edyta Sitar's lines that I had picked up at the first Missouri Star Academy a couple of years ago (her standard blues and neutrals) and many of those pieces have made their way into this pile.  

Bonnie's first step called for the reds and neutrals.  I am using the gray in place of her red. I was a bit uncertain about putting gray and cream together and almost pulled those from the pile but I think it is working and I'm pretty sure I will like the variety in the final product.

The light in my sewing room was poor by the time I took a picture of my progress on Sunday evening.  I had a busy weekend so I didn't get as far as I had hoped, but I am off to a good start. I need to find a little more time in the sewing room to get the rest of this step finished before Friday.

I finally got my "new" pie safe set up last week.  I am not sure how people manage to get all of their quilts folded into the same size - I kept trying with these but finally just gave up. I was surprised by how many quilts I was able to fit into it.  It's quite the mix, with everything from one of my grandmother's quilts (the butterflies) to the antique quilts I have purchased to new ones I have made, (including a couple previous mystery quilts). It's hard to see in the picture but the third quilt from the top is a signature Dresden plate quilt I picked up from Cindy's Antique Quilts a couple of weeks ago.  The signatures are all embroidered and initial research shows they are from Missouri.  I plan to look into the names when I get a little time and will post detailed pictures.



I'm linking up with Bonnie's blog to share progress along with 140+ other participants.  I can't wait to see the next step!