Hard to believe that it’s November already and mystery season is almost here! I recently finished stitching the binding on the 2018 mystery and had hoped to get Frolic! quilted before Thanksgiving but it’s looking like that isn’t going to happen. I need to spend some serious time on the long arm - I’ve built up quite a backlog of tops!
I managed to get away from work for an extended weekend retreat a couple of weeks ago. It was wonderful! I decided to work on simple piecing projects so I’d feel like I accomplished something. First up was a T-shirt quilt for my daughter for Christmas. I planned it on the fly and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I am a little worried it won’t be as soft as I had hoped. The stabilizer I used for most of the shirts makes them feel a bit stiff. It was one I bought over five years ago when I first planned to make this quilt. I ran out of it as I was putting the top together and ended up purchasing something different that’s a little softer, but I had most of the shirts prepped by then. I hope the quilt doesn’t end up stiff as a board when it’s quilted.
I spent a little time working on houses, adding a dozen to my neighborhood. My friend Pat was finishing up the houses for hers and had them all up on the display wall. They were so fun to look at! I can’t wait to see her finished quilt!
Then I started “Take it Easy” from Primitive Gatherings’ Redwork Gatherings fabric. It went together very quickly from jelly rolls. I managed to finish the top before heading home Monday.
It’s always exciting when Bonnie reveals the colors for the annual Quiltville Mystery. I had planned to switch up the colors this year but changed my mind when I saw her choices. The prominence of the grays intrigues me. I hardly had any gray in my stash so I had to pick up a few pieces (which somehow ended up being 10+ yards, but I wanted variety!)
I am going with lighter, brighter oranges and yellows. My reds and greens are a fairly good match for the paint chips. I am resisting the urge to replace the warm colors with blues and purples - I need to leap out of that box! I’m looking forward to getting started.
The toughest part will be finding time to post updates. It took me over a week to get this posted. I hate it when work gets in the way of my fun!
