Easy Street Clue 5

A bit of air sewing,

 supervision by Spencer,

 and I've completed the blocks for step 5!

Following Bonnie's steps for marking the small square with pencil from corner to corner worked the best for me, as with trimming only the small triangle section - leaving the back square intact.
These blocks came together pretty easily, and I can hardly wait for step 6!
I keep adding to the spider web blocks between working on Easy street.
 Next I'm going to work on a quilt one of the members of the Quilting Board posted - it sure looks interesting. The tut is Missouri Quilt Co Big Star Quilt,  - - - super simple stars, shouldn't take too long to do. 

Small update on Spiderweb

It's GROWING! - I've added quite a few more blocks to the pile so decided to lay them up today to see how it's looking. I was going for a bright one, and it looks like it's coming together OK.

As I've been pulling scraps and yardage to work on this, I came upon this paper pieced Hunters Star I started long ago. I really didn't have any intention of making a whole quilt with this pattern, but wanted to try it, and loved the colors ~ maybe it could be the center of a wall hanging....

Easy Street Clue 4

Easy Street Clue 4 has gone really well, using the rulers Bonnie recommends is the way to go! As I'm working on Easy Street I'm still working on my spiderweb quilt, then I start to see some folks talking about Bonnie's Pineapple quilt! I need to take a look because that is one I've been wanting to do too!

As with other clues, I've been listening to a book on my iPod - this one is "The Shadow of the Wind" which I downloaded from the library here in town.   The book was so good I looked forward to listening to it as much as working on the quilt!

Easy Street Clue 3

As with Bonnie's other clues, I was so excited to get going on the new block, I started right away Friday when I got home from work - put in a few hours on Saturday, and completed the blocks Sunday.
I did follow Bonnie's instructions and listened along to QuiltCam on this snowy  Sunday as I sewed away.

Although I have no idea how we'll use them in the quilt, I just had to lay them up in a design!
Looking forward to step 4, but we have to wait till next Friday - gives me time for more work on my spiderweb blocks.
Bonnie's Easy Street

Easy Street Step 2

I worked away on my step 2 blocks as soon as the clue came out - rather than working in my living room on my Viking sewing machine, I decided to go to work in my extra bedroom where I keep my stash. I wanted to keep all the mess creativity in one place.
I set up my old "White" sewing machine and started piecing my blocks.

This was my first sewing machine, given to me by my grandmother when I graduated from high school back in the 70's. It was used then, and until now I really never thought of checking out how old it is, but it works great, and since it was a gift of love from my grandmother lots of great memories have been coming to mind. The table it sets into is one my father gave me way back when too. It really is nice having the work surface at the correct height.
 As I worked on the blocks I've been listening to a very good book which really fit into the whole family feeling I was having - "The Friday Night Knitting Club", (downloaded free
from the library).

******************These are my Easy Street Blocks!******************

My Flying Geese are, upside down - I guess they are flying south for the winter!

Getting ready for the next step are the 2" x 3.5" blocks.

Along with my Easy Street quilt, I've decided to work on a spiderweb just to keep me going between clues.

Looking forward to the next clue from Bonnie!

Easy Street step 1

Today I completed sewing all the 4 patch blocks, but didn't have a chance to get them all ironed - that will come tomorrow. For now I can show off the ones I did iron, it felt so good to be back working on a "Bonnie Project" again! This one is suppose to be easier than the Orca Bay mystery quilt, I hope to keep up this time!
Be sure to check out:
 Bonnie's Quiltville
 to see other great quilters that are working on this project!
 http://pinterest.com/pjnesler/ 
also lots of good stuff on pinterest too!

Working on a bedroom for me - The dark green wallpaper just wasn't me! I love brighter - lighter rooms (much easier to see when quilting). Off came the wallpaper - should have counted the hours this took, over the course of the project 4 of us worked on it! 2 walls were painted yellow, 2 were peach. Now it's a very pale pink - almost white depending on the lighting. What a change a couple gallons of paint can make.

I've been searching for the perfect area rug as a take off point to know where to go for furnishing the room.

A Little "Housework"

It's been so long since I've updated my blog - been working on a fix-up home that's been great fun, but lots of work. Started in the basement laundry room. The first pic shows the room at the time when I was just looking at the house - not sure if it would be mine yet. Since I did purchase the home, we tore out the old wood shelves along the side walls, and painted up a storm - looks brand new!              
********************                                       ***                           *******************
The yard looked so great in this shot, although some things are overgrown, I can't wait till spring!

Beautiful evening for a night out in Rochester MN event "Thursdays on First and Third" - nice crowd out for food, drink, music and just a good time!

Modern Quilt Top FINISHED!

This was such a fun project, I've been pushing myself to get it done, I was trying to have it completed in time to post the link on Leah Days site, but missed by a few hours - a gal has to sleep ya know....
I sewed the blocks on my Viking, but did the quilting on my Sunshine 16 Quilter following Leah's instructions for her modern quilt.
The quilting designs Leah suggested to use make it somewhat of a sampler. Some of the stitches I didn't think I'd care for, but went with them anyway, and now I see I'll be using them in the future, "Loopy Line" was my favorite, also used Circuit Board, Stipple, Sharp Stipple, and Zippling. Another stitch I threw into some of the smaller areas was Pebble.

After working on this "quilt along" I'm going to keep my eyes open for more, sure like the directions she gives, and sort of like Craftsy, I can go back to look later......

As always, Spencer my cat felt he needed to get in on the action, just HAD TO check out my Sunshine 16 Quilter!

Along with the Craftsy class, I'm following along with Leah Day for her free motion project. The first week we created our wonky blocks, then we put them together for our quilt top. Next will be doing free motion boarders to enclose samples of various quilting designs, FUN!

I'm taking a Craftsy class on line to learn more about free motion quilting, this is what I've done so far. It's lots of fun and a great way to learn at your own pace. The large bordered piece will get lots of detail added as shown on the small practice piece.

My Granddaughters birthday was yesterday - part of the fun was helping grandpa with a little fix-it job

Wanted to share a quilt I completed a while ago, but just started using today - I made it as a spring quilt to brighten up my bedroom - the strips are commonly referred to as Jelly Roll Strips, but they were from what was called a "Noodle Swap" with my quilting board friends. Added a machine embroidery border to finish off this queen size quilt that I FMQ on my Viking.

Coffee with my family

Last week I actually checked out one of my online emails from Walgreens Drug store, the were having a special on photo mugs, just $5.00 each with free shipping for a $20.00 order - I decided to check try it out with a few of my fav photos. I'm only showing 3 of the 4 mugs, but they are all great quality, and I wish I had ordered a few more as gifts, as the special is not available right now. Today I'm having coffee with mom (mug), and remembering what a special mother she was.

The other 2 mugs are my Son and Granddaughters - so some days I have coffee with them too!

Continuing on with Jane

Worked on the latest blocks this week, thank goodness for following along with the Quilting Board Group, or I don't think I'd be moving very fast on this....Blocks B2, B3, B10 are this weeks blocks.

I was surprized the circles turned out as well as they did, I was holding my breath on these...

Three more Jane blocks completed today!

I haven't been pushing on this as fast as I had the Orca Bay quilt - lots of thought goes into what scraps to use from my stash, shouldn't be that difficult, but I want this to somewhat resemble Jane's work of art.

None of the blocks are cut to size yet - I've read to wait till you're ready to put them together - also, with the paper pieced blocks, I've left them on the paper.

A few more Jane Blocks

I scanned in these blocks this afternoon rather than taking a photo of them, wanted to see if the quality would be better than a photo - seems to me the colors could be brighter - live and learn, just as I'm learning with each of these blocks that I wonder if I'll really complete a Jane myself!

 So far the blocks really aren't too difficult - I've been PP'ing, but as I look at some of the upcoming blocks, OMG!

I'll keep plugging away, if I just can't get it done, please - FORGIVE ME   :)

Orca Bay Top COMPLETE!!!!

I worked on the boarders off and on all day today, so glad I didn't have to go to work and could make this milestone!

On with the next project *** DEAR JANE ***

Quite a few years ago I picked up the Dear Jane software, book and rulers. At the time I made a few blocks and put everything away. I'm sure you all can identify with that.... Now it's time to pull everything off the shelf and actually complete a Jane for my self - the Quilting Board has a group going for support, and I'll try to follow along with everyone else, and hopefully learn some tricks along the way - these are the blocks I made back in the beginning.

 At this time I'm thinkng I'll be using pinks and burgandy, rose colors. Hard to say if  I'll be sticking with that as I continue with this new / old project.

Getting Closer

I've finally gotten all the center blocks sewn together - they're beautiful if I do say so myself - - - I used Bonnies color pallet, using more light sea blues than to the navy colors. On with the borders in the next few days!
As I looked at the quilt on the diagonal before I sewed it together, it was easier to spot my placement errors.

Looking for the final clue!

How wonderful to have the day off of work. I hoped to sleep in, and get up to work on my Orca with the final clue being given today - NO WAY could I sleep in knowing we would get that clue. now here I am, got up at 6:00 and waiting for the clue! Bonnie has gotten me hooked, wonder when the next mystery quilt will be out???