1000 Pyramids and Pillowcase Completed!

Here it is! I finished this up a couple days ago, and was so happy my little Grace stopped by to visit so she could cuddle up in her new Quilt. I wanted to make a complete look for her, so I made one of the "Hotdog Pillowcases" for her too. I've made a couple of those pillowcases to go with another Quilt since they are so easy, I just love the way they complete a gift.

 I did the Free Motion Quilting on my Sunshine 16 Machine - and have many more to work on  over the winter. Doing the hearts and swirls shown here was an easy pattern to complete without having to do any marking on the quilt, I really like this type of design so I can just sit and glide the fabric through my machine and see the project come closer to completion.

Grace is cuddling in her new quilt

 Next up for my Sunshine 16 is a gift for Grandpa - the Hunters Star shown here is still a flimsy, but I should be working on the quilting in a week or so - I'll be able to get at it as soon as I've finished piecing my Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt for this year - Grand Illusion.

Although this image shows my blocks before being sewn together, I have now gotten them all sewn, and some of the outer borders sewn on - still maybe an hour or so of sewing to go to have borders completed, and my Grand Illusion flimsy will be completed!



                           

Our Christmas Gift From Bonnie

What a great clue for Christmas week - some easy blocks that went together pretty fast so we all had time to do our other holiday activities!

In my case, my "holiday activity" was working on other quilts.

One of the quilts I worked on may have been nice to give as a Christmas gift, but it was kind of nice that I was still working on the quilting when my Granddaughter  Grace,
who will be recieving the quilt was able to watch me doing part of the
process - swirls and hearts make up the quilting design on her
1000 pyramids quilt.

  She had fun watching and she thought I should
be able to get it done while she was there -
no can do, BUT  I was about 3/4's of the way done by Christmas evening, and as of Sunday afternoon - right before Bonnie came on for Quilt Cam, I was done with the quilting! Binding will come tomorrow!

My big trial of working on this quilt was WINSTON my cat - he just has to try out the quilts every chance he gets, even while I'm still working on them at the sewing machine!

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I had a nice surprize Sunday Evening, my son Troy & his girlfriend stopped by with a Christmas gift he made for me. I was pretty surprised by it, it's such a cute papermache snowman, and I'm happy I'll be able to keep it out for a few months since winter is sure to stay around for a while yet - just need to find a place for him that Winston won't bother.

Just for fun here's a little video of my Granddaughter Grace Victoria with one of her Christmas gifts. Grace requested a bird - thankfully, not a live one.  Grace refers to this bird as a cock (giggle), must think it's a Rooster...

Be sure to check out what the other mystery quilters have been working on  on Bonnie's Site.

Working away on Clue 4

Wow, I thought I would be able to complete this step a whole lot faster than I did, but at least they are done!  All blocks for All clues, completed!!!

As I work on  my blocks I keep them organized in flats from my Costco shopping trips, so happy to see the boxes fill with colorful quilt blocks and anxious to see them all come together in a new quilt.

 I like the detail on this black print I've used on some of the blocks, naturally some of the text gets lost in the seams, but it's fun to look for the blocks with fun stuff, especially since it's part of the season this quilt is being made!

This block is a good reminder for me to wish you all a 
Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year.


 

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As I've been working on my Mystery Quilt, I've been plodding away on this Hunters Star, I've been pushing myself to get it done for Christmas, but that just won't happen, maybe early January....

Everyone has been working away on Grand Illusion, and are posting links over on the Quiltville site, go on over and take a look!

Grand Illusion Step 3

I've been able to get a start on this weeks clue, but still have quite a way to go (somehow work always gets in the way) - - - tomorrow I plan to spend lots of quality time making more of these beauties!

When I'm quilting I always think of my Grandma Carolyn, she introduced  my siblings and I to sewing when we were very young since it was  her pastime and her way of making a living as a seamstress at a number of upscale stores in the Twin Cities.
I'm working my blocks up on the beautiful "White" sewing machine she gave me as a graduation present way back in the 70's. It was a used machine when she purchased it for me, and still works great, I just oil it up when needed, keep the lint down, and listen to my fav. book or TV series!

In one of my earlier posts I posted that I'm using scraps for the start of a crumb quilt - I don't have any real plans for how it will look in the end, but I've been adding to the group as I work on all my projects.

Stop on over to Bonnie Hunters site Quiltville to see how everyone else is doing!
You can see we're all having lots of fun!

Grand Illusion Step 2

I've been having a great time working on this step, love the colors, 

love how accurate they are turning out following Bonnie's first option for making this block.

I have to admit I was a little concerned about making this one since I hadn't been able to start it right away on Friday, as many of Bonnie's followers on Facebook had, and before I even printed out the instructions and read them myself, I was feeling others concerns and problems with making the blocks, but as it turned out, the first option sounded the easiest for me since I didn't want to be sewing or trimming any extra triangles.

I  still need to do some trimming on my blocks, but little by little I'll be getting them done before the next clue comes out!

 

 

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The whole time I was working on these I was thinking of one of my favorite candies (must be the colors), and IF I left the house today, I was going to buy some - but it was much more fun to work on my blocks.

 

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Be sure to jump on over to  Bonnie Hunters Blog  to keep up with everyone else!

Clue 1 in the works

As soon as I saw the first clue Friday morning I wanted to get started, but work had to come first, so I was only able to do a little bit the last 3 days.

 

 

Luckly I'v got the NEXT 3 DAYS OFF!

 

I still need to square up most of the blocks I've put together, but I'm so happy to say all I've needed to trim off of the ones I've done so far is tiny little slivers, hardly anything at all. I think that must mean I've pretty much mastered the accurate 2  1/2" strip and and scant 1/4 inch seam.

I purchased a new seam guide that was designed by Nova Montgomery primarily for Featherweight machines, but I'm using it on my vintage "WHITE" sewing machine for this quilt. It's a nice long straight edge to the front and back of the pressure foot which really helps keep the fabric from swinging off my intended seam line.

 

Looking forward to the next clues, and really loving Bonnie Hunter for doing all this for us! Take a look at all the others working on this mystery!

Bonnie Hunters new Mystery Quilt 2014

I'll be doing my 4th Bonnie Mystery!      Bonnie Hunters Grand Illusion

So far all I've done is print out the info from Bonnie's site and start pulling out colors I think will work (also I'm cleaning up my sewing room).
As I'm working away I'm thinking of all the others that have done these mysteries in colors that are different from Bonnie's selections, and how beautiful they have been, I wish I had the courage to change up the color way for my quilt, we shall see!
As usual, I'm listening to a book on my IPod, downloaded from the Rochester MN public library, this one has been so very interesting AND educational.

 

The Buddha in the Attic tells a story of many Japanese women that come to the USA to marry American men they have never met - and how life treats them and their families through the years. 

I remember learning of this long ago, but now that I am older and look at life through older eyes, I see the reality of what people endured long ago to come to this great country, and now I've met some wonderful people that endured many hardships to be able to come to the America.

As a high school junior or senior I took part in a contest through the VFW to write an essay "The Voice of Democracy" and my subject was how the United States of America was a melting pot of people from.....

I wish I had a copy of that essay to re-read as I think of it often as I work with so many people that have come from different lands, and the struggle some of them had to get here.  I recall I took 2nd place in that contest, and still feel pride of recognizing how everyone of us can tell a story of our ancestors and their struggles that brought them to this wonderful country.  

God Bless the USA.

Easy Street, another Bonnie Hunter mystery complete

If it weren't for Bonnie Hunters mystery quilt projects, I know I would never have attempted some of the quilts I've made, let alone started a "BLOG" !


One of the things Bonnie likes us to do as part of the

Orca Bay

mysteries is to link images we post to her blog, back to our own blog. Before Orca Bay, I didn't have a blog, and didn't feel a need for one, but did it anyway!

The first Bonnie Mystery I did was "Orca Bay" - so that was when I started this Blog.

The next mystery was "Easy Street" but I didn't finish it right away due to an injury.

Then came Celtic Solstice, which I completed the flimsy and quilting before "Easy Street"

Celtic Solstice

Easy Street & Celtic Solstice flimsy hanging over patio door

Now I have Easy Street Completed!

 This quilt finished at 97"  square, not enough to provide for a pillow wrap ( which I didn't want anyway),on this queen size bed,  but I did want to have a finished look, so I made the pillow cases, first time ever for doing cases, but they were so easy using a Hot Dog Pillow Case tut I found on the internet thanks to the great quilter friends on "The Quilting Board". In true scrappy style - the green prints on the pillow cases do not match, but the color is the same - the 2 border colors are the same are the same as I used in the quilt border.

Easy Street with (semi) matching pillow cases

Quilting Easy Street on my Sunshine 16

Quilting Detail

Time for an update on Celtic Solstice

Here I am again, its been a while since I've posted an update - been working hard, and I've completed my Celtic Solstice and wanted to share the finished product.

I always love working on Bonnie Hunter mysteries, and I'm look forward to the next on already, although it won't be out for quite a while, I wonder if she's been working on it yet????


I just did a meander design for the quilting on this piece, I had it hanging on my wall for so long trying to decide what to do on it, and just had a mental block - couldn't come up with anything else I

wanted to do.

This is a gift for my youngest son, and he's always been somewhat of a wanderer, so I think the meander design is just right for him.











The border I like to use on many of my quilts is a "Flange" border, the way
it works up is so nice since you don't have

any hand sewing to do!












Now that Celtic Solstice is complete, I'll finish off  "Easy Street" - just a tiny bit of hand work to do on that, and it I'll be able to post it too!