Getting Things Done

I have had more energy these last few weeks than I have had in a while.  Perhaps it’s because I’m losing weight, perhaps it’s desperation that the end of the year is approaching, perhaps it’s to avoid doing things I shouldn’t.  Whatever the reason, early in November I made myself a promise to finish 6 projects.  Well, as of last Tuesday, I am done.  The final one went out Tuesday night.  Here is the final quilt I did.

After returning from Fedex (who apparently delivered the package to the wrong address, and I’m still looking for it…..), I started Bonnie Hunter’s Allietare Mystery and am doing my dutiful Monday morning link up.

I did manage to get Clues 1-3 done so far, and will start Clue 4 today.

And how about you? Are you doing anything productive?

Grand Illusion Top Complete; Celtic Solstice Done!

Well, I did it.  I completed my Grand Illusion mystery.  I am fairly happy with the results.  I saw the pattern getting a bit “mushy” due to the dark colors–the blank, red, and dark blue.  So I decided to use a constant on all my cornerstones.  I  am glad I did.  There is a lot of motion in the blocks, and by adding a constant cornerstone, there is a little less in the sashing.  I think there would have been too much motion if the cornerstones were all different fabrics of blue.

When adding the inner border, I thought white wasn’t right.  I went shopping in my stash and found a brown that had “splotches” on it that ranged from a perfect match to my beige blocks  to a kind of olive-y color, which went well with my green.  I considered black, and red, but finally went with the brown.  And am I glad I did–look at the frame!  It pops the red out of the border, and you can really see where the illusion ends, without looking abrupt–like the white would have.

And on top of it, after Christmas I quilted my Celtic Solstice top and took it with me to Indiana and back and worked on the binding in the car.  Done!  Except for the label.  Which I suspect will be done sometime about quilt show time.  Wonder why……Now I’m off to find something else quilty to do.  How about you?

For more Grand Illusion mystery quilts, visit:  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2015/01/grand-illusion-mystery-link-up.html

 

Still on Track

Still keeping up with  the Grand Illusion mystery.  Because 1) there were less blocks this week and 2) because we already made the HST in Clue 1 and 3) because I have a die for cutting strips in the correct size for the corner pieces,  this clue went quickly.  I just laid out some of my blocks, bu this doesn’t look right to me at all (especially when I mentally factor in the number of each block I have).

So all I have done in this pictures is give myself–and you a better impression of how the colors will look together.  Still liking my choices.  Happy to wait and see what it finishes out to be.  Gives me something to think of at this time of year other than how much I miss the kids being at home.  Tomorrow I have to get some more house cleaning and stuff done before the kids arrive.

See the Monday morning link ups here:  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2014/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-4.html

How about you?  Getting any sewing done?

Keeping Up: Clue 2 Done

At this time of year, we all have commitments.  So when I decided to participate in Bonnie’s Grand Illusion Mystery, I knew I had some things to work around.  December is always a busy time at work, and then there’s other things–an HOA meeting, quilt guild board meeting, I took a quilting class, etc.  With the quilting class yesterday, I didn’t think I’d have enough time to finish Clue 2.  Yet here are Clue 1 and Clue 2 all done and stacked, semi-neatly in a project box.

Now back to other things!

To see how others are doing with their mystery, go to http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2014/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-2.html

A Touch of the Macabre- Bear Parts

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.On Thanksgiving day I did some bear assembly, but for a while, the sight was a bit macabre.  Looks arms, legs, bodies, heads, hears, and a pile of baby bears.  The small bears are fleece bears for the NICU unit (See “Charli’es Unstuffed Bears” on Facebook).  The bigger ones are for Victory Junction.  I have written about them before.  I completed the two striped bears and about 20 of the little bears, which are all bagged and ready to be delivered.

I am also starting Bonnie Hunter’s latest mystery Grand Illusion.  I decided to depart from her colors.  Completely.  Oh, I’m leaving the neutrals, although mine will be no darker than cream.  I am leaving the blacks, because you just don’t get enough contrast with every color.  But for her pink, I have substituted red.  For her teal, have substitued blue.  For her green, taupe.  And the constant I was on the fence about.  I love this lovely brown fabric with the teal dots.  But on the very first clue, it seemed too dark.  And then I had this lime green.  But it seems to bright.  Or i have to go buy something.  Think I’ll go think about it some more.

A Bit Different

Celtic Stolsice progress: Clue 3 I did not start on til Thursday night.  I was at my daughter’s graduation from grad school.  My husband and I drove 15 hours (each way) to attend.  And then I was back to work on Tuesday and putting the finishing touches on that last work project.  Wednesday night was volunteer night at the hospital.  So finally, Thursday night I got to work on Clue 3.  I finished it Friday night.

Clue 4 from Friday morning took me 2 Downton Abbey episodes and 1 DVD of “It’s a Wonderful Life” to complete.

My colors are very different.  Not thrilled with the pinwheel so far, but like all the other “components”, so we’ll see how this turns out……..

Celtic Solstice

I wasn’t going to do another Bonne Hunter mystery this year, but a friend of mine got me started.   So here are my first two clues of Celtic Solstice.  I was not excited by her color choices, so made my own (teal instead of blue, pink instead of orange, and orange-red instead of green). The picture does not show all the chevrons,  although they are now done.  I also took the time to match up the fabrics (pairing) on the points of the stars and opposite sides of the chevrons.  That may turn out to be a mistake later, but I am not very concerned about it at present, because if I don’t like it, I have a local charity all picked out for the final piece.  If I do like it, I’ll just make another quilt for them.

Easy Street Mystery: Top Complete

A week or so ago (again, speaks to my schedule issues), I finished the Quiltville mystery “Easy Street” top.  After I had finished the main portion of the top and uploaded a picture, it was pointed out to me that I had some of those four patches turned wrong.  So I started finding them, marking them, and then fixing them.  There were FOURTEEN four squares turned wrong.  I fixed FIFTEEN.  Yes, I sewed one of them back in exactly the same way I took it out.

Finally after a few evenings of righting blocks, I got around to adding two borders.  Yes,there’s a lot of green in this quilt. A few of the oranges are too bright.  Most of my violet purles are too light next to the oranges.  But there it is, finished anyway.  Now someday I’ll get around to quilting it.  But it won’t be too long.  I don’t want to keep building the UFO pile.

How about you, did you finish anything in January that you want to crow about?

 

A New Year

Hard to believe I haven’t posted anything for a month.  I have done very little sewing.  I have been following along with the Quiltville mystery “Easy Street” and was actually doing pretty well–until she got to the last 3 Clues–which were all 3 issued within 5 days.  Too much for me with company in my home.
At this point, I am nearly done with step 7 (the triangles on the left and bottom of the picture, and did a block from step 8, even though “technically” I am not there yet.  My colors were wildly different,so it may be sort of unrecognizable.  I have been trying to spend some time each day–although admittedly I am not getting a lot of time in. To see more “Easy Street” mysteries, check out Bonnies blog:  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2013/01/mystery-monday-link-up-jan-7th.html 

For the last month, I have had my daughter and her fiance here.  Nerves were grating between her fiance and myself.  He has been unemployed since he graduated from college in May 2011 (except for about 6 weeks).  My daughter is in grad school. I think the most frustrating thing about their visit was that he likes to stay up all night and sleep all day.   And since I work from my home….that schedule is pretty distracting.  And December and January are my busiest times of the year, typically.

The Way it Goes

I have not been posting in two weeks.  I was trying for several times a week, but that just wasn’t working.  Family time, illnesses, busy at work, and then the computer…….well, it was elsewhere for a few days while it rehabilitated.  Why does it seem that my computer seems to get massive viral infections at the holidays?  I don’t know, but it happened last Christmas/New Year’s and this year on Thanksgiving…. To top it off, my back up computer actually had an infection so bad that it would not boot up.  And I don’t use my work computer for updating my blog.  So, stalemate.

And to top it off, of course, we had family here for Thanksgiving.  At work, the busiest times for me are probably Nov-January.  I also have my mystery going on at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MysteryQuilts4Military/.  I also have had – or still have, wo ear infections  (yes, both ears–or it wouldn’t make sense, now would it?).

Quilting time?  Not really so much.  I do have a quilt on the frame that has probably been there a month.  The last row I quilted must be removed.  And I have removed about 1/3 of the quilting.  I have just lost the will to remove it all at once.

I did start on Bonnie Hunter’s latest mystery Easy Street.   And here is a picture of my steps 1 & 2.  At the time the picture was taken I had only completed sewing about 2/3 of step 2.  My other two colors are gold and orange.