New Bonnie Hunter Mystery

I am always excited when the new Bonnie Hunter mystery is announced.  This year the tile is Celtic Solstice and it promises to be great as her myesteries usually are.  I love to do Bonnie's mysteries, but sometimes I am not crazy about the colors that she chooses.  I don't feel too confident in  my ability to choose colors sometimes and am always afraid to pick other colors.  However this year I am doing my own thing.  Las weekend while at the cabin, I went on my usual walk and just happened to look up.  I saw  dark blue, rust, cheddar and olive green, that is when it came to me that I would use those colors for my mystery quilt.  It isn't that different from the colors that Bonnie chose, just a little darker.  I think  this will work, I will even be able  to go darker with my neutrals since they won't be competing with a pale yellow.   I hope these colors work out.  What do you think?



UFO goals for 2013

I am going to start out by saying that these aren't the best photos ever.  I should have taken some better ones, but didn't take the time.  I am proud of the progress I made last year on my UFO's, if I can do so well this year.  My first one is a Schnibble from I don't remember when, Paganini.  It is almost finished, just the borders.

Next comes a BOM from a couple of years ago, from Moose on the Porch.  There were 12 blocks I have 8 of them complete, I couldn't even find the pattern for the other 4, thankfully my friend Kristie over at M.S. Doolittle had the  patterns online no less and emailed them to me. 

I started this one about three years ago at a retreat at FFA.  I love the pattern and don't know why I haven't finished it before now.  The name of it is Black Diamonds from Country Threads.  I only have a couple of blocks finished but the fabrics are there to pick up and finish.

Believe it or not this has been on my list for three years, I am definitely finishing it this year.

Another Schnibbles, Imagine.  I can't even find all of the pieces for it.  Hopefully, I still have them so that I can finish it.  Who knew that it would take so long to make a Schnibble.

This is one that I just started in 2012, from Primitive Gatherings.  The name of it is Odds and Ends.  It is a scrappy quilt, I used civil war repros for it.  All of the strips are cut and most are sewn together.  It shouldn't take too long to get together.

Another 2012 start, this is Pat and Debby's mystery quilt.  I only have 2 more steps to go on this one.  I have seen the completed quilt and can't wait to finish it.

 

The other UFO's for the year include, Christmas Reel from Primitive Gatherings.  This one is nine large blocks of applique.  I have three of the blocks done.  I also want to finish two Bonnie Hunter mystery quilts, Orca Bay and Roll, Roll Cotton Boll.  I have an ambitious year planned.  If I can keep from starting too many new projects maybe I can finish all of these.  Wish me luck.

Christmas Lights

I haven't been making a lot of progress on my UFO's for this year. Last year I decided to follow along with the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt in Quiltmaker Magazine. It was the first mystery quilt that I had done. I have to admit that I got really tired of making half square triangles, but I do love the quilt. I got it back from Lisa, my quilter, last week and finished the binding last night. DH rarely ever makes comments about my quilts, but he did say that he thought we needed to keep this one. I agree. Even though the name is Christmas Lights, it is not at all "Christmasy" at least mine isn't, it does have red and green, but not the shades you usually associate with Christmas.

Friday night at Thimbles

Each month I look forward to Thimbles weekend, it is a wonderful chance to sew and visit with friends. Friday night the crowd was small, I think too many people had worn themselves out at shop hop during the day, but we still had a great time. There were some great quilts for show and tell. Sandra above) had a beautiful blue and yellow star quilt. I think it is an Eleanor Burns pattern.

Becky, from The Quilting Booklady, had two beautiful quilts that she had just gotten back from the quilter. The one above is Strawberry Pie a pattern from Silver Thimble Pattern Co. Becky did hers as a Blueberry Pie. The one below is also by Becky, the pattern is Autumn Ridge. I forget the book it is in. They were both beautiful.

I had purchased the kit for the month, but decided that it required too much brain power and I should probably just stick with simple straight sewing. I brought the fabrics from our last swap, it is a Bonnie Hunter quilt, Patchwork and Pinwheels. I got about half of the patchwork blocks sewn together. I would have done more, but I left some of my strips at home. Krisite was working on her yoyo's. They are looking great, don't know what she is going to do with them but they look good. Sarah was working on a Civil War Rail Fence that is beautiful.

I didn't sew on Saturday or go to shop hop, (I am on a fabric diet) Joe and I headed up to the cabin. I was nice to get a way for a day and relax. The weather was georgeous, very sunny and warm, a nice change after all of the wintery weather we have had. We went on a nature walk, saw some deer tracks and some bear sign. I even cleaned off the table on the porch, where we could eat dinner outside. It was a very relaxing weekend.

Busy Week

This last week and a half has been so busy. I can't believe that it is already two weeks into March. Where is this year going? Work has been very busy, we did inventory last week, plus it was Read Across America Day and my mother in laws birthday. I can't believe that I planned inventory the same week as Read Across America. Wasn't thinking too clearly on that one. This week has also been busy, but in a fun way. Tuesday night I had my friends Becky and Pat over for a stitching evening. Kristi, Karen, and Gretchen couldn't mak it, maybe next month. We had a great time. I so enjoy getting together with good friends and talking and sewing. Becky was working on a scarf and Pat was working on a project that will be featured in a magazine later this fall. Way to go, Pat.

I was working on sewing down the binding on my Amazing Grace quilt. I am so pleased with the way it turned out. The only thing I have left to do is put the label on the back. This quilt is one of Bonnie Hunter's patterns that several of us did a trade on last summer. I have to admit that I didn't know if I would like it or not, but I love the way it turned out. I think I will use this for my TV watching quilt for a while.

Just made it

You know what they say about the best laid plans. I never have good luck when I try to plan in advance. My plan for last weekend was to visit my mom in Mississippi. I also planned on getting back to Atlanta in time to see the Bonnie Hunter trunk show at Tiny Stitches. While with my mom, plans were made that I would take her 1/2 way to Nashville to meet my niece who she was going to stay with for a while. I didn't mind at all but of course it put me off schedule. Needless to say I was late getting back into Atlanta. I rushed into Tiny Stitches at 5:15, the trunk show started at 4:00. I can say that I saw the last 10 minutes of it. I saw a couple of wonderful quilts. I am sure that there were many more. I was lucky in that I was able to get the last copy of Bonnie's new book Leaders and Enders, I even managed to talk to her for a few minutes. She is a wonderful person very warm and friendly. I haven't even had time to really look at the book, I am saving it for when I can sit down and actually enjoy it.

It was good to see my mom and other family members, I hadn't been back since Christmas, so I was overdue for a trip. I even got to continue my birthday celebration with more presents. My aunt gave me a beautiful pearl necklace, and my mom gave me a blender (that I had requested) and a beautiful pajama and robe set. I worry about my mom, she doesn't seem to be handling the death of my dad well. It has been over a year and she is still very depressed. I wish I could make it better for her, but I can't. I hope she will feel better after this visit with her granddaughter and her three kids.

Bonnie answering a question from the audience.

Christmas Lights

This afternoon I had the house to myself and I wanted to work on a Christmas project. I started step two of Carolina Christmas, but decided I want to work on something that I could actually have a chance of getting completed in the near future. I dug out the blocks for Bonnie Hunter's Christmas Lights. I cut the triangles and got it up on my design wall. I really like the way it turned out. Some of the blocks are actually sew together. I already have the border fabrics, so this is something that I could get finished before Christmas. My goal is to get it quilted and actually have it to use next Christmas.

Stepping Stones or Amazing Grace

Last night while working on Carolina Christmas, I felt like one UFO was starring at me, there was a quilt that had three of the four borders on and it was making me feel guilty. I stopped what I was doing and finished it. It is a Bonnie Hunter pattern, Stepping Stones. Earlier this year my friend Kristie organized a fabric swap with several of the Thimbles members for this quilt, the only fabrics of our own that we were to use were the black and white cornerstone pieces. I didn't get to work on mine right away since my fabrics "went missing" for a while, our wonderful leader Pat accidentally took them home with her and it was a while before I got them back. At her suggestion, the quilt is now named Amazing Grace, what was lost is now found. I do fell great getting something accomplished at this time of year. Who knows when it will get quilted.