Fireburst Mystery Quilt-HST's and HFG

Are you as excited as I am to get started sewing on the Fireburst Mystery Quilt???  To those that have joined the Facebook Group and joined in the linky party it has been so much fun following along and seeing the fabrics you have picked out!  You guys are going to have some beautiful quilts and I can't wait to see them come together.  Today we are going to start the first piecing instructions with half square triangles (HST's) and half flying geese (HFG) units.  The best part, you don't have to make a ton of them!

We will be using the 2 at a time method using B and D squares to make HST's. 

My 32" version fabrics

My 64" version fabrics

With this method, you will use two B or two D squares, drawing a diagonal line on the back of one square.  Then placing them right sides together, you will stitch 1/4" seam on either side of the diagonal line.

Next cut on the diagonal line to form two HST's.  Press the seams open or toward the darker side and trim to the correct size.

Using the chart below and the appropriate B and D squares make the following HST's.

					Trim Size
Size Square	Quantity	Fabrics		HST's Yielded	Baby	Lap
B square	2	Fabric 1	Background	4	2.5"	4.5"
B square	2	Fabric 2	Background	4	2.5"	4.5"
D square	2	Fabric 1	Background	4	4.5"	8.5"
D square	2	Fabric 2	Background	4	4.5"	8.5"

Next we will be making Half Flying Geese units using C rectangles and A squares.  On the wrong side of the A squares draw a diagonal line.

Combine the C rectangle with the A square (as shown below ), right sides together, and stitch on the drawn line.  Note that the A square goes on the right side of the rectangle. Trim a 1/4" away from the sewn line and press open or toward Fabric A.  Use the chart below to make the following HFG units.  Finished Size Quantity C Rectangle A Square Total HFG  Baby  Lap         4  Fabric 1 Background           4 2.5" x 4.5" 4.5" x  8.5"         4  Fabric 2 Background           4 2.5" x 4.5" 4.5" x  8.5" And just like that, we are finished for the month.  Hopefully, that wasn't too bad.  If you would like a printable copy of the instructions you can down load it for free from my Craftsy Shop.  If you'd like to join our Facebook group to share your progress and see what others are up to, you can find it here.  Also feel free to tag me on Instagram @tishnwonderland or use the #fireburstmysteryquilt.  I can't wait to see your progress! I am unable right now to respond to your comments by email due to recent changes with Blogger.  If you would like me to respond please make sure you leave your email with your comment or email me directly at tishnwonderland(at)gmail(dot)com.  I appreciate all your words and hope that Blogger finds a way to "fix" this soon.  I love hearing from everyone.

SS Playtime Plus-Rows One and Two

And so the last we talked, this beautiful quilt was all in pieces.  Laid across my cutting board, it wondered to itself, if indeed one day it would be come a finished quilt.  Oh, why must a quilt journey take so long?

I set about reading the fabrics and mapping out their designation.  Since I was only dealing with the first row, there didn't need to be much planning on the black and gray fabric placement...just black, gray, black, gray.  So I set back and let the fabrics do the driving.

It would appear, they new exactly where they are going.

 

 Row two however, would be a bit more tricky.  I wanted to try to keep my blacks and grays distributed nicely in the rows, so for blocks 4, 5, and 6 I moved a bit slower.

 



 

 

I worked by pinning the columns of the blocks together to make sure that the fabrics in the block above it were not repeated in the one below. 

 

Okay, time for a full disclosure confession...I didn't really take any pictures after this point.  I got so in the groove making these blocks, the momentum building full steam ahead, that I finished the quilt top.  Did I just have a premature quilt finish????

 

So I've decided to wait until after Row 3 is released to reveal my finished quilt top.  All I can say is...I'm in Love.

If you are participating in the Fireburst Mystery Quilt, the first piecing instructions will be released on Friday, June 1st!  Hope to see you there!



 

 

I am unable right now to respond to your comments by email due to recent changes with Blogger.  If you would like me to respond please make sure you leave your email with your comment.  I appreciate all your words and hope that Blogger finds a way to "fix" this soon.  I love hearing from everyone.

 

Today I'm linking up with Let's Bee Social and Midweek Makers. 

UFO Busting #21

I have two finishes in a row to celebrate, I can't even believe it!  This week I was all giddy about my Garnet Star Crystal finish, which you can read more about here.

It didn't spend much time in UFO or WIP land, but I'm happy to report it waited patiently for me to get to it.  I even entered her into the local quilt show and I promise to share about that soon.

Last weekend was crazy with 0% anything quilty going on other than a quilt show.  I think I've stated several times here on the blog we live in a small zoo of animals...mostly aging animals at that.  Part of that zoo is pit bull littermate brothers, never separated in their entire almost 11 years of life, Becker and Newton.

I like to think of them as yin and yang. 

My buddy Newton has had some digestion issues going on but we got them all ironed out, life is good.  Then last week, I noticed a mass on his rib cage that I swear wasn't there before.  Like it's huge, how could I have missed it??  A trip to the vet confirmed he has a rather large mass on his ribcage that really isn't in a great location to be removed.  Because of how quickly it came on, we are going to assume it is cancer and not put him through a bunch of tests.  On top of that he came down with a bad infection that we are trying to treat.  I'm not sure how much longer my little silver fox has, but I will not let him suffer.  I love him way too much to be selfish.  So most of my attention is focused on him making sure he knows he's the best boy ever and that his brother will be okay in the long run. 

Now let's talk quilting again, I have managed this week to side track myself with two new projects.  A wedding quilt that will hopefully be gifted in July. 

A spool of Aurifil Light Lemon is making its way to my house as I type.  Hopefully, these blocks made with Cory Yoder's Sundrops (Jollybar) and Moda solid layer cake will become a quilt top this weekend.

This also started happening this week.  I'm making a mini version of  Yvonne's (Quilting Jetgirl) Wayward Transparency Quilt for a special little girl.  Who knows, maybe I can inspire her to be a quilter one day too?   More coming about this quilt later as well.

So what were you guys up to last week?  I'm focusing in on Louise at Quilt Odyssey.  Louise got it going on!  Have I mentioned she lives on a boat and enjoys beautiful views everyday?  It's not just those things she's got going on, but she is busting UFO's like a champ.

She's been busying getting some UFO's ready to go so she can celebrate some finishes.  I love how she marks her quilt tops with painters tape so she knows the exact size of the quilt.  She even labels the possible charity it will go to.  This my friends, is some serious UFO organization that we can all learn from.  If you missed her post from last week, make sure you check it out.

So now it's your turn, what have you been up to this week?  Let us know, are you blasting through some old project just begging for a finish?  Or did you get distracted by something new and shinny, like me?  What ever the case link up below and tell us all about it.

An InLinkz Link-up

**As of Friday, blogger doesn't seem to be emailing of comment notifications and I am currently trying to figure out how to reply to comments by email without their help.  If you do not hear from me, know that I appreciate your comments and I'm tring to figure out how to fix this.  Hopefully, Blogger will fix it as well.**

Garnet Star Crystal

I can finally cross this one off the list and call it finished.  Though it hasn't been hanging around for to long, as far as WIP's and UFO's go, I have set it down a few times to work on other things.  This is my version of Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl's Star Crystal Quilt.  How did this mini come to life?

I introduced a challenge to guild members to create something in their birth month colors to be revealed at our June meeting.  Being a January baby, meant my project would be full of rich dark brownish reds, representing the garnet.  I have to admit, this has never been my favorite color and I wasn't necessarily turning cartwheels at the idea of my color palette.  Then I found a pretty paisley fabric that would allow me to stay true to the concept but sneak in a few more colors...like blue.

 I decided to use an original design by myself and David.  I cut all my pieces and quickly went to work.  Standing back and admiring my work, I couldn't help but think, man this would make a great mystery quilt.  I talked the idea over with the mister who said, go for it!  So I did and Fireburst Mystery Quilt (going on now here) was born.  However this left me, the thrower down of the challenge, without a challenge project.  So back to the drawing board.

I needed something quick and easy.  I've been wanting to make the Star Crystal Quilt for quite some time and decided this would be the perfect opportunity.  Instead of the whole quilt, I went with just one block.  Lucky for me, I had just enough fabric left over from Fireburst to pull the one block wonder off.  Well I didn't of that deep red, but did of a more medium tone.

Once I was able to focus on the quilting, I was able to quilt it in just a few hours.  I wanted to keep my quilting threads matchy matchy with my fabrics.

My weapons of choice was Aurifil #2021 Natural White for the yummy Moda Grunge fabric and Aurifil #2460 Dark Carmine Red and, my personal favorite, #2260 Wine.  This is probably the only time it is acceptable to spill wine on a quilt...and spill Wine I did...all over that delicious dark red fabric.

I started in the background fabric first.  I knew I wanted straight lines and lots of them.  I just love the texture it gives. 

A little dot to dot ruler fun in the darker sections of the star.

Just for fun I added some continuous curves and pebbling in the other star points.  I have to admit the paisley fabric threw me for a loop...or swirl...or what ever paisleys actually are.  I didn't want to spend much time putting a filler in there because chances are the fabric is so busy you wouldn't see it.  So I went with straight lines like in the background.

I LOVE all the quilty texture I was able to cram into this little one.  After all that quilting and Aurifil Wine, I was drunk and in love.

I was able to finish this one in time for the local quilt show, but we will talk about that in another post soon.  Now I will bombard you with quilt pictures but I promise quilty goodness as well. 

I cannot wait to reveal my challenge project at the meeting next month and see what everyone else came up with.  Super Dave has his project pieced and if he doesn't quilt it soon, I may just have to steal it and quilt it for him.  Hopefully, the ladies will give me permission to share their projects with you as well.  Does your guild participate in challenges?  I'd love to hear about it.


Today I'm linking up with TGIFF, and Can I Get A Whoop! Whoop!

**As of Friday, blogger doesn't seem to be emailing of comment notifications and I am currently trying to figure out how to reply to comments by email without their help.  If you do not hear from me, know that I appreciate your comments and I'm tring to figure out how to fix this.  Hopefully, Blogger will fix it as well.**

UFO Busting #20

It's time to celebrate today!  I'll be keeping things short and sweet though.  This week I celebrated the finish of a UFO from fall of last year and hosted for the first time yesterday TGIFF.  You can read more about this quilt here.

The quilt is an original design by myself and my husband, David.  Star Blossom is available in my Craftsy store.  Now that she has been quilted and bound, I'm happy to report she has went straight to work.  I gifted her last night to my friend for her adorable 9 month old daughter.  We were in line to handout pinwheels during the first night of parades for our local Strawberry Festival when the quilt officially went to work.  Star Blossom looked so happy when baby "Tish" (totally not her name, but I can call her what ever I want here) laid on her for the first time.  I think this quilt will be well loved and lead a very long life...if it's not replaced by 20 millions quilts I'll make for baby "Tish".

This week I am featuring Vicki at Vicki's Crafts and Quilting and her recently finished Plus quilt.  I LOVE plus quilts.  But Vicki tugged at my heart strings and stirred some nostalgia with the fabrics she used, Moda Fabric's Gooseberry by Vanessa Goertzen.

Every time I hear "gooseberry" I'm reminded of my best friend John from high school.  We spent hours on the phone watching TV (I think you have to be child of the 90's to get that).  Our favorite show/episode hands down was the "Rashomama" episode of Momma's Family.  It was a who done it episode, when momma was smacked in the head with a pot while making Gooseberry Jam.  Vicki, thanks for sharing your beautiful finish and giving me a reason to walk down memory lane.  Read more about this beautiful and fun quilt here. 

So now it's your turn?  What have you been up to this week, UFO busting or happily and shamelessly starting something new?  Link up below and tell us all about it.

An InLinkz Link-up

Time for me to sign off for this week and enjoy some fun in the sun....or rather strawberry short cake in the rain.

TGIFF--Star Blossom Baby Quilt

Well hello, everyone!  If you are new to my little neck of the woods, I welcome you and hope you will stay a little bit. 

This is my first time hosting TGIFF and thank goodness I had a finish to share with you.

I allowed this sweet little baby quilt to become a UFO.  She originally started out life to be used as a class sample for teaching a class on my and David's (my quilty husband) Star Blossom Quilt at a local quilt shop. 

After the class was over, her bits and pieces made their way with me to a weekend retreat at my friend Julie's (Pink Doxies)  and she became a cute little quilt top.

And then her story ends, November 17, 2017.  I neatly folded her up and stuffed her in the back room.  How sad.

Fast forward to now.  I'm trying to get a long arm my uncle purchased up and running correctly.  Feeling pretty certain I had the tension issues worked out to an expectable level, I decided to jump in with both feet and work on a real quilt.  So on the frames she went.

I decided on an over all edge to edge design of loops.  I'm a beginner, you know.  Every thing went pretty smoothly until the end.  There seems to be an issue with the machine but we are working on it.

I did have some weirdness in the borders.  I'm chalking it up to my first time doing this.

 

 

But for my first time trying, I'm pretty proud of it.  She's not a show quilt, but hopefully she will be a loved quilt. 

 

 

I just love this soft lavender background.  Lots of little flowers for those butterflies on the front.

 

 

Hopefully, we will have the long arm, buzzing again soon.  This quick and easy finish has me itching and begging for another one.

 

How about you?  What finishes are you celebrating today?  Link up below and tell us all about it.

 

An InLinkz Link-up

 

Before you leave I'd like to tell you a little more about me, every Saturday I host a linky party called UFO Busting to celebrate our works in progress and finished UFO's.  You'll find I'm very lenient in my definition of a unfinished object, so I hope you will come back sometime and party with us again.  I also have a mystery quilt along that has just started called Fireburst Mystery Quilt.

  You can find more information about it here.  Thanks again for stopping by for TGIFF.  I hope we will see you again soon.