Design Wall Monday on Wed.

Finished (2) quilts and shipped them to California on Monday.  Hooray!!  I still have (2) more quilt tops to finish by Christmas but I needed a break, so......why not take on another quilting project.
I have always been intrigued by Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilts, so I decided to give it a try this year.  The quilt she has designed is way too big for me but I thought it would be fun to take on a challenge.  Step 3 will be posted this coming Friday and so far, I have just completed most of Step 1.  Tomorrow, I will work on Step 2 and somewhere along the way, I will work on my (2) quilt tops.

So, here is Step 1, in progress...

Fabrics from my stash

76 blocks sewn for Step 1

Check out Judy's website to see what others are creating this month at Patchwork Times.com

Design Wall Monday

Thanksgiving Week-end, I discovered Bonnie Hunter was starting a new Mystery Quilt.  I have heard about her mysteries for several years but was never to a point where I could start one.  Too many projects were waiting.  If you are curious, please visit her website at:  Grand illusion-Bonnie Hunter mystery.  She explains all the details on her website.

Here's a picture of the fabrics I chose from "my stash".  I plan to make do with the scraps I have. 

Bonnie Hunter Mystery

Hop over to Judy's Blog at: Patchwork Times.com

Happy Thanksgiving 2014

Happy Thanksgiving 2014

May everyone who reads this today, have a blessed and joyous day with family and friends.  I wish this was a scene from our backyard but it is actually a beautiful fabric I found for the back of a special quilt.

Design Wall Monday

Been busy this week...The goal is to complete (4) quilts by Christmas.  I have all but one quilt top completed.  This afternoon, I did the machine quilting on the purple quilt and it is now ready for the binding.
I did not feel confident enough to free motion quilt, so I used the walking foot.  I only broke 3 quilting needles.  They were all size 75 and could not make it through the thickness at the block intersections.  Thankfully, I found all the pieces each time I broke one, so I could proceed.  After breaking the 3rd needle, I decided to change to a Schmetz Microtex Needle, Size 90/14.  Since this quilt used many different purple fabrics, I didn't have enough of any one purple fabric to use as the binding, so I have chosen a black binding.
I plan to sew on the binding, entirely by machine.  The lower right hand corner is folded over, so you can see what the back looks like.  I still had plenty of the back fabric left over but it looked too busy for the rest of the quilt.

Purple Quilt from Scrappy Challenge in April 2014

Check out what others are doing over at Patchworktimes.com

Design Wall Monday

This morning, the sky has been spitting a few tiny flakes of snow.  Since I have retired and do not have to drive anywhere, we have had little to no snow.  I still feel sorry for those who must deal with snow on their way to work and back.  Been there, done that and "it's no fun".

I have been busy working on surprise gifts.  Here's what I have on the Design Wall.  I have blocked out the name on the shirt.  I still need to applique around all the pieces and then decide on the actual quilt design.
The plan is to have simple blocks and let the fabrics speak for themselves, since the fabrics are all baseball related. 

Check out Judy's Blog at Patchwork Times.com to what others are creating this week....

Batter Up

Does anyone else save the selvages?

This afternoon, I discovered a great reason to save the selvages.  I wanted more fabric to match the fabric I used in the corner blocks of the quilt I've been working on for the past couple of weeks.  It's a Robert Kaufman fabric called Fusions but there were several different shades and I couldn't tell which one matched with what I have.  So, I decided to check my Selvage bin and down near the bottom, I found what I needed.  "Fusions"  #5573.

What a delightful blessing!  So, this afternoon, I ordered 5 yds. from Hancocks of Paducah and while I was about it, I also ordered a neat fabric for the back of the quilt. 

Design Wall Monday

This past Saturday (Nov. 8th) our guild had their annual Quilting Stuff Auction.  All our members bring in their fabric, partially completed projects, patterns, magazines, quilting supplies and yarns, etc.  We stack it up in piles over all the tables (I should have taken a picture).  We buy tickets for 10 cents each and then place a ticket in the paper bag taped next to the pile you wish you could win.  I tried to be selective in where I placed my tickets.  I won the following:

(1) stack of magazines (Quilt Mania, which is printed in France but written in English)
(1) stack of magazines (Fabric Trends, which showcases fabric and quilt patterns)
A bag of scraps, strips, and completed blocks
A good stack of children's fabrics, which will be great for Project Linus quilts
and Hooray, Hooray -- 30 yards of flannel--another great for Project Linus quilts..

30 yards of Flannel

Be sure to hop over to Judy's Blog at Patchwork Times.com to see what others are doing this week