This is a first!

These past couple of weeks, I've been sewing up a storm!  Every spare moment, I've been at the machine or the ironing board or cutting table.  For the first time in the three years I've been doing Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilts, I'm completely caught up!  Maybe I'll actually finish one!

Clues 1-7 DONE for Frolic!

Or maybe not - I still haven't finished On Ringo Lake or Good Fortune, but I haven't given up hope yet.

Good Fortune still needs three more borders added - I love the look of pieced borders, but I hate adding them!

On Ringo Lake just needs to be assembled, but I don't love the colors so my motivation is low.

I've been finishing lots of other things lately, though.  I've read half a dozen books in the last couple of weeks, and I finished several knitting projects for gifts this year.

Matching hats for my little boy neighbors who love everything I wear in rainbow colors.

Socks for my mom (at the bottom of her bed is a quilt I made her about 12 years ago - another Bonnie Hunter pattern - and on the bed is a flannel & denim rag quilt I helped her make for herself).

I hope this creative finishing streak continues - I have LOTS of works in progress that I would love to see come to completion!

Pursuing my Good Fortune

Now that my last quilt is in its new home and in use

The recipient posted this photo of the quilt (I cropped it) on her Instagram

I've turned my focus back to finishing my Good Fortune quilt.  All of these blocks are done, time to finish the alternate blocks. 

I accidentally made too many blocks...

Of course, I should also finish LAST YEAR's On Ringo Lake mystery quilt,

I have made no progress since getting to this point.  C'mon, Erin, you're so close!

but the colors in this year's quilt just make me happier, so they seem to always get top billing.  And I'd love to finish my 2018 Temperature Quilt, but I seem to have lost my paperwork/chart, so that project is stalled out until I find my worksheets or redo them (I still have December and part of November to complete).

This is everything through September assembled.

And then there is this quilt that I need to finish hand quilting before my niece's first birthday in April. 

I've finished quilting all the white spaces - now to the colored stars

With all these things to finish, I sure hope I can be disciplined about not starting anything NEW!

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap and Monday Making.

Lapped

I am a slow runner.  I don't run often, but if I run on a track with other runners, I am almost guaranteed to be lapped, to have the same person pass me more than once on my way around the track.

It is the same with quilting, I am afraid.  The new Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt, Good Fortune, starts is just three days, and here I am just now finishing block construction and just now assembling my quilt from LAST year!

Oh well, I have had so much fun doing this one, On Ringo Lake, that I am determined to do Good Fortune as well.  I am driving to New Jersey tomorrow, and won't be back until Sunday, so I'll get a late start and won't have time to finish On Ringo Lake first, but that's OK.  My goal is to do a fabric pull in the morning before I hit the road so I can jump right into sewing when I get back home.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

The Home Stretch!

Tomorrow starts the last week of school before a nine-day Thanksgiving Break - woo hoo!  I'm doing my best to get my On Ringo Lake quilt done before the release of Bonnie Hunter's new mystery, but I don't know if I'm going to make it; I realized this weekend that I never finished one of the clues, so I'm scrambling to make some flying geese units so I can finish piecing the blocks.  I did get three or four more blocks pieced this weekend, though.

My leaders and enders for the weekend was to sew together the bonus triangles I had laying around from a recent project

and add them to my HST tin.  At some point, I should be able to make something fun from all of these.

I L-O-V-E butter cookies!

I also finished and mailed off five blocks for Carole's Carolina Hurricane Quilt Project.

No finishes to show, except a couple more stockings for my ETSY shop

but I've been thinking a lot about beginnings - five people here at work are having babies this spring!  Five opportunities to make fun little quilts!!

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap and Monday Making.

NOVEMBER!!

In my world (college advising), October is commonly referred to as Suck-tober.  Crass, I know, but whoa, what a crazy, exhausting month!  Today is the deadline for seniors to apply Early Action or Early Decision to most colleges, so tomorrow, things start to slow down to a trot instead of this full-on gallop we've been experiencing all month.  YAY!

To me, that means picking up the guitar again, reading for pleasure (I have a backlog of new-to-me cozy mysteries waiting for me) and SEWING!!  Tonight, in between panicked emails from the kids who didn't listen to me about getting things done early and are just now finalizing essays before submitting applications tonight, I am whipping up a couple of mini Christmas stockings.  They usually sell well in my ETSY shop, and those that don't sell, I use to give gifts to friends and family.  They are the perfect size to hold a gift card, but I've also filled them with candy, lottery tickets, money, any little thing.

When I got online tonight, I found that Bonnie Hunter has announced this year's mystery quilt!  ACK!  I guess I should get back to finishing LAST year's quilt; I had fun working on it last year, and want to do it again this year.  I have 18 more blocks to put together before I can start assembling the quilt.

Guilty quilting

I had so much fun getting back to sewing yesterday that I snuck in some sewing today, too!  Gonna have to double up on the recommendation letters tomorrow to make up for the time I spent sewing today, but it was worth it!

I revisited my On Ringo Lake quilt - I only had 31 blocks pieced, so I assembled another block today.

18 to go!

Meanwhile, I got to looking at my Leaders & Enders Challenge on the design wall

and decided it needed sashing and cornerstones.

I like it!  I'll let that marinate on my wall for a while.

And, I made two travel tissue covers for a co-worker who will be going to her grandmother's funeral on Tuesday.  Just wanted her to know I was thinking of her.

When asked, she first indicated a blue that she liked, and then said red, so I made her one of each color.  Only the blue one has tissues in it, though.

I'm hoping I can find a few moments to sew regularly this week, but most likely, it won't be until next weekend, if I am staying on schedule and doing the work I should be doing.

I'm linking up with Oh, Scrap and Monday Making.

Forward motion on FOUR projects!

My kids had a half day of school on Friday, so I picked them up and took them snowboarding for the afternoon, and then out to dinner with my mom, brother, and younger sister and her family.  It was a fun day, but I didn't get a lick of sewing done.  I had prepped some hexies to work on at the ski lodge, but my 2 year old niece was there, so I spent the time hanging with her.

In light of my family-heavy Friday, I had no qualms about sequestering myself in my sewing room this weekend.  Not only did I do a major re-organization and cleaning in there (my brother is spending the night tonight, and since my sewing room is also my home office and my guest room, it needed attention before it was ready for a guest), but I was also able to move four projects forward.

On Ringo Lake now has 28 completed blocks:

22 left to go.  They go together quickly since I've already made all the components, but the monotony of the color scheme slows me down.  Yes, it is scrappy, but I'm used to scrappy with all colors of the rainbow, not just four colors.

Flutterby now has 36 completed blocks:

I am LOVING this!  Definitely making it big enough for me to use!

I've finished 4 Sister's Choice blocks:

5" blocks - I LOVE small blocks!  They are just so cute to me!

But in doing so, I got to thinking how many 5" blocks it would take to make a useable sized quilt - A LOT!!  That's what alternate blocks are for, right?  I've always wanted to make a quilt with QST blocks/hourglass blocks as the alternate block, so I made four alternate blocks to see if I like the look - I do!

My question, though, is this: Since the blocks are so scrappy, should the QST blocks be scrappy, too?  I mean, instead of using one constant neutral and one constant navy blue (although it looks black in the photo, doesn't it?), should I use a variety of neutrals and blues for the alternate blocks?  If you have an opinion, please chime in!

And finally, today I rearranged my Starburst quilt a bit so I can start to quilt it.  When I finished the flimsy in October 2016, I noticed in my photograph that the yellow and green blocks in the bottom right corner should probably be swapped, but ugh!  Unstitching?  Yuck! 

So I just let it sit.  And sit.  And sit.  But the baby I've decided to give it to is due in less than two weeks, so it is time to stop sitting and start quilting.  So I swapped the green and yellow blocks (in the lower left corner in this photo). 

It's been packed up for months - excuse the wrinkles.

Does it make a big difference?  No, but it isn't niggling at the back of my mind now.  My goal is to piece a backing and have it basted no later than the end of the day Tuesday.

Tuesday is also the day that I'll be choosing recipients for my 5 quilt projects that are up for adoption.  If you haven't checked out the quilt adoption items at Cynthia's blog, be sure to hop over there - there's some fun stuff up for grabs for free!

I'm linking up with Monday Making and Oh Scrap.

I blame Pinterest!

I set big goals for myself two weeks ago when I had a long weekend.  And I did a pretty darned good job of keeping them...

I finished my hat and have been wearing it non-stop.  It is made from Mega Merino, a soft, warm and squishy yarn that I used to sell in my shop.

I removed the offending neck from my sweater, knit on a new neck CORRECTLY, and am about halfway done with one sleeve.  The only problem is, I can't remember where I put the remaining skeins of yarn to finish the sweater.  Doh!

Sweater is based on an old cotton rolled edge sweater that I love to throw on for weekend lounging.

I finished reading Raven Threads, but am only now starting Unraveled.  It's very unlike me, but I didn't read anything for a week and a half.

I'm up to date on my Temperature Quilt, and I'm liking it.  It's going to be an odd quilt, for sure, but it'll be colorful, and sometimes that's all I need to make me happy.

I hate not having a design wall! This is most of the first two columns, but I can't put them together until February is over so I can add in the February average temperatures in the right place.  The yellows are the freakishly warm days we've had.  The darker the blue, the colder it was!

I didn't quite make my goal of 20 On Ringo Lake blocks completed, but I've got 18 and am slowly assembling the rest. 

The problem is this: I opened one of those darned emails from Pinterest with some Pins they think I'd like and they were right.  I saw this pin:

Image Credit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/457819118351516579/

and had to start making one right away!  Scrappy...check!  Will use up some of my overflowing pre-cut scraps...check!  Will challenge me...since I am new to Half Rectangle Triangle Blocks, check!  I haven't gotten far, but I am having fun seeing these blocks come together. 

I'm using this as a Leaders & Enders project for my On Ringo Lake quilt...or is it the other way around?  Either way, I'm at my machine every chance I get, which, unfortunately, isn't as much as I'd like.

That's OK, I have a two-week break coming up in March.  I'm going to name my goals for that now - finish piecing On Ringo Lake and baste/start hand quilting my new niece/nephew's quilt before his/her arrival at the beginning of April.

In the meantime, I have a busy weekend ahead of me - running the clock at three different basketball games for three different teams, watching my husband's team compete in the conference quarterfinals (send winning thoughts our way on Saturday afternoon), and driving a vanload of kids to the movies to see Black Panther (we, as a school, rented out a theater and buses to take our students).  I hope I can find some time to sew and knit this weekend, too!

Oh, and I spent an entire day last weekend watching Alias Grace on Netflix.  It was darker and had less resolution and clarity at the end than I typically like, but oh the quilts!  Beautiful!!!

Long Winter Weekend

One perk of boarding school life is the vacations.  Today marks the start of Long Winter Weekend, a four and a half day weekend for us.  The timing is perfect - I'm starting to feel a bit under the weather, and I can use the rest.

But I'm determined to enjoy this time off.  In a perfect world, this time off would include:

• Knitting!  I want to complete this hat that I started earlier this week,

• and make some progress on this simple rolled cuff sweater I started several years ago.  I added the neck one night while watching a movie at the drive-in movies, and was dismayed to learn in the light of the following morning that I had picked up the stitches wrong, creating an unwanted ridge.  My plan this weekend is to take the neck off and put it back on correctly.

• Reading! I have many unread books waiting in the wings, but I've selected Unraveled by Maggie Sefton and Raven Threads by K.D. McCrite as quick and easy reads for the weekend.

• Quilting!  It's time to baste my next hand quilting project.  And my fabric order from Missouri Star Quilt Company arrived today (man, they are FAST!) so I plan to catch up on the blocks for my Temperature Quilt.  

• And more quilting! I'd like to get 20 of the 50 blocks done on my On Ringo Lake quilt; I currently have 5 done, so 15 to go.

In between times, I'll be going to a couple of my son's basketball games and hosting a Super Bowl viewing party.  I'll let you know on Monday how well I did achieving my weekend goals.

Slow and steady progress

While the weekend is usually my time to create, I spent this weekend watching my 7 year old nephew and my two year old niece.  Boy, am I out of practice doing 24/7 duty with little ones!  I'm still exhausted, a day later!  But I sure do love the fact that I am close enough to spend time with family.

I read 4782 books to my niece over the weekend.  Leo, our bearded dragon, likes looking at the pictures.

So, not too much progress on my Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt, On Ringo Lake.  Four blocks down, forty-six to go!

I still have some brown flying geese to make, but I'm making them as I make the blocks to break up the monotony of making so many geese.

I'm keeping up with my Temperature Quilt daily.  It is fun to spend 5 minutes each morning working on it before work.  I look up the high and low temperature for my town from the day before on Weather Underground, record it on my worksheet, pull out the appropriate colors, and then sew the one seam.  Easy peasy!

I've sewn consecutive day blocks together when possible.  See all that yellow?  Warm January!

However, I'm still missing eleven of the thirty fabrics I need for the project, so I have only been able to make 15 of the 28 blocks for the month of January so far.  I went back to my local quilt shop to see if they had gotten more Kona Solids in, but no.  I tried to shop local...but I don't want to wait any longer!  I placed my first ever order with Missouri Star Quilt Company; I love the tutorials so I thought I'd give the shopping experience a try.  Besides, I always hear about those Daily Deals - I want to see what those are all about.

We get a four day weekend this weekend coming up - I foresee lots of sewing in my future!

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap and Monday Making.

2018 Temperature Quilt

Moving from Virginia to Massachusetts has made me acutely aware of the temperature.  I am FREEZING!!!  And I grew up in Maine, so I should be OK with this, but I'll be the first to admit that my blood has thinned!  Thank goodness I know how to knit and quilt - I am staying warm with hot tea and lots of handmade coziness.

Back in Virginia, one of my yarn shop customers made a temperature blanket last year.

I love the idea, but wanted to translate the idea into a quilt.  I love the quilt that NeedledMom made with her sister last year using flying geese, and I know the ones they are making this year with square in a square blocks will be cool as well, but with everything on my plate right now, I wanted something even simpler so that I am likely to actually finish it.

Then, yesterday, as I was contemplating the floor tiles in the bathroom at work...

This would be super simple, faster and easier than the flying geese or the square in a square, but still allowing blocks that represent both a daily high and a daily low temperature.  My plan is to make blocks that finish at 3.5", and to add in 12 monthly averages at the beginning of each month and a yearly average block at the end of December so that I have an even 378 blocks, resulting in an 18x21 block quilt that measures 63"x73.5" without a border.

I decided to visit my local quilt shop, which just happens to be having a sale, and stock up on some Kona Solids.  I'm using the same colors that NeedledMom and her sister used - why reinvent the wheel?  They didn't have all the colors I need, but enough to get me started.

Terrible nighttime artificial light.  Here are 19 of the 30 colors I will use for this quilt, tracking temps from -23 to 96.  I have other colors ready in case it gets hotter than 96, and I'm praying that it never goes below -23 (although we've already experienced -20 this winter)

This quilt might end up looking really random, but that's OK; it will mean something to me.  So far, I really like the colors.

The 10 January blocks I can make with the fabrics that were in stock when I went shopping.  The rest will have to wait until the missing colors are back in stock.

My plan is for the daily high to always either be on top or on the left.  I am pinning tiny notes on the back of each block so that I know which date it represents and if the seam is supposed to be vertical or horizontal.

Meanwhile, I'm still plugging away at my On Ringo Lake mystery quilt.

I have most of the block pieces done, but not trimmed.  Then it is construction time!

We have a long weekend from work coming up at the end of the month, and I have designated that time as when I need to start hand quilting my new niece/nephew's quilt.

In the meantime, I've put a bunch of yarn in my ETSY shop on clearance, so I'm getting my daily steps in going back and forth to the post office several times a day.  I love how my ETSY shop supports my fiber habit, whether it be yarn or fabric.

I'm linking up with Monday Making and Oh Scrap!