Saturday Sewing!....Some Catching Up to Do

Well,  I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted on my blog.  That's what working on a Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt can do for you.  I'll avoid filling you in on all the drama in between, and just give you a peek at where I am so far.

I kept up very well with all the weekly "assignments", so when we got to the last two clues, it was easy to start piecing blocks and setting blocks together.  I've been working slowly, but am happy to report that the time I took to trim and press has paid off.  The blocks are going together pretty well.

I've got a little over one-third of this pieced now.  I'm just being a bit of a tortoise on this one.  It may be called "Easy Street" but at over 2,000 pieces, I figure I can just take my time.

I did get a chance to haul out my batiks a week or so ago.  On my shopping trip with Nancy in December, I had a moment of weakness and bought some gorgeous Island Batiks in pastels.  I found a nice Weeks Ringle pattern in the Modern Quilts magazine, "Stacked", which lent itself wonderfully to these pieces:

Weeks recommends pressing seams open, which is not something I usually do.  The first row kept giving me fits.  If I pressed with my regular iron, it kept catching on the adjacent seams and twisting them.  I used my little Clover iron, but it just doesn't always generate enough heat to give a firm line.  Then I grabbed my "presser ham".  I bought one of these about a year ago, to help me shape corners and curves in purses and bags.  It worked beautifully:

The seam to be pressed stays in the center of the "ham", and the adjacent seams fall away to the side.  Here's what a pressed row looks like:

The next three rows were easy to press pretty quickly.  Just a hint you might want to try.

Well, I've got a few more things "in the loop" but haven't gotten any photos yet.  It feels good to get "back on track" with my sewing after the hoopla of Christmas and a bit of a cold I had this week.  Have a great weekend....time to go watch a little football!

Kathy

Linky Party Tuesday.....More Christmas Treats!

I'm hooking up with Connie at Freemotion by the River to show what's happening in my quilt studio today.  I started sewing at 6:00 this morning, and finished these:

 

 

 

These are the pillowslips for my granddaughters in Utah; we picked the fabric out at American Quilting in North Orem when we visited a few weeks ago.  I've got the process down to about 20 minutes per pillowcase now. 

 

 

I bought a charm pack of Kate Spain's Christmas line, "Joy" last April.  These fabrics matched up perfectly, so I cut another 40 5-inch squares from the remnants, and put together this disappearing 9-patch.

 

 



Most of the rows are sewn together, and I've got border strips to add, but this is coming together fast for a nice play quilt or table-topper.  I'm sure I'll get tired of these colorways soon enough, but I'm enjoying getting some Christmas things done.

Have a great day, and link up with Connie to show us what you're working on.

Kathy

"Easy Street" Monday Link-Up

Much to my surprise, I made great progress on my "Easy Street" mystery quilt components this weekend.

I had all my strips cut for the grey/black-on-white four patches, but didn't think I had enough variety.  My friend Jo came to my rescue with some scraps, and I was able to finish all of these by last night:

 

 

It's easy to "spin seams" sitting in front of the television set; I even taught my husband how to do it......we got this one done...

 

I started in on my flying geese and couldn't understand why I had so many white triangles.....duh!  Read the directions, Kathy.  I only cut out half of the purple triangles, so it was back to the cutting board.  I have about 36 of the "geese" finished, and know I can get the rest done this week, just running eight or so through the machine every time I sew.  I'm busy sewing my granddaughter's Christmas pillowslips......trying to keep on top of everything.

 

 

 

I even got the black-on-white bricks cut.  Once I finish my geese, I'm anxious for the next step.  Bring it on, Bonnie!

 

 

 

We're getting into the Christmas spirit around here.  Got a few of my Christmas quilts mounted and need to get the wreaths up and the lights outside.

 

 

 

Have a great week,  Kathy

 





 



 

I'm Playing on Easy Street!

I'm a little "late to the game" but getting caught up slowly on Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt for this season, "Easy Street."  I'm doing it all from my stash, so I've done a few variations in color but I think most of these will work well.

Here are my selections:

My Black on Whites!

These lime-green/apple should play very well with my aquas/turquoise:

 

 



Some of these have been my stash since "Day 1"....the aqua/teal stripe and the paisley turquoise.....looks like I'll finally have a use for them.

I've got 64 of the four-patches done, and I'm twirling my seams.  Tedious, but I can see how useful this is.  My grey is a "funny" grey....it looks very grey until I pair it with the black/whites, but at least it's constant:

 

 

 

This weekend we get to play with our purples, and make tons of flying geese.  At least I've got both rulers (Easy Angle and Companion Angle). 

 

 



 



Don't you want to play on Easy Street?  Click the badge on my sidebar to go to Bonnie's "Quips and Snips" site for the directions.  It's still early, and, as far as I'm concerned, it's not a race anyway.  Just something fun to do, and I've been wanting to do one of Bonnie's mystery quilts for a long time.....just never got organized before.

Off to the Virginia Quilt Museum to work with my friend Jo.  She's bringing me a few more black on whites from her stash to give me some more variety.

Have a great weekend!  Kathy

Getting Into the Christmas Spirit!

We're here in Utah visiting our daughter, Susan, and her family.  She has five lovely girls:  Casey, Jessica, Brooklyn, Lindsey, and Alexis.  Since we don't see them very often, I was looking for ways we could connect with them in the short time we are here. 



The "Daring Dortch" Girls!

Yesterday morning we went to an activity center, where the older girls, Susan, and I did the rope course....it was fun, and a new experience for me, Jessica, and Brooklyn, so we had something to share right there.  I had suggested that the girls bring their suits with them, and Susan and I brought them back to the hotel for some swimming in the indoor pool after lunch.

But on the way we stopped at American Quilting, a store in North Orem that I had located while browsing on the 'Net on Friday night.  Of course, they were having a Thanksgiving sale....and when one of the girls said "What are we doing here?" I got an idea.

"We're shopping for Christmas fabric for you.....I'm going to make each of you a Christmas pillowslip for your bed when I get home, and I'll mail it to you."

"Can we each pick out our own fabric.?".......it was amazing how much more interested they were in the store once they determined they could.  These were the fabrics they found:

We consulted on color choices for the "cuff" and accent strip.....I think they did a great job.  Casey went straight for the graphic christmas ornaments, Jessica and Brooklyn each liked the "presents" in different background colors, Lindsey immediately pulled out the Santa Claus fabric, and Lexie (age 3).....just grabbed bolts of fabric and smiled at me.

I'm going to have great fun making these up, and remembering our trip....and I hope the girls will remember our visit when they sleep on them.   Our "swimming expedition" turned out, well, swimmingly, and we all enjoyed the thrill of getting in a warm pool indoors when it's not "swimming weather"....

 

Last night we got to celebrate Alexis' birthday with pizza and a birthday cake that she got to decorate.  It is such fun to spend these simple, important times with family.

 

 
Lexie had a great time opening her present:  she was thrilled to get a "box"....which is why the older girls are laughing so hard.  "A box, I got a box" she kept saying.  "I love it".  Oh, to be 3 again.........





Casey and Jess, "amused" by their little sister
 

I'm so happy we decided to come this weekend; we've been planning this trip for over two years, and "life has happened" to keep us away.....just a reminder that life is too short to let these precious times get past us.  By the time we get home we'll be on the real countdown to Christmas....and I've definitely got some sewing to do!

Have a great week, Kathy

An Autumn Trip with the Granddaughters

Well, I've been busy traveling around this past week, with more travel next week, so I thought I'd share a few photos.....these aren't quilting related, so you can stop reading here if you want.

We packed up the car and took our granddaughters to Asheville, NC, to see the Christmas decorations at the Biltmore Estate this weekend.  We were supposed to go to the Big Apple, but seeing as how it was still a pretty soggy mess, we decided to reset our compass and head south.  I think we caught a spectacular late autumn burst of weather, and the trip  on US 26 through Tennessee and into North Carolina was beautiful.

We stopped in Weaverville, NC for lunch at the Stoney Knob Cafe, a great little restaurant with an emphasis on Greek food.  The girls just loved it:

Brianna and Maya at Stoney Knob Cafe

We headed on into Asheville, regrouped at our hotel, and then visited the FolkArt Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We got to see a lovely "Black and White" art exhibit, that included many quilts.  Then we headed into town to have "cocktails" at the Grove Park Inn, and take in the beautiful view over the hills:




Maya on the Grove Park Inn Terrace on a beautiful Friday afternoon

Cocoa in the Great Hall at the Grove Park Inn.

Saturday's tour of Biltmore House was over the top....it's hard to overwhelm teenagers these days, but the girls were suitably impressed:

We had fun taking pictures in front of the fountain.  I'm so proud of my granddaughters; they take pride in their appearance and it shows.  I've seen them pretty messy, too, but when they go out with us, they try to dress appropriately and look their best.  I find it a measure of respect for us, and they know I appreciate it.

 

It was great fun to have them "all to ourselves" for 48 hours; sometimes you just need "face time"....phone calls, FB, and texting are all just fine, but one-on-one, acccompanied by hugs, is just the ticket.  Even PawPaw got the treatment:

 

Next week we head to St. Louis for Thanksgiving dinner with my sister, and then on to Utah to see our other five granddaughters......it's a "Thankful" month for family.

Have a great week!  Kathy

I'm Back....in my Sewing Studio!

Well, it's been two months (and too many months) since my last post, but I'm finally getting my mojo back.  Just thought I would share a few things that I've been working on.  I bought some beautiful blue, silver, and gray Christmas fabrics late last winter, and finally found a lovely medallion setting by Kaye England that I thought would work well.  Maybe some of you would disagree, but I find the medallion setting with the low tolerances for piecing error, to be one of the hardest to work on.  I'm very happy with how this turned out.



"In the Deep Mid-Winter"



I finished another top about a month ago:  this was from a Konda Luckau pattern that was published about a year ago.  Konda blogs over at "Moose on the Porch".   She used Kate Spain fabrics, and I did, too, except my fabrics were a newer set that I purchased at Virginia Consortium of Quilter's "Celebration" last March.  I was able to mix them with some '90s bright greens and reds that I had.  It was fun to match up some pretty old fabrics with these "new" tints.   I love the softness of these colors for a Christmas quilt for a change.  It doesn't quite scream "Christmas" to me like some other prints.

I've got the borders on this; just need to piece a back now.  Somewhere there's a picture.....hmmm.....


And guess what.....some "Little Monkeys" are back.......

Yep, I've got twenty-five of these bad boys done; little 5-inch Monkey Wrench blocks. These are done in 1930s reproduction fabrics and scraps from a huge bag of dress scraps from that era that I inherited.  I think I'll try for a 42-block layout this time, to give me a bigger quilt (I'm getting tired of square quilts, but I get lazy making more blocks sometimes).

Hope all of you stayed safe this week, and dry.  We were very lucky to just get hit with rain out here in the Shenandoah Valley, but I know there are others who are just coping with getting power and water back. 

We're almost into November....hard to believe Christmas is less than 2 months away.  Have a Happy Halloween.....I think I'm finally back to my sewing on a regular basis....it feels good.

Yours in quilting,  Kathy