Are You Ready For This?

     Are you ready for Bonnie Hunter's 2013 mystery "Celtic Solstice"?   I am!  

I have to say that last year I was VERY reluctant to do the mystery because I wasn't sure I was up to the challenge but my BFF's were confident I could do it and even keep up with the weekly cutting and piecing of it all so I did it, and I am THRILLED that I did.  I came away with an awesome quilt that I gave to my niece for her first apartment and am happy to say, she still talks about how much her and her boyfriend love it.

     As I read Bonnie's story about her reason for naming the new mystery Celtic Solstice it made me think about my Irish heritage and the stories my mom told me about hers and my dad's trip to Ireland oh so many years ago.   I wasn't sure about the colorway when I looked at my paint chip samples but when I started to pull fabrics from my stash I knew I wanted to stick with Bonnie's colors.....all except for the neutrals.  My stash was pretty much depleted in that department but my drawer of black on white's, like last year, was full to almost overflowing.....(yeah, I got a little obsessed with getting a nice variety last year so I overshopped :)
Here's a picture of my bundle of fun for this year......

I think the quilt will be lots of fun and I'm absolutely certain I will not have any trouble finding someone to gift it to. 

I can't wait to see what Step 1 is........................

 

Lets get the Party started  :)

Thanksgiving

     I cannot believe Thanksgiving is here already.  I love everything about this holiday....it's the first turkey of the season and all I have to do to make everyone happy is cook!  I have to say, I do make a killer stuffing, turkey, mashies and fresh veggies.....My daughter will be making the desserts once again this year and I'm hearing we'll be having new items this year.  We're not a pumpkin pie type of family....we're actually a brownie, chocolate chip cookie, chocolate cream pie type of family so we all look forward to those sweets.

     Now, I would be remiss if I didn't mention some "thankful" things....after all, it is the big day to give thanks isn't it?

     I am thankful this year that my mother was able to come to New Jersey to celebrate with us.  At 81 and the thought of having to come from Florida into the cold, doesn't thrill her but she's a trooper and came up last week.  I'm ALWAYS thankful for my husband, 3 children, my new son in law, our puppy Luna, who has calmed down a lot this year, my brothers, sisters, sister in laws, brother in law and their families, a few "special" BFF's who I hope know how much I care about them, and all my extended friends from work, quilting groups and internet friends that I "talk" to but have never met face to face. 

     I wish each and every one of you the happiest of holidays!  

Peggy

Block of the Month Update

     Today I did a little catch up on two Block of the Month's I'm involved in. 

     First I worked on my "A Christmas Sampler" by Susan Marth.  I'm doing this thru Daisy Cottage Quilting and when I realized that the 4th block would be here any day I jumped into action and got #2 and #3 made. 

There was a lot of tracing to this but the blocks really are so cute......I have to do the hand sewing on the letters and attach red buttons to the holly but I have time.  I'm not rushing to get this one done this year, especially since when I just looked at the pattern, there's probably about 9 more units to make so I'll set my sights on finishing it for 2014!

 

With that done, I assembled Block # 6 "Sparklers" of my 2013 Designer Mystery BOM.  It was designed by Kate Spain and it went together so quick and easy.  

Now..............what to do tonight?????

 

 

Peggy

 

 

 

Warm Winter Blessings

     This has been a work in progress for the last 9 months.  Lisa Bonegan of "Primitive Gatherings" offered this snowman wall hanging as a block of the month that she designed and we even used fabric that she designed for it. 

     I surprised myself by keeping up with the snowman blocks each month....In the past I'd sign up for a block of the month and then I'd drop the ball on it.  MAYBE, just MAYBE my plan to only do 1 or 2 a year helped me stay focused?  MAYBE doing this with one of my BFF's Michelle and not wanting to fall behind her kept me focused?  or lastly, MAYBE the fact that I LOVED the project and didn't impulse jump into signing up?   Whatever the reason, I'm happy that I kept up and it's now coming to an end. 

     Here's the 8 blocks I had finished as of Sunday night
and even had the sashing and cornerstones attached.
I did get the last snowman fused early this week and I'm almost done with him.

     I'm hoping to have this one finished and out to Michelle for quilting over the next week but depending on her schedule (with the holidays etc) we'll see if it's up on my wall this winter or next.  However it works out, I'm THRILLED to have it almost done and not a project just sitting in a bin waiting to be worked on like SOOOOOOO many others.


    

Saturday Update

     I've come to my blog more times than I can count since Veterans Day thinking I would update it and then laziness just set in realizing that before I can update it I have to take some pictures of finished projects and then think of something witty to say.....so I shut down and just do other things.
Today though, I wanted to check out some sidebar favorites and decided that the blog looked tired so I took a few pictures.....not enough to do a huge post but enough to start today with a little story.

     So, last time we talked I was working on my Round & Round blocks.  I'd gotten them to the point where I had 6 of the 9 rows connected to make up each block.  YES, each block is 9 rows!!!
I then set them aside to prep some wool/fabric snowman blocks but then mid week I decided to get back to these round and round blocks.  Here's what I got done

 The last long row of 2 blocks is ready to attach to these 2 units and since it doesn't call for any time of border it will be done and ready for quilting.  There's a group of girls on Instagram that share their pictures and I love each and every one.  I can't say for sure but I think I'm the only one that only used 1 color.  Most of the girls used a variety, which made for a gorgeous quilt...I just wanted a red and white top at the time so that's what I did.

There's also another Instagram/Internet program that's going to be starting up that I KNOW a lot of girls are going to start following and working on.....It's in the new American Patchwork & Quilting magazine that will be on newsstands next week I think, and supposedly in our mailboxes this week.....  http://www.camilleroskelley.typepad.com/    If you check out Camille Roskelley's blog you'll see what the whole deal is about, but this is what the quilt will look like

I've checked it out and it's very scrappy.....I'm thinking it will be a new years project for me  :)

I also finished my 3rd "SWOON" block on Thursday. 

These are biggies so I'm doing 1 a month till I decide I have enough.  Right now I have 9 cut out to assemble.  I think I might need 12 since I am not really a fan of square quilts but time will tell......
And yes, if you're thinking I'm a Camille Roskelly fan, you'd be correct.  All 3 of the projects I wrote about today are hers or something she inspired.......

Peggy

 

 

 

Veteran's Day

     In honor of all veterans past and present, we salute you on this Veteran's Day.  It's because of you that we have the freedom's that we do. 

Round & Round

     I'm back with an update on my Thursday sewing.

     Last week I pulled the pattern "Round & Round" out when I saw some girls on Instagram talking about doing a round & round along...  I'd been wanting to make this quilt top since I saw the pattern so it was a perfect time to collect up some fabrics and get to work on it. 

     A lot of the girls are using a variety of prints but I thought I'd make mine in all reds and use a white with a pindot from the "Redwork Rendevous" fabric line as the background.
Some girls are doing just 1 block and using it as a table topper of sorts...after all, each block finishes up to 23 inches!!! I'm doing the entire top!

Here is my first block and my 192 half square triangles that I need to trim down to do the other 6 blocks.

 

I better get a fresh rotary blade into the cutter and get to trimming don't you think?

 

Peggy

Thursday Things

     Well, it's no school for me today  :)    Teacher's convention here in New Jersey so we are off today and tomorrow, which affords me 2 extra days for sleeping in, sewing etc.    I LOVE IT!
We did not have the convention last year due to Hurricane Sandy so I am thankful for no hurricane but 2 days off!

     I absolutely love this time of year regardless of the icky, rain we have here today.  I love the change of seasons because I love all the colorful leaves etc. that you get to see here on the east coast.
I've often thought that I could do without the change of seasons but I am convinced I need them.

     This has not been the most productive week in the sewing room but I can say, one project, my "Jamestown Landing" quilt, that's been like an OLD friend, has finally been completed and I found the perfect backing fabric for it in my stash!  AND, it's an extra wide backing so there was very little I had to do to prepare it to send for quilting.
I love when the planets align like that.
Now, to contact the quilter and see when I can send it to her.

        Here's the quilt folded with the backing on top.  I think it will look perfect quilted in a tan thread and bound in a blue!

     I've started a new project too this week.  It's  called "Round & Round". 
I did 1 block on Sunday so today I'm going to spend some time and get the remaining half square triangles made for the other 6 blocks.  I'll show some pictures after I make a little progress.

Peggy

Jamestown Landing Done

     Yes, it is done.  It only took me 3 years working on and off, but my "Jamestown Landing" quilt is finished.  I always loved it and didn't mind working on it but once the center was done I found that I just didn't want to work on it any more........but, I'm thrilled to death that I was challenged by both my BFF's and Jo. 

     Here is a picture of two corners where the borders meet

    

And let me tell you....there is a LOT of fabric in this top....here's me trying to push the borders thru the machine.....







 And here's what Bonnie's quilt looks like.  I don't have a single flat surface that I can lay mine out on to take a picture of it.

Now I need to look thru my bin of backing fabrics and see if I have the "perfect" backing fabric.....

                                                                                    

"Jamestown" Update

     Since Jo posted her challenge to finish an old Bonnie Hunter project BEFORE the new mystery starts, I've only had 2 days to work on my Jamestown quilt before hubby and I left for 5 days of vacation so I didn't get a lot done but I'm thrilled with what I did get done. 
This will finish to be 84 X 96 so I have a lot of piano key strips to connect....
I will say that I DID strip piece the units so that made the strips faster to do.  Since this quilt is on my Big 3 list as well this month I'm once and for all decided it's time to git er done!

Thankful

 

How true is that?

 

Like last night (Friday).  I was thankful for a safe flight home from Florida and able to sleep in my own bed  :)   

 

Peggy