Celtic Soltice Step 2 continues

I was putting the chevrons together wrong.  Fortunately I realized my mistake after only doing 4.  I found the mistake by reading another blogger,  Jo @  http://www.joscountryjunction.com/what-im-working-on-119/

So it is a positive that others are doing the same mystery and so many are posting information.  Usually when I am making a quilt I do a couple blocks and put them up on the design wall.  I find out quickly if I am doing something wrong.  Doing the production style sewing of a mystery leaves me vulnerable to making all 100 or so wrong, which may be why the other two mysteries I have tackled are still UFOs. However, I can’t rely completely on strangers so I must acknowledge that when I do production sewing I should stop, measure, and review at times to make sure I am on track.

This chevron step has been the most time consuming one for me. They look so pretty.  I think they will add some movement and sparkle to the quilt.

Christmas Table Runner

I made this table runner as part of my final gift to my Secret Pal.  It is a free pattern at http://www.conniekresin.com/2011/12/christmas-tree-runner-tutorial.html  It is very generous of Connie to post such lovely tutorials.

It went together quickly.  I quilted it with leaves in the background and spikes and swirls in the green.

Celtic Solstice Mystery

Bonnie Hunter’s 2013 mystery quilt is Celtic Solstice. http://quiltville.blogspot.com/p/celtic-solstice-mystery.html  

As I did so much quilting (R’s quilt) and so little sewing the last few months I was eager to reverse and do some piecing.  I decided to do the mystery because this is a rare Thanksgiving – New Years where I have no travel scheduled.

The first step was revealed the Friday after Thanksgiving. The second step was posted Fri 12/6/13

I changed colors. I am using purple where Bonnie is using blue, brown where she is using orange, and turquoise where she is using yellow. I am trying to use up stash and these colors along with green seemed to work best.


As I chose colors I thought if Bonnie puts blue with the orange then I will have brown with the purple and I might not have good contrast, but I think it worked okay.

I am back

I haven’t been blogging.  I want to briefly cover the reasons and then get back on track.

I finished Jane’s quilt and I think she liked it.

In late June I got R’s quilt but I didn’t plan on starting it until after vacation with the kids in July.

I was melancholy some this summer.  My son’s birthday is June 22, and then in July it’s the anniversary of his death.  We had a big vacation without him.  All of these things weighed on me at times but I didn’t want to blog about it.  I also don’t want my grandchildren reading this in the future and wondering that I don’t mention him.  I love him and wish he was still with us.

After our trip to Colorado the Memphis girls stayed one night at my apt before flying home.  Both Lulu and Kearstyn helped me quilt on the longarm.  We did some more of the arts and crafts Aunt Jeanne brought to Colorado also.  I didn’t get a picture of them sewing, nor did I get one of Kearstyn but this is Lulu with her project (in the background you cans see Brandon with a white tshirt on bent over his phone.)

R’s quilt took up Aug, Sept, Oct and a couple weeks of Nov.  I was intimidated by its beauty and doubtful of my ability to do it justice.  In late Sept I thought I was in the home stretch and almost finished and then I realized all the stitch in the ditch (SID) around all the applique had to be taken out and redone because of bad tension.  In Oct I was cleaning my machine and I got the tip of the WD40 can too close to the hook assembly and the machine gobbled up the red straw jamming everything to a standstill.  I worked for days to get the machine retimed.  Her quilt is done. I think she likes it.  I will post pictures after she show it at the guild show in Feb.