It's a mystery!

Hi All!

Thanksgiving is over.  Hubby and I had an enjoyable trip out-of-town for the day.  We were non-traditional, we had prime rib!

I've survived decorating our house and shop for Christmas.  I love doing it, but it does a number on my back.  Thankfully, I've gotten back into yoga so while I still hurt, I was able to walk upright the next day!  Since I've only been back at my yoga for a couple of weeks, I'd say it's definitely improving my life.

The day after Thanksgiving, Bonnie Hunter started the clues for her Good Fortune Mystery.

I've made a start on the pieces for this first clue:

Because my current cutting table is too low for my height, I alternate between cutting and sewing.  That means I've only got about 25% of my pieces done so far.  I'm hoping to get the rest done before the next clue comes out on Friday.

ETA:  I'm planning on building a cutting table for my height (5'9½" - very long legs!) but I'll make due with this one for awhile.  I've already drafted plans for my new, custom, cutting table!

I am using the recommended color palette.  The variety of colors is more than I would normally use in a quilt, but so was last year's mystery and I ended up loving it!

If you want to see all of the other participants' progress, you can click here:  Monday Link-Up.  Not everyone is using the same palette, so it's great to see how different something the same can look with just alternate colors.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Quilt top finish

Whew!  I finished a quilt top (aka a "flimsy") last night.  It's a zipper or cobblestone quilt, though zipper seems to be the preferred name.

Of course, with any form of quilt, a cat has to get involved.  Say "hi" to Spooky.  ;-)

Most of the time, you will see this quilt pattern use whites for the squares.  I happened to have a lot of black squares so I used them instead.

The squares are 2" (1½" finished) and the bricks (rectangles) are 2" x 3½" (1½" x 3" finished).  There are 20 square/brick sets across the width and 61 rows.  Finished size of the top is 90" x 91½".

I'm thinking that I won't put on any borders and I'll bind it with a black & white binding.  That will probably be awhile from now.  I've got so many flimsies that I need to layer, quilt, and bind before this one.

I wanted to get this one finished and off my design wall so that I'd have room to work on Bonnie Hunter's upcoming mystery.  For that, you can find information at Quiltville.  She has the fabric requirements posted and the first step in the mystery will be posted on Black Friday, November 23rd.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Antique quilt

I know that technically, this quilt might not be "antique" (100 or more years old), but it's close!  The top was made by my great grand aunt who passed in 1945, so at the very least, it's 73 years old.  The pattern is Grandmother's Flower Garden.

My backing fabric is a tone-on-tone white, 108" wide piece.  I did launder it before I started.  The batting is Warm & Natural, off the roll from my local quilt shop.

The fabrics are cottons, flower sacks, and something silky.  That's just in the bit that I've quilted.  Who knows what other fabrics are in it?  I guess I'll find out when I get there.  Some of the hexies are even pieced with seams running through the middle of them!

The yellow centers and the two surrounding rows are what forms a "flower".  The green hexagons (hexies) are the path between the flowers.

I don't have a photo of the entire quilt...yet, but here is a shot of it as I was loading it on my quilting frame.  The bottom edge wasn't pinned yet which is why it looks wrinkly.

I've started on hand-quilting it and have made 2 complete "passes" and started on my third.  A pass is filling in the available workable area from center to left then center to right (or vise versa).

The first pass, took care of the bottom yellow border and some of the green path hexies.  I'm using Meandering Leaves as the stencil for the yellow border and I'm stitching with a green from Essential Threads.  For the green hexies, I'm using the 6-petaled flower from the Dritz stencil Cornered Feathers 4" and I'm using Gütermann thread in a variegated yellow.

For every green hexie, I'm putting money in a jar.  A penny each for the first 4, the 5th is a nickel, then pennies until the 10th which is a dime, the 25th is a quarter and so on.  The money that I save up will go toward my new quilting studio (see previous post for more info).

The flowers are getting quilted in simple arcs which creates 12-petaled flowers.  I'm using the yellow Gütermann thread for these, too.

I've completed 3 of the 5 flowers on the first row of the quilt and I'm getting close to the last of the green hexies heading left from the center.  It will be nice to get to the left border just for a color change.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Quilt Studio...it begins

Months ago, I was trying to move some shelving (the kind on wall brackets) to an alcove in my upstairs sewing room.  Hubby came up to help me as I was having issues that I figured couldn't be overcome (no studs in the side wall).  Unfortunately, I was correct and the shelves would have to stay where they were.

As he was heading back downstairs, hubby suggested that I turn our "back room" into my quilting studio.  He's a darling man, I'm definitely keeping him.  We've just been using that room as a "dumping" area for stuff.  My office does occupy about 1/3 of it, and my piano is the only thing in the other 2/3, apart from the "stuff".

Just a couple of days after hubby made his brilliant suggestion, my father-in-law moved in while recovering from foot surgery.  The 2/3 of the room became his office and bedroom.  My piano got pushed into a closet area and all the other stuff got removed from the room.  This past Saturday, after 4½ months, FIL moved back to his own house!

Now that all of FIL's stuff is back at his house, I have a blank canvas to work with.  It's going to be a looonnngg process!  Here's my starting point:

You can just see the edge of my desk and chair in the foreground.  Everything from there to the piano will be my quilting studio!  The piano will end up staying in the alcove (former closet).  First up, painting!  Since I'm going to put in new flooring, it makes sense to paint first so that I don't have to worry about spills or spatter.

The brownish ceiling will be first and it's going to be white.  There is only one window in this room and one exterior door so there isn't much natural light.  I'm going to paint directly over the paneling in a soft white.  The piano alcove and the interior of the closet to the right will be light, beachy tones.  Probably a blue or green sea-glass tone.

Okay, I said painting was first.  It's not.  I have to clear out the rest of the room as best I can in order to paint.  I'm making a start, but as hubby would put it, I'm puttering at it.  ;-)

Will post updates as they happen!  Don't hold your breathe between posts though.  I'm only going to do things as I can pay for them in cash.  I'm not going into debt (no credit card purchases) to do this project!

Happy Stitching!

Stacy