Clue #2

Moving slowly into clue #2.

It always seems that when I am under intense amounts of stress I get sick. I guess it's normal. I don't foresee an end to my stressors, but I do think I need to find a way to build up my immune system. So since I've been feeling under the weather, I've cut a little of clue #2 and even made up one block to get a feel for it. The first block is a little scraggly, but I did it. I had to read and reread the instructions a couple times. For some reason I was having a hard time visualizing what was being said.

We've been having some wintery weather, ice, sleet, snow and even a thunderstorm in the midst of it all, but it's been mostly rain. Oreo is mostly an outdoor cat, and our youngest is pretty allergic to cats. We got the cat when she was a baby and realized she was allergic later. So the only room in the house the cat is allowed in is my sewing room. He's not the friendliest cat and I hate finding hair on my fabrics, but we manage to co-exist. Here he is keeping my green fabrics warm.

All day long the cat is at the back door wanting to go out. I open the door, he realizes the weather is still bad and he stays in. We repeat this several times a day. His disappointment is palpable.

I am back to work on clue #2. Spent part of the morning attempting to clean my workspace. I'm not sure how succesful I was. Clutter seems to build up fast around here. Here is a picture of where the quilting happens. As an introvert, the thing I really wish is that the room didn't have glass doors that open into the living room. Sometimes I just want to hide!

Back to work!

Clue #1 Completed!

It's Sunday and I have finally completed clue #1. I moved a lot slower this week. On Monday one of my daughters ended up in the emergency room. Both of my girls have health issues and it's so hard sometimes. It throws me for a loop emotionally when things happen and this week was no different. I have been in a bit of a funk, actually pretty much depressed and my stress level has been through the roof. It causes me to not be able to focus, and I am easily distracted. But I keep putting one foot in front of the other moving forward on all aspects of life, trying to remember to count my blessings. And now I have finally completed clue #1.

I was thrilled when I got all the pieces cut. It was a lot of cutting!

And I was even more thrilled this morning when I ironed open the last block!

I made myself venture out of my comfort zone. When someone tells me to use neutrals I tend to think whites or creams or even white on whites, but Bonnie talks about using neutrals that have more detail, colors or prints in them, so I went to the fabric store this week and expanded my stash.

I had a bit of a helper this week sewing. His name is Oreo. He's not the friendliest cat, the look on his face says it all. He really only tolerates small children and likes to spend his time killing my backyard wildlife.

I also decided to clean out the bobbin area of my sewing machine. What a yucky mess!

I am so excited to have finished and now I am ready to jump into clue #2!

Mystery Quilt!

It's mystery quilt time!

I've never done a mystery quilt before and it's a little intimidating, but if I know one thing, it's that I can do hard things. And besides, if my current definition of "hard" is making a quilt, well, then, I'm doing pretty good in life! Trust me, I deal with a lot harder things on a daily basis.

I mentioned Quiltville and Bonnie Hunter in my last post. She is the one doing the mystery. The mystery is called Celtic Solstice. She picked the colors and I've decided to stick with her recommendations. Here are my fabric choices.

I only have a yard of that colorful fabric in the back. I bought it on a whim, it reminds me of vacation in Mexico. I went back to Joann's to get more when I saw the colors Bonnie picked, and of course it's all gone. Somehow I might work it into a border, or it will find it's way into another fun quilt.

When Bonnie offered us this quilt she also gave us three options for piecing. She suggested specialty rulers, Inklingo or she would make templates available. I opted to go for Inklingo. I think it's a fascinating product, and quite honestly it seems to make some of the tedious parts of quilt making a little easier. As I also mentioned in my last post, part of why I love quilting is because I love history and quilting to me is a connection to the past. That does not, however, mean I'm going to throw away all modern conveniences. If that was the case I wouldn't be able to use my rotary cutter or my sewing machine. I spent a little time getting to know Inklingo, first trying some of the free shapes offered on the web page. I still had a bit of a learning curve after I bought the shapes, mostly because I failed to read the instructions thoroughly.

I think I may be in love with the Inklingo method though. Now that I've worked out my kinks the program is working great. My biggest issue now is that I have an HP printer, and they don't allow you custom size pages. But with a little observation, I'm discovering how to print on the fabric in the allowable parameters to get the most shapes on the sheet.

I'm still working on the first clue. I've cut almost everything, but I've only sewn a few squares. The day after Thanksgiving, and this whole weekend has been set aside for Christmas decorating. I'll have more time to focus during the week.

Merry Christmas and Happy Quilting!

Beginnings

Hi, I'm Elizabeth. You can call me Betty.

I'm starting this blog as a way to chronicle my quilt life, and especially beginning now with Bonnie Hunters Celtic Solstice mystery quilt.

I'm a fairly new quilter. Back in 1995 at the age of 20, I saw the movie How to Make an American Quilt. I didn't really think much of the movie at the time, but quilting threw an arrow straight through my heart. I love history, and quilting seems like such a connection with past. I decided to give it a try. I didn't know anyone else who quilted, so I tried to learn from books and quilt magazines. My attempts were not so great, but I enjoyed it. Here are a couple things I had done then. I never even backed the quilt.

In the next couple of years I met a guy, fell in love, got married and we started a family. I thought about quilting occasionally, but the only attempt I made was starting a simple scrappy quilt with squares. I just finished it this past year.

Fast forward 17 years and our family made a big cross country move from California to Virginia. It was a great move, and we love it here, but with no friends or family nearby, I had a little more free time. I decided to try quilting again. I started with a little lap size rag quilt. It turned out ok, not great, but ok. I was hooked again.

My next project was the 2012 Craftsy Block of the Month. I was a year behind, so all the clues were up and I finished piecing it in about a month.It's still not backed and quilted though.

From the Craftsy quilt I decided to make a whole quilt using one of the blocks, rotating the squares for a whole new look. I have no idea why I chose to do curved pieces for a beginning quilt, but I did it!

I have worked on a few more quilts and somewhere along the way I discovered Bonnie Hunter from Quiltville.

I love her scrappy quilts, and she does Quiltcam's occasionally which are so fun! I bought her book Adventures in Leaders and Enders and decided to do her Blue Ridge Beauty quilt.

There are some mistakes, like blocks facing the wrong direction, but I am not a perfectionist, and they are going to stay that way. I don't think I personally could be a quilter if I was a perfectionist. It would drive me insane. But I am improving each time, and I know each project will be better then the last.

Now on to the Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt!