Sunday, December 4, 2011

Orca Bay Clue #3 Progress

Thanks you Judy for giving us Patchwork Times, a great place to post our design walls and chat with quilters from all over the world!

I'm pretty amazed that I'm enjoying Bonnie Hunter's mystery quite as much as I am! After all, asking quilters to make nearly 650 multi-pieced components in the first 3 clues would be daunting to any quilter and I'm simply not used to this type of scrap quilting. BUT I'm absolutely loving this!

I had company this weekend and was so sure I would go completely crazy and not be able to work on clue #3 but things worked out really well--my cousin from South Lake Tahoe visited for 2 days and our plans included 3 craft fairs and a Holiday Home Tour in a spiffy part of Sacramento. And with all the chit-chatting we would do, when would there be time for sewing?! She was due around noon on Friday so I got to work early. I use half-square triangle paper to make my HSTs using 21 different purples and neutrals. I don't have strips on hand and would rather use larger pieces of fabric so this method works better for me. You might say, "but I hate tearing off that paper and cutting off the 'dog ears'" but I have time-saving tricks and if I told you it took me only 4 1/2 hours to make all 350 HSTs, would you think my method was time-consuming? The great thing about it was I was able to include an eager cousin in my process! She LOVED helping me with my 'project' and we tore off paper as we watched holiday movie DVDs. Win-Win!

Yes, by a little over an hour after my cousin left on Sunday morning, I was able to get them ALL finished. (actually, I miscalculated and made 380 HSTs--anyone need a few extra? They're purple!) In that little container in the lower right, I put the tiny dog-ears. Figure Bonnie will have something in mind for them! LOL!!

Next Friday, we're expecting about 50 people for a holiday party. Hope I can squeeze in at least a little sewing on Clue #4 that day so I won't go crazy!