The Top Is Done!

I have finished my version of Bonnie Hunter's 2018 Mystery, "Good Fortune"! I'm so pleased with the outcome and had great fun with the excitement of waking up every week to find a new clue, the rush to get all the pieces made, the fun of pulling a myriad of fabrics from my 25+ year old stash to get that great mix of scraps, like Bonnie does in EVERY one of her quilts!

I swear, the first thought I had when I smoothed out my quilt on my design wall and took the photo was, "I can't wait for Bonnies Mystery 2019!" (you're laughing, Bonnie, right?)

I'm bringing this quilt to the quilter, Cathy Evans of Yuba City, California tomorrow and it will be in the Valley Quilt Guild guilt show on March 9th and 10th.

Thank you, Bonnie Hunter, for sharing your generous talent with us. You bring so much joy to so many quilters all over the world! What a great feeling that must be.

Here's the link to this Monday Link-Up, the last one of this mystery. Take a look at all the iterations of this quilt and marvel at the creativity and dedication of so many Quiltville followers.
https://quiltville.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-last-good-fortune-mystery-monday.html

Good Fortune--Coming Along!

I finished all the pieced parts of Bonnie's "Good Fortune" quilt using "my" colors: aqua instead of blue, lime instead of a deeper green, purple instead of red and pink instead of orange. I always like seeing different colors used. 

I'm following one blogger who's using 'dark' as her neutral and am eager to see the finish.

I haven't made the "paper pieced" steps because I might just make them single pieces. We'll see after the reveal.

I didn't do Bonnie's mystery last year and regretted it! The first I did, many years ago, took 39 hours to piece the top! (I kept track every time I entered my sewing room.) That may sound like a ton of time but it's one of my favorite ever quilts so very worth it. Come to think of it, I used a similar color palette for that one as I'm using now--no wonder I love it--LOL! 


I'm going to guess we'll have 2 more clues before the big REVEAL--one of my favorite days of the whole YEAR! What's your guess?

Take a look at all the participants in this year's mystery by going to Bonnie's blog: https://quiltville.blogspot.com/2018/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-6.html

Good Fortune Mystery Clue #3

Thanks for stopping by! I'm so happy I've been keeping up with Bonnie Hunter's "Good Fortune Mystery"! I've chosen a limey green for clue #3 rather than a more kelly green since lime is my favorite color.
The most fun part of this whole yearly mystery is seeing what my fellow quilters all over the U.S. and the WORLD have been making! 
Access Bonnie's wonderful blog to find out how you can create your own Quiltville.blogspot.com mystery! You'll be happy you put in the time, effort and COLOR!!
https://quiltville.blogspot.com/2018/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-3.html

Good Fortune Clue #2

Bonnie's blue is my aqua :-)  
I've really enjoyed making these HSTs using Bonnie's wonderful Essential Triangle ruler. I used to make the 10-inch squares that you sewed corner to corner, top to bottom and left to right, TWICE each way but after cutting them apart, I'd always end up having to 'square them up' afterward, a very time-consuming process for half-square triangles. Since I bought the Essential Triangle tool, I find the squares come out perfectly every time. Yes, you do have to be very careful to line up the ruler exactly but it's worth it.

I do have another trick I use to get that very last 'point' (dog ear) off the triangle so they're perfect after pressing: After chain-piecing the triangles you've cut with your Essential Triangle tool, bring them over to your ironing board uncut. Instead of clipping the threads to separate the string of triangles, take your scissors and clip the POINT of the triangle on the one side. Voila! The triangles are separated AND, when you press them open, there are no more 'dog ears' to clip off! 

Check out Bonnie's blog for everything you want to know about this fun mystery!

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2018/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-2.html

Good Fortune #1 complete!

I LOVE doing Bonnie's mysteries but like to make them my own by changing one or two colors. This year, instead of using red, I'm using purple. When I see clue #2, I'll see if I want to use a different color. I'm thinking I'd like aqua instead of the darker blue and more of a lime for the green. We'll see.         

If you want to have a fun time and end up with a beautiful quilt, go to Bonnie Hunter's blog at quiltville.blogspot.com

A Satisfying Finish!

My Bird Seed quilt is finished! I absolutely loved every minute of Lorna McMahon's Sew Fresh Quilt design. I encourage you to take a look at her designs here.

I tried the quilting technique Lorna uses in her quilts and really liked it. then I made a 2-color binding using black and a 1/8" red flange (to keep the little red birdy company--although he seems to have found a 'sweetie' to do that--tee-hee!)

Let's see what everyone else has bee working on on Judy's blog

Bird Seed

I follow a few quilt blogs and one I really love is at SewFreshQuilts. "Let's Bee Social" is written by Lorna McMahon who has a wonderful spirit and wit and obviously loves animals, as I do. Her patterns are well-written and, best of all, they can be (very reasonably) purchased and immediately printed on your home printer--instant gratification!


Her Blackbird pattern really caught my eye and I just had to make one. Here's my pre-quilted rendition. Isn't it cute?


There are a LOT of tiny pieces in her pattern, the blocks of which measure 6" square !! I have to admit that I drafted a larger version so mine are 9" square. I call the quilt "Bird Seed" because the background fabric is 'newsprint' advertising seeds and flowers--something I didn't realize until I was cutting it up.

Seriously, check out Lorna's blog!

More Farm Girl Vintage!

Hello quilters! I returned from an east coast trip and brought lots of great quilting finds home with me. Couldn't wait to get started on . . . something. . . but what? Why, Farm Girl Vintage blocks, of course! I'd seen on Facebook a FGV sew-along and would love to have been a part of it but couldn't do it while on the road so I started my own! In 3 days, I made all these --and they're 6"! I don't know what it is about the tiny little pieces but I just LOVE making them! I don't plan to make ALL
the blocks in the book. . . but who knows?

Which is your favorite?

Mug Rug and License Plates

You know I'm obsessed with Row By Row, right? I've been trading kits and license plates with a group on Facebook and have accumulated 22 states' and a Canadian providences' plates! I have two patterns picked out for making a fun quilt (or maybe the back of a Row By Row quilt) with them.

There's another fun Facebook group that's making Mug Rugs and trading them from the FABulous "Farm Girl Vintage" book. I received this great mug rug from the quilter in Alabama (!) I was paired up with. Thanks, Susan!

I'm obsessed with making the teeny, tiny 6" Farm Girl Vintage blocks and plan to make at least 20 of them for my next quilt. Stay tuned!

Row, Row, Rowing!

How many of you are participating in this great, national quilting event? My buddies and I cannot get enough of it and it will be over in just over a week--September 8th! I've collected kits and license plates from 7 states myself and have swapped license plates with almost a dozen others so I'll have plates from about 20 states.

I purchased and made this adorable kit at a shop in Bonner's Ferry, Idaho and just love it! The border fabric has the word Yellowstone in it--purchased in Montana, of course.

I'd love to see what rows you all have put together!

A Great Line

Did you ever fall in for with a fabric line and you just HAD to buy it and make something out of it? Yes, I've bought fat quarter towers which are pretty pricy but I find that once I use part of it to make a project, it ends up languishing as a "been-there, done-that" line. I've been buying Jelly Rolls and Layer Cakes from Missouri Star Quilt Company through their "daily deal" and using their Friday You-Tube tutorials to make quilt tops. I'm loving them!

My latest is this one made with an older line I found recently at HollyHill Quilt Shoppe: Minik and Simpson's "Prairie Paisley II". Red, white and blue is classic but their addition of beige, tan and light blue really makes this line shine!

Missouri Star's pattern here is "Flutterby" and it's a snap to put together. The Jelly Roll makes a cute little quilt but I wanted something bigger so I found  a couple of yards online to use for the border and every last scrap of the jelly roll to make the interim border of little squares with white to make a queen-sized quilt.

I think I'll have this one custom quilted--it's a keeper for sure!!

Trade License Plates With Me?

You can see by the last couple of posts I'm rather obsessed with the Row By Row Experience. There's just something about getting a free pattern at a shop I didn't even know existed! My hubby and I just returned from a 3,246-mile road trip though 7 states and while I didn't stop at EVERY quilt shop, I did hit the ones that had great rows (you can see most of them on Facebook by searching for "(your state) Row By Row Experience").


I always buy something in each shop, it's only fair when they've gone through the trouble of designing a row and printing the pattern out for you just for the asking! One thing I love is the "license plates" almost every shop has. Such clever sayings on them!

I really want to trade license plates with people from other states--(they're made of fabric, not metal!) If you would like to trade one from a state other than CA, NV, UT, MT, WY, WA or OR, leave a comment at the end of this blog post or send me an email.





I found a wonderful pattern at a shop in Philomath Oregon (JanniLou Creations near Corvallis) and plan to make a quilt for my car with it. Is that cute or WHAT??!!!

Happy Quilting Everyone!!

Rewards For My Row By Row

For those of you who have an inkling to join the Row By Row experience, (rowbyrowexperience.com) there IS a reward: If you put a quilt together with at least 8 rows, bound and labeled, and are the first to turn it in to one of the 2,500 quilt shops in the U.S participating in this fun event through September 8th, you will win what I won last week: 25 fat quarters!!!

Here's my quilt, from rain-strapped California, with a poem I made to go with its rainbow theme: Rain, rain, Come and Stay, Send a Rainbow, Make My Day!

These rows are from quilt shops in order:

Meissner's, Sacramento CA

Thistle Dew, Fair Oaks, CA

New Moon Textiles, Pasadena CA

Fabric Garden, Sacramento CA

Thimble Town, Visalia CA

Totally Tina's Quilt Shop, Porterville CA

Quilter's Paradise, Clovis CA (left)

Calico Mermaid, Porterville CA (right)

Row By Row By Row!

Boy do I LOVE the Row By Row Experience!! You've heard of it, haven't you? 2,500 quilt shops across the U.S. and Canada are participating from June 21st through September 8th. Go to any participating shop and receive a FREE pattern for the row they've designed. They will all measure about 9" x 36" and the theme this year is "H20". Many of the shops have kits to make their row and these wonderful fabric 'license plates' you can incorporate into quilts. Some have the theme fabrics designed just for this event.

If you make a quilt with at least 8 rows, quilt it, bind it and put a label on it and are the first person to turn it in to the shop of your choice, you win 25 fat quarters!

I happened to be on a road trip from southern California to Sacramento the weekend it started and collected 8 rows along the way. I've made 5 of the rows already!!!

Go to Facebook and search "Row By Row Experience" and you'll see a lot of the shops and their rows. There's an interactive map of EVERY quilt shop participating so you can search near where you live or where you'll be traveling this summer. I guarantee you'll find shops you never knew were there!

Happy Quilting!!

Never Tried This Before!

When was the last time you tried something with fabric that you'd never tried before? I mean really challenged yourself? I did just that recently and while it was a struggle that I nearly gave up on several times, I kept coming back to it and finally succeeded, at least to my own satisfaction. It all started with this photo of my adorable daughter and her wife taken on New Year's Eve. . .

 My first thought was to make an 8x10 'glossy' and frame it. But I decided I wanted to do something better than that. I made copies, colored them with colored pencils, played around with them, used fusible web for each of the dozens of little pieces that make up the shadows and highlights of their faces and came up with this:

 When I gave it to them, they positively lit up!! They LOVED it! They wanted to see just what the process had been and set up this photo, which I love. I encourage you to try something new. You might just make someone very happy and that someone might be YOU!!

Baby Twister

It's sure been a long time since I've posted. We've been traveling so I haven't been producing much from my sewing room. Then I got the time to make a few things but I was out of the habit of writing in the blog. Excuses, excuses.

My husband's cousin's daughter Nicole is expecting her first baby--it's a boy--in mid-September. I was in the process of making yet another 'Lil Twister quilt using the irresistibly colorful "Hubba Hubba" line by Moda and thought it would work perfectly--with a  couple of yards of baby blue Minkee!

(This photo was taken before I quilted it and wrapped the Minkee around to the front for a cozy 1" binding. Of course I forgot to take a photo of the finished product before I mailed it off today!)

But. . . how do you like it?!

Ironing Board Cover Challenge

It's been ages since I've posted and I'm sorry for that. We were traveling and I wasn't sewing so I didn't have anything new to post. Then, I sort of got out of the rhythm of posting--I'll bet you know how that goes.

So, I was checking out Judy's Design Wall Monday and found  the blog, Jo's Country Junction which issued an ironing board cover challenge! I can't tell you how long I've been wanting needing a new cover! About 5 years ago I bought a wonderful, extra-wide ironing board (at Costco) with an attached shelf for my iron. It's very sturdy and strong and I love it!
 The cover is now stained and has a couple of punctures that about to turn into rips to say nothing about the fusible web "oopsies". Try as I might, I couldn't find a cover to replace mine--they're all too small! I even called the company that made the ironing board but it's out of business.

Jo's blog was the "kick in the butt" I needed! Immediately after reading her blog, I went into my sewing room, pulled some fabric from my extensive stash, removed my dingy and tired cover and used it as a pattern (cut 3 1/2" wider all the way around), sewed a casing, inserted 3/8" elastic and put the new cover directly over the old (and wonderfully padded) one! Took less than an hour!! If I'd known it would only take that long and would be that successful, I'd have done it AGES ago!

Thank you, JO!!!

Another Lil' Twister

"Let's twist today, like we did last summer. . . ." LOL.


I just love the Lil' Twister ruler. I think they make great baby quilts using Charm Packs and donation quilts using Layer Cakes. I fell in love with the "Hubba-Hubba" line by Moda, bought a Charm pack and got to work. Some people think there's a lot of waste making these quilts, and I have to admit, there is quite a lot of "shrinkage" but I love them anyway. 

I started with 99, 5" blocks (44 of the Hubba Hubba and 45 of the polka dot background) and after sewing them together, ended up with the 41" x 50" top above. Then I got to cutting with the small Lil' Twister and after sewing together everything, ended up with this 30" x 37" top at the left--yeah, MUCH smaller--but cute as a button, don't you think? 

If you cut the "twists" very carefully, you end up with leftover pieces you can use in the border--in my case, over 100 2 1/2" squares! 

I'll add a few borders and maybe have them on in time for next week's Design Wall Monday. Better check Judy's blog and see!

Quilt Retreat

What's better than 3 1/2 days with nothing to cook, no phones to answer, no one bothering you to do something for them and a room full of quilters and inspiration?! I experienced just that in Murphys California a quaint gold rush, wine country town. Three ladies I'd met at last years' retreat returned and I made a few more new quilty friends which was delightful! We were pampered by our hosts, Joe and Roxie Wood from ThimbleCreek quilts--they are amazing quilt pattern designers AND fabulous cooks!!

 I brought 7 projects hoping to get a couple finished. This is "Almost Amish Too" by Nancy Rink which I've been working on (off and on) for over a year. I'm so happy I got this far! It has a couple more borders but I see the light at the end of the sewing machine!!  
I love alphabets and this is from Primitive Gatherings which is a half-size alphabet from a Moda Blog Hop in February--only 34" x 34". Rather than add the traditional blocks in the 4 spaces called for in the pattern, I created four hand-appliqued animals. Now all I need is a little person to give it to!



There'll be more to see in future Design Wall Mondays from this retreat. Go check out all the other designers on Judy's blog!

Blue Ribbons!

My quilt guild, The Valley Quilt Guild in Yuba City California, had its 32nd annual quilt show this weekend. I chose to have 3 of my quilts judged and was very happy with the outcome. I received 2 first place ribbons and one 2nd. I've shown them on this blog before but not necessarily completely finished. Now, they're finished and have ribbons on them!

This is "Merry-Go-Cats", all wool and hand blanket-stitched. It's made from a BareRoots candle-mat pattern that I enlarged to 19". I also changed the kitties to they look like all those who've been in my life past and present.




        

This one, "Civil War Wagon Wheels" made for my Civil War buff husband to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. (I have to admit I was very proud of my machine quilting on this one and the judge's comments confirmed that!)





This is "Hyphen, Hashtag, Steele" made for my writer daughter and her wife from Tonya Ricucci's "Word Play Quilts," a book I highly recommend to show you how freeing making a quilt can be. There's not really a pattern just suggestions on how you can form these individual letters and then the individual words. 

Check out the other wonderful blogs on Judy's Design Wall Monday blog!