Almost done (thank goodness)

It's been a long time since I worked this hard on something I liked this little.  The New Year's Eve mystery quilt top is almost finished.  Two borders to go.  This morning I cut out the borders and binding and joined the backing so when I attach that second border I can fold it up and get it out of my sight.

Why, you ask?

I have no idea, but I have grown to detest the quilt.  Husband likes it for the purple and green colors and all the white areas  (he likes bright colors and light designs) but I'm thoroughly sick of the fabrics and the construction.  It started when I decided to make two kinds of blocks and cut up some of the subunits to add that darker purple square on the sides of them.  I had thought about also using a narrow purple sashing between the blocks but the amount of effort involved put me off.  Besides it makes a nicer pattern when the blocks adjoin like this.

But now I just want it done.  When it's completed and quilted I may be able to look at it and say "that's interesting" but for now - yuck.  However I felt about it I wasn't going to make it another UFO and clutter up the closet with it.  Just get it finished.

New Year's Day mystery quilts......

.....uh, you say it's almost February?  Well, yes, I'm late finishing them.  But the tops are done finally.

The first one is about 50 x 70, a good size for a charity quilt.  I usually don't like quilts with light borders - they just seem to peter out rather than finishing - but this one was made by the directions and I didn't have enough of the green print that inspired the color scheme to make another border - it's the fabric in the bottom right corner square of the border.  So, it's done, well or ill.  The binding will be dark rose.

 I frankly don't know what do to with this one.  It's about 60 x 60.  Husband liked it because of the bright colors, but I'm firmly on the fence.  I love the border fabric, though.  That's where the colors used in the design came from.  I've seen other versions and they are more successful done in two color or monochrome.  There's one in blue/tan especially on the Quiltbug site that's lovely.  Mine - well, it's more like "Where are my sunglasses!"  

I thought I was being fairly daring to pick the blue batik for the background instead of a trusty WOW print.  The ivory turned out to the my accent in the corners and centers.  That might have been better with a very dark color or bright lime green.

Quiltbug is having a Superbowl Sunday mystery and I'm going to do it again because their quilts are usually a good size for a kid's quilt.  I have the fabrics picked out and the pre-cutting finished.

As for that purple and green New Year's Eve mystery, I'm still plugging along.  Can't seem to get any enthusiasm for finishing it because the colors don't work for me.  But Husband likes it because it's bright.  I'm seeing a trend here!

Other than finishing the mystery quilts, I want to get a few more half-done projects out of the way before I am tempted to do anything else.  There's a project on my design wall that was started during the Orca Bay mystery and needs only 11 blocks to be done, so that's next.  Then I will force myself to complete assembling the NYE mystery quilt.  After that, perhaps more cheddar bow tie blocks.  Anything to get some of those project boxes off my table.

Finish-it-up mode

I'm in the finishing mood today.  So many of my projects are languishing with only a few steps left to be done, so I pulled out one and started sewing today.  I'm adding the final border to an album block quilt made of a Moda Laundry Basket Quilts collection.  I'll post a picture as soon as I'm done.

I also need to put the New Year's Eve mystery quilt to bed that I started.  I wasn't happy with the design as it related to my fabric choices so I'm going to rework it.  Here's what was designed, and here's what I finally came up with:

Quite a bit different!  I added sashing and chopped the side pieces apart to add another fabric square.  When I finally get it done it will be very cute (and VERY PURPLE).

And the mystery quilt looks like this....

It's supposed to look like the bow on a package, and it's cute.  I may add another outer border of the red print before I quilt it but for now, in the "Later" drawer it goes!  

Mysterious times

Oh, I'm living in mysterious times here.  There's the Quiltville mystery, of course, and then there's Quiltbug's Christmas Eve mystery, a New Year's Eve mystery on the quilt-talk group and a New Year's Day mystery on Planet Patchwork.  Not to mention Barbara Brackman's Civil War sampler, with a surprise every Saturday.   How, oh how do I get myself committed to this many mysteries?

I used to be leery of them because I did a few and didn't much like the results.  But Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville mysteries are always wonderful, and I have enjoyed the last few mysteries I did in the quilt magazines, so I thought it would be entertaining to jump right in and do the two over the New Year's weekend since we're not going anywhere and won't have company.  Plus, now that I have a sewing room my stitchery doesn't interfere with my cooking space in the kitchen.  I can close the door and block off all the mess.  It's all good.

I stumbled on the Christmas Eve mystery in an advertising email from Quiltbug.  I have done their simple mysteries before and used them for charity quilts, and this one was a small table topper in Christmas colors, so why not?  I can always use another decoration quilt for next year.  They started posting instructions yesterday for cutting and color selection, and put up the first instruction for making oodles of HSTs (which had to be trimmed to size, yuck - I even did that on the kitchen table while monitoring supper cooking).  Now the first instruction of the day has been posted and I'm finished, along with my Civil War block.

Time for breakfast.  And then, making a pumpkin pie, sugar-free pumpkin custard for me, and haystacks.  Do you make haystacks?  They're simplicity itself, with just butterscotch pieces, pecans and those crunchy chow mein noodles.  But they're addictive.  Husband asked for some this year, and it will be hard to mix them up without sampling the goods. Dratted diabetes!

Counting down the days

I'm all a-quiver in anticipation of the new Quiltville mystery.  Am I ready?

Fabric:

 Check!
Clean cutting table?

Check!
Rulers?

Check!
Specialty rulers?

Check!
Fresh cutting blade?

Check!
Plenty of bobbins and big ol' spool of thread?

Check!
Storage boxes and trays for pieces?

Check!
Favorite sewing machine repaired and rarin' to go?

Check!
New Rowenta iron?

Check!

I'm all ready!  I can't wait until Friday!

Clearing the decks for the Quiltville mystery

Friday is Q day - the day Quiltville's Bonnie Hunter launches her fall mystery quilt. In preparation I've been sewing like a demon, finishing sets of blocks that will be assembled later when their designs are finalized. There's the set of 25 pinwheel blocks:

and the 36 album blocks:

now all done and neatly boxed and labeled for completion after the mystery quilt is finished.  I've even straightened my sewing room and cleaned off my work table, and emptied storage boxes to hold pieces during the mystery quilt's progress.  I still have to load a stack of bobbins and fish my Easy Angle and Companion Angle rulers out of the storage cabinet.  Then, I'll be ready.

I'm thinking of not sewing any more until Friday to be able to start fresh.  Can I do that?  Doubt it!

My baby's back

Hooray!  My Juki TL98E is back from the repair shop!  It's humming along like nothing ever happened.  The timing had gotten out of adjustment, so it was an easy fix.  And it got a thorough cleaning and oiling, so it's good as new.  Not cheap - they're minimum charge for a fix is $98 - ouch - but great to have it home.  I used it this afternoon putting together the backing for my QCA mystery quilt, the large one.  And I mean LARGE.  100" x 100".  I tried to photograph it and had to push back the furniture in the living room and lay it out on the floor.  And then couldn't get a good picture.  Here is the best one:

And an enlargement showing a portion of the sashing and border. 

I'm very happy with it.

QCA mystery quilt completed

Terrible picture, I had to thumbtack the quilt top to the wall!  But aren't those colors yummy?

And then there is this one - made from the leftover blocks of my large quilt that is still under construction (picture coming later). 

I think I got my money's worth out of this pattern.

Who are YOU? (and other miscellany)

Someone new strolled through my back garden this morning.  And who are you, tuxedo cat?  There must be a cat network, and I'm on it!

Also, I wanted to show the inspiration for my color selections for the Quiltville mystery coming up this month.  I have had this fabric for a while and didn't find a use until now.  It will be in the reds in the quilt and probably the backing:

See the greens and golds in the print?  I just love it.  That became this fabric collection:

I ordered a few more dark golds from Thousands of Bolts this morning so I can pull some of the more yellow pieces.  I'm still wavering about making the greens light or dark.  I will wait until they first show up in the instructions to decide.

Finally, a photo to show why I'm having a hard time with an accurate 1/4" using my dressmaking Juki machine.  Here is the 1/4" foot:

Notice that the foot is only 1/4" wide at the very front and is larger back at the needle position, behind the narrow front of the foot.  So it's harder to align the fabric seam allowance right at the needle.  And see that angled part on the left side?  It catches seam allowances and pulls the fabric off-kilter.  Plus, since the feed dogs are so wide and it's a front load bobbin, there is nowhere to put a seam guide on the plate.  The Juki HZL-E70  is very nice, but it wasn't built for quilters. 

New Quiltville mystery quilt

Oh boy, it's that time again - when Bonnie Hunter starts a fall mystery quilt.  I scampered to the computer this morning like a kid to the Christmas tree to see her post about color selections, and while I love what she picked, I may change them for my quilt. 

The design is called Orca Bay and is based on a beautiful picture she took while in Alaska.  Her colors are red, blue, black and neutrals.  While I think her selections are lovely, I am ambivalent about making another dark colored quilt because my husband likes brighter, lighter selections.  He doesn't appreciate all the brown I use and I fear that he will feel the same way about black.  Truth told, I'm not a person who makes many quilts with black either.  But Mom and I have been discussing the large number of red and green antique quilts you see and I started leaning toward making a red and green quilt this time.  So, I substituted the green for the blue and bright golds for the black and came up with this:

I have no idea if it will work, I just have to trust and believe.  And remember that Bonnie says "No whining allowed!".

On other fronts, I made a house for the feral cat we have been feeding.  Since the weather started getting colder my husband has been worrying that it doesn't have a warm place to sleep.  We actually have no idea where it goes most of the day and night.  It will appear in the back yard several times a day to eat, and we will spot it around the neighborhood, but it keeps to itself.  That is probably what has kept it safe all summer, that it doesn't trust people and is scared of cars.  I don't want it to be too cosy with people, that's how stray kitties come to harm. 

Anyway, we decided to make little Hobo (that's what I call it) a house.  It had to be waterproof and warm and be able to shelter on the patio under the eaves.  I decided to use a plastic storage box with a locking lid.  I cut out a doorway with a saber saw - badly, it turned out because the plastic splinters easily.  I had to cover the edges of the cutout with layers of packing tape to shield the cat from the rough edges and it looks really tacky, but it was all I could do.  Then, I made a pad for the bottom and a liner for the sides and bottom to keep it warmer.  I had heavy fusible interfacing and leftover fabric, fleece and batting, so this was easy.

She may love it, or she may never set foot in it.  I may have made the world's fanciest opossum house.  I don't know, but at least we have offered a warm spot for her to make it through the winter.  We can't control her choices but I feel good that we made them better.

So, without further ado, I give you - Hobo House: 

Please note the color coordinated box, fabric and fleece.  I went overboard, but what the heck - it was fun.

Quilter's Club of America mystery quilt

Just finished step 3 of the Quilter's Club of America website mystery quilt.  Steps 1 and 2 were fabric selection and cutting so these are the first stitches sewn.  The quilt is built on jelly roll strips and background fabric and so far we've just joined rectangles and squares.  No guesses so far.  No big challenges.

I'm eager for the new Quiltville mystery in November.  Bonnie Hunter designs a mystery quilt you can sink your teeth into.  She challenges you every step of the way to get outside of your comfort zone and the results are wonderful.  Having said that, though.........please, Bonnie, no string blocks this time.  I don't much like them, and still haven't figured out what to do with the ones I made for Roll Roll Cotton Boll and didn't use.

Quilter's Club of America has a new mystery

Quilter's Club of America online has started a new mystery.  It's called "Worms and Jelly Rolls" and the pattern is by Debbie Caffrey.  It might be worth joining the free membership if you like mysteries.  It's intriguing.  The first set of instructions is fabric requirements, and it consists of  2 1/2" strips, background, sashing, border and binding.  So it's very jelly roll friendly.  I spent the morning pawing through the closet and picking out 38 fabrics for the strips, 8 white on whites for the background, a gold tone on tone print for the sashing, and an indigo/red/gold/brown print for the border.  Binding and backing are up in the air right now.  I cut many more strips than required for the 62" x 75" mystery because I want to make it larger.  No more steps until the 30th.  Boo Hoo!
Anyway, I started out with these fabrics:

But ended up with these strips because I couldn't NOT make it very scrappy indeed!

Here's hoping it works out!

In or out?

I have something more to consider about my Quiltmaker's Newsletter mystery quilt assembly.  Since my colors differ from those chosen by the magazine, I have some leeway how I lay out the blocks in the outer border.  Initially, I thought I would do it like this, which is more like the magazine's choice: 

with the darker blue on the inside.  But I tried it the other way round:

and I like that too.  It separates the dark pink and the dark blue and points up the border somehow.  On the other hand, I like how the light blue relates to the blues in the outer border in the first example.  I'll have to assemble the top out to that border and then decide.  In the meantime I can join the strips for all the borders and finish the center medallion, which is growing on me, by the way.  If I had known that the dark blue would be the background for the blocks surrounding the compass medallion I would have chosen a different fabric, because I think it kind of sticks out.  But that's one of those "don't cry over spilt milk" situations because I don't have the inclination to remake those blocks.