One Mystery Solved...

It's 5 pm and I've been at this QTMysteryQuilts mystery since a little after 8 this morning. I've completed all the blocks. Clue 11 is the layout. I'm out of steam for awhile so here's a pic of some of the blocks laid out on my wall. I really like it. Thanks Ann for letting us do this mystery. I impressed myself with my color choices. AND, that's 5 yards gone from my stash without even considering borders, backing, and binding which I haven't chosen yet.


I'm going to relax now and do something other than sewing to stretch my back. The problem is my cutting table is lower than it should be and that's where I cut and press. And, I don't think I have the right chair height for my sewing machine. So now I have an achy back. Ah, well such is life.

After I rest a bit, I will either sew the blocks together, OR start Bonnie's Double Delight. Either way I'll be working on my Double Delight tomorrow.

We've still got almost seven hours left in 2008. Happy New Year everyone.

Anxiously waiting..........

I'm anxiously awaiting tomorrow morning to start on these NYE mysteries. I doubt I will be up at 5 am. That's the problem with being on the West coast. Ann Smith will post her first clue at 8 am EST, way too early for me. And, Bonnie said she will post her first set of instructions when she gets up which could be as early as 6 am EST. Yikes, that's 3 am here in CA. Sooooooo, I will just have to be behind everyone else.

Went to JoAnn's today to pick up a quilting stencil with my 40% off coupon and walked out the door with 12 1/2 yards of fabric. I usually don't buy fabric at JoAnn's because I prefer the LQS quality, but they hit me right as I walked in the door with their Christmas fabric 70% off. How's a girl to resist? This is actually the better quality stuff from Cranston and Cotton Classics normally $8.99 a yard so I just had to buy it. Just had too! Excuse the poor pic, I took it with my phone.


In the meantime, my mom was poking through my stash the other day looking for light blues. She couldn't find any. When I asked her why, she informed me she wants a light blue and white wall hanging for her bedroom. Since her Birthday is on the 11th, I guess I better try to put something together. Good thing I don't go back to work until next Monday. I think I'll make a Carpenter's Star with a small border around it. That should be easy and will look great. The photo above is one I made for the center of another quilt that we are slowly working on at Quilts Your Way. It went together pretty easily. I'll do it in two shades of blue with cream as the background.

That's all for tonight. Can't wait for tomorrow and the mysteries to unfold.

Happy New Year!

I've signed the Stashbusting pledge for 2009!

Okay, I've signed Judy's Stashbusting pledge for 2009! I did it and I don't regret it. In fact, to show how serious I am, check my previous post from Friday. All the fabric for the two mysteries I'm doing for New Years is pulled from my stash. No new purchases!

I am a fabricaholic. A new one maybe, but a fabricaholic just the same. I don't have a huge stash but let's just say it's starting to creep from under my bed to under any space that an underbed storage container will fit (chairs, cabinets, you know what I mean), and now it's creeping into the garage.

Why do I buy fabric? Well I have to say I rarely buy fabric at full price. There is just no fabric I love enough to pay $10 a yard for. I will pay that much if I find the perfect piece for a special purpose but that is rare. I do buy fabric:

- Because the price is so good, I can' afford not to.
- To match something that I can't match from my stash, but that is rare also.
- And, just because I need to feed my habit. (Most often)

The reasons I want to join this Stashbusting effort are:

- I have some fabric that I really don't know what to do with that I bought early on in my fabric buying. I want to use it up. It's just not really my style now that I've been quilting awhile.
- I want to make room for more fabric.

I know, I know, that last one goes against my pledge. But, you have to understand, when I first seriously got back into quilting a few years ago, I bought everything I liked or that caught my eye. Now my stash is filled with this fabric and not enough blenders, tone-on-tones, and range of colors so I really can shop my stash everytime I start a new project.

So my goal is to get rid of the stuff that just doesn't work for me any more. That will mean some serious planning to figure out a quilt (or quilts) that will use this stuff up. Here's just a little pic of what I'm talking about. This is my bin of crazy wild fabric that is desperately looking for a project.

Oh, and there is more, this is just a sample.

Well, I've done it. Publicly committed to using my stash and to finding a quilt home for these wild and crazy fabrics.

Getting Ready

Happy Day After Christmas everyone. I spent the day getting ready for two New Year's mystery quilts. I was delighted to wake up this morning to find that Bonnie is surprising us all with a new mystery to start on New Year's Eve day, Double Delight. Of course, I'm going to participate. Here're my fabrics that I pulled all from stash. I'm also going to pull 1.5" strips in neutral or pink since Bonnie dropped the hint in her fabric requirements.

And, then, I'm also going to do the QTMysteryQuilts Yahoo group mystery, also on New Year's Eve day. Of all the other mysteries out there, this one sounded most interesting to me. I think because I haven't done one of Ann's patterns before and I only had to choose four fabrics.

Now, with this quilt I have to pre-cut the fabric and pre-sew a bunch a half square triangles. I'll work on that tomorrow.

I think I'm also getting my interest back in Bonnie's Old Tobacco Road mystery from earlier this Fall. I had a bunch of the pieces cut, and then lost interest. Maybe tomorrow I will sew all those little tiny HSTs together and see how far I get.

Saw this on another blog and looked interesting. Here goes. The things I've done are in Green.

1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill - SHHHHHH
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone - no, knock on wood
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited Brazil
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Lake Michigan
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Ridden an elephant

Happy Birthday, Mark and Billeejeanne!

Today is my son's 38th Birthday. Unbelievable. Do you know what that makes me? Anyway, I'll spend today with him and my grandkids and then stay the night while he goes out to dinner with friends. Can't get better than that.

It's also my DSIL's birthday today though she doesn't like to celebrate it. Happy Birthday Billeejeanne! We'll celebrate with her on Christmas Eve.

It's a beautiful, clear day today with the temp hovering at 48 degrees. I know that warm for most of you out there, but here in the Bay Area, that's COLD. Not much quilting going on for me today, but maybe tomorrow.

Baking is Done, Presents Wrapped...

Finally, Whew. Just finished my holiday baking. And while the cookies were in the oven, I finished wrapping the last gift. I'm ready. Which is good because I will be watching my grandkids for the next two days and I wouldn't get this stuff done while they are around. All I have left to do is make my broccoli rings for Christmas Eve, but I won't do that until Tuesday night.

Back to quilting. I've ben on a mission to get some of my tops ready for quilting. So, the first one out is my Orange Crush. I put the borders on a couple weeks ago. I just barely had enough of the purple to give it a 3 1/2" border. But I really like it. Here's a pic with the borders.

I've sandwiched it together and gotten some of the straight stitching done on it. I also used transparent nylon thread to outline inside the orange crosses. Not sure if I like it or not. Too subtle for me, but I didn't know what other color to use. Now I just have to figure out what else I want to do on it. It is so busy, it doesn't make any sense to do anything fancy.

Another picture I want to show you is of the six blocks from the Quilts Your Way Christmas in July swap. We only had six participants this year but I think the blocks are fantastic. I'm looking forward to putting a quilt together with these.



That's it for now. I'm on vacation until January 5th, so I'm determined to post at least once every other day about my progress on my quilty projects.

Happy Holidays Everyone.