Thursday progress report

The concert on Saturday was great fun. The Golden Valley (MN) Orchestra and Chorus Polaris had a Christmas concert at the Gesthemane Episcopal Church in downtown Minneapolis. Both organizations did a fine job for the concert. There was a reception after the concert where we had a change to visit with the performers. It was great fun watching DD1 sing again. All in all, a fine holiday evening.

My son's birthday was the previous week and he received the game Pandemic from his wife. We played it several times over the weekend. It is a cooperative game, so you work together to save the world or you all go down together! I highly recommend it, I found it to be great fun. It is really different to be playing as a team rather than against the other players.

I came back home on Sunday and worked on the Orca Bay mystery quilt. I was able to complete the black and white HSTs from the third clue.

I then started on the blue string blocks from the second clue and have them completed as well.

 There are only 31 more of the QSTs to finish and I should be able to do that this evening.

Sounds like I'm doing the mystery backwards.  I do have a few of the red string triangles finished.

Here are the clues that I have completed resting in their storage box.

I won't be able to start on Friday's clue right away as I have 2 meetings to attend on Friday. The first one starts at 7 AM and I probably won't be home until the afternoon.

The early meeting is our county Board of Health, of which I am the Chairperson. Our meeting is being attended by the Director of the State Board of Health. I don't think that has ever happened as far as I know. Our board has been working hard over the past several years to turn around a complicated situation, so I hope that the state has taken notice of the hard work that our staff and the board have been doing.

I am hoping to get some cleaning and decorating done this weekend. I should also try to get my shopping completed and will try to keep up with the sewing for the mystery as well. I really don't have anything to do, do I? Well, just need to take it one bite at a time!

Right now it's time to quit and get some Chocolate!  Happy sewing everyone and here's to Friday's clue.

A productive Friday

Friday was a day off for me, so I was able to get to the sewing room as soon as I received the 4th clue for Orca Bay.  I am getting better at just grabbing a handful of red strings from the box and using them until they are all gone and then going back to the box for more.  I am able to cut 5 of the blocks from the tissue that I am using for my foundation, so I am working on 5 blocks at a time.  I must say that the first time I read the clue, just after I got out of bed, I misread the size of the block.  I looked at Bonnie's pictures and wonders how in the world she was getting so many strings on a 3.5 inch block!  (Duh, it's a 5.5 inch block)

Here are my first attempts.  I did have some coffee before I made these, needed to be awake, especially after that reading mistake!

First 2 blocks , sewn and pressed

Now trimmed.

Now triangles.  Note how the little white selvage in the previous picture is now gone.

I made the two blocks the first time and then started making 5 at a time.  I have to stop and trim down some of the strings because they are too wide and I want more variety.  

I also moved to using spray starch.  I normally use the Mary Ellen's Best Press, but I didn't think that I had enough stability as the regular starch.  I have made 12 blocks without much of a dent in the box or red strings.

I also made about 100 more of the QSTs from the first clue.

I am off tonight to attend a concert where my DD1 is performing.  She sings in the Chorus Polaris in Minneapolis and they are having a Christmas concert with the Golden Valley Orchestra.  I will be going with my DS and his wife.  Should be fun.  We are planning to go out after the concert.

Orca Bay Part 3

I have not had as much time as I would like to get my quilting done.  I did get some time over the weekend to work the Orca Bay mystery.  I am working on all three of the steps at the same time, if I get bored with doing one type of square I just move to another.  I have been re-cutting some of my strings for the part 2 blocks.  They are going kind of slow, I think that I am trying to over think the color placement.  I have a problem with the idea of just grabbing a piece of fabric and sewing it down.  Need to get over that!

I have enjoyed looking at every one's blog posts and admiring all of the blocks.  It is almost like a world wide retreat, where you can look over your fellow quilter's shoulder and see what they are making. 

 

Here is where I am at so far.   Every block stacked in piles of 10.  I will have some more time this evening to get some quilting done, so here I come black and neutrals and blue strings.  Be prepared to be part of my new project.  Can't wait to see tomorrow's clue.

Christmas Quilt finally sees the light of day

Several years ago a purchased a Block of the Month kit at Joann's for a Christmas quilt.  I was able to find enough of the kit to finish the quilt.  Unfortunately, I wasn't paying enough attention to the borders and they were kind of wavy.  Luckily, my quilter, Sandi Stark of the Quilting Shed in Mason City, Iowa, is a magician and was able to quilt the top and hide all of my mistakes.  I discovered the pleats when I was putting the binding on the quilt.  The top was stored for several years.

I pulled the quilt out to take to Show and Tell for guild meeting on Thursday.  We all make mistakes, the main thing is to learn from them and attempt to avoid them again.  You can bet I really watch my borders now and they aren't wavy any more.  Sandi did such a nice job on the quilt that it should be displayed, so on the guest bed it goes.  It is a little too small for a double bed but looks OK for the Christmas season.

Doesn't that look festive.

This picture shows some of the custom quilting by Sandi.

This may be as much decorating as gets done around here this season.  I am in the process of doing some redecorating and things will be in turmoil with new carpeting coming.

I will try to get some pictures of the Orca Bay mystery that I have been working on all weekend on the blog within the next couple of days. 

Quilt Guild Christmas

My quilt guild, Lake Area Quilt Guild, had their Christmas party and potluck last Thursday.  I, myself, am not much of a cook, but some of the folks in the guild are!  The picture below shows the spread that we had to choose from for our meal.

We played Left, Right and Center for 10 squares.  Needless to say, I did not win.  One of the members won the door prize, fat quarters for the 'block' exchange and a prize for the stocking challenge, as well as one game.  (We played two)  We all advised her to get a lottery ticket right away!  She certainly had good luck that evening.  

Working on a mystery

I have not worked on a mystery quilt for a long time.  The local shop had mystery quilts in the past, and did make a couple of them, but not for several years.  I have been lurking on Bonnie Hunter's blog for a while and thought that I would try her new mystery, Orca Bay.  The color scheme appealed to me as I had lots of red and blue scraps.

I started working on the blocks this week, having been out of town over the weekend. I had picked out the strings earlier, as most of the other scraps went to a quilting friend who is working on a scrap quilt and needed "new" scraps.  I also had some trouble finding my black scraps, so had to go to the fat quarter drawers there.

Here is my box of blue strings.  My red box is waiting for it's clue to arrive.

The first ten of my black and white quarter square triangles.

Now, where did my specialty ruler go?  I moved my sewing/quilting room this summer and still have not found everything.  This is what I did.  I cut a 3 1/4 square diagonally twice and then took one of the triangles and measured it.  I then marked on of my small square rulers with tape (the one I used is made to avoid leaving residue on the ruler).  I now have my own ruler to use to cut my triangles out of strips.  I'm still keeping my eyes open for my 'real' ruler though.

I decided  to try a couple of the string blocks as well.  I used tissue paper, as I had a lot left over from a fall shopping spree.  One of the clothing stores that I shop at wraps the articles that you purchase in tissue before placing them in your bag, so I had lots of tissue.  Here are the first two samples.

After reading a couple of the blogs that used techniques that resulted in multiple blocks constructed at one time, here is my attempt.  I used a longer piece of tissue and made 3 blocks at once and then divided them.

I think that could work well if I did more than one block at time.  I have a Janome that cuts the thread which is very helpful with the string blocks.  I should be able to get caught up with the clues this weekend.   

Getting back to blogging

Looking at all of the blogs that have been linked to the Bonnie Hunter Orca Bay Mystery has made me want to do some blogging again.  I don't do much that I think that anyone would find interesting and so I don't log on and blog much.  I have completed several quilts recently, some of which have been in the works for months.  It feels good to get the projects finished and really makes you want to get started with a new quilt.  I do need to get busy as I have a couple of gift quilts that need to be finished by the spring.

I did get one gift quilt out of the house over the Thanksgiving holiday.  I finished the quilt for my nephew and his wife and gave it to them when we were together over the weekend.  I hope they like it.  Most of the quilts that I give as gifts are scrappy.  This quilt was originally a kit for a double bed sized quilt, but I was able to squeeze a king sized quilt out of it.

This picture shows the quilt on a double bed.

My 88 year-old mom helped me get the last of the binding turned to the back and sewn on the quilt.