Squeaking in under the Wire - Clue 3 Celtic Solstice

I've been pretty sick this week - a miserable time to be sick really - just before the holidays.  Darling Hubby's cold caught up to me and I've been laid low.  He was laid up for a couple of days just before Thanksgiving - this has been going on a week for me - it settled in my chest, and I think I've pulled a couple of ribs from coughing. Ouch!

I was able to get the 2" strips cut for step #3 of Bonnie Hunter's Mystery - Celtic Solstice, a few triangles cut and sewn (about 40).  They're working out pretty good, with only about 1% having to be tossed in the slush pile for another quilt.

 

I also finished a few (about 20) chevrons from Step 2.  All pieces are cut and marked, just need to feed them through the machine.



 

I'm linking back to Bonnie's Linky Party.  You should see what the others are doing.  I'm hoping to be caught up by the end of next week

Gatitude & Appreciation - Finished!

 Last week I was able to finish the Red White & Blue quilt for my client's son.  She commissioned me to make this back in July after their wedding.  It was a real labor of love, since it turned out to be 69" x 79".  Big enough for both of them to snuggle on the couch with. 

I added words of encouragement in the inside border, love, family, freedom, peace, country, courage, grateful, etc.  I hope they are as pleased with it as I was to have it finished.  It is winging its way to Mom to be presented as a Christmas Gift this year.

I'm still working on the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Celtic Solstice.  You can see my progress in Part 1 and Part 2.  I have yet to start part 3 since I still have some Christmas stuff to do.

Linking up with Can I get a Whoop Whoop from Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Well, It's still a Mystery - Celtic Solstice Part 2

This week is Part 2 of Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt.  I was able to finish about 50 Neutral and 40 Orange triangle units from Part 1.  This week it's Chevrons!!!  So I am practicing smiling when I say this because 'flippy corners' are not my favorite thing to do.

Since I'm using the scrappy look, I had many fabrics to cut into little 3 1/2 x 2 rectangles for the green part.  I dusted off my previously unused ShapeCut ruler and went to town

 See the purple painter's tape - that's so I only hit the correct slots for the 3 1/2" strips and the sub-cuts of 2".  This made cutting these strips and rectangles super fast. 

 

 

The Greens and Neutrals are all done

 

 

And Hubby was kind enough to help me with drawing the lines on the squares for the neutrals.  Now I only have the yellows to do!

In other news, I finished quilting a quilt for a solder-son of a client.  The binding is on, I only need to finish hand-stitching it down before I get it in the mail this week.

Join me at Bonnie's Linky Party and see all the progress others are making on their quilts!  I'm loving some of the alternate color combinations.

It's a Mystery! Celtic Solstice Part 1

I'm excited to participate in my very first Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt.  When the colors were released back in October, I started gathering up fabrics that I thought would work. It was fun choosing fabrics from my stash, but I had to do some shopping as well, since my colors tend to run towards the more muted country colors.  Any excuse to shop right?  I'm still lacking in the blues so I'll have to shop some more. Yaaa!

 

Last Friday, the first clue was released!  If only my smart phone would have loaded the page, I would have been in heaven!  We had to wait until we checked into the hotel before I could see it.

 

Since I was out of town until yesterday, I wasn't able to make as much progress as I would like.  So far I've cut all the orange triangles, some of the blues and a few neutrals.

 

 

 



It's a good thing I have all week to work on this step because I have a long way to go!

 

Thank you Bonnie Hunter for being generous and sharing your creativity with the quilting world!  I am excited to see how this is going to turn out.

Linking to Quiltville's Monday Linkup.  It sure is great to see so many other quilter's progress, colors and styles.

Today is Veteran's Day - A day for reflection and gratitude

I have a soft spot in my heart for Veterans.  My Papaw was a veteran of World War II, my Dad is a

veteran of Viet Nam, my husband is a veteran (though he wouldn't agree with me) of the Cold War and the first Gulf war; my Son is a veteran; my cousin is a veteran; and my nephew is a veteran.  I am proud of these men, and honored to know them and call them family.

I used to think veterans were these old guys who would swap war stories and sometimes jump at loud noises. But I look around me and I see all these young guys and gals who are 18, 20, and 30 who are veterans! 

I am honored that these fine young men and women volunteered to serve our country.  When called to service they go willingly, sometimes excitedly.  These sometimes nameless, faceless patriots face unspeakable conditions with grace and courage. Their service and sacrifice humbles me.  I am profoundly grateful that they stand for the freedoms we all enjoy; stand up for the weakest among us and stand between us and the evil that lurks in this world. 

Veterans past, present and future have seen and done things most of us cannot even imagine in our worst nightmares. They pledge their loyalty and service to our great country, sacrifice holidays, birthdays, and witnessing the births of their children to do their sworn duty.  Their families miss them as much as they miss their families.

I once heard the term veteran described this way:  A veteran writes a blank check payable to the United States of America, for all that they have up to and including their very life.  It is a sobering and humbling reality.   Too many of our service members have wounds we cannot see.  Still others are undeniably and irreparably harmed.  Far too many have paid the ultimate price.

So I'll leave you with these thoughts - where would we be without our veterans?  Would our lives be better or worse? 

If you know a veteran, thank them for me.

I never really thought about it before....

What would it be like to Quilt in Space?  In a weightless environment where your needles, pins, fabric, scissors will float off... Oh my goodness!

NASA Astronaut Karen Nyberg talks about Quilting in space, what it's like, the challenges she's faced, and shows off her own hand pieced star block.  I know this has happened to me, gone on a trip with a project and forgot a key piece of equipment.  How easy is it to pop into a LQS or Wal-Mart for pins or a rotary cutter blade?  There doesn't seem to be a plethora of Wal-Marts in space, however, and like our pioneer ancestors, she had to make do. 




She's also inviting quilters to contribute a star block to bee included in a quilt that will be exhibited at the 40th International Quilt Festival in Houston.  See more information at Quilts.com about this awesome opportunity.  Deadline for entries is August 1, 2014.  It will be here before you know it!

Her block is awesome.  In my book it is a masterpiece.

You can read more about Karen Nyberg and her amazing journey here. 

I'd love to hear your thoughts about this.

Kathy

FMQ Friday - A great finish and other fun stuff

It's been a busy week here at the family homestead.  Our son and his lady friend were going to make an appearance with their two fur babies (very large dogs) so we needed to pick up and dog proof our home.  To say Buffy and Sassy were not happy is an understatement.  But the deal was he'd come to visit if he could bring his friend and the dogs.  Since we haven't seen him since July - the joys of having adult children - we agreed. It's interesting how the dogs are attracted to me, and are at my side every time I'm in the same room.  I'm a CAT person!

On the quilting front, I was able to find the fabric I wanted for the Quilt of Valor I'm working on for a client.  I love how the flag fabric sets off the blocks.  Now to make the time to piece the rows together and get the border on!   Because of all the white in the top, I decided to pre-wash the border fabric.  Good thing, because it took 3 washings with color catches to get the red to stop running!

I'm really excited to get  this finished and given.  I'm hoping they'll have many hours (years) of snuggling under the quilt.

 

 

My little quickie project this week is a fabric box.  We've been talking about them a lot at the Missouri Star Quilters Forum.  They are so quick and easy to make!  Check out the Tutorial from Seaside Stitches.  Tina Craig shows us how to make them.  I have plans for many boxes in the future for gifts and giveaways. 

This test box was made from a 10" piece of striped fabric with a great green piece from a layer cake. 





But by far, my favorite and best finish yet is the Big Brother quilt I made to go with the Baby quilt I told you about a couple of weeks ago.  I found the Tutorial at Wedding Dress Blue called Brotherly Love.

 

There are  many half square Triangles in this quilt!  I scaled it down to use 4" and 2" finished Half Square Triangles.  Buffy was right here to give her seal of approval.

Quilting it was a bit of a trial with all the seams and intersections.  My thread broke a lot!  But its done and on its way to a special little boy with his baby brother's quilt tagging along.

I'm linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
 

and Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project.

 

Until Next Time ~ Happy Quilting!