En Provence Mystery Quilt 2017

En Provence Mystery Quilt 2017

In a recent blog post I shared that I was going to be completing the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt that started on black Friday 2016. When I started I thought I might be over my head because I have never made a quilt this large or with this much piecing. I learned so much making this quilt. It has several mistakes but overall I am pleased with how it turned out. It was supposed to be a "scrappy" quilt, and for the most part I tried to keep to those rules. (I also have never made a scrappy quilt- I have never been able to overcome my OCDishness) I will be making more scrappy quilts in the future. This week I will be piecing the backing. I found a beautiful fabric that is a black background with sprigs of lavender all over. I found it at a local quilt shop but they only had 4 yards (which I bought) but it is not big enough to cover so I will be cutting it into large blocks and piecing it with a solid dark purple and a solid lavender. Then it will be making a trip to the long arm quilter. This quilt is much too large for me to quilt on my machine. So drum roll please...................

Ta-da!!

I cannot wait to put this on my bed. 

  

Mystery Quilt 2016 Clue # 2

Well it has been a busy week at this house- it is amazing that I even found time to quilt. Everyone in our family is involved with out local ballet company, either dancing, doing sound or props for their productions. Last week was our performance of the Nutcracker. We move in to the theater, set up the stage, two dress rehearsals and five shows later we pack it all up again. Add to that three parties, one birthday and a choir concert on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the same week....phew is all I can say. So naturally I relaxed on Monday by starting clue number two of my mystery quilt. 

This step involved more neutral fabric, which I had run out of, so first thing Monday I was off to hobby lobby to buy more fabric! While I was there, found a seam gauge tool. I have been reading about these and thought it might be helpful keeping my seams allowances right. My sewing machine foot is a 1/4 inch foot but sometimes I get off track feeding the fabric through. I was very pleased with this little tool. 

I began cutting the strips of neutral fabric using a set of templates called the Tri-Recs. This block is called a triangle in a square. You cut the larger triangle from the neutral fabric and then two mirror image of the smaller triangle to sew on each side. This step was a little trickier than it looks but after the first mess up I got the hang of it. 

   
I made 100 of these little beauties! Clue number three came out today- I'll give you a hint- it will be in my favorite color!

Bonnie Hunter did a beautiful job choosing colors for this years Mystery Quilt. (Her quilts are all stunning). You can find her instructions on her blog here.


Dan's family is coming in for a family reunion this weekend so I won't be able to start on clue #3 until Sunday afternoon. I might go into withdrawal!

Completed blocks for Clue #2

Mystery Quilt 2016~ Clue # 1

You may or may not know that one of my passions in life is quilting. When I went back to school two years ago, I had little or no time to quilt. However, since graduation, I have been making up for lost time!  A few months ago, I found a group on Facebook for quilters called Quiltville Open Studio. It was through this great bunch of ladies that I learned about Bonnie Hunter, a nationally known quilter/teacher, and her awesome blog. For the past several years, Bonnie has done what she calls a "Mystery Quilt". I love a good mystery so naturally this intrigued me. This years quilt was inspired by Bonnie's trip to Provence France. At the end of October, Bonnie posted on her blog this years inspiration and color pallet, with directions to search our "stash" for fabrics we would use in the quilt. The "mystery" is that we do not know what this quilt will look like. Bonnie will give us a "clue" each week instructing us which fabric to use and what block to make. 

Now, those of you that know me well, know that I am a planner and like to know all the details before I start doing ANYTHING...including quilting. I have also never made a "Scrappy" quilt. (Scrappy quilts are just what it sounds like. Using scraps of fabric from other quilts you have made, or fabric from your stash, in blocks to complete the quilt) 

Amazingly, this sounded really fun to me and in the spirit of trying new things, I decided to jump aboard this Mystery Quilt train. As soon as the color pallet was posted, I dug through my fabric choosing my fabric. (would you believe that the queen of purple had NO purple fabric and actually had to buy some? Yeah- go figure) 

While everyone across America waited for Black Friday sales to begin...we quilters anxiously awaited for our first clue to be posted.

Clue 1: make 221 four-patch blocks from the neutral fabrics we chose.  

I began sewing strips together and then cutting them into 2 inch blocks. The instructions said to make the four-patches as naturally scrappy as I could. There is no "naturally" scrappy in my nature, so I decided to try a tip that one of the ladies on Facebook posted. Put all of the 2 patch blocks in a bag, draw out 2 and sew them together for a four-patch block. 

So....into the bag they went. I did, for the most part, sew the blocks together that I drew out. It took me a few days, but all 221 blocks are finished...and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how scrappy they turned out. On top of that, I learned several new techniques. One of them was how to "spin" my seams to reduce the bulk in the center of the four patch. 

 Above are the 2 patch blocks cut from the strips. To the right is a picture of the "seam spinning"   

Now to wait for Friday to find out what clue number 2 will be! 

Four patch blocks all finished.

{31 Days To organize the "hidden" areas of your home} Day 26~ Fabric, Fat Quarters, and Thread- Oh my!

If you are "hooked" on sewing of any kind, I am sure you have an abundance of fabric we quilters like to call "our stash". Keeping it under control is a difficult task, to say the least. With two quilters in the house (my mom & I both share this love) our stash is multiplied by two. Our dream would be to have a sewing/craft room separate from any other room in the house but that is not the case. We are blessed to have a very large dining room that is doubling as our sewing room for the time being. We have had to get very clever about hiding our stash. Armoires to the rescue. 

  









We measured the inside of the armoire and were able to fit three sets of plastic drawers side by side. We moved the two shelves to the highest position and were able to use them for smaller plastic bins with notions. In each drawer we folded the fabric into small squares and lined them up on end. Two drawers hold all of our cones of thread. Everything is at our fingertips and easy to find. This makes finding fabric for that next quilting project a breeze. 

This armoire has two doors underneath it with shelves where we store larger pieces of fabric. We have also collected many quilting magazines for patterns etc. We picked up some magazine holders at the local office supply store to keep them organized. When we decided to organize the fabric this way, we just went out and purchased the drawer units. I would normally suggest waiting until they go on sale but we wanted to get this job completed in a timely manner so choose not                                                                    to wait.                                                   

We have tried to put similar colors in the same drawer to make it easy to find what we are looking for but sometimes they get moved around. I just saw an idea on pinterest that I am thinking about adding to this system and that is to take a small swatch of each fabric that is in the drawer and glue it to a small rectangle piece of card stock. Then punch a hole in the top of the card and string them on a ring that can be hung or stored in each drawer. The pinner said that it made finding what was in each drawer easier but I think it would be a great thing to be able to take several of the swatches to the fabric store with you when you need to purchase fabrics to match what you already have for a new project. 

{31 Days To organize the "hidden" areas of your home} Day 6~ Hi-Ho Hi-Ho It's Off To Sew We Go!

Today I'd like to share a few ways that I keep my sewing projects organized. Why organize them you might ask? Well, one of the main reasons is that I like to know and plan for the next project. I really enjoy my quilting time and I like to make things for others. If I know what I am making next, I have something to look forward to starting when finishing the project I am working on. That may sound ridiculous but sometimes towards the end of the project I get to the point where I am ready to be done with it. Anyway- I have several ways that I like to find new projects that I want to make. The first is quilt magazines or pattern books. I occasionally buy myself a new quilting magazine or book but I also look for them at yard sales and also at quilt shops- when they go on sale. While looking at the book, I make a list on a sticky note which projects I want to make and stick it to the cover. I keep all my magazines and books stored in magazine holders that I purchased at the office supply stores. I also like to look for Quilting ideas online. Pinterest is a valuable tool. After setting up a Pinterest board and downloading the "pin it" button, when I come across a quilt pattern I like online, I just "pin it" to my quilting board on Pinterest. Lastly- I do get some e-newsletters from quilting organizations that usually send downloadable patterns. These I save in a folder on the computer. By thinking ahead to the next project or two, I can begin to look for fabrics I need to complete it, whether from my own stash or the fabric stores. I can also take advantage of sales if I know what I need. Once I pick my projects and start gathering supplies, I use large plastic zipper top bags to store everything together. I put the details on the bag like which book & page it came from. I then store all of these bags etc. in a small Rubbermaid tote.

  
I also use this same method with my scrapbooking projects. It would work with any craft or hobby that you have. 

New Quilt

My oldest daughter, Britni, is expecting her second baby in July. One of her dear friends hosted a baby shower for her earlier in the month. I decided to make a new quilt to welcome baby Belle. I started cutting this quilt out on a Thursday evening and began sewing on Friday evening. I finished up the stippling on Saturday morning just in time to wrap it up for the brunch shower. I purchased these fat quarters as a pre-packaged set(the first time I have done that) from a local quilt shop. I found the pattern on pinterest. I have named it "Belle" for our little Isabelle who will be joining our family soon. 

This Week's Project

I have been "re-decorating" our bedroom for over a year now. Yes,  a year. It has been evolving slowly but the time it is taking is paying off. It all started when I wanted to move my daily homschooling area into my room to keep Abi focused a bit better. That involved giving up my double closet to create a reading niche. (Fortunately Abi's room also has two double closets so I took one of those for my clothing) We had an old recliner in the basement so up it came along with a floor lamp and that's as far as I got. Because we left the closet shelf for storage I wanted to make a valance of some sort to hide the "stuff". I just couldn't make up my mind on what to use. A few months ago, I was at a yard sale and saw a bag of valances for $1.00! 

The walls in the room are a light sage green and I've accented with purple (of course) touches. The quilt I have on the bed currently has a cream colored background. The valances have a lace edging that I absolutely love. After a bit of brainstorming with mom, I hung two valances at the top of each windows, as is. I took two of the valances and sewed them together to create tiers and then cut them in half to make a cafe style curtain for the bottom.  I think They turned out great!

Now what to do with closet shelf I wanted to hide. I had 3 valances left so I sewed them together too. My wonderful husband found three curtain rods in the basement that were the perfect sizes, and within a few minutes, we had everything hung up. 

I just finished this quilted wall hanging last week and it really gives the nook that little bit of cosy it needed. (you can't tell from this picture but the center block is a quote about nature and all the other blocks are flowers or birds- perfect for a CM education) I don't like the book shelf I am using right now but my plans are to put shelves along the end of the closet wall. I am in search of a more comfortable chair as well. The springs in this one are shot but it is working for now. I have always wanted a quiet place to read in my bedroom and I am so thankful I have put this together for less than ten dollars. The quilt cost me about nine of that! 

Latest Quilt-Sophia

I finished a new quilt today. I made this for my cousins baby girl. I have always wanted to do a brown and pink themed quilt. I found this pattern on Pinterest and I just had to try it out. It uses charms squares to make a 9-patch block. Then you cut the block in half length- wise and width-wise. You are left with 4 new blocks. I arranged them with the small square in the top left position when I put it together but it can really be done any way you want. Because this is a baby quilt I made it 5 blocks wide by 6 blocks long. I added a light cocoa sashing. It is quilted using free motion quilting with a meandering pattern in dark brown thread. The binding is a dark brown mottled print. The backing is an all over brown fleur de lis on a light pink background. I have named it Sophia after the beautiful little blessing that I made it for. 

Quilting

Here is a small sample of the quilting projects I have made. I started my very first quilted table runner at the end of July and thanks to my wonderful teacher, Flossie Blankenship, I am now hooked!

The Art of Quilting

Thanks to my friend Flossie I now have another "Art Full" Label to add to my blog. The Art of Quilting. These are my first two projects. They are both made in the "Quilt as you go" method which is a great way for a beginner quilter to start. The first one I did was the table runner and the second is a wall hanging that I want to hang in my bedroom. These projects are great because they go so fast. The hardest part is picking out the fabrics!