Clue #1 Done

It's 10:06 p.m. and I am finally done with Clue #1 of the NYE Mystery!! I'm sure you will notice in the photo that I have a different fabric. I discovered that I hadn't bought a border for this quilt. Visiting another quilt shop to pick up something, I saw the perfect green to go with the red, so the poinsettia fabric will be used in my border. Makes sense. Turns out clue one cut pieces into 2.5 inch squares and this print is better used in a larger element.

Why so late? My Mom's replacement Ipod showed up yesterday and she wanted to fill it. It's an 8 Gb Nano, not the paltry 4 GB one I bought her (used 1st gen nano). Did a pretty good job. I have 5.4 Gb on it now, but it took from about 4 until nearly 9 p.m. to do so. I know she has more music, but that will probably have to wait until I buy a new, larger drive. This hard drive isn't big enough for the both of us (said in a Clint Eastwood mutter). We have 2 large music/audiobook libraries. I plan to buy the new hard drive later this month. Then, I get to reload all her CDs.


This is a lovely emerald green. Sorry, the 'daylight' fluorescent makes this look weird.

New Year's Eve Mystery

I'm participating in the New Year's Eve Mystery quilt-a-long done by Ann and Cal. Yes, I'm a little behind, so it is more like the NYE Weekend mystery. I have my fabrics, photo below. The requirements were a background,2 medium colors and one pop color. Since I didn't get to the precutting during the week, I've opted to do a lap size instead of a full/queen size. I'm primarily using Hoffmann fabrics (half off at the quilt store!). I will post as I get clues done. I know that the rest are already done with clue #2 and are awaiting clue #3, but that's ok. I didn't even have my sewing machine back from getting an adjustment until last night!


L to R: goldish marble, red w/quitlers gold, gold w/quilter's gold, poinsettas on black

If you are interested in participating, the quilt-a-long is at Yahoo Groups. Search for the group at QTMysteryQuilts. There are several other New Year's Day mysteries - I usually enjoy the one at the quilt group at About.com, but won't be doing that this year.

In addition, completely unrelated to quilting, if you know anyone with a 1st generation Ipod Nano, they should know that if they have a metal back, those Ipods are being recalled. In many places, you will be getting an 8 GB 6th generation Ipod (current model) as a replacement as they've run out of 1st generation refurbushed. The recall is ONLY for the Nano due to batteries that potentially catch fire as they get older.

A House A Day

A gal in Scandinavia is spearheading an international quilt-a-long for all of 2012 featuring a little paperpieced house - one for every day of the year and a larger one at the end of the year (to account for the extra day in 2012). She asks that we don't share photos on our blogs until the end of the year, but you can discuss your progress. At my group at QATW, we are going to do a modified block with options for other sizes. For one thing, some of us (me) are terribly paper-piecing challenged. No matter what size you do, be part of a 2012 quilt-a-long and well, quilt-a-long. A free paperpiecing pattern in .pdf form is provided at the link. I've also included it in my buttons at the bottom of the right panel.

Peek-a-boo Bag

Peek-a-boo bag front

Made this bag at a quilting shop class last night. The pattern features a vinyl window so that you can see what it contains. It also has a zippered top and box bottom. I plan to make several more of these to contain my sock projects in safety from my cat.

The bag took 2-3 hours to make the first time out. Now that I know what I'm doing, it can easily be done faster. If you do this bag, a GREAT tip from the instructor is to use a teflon foot for the vinyl. Really helps as the other feet tend to grab on the vinyl and not let go. I'm going to also try it with leather rolling foot. Maybe I'll make a few to sell to help buy the new foot.

Anyway, I really needed this project to get myself going on making bags. Have another class tonight for another bag. Maybe I should join that group that makes a bag every month. How soon would I be overloaded with bags? Hmmm...

Happy Birthday Sis!!

Yes, my sis is now another year older than me. How does that happen you wonder? Well, I stopped advancing in years at 39. So, she's getting up there a little faster than me. I'm also late with her birthday card (again), but that seems to be me these days. I just can't manage deadlines very well. On the plus side, she will be getting a gift this year, but I can't post it until I give it to her.

With that in mind, I am doing the Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt this year. Yes, I'm behind on that, but I dithered over whether to participate because I didn't want to buy a bunch of fabric. My Orca Bay is going to be in holiday colors - red/green and cream with black highlights (I did buy the black since I have none on hand).

I'm making a lot of progress on my 2 HST quilts - Zig Zag and Lady of the Lake (LoTL). I want to get all the rest of the cutting done this weekend and then sew, sew, sew. I might even have one top done by next weekend.

On the knitting front, I'm going to try to do a pair of socks every month. While I love, love, love patterns in socks, you don't really see if unless you are wearing it. So, I'll give the patterns a break for awhile and just get 4 or 5 done.