February Quilt Update

I have moved the previous posts to the end of the entry.  I hope that you make it that far.

Goals:  Retreat is this month and I may try and go see family.  Gotta stay sane on goals.

Round Robin (RR) blocks (14) - put into row, attach, and mail by 28th - yes
Grand Illusion (GI) Mystery Quilt blocks made, set. sandwiched, bound, labeled, quilted - lol no
Sewing Mats finished - yes
Weed Whacker (WW) units finished - yes

Wanderlust (W) - quilt, attach binding, label, bound - no
BOM blocks (6) complete - yes
Cut for Easy Street (ES) - yes 
Start Easy Street (ES) - yes clue 1 four patches, clue 2 half four patches
Start Orange Crush (OC) - yes four patches for clue #1

Retreat Goals:  (5th - 8th)

Valentine Mug Rug Project - yes
Sew Grand Illusion Blocks - no
RR blocks  - yes
Weed Whacker blocks made/set --- label/border worked on  - no

1st -  February is the month for love.  Valentines Day has always been one of my favorites and I get to add in Mister's birthday season to the month making it even more special.  I am excited to get it going.  Oh and how can I forget -- there is a retreat this month too.  Perfect.  That being said, let's get this month rolling.  Obviously I don't have enough to do with the many UFO's around the house so I'm going to jump on the Easy Street Quiltalong.  We stop to get the paint cards today and I am thrilled that after over 2 years, Valspar still has these colors, thus making the cards available.

Four-Patches My Way OR Easy Street - Clue #1 - Bonnie Hunter - Mystery Quilt

It's time! It's time!  Clue #1 for the Easy Street mystery starts on Sunday, BUT I have plans to be in Waco on Saturday and we have family plans on Sunday, so I am cheating and getting a wee bit of a head start.

It seems like I am doing 4 patches right now for almost every project I have going, so I thought I would do a shot tutorial in conjunction with this clue post.  I have developed my own way of doing scrappy 4 patches and even though I know others take more short cuts -- this is what works for me to get the best mix of the fabrics I have available.  Since these have one constant fabric it makes it easy to show my method.  I start by matching up one of the scrappy fabric (in this case black on white prints) with one of the constant (for this quilt it is grey) fabric strips.  I use up everything that is available so my strips are all different lengths.  When sewing the strips together, if one strip is shorter, I don't cut it, I just add another strip to the short side and keep going, thus giving me one continuous length of strip sets until I have used up all 20 of my constant strips.  (They were the one I determined amount with as I could do the math and get the required inches that way.)

Now it is off to the ironing board to press these open and cut them apart whenever a fabric change was made.  Thus the different size strip sets you see in the picture.

Orange Crush - Clue #2 - Bonnie Hunter - Mystery Quilt

It's clue day!  Love it.  As I cut the parts for this clue I find that I am loving this quilt more and more.  I have not had to touch a single piece of yardage yet.  It has been a simple matter of using the strips I have been working to build simply from cleaning up after myself over the last year of quilting.  I have full bins of both light and dark 2" strips, 3 1/2" strips and precut 2" squares.  I am indeed doing the happy dance while I start cutting.  Even after using a TON of strips in clue 1, my bin is still quite full and I am able to cut enough for this clue as well.

Once I have everything cut, I dig into my 2" square tin (which is overflowing) and try to pull 145 different squares.  Amazingly enough, I am almost able to do just that.  There are a few duplicates, but oh so very few.

Orange Crush Summary

I am gathering all of my Orange Crush (Bonnie Hunter June 2005 Mystery Quilt) posts and placing them here so that you can link up and find what you want easily.  They will each open in a new page, leaving you access to this post.  (The date on this post will change as I work on it, but will always include the most recent postings.)  Please become a follower and you will always know when the new post is up.  Welcome to you all and comment are always appreciated.

So, the way that this mystery came about was in the Quiltville Open Studio Facebook group.  Angela Neff was offering to head a group that wanted to work on one of the old mysteries.  Since they are free patterns and easy to work with, I jumped right in and decided to add another one to my already overflowing list of things to do.  I'm excited for this though and will post both in Quiltville Open Studio and in my own group, Our Quilt World where several others are playing along as well.

Let's see what variety we can get.

Here is the link to the into on Bonnie's own site:  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/orange-crush-intro.html

Post 1 - Intro - Fabric Selection
Post 2 - Clue #1 - Four Patches
Post 3 - Clue #2 - Split Four Patches
Post 4 - Clue #3 - Half-split Four Patches
Post 5 - Clue #4 - HST's and Star Blocks
Post 6 - Clue #5 - Album Blocks, Half Album Blocks, and Corner Blocks
Post 7 - Clue #6 - The Big Reveal -- Setting and Borders
Post 8 - The Grand Finale

Orange Crush - Clue #1 - Bonnie Hunter - Mystery Quilt

It's time for a mystery!  Woohoo.  Clue one tells us to just take any light and any dark strip and sew them together.  We are going to make 4 patches and all colors go.  Awesome!  I don't even have to precut anything as both my 2" tubs are full of strips.  Let's sew.

Oh my, some of these fabrics are not very attractive but I am not being picky.  I know it will all work out in the end as it always does.  Within no time (well actually about an hour), I have a wonderful pile of strips ready to be pressed.
Have I figured it right and do I have enough strips?  I guess it's time to find out.  Matching up two strip sets right sides together, I cut my little four patch units so they are ready to go.  It appears that I am only short a few and quickly run a couple more strips through the machine, press them and subcut.  Now I am ready to finish the four patches.

Easy Street Summary

I am gathering all of my Easy Street (Bonnie Hunter Winter 2012 Mystery Quilt) posts and placing them here so that you can link up and find what you want easily.  They will each open in a new page, leaving you access to this post.  (The date on this post will change as I work on it, but will always include the most recent postings.)  Please become a follower and you will always know when the new post is up.  Welcome to you all and comment are always appreciated.

So, the way that this mystery came about was in the Quiltville Open Studio Facebook group.  Penelope Jones was offering to head a group that wanted to work on one of the old mysteries.  Since I came into the Bonnie fold right after Easy Street, I jumped right in and decided to add another one to my already overflowing list of things to do.  I'm excited for this though and will post both in Quiltville Open Studio and in my own group, Our Quilt World where several others are playing along as well.

Each person has to own the book "More Adventures With Leaders and Enders" by Bonnie Hunter but we will share and do the clues one per weeks as it was originally presented.  I am looking forward to this one.

Post 1:  Paint Cards
Post 2:  Fabrics and Cutting
Post 3:  Clue #1 - Four-Patches
Post 4:  Clue #2 - Flying Geese
Post 5:  Clue #3 - Shaded Four-Patches
Post 6:  Clue #4 - Geese and Double Geese
Post 7:  Clue #5 - Tall Flying Geese
Post 8:  Clue #6 - Double Bricks
Post 9:  Clue #7 - Geese and Triangles
Post 10:  Clue #8 - Blocks and Setting

Small Group Time

I have been invited by Tonya to attend a "small group" meeting in Grand Prairie tonight.  I am not totally sure what it all involves but want to give it a shot.  Mister hurried home from work so that I can have the car and I am off.

It takes me almost an hour to get to Rose's house, so I don't know if this will work out often or not.  Once I get in the house, Tonya, Meghan, and Rose make me feel so welcome that I already feel at home.  I mention the time issue and they are willing to change the time so that it is easier for me.  These gals are really on the ball and looking for a way to do charity quilts.  I think the decision is to go with the LINUS project in a few months when everyone has cleared up their schedule and can devote time to it.  I'm kind of excited about it as well since I haven't participated in anything like that yet.

We have a great time talking and sharing and time flies quickly.  I hope to be able to  join them at least twice a month and that we can have a great time working on projects and learning together.  Thanks Meghan, Rose, and Tonya (listed as pictured) for making me a part of your group.  See you next week.

Easy Street - Fabrics and Cutting - Bonnie Hunter - Mystery Quilt

When I first decided to get back into quilting a couple of years ago, I started out by lucking into a Bonnie Hunter mystery class in Plano, Texas.  That class turned out to be Lazy Sunday, but while at it several ladies were talking excitedly about "Easy Street".  I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about but it didn't take me long to find out.  I have tried to keep up with all mysteries since then and when a group of ladies in the Quiltville Open Studio Facebook group decided to do a repeat of it, I decided to jump right in.  Fortunately, the paint cards were still available and once I picked them up (see previous post), I started pulling fabrics.  I wrote down what I needed to get for constants and hoped that while at retreat I would be able to find a few of them.  I was able to find the grey, dark purple for binding, and fuchsia for inner border.  I still am on the hunt for a turquoise outer border.  I was also gifted a couple of greens at retreat and about half a dozen purples - thank you Fawn.  (And now I must confess that this picture was taken AFTER cutting.  This is what is still left.)

Orange Crush - Intro - Bonnie Hunter - Mystery Quilt

As I stated on the summary page, I have gone totally insane and added another project to my list.  I am joining the group of ladies online who are going to do Bonnie Hunter's Orange Crush which was originally presented in 2005 as a mystery quilt.  We are going to do one clue per week and let's just say I'll give it the old college try.

In preparing for retreat last week, I made a list of the "constant" fabrics I would need for this and for Easy Street.  Fortunately, Sew Krazee in Granbury was a huge help for me.  I was able to pick up the orange with small red leaf, the solid black, an orange/red for border, and the red with black to add to some black and white that I picked up on my shopping trip with Allison and a few others that I already had.  I think I have everything except the back - even binding.  I am ready to go.

If you are interested in participating with us:  here is the link to the intro:  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/orange-crush-intro.html   It is a free pattern on Bonnie's website.

Brazos House Retreat Feb. 2015

Thursday:  Retreat weekend is here and even though I am present in body, my mind is still grieving and it shows.  I
am sooooo unorganized.  However, I know that I need this weekend and it will be cathartic to me just to be surrounded by the love and fun of fellow quilters so I guess I need to get "the show on the road" as they say.  Mister has opted to work from home for a couple of days which gives me the opportunity to be out of the house and on my way to Rainbow, TX by 7:30 a.m.  Well actually a bit before that but anyway ---- I get to the center right around 9:15 and take a moment to enjoy the calm before the storm.  As always, Kay has the place set up and it only takes me a few minutes to move some furniture for ironing  and cutting stations.  Room assignments follow and the unloading of the car.  Whew.  My room is looking proper with a Lazy Sunday quilt draped across the bed even though I probably won't spend much time there.

I set to creating my own little corner of the world and have just finished when Jennifer M. arrives.  We figure out a
place for her that will work with her Featherweight table and she is soon setting up as well.  It's fun to have someone else here early.  More ladies arrive and soon the place is buzzing with the hum of
machines and the chattering of old friends.  Stephannie and Debi arrive with an infusion of excitement that is absolutely contagious.  Along with her enthusiasm, Stephannie is bearing gifts.  She has made the cutest name tags for everyone and it literally brings tears to my eyes as I hand them out.  Ah, Valentine season -- a time for love to abound.

Easy Street -- Paint Cards - Bonnie Hunter - Mystery Quilt

I simply do not have enough on my plate these days so I must add another "old" mystery to it.  I am joining in with the ladies on Facebook to do Easy Street, one of Bonnie Hunter's quilts from 2012 and jumping in with both feet.  Here we go.

First step is to pick up the paint cards (which still exists, yahoo).  The first thing I do is write down the amounts of constants, (grey) and border fabrics that I need.  Retreat is coming up and I want to do a little shopping while there.  Hopefully I will find all that my heart desires for this quilt.