Mystery time again

I think I like doing mystery quilts because there is no preconceived ideas about how it should look!  Bonnie Hunter's quilts are big... and, although lots of fun, I want to make this one more manageable.  The first clue went live this past Friday, and I figured I should make 1/4 to 1/3 of each of the units (as a start!).  And, for this clue at least, I decided to try and limit myself to only using strips already cut.   I was able to sew up these 63 four-patches. Perfect!  I haven't pulled out any other fabrics yet, just going with the flow!
 

Bonnie encourages the participants to link up and go and see what the others are doing!  Click on this link  to week one.

Weekend playing and sewing

Yesterday was my monthly quilt group meeting.  Each of the committee members runs one or two meetings a year...it was my turn (it seems to come around very quickly!), and I asked everyone to bring lovely, lonely blocks to meet other lovely, lonely blocks, and we had a great time creating fun quilts from these.  There were lots of interesting blocks... plenty for another playtime.  Some ladies were sewing, others trimming and pressing.  But lots of serious discussions!  And a chance to talk,especially with newer members of the group.

These were two sets of blocks that the makers didn't like anymore, the sixteen-patch sashed on two sides to enlarge.

And today, because I didn't sew yesterday, I finished Block number 7 from Pat Sloan's Mystery Garden.  I had forgotten I'd already cut some strips and had made the centre star, so that made it easy!  There are 12 blocks (each 16" square) in total, but I'm aiming for 9 blocks so that it will be square.

Hexie progress

This is my Lifelong Project!  It gets worked on occasionally.  It is the first hand-piecing I ever started, but I can't remember exactly when, perhaps in 1977.  All  I know that it was already in progress before I met my husband, and that was in 1978.  I remember sewing on the train to and from work.  I have a set of aluminium templates (the only ones I ever bought), and originally used a craft knife to cut out the paper pieces... the Olfa rotary cutter was only invented in 1979, and I know where I was working when I got my first one, it came with a still in-use A4 cutting mat, sometime during 1980.  It was probably more than 25 years before I was convinced to buy a bigger mat!  The sides of the hexies are 1.25 inches.

This is where I am with it now, with about a third of the flowers stitched together....

... and where it was in October 2014, all loose.

Another Wild Chicken

Well, I said, sew for 20 minutes a day...right!  Nothing for three days, but made up for it today with another Chicken Gone Wild Lotto Block...  took longer than expected as the tail was stitched on five times before I was happy, including chopping it off by mistake.

 

No picture of the progress, but I continue to work on the Lifelong Hexie Project at odd times.  Like yesterday sitting in a hospital room waiting for P to have another carpal tunnel surgery, which was over in about an hour or so.

Some sewing

I had the wonderful company of a friend in my sewing room yesterday - thanks, Carol.  It's amazing how much one can tidy up when you know your sewing space is to be visited!  The tidy up was long overdue and it was nice to have the catalyst to not only tidy but to do some actual sewing instead of dreaming about it.   These two November Block Lotto  6" blocks were produced - "Chickens Gone Wild", and they are cute.  Paper foundation sewn.

Last month I printed the templates for this Dresden Fan Lotto block, but knew they were not quite the right size, but totally forgot when I cut and started sewing a couple of weeks later.   And then for some mad unknown reason I used a half-inch seam allowance and had already trimmed the blade tops before I realised.   I liked how it turned out, but it was not accurate enogh to enter into the Lotto, and I had no more time in October to make any more.  The fan blades should have been longer.

I think to keep on a roll I am going to try and sew every day for at least 20 minutes!