Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt Part 1

Like many others, I have decided to do Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery!  She gave us the fabric suggestions and yardage requirements a month before the start and I was really excited that I was able to pull all of the fabric I'll need from my stash. There were quilters all around the world that were doing the same.

This is my second Bonnie Hunter mystery.   If you haven't participated  in one of her mysteries before, it's certainly worth the effort.  Bonnie Hunter is the Queen of Scrap Quilts.  I love her theory about fabric...  If it's ugly, you need to cut it smaller!  I love scrap quilts because I've been collecting a little fabric here and there for years and now I'm finally using it and I have just completed the first step!

Bonnie has offered us plenty of options on how to approach this quilt. I have opted to use the Tri-Recs rulers which has 'notch' which is used for alignment.  I am making the a smaller size quilt and am now waiting for our next clue which we will receive this Friday.

There is a Group on Facebook for people who are participating in this mystery.  It's really fun to see how everyone else is doing.  There's almost always someone on line if you have a question as there are over 2,500 members.  It is a fun way to make new quilty friends and improve your quilting skills at the same time!  I'm always learning something new.

You can see what others are doing – hundreds of others are doing – by going to the link-up post on Bonnie’s blog that is posted each Monday morning and can be found here.


Come back next week for Part 2!  

2013 NewFO Challenge - November Update

I have decided to make some shopping bag for my NewFO this month.  I am making the shopping bags out of Christmas fabric and will use them for wrapping presents.  Then, instead of throwing away paper, I'll be reusing them for shopping!  This wasn't my idea originally, it was the Green Bag Lady's idea.  I volunteer with the Colorado Chapter of the Green Bag Lady project and when we met last time, Teresa had us working on shopping bags that were made with Christmas fabric.

I had be busy preparing for Thanksgiving and trying to get some of my sewing done, so my sewing area was quite a mess!  I'm also preparing our condo for a new couch and love seat that my sister-in-law is giving us.  They are redoing their family room and decided to do it with several recliners instead.  Yipee for me!

Well, now that Thanksgiving is over and the new furniture is here and settled in, I've finally gotten a chance to do some more sewing.  I had planned on making some snowmen mug rugs but that didn't work out.  I did however get my Christmas bags made.

I think this is first NewFO project that I started and finished in the same post.  Maybe I'll squeeze those snowmen mug rugs in before Christmas after all.

If you want additional information about Green Bag Lady, check out the following links:

New to Green Bag Lady? Click HERE.

Like Green Bag Lady on Facebook HERE.

To make your own bags, this is a super easy pattern HERE.
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Visit Barbara over at Cat Patches and see what others have started this month.  Happy quilting everyone!

Free shopping bags anyone?

                          Shopping bag giveaway is over!  

Follow Green Bag Lady on Facebook for next giveaway.

Yes?  Then you should hop over to my sponsors at Green Bag Lady because they are having a huge giveaway running until Wednesday, where you can be the winner of one of 50 reusable shopping bags!

Help us save the environment by using reusable/fabric bags instead of paper or plastic. All the time!

Here is the pile of 50 bags.  All are lightweight and can be folded small enough to fit in your purse or pocket so you will always have it with you.  No excuses.

Picture courtesy of Green Bag Lady

On top of that they are giving away 3 prize packs for those bloggers and posters who send over the most people to sign up for the giveaway.  If you join their shopping bag giveaway after finding out about it through this post, mention that Tami sent you!
                                           
All you have to do to enter to win a bag (open to everyone, world-wide) leave a comment and include your email address so you are entered in the freebie right HERE!

Good Luck!  Tami

2013 NewFO Challenge - October Update

I ran across a picture of Tumbling Leaves that I really liked.  It reminded me of all the colors of the hardwoods back east in the fall.  I'd like to make a wall hanging to hang above our love seat.

I found the pattern for it in allpeoplequilt, however, I didn't follow the pattern because I planned on using fabric from my stash, that was already cut into strips I wanted to use.  So I started to work on the leaves.

I put them all together and added a narrow inner border, but haven't decided on a border just yet.

While trying to decide what fabric to use for the border on my leaves wall hanging, I decided to finish up the work on the tote bag designed by Gudrun Erla of G.E. Designs, that I had started last month.

It turned out a bit bigger than I thought it would, but I really like it how it turned out with the Riley Blake Snug as a Bug fabric.  I'll be able to stop carrying multiple bags when I go out!   Visit Barbara over at Cat Patches and see what others have started this month.  Happy quilting everyone!

2013 NewFO Challenge - September Update

I needed a new purse as mine was not large enough to carry all the things I wanted to carry.  I never am able to find one that I really like that fits my needs so I started looking for one that I could make.  I never realized that there are so many purses and totes out there!  I finally ran across a really cute tote that hit my fancy.

It was posted in the Facebook group Ozark Fabric and other Fun Stuff! by Yvonne Ginter Thompson.  I asked where she got the pattern, and it ended up being a designer I already followed, Gudrun Erla of G.E. Designs.  The book was called Fast & Furious quilting as you go and the pattern is Strip to the Beach Bag.

So, I ordered the book and started looking for the fabric I wanted to use.  I loved the orange batiks that were used for the one I found.  But I didn't want to copy hers and that wasn't something I had in my stash so I thought I might do it in reds.  I picked reds from my stash, but that didn't pop like the oranges did.  Then Ozark Fabric had a new Riley Black design for sale called "snug as a bug" and that caught my attention.

So, I am going to try Gudrun's quilt as you go method!   Visit Barbara over at Cat Patches and see what others have started this month.  Happy quilting everyone!

August NewFO Challenge

Well, I have finally gotten around to making a new table runner to replace the one that ended up at my daughter's house in Tennessee.  This was my original table runner.

And this is my new one.  I made it a little larger because I decided to put this one on our sideboard.  I'll probably make another one for the table behind our couch.

I have also been working on my Miss Rosie's Toulouse.  I have all of the blocks finished now and have them sewn together into rows.  Now I need to sew the rows together.  Then I'll be working on the border.  I'm liking how it is coming together.

Visit Barbara over at Cat Patches and see what others have started this month.  Happy quilting everyone!

July NewFO Challenge

This month I started another project that I saw on Ray and Jeanne's blog called Crazy Eights.  It was done completely from their stash and I'd like to do that as well.

I've only got two of the blocks finished so far as red and green are my favorite colors and I have enough of those colors to cut 32 unique squares out of my stash.  I didn't want to have any duplicates.

My version of Crazy Eights will have to be a work in progress for a while until I have enough of other colors to cut 32 unique squares.  Don't tell my DH, but this will mean purchasing more fabric!  I did have help working on my blocks!  Popeye got pretty lazy while I was working on the red block.

I have finished my Birdhouse pillow that was my New FO that I had started back in May here after finding Leisa's Whimsical Birdhouse pillow.

I had won a bag from the Green Bag Lady back in May and was asked if I wanted to be part of the Green Bag Lady Colorado Chapter once she moved to Colorado.  We have our first meeting in a couple weeks! For the Fourth of July, our family got together for a barbecue at my sister-in-law's house.  I decided to give some bags away that I had made using the Green Bag Lady pattern.

Visit Barbara over at Cat Patches and see what others have started this month.  Happy quilting everyone!