Slice! Dice! Julienne!

Slice! Dice! Julienne! Ok so I didn't really julienne any fabric ... on purpose .... you get the idea though. I was finally able to start cutting this afternoon. Oh. My. Goodness. What was I thinking?!?

I am hugely excited and blessed to be able to take part in Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery quilt. After today, I doubt my sanity. I am a novice quilter. I have done small quilts using decent size pieces.

Today I went to tiny piece cutting land .... and .... I'm .... not .... done .... yet .... whimper whimper ....

I am NOT whining. My back hurts. My neck hurts. I refuse to complain. This is venting. I know I can do this. I am going to do it. I just doubt my sanity. And I hurt, LOL.

So what did I do today?

Ta da!!! That's it. A small stack of shapes. Sighsss ...

It's actually more than it looks like in the picture. My plan is to create a fabulous Bonnie Hunter style king size quilt. That is all 240 of the neutral triangles that I am doing in black. Also all 140 of the orange triangles I am doing in pinks. Confused yet? Orange equals pink. Black equals neutral. Though if you don't have Bonnie's colors stuck in your head, that is useless information. Moving on .... That is about half of the 380 PAIRS of blue side triangles. I ran out of time. And my back hurt. So I was really, REALLY happy I ran out of time, LOL.

I added a new pink to my chosen fabrics. I was sifting thru drawers looking for some scraps from a pink shirt I made for my daughter years ago and tripped over the hot pink peace sign - camo fabric. We bought 2 yards of it to make my youngest daughter a dress but the fabric never really seemed to fit the image, so it didn't get made. Now I am adding it into this quilt which will be hers one day. The colors are fabulously hers.

Tomorrow, I will do it again. Or maybe I will sew some blocks, then cut the rest of the side triangles. I could poke my eyes out. Wrench my neck violently falling down a flight of stairs. Or slam my back with a hammer. But I have an addiction. And I will wake up and choose how to satisfy my addiction. I love sewing :)  

Celtic colors

Tada! Here are my fabrics for Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery quilt along. They are not her original suggested colors or orange, yellow, green and blue. I hadn't even really thought about changing colors until I saw oodles of other people being original. I usually go my own way in life, so this was an easy decision. If the quilt is not overly difficult, I may make it a second time closer to Bonnie's colors because I do love brights.

I originally had this stack but pulled the pale pink and added in funky pink floral pattern. I want to use my youngest daughter's color palette of hot pinks, limes, turquoise/teals and add yellow. Black will be my neutral. My fabrics range from dark to light but they all pop against my chosen neutral of black and against each other.

I did not have any lime shades at all. I shopped Hancocks online for a few, then found 2 fabrics at Wal Mart. I added in some almost limes from my meager stash and I am satisfied it will hit her color palette well enough. I apparently have been mainly buying color wheel basics for my stash. I need to work on more mixed and varied shades.

The big chunk of yellow was bought online for a different project. It is a lovely bright yellow which does not work for that project at all. So I replaced it with gold and now have 4 yards of this canary yellow for other projects. I think it may be a lifetime supply of yellow?

I am going to link this to the Monday Link up at Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville Celtic Solstice. Well I will try, LOL. It's not to late to join in on the fun. Please visit Bonnie's Celtic Solstice page.

Where are my rulers?

I ordered my Tri Rec and Easy Angle rulers online. The closest place to buy is in the city which is 40 miles away. I can order online at WalMart and get free shipping to my local store. The website says they will be here Monday December 2nd - 3 days AFTER the first clue is released! I have other things I need to do like pull my fabric, finish assembling my radiating star quilt top, cook Thanksgiving dinner, clean .... You too huh?
So I cleaned. I cooked. I cleaned again.

I shopped online after everyone went to bed Thanksgiving night. More online shopping Friday. I refuse to go to the stores for their crazy pushy sales. I get online and snag the same deals :D

Part way thru my Friday shopping I get an email then a text - my order is in. My order is in? My order is in! Wahoo! But I'm nursing a cold. And tired from shopping all night. And I do not want to drive to town because even the closest WalMart is over 10 miles. And it is always crowded. Whiiiiiiiiiiiiine ...

My sweet husband came home after dark and loaded me into his truck. He drove me to town, fed me fried chicken and took me to pick up my Tri Rec and Easy Angle rulers. Thankfully the store was almost empty. This alone was a sign from God. This same store is packed every single day. I try to only shop there late at night. I prefer to drive 25 miles away to a quieter store. Enough about my bizarre shopping habits though.

I have my rulers!! I haven't pulled my fabric yet. Nor do I know how to use them. Time for me to step up my game :)

Have a great day!!

Expanding the star

Our weather is cold and yucky. My husband is on his days off. I have had 4 to 9 kids here round the clock. I cooked all day yesterday, so of course, today I sewed. I'm not sure which one was harder on my body, LOL. Both gave me a back ache.

I pulled out my radiating star flimsy and worked at piecing the next section. Though piecing one section actually figures out the opposite section. Since I am using HST's, I have a pair of matching squares. I keep them together and make one section mirror the opposite section, on the other side of the center star. Less work figuring out the 4 sides of placement and how to keep the fabric from repeating. Design the placement once, get 2 sections created. It does make me acknowledge that I may be a little obsessive compulsive though. Oh well ....

I had to sit down and sew more HST's. I knew I had some ready but not enough. And since the pattern design was evolving, no point in stitching too many, then changing my mind. I almost went through a third charm pack of Lovely fabrics. Not a problem though as that is why I bought them.

The purple star is completed but I can't get a pic of the whole thing yet. I was using my bed as a design space and that was not easy. At one point I looked up from sewing and my German Shepherd was flopped in the midst of my placed squares. Not cool Isis.

I am delighted to say I am done placing squares. I still need to cut the big pieces for the corners of the quilt top. Then stitch the 3 sections of each row section. Yada yada yada. Then each big row together to make a top that should finish out about 120 inches. It's a big sucker :)

Do you Mystery Quilt?

Do you do Mystery Quilts? I have never joined or followed along. I have done some of the block of the month quilt a longs. I have never finished one of the quilts though. Sighsss ... I do have some cute orphan blocks.

I am a novice quilter. When they hit a difficult block, I falter. Hexies? Cute but I have scar tissue in my neck which hinders my hand work, so I don't do much hand sewing either. Paper piecing? Some I will try, others I laugh and move past.

Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville Quips and Snips has an annual Mystery Quilt. I didn't find her website until this year so it is a new idea to me. It sure seems like fun. I want to be successful, yet a Mystery Quilt is a mystery. That means I don't know if it is easy or difficult. Beginning or expert quilters.

I am going to try :D

This year she is doing Celtic Solstice which appeals to me due to it's inspiration from Bonnies trip to Ireland. Her colors are orange, yellow, green and blue with a natural color background. Bright. Cheerful. Vivid. I like her colors. Then I started noticing the fabrics other quilters were posting as their chosen colors. Oh. My. Goodness.

Brave quilters trading one color for another. I think it is gorgeous! Not so much their specific choices but the reality that they are taking Bonnie's pattern, instructions and making the quilt personalized right up front. I had thought about making it with Bonnie's colors then if I liked it, make it again using different colors.

Now I want to make the quilt twice. I cannot explain why, LOL. I like Bonnie's scrappy look designs. They use many fabrics and have a lovely, busy texture. I think it would be fun to sttch the quilt in the designs colors, then also stitch another quilt using hot pink, lime, turquoise, bright yellow and black as a background. Modern. Pop! It would be for my youngest daughter.

Now to get enough fabric in the right colors. Buy the proper rulers. Work on my nerve and tenacity. Maybe you would like to join us?  

My final decision

I pulled out my Lovely flimsy and was staring at it while I ate lunch today. It's my idea of entertainment, LOL. Anyway, as I stared I noticed that while I got the various HST's in the right place, I did not rotate them the same way I drew the pattern. Duh!

I got in a hurry since dinner was about ready the other evening and goofed. I kept staring and pondering should I remove the offending squares, rotate them and reattach ..... or accept imperfection and move forward. Final decision - I laughed and decided the off kilter squares would stay. God made me imperfect and He loves me unconditionally. My quilt top can be imperfect and I will still love it. I am thankful for God's grace that is teaching me that imperfections are ok, just keep trying.

Bonus? The decision to enter this quilt in Missouri Quilt Co.'s Iron Quilter contest is final. I am not entering. It might have been exciting, though so far, it mainly made me a little anxious. I'm a great sewer of clothes, bags, random fun stuff - I am still a novice with quilts. Why add unnecessary pressure? This will be the biggest quilt top for me and the most HST's ever. That's enough of a challenge.

My original design was for many star shapes radiating outward. I love it but decided that I did not want to mix any other floral fabrics in with my Lovely fabrics. So I will stick with solids and the Lovely charm squares. I redrew my pattern and found this really simplified the whole project. I will have 3 floral stars and 3 solid fabric stars radiating outward. The 4 corner sections will be solid blue. I have already pieced the main center section. I will have minimal piecing in 4 other sections but the bulk of the piecing is done. Voila!

To balance my 9 sections, I added another row on the outer edges of my flimsy, 36 squares. That makes a total of 100 4" squares. It also lets me see more of the solid purple star forming. I can see my idea coming to life and it's really amazing to me. Is my novice enthusiasm too silly? Have a great day!

Starry start

I finally finished squaring off the HST's I sewed from the Lovely charm pack. Dinner was started so what did I do? I started laying out my squares! What was I thinking? Once I started, I couldn't stop!

I arranged my floral star. Then my blue star. More floral going to the purple.

Once I had all my squares laid out, I had to sew them. I just could not help myself. So I delayed dinner a bit. And started sewing the squares into strips.

Then I sewed the strips together.

And my iron started misbehaving. That's ok .... I can slap it around tomorrow to fix it.

I'm pretty pleased even if it does need starched and ironed. Now to make the other sections of the quilt top.