Set aside or Keep Pushing? Do it all!

Argh!! Clue #3 is being released and I'm still stitching on Clue #2! Aaahhhhrrrrr!!!

What do I do?? Do I set aside Clue #2 and work on Clue #3 or finish Clue #2 first?

I am getting better at making the Clue #2 chevron pieces though. I did 10 the other day and most turned out good. Thursday I stitched 60 of the side pieces - sew a neutral square on one end of a rectangle, then sew a yellow square on the other end, trim, press, etc. They will morph into 30 chevrons but I will still have 204 more to do to complete Clue #2 total of 244 chevron units.

The stacks seem intimidating.

Do I set them aside and learn Clue #3 or keep after the chevrons?

I wasn't quite done with Clue #1 when #2 was released. I decided to push through and finish the tri recs before starting on the chevrons. I really have Christmas shopping to wrap up do on Friday .... I guess I will read Clue #3 and decide then how to proceed. I really dislike not completing one step before going on to another. It messes with my sense of order ;)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Fast forward to Sunday ... What did I do? I compromised!

We need to make 488 Half Square Triangles to make 61 pinwheels and have 244 leftover single HST's. Bonnie is using orange and yellow which means I will sub pink for orange and keep the yellow.

I love the mix of pink and yellow - again another impressive stack.

I decided to cut the fabric for Clue #3 and mark the 5" squares to make 8 HST's at a time. I have several pinks but only 3 yellows. Keeping it scrappy won't be too tough.

Since I also need to keep working on chevrons, I decided to intersperse them all and use the chevron piecing as leaders and enders for the many lines needing sewn for the magic 8 HST squares.

Amen it is working!

I no longer feel like a chevron failure. And I am delighted to say I have all 488 HST's sewn. I need to slice the squares, press them open, trim maybe and create pinwheels. Still plenty to do but I also accomplished 30 more complete chevrons and a huge stack of sides.

I'm linking up to Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery Monday Link up and am eager to see all the amazing progress of everyone else :)

We have a chevron!

I get a gold star! I finished cutting all the little pieces for Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery quilt Clue #2. All 1464 of them. Though I cut extra because I goof sometimes. Like today ....

I marked 20 squares of yellow and 20 neutral black squares. Pinned the blacks. Took a deep breath and sat down at my machine. I stitched a black square across a green rectangle cautiously, cut the threads and opened it. Oh my goodness, it worked! It looked like a sweet green rectangle with a black triangle on the corner. How bout it? I was tickled :)

I started working through the neutral blacks first. Stitch a second line to save the little unneeded HST. I waste as little as possible. Cut between the lines of stitching carefully.

Time to iron. I needed to iron half the seams going up and the other half down. How do I remember which side goes which way? I hit on the idea to keep the point on the right side and that would orient my seams half one way and half the other. Hey hey it worked!

Now to work the other end. I pinned all the yellows and got started with renewed confidence. Stitch stitch, click, whir ... I was almost finished when the light bulb over my head flickered dimly. My machine sounded too quiet. I realized my bobbin thread had left the building. Duh! My still new Janome doesn't have a low bobbin alert like my last Brother machine.

Not a problem. Swap out the empty bobbin for a loaded one and I was back in business. I had only stitched 4!!! combos before figuring out I was out of bobbin thread. That lightbulb over my head obviously needs changed too! I decided to not pin them again as I had my hole-y stitching line to use as a guide.

I got to the 4th combo and there was no yellow square. I looked behind my machine. On the floor. On me. No square. Weird. Where did the yellow square go?

Found it! I came up short when one of the squares stuck to the bottom of another combo. I stitched right through it and never felt it. Sighsss .... It could have been worse. Seam ripper to the rescue. Restitch properly.

Stitch a 2nd line, cut, now iron. I wanted to put the point on the right but that wasn't going to work. The answer was obvious but today my brain was on vacation. Eventually it hit me to lay the point to the left. Duh. I was having a slow day but by golly I got it figured out. Lay the neutral points one way and the yellows the other to get the desired opposite direction seams for nesting.

They looked a little ragged, so I did trim them before making pairs. Have I mentioned that I can be a little controlling at times? I like the scrappy aspect of this quilt which is why I don't want to repeat combos. Yet. I laid out all my little rectangles and started 'randomly' making pairs.

Nesting my seams showed me my rectangle square combo stitching was not 100% accurate. I was a little long or short on a few. Not a problem. I have faith that these little seam boo boos will not be brutally obvious once the quilting and washing are added. Even if my mistakes glare at me, I will suck it up and remember I am learning to quilt.

What do I have to show for my time stitching today? 10 chevrons! Woo Hoooo! Only 234 to go, LOLOLOL ... I also have the confidence that comes from learning a new skill. I have never done the square on rectangle technique until today or created a chevron. A few seams didn't line up perfect but most lined up great. I have to thank Bonnie Hunter for teaching me these new skills and admit I am delighted with my imperfect chevrons.

Have an awesome day!

 

Green Bag Lady bag

My lovely daughter helps me shop. Otherwise I wouldn't leave the house, LOL. 

I am having a run of good luck because I won a giveaway at the Green Bag Lady website recently. Wahoo! I received the most adorable owl patterned bag. Isn't it pretty? Have you visited the Green Bag Lady website? Click the name and go check her out.

Teresa VanHatten-Granath originated the Green Bag Lady project with the simple and smart idea to use fabric bags instead of paper or plastic. She took it to an even higher eco friendly level by making the bags, with the help of a team of volunteers, from donated material and ... AND ... she gives them away FREE!!  I love this idea. She is making our world a better place.

Can you guess how many bags she has given away? Their site says over 24,000 .... the bag I received is number 25,876!! That is a LOT of bags!

Can you read what the bottom line of the tag says?
Paper or Plastic? FABRIC!

Way to go Green Bag Lady project people!! You are awesome!!

If you have extra, leftover fabric - send it to the Green Bag Lady!
You can also find free patterns on her site to make your own bags.
You can even form a Green Bag chapter in your area.
Go Green!!

Celtic Clue #2 started

In the midst of ice, snow, 9 kids (not all are mine) and general life, I squeaked in some time to cut fabric for the Celtic Solstice Mystery Clue #2. I still need to cut at least 488 neutral squares. I did manage to cut my other pieces. I love looking at Bonnie Hunter's quilts. The scrappy nature of her colors creates a movement over the quilt. They are so very beautiful.

Bonnie Hunter's Old Tobacco Road quilt

However, I get such a back ache cutting fabric. That is my grief when sewing clothes too. I lean over to lay out my pattern, tweak it and pin in. Then I have to cut it. Same thing with this quilt project. I am cutting 1464 pieces to create 244 chevron units. Of course I am cutting extra in case I muck something up. The bonus is I just cut, no laying out of any pattern - yeah!

Slightly over 500 yellow squares

I am now considering one of the machine thingys that will cut fabric. I think in the past, I have unconsciously actually favored big pieces when quilting. My unfinished flimsy (set aside to work on Celtic Solstice) is made of a million HST's from 5 inch squares. Nothing huge but not tiny either.

Celtic Solstice clue #2 has me creating a 3.5 inch unit (finishes at 3 inch) from 6 pieces - 6 pieces for one small 3.5 inch unit! Way different than my usual 5 or so inch size single piece. I love that I am finally learning how Bonnie creates her masterpieces. Wow it can be exhausting though.

Lots of lime rectangles

I will complete this quilt and plan on doing more of Bonnie Hunter's designs. I may work on them as Bonnie encourages - as a scrappy leaders and enders project. I am doing this one from yardage and trying to complete each clue as quickly as possible - aka I feel some pressure to cut everything now. This is my pressure  - my choice.

The best part of this quilt adventure - the Facebook group!! Oh my goodness, I am so glad Bonnie mentioned it on her blog. The people there are the most amazing group of sharing, caring supporters. It's like having 2000 cheerleaders rooting for me as I cut and sew. Every quilt adventure should be this fabulous.

Linking up to the Celtic Solstice Mystery Monday Link-Up #2        

Tri Rec Tangles

We cut. We sew. We create.

Tri Rec creation in progress

I can sew about 100 tri rec squares per day. Yeah me! This is not sewing all day straight, just in between loads of laundry, cooking, cleaning, kids, dogs, cats, kittens, horses, etc. I have a really busy household. I'm delighted when I get any time to sew. Some days it's impossible.

I am settling in to learning the tri rec technique. My squares are far from perfect. I know I will lose some triangle tips on some squares but I am fine with that. I considered taking them apart and redoing them, then decided against it. I am making a king size quilt so there is plenty of room to put the less than ideal blocks to the sides if desired.

Pink subbing for orange

I don't want to get caught up in the pursuit of perfection. It will cause me stress and possibly discourage me from quilting. I want my quilt to be beautiful and I have faith it will happen. IF I allow myself to relax and go with the flow. Smile at the mistakes and accept them for what they are - the learning curve. Rarely do we ever perfect any new skill right from the start. My goal is to grow and have fun.

How are your projects coming along?  

Black as my neutral

Sparkle and Shine

Do you find beauty in unusual, little things? I'm sure I miss stuff but today, I saw beauty in my tri rec triangles for the Celtic Solstice Mystery.

Looking down

I sat down to pin side triangles to the center triangles. I love the bright colors. That part is easy. I looked down at my stack and saw something more. I needed to finish my task, then take a few pics to see if the camera could catch my fanciful thoughts.

Almost ... 

This is what I was seeing, Bright fabric. Jewel tone pins. Sparkle and shine! I love it!!
If only I had a really good camera to knock your socks off :)

Rail Fence Prayer Blocks

I had to go to town to pick up my husbands prescription and a new mattress topper I ordered online, so you know I had to hit the fabric section of Wal Mart. I despise this particular store for being over crowded and under staffed but it's the closest store to our home. We live in a rural area. Can we all say boonies?

Some of our horses grazing by the driveway

I was on the hunt for some white fabric. A sweet blogger friend is creating a prayer quilt for a friend who needs our good thoughts. Missy's Homemaking Adventures asked for prayers and blocks if we were inclined. The plan was red and white rail fence blocks. I had plenty of red but the only whites I had were all patterned with color. To my eye, they read as colors and not neutral or white. 

I found 3 bolts that looked like they would work. Not a price on any of them! They need a stitcher to work the fabric section at this Wal Mart. With their buying power and a fabric person to pick and choose, they could rule the fabric world. OK maybe they would just rock it. Right now though, they are sad. Fabric is not properly sorted or priced. Another Wal Mart about 25 miles from me has a great fabric section. Neat as a pin, sorted, priced and super duper organized. 

Now to find someone to cut fabric for me .... Oklahoma has an ice and snow storm on its way so the residents are losing their minds. And clearing the shelves of every last loaf of bread. And jalapeno's too actually. I always need fresh produce  - no luck this day. I settled on habanero peppers. But back to the fabric .... I rang the bell. Picked up the phone to chat with the non existent operator. And wandered around wanting desperately to organize the bolts. 

I found myself in front of a little shelf section that had fat quarters, half yards, yards and goodness knows what else. I have glanced at these, checked prices and walked away. Today though I did find some fat quarters that were just $0.97. Not a great price but acceptable. I chose a plain white ( I wanted a tonal white on white ) and a lime patterned quarter to add to my Celtic Solstice quilt in progress. What can I say, I'm addicted to fabrics?

At home, I cut strips and sewed them up lickety split. I may have to make a rail fence quilt for myself. The blocks sure go together quickly. I sifted through my reds and got persnickety. The reds didn't all coordinate. Whiny I know. They actually seemed to clash. So I got lazy and cut extra strips from a lovely red apple fabric from my stash. Missy will hopefully forgive me. 

Have you ever worked on a prayer quilt? This is my first. I don't want to cram religious beliefs on anyone but prayer is a part of my life. So it is bound to spill over here. I prayed for Missy's friend since asked. Prayed while fabric shopping, cutting, sewing, you get the idea. We all need good thoughts and prayers. I am happy to help others when possible. 

My blocks are a shade wonky, though they have care and prayer in them. I am a novice quilter. And maybe too happy go lucky. When blocks turn up a little big or slightly smallish, I tend to shrug and move forward. So far, they work out fine. Eventually I will trip over a quilt that tries to force me to be perfect. That will be a rough day, LOL. I sew for fun, not perfection. 

Have fun - Go sew!