Murder Mystery Reveal

 Doing quilt mysteries is a risk. Sometimes I love the results, sometimes I don't. Sometimes, if I had seen the quilt ahead of time, I never would have made it, and THAT'S OK! By my thinking, every quilt you make teaches you something. 

Sometimes you are forced to do techniques you don't know how to do, you may like it, or you may hate it, but it still teaches you that about yourself. When I do Bonnie Hunter Mysteries, I usually change the colors, but I am very familiar with her quilts, and I've mostly liked my changes. I can only think of one time I wish I hadn't changed the colors. Even on her quilts, I've changed the layout several times. 

This is my second year of doing the Murder Mystery Quilt. Last year I had a lot of fun, and although I wasn't thrilled with the final layout, I modified it to be a quilt I like quite a lot. I enjoyed the story and knew who the killer was. 

This year I was doubting the quilt less than halfway through the year, I still have no idea who the killer is, and I wasn't thrilled with the layout as I expected. Whether I am buying a pattern, or doing a mystery quilt, I know the final quilt is my own, and I don't see anything wrong with changing a pattern to better suit my taste. Sometimes what I like changes quite a lot based on what is going on in my life. Right now, there is a lot on my mind, a LOT of changes are coming, and I've been attracted to simpler quilts. This year's murder mystery quilt is not simple, and there's nothing wrong with that, but it's not my thing right now. When I saw the layout reveal, I actually debated on splitting the blocks into two quilts, and actually tossing a few blocks, but then I realized I didn't want to do that much extra work on this quilt right now, and if I abandon it, to work on "later" I know I'd never go back to it. 

I decided the most efficient way to deal with this, was to finish the quilt center mostly as the designer intended, then change the borders. I felt like there were just too many colors in the quilt, which is weird since I love scrap quilts so much, but with a very scrappy quilt, the colors are distributed all over the quilt, or they are done in gradient or colorwash fashion, something that makes sense to my mind. In this quilt the colors are concentrated in specific areas, and to me, it seems pretty random. I did change the center block, but I used the designers colors, I just used a different block. 

I looked through my stash to see if I had any fabrics that had a good number of the colors in it, because to me, the quilt was not cohesive. I found one fabric that had most of the colors in it, but not all of them. It was a busier print than I would have preferred to use, but since it was my only option without shopping, and I'm not shopping for this, it will have to do. 

Do I like it? No, I don't. Now that it's together I like it better than when I first saw the reveal, but would I have made the quilt if I had known what it would look like? No. Do I feel like it was a waste of my time? Not really. 

The best thing about doing a mystery quilt, especially one that takes place over a full year, is it reminds you to think about the process. I am a prolific quilter, and I can get overly distracted by the finishing, and forget to enjoy the process. 

Want to know what I learned while making this quilt? The center block was supposed to be paper pieced, and it was the only block I didn't finish on time. I was going to do the paper pieced block, but I don't enjoy paper piecing, and I couldn't make myself do it. When I totally double downed on NOT doing the paper piecing, I realized that it's not something I'm even remotely interested in getting better at. I CAN paper piece, and if I really loved something I might do it again, but if I never do it again, that's OK with me. I can make a lot of quilts with traditional piecing. 

I learned that I am picky about how color is used. I've already mentioned how I almost divided the blocks into two quilts, and tossed a couple blocks. I would have used all the blue blocks in a blue quilt. Sure, I would have added stuff to those blocks to make a whole quilt with them, but it bothers me that the only place blue is used is in the blue blocks. 

If I had used the blue blocks in a blue quilt, I would have used most of the other blocks in a green and pink quilt. Sure the center block is only green with white, and the horizontal blocks with concentric squares are only pinks and reds, but with the center border having both pink and green, and the pinwheel blocks and corner blocks having pink and green, they all could work in a cohesive quilt. 

So what would I have tossed? I would have eliminated the yellow, and tossed the orange and brown border. Those colors don't integrate into the rest of the quilt.

Do I think the designer did a poor job? NO! The designer was not just designing a quilt, she was telling a story. I know from her explanation of last year's quilt, that every single thing she puts in the quilt means something, from the colors to the block design to the final layout. What seems random to me, was very intentional on her part. 

I'm taking a break from mystery quilts for a while, I've just got too much on my plate to keep trying to work them in. At least with the quilt top done this quilt will eventually work its way to the top of the quilting queue, and it won't be a UFO forever. 

Finish #39

 I've finally finished Bonnie Hunter's 2022 mystery quilt, Chilhowie! I'm going to ask DH to take it somewhere to get a better photo, but for now, here's the photo I took. I'm so close to my goal of 40 finishes for the year! 

The colors don't look true at all in this pic.

This photo show the colors better. In person this quilt is rich and gorgeous! If I had known how much I was going to love this quilt, I would have made it larger so it work on my bed. I don't have enough of the fabrics I used to make another, nor did I even have enough of the orange to make it large enough to fit my bed. I could have gotten more of the purple and black, but I couldn't find more of the orange. That plum-y purple I'd love to have a whole bolt of, it is gorgeous in person. The teal I used for the background I'm on my second bolt of. 

I still have a couple Bonnie Hunter mysteries to finish. Last year I did two colorways of Indigo Way. One of those is finished, one is not. The one that isn't I completely changed the setting on, and the center is together but I need to add borders. The other Bonnie Hunter mystery that isn't finished is Rhododendron Trail. I wasn't a big fan of that quilt, and divided the blocks into two separate quilts. I know one of those is partially assembled, but I honestly have no idea where I'm at on the second. 

I'm skipping this year's mystery and if I have all my other mystery quilts finished before next year, I might dive in next year. Sometimes I need a break from mystery quilts.

My parents got their Christmas gifts, and I told them to open them early. I made them Quilted Hugs. They live in New England where winters are cold, and considering their kids are retiring, you can imagine they aren't youngsters anymore. It's easy enough to put a blanket on your body while sitting down, but keeping your shoulders warm is tricky. When I saw the Quilted Hugs, I thought they could get a lot of use out of them. 

Since they already opened them, here are some pics.

This is my mom's. I bought the jelly roll I used for it last year during a Black Friday sale, specifically to make her this Quilted Hug. She loves blue and the pearlescence on the fabric was just too pretty to not get for her.

My dad loves watching the squirrels, and when I saw the fabric line the Secret Life of Squirrels, I knew I needed to get some. I bought two of the focus fabrics, plus some acorn fabric, then the rest was stash. 

I got to give a couple of the grands their first sewing lessons this week.

They are both into playing Minecraft, so I had them make Minecraft placemats. It was an easy first project. 

I've got the layout for the Greek mystery now, so that's what I'll be working on this next week, but while I was waiting, I was working on some scrap quilts. 

This did not use up the blue scraps, so there will be more blue quilts coming up. I've got this quilt assembled now. 

This used up some of the autumn colored scraps I was given, as well as an autumn colored applique panel I was given. How old do you think that applique panel was, late 1970's, early 1980's? There wasn't a date on it.  I added in some orphan leaf blocks to make a better number of blocks for the quilt. I love giving forgotten fabrics a home! 

DH and I have been discussing what I would get rid of should we need to downsize quickly, and most of the house is pretty easy, but my quilting stuff is where I would struggle. Offhand, I'd say I'd try to keep any widebacks I have on hand, fat quarters and scraps, any bolts of fabric I have, and I'd get rid of most of my yardage. I'd likely keep most of my quilt kits as well, but probably not all. Scrap quilts are my favorite to make, and even when I go with a strict color scheme, the more different fabrics the better. My best plan is to use up as much as I can before that becomes an issue! I love my stash of fabric, tools and notions, it would really be the hardest part of downsizing for me. We don't have imminent plans to downsize, but there are several scenarios possible that would encourage that. Time will tell, but it's always good to have a plan. 

Christmas Gifts Finished!

Sorry, I've got no photos this post. I've been busy making the last of the Christmas gifts, and I can't show them right now. This is the first time in YEARS I've actually made everything I wanted to. Normally I end up running out of time and crossing stuff off my list. I'm pretty happy with getting it all done. Everything that needed to be mailed is also mailed, with the exception of some Christmas cards. 

Often I'm neck deep in Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt this time of year as well, and although I'm following the mystery, I have no desire to do it this year. The reveal for the Greek murder mystery comes out next week, and with my Christmas gifts done, and not doing another mystery, I can get right into the assembling of that quilt top when the reveal does come out. 

I'm really appreciating having a slow finish to the year, instead of a mad dash in the sewing room. That doesn't mean we won't be plenty busy in other areas. Starting the last Sunday in December, we are hosting or co-hosting parties three weekends in a row, and none of those are a retirement party for DH! I'm kind of doubting we'll end up doing a retirement party, since he's retiring at such a busy time of year. He's also been working from home for about a year now, and that changes the work dynamics quite a bit. 

I started FMQ another quilt now that the quilted gifts are done. Piecing wise I'm working on some scrap blocks in an effort to empty a couple project boxes. I like to pre-cut my deadline quilts, and I have two in particular I want to get cut out. If I could get those two quilts cut out by the first of the year, that would be a huge win for me. 

This weekend I've got two of the grands, and one of them at least, will be getting his first sewing lesson. If that goes well, I might try one with his younger brother. I have two projects prepped and ready to go for them, so we'll see. It depends on how they are feeling too, since they've been sick this week.

Hopefully next week I'll have photos for you, maybe a quilt finish, or maybe just the Greek mystery quilt on the design wall. 

Finished in Time for the Holidays!

I've been promising DD#2 a Thanksgiving/Christmas hot pad to use on her kitchen island since she moved into her new house, three years ago. I had the Thanksgiving side done quickly enough, but I kept changing my mind on the Christmas side. I showed you each side in my last post, but that project is now completely finished, and will be used tomorrow, since she's hosting Thanksgiving. I had planned on using one layer of cotton batting and one layer of insulbrite, but the insulbrite wasn't quite wide enough, so I went with two layers of cotton batting instead. I guess I could have pieced the insulbrite, and I did piece the cotton batting, but I've never pieced insulbrite before, so I wasn't sure it it would compromise the final project. If you've pieced insulbrite, let me know how it went for you. 

I opted for a black and white gingham for the binding, as the center of the Thanksgiving has a bunch of black and white, and it went very well with the Christmas side. It was harder lining up the top and bottom than I expected it to be, and I ended up trimming the Christmas border smaller, but it doesn't need to be perfect to be used twice per year. I guess technically this is two pieced tops, and I usually don't count table toppers as quilt finishes, but being this is 46" square, I'm counting it as one quilt finish, which brings me up to 38 finishes for 2024. 

I made more progress on Christmas presents. I have a few smaller things that need binding, then they'll be done. I have two other things to make, one of which is started, the other isn't started at all, though all the supplies are gathered together. I'm hoping to knock out most of the binding on Friday, then work on the last two gifts until they are finished. 

Aside from Christmas sewing, I finished November's blocks for the Greek Murder Mystery quilt.

I don't remember what the designer said the final measurements are, but I'm wondering if it's going to be a medallion quilt with rounds of borders. The final layout comes out in December, so I don't have long to wait. As for who I think the murderer is, this year I have no idea. Last year with the Viking murder mystery, I had it figured out by August, but this year I'm still debating between three people. I'll put in a guess after I read the December chapter, but unless the next chapter has a big clue, I'll be seriously guessing. 

Viking Murder Mystery A.K.A. Finish #37

 Last year's Murder Mystery quilt is finished! Last year was a Viking mystery, and as we were making the ship parts it was pretty obvious there was going to be a ship on the quilt. I did not use the exact layout that was suggested, but it's close. 

This year the murder mystery is set in Greece, and although the layout comes out in December, I am pretty clueless as to how this years blocks will merge into a cohesive quilt. I've been working on Christmas presents, so I don't have the November units done yet, but I still have time! 

I'm going to be taking some time off of mystery quilts for a bit. I'm not doing this year's Bonnie Hunter Mystery, and I'm not doing the 2025 Murder at Machu Picchu quilt either. I'm sure I'll do other mystery quilts, I'm just ready for a break from them. 

The Viking quilt was finish #37 fo 2024, and my goal for the year was 40 quilt finishes. I've got just over five weeks left to finish three more. I don't usually count table toppers as a quilt finish, but since the huge hot pad I'm making DD#2 is the size of a baby quilt, I will count it as a finish. That is the next in queue for quilting, so after that is done, I need to finish two more quilts. I still have some Christmas projects that aren't quilts but do need quilting to finish, so we'll see how things go. I have two BIG quilts basted, one queen, one king, but who knows, I might just baste a couple smaller quilts so I can hit my goal of 40 finishes if I'm running out of December. 

I've been thinking about next years goals for a while now, and I do want to keep the UFO finishes going, but my main new starts will either be deadline quilts for gifts, or non quilting sewing projects. I have big plans, but how much of those are hard goals, and how much are just wishful thinking I haven't decided yet. Of course, even when I do decide, life may decide to get in the way and derail my plans anyway. 

So Much Done, So Much More to Do

 My Janome is back and sewing just fine. I've been FMQ on the Viking Murder Mystery quilt. I just finished quilting the center of the quilt this morning, so now it's just quilting around the outside edges left! There is still a lot of area left to quilt, but the major wrestling of the quilt is over.

I finished the last two grandkid Christmas gifts this week, so all the grands gifts are finished and wrapped. I still have adult gifts to finish, and a couple still to start, but progress is happening. 

I am sidetracking my Christmas projects a bit. I promised DD#2 a huge hot pad to put on her kitchen island, and and although she's lived in the house three years, I still haven't delivered. I want to make a double sided topper, with Thanksgiving on one side and Christmas on the other. I think I made the center of the Thanksgiving side two years ago, and I cut the borders but never sewed them on. I had several ideas for the Christmas side, but never pieced any of them, so the project just sat. DD#2 is hosting Thanksgiving this year, and with Thanksgiving being a little later, and me actually having Christmas well in hand, I decided no more procrastinating (or proCRAFTinating) on this. 

I sewed the border on the Thanksgiving side, and instead of any of the ideas I had been debating for the Christmas side, I opted to bust a couple charm packs I had in stash instead.

It's not fancy, but the charm packs had some really fun Christmas gnome fabrics, and decided to let the fabrics speak for themselves. Now I've just got to layer it, baste it and quilt it, and I've got some black and white gingham ready to bind it with, which I think will look good with both sides. My large hot pad I used two layers of wool batting on, on this one I'm going to use one layer of cotton batting with a layer of Insulbrite. I don't have enough wool batting scraps to do this one with wool, and although I think two layers of cotton batting would work just fine, I have some Insulbrite so I'll use it. The main goal is to be able to put this on any surface and cover it will hot serving dishes and not damage the surface of whatever it's on. I don't know about you, but before I made a huge hot pad, I was always running out of potholders to protect surfaces when hosting for a crowd. I usually ended up getting the last couple things out of the oven with towels, and then not having a safe place to put the last of the casserole dishes. Having one large hot pad that everything goes on works much better for me. The last couple times DD#2 hosted, she borrowed my hot pad, which is the wrong size for her needs. When I'm hosting, I set the food on top of the washer and dryer, which are in my kitchen. So my large hot pad is a huge rectangle. DD#2 has a kitchen island, and this big square will fit nicely to one side of her kitchen sink. With Thanksgiving falling late this year, I think I should be able to get it done with time to spare. This is not a surprise, so I can show it on the blog without a risk of a surprise being ruined. 

If any of you are sewing for Christmas, I hope you are making headway on your list too. it's a busy time of year for everyone! 

A Matter of Perspective

 Since my last blog post my Janome broke AGAIN! It's in the shop, but I can pick it up next week. Without my M7 no FMQ is happening right now. I could quilt on my Bernina with no problems, but I'm using the Bernina for making Christmas gifts and I don't want to keep switching projects on it. I'm waiting on a few items to finish up some Christmas gifts and those items have been delayed. I could be discouraged, but I'm not.  

That's the bad news, what's the good news? I've finished all but two of the grandkids gifts for Christmas. Aside from a few stocking stuffers, I am done Christmas shopping, and I've even got it all wrapped! I do have some gifts to make for adults, and although none of those are finished, I am making progress on those. 

Several of my adult kids are getting gift cards for Christmas. Two of my kids moved to new houses this year, and every time you buy a house, there's always some things you want to change. I figured gift cards to home improvement stores was the way to go for them. Another one of my kids is also getting a gift card. I don't mind giving gift cards, and often, I think gift cards or cash is the way to go. The thing is, I agree with all the gift card haters that it's impersonal. That's why I always try to give a small gift with a gift card, even their favorite candy bar can be a personal option. Since I'm trying to make a lot of the gifts both this year and next year, I'm trying to make some small gifts to go with the gift cards. 

I don't know about you, but I love watching YouTube videos about quick gifts to sew. There are SO many ideas out there, to help you come up with quick-to-make gifts! A lot of those gifts are smaller, so also require less fabric, and are easier to mail. A lot of wins in there! I also know that where a YouTuber may be using yardage for a project, that doesn't mean a quilter can't used pieced fabric instead. That right there is why I've been having such a fun time this week, when I could have been discouraged. 

I'm really bad about not counting units when I cut out a quilt. I'm rarely cutting it close on fabric, so I don't have to worry about running out of fabric, and I always find ways to use up the extras. Since my FMQ and working on grandkids gifts are on pause, I've been taking the time to look around and find leftovers from some quilts that have been hanging around. Can I work these leftovers into gifts for the adults I need something personal for? Why, yes I can!

I don't want to show too much of the Christmas projects before Christmas, but I can show you one thing I made from leftovers. I grabbed the leftovers from one quilt, and I started laying out the extra units into a table runner, then I realized, I had enough units left to make a baby quilt.  I will need at least one baby quilt next year, and depending on gender, this could be used for that, but I was really happy with how the quilt top came out.

I know that's a pretty wide border, I wanted to get the quilt to 48" square. Once I quilt it with something fun, it will look just fine. The yellow and gold four patches as well as the sunflower fabric, was leftover from a larger quilt. I did have to cut some cream on cream fabric from yardage, and it doesn't match the cream on cream on the four patches. That's one of the reasons I love using tone on tone fabrics, you can usually get away with substitutions without it being obvious. The border fabric is leftover wideback from backing a quilt in my last basting spree, so it was scraps too. Was this the rest of the leftovers? Not quite, I had enough left to make one Christmas gift, with only a couple four patches left. The sunflower fabric is completely gone! 

Another thing I'm sewing up in bulk right now is bonus HST's. I'm a big fan of double sewing when making sew and flip corners, and using all of those bonus HST's in other projects. I had a ridiculous number of bonus HST's around. Yes, they were all neatly stored in containers, and not strewn about everywhere, but how much better would it be if they were sewn into gifts instead of stored in containers??? I use HST's a LOT! I have lots of blocks I like to make with them. I've made sampler quilts with bonus HST's and each block is different I've made one block quilts with blocks set side to side but secondary patterns appear. I've made matching blocks with sashing, I've made pieced borders from bonus HST's, anything you can do with an HST, you can make with a bonus HST, it will just come out smaller than the original. It's all GOOD!

I get in moods to make specific blocks, and right now I'm making lots of nine patches out of bonus HST's. I tend to use bonus HST's in 16 patches, because there are more options for block designs with a 16 patch, but right now I'm into nine patches. Most of the bonus HST's I'm sewing up finish at 1.25", but I'm also sewing up some that finish at 2". The 2" HST's will likely result in a quilt, but the small ones are perfect for smaller gifts. I'm going to keep sewing up these nine patches, then when I'm out of bonus HST's in the colorways I'm trying to bust, I'll figure out which project they'll be used for. I've got enough of some of these I can make a couple projects from them, even if they are tiny. 

Yesterday, I went to a quilt show with my sister, and neither of us bought a thing! I had a list of things I was looking for, and they didn't have any of the patterns I wanted or the thread I was looking for. I didn't let myself do more than glance at the fabric, I have enough fabric, and I don't need anything for a current project. I did try out the Little Rebel machine from Grace. If my Janome keeps acting up, that's the machine that perks my interest most. I'd rather just stick with what I've got, I do like my M7, but having it break twice in six months was discouraging. Of course, it sewed for four years with nary a hiccup so I guess it was due.

When we went out to lunch after the show, I told her that I feel like I've been on a sewing vacation this week. I've been sewing a lot, but without my FMQ the first hour of the day, and then having to wait on supplies for the remaining grandkid gifts, I was really just playing in my sewing room. Sure, I got two quilt tops finished this week, and they are hanging in the quilt closet (sorry, I forgot to take a photo of the other one) , and technically I was still working on Christmas gifts, but I was playing with leftover units, and that really gives me the creative fix I've been needing.

More good news! The sewing machine shop just called, my M7 is done early, and I can pick it up today! They didn't change me any labor since it was just in the shop, and the part it needed was only $32! I can handle that! 

Finish #36 and Christmas Progress

 I know it's Halloween today, but I've never been a Halloween fan. For those of you that love the spooky holiday, I hope you enjoy it!

For me, this week has been all about Christmas! I really love Thanksgiving too, but DD#2 is planning to host Thanksgiving, so it's not really on my radar. I am determined to get the gifts I want to make done for Christmas this year, instead of giving up like I often do. I've made huge progress this week, and I'm now completely done with seven of the grandkids gifts. I've even got some of them wrapped. 

This I don't mind showing on the blog, because the grands are getting these early! I made them all a Christmas pillowcase, and they need them early so they can have a little bit of Christmas decor in their rooms for the holiday season. Next year they'll be getting Christmas pillowcases too, but the fabrics will be reversed, with the candy canes as the main fabric, and the sloths on the cuff! I've already got those done as well. I bought two bolts of Christmas fabrics for about $1 per yard, and I had the red and white stripe in stash. I thought pillowcases were a fun way to use the fabric, and give the grandkids some Christmas cheer in their bedrooms. If you like this idea, check the after Christmas sales and get some fabric at really low prices for next year.

This quilt had been a UFO for way too long. I think I started it in 2017 or maybe 2018. It's now finished and I'm really happy with it. My sister thought I should make one with Christmas fabrics, and it would make a spectacular Christmas quilt. I think this one will hang on my quilt rack in the living room for a bit so I can enjoy it a while before passing it on. 

Next up in the FMQ queue is my Viking murder mystery quilt from last year! I'm going to be taking a year off of mystery quilts, in hopes of finishing up the ones I haven't finished yet, and next year my sewing focus won't be on quilts. Don't get me wrong, I'll still be quilting next year, my FMQ an hour per day will still be the first thing I do each day, and I already have some deadline quilts lined up for next year. The thing is, I have a lot of things I'd like to sew that don't result in a quilt, and that will be a main focus next year. 

And The Last Shall Be First

 When I was figuring Christmas projects, I knew I needed to finish the projects to be mailed earlier, and the local stuff could wait, if needed. Per usual, life happened and that's not the way things worked out. 

Since I've got lots of non-quilting related Christmas gifts to make, I knew I'd be taking a break from piecing for quite a while. I still FMQ an hour per day, as quilting and binding only get done on my Janome, while most non-quilt related projects get done on my Bernina. Christmas is coming up faster than I'd like to think about, so I'm just not piecing at all right now. I do have some smaller quilted projects planned for Christmas, but they aren't my main focus yet. 

Two of my grandsons just asked for Minecraft quilts, when I had just made them both new bed-sized quilts for their last birthdays. I'm not making a new bed-sized quilt every time they ask for one, but I figured I could make them throw-sized quilts for Christmas. They live locally, so I knew if I didn't start them until December, it would be tight, but I'd probably finish in time. 

Life is funny sometimes, and since I've been cutting in the evenings, I decided I'd just go ahead and cut those quilts. Then, since I kept having grandkids for multiple days at a time, with only a couple days between, I couldn't get knee deep in Christmas projects, but I could do a little piecing on those off days.

I had picked an easy pattern for the Minecraft quilts, then, since they were smaller, I snagged the time to baste them, and before I knew it, they were finished!

And that's how the Christmas presents I thought I'd be making last minute, ended up being the first finished! 

The Minecraft quilts are also finishes #34 and #35 for the year. I happen to have five more quilts basted, so can I make my goal of 40 finishes this year??? Two of the basted quilts are king sized, so we'll have to see. I did a quick count in the quilt closet this morning, and I have just over 40 quilt tops hanging in there, but a few of those need borders, so some are not quite finished. I already have a list of deadline quilts for next year started, so I'll be making some quilt tops too, though I have a lot of non-quilt sewing planned for next year. Could I hit 40 finishes two years in a row??? That would be awesome, and definitely help me lower my number of UFO's. DH retires the end of this year though, and I have no idea what that will do to my sewing time. I guess time will tell, but I'm really hoping to hit 40 finishes this year, 10 more weeks left this year for 5 finishes? I think I can!

I did start some of my other Christmas sewing this week. Most of my Christmas sewing I won't be showing on the blog, but I know the grands getting the Minecraft quilts won't see my blog, so those are safely shown. 

Last weekend, DH and I took a drive to Bisbee, AZ, and hit up one of our favorite shops to buy balsamic vinegar. I bought several bottles of balsamic, but we also hit several thrift stores on our way back. DD#2 has me searching for yarn for her, as she's started a crochet business. I did find her some yarn, but I also snagged some fabric, like I needed any more.

One of the thrift shops in Sierra Vista, AZ had at least a dozen bolts of cotton fabric. All of the bolts were at least half full, and each bolt was priced at $20. The bolts were originally 15 yards, and I bought three of them. The two bolts of batiks in the red/orange colorway each have about 8 yards of fabric on them. The bolt of Asian Inspired fabric has about 12 yards. At one point in my life, I likely would have come home with all the bolts. I kept debating if I should buy any of them at all, great price or not. I decided to think about the quilts I have plans to finish in the next 12 months. Since there was quite a bit of yardage on these bolts I could use the fabric for backings. I have at least four quilts, if not five, in a red/orange colorway that need to be basted. Those all need backings, and the two bolts of batiks won't even be enough to back them all, so those were my first choices. I have an Asian Inspired quilt that needs assembling, and it will be king-sized, so that bolt of black? I'll need ten yards of it for the backing on one quilt. I can't even buy the 118" wide backing I'd need for that quilt for $20. 108" wide backing won't be big enough, so it's either the extra wide 118" quilt backing or three lengths of regular quilting cotton sewn with two seams. All of the bolts had really pretty fabrics, and I can't complain about the price. If you saw that deal in a thrift shop, would you have bought any of the bolts, all of them, or only your favorites? I've been trying to be good, but that was too tempting for me to pass completely. 

Christmas is all I've been thinking about lately, trying to make a game plan to get everything done in time for mailing. I'm already thinking about Christmas 2025 too, because next year will be a huge transition year for us. We do have a couple of trips planned, one of them being a bucket list trip, but aside from those trips, we are going to try to keep our expenses way down, so that we aren't stressing on our trips, or having to withdraw more money than we've planned for. I'm feeling pretty comfortable with our plans, and getting excited for the retirement adventure! My stash is really going to come into play for gifts next year! I'm so thankful to have it! 

Finish #33, Comets, and Scrap Processing

 Finish #33 of 2024 is complete! If it looks familiar, there is a good reason for that. Last year, I got a bundle of 20 solid fat quarters in soft rainbow colors. I added 20 floral fat quarters from stash, matching each of the solids as closely as I could. I needed a quilt really quickly for someone on hospice, so I cut all 40 fat quarters into 8.5" strips, 6.5" strips, and 2" strips. I used my large EZ Angle ruler to cut the 8.5" and 6.5" strips into HST's. I used the 8" HST's for the quilt I needed for the woman in hospice. I laid her quilt our just like I did this one, it was just a bit bigger. I finished that quilt in just a couple of days. When it was finished, I made this quilt top from the 6" HST's, but it was put into the quilt closet, because I had no immediate need for it. I cut all the scraps into 2x3.5" pieces and made a simple rail fence quilt, I had just enough to make a baby quilt, which I have already finished. Those three quilts busted all of the 40 fat quarters. 

DH and I went on an evening drive this week, about halfway up the mountain our house faces. We stopped at a rest area that has a great view of the city, and is one of our favorite places to watch the sunset. 

The sunset had a very layered look that night. I didn't alter the color on this photo at all. A sunset wasn't all we were looking for that night though. We were hoping to see Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, a comet that won't come around again in our lifetime. 

I'm not much of a photographer, and these pics were just taken with my iPhone, but I was sure blessed to be able to see it! Sometimes remembering to take the time to wonder at the universe we live in is hard to do, but I'm glad we did take that drive.

I finished processing the fabric scraps I was given, with one exception. I have one small bin with denim scraps I haven't touched yet. Some of these scraps were actually mine, but only the ones I had in bins in the living room for whatever reason. I still have a lot of fabric scraps I need to deal with of my own, but getting these processed into usable sizes was still a win. I've now got three empty bins in my small nine cube storage unit I have in the living room, which is a huge win. One bin is crumbs, and one bin is strings. I don't have another spot for crumbs, but I can empty the string bin into my cube unit downstairs that is all strings. All of these pre-cut sizes have a place to live, and some of them are even put away now. 

I used to feel bad about throwing any scraps away, but the only bits in this bag are too small for me to ever use, and I use some really small stuff! I felt pretty good about tossing this bag of fabric bits, knowing it's that much that I would never use anyway, but now I'm not having to store it. It's funny how freeing it is to understand that an almost full grocery bag of scraps left my house, and it was really down to the unusable. Pre-cutting my scraps works for me, if I'm making a quilt with sizes I keep, I automatically go to my scrap stash first. I often have a quilt in mind when I'm cutting up scraps, but if I don't, I cut to my most often used sizes. 

I'm just starting on my Christmas sewing. I'm making two throw quilts for Christmas, and I've got both quilt tops finished and basted. I started FMQ one of those this morning. As soon as I finish this blog post, I'll be prepping pillowcases to sew up for the grands. Christmas sewing is now my priority, and hopefully I'll get it all done with a minimal amount of stress. 

27 Million Stitches

 Modern sewing machines are kind of fun, in that we know when we hit certain milestones, whereas vintage machines are a bit of a mystery. I'm getting all my machines serviced before DH retires, and right now my original Bernina 440 is in the shop. I knew my 440 was really high mileage, which is why I recently purchased a new-to-me 440 that only has 26 sew hours on it. My original 440 has almost 800 hours of sewing time on it. 

The repairman just called me, to ask whether I really wanted it repaired because of how much use it has had. He said I've sewn 27 million stitches on it. He said he's never serviced such a high use machine, even the embroidery machines he services usually have far less. Up until now the highest he's seen on any machine is 24 million stitches. Now, when I say have it repaired, you need to realize I sewed with it the day I dropped it off, it was still sewing just fine, I was just dealing with some top thread breakage. 

He said the reason I was having some top thread breakage is because the timing was slightly off, because I had worn the timing gear teeth off! Now, these are not plastic or nylon gears, these are solid metal gears! When he told me the price of the new gears, I did pause a minute, but I ran upstairs to ask DH about it. He asked me if I could find another used 440 for the cost of the repair, and the answer was an easy no. I paid twice the cost of servicing and repairing my old 440 for the one I bought used, and that was one the cheapest I had ever seen used. We decided to go ahead and have the new gears installed, and since my plan all along was to make my high mileage Bernina into my backup/travel machine, and use the low use one for regular use. I think my old one will last a lot longer now that it won't be my main machine, and it's still less money than I would have paid for a travel machine I would be happy with. I tried buying a cheaper machine for travel and I hated it, everything on it felt so flimsy. I returned that machine, and that's when I started looking for a used Bernina.

It's funny to think about one of my machines having so much use on it. For a little while, I was only using that Bernina, but it didn't take long after I bought it, before I dove into the world of vintage machines. I do well over half of my piecing on vintage machines. Since 2020, I've done all of my FMQ and binding on my Janome M7. How many stitches would that Bernina have on it if I wasn't also using other machines? Some things I only do on the Bernina. All garment sewing and applique I do on the Bernina. Now that I think about it, I only use my Janome for FMQ and binding. I only use my vintage machines for piecing. Any other sewing I do is on the Bernina. Bag making? Bernina. Make a pillowcase? Bernina. Luggage tags? Bernina. I sometimes go weeks without using the Bernina, but when I'm using it, I'm often batch sewing, so the stitches add up quickly. I've got several things I'll be making for Christmas, and almost all of it will be done on a Bernina. 

Besides running up a repair bill, I did do several other things this week! 

I finished another set of twin quilts! The pattern is Twirling at the Disco, though I resized it to use 2" cut squares instead of the 2.5" cut squares the pattern calls for. All of the small squares are solids, and even though the black background looks solid in the photo, it is actually a blender fabric with a bit of texture to it. These are finishes #31 and #32 for the year. I started quilting the next quilt, but it's the last of the smaller quilts I have basted so the finishes will slow down for a bit. I've already reclaimed almost 2 jars of basting pins! 

I've got two of the grands this week, so not much sewing going on. I have been working away on cutting up scraps though. I'm working on those in the living room, so I can still be readily available while I'm working. 

I've got the autumn colored scraps cut into a quilt kit. The entire quilt will be scraps, because between all the cream colored scraps,  I had enough to make the background pieces for the applique blocks.

I think it likely I'll have to go into my Scrap User system for some more blue strips, but I've got most of a quilt cut. Someone had given me muslin scraps from a wideback, and if I use some poverty piecing techniques, I'll have just enough of the muslin to do all of the background I need. I'll never run out of blue fabrics, so I more concentrated on cutting the larger blue pieces I need for this quilt, knowing I have plenty of 2.5" strips already available for use. You can see I have plenty of blue strips cut from this batch of scraps too, I'm just not sure it's enough variety-wise. 

The red and white prints are cut into a quilt kit as well. I cut all the excess into 2.5 and 3.5" strips, which I could use in a border, or for anther quilt, I haven't decided. The whites I needed were a mix of the new scraps and strips from my Scrap User System. My goal for these quilt kits was to use only scraps for the quilts, and not to cut into any yardage. 

I've made such good progress on the scraps, that I'm cutting up the scraps I hadn't divided into colorways, and I'll just be adding those into my Scrap User System. I'm hoping I still have some scrap interest left after processing all the the scraps that were given to me, so maybe I can cut up the scraps from my own overflowing bin. Most of my own current scraps are leftovers from widebacks, and some of those I have enough of to sash or border another quilt. I'm feeling quite happy with my scrap progress, and knowing those scraps that were given to me will be put into use so soon is a good feeling. 

Oh, in case you are wondering what I do with all these quilts I'm finishing, I've donated 22 quilts to Project Linus this month, with the latest two destined to go there too! 

High Fiber, No Calorie Donuts a.k.a. Finishes #29 and #30

 It's easy to get rapid finishes when the quilts are all basted. This week I finished twin quilts.

The quilts are about as close to identical as I get. Some of the blocks are the same, the background is the same, and they are the same size, even the backing fabric is the same. I had a bunch of 3.5" strips to bust and this is a simple block to make quick work of busting those strips. I made a bunch of blocks with white backgrounds too, and those will be getting assembled into quilt tops soon. 

I'm also working on another set of twin quilts. I've got one quilted, and I started quilting the second one today. Once they are both quilted I'll bind them one after the other. After having my Janome in the shop for 6 weeks, I thought there was NO chance I'd make my goal of finishing 40 quilts this year, but now I'm thinking I'll at least be close, or possibly even make it. We'll see. 

I've been working on processing those scraps I showed last week. 

This is the quilt kit I made myself from the plaids and narrow solid strips. I added some blender strips from stash, because I didn't want to cut into yardage, but I had some blenders in my scrap user system I could cut down into 1" strips. I did need to use a few shirt pieces to add to the plaids to get the quilt size I wanted. 

I also cut up all the bright colored scraps and cut those to size. I haven't cut the background color yet, so I'm not calling it a quilt kit yet, but I did write myself a note with what I need to cut from solid white for that quilt. 

Currently, I'm cutting up the autumn colored scraps, and I'm hoping it will be 100% scraps too, just like the plaid quilt. I also chose patterns for the red and blue quilts I'll be cutting from scraps. 

These were the September units for the Greek Murder Mystery quilt. I think the idea of the murder mystery quilts are awesome, and reading a book written to go with the quilt as the year goes on is very fun. The only thing I don't like about it is the designer and I have very different methods of getting things done. I like to cut accurately, sew and it's done. I use a lot of specialty rulers to help me do that. The designer doesn't want to require purchasing specialty rulers, which completely makes sense, since there are a lot of new quilters every year doing her mysteries. Also taking the new quilters into consideration, she does a lot of oversized piecing than trimming down to size, which is NOT my preference, I kind of hate doing it that way. To make these units, the designer had everyone doing Seminole piecing, which wastes a lot of fabric, so a lot of women ran out of fabric and had to use substitute fabrics to finish the units.

After running through her cutting instructions, I didn't have enough pink fabric left to do it that way either. I used my Ominigrid On Point ruler to cut the center squares, my EZ Companion Angle ruler to cut the side setting triangles, and my EZ Angle HST ruler to cut the corner triangles. I ended up with fabric left over, I sewed it up, it came out the correct size, and I only had a few dog ears for waste instead of large waste pieces.

Honestly, the mysteries are a lot of fun, and if you 1) enjoy paper piecing and/or oversized piecing and trimming down, you'd love the designers instructions (in the facebook groups one of the moderators makes paper piecing patterns available for all of the blocks) or 2) if you are experienced enough to tweak the method to your preferred methods like I am, you'll do fine with the Murder Mystery Quilts. I don't plan on doing the mystery quilt next year, because I would rather tackle more UFO's next year, so I'm not planning on doing ANY mystery quilts next year, not even Bonnie Hunter's which I do more often than not. 

I've been trying to be good and not buy fabric unless it's for an imminent project, but I went and looked at Hobby Lobby's clearance section today, and these fat quarter bundles were marked down to $4.99. Each bundle has 5 fat quarters, and fat quarters for $1 each are pretty much extinct these days, so I splurged. Almost nine yards of fabric for $35? Yeah, I'm going to take advantage of that. 

I'll have two of the grands for half of next week, and they are off school for fall break, so that should be fun spending time with them. DH will be busy all weekend with The Scooter Zine, so I can get some extra sewing in this weekend, which might make up for the no sewing days while we have the grands. I bet I can still get some of those scraps cut up with the grands here, so even though I may not be sewing, I'll still be doing something!

Finishes #27 & 28

 It's amazing how fast I can finish quilts when they are all basted and ready to quilt!

This quilt was up on the design wall in February, when we hosted a family reunion. One of the cousins saw it and really liked it. She jokingly told the others that I was making her a quilt. She wasn't serious, and she wasn't asking for it, but she did genuinely like the quilt. I decided that when it was finished I'd send it to her. I got her address from her mom, who never gave her any idea it was coming. I finally finished the quilt last weekend, and we mailed it off on Monday. I've already gotten a thank you message from her, she was so surprised, and that made it really fun for me! 

I originally thought to put a border on the quilt, though I never planned on the designer's pieced border. When I got the center together, I decided it was large enough for the couch quilt I had planned, so I skipped the border entirely. The piecing is all done with men's shirts. I felt like this design was really busy, so I wanted to use calmer setting triangles, and I had just enough of a shirting fabric to get oversized setting triangles cut. If the center is busy, I like using oversized setting triangles to "float" the blocks a bit. 

Now that I got the baby quilt and this gift quilt finished, I'm just quilting my way down the pile of basted quilts, since none of the rest have deadlines. 

This was the next in the stack, and I got it quilted this week, and I sewed on the binding this morning. That's finish # 28 for the year. The next couple in the stack are smaller, so they should finish up quickly. 

I was supposed to babysit this week, but that got cancelled do to the family having a stomach bug (SO glad they didn't expose me!) I'm supposed to be hosting a birthday dinner for DD#2 this Sunday, but we'll see if everyone is healthy. With those two things going on, I decided to hold off on the Christmas sewing for another week. 

So what did I work on instead? I finished sewing up the blocks I was making with Bonus HST's, and I've got the quilt on the design wall almost assembled. I also started looking through a box of scraps I was given. 

Earlier this year, I was given a bunch of scrap fabric by a family friend. She's close to my mom's age, and I cracked up when I saw they had some of the same fabrics. I've had a really busy year, so after washing all the fabric, I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I just tossed all the wrinkled fabric in some cube storage bins. I didn't sort it, didn't iron it, just tossed it in the bins. To clarify, I tossed all the scraps in the bins, she also gave me some yardage, and THAT I put away correctly. 

Fast forward to this month, where someone else, also about my mom's age, also gave me box of scrap fabrics. Again, she had a few fabrics I've seen in my mom's stash. This fabric was much more quilter oriented, in fact, there was a quilt kit in there. I've never seen a quilt kit like this before. The price tag tells me it was purchased at the quilt shop closest to me, but I have NO idea when. The kit was in a large zipper bag, and it had an OLD quilt book in it, probably from the 1980's, primitive style. A page in the book was marked, and there were fabric amounts for that particular quilt in the book. They were labeled, sashing fabric, border fabric, etc... I've only ever seen quilt kits with individual patterns, never wrapped up with a whole book before. 

I looked up the quilt pattern, which I didn't care for, but I do like the fabric. It's all autumn colors, which are my favorite. I'm donating the book since none of the patterns inspired me, but I'm keeping the fabric. There was also a bundle of plaids, and another bundle of bright blenders, , plus several red and white prints. The box the fabric was in was really dirty, so I washed all the fabric, so now I have about two laundry baskets worth of other peoples scraps, all wrinkly and a mess. What to do with these? I don't want them languishing, and as long as they are a wrinkled mess, that's exactly what they will do, just sit there. I decided to take out all the scraps I was given earlier this year, and see if any of those scraps would play nicely with the new scraps I was given. 

I have all these plaids, mostly 1/4-1/3 yard pieces. A lot of them are pastels. I also have a bunch of solid scraps, most of which are really narrow. HMMM...I saw a YouTube tutorial the other day that might work really well with these scraps. I rewatched the video, and now I'm cutting up all of these scraps to go with that pattern. I need 1" strips of the solids, and 5" squares of the plaids. If I run short of the plaids, I'll raid my men's shirt stash, and I'll look through my 2" strip bins for more solids which I can easily cut down into 1" strips. 

As I go through the combined scraps, I'm seeing more color combinations. 

 

Most of the bright blenders are fat 1/8ths. I saw a jelly roll pattern, also on YouTube, that I think I can make work with the bright scraps along with some white yardage from stash. Next to the bright scraps are quite a few red and white prints, I may have to add some stash to that, but perhaps that can go into a red, white, and black quilt. I'm still mulling over a pattern for that. between both sets of scraps there are a lot of blues. I always have a ton of blue scraps, so I'm thinking I'll do a blue scrap quilt, and combine these scraps with mine for more variety. Again, I haven't chosen a pattern yet for the blues. 

See the big pile of scraps in the back, it has all the cream colored fabrics, along with anything that could possibly be autumn colors. Between both sets of scraps, there were quite a few fabrics I could toss in this pile, along with the whole quilt kit worth of fabrics. In the first set of scraps I was given, I had most of an applique panel.

These are autumn colors, and I even have some of the ones that were cut out loose in the fabrics. I think I'll use fusible raw edge applique, fuse these onto the cream fabrics I have in the scraps, and then alternate the applique blocks with 16 patches, or 25 patches or whichever size blocks I need. If I cut all the autumn colored scraps into 2.5" strips, I can make the pieced blocks easily, if I have a lot leftover, I could do a piano key border on the quilt, and anything left after that would easily mix in with my scraps. 

I still have some scraps left that don't fit into any of these categories, but by grouping what I have a lot of, I've got it sorted into several projects. I'll start by cutting these projects now, and they can be my leader/ender projects for next year. Once I've gotten all of these scraps cut for specific projects, I can much more easily tackle the remaining scraps and cut them up to go into my scrap user system. The amount of scraps that don't fit into these categories is much more manageable now, and not overwhelming. I really did sort most of the scraps into these piles. 

I've seen amazing quilts made from scraps, really amazing show stoppers. I've also learned that not all quilts are meant to be show stoppers. It's a lot of fun to play in other people's scraps, and I'm blessed to have been given them. That said, I was given these scraps because people knew I would USE them. If I choose some simpler patterns but get them sewn up into quilts sooner rather than later, I think I'm doing what the women who gave them to me wanted. There will be at least five quilts going to charity from these scraps, maybe more. The important thing is that they are used, not that they are intricately pieced. By mostly sticking with sizes that work with my scrap user system, any leftovers can easily integrate into my scrap stash. 

Now that I've got a scrap plan, I'm pressing fabrics during breaks during the day, and I'm cutting fabrics at night while DH and I watch TV. I'm making myself some fun pre-cut quilt kits, that I can work on next year. Taking the time to make a plan can really bring you from being overwhelmed, to productive and excited!