Mystery Season

 Bonnie Hunter's new mystery, Indigo Way, has started. I'm attempting two colorways this year, one full size of my own color choices, one smaller version with Bonnie's colors, but only using men's shirts.

This is clue one in my colorway. The lilac is my neutral, the teal my indigo. Not all my sets are shown here. 

Here's some of the clue one with men's shirts. When going for a smaller size, you never really know how many units to make. I'm doing over half, hoping to have enough units to make a cohesive pattern and extra units will just go into something else. Bonnie's colors really worked my men shirt stash, so I'm opting to do two quilts this year. I made two Allietare too, one my colorway, one men's shirts. That was a while ago though. 

I'm also still working on the Viking murder mystery quilt. 

I left the first and last inch of the bias tape loose so I could match up whatever may need to be matched in the final layout. I've managed to keep up with all the months this year, always finishing the blocks before the next one came out. That's much easier to accomplish with a BOM mystery than Bonnie Hunter's one clue per week. 

I happen to know I'm getting next year's murder mystery as a Christmas present. 2024 will be Murder in Greece. One thing I can say about the quilt murder mysteries, is the facebook clue crew is easily the nicest online quilting group I've ever been in, and I've been in a lot of them. I've been in Yahoo quilting groups, IO quilting groups, multiple facebook quilting groups, and the murder mystery quilters are the nicest. No quilt police, only encouraging words, no comments making anyone feel bad about how their block came out and lots of help for the new or inexperienced quilters. You can only join the clue crews if you sign up for the mystery quilt, so it's not open to everyone.  I've already made my guess on who I think the killer is, and I'm hoping I'm right, even though I'm not thinking I'll win the prize even if I am right. 

I'm always working on so many quilts at once, you may question my participation in the mysteries. I debated not doing anymore for a while, but the thing is, mystery quilts are projects I do just because I want to, I do them for me. I may or may not keep the quilts when they are finished, but the making of them is just for my own enjoyment. Sometimes I get too wrapped up in making quilts for gifting, or quilting for charities, that I lose sight of the fact that I quilt because I enjoy it. Mystery quilts remind me that I should be enjoying the process, enjoying the journey, and not be so focused on the productivity aspect. I need the reminder, maybe some of you do too.

Scrap Thoughts and Fabric Prep

 Scrap quilts are my favorite, super scrappy everything goes in is my personal preference. I find them interesting, every quilt becomes an I Spy quilt, I just love it. BUT, I don't keep very many of my quilts, and a lot of people find those type of quilts a hot mess. Color controlled scrappy allows me to work in as many fabrics as I like, but also make quilts that non-scrap lovers enjoy. 

The funny thing is, going color controlled combined with my RSI (Repetitive Stress Injury) in my right arm, has really changed the way I deal with my scraps. I found Bonnie Hunter early on in my quilting journey. Her Scrap User System really resonated with me, and it absolutely works for me, though I only save strips and squares, no bricks. I also don't save as many sizes as she does, as I'm trying to simplify my storage. 

The last couple of years I've really tried to decrease the amount of rotary cutting I'm doing, to put less stress on my arm. I have enough Accuquilt dies that I've managed to cut the last couple Bonnie Hunter mystery quilts completely by die cutter. I'm hoping to do the same this year. 

Now even with a die cutter, there is still rotary cutting to do. To waste less fabric, I like to rough cut my fabric with 1/4" all the way around the shape so if I don't have it positioned just so I can still get the cuts I need. Yes, this wastes some fabric, and Bonnie's methods of cutting strips and using specialty rulers wastes none. I still use those techniques I learned from her on a regular basis! When there is a LOT of cutting that needs to be done, and I'm going scrappy anyway so running out of fabric isn't much of an issue, I've switched to die cutting. I'm being honest here, I have a HUGE stash, and I'm not likely to run out of fabric in my lifetime. Run out of certain colors, likely, but run out of fabric, nope. I am very blessed in that I can afford to waste a bit of fabric, and once you learn how to correctly position your fabric on the dies, you don't waste very much fabric. Last year I made Bonnie Hunter's Mystery quilt and didn't have to trim a single dog ear, because my dies cut them off for me. I was shocked at how much time that saved. So even when figuring in some rotary cutting, I'm still saving time by die cutting, and saving stress on my arm. By die cutting, I'm also not having to sliver trim units, because they come out the right size every time. If you are always oversizing your units to trim to size, you are also wasting fabric. I'd rather waste with the least amount of rotary cutting. 

When I started making the switch to die cutting more, I realized my scrap user system was growing faster than I was using it up. The scrap user system wasn't working as well when I was trying to die cut as much as possible. Fat quarters became my go to pre-cut, to give me variety and allow me to die cut. Inevitably, I had leftovers from the fat quarters, which I cut for the scrap user system. I've tried sorting scraps just by color, and even when die cutting, it just doesn't work for me. There is no neat way of storing a bunch of different sizes of scraps, so it ends up a jumbled mess and needs to be pressed before die cutting and that is neither motivating nor productive to me. I can still use the scrap user system, but I spent a couple years busting it down to reasonable amounts and now I want to keep it on the smaller side. 

I realized I've had a mind shift about scraps that happened organically, without a lot of forethought, but it's totally working for me! 

I've been prepping quilts for next year's sewing. 

The pile on the top is leftover space fabrics from Mr. LJ's quilt that I'll be die cutting for a Take Five quilt. The fabrics on the bottom are prepped for a king sized quilt I'll be making for a family member. I'll be using my 10" Crazy quilt die with those. I mostly used fat quarters, but there were also some half yard cuts in there. Anything leftover from those fabrics I cut into 2.5" strips, and if I didn't have enough for a 2.5" strip I cut a 2" strip or stuck it in with my strings. I didn't end up with many 2" strips, so those will go into the scrap user system. 

I did end up with a bunch of 2.5" strips though, so now I'll be sub-cutting those for another quilt. I already pulled out those coordinating fabrics, why waste that work when I know they will work together to make a nice quilt? I already know which quilt pattern I'll be cutting, and when I'm done cutting that pattern. I'll evaluate how many strips I have left. If it's enough for a third quilt with the same fabrics I'll cut another one, if not, at that point it will go into my Scrap User System. 

Karen Brown of Just Get It Done Quilts calls these type of quilts After Quilts, and she usually uses them to back the first quilt. I prefer to make other quilt tops with the leftovers, and use yardage for the backings, although if I'm a bit short of backing fabric I don't mind making rows of scraps to add to the middle of backing to make it wider or taller. 

I realized I've been working this way for the last couple of years, without thinking much about it. I ended up with a bunch of purple/blue/green quilts because I was requested to make a couple of those, and I ended up with so many scraps of those colors I just kept using that color scheme in my scrap quilts to use them up. This past summer I did the same with orange/red/black quilts. When I'm working on the last one or two quilts in whatever color scheme I've been working on, I'm usually adding to the scraps from my scrap user system, because by then the scraps are pretty picked over. That keep me interested in the projects by adding new scraps to the mix, even if I'm tired of the color scheme. If you keep most of your quilts, this way of working would not work well for you. If, however, you are like me and give away or sell most of your quilts, this method of working might suit you just fine. If I'm donating quilts, they'll likely go to unrelated recipients, so what difference does it make if the quilts are made with the same fabrics or color scheme? 

This method of making quilts until you are out of fabrics is especially helpful when I'm trying to bust a category of fabrics. A great example of that is the space fabrics above. I had one grandson that wanted a space quilt. I bought a bunch of space fabrics unsure of which direction I was going for the quilt. Now that that quilt is finished, I have a bunch of leftover space fabric, plus I have two space book panels I got in a bag of fabric at a thrift shop. Some of the fabrics are quite realistic and appropriate for teens or adults, and others are more juvenile like the book panels. Because most of the fabrics are large scale, I took all the more realistic fabrics and prepped them to be cut with the Take Five die which has large pieces and won't chop up the fabrics too much. The strips I cut from the leftovers, I'll use for framing the page blocks, or piece blocks to use with the fabric pages from the book panel, along with adding in the juvenile prints I set aside to use with the book panels. I'll end up with several space quilts, busting the entire category of fabrics, and have some fun donation quilts! Very little will be added to the scrap user system at the end. 

The first clue of Bonnie Hunter's Indigo Way mystery went live today, and I've got my fabrics prepped.

I changed up her colors as usual, and I'm going scrappy on my teals. I pressed my dark teals and light teals. My "neutral" is purple and coming straight off the bolt. My red is peach, and I have yardage of it. 

I'm thinking of using Bonnie's colors in a second quilt made with men's shirts. I've got to do some digging in totes for a deadline quilt that needs to be cut, so I'll decide when I get to the tote with men's shirts in it. If it looks like I have enough in Bonnie's colors, I'll do two mystery quilts. I am not worried about keeping up, I'll download the clue's as they come out. If I can keep up, that's great, if not, that's OK too. I still haven't quilted last year's mystery quilt! 

I was originally planning to baste a bunch of quilts in December, and I may baste a couple, but overall I've changed my mind to cutting out several projects I plan on making next year. I've got some empty project boxes, and if I get the quilts cut out I can easily use them as leader/ender projects throughout 2024. 

Scooter Rally Wore Me Out!

This has been a sloooooowww week! I'm still tired from everything I did last week! I had a ton of little jobs to do last week, along with the big stuff, and a few last minute projects we added. 

We like to add personalized stuff to the rally bags, and this year was no exception. 

DD#1's family made these awesome wooden ornaments for the rally. They have a fancy laser etcher engraver printer, and they were nice enough to make an ornament to go in every rally bag. 

We made custom candy bar wrappers to put around Hershey bars.

 

One of the last minute projects was something I was calling a MacGyver kit. DH wanted to put zip ties in the rally bags, but he was trying to think of a fun way to add them. I suggested adding some duct tape as well, and the idea took flight. We decided to add a glow stick and a piece of bubble gum too, because if you're trying to fix something on the fly, you never know, gum might come in handy. Since the theme of the rally was steampunk, I decided to design an old time medicine label for the kit.

Why Dr. Herringbone? Well, I had been looking at a bunch of images of herringbone quilts the day prior, and doctor names with body parts in them is just funny to me. We stuck the label and items in a small baggie, and they were a big hit. 

This is how the table toppers and centerpieces looked on the tables. 

My sister had made enough of these centerpieces to put one on each table. For the dinner we added a LED votive candle inside. My sister is the Queen of Upcycling. The containers are Crystal Light containers. The robots and animals are made from used wine corks and misc. electric pieces. Every robot and animal was different. The roses that totally look like leather, are made from toilet paper tubes! She has such incredible talent, and works in a completely different creative wheelhouse than I do.

My sister also made a ton of steampunk accessories for the photo booth had.

This is DD#2 and family, they were a huge help for many parts of the rally.

Here is DD#2 with Mr. Z, our oldest grandchild. We borrowed him for a good part of the week as a helper.

These are some of my "adopted" family. Not legally adopted, just adopted in our hearts and they come to most family events. 

Here are DH and I dressed in our steampunk costumes. My sister made most of our accessories as well, not all, but most. 

Besides the rally bags, and running registration and just making sure things ran smoothly, we made a meal to feed everyone Saturday night. DH smoked brisket and pulled pork. I made baked beans, pasta salad, and homemade rolls, which we served with a huge vegetable tray. For dessert I made some vegan GF apple butter-oat bars, and DD#2 made so many mini cupcakes!

I'm not sure why but I only have photos of two of the three kinds she made. She loves making up cupcake flavors, and for the rally she made Smoked Bourbon Butterscotch, Lavender Earl Grey with Blackberry Buttercream, and Coffee cupcakes with Cookie Buttercream. My personal favorite was the coffee cupcakes, but I run on caffeine so it had a definite advantage 😉

We had lots of food left over, so I gave all of my helpers food to take home. 

DH and I are holding up the quilt with the winner of it. That's Erin from Sikk Scooters in Los Angeles, and now the quilt I made is hanging in their scooter shop. We raised $981 for the local food bank!

Mostly this week has been a rest week. I did finish quilt Mr. LJ's quilt this morning, and I need to get it bound and washed before his birthday party on Sunday. Quilting his quilt is the only sewing I've done this week. 

I did pull some fabrics with Bonnie Hunter's mystery in mind. Her colors will work great with men's shirts, and that's still in my mind, but I prefer using different colors to hers. 

I'm thinking the solid purple as my background, the dark and light teals as my blues, and the peach instead of red. I'm only going scrappy on the teals. I debated not going scrappy at all, and these were my choices for that.

I'm still not 100% decided. I'm not sure if I'll even do it at all. I'll decide when I see the first the clue on the 24th. My right arm is just eaten up with tendonitis right now, but I can usually cut Bonnie's quilts with my Studio cutter. Rotary cutting and FMQ is hardest on my arm. Most of the next quilts in the queue can be cut with my Studio cutter, which I can easily do with my left arm. Piecing doesn't really aggravate my arm much, so as long as I can do a minimal amount of cutting and take a break from FMQ, I should heal up. It's really a matter of icing it several times a day and cutting way back on activity with that arm to get the inflammation down. My sewing and cutting rooms are a mess, so spending some time tidying up is a good use of time, as well as cleaning out my computer. Google keeps telling me I'm out of space for photos, so it's time to cull the ones I don't want anymore, and that always takes much longer than I expect! I can press fabric left handed, so I'm thinking getting myself a few projects cut out with the Studio cutter will make for a good start on 2024 goals. 

It's Been a Very Busy Week!

 Next week I won't be doing any sewing at all. DH's scooter rally starts on Thursday the 9th, and I'll be busy all week getting ready for that. I have rally bags to fill, cookies to bake for said rally bags, plus DH and I are cooking all the food for Saturday evening's dinner. We are borrowing our oldest grandson to help us, plus DD#2 will be making cupcakes for the dinner and helping where she can. Yeah, definitely no sewing next week, and no blogging either, I simply won't have time.

This week I have been prioritizing what needs to be finished before the rally, and what I just wanted done before the rally. 

The table toppers I've been working on I need for the rally, so those came first.

Here are 4 of the 7 I made. The other 3 are duplicates of ones shown here. Two of the table toppers have another block in the center, like the one in the lower left. I only did that because I ran out of the fabrics I used as the setting triangles. 

Mr LJ is getting a quilt for his birthday which is this month, so I needed to get his quilt top done and basted before the rally. I'll have enough time to quilt it after the rally, so the fact I got it to that point is a win. Since I did get that done, I also basted the Christmas quilt for ME!!! Once it's basted, I can work it in pretty easily. No pics of either of those.

I finally got the binding on this 64 patch quilt. If you count the 7 table toppers as one finish, the 64 patch makes my 25th finish of the year, if you count the table toppers separately, it's finish number 31. How do you count smaller projects?

I had been assembling stacks of UFO blocks into rows while I was working on my last few projects. This week I decided it was time to sew those rows to each other and get some finished quilt tops. I thought I had rows for 5 quilts, but it turns out I had rows for 7 quilts! I sewed up the last quilt top yesterday, and pressed the last seams this morning. I was in a hurry so I didn't take time to take photos of all of those. I do, however, have photos of them on my design wall, so here they are before they were sewn together. 

Those three are all the same pattern, but different colors of sashing. I made the 16 patches last year as leader/enders, and these three quilts used 240 of them. The sashing for all three quilts were scraps from widebacks. Those 108" long scraps can really add up!

I made the blocks for this quilt last year as well. I was busting some batiks that were leftover from DD#2's pineapple quilt. 

I could have made a queen/king out of these blocks, but I opted to make two throws for donation instead. They are the same blocks, I just oriented one differently to the other when putting it up on the design wall.

This quilt and the previous two were made from the epic fabric birthday cake my sister gave me last year! Some of my scraps are added in as well. The first two of the bright quilts are Carolina Chain blocks, and the third one is Bonnie Hunter's leader/ender challenge from 2022, Triple Treat. 

Besides getting seven quilt tops sewn together, well eight really, since I sewed together Mr. LJ's quilt this week too, I also got caught up on the temperature quilt, so October's column is done. I also did October's blocks for the murder mystery quilt.

November's blocks come out next week, but they will have to wait until after the rally. 

I only have one more sewing goal for this week.

I need to finish appliqueing these gears onto this vest fo the grandson that's helping with the rally. I've only got the brown ones sewn in place, the others are just lightly fused. Fusible doesn't like sticking to whatever this vest is made from. Once this is done, it's all about the rally until November 12th. The rally will still be going on the 12th, but my part ends the night of the 11th, so aside from putting massive amounts of stuff away, and cleaning up any dishes left from the night before, I can start back to sewing if I'm up for it on the 12th. Come to think about it, it will probably be the 13th, a rest day may be needed!