First Finishes for 2016

Jamestown Landing - Bonnie Hunter design

Celtic Solstice - another Bonnie Hunter design

Each of these was a couple of years in the making, and I'm glad to add them to the finished pile!

Happy New Year!

Ahhh....one last day of holidays to relax before heading back to work tomorrow.

I took some time this morning to get the bindings of these two quilts - - both of them are Bonnie Hunter designs -- stitched to the front.  I believe I'll spend the rest of the day with my feet up hand sewing the bindings to the back.

Jamestown Landing and Celtic Solstice

This week has been particularly busy, as we traveled to Newfoundland to ring in the New Year and celebrate the wedding of our oldest son.  Sailor Boy lives in Halifax, but his new wife was born and raised on The Rock. 

Itty Bitty and Sailor Boy

The wedding was held indoors, of course, but a lot of the photos were taken outside, with the added bonus of "natural confetti" falling from the sky.

This was our first visit to Newfoundland. We met some of the warmest, kindest people while we were there - - although we could have used an interpreter to understand that Newfie accent!

Weird Weather Walk

Took a break from finishing Celtic Solstice today to get some fresh air and exercise.

Like most places in N. America, we too have been experiencing record cold temperatures this past week.  Well, Mother Nature has decided it's time for the annual January Thaw today.  It's foggy, it's slightly misty, but Hubby and I agreed to take a walk (this is really one of the few times this month that it's been warm enough to be outside longer than a few minutes!) down to Greenwood Quiltery for the first day of their Winter Sale.

This isn't far; it's usually a 10 minute walk (just about 1 km) from our place.  Today it was absolutely treacherous! Ankle deep slush, streams of melt water, and where the sidewalks were actually clear of snow, thick ice. But we made it there and back, with each of us taking only one fall -- no injuries to report.  

The store was PACKED!  I managed to grab some fabric and get in line to check out pretty quickly.  (There had to be at minimum 60 women in that store, with two lineups for cutting, and another lineup, winding halfway up the stairs to pay!) A pair of ladies ahead of me in line recognized me as the 'shirt quilt lady' - - ah, celebrity!!!

Celtic Solstice Progress

I finished piecing and pressing the blocks - and like some other participants in this mystery, I flipped the chevrons in the B blocks to make stars.

Maybe tomorrow I'll finish it?  

I had an awesome quilty experience today.  I packed up a couple of recently finished quilts, mailing one off to a newly engaged couple, and presenting the other one to a new bride.  She was completely floored by the gift, and cried happy tears.  I was so pleased and proud.  I've let the engaged couple know that a package is on it's way, and insisted on photos of the opening!

Culling the Stash

I caught Bonnie Hunter's Quilt-Cam this afternoon for the first time in a very long time.  I managed to get this week's Celtic Solstice clue done:

I have been sorting through all the UFOs still lurking in my sewing room, and made some decision.  I got rid of about a dozen projects, given some to my sister to complete, some to the London Quilt Guild for their children's quilt program, and the rest to my old quilting group for their chemo quilt projects. 

One that I'm not ready to give up on is this:

Nearly all the blocks are done!  I am starting to think about putting it together, and finish the missing blocks as required.  While looking through the finished blocks the other day I realized that I made some of them the WRONG COLOUR!!!  ack!!!!!  Now the question is...should I remake the blocks, or just swap them out with other blocks?  Hmmm... well, as Bonnie would say, "finished is better than perfect."

Celtic Solstice Screw Up!

Yep - spent the weekend working on piecing these blocks, and the whole afternoon squaring them up.  And then went to put them away with the other blocks for this quilt, and thought "What was Bonnie thinking mixing these 4" blocks in with all the other 3" blocks?"  And the horror overcame me...I made these TOO BIG!!!! ACK!!!!!  Back to the trimming board!

Celtic Solstice - Keeping up!

Just as I thought - those pinwheels were pretty quick.  Next!

Making Some Celtic Solstice Progress

I've been a busy girl!  Too busy to do any sewing this week.

Tuesday night, I gave a lecture to the Royal City Quilters' Guild.  I was proud to have been asked, and I tried my best to be interesting.  I think it went just fine!

I haven't mentioned this earlier - - but I'm having surgery on Tuesday morning.  I'll be taking four weeks off work for recovery, so I've been working my buns off to tie up any loose ends, close as many files as possible, meet any deadlines, and train a temporary replacement.  I'm beat!  I hope my temp replacement will work as hard as I did and leave me a clean desk when I get back.

So, this weekend will be about getting some housework done (I sure won't feel like it come Tuesday!) laundry caught up, and this week's Celtic Solstice Clue.  At least it's not too challenging, and I should be able to finish it in one sitting.  Last week's clue is still on the table!  But I've got about half the blocks done.

Itty Bitty was home for a couple of nights this week - but he's gone back to school.  He has one more exam to write on Wednesday, and then he'll be home for the holiday break.  He can look after his mummy! Keep me hydrated and medicated, and roll me over every once in a while so I don't choke on my own drool. It was nice to have him even for a couple of nights.  He's a big help to us.

Celtic Solstice Started - and a little stash brag

The first clue of Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville mystery was posted yesterday.  I nearly whined, but that's against the mystery rules.  Bonnie!  Where are the HSTs?  The 4-patches?  Why...why...why these weird triangle blocks?  I don't have the special rulers, I am not fluent in Inklingo.  I drafted the block and cut out the triangles, adding 1/4" on all sides, and used these templates to cut my pieces.  I've figured out how to "eyeball" the placement correctly so the blocks turn out square and the right size.  Hm...not so bad.  And half done.

Hubby and I went out for a bit of a drive to blow the dust off us - and stopped in to a couple of thrift stores.  Check out the vintage hexie print!  It looks Christmassy with the big red poinsettia flowers, and snowflake-like geometrics-- and there's nearly 3 yards here!  I have no idea what I will do with it, but it was too fun to leave behind.

Sewing up a Storm!

It's been about 10 days since I last posted - feels like two.  

I've been sewing my little fingers to the bone trying to finish up quilts in time for my presentation to the Guelph Quilt Guild next month.  Just last week I picked up three quilts from the long arm quilter.  I have the binding and labels on two - and started on the third.  But I have MORE to go to the quilter.

I've also been doing a little bit of shopping rounding out my selection of fabrics for Bonnie Hunter's mystery that starts November 29th.  Naturally I couldn't just work out of my stash!  

Taking the Plunge

I've never done a Bonnie Hunter online mystery before, but as I started seeing more and more finished Easy Streets from last year's mystery, I told myself I wasn't going to be left out again - - I can't NOT be part of the phenomenon any longer.  I'm a little scared of the colours, but I'm all in for Celtic Solstice, and I'm going with the flow.

(image "borrowed" from Quiltville)

There is a Lowe's in the city where Itty Bitty attends university (by the way - - Midterms were last week - - who got straight A's???  Yeeeee-ah, my boy!) so I sent him to hook me up with the paint chips and told him to mail them to me immediately.  He called me tonight from the paint aisle at Lowe's.  Such a good boy.

Hopefully I will have the paint chips by the weekend, because there is a Shop Hop on Saturday - - you know I'm going to have to shop for fabric for this project!