Working on my Xmas/Winter Solstice Star quilt

This is the quilt I decided to do as the leader/ender, while working on my Purple Stars quilt.  This pattern was a mystery quilt offered by Bonnie Hunter.  She calls it Celtic Star.  You can find the directions to make it on her blog, through an electronic pattern.  

As I am doing my version in Christmas fabrics I have decided to call mine Winter Solstice Star, as there is a winter solstice which is around Christmas I believe around the 21st of December.

Here are my pieces sitting by the machine for when I need to put in a leader to get my project out of the machine to iron or sew the next piece on.  The quilt size I am making requires 200 green and red four patches.  I only have approx. 15 units so far, but ten of them were made just yesturday as leader/enders.  It doesn't take long for them to add up.

Here is a picture of one block that makes up this quilt design.  This one seems dark, but there are some lighter lime greens too, which will lighten up the blocks.  The second block also has golds, so that will also lighten up the quilt too.

So, yesterday's quilt and this quilt will be the two main ones to start off the year.  Let's see how far along I can get before having the need to switch it up.

Working on my Purple Stars quilt

From the list that I posted yesturday, you will see that I have added a whole bunch of different quilts or wall hangings.  I have decided to start my new year early.  Not that 2016 was a bad year, because it wasn't.  I am starting early, just because I can't wait!

From my list, I chose the Purple Stars quilt to start with.  I already have a fair amount of the blocks done.  Part of the reason these blocks got put aside was because I was not liking the way they were going.  I came across a pretty border fabric for this quilt, but when I put the already assembled blocks up next to it, they didn't work together.  The purple flowers in the border fabric were more on the violet side of the colour wheel and the blocks I had were more on the blue side.

So......yesturday when I took them all out, I removed all the purple fabric from the block bundles.  I pulled some violet purple out of my stash and started cutting.  I did leave some of the bluer purples in the mix to keep it interesting, but the ratio of violet blocks is now dominate.

Here is my box of block bundles ready to be sewn.  It shouldn't take me too long to get the blocks done.  I have the green and cream portion of the blocks done for all the bundles.  What I have left are the points to the purple strips and assemble the blocks in 9-patch style.

Here are a couple of blocks to show you what I am working on.  Do you see the corner unit with the three green squares?  Those are done, for all the blocks.

This is an old block.  It's been around a long time.  I came across it, while reading Bonnie Hunter's blog.  She made a quilt using these blocks called Jared Takes a Wife.  Mine may be a bit different, but not by much.  I am still working out what to do with the borders, sashing or no sashing etc.  Right now I am just concentrating on making the blocks.

Tomorrow, I will show you what I took out as my leader/ender.

My NEW top 12 priority list for 2017

1. Quilting-Lise's Dresden plate quilt (commissioned)....

2. Quilting-Sabryna's yellow nine patch quilt (family)....

3. Quilting-Spools quilt (my own)....

4. Main work-Mel's romance & roses quilt (family)....

5. Handwork-Reconstructed Dresden plate quilt (my own)....

6. Paper pieces-Xmas pineapple blossom quilt (my own)....

7. Handwork-Mini pumpkin wall hanging (my own)....

8. Leader/ender-Bonnie's mystery quilt (my own)....

9. Main work-Purple star quilt (my own)....

10. Main work-Grey, black & bright quilt (charity)....

11. Main work-Log cabin quilt from Sharon (charity)....

12. Main work-Purple & blue squares quilt from Carol (charity)....

Total number of quilts completed - 0
Total number of quilts left to be completed - 12

Completed quilts:

The only quilts that did not make the list for 2017 that did not get completed are:

-Quilting - 16-patch pinwheel quilt (gift to a friend)

-Quilting - Machine wall hanging (my own)

-Paper piece - Pineapple quilt (my own)

Final and last update on my top 12 priority list for 2016 (which turnedout to be 18 instead)

I know that there is no way to get any more of these quilts done for this year, so I am calling it my final and last update.  I am already prepping for 2017 and what I want to accomplish next year.  Wow!  Next year is actually only 2 days away.  Wow, again.  It's hard to believe.

I didn't get everything on my list done, but I am not disappointed.  I did do a lot on the list and many other things too with work, family and starting up a new business.  I accept what was accomplished as enough. It truly was a lot.  On this list there are only seven items remaining and of the seven, four of them only need to be quilted and bound.

**Progress on my top 12 list (which turned out to be 18 instead)**

Work in progress:      

7. Quilting - Spools quilt (my own)..........moved this to the quilting category

8. Main work - Mel's romance & roses quilt (family)..........moved this to the main work category
9. Quilting - 16-patch pinwheel quilt (gift to a friend)..........moved this to the quilting category
10. Handwork - Reconstructed Dresden plate quilt (my own)...........9 full blocks left to do

11. Quilting - Lise's Dresden plate quilt (family)..........waiting to be quilted

12. Quilting - Machine wall hanging (my own)..........moved this to the quilting category

13. Paper piece - Pineapple quilt (my own)..........these are put on hold for now

Total number of quilts completed - 11
Total number of quilts left to be completed - 7

Completed quilts:
1. Quilted Flo's hexagon quilt (commissioned)

14. Quilted Sabryna's 16-patch pinwheel quilt (family)

16. Reversable crazy quilt & matching doll quilt (charity)

15. Log cabin quilt (my own)
18. Small wonders quilt (charity)
17. Scrappy stripes quilt (charity)

2. Michelle's midnight flight quilt (family)

6. Jean material quilt (charity)

5. Midnight flight runway quilt (charity)
3. Quilted Lise's hexagon quilt (family)
4. Navy blue & cream quilt (my own)

Almost done the appliqué wall hanging

I am finished doing all the appliqué for this wall hanging.  Now I have to quilt it.

Yesturday, I worked on the last spool, the machine knob and pinned the bird.  Today, I finished the bird and the button holes for the button flowers.

I've already taken out my next little appliqué wall hanging that I will be working on.  It's really small at approx. 6" X 21".  My container is ready, with all the pieces, however I have to get orange thread before I can start it.  I will show it to you when I start it.

Playing with 1 1/2" squares

While I was working on the borders for the 16-patch pinwheel quilt and the Spools quilt, I took out my plastic shoe box full of 1 1/2" squares.  I started sewing them up into four patches.  I need a gazillion four patches, or so it seems when you start making them.  The quilt I have in mind will be queen size.  

As these four patches only measure 2" finished, there are many, many, many I need to make.  I am not counting how many just yet.  If I have left overs there are other quilts I want to make that also use four patches.  I have been using these as my leader/ender while working on the borders.

Here is my storage container for all my completed four patches.  Can you tell I have a fetish for jars.  All types if pretty jars, even the old mason jars, and larger cookie jars.  I mostly like the clear ones, but fat ones, skinny ones, short ones, tall ones, it doesn't matter.  I like them all.  This one, I think was meant to hold spaghetti.  That is how tall it is.  It will be interesting, maybe even motivating to see the pile of four patches climbing up, up and up.

We are getting close to the end of the year now.  I am trying to be realistic with all that I have on my list of quilts to do, from my top 12 list.  I am trying to make one last effort, to get something else done this year.  Until I can get more familiar with the longarm, I am not comfortable with doing the few quilts that are on my list waiting to be quilted.  So, I think I will try to finish the Machine Wall Hanging, at least to the quilting stage and call it a successful year of quilt completions. 

**Progress on my top 12 list (which turned out to be 18 instead)**

Work in progress:      

7. Quilting - Spools quilt (my own)..........moved this to the quilting category

8. Main work - Mel's romance & roses quilt (family)..........moved this to the main work category
9. Quilting - 16-patch pinwheel quilt (gift to a friend)..........moved this to the quilting category
10. Handwork - Reconstructed Dresden plate quilt (my own)...........9 full blocks left to do

11. Quilting - Lise's Dresden plate quilt (family)..........waiting to be quilted

12. Handwork - Machine wall hanging (my own)..........working through the appliqué pieces

13. Paper piece - Pineapple quilt (my own)..........these are put on hold for now

Total number of quilts completed - 11
Total number of quilts left to be completed - 7

Completed quilts:
1. Quilted Flo's hexagon quilt (commissioned)

14. Quilted Sabryna's 16-patch pinwheel quilt (family)

16. Reversable crazy quilt & matching doll quilt (charity)

15. Log cabin quilt (my own)
18. Small wonders quilt (charity)
17. Scrappy stripes quilt (charity)

2. Michelle's midnight flight quilt (family)

6. Jean material quilt (charity)

5. Midnight flight runway quilt (charity)
3. Quilted Lise's hexagon quilt (family)
4. Navy blue & cream quilt (my own)

Christmas gift and my daughter's Blue Ridge Beauty

I have the best daughter ever.  She only works part time while going to University to help with some spare spending money and she spent some of her spare funds on me.  Only a quilter will know how precious her Christmas gift to me is.

Even though Bonnie Hunter has been having difficulty keeping up with the extraordinary demand for her newest book Addicted to Scraps, my daughter managed to find me a copy.  She also got me all the material, which is a selection of fat quarters.  Mostly neutrals, because that is what I need.

Today, I spent most of the day trying to clean up the tornado that hit here, these past couple of days, with Christmas preparations and unwrapping the gifts.  I also washed the fat quarters, organized all the manuals for the longarm and cleared out my quilting room, which was used as the wrapping zone and the dumping ground for everything, to get it out of the way.

My room is back in order and that makes me feel good.  I am just getting ready to sit to relax for the night and read my new book.

Part of the mess in my quilting room was also my daughter's parts and pieces to construct her own quilt.  She is working on a Blue Ridge Beauty by Bonnie Hunter from her Adventures with Leaders & Enders book.  This is what she has done so far.  It is sitting on my design wall, until I need to use it.  It is coming together quickly.  She has a lot of the units done too.

She will be including all shades of blues from navy to turquoise, greens from hunter green to lime, and purples from deep to medium.  So far there is mainly blues, but some of the fabric is already cut for the greens and purples.

You know....my daughter is pretty much hooked to quilting herself.  I am starting to wonder if the Christmas gift was self serving.  She is always in my stash to make her quilts. LOL.  Just kidding, she only takes the stuff that I give her permission to use.  She knows how much I enjoy using my stash.  Though....there may be a pattern or two that she may have her eye on, in the book.....

It is time to call it a day.  I have been trying to write this post for the past 2 hours.  I started, but one of the kids needs something, and a little while later I am getting back into writing the post and hubby wants me to look at something, and on it went.  Well, it is about time that I publish this post, before something else comes up.  

I am off to dive into my new book.

My first practice piece came off the longarm

After my temporary technical issue with the quilt path (operator error), I set out to figure out some of the blocks and pantographs.  I am liking the whole thing so far.  I still need a lot of practice, but I will make the sacrifice to get as much playing time in.  I am having fun with this, now that I have figured out some things and just relaxed a bit.  I have to stop expecting perfection.  I will never get it.  It is better to have a mind frame of, do your best and strive to continue to learn some more each and every time.

This first design is a feathered wreath block design that comes with the path.  I did some outlining and some stripling around it, as I plan to take any salvageable parts of the designs and make a reversable quilt to give away to charity.  Anything that turns out half decent, I will cut into a 9" block.

This next design is a purchased pattern from Urban Elementz called Chantilly designed by Patricia Ritter & Leisha Farnsworth.  I like this one.  It is simple and I think it will work well, for a teen quilt that I have to do.  It will obviously look better when it is quilted edge to edge.

This one is very pretty.  This one will be for my own quilt that is waiting to be quilted.  This one is also a purchased edge to edge design from Urban Elementz called Pergola designed by Patricia Ritter & Tracey Russell (our very own, Tracey).  I am loving this one Tracey!

After I did these few designs, I figured I would go back and add the stippling.  I was on stitch regulator mode.  I felt that the overall feel was a bit jerky.  That was when I discovered that I prefer to do the free hand stuff in constant stitch mode, not using the stitch regulator.  The stippling was more smooth when done in constant stitch mode.  I think it has something to do with the sound of the speed going up and down that affected me.

A thought came to me.  If I preferred constant stitch mode for the free hand stuff, maybe I would like it, to do the free hand pantographs.  I know I still need a lot of practice, but the flow is better than when I was in stitch regulator mode.  This paper pantograph came with the machine.  It is called Jessie's Swirls Simplified from Digitechpatterns.com designed by Jessica Schick.

So now, after opening all the Christmas gifts, making breakfast, the kids checking out all their gifts, me having an hour to play on my Longarm, we are all off to my mom's for more gift unwrapping, time with family and friends and a large Christmas dinner finished off with everyone's favourite desserts.

I am wishing everyone a very special Christmas, however each of you chooses to spend it.  Love all around.

Finally have my longarm machine set up

I had my longarm quilting machine shipped to me on Tuesday morning.  Once I got over the initial excitement of seeing the boxes, I noticed what was written on one of them.

It reads, "CAUTION, Extreme Excitement Bundled Inside", and in little print, "Contents may cause excessive hugging, squealing, jumping and fist pumping!"   Boy, are they not kidding!  When I read it, I had to laugh.  Someone there has a sense of humor.

I couldn't do much at this time, as I had an appointment to get to, which took me the whole day.  By the time I got home I was tired......but not tired enough to at least open up the boxes.  I let out a chuckle when I saw the writing on the box again and when I opened up the box, I was greeted with a large prettying red bow.  I tell you, APQS has done a great job with packaging their product.  Their customer service throughout the whole process has been great too!

At this time of year though, I found it difficult to find the time to put this thing together.  Obviously. all the assembly was all new to me, so it took me a bit of time. Especially to identify all the different parts.  However, with assistance from Tracey at Whirls 'n Swirls Quilting in Oshawa, I was able to get everything together.  She is so helpful and goes the extra mile.

I can say that I finally have my long arm machine set up in my newly painted basement room. Yay!!!

I am still speechless when I look at it.  I still cannot believe that I finally have a longarm.  I have been reading a lot of literature on the quilt path and the machine in general.  I am so nervous, in an excited sort of way.  I told myself that I have to stop procrastinating and just jump right in, so today I am putting the quilt path stuff aside and loading up some practice material.  I know it will take some time to get up to snuff with this stuff, so I have to get started. 

I will let you know how that goes.....

Finished the top of the spools quilt

Last night was my night off from doggie duties, so after making dinner for the kids I went to relax in my quilting room.  Earlier that day I finished the borders to the 16-patch pinwheel quilt.  My excitement was still running high from that accomplishment, that I decided to keep the momentum going.

I picked up my Spools quilt and decides to do the borders for that one.  I am still trying to see how many of the quilts from my list of 12 that I can get done before the year is out.  The more I can get to the quilting stage the better.  I am content when they are ready to be quilted.  From there it is just a matter of waiting for my longarm machine and having the courage to give it a go.

The pictures do not do this border justice.  I think I need to wait for natural daylight.  The last border is actually very vibrant and it picks up all the pink and purple coloured spools.

Here is a close up of the corner.  The colours on this picture are still not true.  I am hoping that once I quilt it, I will have better lighting.

This makes another quilt, from my list, moved up to the quilting category.  Only four more quilts to work their way up.  I know they will not all make it, but I am still giving it my best attempt.

At this point, I can say with all that has been going on in my life this year, I am still very happy with my accomplishments. 11 out of 18 is not bad at all and 3 of them only need quilting.

**Progress on my top 12 list (which turned out to be 18 instead)**

Work in progress:  

7. Quilting - Spools quilt (my own)..........moved this to the quilting category

8. Main work - Mel's romance & roses quilt (family)..........moved this to the main work category
9. Quilting - 16-patch pinwheel quilt (gift to a friend)..........moved this to the quilting category
10. Handwork - Reconstructed Dresden plate quilt (my own)...........9 full blocks left to do

11. Quilting - Lise's Dresden plate quilt (family)..........waiting to be quilted

12. Handwork - Machine wall hanging (my own)..........working through the appliqué pieces

13. Paper piece - Pineapple quilt (my own)..........these are put on hold for now

Total number of quilts completed - 11
Total number of quilts left to be completed - 7

Completed quilts:
1. Quilted Flo's hexagon quilt (commissioned)

14. Quilted Sabryna's 16-patch pinwheel quilt (family)

16. Reversable crazy quilt & matching doll quilt (charity)

15. Log cabin quilt (my own)
18. Small wonders quilt (charity)
17. Scrappy stripes quilt (charity)

2. Michelle's midnight flight quilt (family)

6. Jean material quilt (charity)

5. Midnight flight runway quilt (charity)
3. Quilted Lise's hexagon quilt (family)
4. Navy blue & cream quilt (my own)

Finished the top of the 16-patch pinwheel quilt

I finished the top of the 16-patch pinwheel quilt.  I was interrupted with painting the basement where I will set up my long arm.  Yesturday, I repaired the ceiling, primed and painted it.

I had the walls painted already, but in the end my daughter and I didn't like the colour.  It's a nice colour, but not in the basement where there is not as much natural light.  It seemed a bit dull, so we went with a light grey with a touch of blue in it.

Since I finished that just after 11:00 pm last night, this morning it took a while to get going.  I was going to paint the stairway and hall leading to he basement room, however just didn't have that much energy, so instead I just washed the floors and put all the furniture back in order.

After lunch I thought I would take it easy and clean up my sewing room, by getting some odds and ends done.  One of the things I did was the borders for this quilt.  Above is a corner shot and below is a close up of the peek-a-boo and border.  Now I need the quilt it, as soon as my longarm comes in, not only because it is on my list of 12 for 2016, but also because it is a Christmas gift.  

**Progress on my top 12 list (which turned out to be 18 instead)**

Work in progress:  

7. Main work - Spools quilt (my own)..........working on the borders

8. Main work - Mel's romance & roses quilt (family)..........moved this to main work category
9. Quilting - 16-patch pinwheel quilt (gift to a friend)..........moved this to quilting category
10. Handwork - Reconstructed Dresden plate quilt (my own)...........9 full blocks left to do

11. Quilting - Lise's Dresden plate quilt (family)..........waiting to be quilted

12. Handwork - Machine wall hanging (my own)..........working through the appliqué pieces

13. Paper piece - Pineapple quilt (my own)..........these are put on hold for now

Total number of quilts completed - 11
Total number of quilts left to be completed - 7

Completed quilts:
1. Quilted Flo's hexagon quilt (commissioned)

14. Quilted Sabryna's 16-patch pinwheel quilt (family)

16. Reversable crazy quilt & matching doll quilt (charity)

15. Log cabin quilt (my own)
18. Small wonders quilt (charity)
17. Scrappy stripes quilt (charity)

2. Michelle's midnight flight quilt (family)

6. Jean material quilt (charity)

5. Midnight flight runway quilt (charity)
3. Quilted Lise's hexagon quilt (family)
4. Navy blue & cream quilt (my own)

Worked on the borders of the 16-patch pinwheel quilt

I am working on the borders of the 16-patch pinwheel quilt.  I am still hoping to have this one done for Christmas.  The one hopeful thing in reaching this goal is that we don't see the recipient until after Christmas Day, usually not until the 28th or 29th.  So....there is a chance that I may get it done by that time.  I hope!

I am putting in an orange peek-a-boo border first, a navy blue border with burnt yellow flowers that have orange centres and orange ladybugs all over.

The border versus the centre of the quilt looks a bit stark.  The contrast between the two borders and the centre are not reading as loud in person.  The colours in the picture are not true.  The centre has a lot of soft blending warm colours that blend with the orange of the first, peek-a-boo border.  In the picture though the colouring looks off.

If everything goes well, this will be the first quilt quilted on my new longarm quilting machine.  Cross your fingers.  Being that this quilt is a gift, I want it to look good.

Another section of my machine wall hanging

I did get some quilty stuff done after all.  Only because I was a passenger on the ride up, when we went Christmas tree hunting.  It's not much, as I like to look at the scenery along the way, but it is another three more pieces than I had the day before.

Do you like the spools?  Along the ride, I did one complete spool.  I also got the 1/4" seam turned and stitched for the pieces of the fourth spool, plus the body of the bird.  So, those pieces are now ready to be pinned and sewn down.

Today, I need to bake a batch of cookies for my bee meeting on Wednesday, clean up the kitchen, put up the Christmas tree to be decorated by the kids and make a run to the quilt store for some borders for a quilt I am trying to get done in time to be given as a Christmas gift.

I also need to find some time to help finish decorating the tree, put up the garland with lights out front and decorate the inside of the house.

It will be another busy day.

More drunkard's path parts

I didn't realize yesturday that it was a late night at work for me until that day.  I am starting to feel much better as time is going on.  I attribute it to the forced relaxation of getting sick.  Sometimes I just don't know when to slow down.  So, yesturday evening, I decided to use it as an excuse.  A valid excuse, but an excuse nonetheless, to sit and relax while I sew some more.

I had a chance to tune in to one of Bonnie Hunter's recent archived quilt cams.  While watching her 90 minute cam I was able to finish 62 more small units that make up the drunkard's path blocks.  That is a total of 7.5 full blocks from the two batches of units completed yesterday.

Today there may not be much more quilty stuff going on, as we are all going on a family outing.  We're going hunting for a Christmas tree.  It is always fun.  The "we" includes my family, my brother's family, my sister's family and all of her kid's family.

We head north to a tree cutting farm, go out in the fields on a horse drawn wagon, sing Christmas carols along the way, the kids run around chasing each other or when there is snow, having snowball fights.  It's a blast.  Once everyone has their trees we head for the trails to be picked up by a tractor pulled wagon to take the trees back.  Waiting back at the barn is some hot chocolate or apple cider to warm you up and some hand made crafts, candles and wood work projects if anyone is interested in buying.

When this is all done, we all descend on a small village to a small restaurant and have a family dinner before heading home to deliver all the trees.  Please note, with the gang that we have, we do give notice to the restaurant that we are coming.

By the time we actually make it home, all of my family is pooped, myself included, so we may end the day watching a Christmas movie or whatever.

Enjoy the season and what ever it may bring for you!!!

Finally got some sewing time in

I have been busy, busy, busy.  So busy that I rarely got any sewing time, in these last couple of weeks.  It took getting sick and spending the last couple of days in bed to realize that I need to slow down.  Getting sick forced my hand, but sometimes that is the only way the message gets across.  I seem to just keep going and going until I crash.

Today I am not 100% up to snuff, but I am improving.  I thought I would take it easy here before I start work at 11:00 am and get some sewing time in.  I really get into the relaxed zone when I can spend some time in my quilt room.

All I did was pick up the pieces, for a unit, of my drunkards path quilt, that was sitting beside my machine in the leader/ender box.  Sew one, and another, and another.  Before long I am in the zone and end up with 60 units with little effort.  I feel content.  Still under the weather, but content.

While lying in bed dosing in and out, various things running though my mind.  Like all the things I should or could be doing if I weren't sick.  One of the thoughts was that we are getting to the end of the year and how far alone I have come with my quilting list.

At the beginning of the year, the list seemed to be realistic and manageable.  Early in the year I got so many of the items done.  From there things started to get crazy around here and I couldn't dedicate a lot of time on my quilting.  Now as the end of the year approaches, I have to do the inventory of where I am at.

You know what?  Considering all that has happened this year, I am still amazed as to how much I was able to accomplish.  Even though my list has not been completed and more projects got added to my main list by others, I am still happy.

I still have two weeks before Christmas, to start my Christmas shopping and I have three weeks until the end of the year, to maybe knock off a couple more things off my list below.  I like a challenge!  Let's see what I can do!!  AFTER I get better, which I am hoping will be very soon.  I am not a good sick patient.

**Progress on my top 12 list (which turned out to be 18 instead)**

Work in progress:  

7. Main work - Spools quilt (my own)..........finished sewing the centre, now have to do the borders

8. Leader/ender - Mel's romance & roses quilt (family)..........moved this to leader/ender category
9. Main work - 16-patch pinwheel quilt (gift to a friend)..........finished sewing the centre
10. Handwork - Reconstructed Dresden plate quilt (my own)...........9 full blocks left to do

11. Quilting - Lise's Dresden plate quilt (family)..........waiting to be quilted

12. Handwork - Machine wall hanging (my own)..........working through the appliqué pieces

13. Paper piece - Pineapple quilt (my own)..........these are put on hold for a bit

Total number of quilts completed - 11
Total number of quilts left to be completed - 7

Completed quilts:
1. Quilted Flo's hexagon quilt (commissioned)

14. Sabryna's 16-patch pinwheel quilt (family)

16. Reversable crazy quilt & matching doll quilt (charity)

15. Log cabin quilt (my own)
18. Small wonders quilt (charity)
17. Scrappy stripes quilt (charity)

2. Michelle's midnight flight quilt (family)

6. Jean material quilt (charity)

5. Midnight flight runway quilt (charity)

3. Quilted Lise's hexagon quilt (family)

4. Navy blue & cream quilt (my own)