The Good Fortune Mystery Quilt

I have made a million of these four patches.  Augh!  I made my allotment and then I made 88 for Charlene to get her started.  I also made 20 more than I needed because I know I couldn't have made them all correctly.

Ya know?












There is a lot of detritus when you make this many four patches that need trimming to the correct size.

 This was the Floor Supervisor making sure I didn't take too many breaks.  Can't be slacking, can we?  Got deadlines to meet.

Next clue came out on Friday last.  So we are already behind production.











 Every one will tell you there are no Quilt Police.  But there really is.  Here is one lady looking over the stack of four patches. She has a very critical eye and passed on an evaluation to the Production Manager.

The Production Manager stood by for a while and watched me work on some strips.  I got called to the office because it seems my quarter inch is not so perfect.


He had the following video as proof.

That aside, here are my two favorite four patches.  Everyone has favorites, right?  

Down Under Mystery

I am off to court this morning to testify for CAAWS in the case where that guy tossed the dog over our fence, spiking him to the cement below.  He did this rather than open the gate or place him over the 4 foot fence.  I guess that is better than shooting him.  Luckily the dog was young and not hurt.  He is being charged with cruelty to animals but has chosen to fight it.  We shall see.

If you want to follow along with the River City Mystery Quilt, you can find my instructions for the first two parts here.  I posted them but got no response from anyone so I figured no one was interested.

This is an interesting pattern, finishes about 91 x 91 so it is large.  The last three Mystery Quilts I have done were lap sizes and I thought to branch out.  This one is less traditional than the last four.  It is easy with just one size for cutting.  If you want to make it smaller you can cut 2.5 inches rather than the 3.5 inches.  I have no idea how big or small that comes out, but it can be done if you want it significantly smaller.

When you choose your fabrics, make sure you have a clear light and dark and that your print combines the two nicely but doesn't blend into any of them.  I had that happen with my first one.  The print looked quite separate when in piece good form but blended in with the light so as to disappear.  So be mindful of that.

We are in June so I can give you a few more.  If you do like this and want to continue, please let me know!

Part 1 - Choosing Fabrics can be found here

Part 2 - Cutting Your Fabrics can be found here

Part 3 - Beginning to sew

In this Part 3 you will sew strips. Since I cannot be sure exactly how many sections each of you will be able to cut from the strip sets these are estimates. Depending on the width of your fabric you may get as few as 10 sections or as many as 12. Make a 3x5 card with your three fabrics on it and label them :

Light:  (should read as a definite light and not have a large pattern)
  
Dark:  (should read as a definite dark and not have a large pattern)
   
Print:   (should be a print that has the light and dark within the design, but audition a 3.5 inch window to make sure you are getting a bit of every pattern in the square.  Don't choose a LARGE pattern, but one that can be seen in the 3.5 inch window)

To Sew the Strips

Check to make sure you are ready to sew scant 1/4 inch seam allowances. Lay the groups of strip you will sew next to your machine and sew the same pairs together in series. Then sew the 3rd strip. Press seams toward the dark fabric after sewing. Or, if the combination of strips is light and print, press toward the print fabric. I will refer to the sewn group of 3 cut strips into one group of strips as a "strip set".


1. Sew 6 strip sets of Dark-Light-Dark (D-L-D) strips. Each sewn strip set will be 40-43" long by 9.5" wide after the 3 strips are sewn. (you may need 1-1.5 more strip sets than this. You will know after cutting the sections). Remember to mix fabrics in the sets if you have several different lights and darks. Press as described above and hang the strips over a chair back or table to keep them neat. 

2. Sew 5 strip sets of Light-Dark-Light (L-D-L) strips. Remember to mix fabrics in the sets if you have several different lights and darks. 

3. Sew 4 strip sets of Dark-Print-Dark (D-P-D) strips. Remember to mix fabrics in the sets if you have several different darks

4. Sew 3 strip sets of Light-Print-Light (L-P-L) strips. Remember to mix fabrics in the sets if you have several different lights. [For Smaller Version sew 1 strip set.]

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Saturday Quilting Fun

Sounds like a magazine:  Saturday Quilting Fun - Issue 278 vol. 3 ed. 12

I guess it is sort of a magazine anyway, this blog is.  (that probably won't pass the editors!)

I am still upset about the three feet of water in my brother's house.  I cannot imagine, truly.  How there is just nothing left.  The impact of his words when he said them, We will get the skiff and go through the house to see if there is anything we can salvage.

All my pictures, my history, my life, my stuff would be gone if we had three feet of water.  I want to do something to help them, but really there is nothing.  He is not the first of my family to have water, Cousin Karen had water several years ago.  And the Northern Cousins have blizzards and snow storms to contend with.

Ok, this is supposed to be Saturday FUN!  Me and my "ever faithful companion who is never 2 steps away from me" decided we would quilt a bit on The Mystery Quilt.  It is on the frame and I chose the thread yesterday.  I actually got two whole rows done before we were called away to dinner with Press and Ann.

I was reminded of how hot it is in that dining room,  even with my bright primary color fan blowing on me.  I had purchased two of the mercury lights to replace the incandescent bulbs in the lamps attached to the frame parts.  So I changed them out.  Frank hates these new eco lights because of the danger of the mercury.  He says the disposal of them is worse than any damage to the environment and cost to the consumer from the other lights.    I just wanted a cooler burning light.

After I changed the lights, I was hungry and it is only 10 am so I ate a Morning Glory muffin.  I need to make some again, I promised Tiger to bring him some during the week.

These are like the healthiest and best things you have ever had in your mouth.  And yes, I did give you the recipe.  Click here for it again.

this time instead of vegetable oil I used coconut oil.  It is healthier and doesn't go into fat storage in your body.  I was interested in seeing what the taste would be, but there is no difference at all.  That I could taste anyway.

Try it either way.  They are worth the messy kitchen you get when you bake from scratch!

glen

Good, Better, Best Days

A good day in a quilter's life is sitting at the machine and sewing all day long, stopping only to occasionally beat a dog  for eating a pillow you have taken out of his mouth 14,000 times and threatening to send him back to CAAWS to live in a cage for the rest of his life.....but I digress.

A better day in a quilter's life is having the blocks you are sewing start looking like they are supposed to look after you have made 27,000 errors in putting the blocks together because you are not reading the directions and you think you know how to put a quilt together better than the lady who designed the stupid pattern in the first place and you spend half the day ripping something off each block you put together that morning.....but I digress.

The best day in a quilter's life is when, despite the dog and the cat fighting in the hallway and all the mistakes you made putting the blocks together, the blocks actually go together and lie flat, the seams all meet despite the many many many tiny pieces you have spent the last two days cutting and sewing and trimming.  And the quilt top is flat and even and most beautiful!  Yes, the best day!

I am sorry I can't show you the quilt, it is a guild mystery I am working on checking my directions and cannot divulge the reveal for another 8 months.  Sorry!  But it is so beautiful.  And I would never have chosen this particular designer's patterns or this particular pattern had I been looking for a quilt to make.  Now I love it.  Just shows you gotta be open to new ideas and good things will come.

I doubted my color choices immediately after I cut everything out and began to sew the block together.  But when the blocks started to live together, they blended perfectly!  This will be a fabulous mystery revealed in September.

I can't show you, sorry!

glen

 

Mystery Quilt!

I have the Mystery Quilt decided for River City.  I talked with the pattern Author yesterday and she graciously gave me permission to use her beautiful quilt pattern for the guild.  She said this was the first time anyone had asked her to do this, and we talked about how some of the other pattern authors had handled my other requests. 

I am so excited to to have this beautiful quilt as a Mystery.  Of course it will be very different from the last two. The simple blocks make a secondary pattern that will WOW everyone at the very end.  So I am pleased with my choice on this one.

Can't wait to see how it turns out?  Me either!  LOL.    And you certainly know that the pillow shown is not mine, not my type of thing,  So that is a mystery too! 

glen:  and it seems to be a requirement around my house that no dog should have four good legs.  DiNozzo went into the crate yesterday perfectly fine while I was at lunch.  Then when he came out of the crate he did not use his back leg all afternoon.  I gave him Rimadyl around 4 and he began to use it near supper time.  Can you belive this?  I told him whatever he had better not be terminal!

Sew Day for Guild Charity Quilts

Today was the second sew day for the Charity Quilts at Sassi Strippers.  7 of us gathered to cut and sort last time.  This time we sewed and cut background strips.  Jessie. Linda and I ran sewing machines, Valerie V ironed, Valerie B cut, Merline laid out the pattern.

The pattern we are using is a mystery  Valerie B found that is designed to be made for Charity Quilts.  So we are in total compliance with the rules on this one!  LOL.

We want to have these finished for the Annual Quilt Show in August at the Library.  We have not decided where the quilts will be donated yet, but we have time to figure that out later!

The pattern was easy to do but it was confusing to put together.  I ripped out several after I thought I had gotten the hang of it all.  Jessie made fun of me ripping all those blocks, then she did the SAME thing!  LOL.

We will meet again to do the next stage of sewing in a few weeks.  I took home the blocks Jessie and I made so I can put them together.  And I made Valerie V take a packet of cut out pieces so she can start to work from a pattern. 

We might make it.  We just might make it if we all give that extra effort!

Thanks, Ladies!

Orange Snowball finish!

It is easier to build a 30 story building than to talk to the insurance company.  I spent a good bit of time getting disconnected, redialing back into the system. Speaking clearly, the system must not understand Southern Louisiana Cajun.  I said "dental" and they said "substance abuse".  I said "January 17th 1954" and they said "June 21, 1915".  It was wild. 

When I finally did get where I wanted to be after the third time dialing back to the system, the Associate who answered the line (after being told I was a valued customer about 15 times) said she hates to dial in herself.  Which tells me they really don't know a lot anyway if they have to dial back in the system for their questions.

I did finish the Orange Snowball Mystery Quilt slightly before noon.  Which should be renamed Orange Sherbert With Sprinkles, I guess.   Well, not FINISH finish, they both are finished to the top stage.  I can quilt later.  And I have also placed the blue one next to it so you can see how different they really are.  It is really striking how different the same pattern looks with different fabrics.  The dark of the blue quilt actually comes forward while the "dark" orange of the other one recedes.  The orange quilt kinda blends together in its brightness.  I like both of them, but I like the blue more.

And if you look closely, you will see the same Patch No Work Quilt under both the blue and the orange.  I will finish it one day!  Really!

The Snowball Mystery Quilts will all be revealed at the River City Guild meeting this Thursday.  AND....there will be ribbons!

I will then hand out the beginnings of the 2011 Mystery I will call Lighthouse on the Bay. It will run for a year and culminate again in January 2012.  I better make the next mystery end by December 22, 2012 since that will be the end of the world anyway.

glen

Some things of importance

I really did clean up a major section of my quilt room yesterday.  And I got several blocks completed from the Great Overseas Scrap Swap.  A few.  And they are exciting.  I have an idea about what I want to do with the rest of them and it is looking very very good.  More later.

And I feel guilty that I have not spent time working on my Mystery quilt that is due NEXT WEEK!  Aughhh!  Can you hear panic about now?

Yes, that is going to be my total focus.  The completion of my mystery quilt.  I need to get that done, I must have that done.  Really I gotta do it.  So I have enough time to complete two, not one, but two quilts?  Or do I need to hire a phalanx of quilters to help? 

It is still in the same position on my design wall as when I put up a picture 3 or maybe even 4 weeks ago.  With that silly little odd block in there from the second quilt I am not near finishing.  NO!  Don't go back and look at dates, I don't want to know.......

glen:  starting tomorrow.....