December OMG Bonnie Hunter Mystery 2017-18

My goal this month was to participate in Bonnie Hunter's Mystery On Ringo Lake.  I am having a gay ole' time piecing the units.  I even have a box of bonus teeny half square triangles to use at some point.  This month I have been busy.  I deconstructed a quilt that had been started by my sister and never finished. She had started free motion quilting this quilt and gave up on it at some point. She has decided that quilting is not for her and gifted my sister Paula and I with her quilting stuff. 

The UFO was a wonderful find.  The first thing I did was to take out the free motion quilting and take the layers apart.  I replaced the light backing to the right of the batting with a gold homespun. go I think the light fabric would show all my quilting mistakes so I went with a darker fabric that would match dark gold thread that I will use for quilting.

I took all the  blocks apart.

Then I sliver trimmed them to a uniform size using my half square triangle Bloc Loc ruler.  A tool that was not available to my sister when she was making this quilt.

I have stabilized the quilt using some water soluble thread which I ditch stitched on the seam lines.

You can see some of my quilting that I have done so far.  I am using Gina Perkes Mastery Ruler Series to quilt this quilt. This 10 month program teaches you how to use quilting rulers.  I am quilting on my Bernina with my #72 ruler foot and Gina Perkers rulers.

This quilt has another red border that I have yet to attach.  This has been a great learning experience.  I am enjoying this UFO project.  I need to finish it because Bonnie Hunter just posted a part 7 the day after part 6 was posted.  I need to get piecing.

I want to take a moment to thank Elm Street Quilts for hosting OMG.  The place to be to help you get your quilting life in order.  

On Ringo Lake Interleaved with Garlic Knots

Here is my progress thus far.  I am using my BlocLoc Flying Geese Ruler.  I ordered the Simple Folded Corners Ruler but it has yet to arrive.  While I am making my units for On Ringo Lake I am stitching together 2 inch squares for Leaders and Enders.  I laid out a Garlic Knots Block and grab pairs of patches as I go.

I am using the INTERLEAVE CONSTRUCTION to make good use of my scrap box.

After I made my first few Garlic Knots......

 I went through my scarp box to find sextets of 2 inch square scraps.  Once done I went back to select a companionable duet to complement the sextets.  I emptied most of my 2 inch section.

I used those fabulous 1/4 inch clips to keep the patches together.  Some of the patches or more traditional looking and the others are bolder.  Not sure if they all belong in the same quilt.

   Meanwhile my sister is coaching me via email about value and construction.  It is so much fun to quilt together if we are doing it long distance.

Here are my bonus itty bitty half square triangles from the corners of the flying geese.  I wonder what this will be? Come join the fun at On Ringo Lake Mystery and link up your progress.  My OMG for this month is to keep up with the clues for Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt. Come on over to Elm Street Quilts and join us by monthly goals for our quilting projects.  See what the others have accomplished.

On Ringo Lake Mystery Clue#1

 I got off to a slow start because I was traveling at the outset of Bonnie Hunter's new Mystery Quilt.  I decided that I wanted to use just one sewing machine so that my quarter inch seam would be more consistent,  My sister Paula completed last year's mystery En Provence.  She learned many skills through this process and encouraged me to join the fun this year.  I am looking forward to the experience. After Clue #2 was released I was on a mission to catch up.  My sister Deborah came for a visit with mom this week.  I spent the morning preparing Sesame Chicken in my vertical chicken cooker from Treasures in Earthen Vessels.

 It was overbrowned but but still delicious.  I roasted fennel, carrots, onions and red peppers with the hen.

Then I got to work on my nine patches.  Today I start on Clue #2.  I was hoping my Simple Folded Corners Ruler would come in the mail before I started.  I need to make a passel of flying geese. So far I have only used scraps from my scrap box.   When I finish a project, I cut the leftovers up into 2 inch, 2.5 inch, 3.5 inch, 4 inch, 5 inch, 6.5 inch and 10 inch squares and put them in my scrap box using my Accuquilt die cutter.  

My On Ringo Lake- A Quiltville Mystery

 My plan is to use all stash fabrics for this quilt.  I will go through my scrap box as well to increase the variety of fabrics.  Plus it always feels good to empty a scrap box,

I went to Lowes to get the Paint Chips to help with my fabric collection.  The neutrals are very, very, very light.  I think I will use my white with black little figures along with some other lights.  I have 3 yards of a Hoffman brown with red apples that I thought I would use for the backing. I will use some of it for the front as well.

Next I looked for the melons and salmons and the aqua and turquoise fabrics. I went through my hand dyes and found some good candidates.

I found some Lava thread that I might use to quilt the top when it is done.  I have some fabrics that have both the blues and the melons.  One is of a bunch of quilt ladies.

I also have a jolly bar and two charm packs and a fat eighth bundle with some good choices.  I am looking forward to doing this mystery quilt with my sister.

CoCheco Quilt Show 2017

I recently read a blog post by Frieda Anderson who urged people to support their local quilt shows.  She was urging people to make it to the IQF in light of the recent troubles caused by the hurricane.  I then read a an email from a local guild member alerting me to a show in Rochester NH sponsored by the Cocheco Quilt Guild.  I had to check it out.  My mother came with me because she thought she would enjoy the drive.  While I went into the show, she  amused herself by reading in the car.  I really enjoyed the show.

At the entrance was a car with a quilted cover that came from the New England Quilt Museum  that greeted you to the show.  Hung behind the individuals collecting your entrance fees was a Dear Jane quilt.  I walked around the perimeter to decide upon a strategy for viewing the show. The vendors were set around the perimeter.  The show had a number of exhibits alongside the quilts.  There were  exhibits of Challenge Quilts.  One was  based on a Robert Frost poem.,

There was a Special Exhibit.

This included a display of the artifacts of quilters other creative talents.  On display were some mystery novels from a quilter whose day job was writing mystery novels.  Such a talent pool. 

There were several Meet the Quilter displays which included an autobiographical message.

Their creations were on display.  This quilter participated in several quilting adventures including a quilt across America and several trips to Hawaii.  It was great to see the inspirations for the quilts on display.
There were a number of scrap quilts.  I recognized this rendition of Bonnie Hunter's recent Mystery quilt En Provence.

There was a hugs and kisses little bow tie scrap quilt.

And one made from small 4 patches set on point.  I keep looking at the scrap quilts thinking I just do not have enough lights to make it work.

There were a several wool applique quilts.  There was one wool on wool.

But most were wool on cotton. This one was from a pattern that I had longed to do.

 

 This one I admired because I am working on a wool project myself.  My circle flowers are just randomly placed.  She used clumps of color families that I quite liked.

I took close ups of the stitching that I might use as a reference.  I should print them off as a collection and put them with my embroidery books.

This quilt was made to acknowledge the fact that the quilter and spouse had climbed all the mountains of NH (I'm guessing they were a certain height category.) Each mountain is embroidered with its name.

 I remember watching a Fons and Porter episode demonstrating a wagon wheel pattern like this one,

This quilt is a Karen K Stone paper pieced quilt that was made from flannels.  I have inherited a bunch of homespun and flannels and thought I may do this.

There was a Civil War inspired Row by Row with hand written messages.  I quite like quilts with writing.

 I need to seek out more local quilt shows to support.  It is worth the effort.