Good Fortune Clue # 5 and other Quilty Progress this Week

    It is time to link up to Bonnie Hunter's Monday Linky Party.   check it out here!

     This last week,  I finished all of clue # 5.  Finished trimming and pressing the remainder of clue #3,  cut the rest of what I needed for clue # 2,  and cut more little squares for clue # 1.  I was then able to get all the rest of clues #1 and # 2 sewn, pressed and counted.  I am officially caught up on the mystery clues!  Yeah!  Probably won't happen again next week, because we will be gone for 5 days this next week.  

    I made a couple more pillow cases for the boys next door who love baseball.   

    I also worked on Jamestown Landing this last week.  It's all assembled and is now a complete top.   I'm hoping to get this one quilted early this winter,  so I can enter it in our quilt show in March.  

      Merry Christmas!   We keep things pretty simple here at our house.  We do a tree and a few outdoor lights,  but gifts are kept to a very few.  (We do gifts for our grandkids and a little something for our neighbor boys.)   I even cut way back on cards this year.   Mike and I haven't really exchanged gifts for over 10 years.  We are so blessed!  If there is something either one of us really and truly wants,  we discuss, then decide.  We don't buy on credit,  and try to find good buys on what we do get.  We are not afraid to buy good used items either.    This all means that we can concentrate on the true meaning of the season which is  the birth of Jesus and quality time with family and friends.   

Good Fortune Mystery Clue # 4

     I am linking this post to the Linky party for Bonnie Hunter's mystery. 

      Click here to check out everyone's progress

     Clue # 4 of Bonnie Hunter's Good Fortune Mystery is string piecing!   I love string piecing for many reasons.  

     First, it is like Zen to just pick a string and stitch it to the one already stitched in place.  

    Second,  it's done with thin pieces that would otherwise be unused by most of us.   For me, my strings are generally the narrow strips that I cut to even off a piece of fabric before measuring concise strips.  They may be wonky and  have some frayed edges.  Sometimes, strings are the last amount left on a cut of fabric that is too narrow to be used in block components.  

     Third, the variety and texture found in string blocks can span decades of time and  many genres of fabrics such as novelty prints, tone on tone textures, geometric, floral, solids, reproduction and modern.  

     I sorted my pinkish strings to find the ones that were in the shades of pinks that I had already picked for my color palette.    The basket is full of my choices.   I didn't have as many strings in my string stash that were in this color range,  so  I added by cutting the first cut off of my  pressed pinks that may be used later.    

 I only wish I had needed to make more!    Here are some of my blocks: 

     There is a lot of history in these prints.  Some have been lurking in my stash for 10 years or more.  Others are newer additions,  and some are even one-off strings that have been gifted to me by other quilters.  

     I can't wait to see what clue # 5 has in store for us this week. 

      In other quilty pursuits this last week,  I am nearly finished with clue 3.  I have 30 units left to trim and press and then I'll be done!   Yeah!  I also finished stitching the clue 1 and clue 2 pieces that I had cut to use as leaders and enders.    I need to cut and prep more of each clue, but I am over the 1/2 way on clue 1  and about 75% done with clue 2.  Progress at any pace is progress, right?  

     I've been working on Jamestown Landing as my main project, and have webbed 3 of 5 columns for the center of the top.    Had to stitch more Half-Square triangles into the Broken Dishes blocks before webbing the rest.  Those are now stitched and ready to press.  

    I also took the time to stitch some Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers pillow cases for a gift exchange this week.  They stitch up quickly and I had the fabric prepped and left over from  when I helped my students make pillow cases 2 years ago at school.  That was a really fun project that involved more of my male students than females.  They really enjoyed using the machines. 

    One of my biggest accomplishments this week was hemming a pair of jeans for my hubby!  Somehow, mending is not at the top of my list of things to do for fun,  but occasionally it's necessity. 

I also made 4 little cosmetic size bags from a mini charm square pack that was given to me as a challenge last year at Christmas by a quilting sister.  The snag was that we were each to use the charm pack before this Christmas.   Well,  dinner was last night, so I waited until 3 days before the deadline to get started.    It was serendipity that the charm pack was a shabby chic Paris type of print,  and that I had participated in a rose fabric swap several years ago, and just happened to have batting scraps,  some fabric that would coordinate and  even zippers here at home.  SCORE!  

Good Fortune Mystery Clue #3

     It is week three of Bonnie Hunter's  "Good Fortune Mystery".   I'm linking up to Bonnie's Linky Party here:   Linky party week 3

Warm Winter Wishes Quilt  

     I did get "Warm Winter Wishes" quilted this last week.  I love the way it turned out.  This was quilt #10 that I've moved from the  "to be Quilted" pile to the "done".  I still have at least 10 in that pile, but I had promised myself that  I would not work on piecing anything else until I had finished 10 of those  "tops waiting for some quilty love".    It feels so good to reach this milestone.  

    So having reached the completion of #10,  I am able to bring out the next chapters....  I've been working on "Jamestown Landing" in greens rather than blues,  a Bonnie Hunter quilt for nearly 2 years now, a leaders and enders to get the mountain of 840 half square triangles done.    My plan of attack is to work on Jamestown landing, while doing the current mystery, "Good Fortune" as leaders and enders.   

This is the final batch! 

My project box....  string pieces done.... 

Getting started on the Triangles  

This is Jamestown Landing in Blues... 

This one isn't mine,  but it's the same color... greens and neutrals 

     Mystery Progress?   I am about 60% done with Clue #1   10% done with clue #2  and 40% done with clue #3.   All pieces are cut for both clues 2 and 3.  I'm working clue #1 from the little squares in my Scrap Users System rather than from strip sets.  

Clue #3   First Test blocks 

   I posted my color choices here.... Click here for blog post

   

Good Fortune Mystery Step 2

     I'm still working on that list of UFO;s.   Got my guild obligations done for the month.  Now I'm working on quilting, the 10th of the 10 tops i promised myself I was going to finish before delving into Good Fortune  with earnst. 

     I did spend some time last week checking my strip bins and  ironing and stacking my fabrics that I plan to use when I get to that point.  (Hey, I had the iron on. LOL.)   

     I got another 5% of step one done as Leaders and Enders... over the last week,  and I couldn't help myself from cutting some triangles when I discovered some strips that were already cut in the colors I'm using.   I still had the iron out, along with the spray starch, and cut what I could for step 2.  I stitched up a handful, (about 5%) and pressed them to check my accuracy.   They will also be used as Leaders and Enders as I work on Jamestown Landing when I'm done with the quilting foot. 

My steps 1 and step 2 playing together for a brief moment.

This is "Warm Winter Wishes".    It is quilt number 10 that I'm finishing.   This was a Row Robin on the internet with my Quilting Sisters.    I chose the theme,  and did the applique row with the houses,  the checkerboard rows, and the piano key borders.    The other rows were done by members of the group.  

     I also pieced and attached the borders to the following QOV I was working on on our Sew Day.   Some other sewists completed the center portion,  but I was assigned the borders.   I struggled with the crowded space I was using, and decided to bring it home and finish it in a day, rather than over the next 5 months.      The pattern is called "Hurrah"  by Minnick and Simspon.  

I am linking up to Bonnie Hunter's Linky party for step 2.   Bonnie's Linky Party Week 2