Happy Sew Year!!!

I'm wishing all my friends and family a very Happy New Year .... or if it applies to you as well ... 

HAPPY SEW YEAR!!!!

Welcome 2014!!!!!

Celtic Solstice Part 5

I had great intentions of being all caught up by the time I was ready to write this post, but life just got in the way.  My hubby and I have both been off for the Holidays and spending time with him won out over doing hardcore sewing.  I did manage to make some decent progress though.  First off I want to share with you the awesome gifts that my hubby got me for Christmas.  First is this back saver:

Excuse the baggy comfy clothes ... my surgery is working.  Yay!  Now I will be able to sit at the sewing machine longer without getting the back strain that I always used to experience.  So far it seems to be helping, but I haven't done any marathon sewing yet.

I'm super excited about this cabinet!!  It's custom made and although it didn't make it here for Christmas day, this is the picture of my actual cabinet with the maker's Featherweight in it that he sent to us yesterday.  It's ready to ship and will be in the mail tomorrow!!  Hubby will do the finish on it when it gets here.  It's a replica of the actual cabinets that Singer made for the Featherweights only this one is solid wood and the originals were not. Soon my purple baby will have a sweet home!

Friday I cut out Part 5 of Celtic Solstice.  It didn't take that long once I got in a rhythm.  I'm really anxious to see how this quilt is going to all come together.

Sunday I finished Pinwheel Parade for Baby Madalynn.  I think it turned out really cute.  And if anyone decides to make this quilt based on the link I provided earlier, please note that the directions are not quite correct.  It takes 3 charm packs rather than the 2 it calls for.  You could fill in with scraps from your stash if you wanted.  I have about 18 squares left over from the third charm pack.  They will probably find their way into a pieced back for the quilt.

And just for good measure, I did assemble a few of Part 5, Celtic Solstice.  They aren't so bad to make.  I forgot to mention that I did sew some more chevrons from Part 2 on Friday.  Those pieces are my nemesis!!  I've broke the remaining parts into little baggies and will try to do one a week.  I don't know why I hate making those so bad, but I do.


Check out everyone's progress HERE on Bonnie's Blog.

Feline Friday

Today's blog post is about the love story between a Bengal Kitty named Keira and a ragged Halloween collar. 

Our youngest, Keira, has a strangely cool "Bengal Habit".  She likes to play fetch ... but it's just not with any toy, it's with a collar.  She goes nuts over her collar.  Some days I find it in the water bowl or sometimes in the food bowl.  I guess she figures it needs to be fed and watered. Sometimes it disappears for days only to reappear usually in the food bowl.  Keira even talks to her collar.  She'll meow and chirp at it.  It's a hoot! She carries it around with her and drops it at your feet when she wants attention.

Keira

Then one day our big boy Dakota stole the collar and chewed it almost in half!  It was a tragic day in the Begley household for sure.

Dakota

My crafty husband was able to mend the collar:

Then we decided that we would get a tag for Keira's collar so the dogs would know for sure it was not their toy because all dogs can read, right?

 

And of course me handling the collar and trying to take pictures of it for today's blog post drove Keira crazy and she finally just came and took it from me:

 

And that folks is the story of a Bengal Cat and her collar!

Happy Feline Friday, Y'all!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone out here in blog land.  I hope you all have a joyful holiday filled with love, laughter, and happiness!

He puzzled and puzzed till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. Maybe Christmas, he thought... doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps... means a little bit more! 

Merry Grinchmas to All!!

Celtic Sollstice Part 4

I finished Part 4 on Friday.  I love making 4 patches so I jumped right on it and knocked them all out:

As you can see, I finally ended up with red and pink together.  I like how the 4 patches look ... I just hope I like how they look in the assembled quilt!  

I managed to get all the rest of the half square triangles sewed from Part 3 as well:

I just need to sew that pile on the left into 24 more pinwheels.  I did not touch the chevrons from Part 2.  I really hate making them.  I need to get at least a few more done before the next clue comes out on Friday.

I worked some more on Pinwheel Parade too and either the pattern is wrong, or I really screwed up somewhere.  I emailed the author of the pattern and I'm waiting to hear what the verdict is.  I've got all the pinwheel half square triangles together and trimmed.  I just need to get them sewn into pinwheels. 

Plus I started on the 9 patches that will make up the border of the quilt. Just like 4 patches, I love making 9 patches too. 

I'm slowly getting caught up on Bonnie's mystery.  I've seen some "guesses" on Facebook as to what the blocks/quilt may look like.  So far I've liked everything I've seen. 

Check out every one else's progress HERE.

Celtic Solstice Part 3

This mystery is kicking my butt!!  I can't seem to get caught up on the steps.  Friday I went ahead and cut Part 3 using the Easy Angle Ruler:

I'm still sewing Part 2.  I don't think I'm even half way done with it.  It's become very time consuming.  Here's the few I've gotten done and the one "test" block from Part 3.  They are already bagged waiting for the the rest of their mates:

The pile of chevron parts just doesn't seem to be shrinking at all:

I have to admit ... I'm growing tired of marking those little squares for the chevrons.  I think that's why I've only been doing a few at a time.  As a matter of fact today I stopped and started chain piecing the half square triangles for Part 3:

I'd say I'm about half way through my bag of these little babies.  Then I got sidetracked by this cute little block:

This is the first block in a quilt called "Pinwheel Parade".  This is going to be a baby blanket for my friend, Susan's baby, Madalynn.  Pinwheel Parade is a free pattern from Jo's Country Junction. You can find it HERE if you are interested.  It's a cute little quilt made with two charm packs. This baby will have plenty of blankets!  She is surrounded by quilters, crocheters, and knitters!!  

So this week I'll be doing a little more of this:

And hopefully by the time Bonnie posts Part 4 on Friday I'll at least have either Part 2 or Part 3 done. I'd much rather only be one part behind than two .... but we'll see. 

Check out everyone else's progress HERE on Bonnie's Blog.

Celtic Solstice Part 2

I didn't get as much done last week as I anticipated.  As usual my energy isn't up to par yet from the anesthesia. I always have good intentions of recovering faster, but my body isn't so cooperative.  So Friday morning I got up and cut Part 2 of Celtic Solstice:

As you can see, I opted to stay with the red and not switch to black.  I'm hoping it works out.  Keep your fingers crossed for me! And as usual, I couldn't resist sewing a few to see how they turned out:

Saturday evening my husband and I slipped out to Walmart to buy a 2' Christmas Tree.  We have a very nice tree already, but our Bengal cats have reached their terrible twos! They are chewing on everything in sight including cords.  So for the safety of the kitties this year we decided to put a tree up well out of reach on top of our entertainment center:

It's kind of cute if I do say so myself!  It will do for this year.  And I'm sure it's only a matter of time until the terror twins figure out how to get up to it! I'm not sure where this twinkle picture came from or how it was made.  It's not on my phone and it just showed up when I uploaded my picture to Google+ to use here in the blog.  I'm not complaining though .... I think it's pretty cool! My tree doesn't really sparkle like that ... I kind of wish it did!!

Sunday I set out to get Part One of Celtic Solstice done and I almost did minus 16 pink triangle in squares.  Apparently I miscounted when I cut the green last week.  I'll cut the other 16 sets of green sometime this week and put the last 16 together so I can move on to Part 2.

That's about it for this week. I have a feeling I may not get caught up on this mystery until I'm off at Christmas but that's OK.  You can check out everyone's progress (HERE) on Bonnie's blog.

Until next time .... Just keep sewing, just keep sewing!

Feline Friday

Dear Santa, 

Please bring me about a 1000 2000 more of these fuzzy, springy things!  These are the best toys EVER!!!!  I've been a very good kitty this year as always.

                                                                                      Love,

                                                                                          Neela

HAPPY FELINE FRIDAY, Y'ALL!!

Celtic Solstice Part 1

Apparently some people have been complaining about Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt. I think that is ungrateful.  Bonnie offers us (her fans and followers) a FREE quilt pattern every year.  And some people don't want to print so many pages ... or don't want to use a specific ruler ... don't want to paper piece ... etc, etc.  I think the solution to their dilemma is simple .... just don't participate.  They should be thankful that Bonnie does this for no charge to us. One of my other favorite quilters is charging in excess of $100 to participate in her mystery.  That's a chunk of change and no that does not include fabric.  Bonnie is beyond generous!

I've always found that Bonnie recommends the tools we need to assemble the quilt in the easiest way possible. I've enjoyed the two mysteries of hers that I've done so far and expect this one to be just as fun!  I say thank you, Bonnie Hunter, for sharing this pattern so generously with us! 

Enough of that though .... let's get down to the reason we are here:  Celtic Solstice!!

Earlier I posted a picture of the fabrics I had chosen:

I had decided to substitute the Red for Blue and Pink for Orange.   Then Part One of the mystery came out and I had a dilemma.  With my substitutions, I was going to end up with Pink and Red Triangles in a Squares.  I wasn't sure I was going to like that.

So I decided to use the Green for the Blue.  I may or may not use the Red for the Green.  I'll make that decision when parts come out that call for the Green.  The Red may turn into Black.  I'll just have to see when the time gets here.  Input is welcome.  Comment below for suggestions!

So today I cut all the pieces for the small version of the quilt:

And I couldn't resist and had to sew a few "test" squares:

Only 178 more to go!!  I'm going to try to sew a few each night this week.  I'd like to have them all done before the next clue on Friday, but I'm not going to stress if it doesn't happen.  I did so good last year keeping up with each step with Easy Street.  Now if I could just sew the borders on, I could call Easy Street finished!  The easiest part is holding me up! 

Hope everyone is having fun with this!  I know I am!

Check out everyone's progress HERE!!