Grand Illusion -- The Finale

I have to say I had mixed feelings about the big reveal.  I wasn't sure I liked it.  Reluctanly, I put together a block.  I still wasn't sure.  I put it down for awhile.  When I returned to my sewing room, I decided that I would trust Bonnie and finish the quilt.  

Since I opted to do half of the units, I needed to decide how I was going to lay it out.  Bonnie's was 5 X 5.  I had 12 blocks.  I really didn't want to waste the extra blocks by going with a 3 X 3 layout so I opted to go with 3 X 4.  I ended up having to make more sashing blocks and quite a few more border blocks.  My borders were kind of wonky, but I added extra pieces to get it to work out.  I think it worked OK.  It's not perfect, but neither am I. So without further adieu, here's my Grand Illusion:

I have to say it's not something I would have picked out to make .... but now that it's together .... I really like it!  I'm pleased with my purple substitution as well.  It's a very busy quilt.  I am glad that I didn't make the full size version but it's going to be perfect as a lap quilt for myself.  It's a nice size.  Thanks to Bonnie Hunter for graciously sharing this mystery with us each year! I look forward to it each fall and it never disappoints. And she didn't lie ... this year was a lot easier than last year's Celtic Solstice.

I had very little fabric left but I did have  a big chunk of turquoise left, so I cut it up into strips for my binding.  Waste not, want not.  Other than that, there were just scraps left of the other colors and those have already been distributed into my scrap bins.  Speaking of cutting the strips for the binding, I got a new toy in the mail today from Primitive Gatherings ...

It's the creative grids Stripology ruler.  I had a June Tailor strip ruler (actually I have several different ones) but it had broke at the 1.5" mark.  My one complaint about the June Tailor rulers is that they are a bit flimsy which means you have to be very conscious of keeping your rotary cutter steady.  This new Creative Grids ruler is very sturdy and feels much more stable when cutting with it.  I know these types of rulers aren't for everyone, but I do like them and highly recommend trying the Stripology ruler if you opt to get one.

I'll link up with Bonnie's blog HERE.  Jump on over and check out all of the great Grand Illusion finishes!!

Grand Illusion Part 5

Bonnie has really been taking it easy on us.  This part was finished before my husband even got up last Friday morning!  Again though, it helps that I'm only making a half size quilt.  

Here are my units:

I opted to make 13 of the turquoise/yellow blocks and all 4 of the other unit thinking it might be used as setting squares for the border.

I'm anxious to see what this Friday brings!  Another part?  Or the big reveal??

I'm linking up with Bonnie's Blog HERE.  Jump on over and see what everyone else is doing!

Grand Illusion Part 4

Another easy week from Bonnie!  I'm hoping we are almost done because I'm about out of background fabric and last weeks clue used most of my purple (her green).  I did buy just a tad more of background over the weekend "just in case" but I did not buy more purple.  There is still plenty of turquoise and yellow left so I'm hoping the next part uses those.

Here's my Part 4:

Looks like my ironing mat has seen better days for sure!

I'm linking up with Bonnie's blog HERE.  Jump on over and see what everyone else is doing!

Grand Illusion Part 3

I'm glad this week's clue was a little easier.  I got up early Friday and got some strip sets cut and got started making units.  I sewed Part 2 in between strips.  

These went together really fast.  At one point when I was up ironing, I lost my comfy chair to Khaleesi.

She didn't move either.  I got to sit on the hard wooden stool in the background.  She's quite the supervisor.  I'm happy to report that with Khaleesi's help I was able to finish both Parts 2 and 3 (and all those bonus triangles) this weekend! 

 

I'm anxious for Part 4 this Friday.  I'm linking up with Bonnie's blog HERE on Monday.  Hop on over and check out everyone's progress!

Grand Illusion Part 2

These chevron units were my nemesis on the Celtic Solstice Mystery.  I despised each and every one I made.  So when I woke up Friday morning and looked at the new clue for Grand Illusion, I rolled over and went back to sleep!  I ended up making the units for Celtic Solstice with the Folded Corner Clipper ruler and it worked fairly well. 

 

I finally got up, made some coffee and headed to my sewing room and re-read all of Bonnie's directions.  Instead of using the ruler this time I decided to go ahead and do Bonnie's method #3 and make those bonus triangles ... because well .... I'm crazy that way.  Why crazy?  I HATE, HATE, HATE drawing lines on fabric .... and by choosing to do this method, I set myself up to draw TWO lines on each square ... not just one.  WHAT WAS I THINKING???

I began cutting ....

... and had all the pieces I needed in no time!  These colors are so not my norm.  But I think I like them.

And then there was the test block:

Success!  Apparently all that practice in Celtic Solstice paid off because my points matched up fairly well.

 

As of last night, I was only a little over half way done.  I'm also working on two quilts that are going to be Christmas presents so I'm on a tight schedule.  Anyway, here's where I am with all of my bonus triangles:

 

I should finish up with these before Friday pretty easily.  I'm linking up with Bonnie's blog HERE.  Hop on over and see how everyone else is doing!

 

Grand Illusion Part 1

It took a Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt to pull me back out into blog land.  I had no intention of actually doing this mystery because I've got too many other projects going on right now,  but a couple of weeks a ago I succumbed when someone posted a picture of their fabric choices on Facebook.  This individual substituted purple for the green.  I was immediately sold.  Everyone knows my weakness for purple.  Since I am so busy right now, I decided to only make half of the units for this quilt and to not go scrappy.  I only chose one fabric for each color category.  Just my attempt at trying to tame my madness of taking on yet another project.  Here are the fabrics I ended up with:
 

I've been waking up around 5 a.m. every morning ... a sure sign I'm getting old.  LOL  This morning was no different.  I woke up ... checked Bonnie's blog ... and lo and behold we had Part 1!  I went ahead and got up and headed to my sewing room and got started.  In no time, I had the needed pieces cut:

Now to start sewing. First I assembled a sample block.  Unfortunately this was before the confusion was cleared up on which side of the HSTs went to the inside.  I guessed wrong.  This one eventually got taken apart and re-done.

After that, I began to chain all of the HSTs I needed for my 1/2 size quilt. 

The little purple thing is the "Cutting Gizmo" by Gypsy Quilter.  I love, love, love this thing when I am chain piecing.  It holds a razor blade and you can cut the chain apart in a breeze.  Great little gadget!

In no time, I had my units done.  I hope I don't regret not doing the full size quilt, but it sure is nice finishing so early and being ready for the next clue when it comes out next week. 
 

I'm linking up with Bonnie's blog HERE. Click on over and check out everyone's progress!

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!

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!!

Tuesday Evening Quilt-Cam

Last night I treated myself to a little "Bonnie Time".  I picked up my tablet and headed to my sewing room with my Kitties and Hubby to watch Quilt-Cam and work on cutting Lazy Sunday.  Seemed like a good way to kick back and relax to me!  Hubby played a game on his phone but he was listening because I caught him laughing a couple of times at stuff Bonnie was saying.  He's a good sport and I'm lucky to have him!

I tried out the new ruler in the picture.  I'm still in search of that perfect cut.  The jury is still out on wether or not it worked better than my June Tailor strip rulers.  I guess I'll know for sure once I start sewing.  Here I'm cutting 3.5" strips to use to make Unit 1 for Lazy Sunday.  Bonnie is sewing away in the background.

I managed to get quite a few cut.  I probably won't get to sew any though until Thursday night.  That's my plan anyway to sew during Quilt-Cam Thursday.

And since the iron was nice and hot and steamy .... I decided I'd fuse my wool to this little project I started:

Old Glory Gatherings Sheep Quilt

Now I just need to do the hand stitching and decide how to quilt it.  I think it's pretty cute myself!

Busy Weekend So Far

Friday I managed to finish Susan & Greg's Memory quilt and my Therapy in Session wall hanging. I took both to Quilts by Phyllis on Saturday to be quilted.  While I was there I picked up a dark purplish red to put on my Easy Street for a first border.  Hopefully I can get it sewn on tomorrow.  My second border I believe is going to be green and teal 4-patches.  My third border I'd like to be a purple with maybe a bit of teal in it.  I'll have to see what I can find.

Here's the Therapy in Session Wall Hanging all sewn together:

I think it's really cute and can't wait to get it up on the wall in my sewing room!

 I'm not going to post any more pictures of Susan & Greg's Memory Quilt until I give it to them.  I think it turned out really nice though and can't wait to share it and lessons learned making it.

Today I cut more 2" strips of green and teal in order to get ready to make those 4-patches for my Easy Street border.  I'm not sure I'm going to have enough green actually.  It will be close!

I also whipped up two more blocks for the Modern Half Square Triangle Quilt-a-Long:

Block 11

Block 12

I've got one more day of sewing tomorrow before I go back to work again.  These long weekends are spoiling me!!  We'll see what I can get in to tomorrow in the sewing room!

Easy Street Progress Part III

Those two middle seams on Easy Street were something else.  I had to wrangle with the fabric a lot.  It was definitely a challenge!

It's a TON of fabric!!! But I finally prevailed and I'm proud to report my middle for Easy Street is done!  YAY!!  Now just to pick out border fabric this weekend.  I won't be able to lay it out on my floor after the borders!!

Easy Street Before Borders

This was so much fun!  I can't wait for Bonnie's next Mystery.

After this I decided I'd work on a little something for the walls of my therapy .... er .... sewing room:

I've just got to sew it all together and it will be done, but I think it's really cute and can't wait to get hung up!!

I also got the setting blocks cut for Susan & Greg's Memory Quilt.  I'd say I made the most of my unexpected day off!!

Almost There

I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel for Easy Street!!  All of my blocks are assembled, the two ends are complete, and I've just got to sew the final row together and assemble the two halves!!  Here's my final row ready to go first thing in the morning since I've got an unexpected day off:

Last Row

Before I pinned them together though to get them ready for sewing, I laid them all out in the floor for a little sneak preview:

Sneaky Peak of Easy Street

I'm so excited to finish this.  Now I just need to decide how I want to border it.  I've seen a lot of great ideas out there in Blogland.  Decisions, decisions ....

I also completed two more blocks for the Modern Half Square Triangle Quilt-a-Long:

Block 09

Block 10

I think I'm really going to like this quilt as well.  I need to decide how I want to set it now that I've got a decent enough number of blocks to play with.  On point?  Framed?  I'm just not sure yet ... anyone got any suggestions??

Easy Street Progress

Easy Street is turning in to Frustrating Street for me.  LOL The pile of blocks just doesn't seem to be getting smaller.  I swear they are reproducing while I'm asleep!

Un-Sewing

My day started off ripping.  I hate ripping.  I laid out the blocks to sew the next row and noticed that I had flipped some geese the wrong direction on one of the blocks.  I was going to just leave it, but I couldn't stand it and decided to make it right.  Anyway, I finally got the next row sewed together:

Row 3

I was feeling a little frustrated because I kept making mistakes. So I thought maybe a little break was in order.  I decided to put together the blocks for January for the Country Threads Sampler Quilt-a-Long:

January Country Threads Quilt-a-Long

The directions had us using rectangles and squares to make the geese, but I pulled out my handy Easy Angle Ruler and went to town.  Bonnie's influence is showing through!!

Then I put together two more blocks for the Modern Half Square Triangle Quilt-a-Long:

Block 7

 

Block 8

Then I went back to Easy Street.  I assembled the other corner then called it quits for the day:

Today's Progress

Baby steps .... I'll add the link to Bonnie's Link up HERE tomorrow.

And I can't resist posting a couple pictures my Hubby snapped of our Feline Children checking out my Easy Street progress:

Keira, Nala, & Khaleesi

Neela

That's it for this week probably.  I'm back to working 10-hour days tomorrow.