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!!

Feline Friday

Mom .... it's cold outside!!!  Please turn up the heat so I can move from this heat vent ....

Or .... better yet .... let's get out the electric blanket and cuddle .....

And look ... electric blankets make me tolerant of my sister!!

Happy Feline Friday, Y'all!!

Happy Thanksgiving

First, I'd like to say Happy Thanksgiving to anyone out there still following along.  We had salmon today and will have our traditional turkey meal on Saturday with our family when I'm allowed to eat solid food again.  I finally had my surgery on October 31st.  (See here for some details if you are curious)

I swore I wasn't going to do it.  I told myself I didn't need to start yet another project ... but somehow I still found myself at the quilt store yesterday buying fabric for Bonnie Hunter's new mystery quilt, Celtic Solstice.  I just could not resist.  I've enjoyed her past mysteries that I've participated in so I just had to join in.  Here are the fabrics I chose:

This is the new Primitive Gatherings line, Floral Gatherings plus a few to supplement.  I hope my color substitutions work out for me. I can't wait to get started tomorrow!!!