Saturday, January 31, 2015

The Grand Illusion continues . . .

This has certainly been an exhausting week. With Blizzard Juno, the snow around these parts is unbelievable. Living in the city means the sidewalks must be cleared, but there is just no place to put the snow. And there is another 8 - 12 inches expected tomorrow night into Monday. 



Still working on the Grand Illusion blocks, mystery from Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville's Quips & Snips. All the blocks are finished and are being sewn into rows. Hope to have this quilt top completed next week so I can move to another W.I.P. from my list. 



This weekend is the St Vincent de Paul annual Super Bowl Bake Sale at St Joseph's church. I was able to make the much requested Butter Toffee Popcorn that usually sells out before the sale begins. It's naturally gluten free with just four ingredients: popcorn (usually air popped but this year I popped it on the stove), sugar, butter, and vanilla - straight from Madagascar, via Marshall's. 

Two batches down, two more to go.




Also trying to finish up the binding on the Double Irish Chain.



Will finish during the Super Bowl tomorrow night -- Go Pats!!

Linking up with Freshly Pieced
WIP Wednesday!




Saturday, January 17, 2015

Friendship Wreath - January 2015, First Finish

First finish of 2015. The quilt is machine pieced and hand appliqued. I did start to hand quilt it but quickly grew frustrated with the whole process. The quilt sat, waiting to be finished, for probably two years. I decided that the background was so busy, hand quilting would not show anyway! So the quilting was finished by machine in a somewhat echo stitch. Glad it does not show in the photos as it is not very good. However, the binding is finished and the finished quilt is hanging in the living room. And it does look lovely on a cream wall!













       



















 Title - Friendship Wreath
           Quilt Kit from "The Quilt Collection"

Finished Size - 37" x 37" 
Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts,  finish it up Friday, 1/16/15.




Friday, January 9, 2015

21 to Finish . . .

O.K. - no more starts. It's time to start to finish the works in progress. I'm not sure how this happened but . . .  I have counted 21 quilts that need to be completed. And there is at least one that I know of which I was unable to locate -- it must be hiding amongst the fabric stash. I am not sure of the order that these will be worked, but the goal for this year is to complete all . . . or maybe just most of the following . . .

1. "Friendship Wreath" Quilt Kit - from the Quilt Collection

2. Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville Mystery 
"Grand Illusion"
  
3. Kaffe Fassett's "Facet"


4. Grandmother's Flower Garden
5. Narragansett Bay Quilters - Block of the Month
6. Baltimore Beauty - Felted Wool




7. The Colors of Sweet Pea's
8. Beach Beauty
9. Irish Chain
10. Tumbler Charity Quilt
11. Spider Web
12. Tumbler Charity Quilt
13. Cardinal Wall Hanging
14. Hunter Star
15 Butterfly Beauty
16. English Christmas 

17. Stars and Apples
18. French String 
19. Kitty Wedding Ring

20. Lone Star Dreams in Red
21. Green to Yellow, Mile-A-Minute


. . . Now . . . where to start!
Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for finish it up Friday, 1/9/15.


Monday, January 5, 2015

Quiltville's "Grand Illusion" Mystery Revealed

The bits and pieces now have a road map to the end of the mystery. Bonnie Hunter has revealed the layout and the final quilt. I have just a few bits and pieces put together and hope to continue this in between work and everything else. The mystery certainly was a lot of fun to follow along with, especially in the middle of the hectic Christmas season.


Bits and Pieces of the Mystery






Block 1 completed   
Block with borders on 2 sides


4 Blocks up on the Design Wall

Lots more to do before I can call this finished!  Linking up with Bonnie Hunter's 2014 Quiltville Winter Mystery, Grand Illusion!