Squirrel!

Oh, Easy Street, you were nice to stroll along... And then I stalled. And now I am distracted.

But Easy Street is not a ufo, no no no! I didn't get far enough along for it to be considered unfinished. It's not really started. But it did spawn a few spare units to be used in a quilt some time in the future. Not right now though, because I have lots of other things to do.

I still have plenty of hand quilting to do on my DD and SIL's anniversary quilt. AND I have drafted out a special quilt for GG that I'd like to make "next". And I want to make that cute little flower basket quilt. AND I wanted to get back to my EQ5 program and learn to use it so I could draft a few blocks on my own and play with some quilt design. Oh, AND I got to join the Thumb Butte Quilters of Prescott this week for two days of fun with Bonnie Hunter in workshops both days. Two new quilts were started there.

AND now I have another project which I will write about in the next post. I think this one may trump all others for a while, except the hand quilting.

Wait until you see what I did!!!

It's All Stitching Fun

I started Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street mystery quilt right along with every one else. You can go to Bonnie's latest linky page to see everyone's progress. I decided to use Bonnie's suggested colors because every one of her quilts I've seen is beautiful.

With permission from Frances at Fabadashery

And as it turned out in the reveal, this quilt is bright and fun and beautiful. And I would enjoy making it in Bonnie's suggested colors, but I wasn't sure I wanted to decorate my bedroom around that combo.

I kept trying to figure out a color scheme including the units I had already completed--gray and white with black and purple and white with black. Nothing was really inspiring me, so I stalled.

Then I saw Frances' beautiful Easy Street here! It is exactly what I'd like my quilt to feel like. Oh, no! She didn't use any gray or white w/black. I wanted a warmer, cozier, but still colorful quilt, but I was starting with the units I had already pieced with gray and white. That's why I was having trouble moving forward with my quilt, I think.

Sooo.... I have decided to put all the units I have already cut and stitched and unstitched and restitched and stitched more units of aside--I cannot believe I am saying this--and start all over with new colors.

Before I started following Bonnie and her scrap happy way of doing things, I don't think I would have considered this, but I know now that those units I have already made will not go to waste. They will wait for me to use them in another project. And in the meantime I will be happily stitching away on a quilt I will really look forward to using.

Frances, your quilt is beautiful. Thank you for the inspiration. Bonnie, your quilt is beautiful. Thank you for the inspiration and the fun mystery and a new way of thinking and enjoying the whole quilting process. I can't wait to share my progress!

A New Friend and Step 2!

Did you see this post on Bonnie Hunter's website two days ago? Allison in Plano invited Bonnie to visit her home to see her collection of vintage quilts and sewing machines. In that second picture I count no less than five treadle machines and lots of other beauties. Wow!

I had barely finished reading that post when I received a nice comment on a post I had done on December 20. The comment was from Allison, and in it she asked about the problem I was having with my "new" Singer 404 that I had posted about on December 3. Was this the same Allison from Bonnie's post? Yep!

Since I had JUST finished reading that she works on vintage machines, I accepted her generous offer of help.

With Allison's suggestions, I believe I have figured out the problem. Without Allison, I was ready to start taking things apart and adjusting things I know nothing about, but I am willing to learn--even if it would have been the hard way. But with Allison holding my virtual hand and going through some basics step by step, I discovered that it was the NEEDLE! That's all it took--a new needle!

I'll have to sew on it a little while to know for sure, and that may not happen for a few days as I am happily piecing Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street on my FW, but it seems to be fixed. Thanks, Allison.

Now back to those funny flying geese--step 2 of Easy Street almost finished!

Catching Up and Adding On!

Easy Street with permission from Bonnie K Hunter

I finally got my 4 patches done for step one of Easy Street, Bonnie Hunter's 2013 mystery quilt. You would think I could do a simple 4 patch, but I guess I usually work with larger pieces and less matching, so fudging works. But on these pieces I know I need to be more precise. I've almost finished the flying geese in step 2, also.

I wasn't in a hurry, because I thought I probably would want to make the quilt larger to fit our king-sized bed, but without seeing it, it was hard to know exactly which parts needed to be increased by how much. Since I was behind already, it was no big to deal to wait for the reveal before deciding for sure.

It is beautiful!! You can see it partway down this post on Bonnie's blog. I definitely want to go ahead and make it king sized, so off I go to cut more gray and b&w 4 patches. I'll let you know when there is something else worth looking at!

Easy Street and something not so easy

My progress this week on Bonnie Hunter's current mystery quilt, Easy Street is not photo-worthy, so I'll spare you. I re-stitched some of those step one 4-patches, but I'm still not happy with them, sooooo, I'm going to get back to basics--cut again, stitch my twosies then 4-patches all over again, being as precise as I can. This is not Bonnie's fault or her pattern or instructions--it's all me. It's a simple, basic 4-patch for Pete's sake! All I can figure is my original cuts must have been skimpy and it's gone downhill from there.

In the meantime, have you seen the video Bonnie posted yesterday with the bed turning at the AQS Quilt Show? Beautiful antique quits there. When I saw Baby Baskets, I fell in love! (This is a screen shot from the video.)

I want to make this! Probably the baskets will not be as small as those on the original quilt, and I think I will do a more traditional on-point setting--maybe not--but I definitely want to make this. I think it should be a leader and ender project.

First for the pattern--I did a quick draft this afternoon and made the two blocks in the picture. Cute, but see how different they are? The larger basket is squatter and the smaller basket is taller. And I had to trim them down to odd sizes. The larger one is a skimpy 4.25" and the smaller one is 3.25". This is tougher than you might think at first glance. I'm going to work this out, and when I do I'll post a tutorial here on my blog. If you haven't ever drafted a quilt block, it will increase your appreciation for people like Bonnie who give us patterns for free...

I will be using Inklingo triangles for this little project, because it is really hard to get an accurate 1/4" seam on the little bitty triangles at the base of this basket. If I go down to a 3" block or less (not likely!), those triangles are less than 1"! What am I thinking? AND, and, and, and then I'll need to applique or embroider handles on every single little block. Really--WHAT am I thinking? But I really love that quilt!

Two steps forward, one step back

Step 3 of Bonnie's mystery will have to wait another day or two. I didn't like my Step 1 four patches--too many skimpy ones, too many wonky ones. So I saved a couple dozen of the best ones, and ripped seams on all the rest as well as the twosies I handn't sewn into four patches yet.

I've got them all pressed flat again in pairs. Re-sewing will commence AFTER a couple gifts are completed. I need these gifts for a get-together Thursday evening, but hopefully I can complete them tomorrow. Pictures will be forthcoming then...

Step by Step on Easy Street

Today is linky party day on Easy Street at Quilville's Quips and Snips!

We are on Part 2 of Easy Street! Bonnie included a very helpful video tutorial on using the EZ Angle ruler and Companion Angle ruler to help make our flying geese--192 of them!--for this step. Visualizing the hinge (check out the video--you'll understand) is such a simple thing, but such a HUGE help. Thanks to her son, Jeff, for helping Bonnie record this for us.

So here is where I am now. All parts cut and sub-cut. 42 gray 4-patch units complete with spiraled intersections on the wrong side, and 28 flying geese. Over the next few days I plan to finish these and to get the rest of my fabrics ready to just cut and go.

I am following Bonnie's suggestion that when a new step is released to stop where you are on the last step and do the next step, so even if you have to go back later to finish the right number of units in some (all) steps, you will have a chance to try each unit out so you can ask questions if need be or get the benefit of the conversation for that step at the Yahoo QuiltvilleChat group or any other group you are participating in.

On a side note, my "new" 404 stopped performing so beautifully after a short time on the strip sets for the 4-patches last week. I set the machine aside in the interest of getting stitching done, but I REALLY want to get a hold of her and get her in good working order soon. In the meantime, my little Featherweight, Dorie, is doing her usual beautiful job.

Hope you're enjoying our stroll down Easy Street!