I can't believe that today is already December 10th. I feel like I've just woken up from my after Thanksgiving dinner nap, LOL. Well, blog-wise that might be true but actually, I've been busy around here making Christmas wreaths, sewing, entertaining, babysitting and visiting the folks.
The home improvements are ongoing, but for now the outside stuff is D-O-N-E. The new gutters are up and the wood trim around the garage doors has been replaced, the new windows and slider are in. The only thing left to do is inside work and that can wait till after Christmas. [Note to Santa: "Dear Santa, Please bring a gift card to the HI store for paint."]
After following her blog for almost a full year now, I decided to make Bonnie Hunter's Christmas Mystery Quilt "Roll, Roll Cotton Boll" over on Quiltville's blog. I'm finished with Step #3 but just barely...I was up till 3:45 am this morning... finishing the strip-pieced blocks and was determined to have all 60 completed before I even peeked at the posting for Step #4 (a new Clue is posted every Friday). I'm determined that this time I'm not going to end up with another UFO.
This is my first mystery quilt and my first string piecing project. Having 60 string-pieced blocks to make in 3 days (I had a busy long weekend) got
me over my fear of high-speed sewing and any color inhibitions I had about using neutrals other than cream on cream or white on white. I really like how the blocks turned out and I'm anxious to see it when the different sections are all put together. Up until today, I thought I had guessed the pattern, but I'm stumped again after viewing Clue #4.
The home improvements are ongoing, but for now the outside stuff is D-O-N-E. The new gutters are up and the wood trim around the garage doors has been replaced, the new windows and slider are in. The only thing left to do is inside work and that can wait till after Christmas. [Note to Santa: "Dear Santa, Please bring a gift card to the HI store for paint."]
After following her blog for almost a full year now, I decided to make Bonnie Hunter's Christmas Mystery Quilt "Roll, Roll Cotton Boll" over on Quiltville's blog. I'm finished with Step #3 but just barely...I was up till 3:45 am this morning... finishing the strip-pieced blocks and was determined to have all 60 completed before I even peeked at the posting for Step #4 (a new Clue is posted every Friday). I'm determined that this time I'm not going to end up with another UFO.
This is my first mystery quilt and my first string piecing project. Having 60 string-pieced blocks to make in 3 days (I had a busy long weekend) got
me over my fear of high-speed sewing and any color inhibitions I had about using neutrals other than cream on cream or white on white. I really like how the blocks turned out and I'm anxious to see it when the different sections are all put together. Up until today, I thought I had guessed the pattern, but I'm stumped again after viewing Clue #4.Oh by the way...remember my first quilt "Old Ugly", the longest recorded UFO? Well drum roll please...I finished binding it on Saturday night. "Ta dah"! After 24 years of being a UFO it is still a UFO only this time it's a Useful Finished Object. :)
Of course no victory comes without cost and what you don't know is that I knocked over a large DD iced coffee immediately after completing the last stitch, soaking the quilt. I was a little skeptical about tossing it in the wash unbound but it survived extremely well and why wouldn't it after 24 years in the basement and nearly being donated to Goodwill on several occasions. It's definitely a survivor and I'm looking forward to a winter nap under it one of these days when the snow falls. You can already see Amy, my daughter's friend and Ernie enjoying a good book together with it.
Well Ernie is listening attentively, as always.
Woo-Hoo! Good for you on getting those string blocks done!!!
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