Christmas 2012 and Easy Street Part 4 Complete

Although the flu interrupted all my holiday travel and sewing plans I am feeling better and back among the living.  We enjoyed the subdued Christmas here at home as even my visiting brother and his family were fighting colds. The only ones full of any energy were Matthew and my grandson!   They decorated the tree together and played with the trains we set to run underneath.   

 
I made Christmas Eve dinner for #1 daughter and her boyfriend.  Obviously, the boyfriend is not accustomed to home cooked meals... his classic comment about my roast beef dinner... "Wow!  This is way better than Arby's!"

The best gift opening moment was when my grandson opened the Penguin night-light/pillow I bought him and exclaimed "AWESOME!"  We had to turn off all the lights so he could see the stars it projected onto the ceiling.

Christmas morning hubby, Matthew and I opened our gifts.  Santa knew just what we needed!  A 2" strip die for my Studio cutter, rotary blade sharpener and a special glass teapot with blooming flower teas for me; fishing lures and a bucket of Hooters hot wing mix for hubby; and a variety of coloring and word search books, music CDs and a flat screen tv for Matthew with enough ports to plug in his array of electronic gizmos without having to go behind and switch wires anymore! 

Even Toby had a special treat!

#2 daughter and her boyfriend came for Christmas Day dinner and my brother and his family arrived earlier than expected and joined us too.  Things got hectic and I neglected to take pictures, but several more days of family meals and chats, walks, bowling, movies and fun was had by all.  Now the house is quiet and I'm up for some sewing again.

Easy Street Part 4... stacked geese... is now complete

Stacked Geese

 Part 5... Sitting Turkeys.... are all cut and are now in progress...

One Sitting Turkey.... 63 more to go!

Tis the Season....

 Quilting and travel plans for the next two weeks have been interrupted....

Instead, we have...

meds and fluids

plenty of rest

wet cloth to cool a temperature

I'm wishing everyone a Merry Christmas...  and hope to feel better by New Years Eve to be able to sew.  I'm caught up through Step 4... so not too far behind to catch up once my head stops pounding.

Easy Street Step 4 and Becoming Tech Savvy

I have tried a number of times to watch Quiltcam on my Kindle when my husband was busy on the desktop with no luck... it just sits there with that little blue circle spinning round and round indicating that it was loading...NOT!

Recently someone on Quiltville Chat who was using their Kindle for Quiltcam informed me that I needed to download a Ustream app from Amazon.com in order to view Quiltcam on my Kindle. I searched all over the Amazon site for a Kindle Ustream app.... no such thing.  I finally gave up and used that "contact us" button for help.  There was a quick reply.... Kindle is an Android device... download the Android app and it should work!  Who knew!?!!!  I sure didn't!  I sure wish these electronic things came with a written  how-to manual!  ... you know... something like "Kindle for dummies!"  I have had this thing for nearly a year and have figured out how to check email (which is very slow) and read books.  Now I can do Quiltcam!  There is probably a lot more I could do too, if I only knew how!

So, not only is Bonnie an inspiration and a super quilt teacher!  she is also a pipeline to technological information!   Thank you Bonnie!

I finally got it working and was able to watch Bonnie on Quiltcam Sunday afternoon.  Good thing, because I was in the middle of prepping dinner and suddenly remembered that her 2pm time was actually my 1pm time...I just lost an hour!  YIKES!   So I grabbed my Kindle and held on to Bonnie with one hand while I saute'd  and mixed and got dinner together and into the oven.

I had just put everything in the oven and was starting to clean up when hubby comes in with the camera wanting to document my insanity! LOL!

 

Here are Steps 1 through 3 completed early Saturday Morning.

Step 4 is now underway....

145 green squares cut and, while watching Quiltcam, 64 blue geese under construction!

I still have a bit more sewing to do, but I'm sure I will be able to finish long before the next step is published on Friday!. 

UPDATE:

I wrote and set this to post early this morning....

But I was up early again this morning and making more progress on Step 4.  Blue Geese are all done and the Stacked Geese are now in progress...

I forgot to take a picture of the pile of Blue Geese, but as I was trimming the Stacked Geese I discovered this...

If I trim Blue Geese up first, the center angle line on my ruller lines up with the Blue Goose

Then I flip the block so the Black/White Goose is on top and the center angle lines up with the Blue Goose on the bottom!

And here is a link back to Bonnie's blog.  At the bottom of her page are links to 240 avid Bonnie followers who have posted about their progress on this mystery also.

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2012/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-4.html

Go check them out and see all the different color ways that others have chosen.

SCORE!

Last weekend was a family road trip to Indianapolis!

Hubby scored these tickets to the Titans - Colts game for us

Unlike the Titans stadium in Nashville, this is an enclosed venue

Good thing, because  it was cold and wet and windy outside

 We were warm and dry and enjoyed a good game.

Unfortunately, the Titans lost 23 - 27  (sigh)

but at least it was a somewhat close game and not the blowout hubby was predicting!

Good Morning!

The last two weeks have been extra busy for me....  finishing up the last of the "must have for Christmas" customer quilts and ...  six.. yes I did say 6! Christmas lunches and dinners with various groups I belong to. (I am stuffed!)

I have also finished up several Christmas presents of my own, including a quilt for my nephew made from some repurposed men's shirts from Goodwill 

and some pajama pants for our grandson. 

I was up early this morning  finishing up Step 3 of Easy Street... attaching the blue triangles and doing some sliver-trimming.

... and just as I was finishing the last blocks... look who came down to say
"Good morning"

 He slept in his new pants, hooded shirt and the new mittens I bought him!

Off to make breakfast and enjoy the rest of the day!
 

Easy Street Part 3

Not a lot of progress on Part 3 this weekend.

Instead... we took the kids to Indianapolis for the Titans-Colts game. 

 This picture is last year's tickets... I am writing this post early to post while we are driving.
I'll post updated progress and game pictures after we return.

Bonnie's Quilt's I've Made, Easy Street Progress

Over on the quiltville chat group someone asked how many Bonnie quilts have others made?  I am definitely not as prolific as ShirleyAnne is, but I am enjoying learning and creating.

http://www.shirleyannesheart.com/2012/12/02/my-bonnie-hunter-quiltville-quilts-as-of-2012/

I found Bonnie in 2010 and joined her Oklahoma Backgroads class in Pidgeon Forge.  I completed only 9 blocks and turned it into a wall hanging for my Mom.  I just didn't have enough scraps cut and ready to make this bigger... and I didn't have time to cut more.

I joined the chat group and learned more and my interest was peaked by the talk of using men's shirts in a quilt.  When the 2010 mystery... Roll Roll Cotton Boll came along I ran to Goodwill (and sent my SIL to her Goodwill store in MD) for neutral color shirts to make the string blocks and used yardage to complete the quilt.  I didn't actually begin work until almost March because I wanted to make sure I had all the necessary fabrics.   I finally completed it in September but had a difficult time sending it to my niece as a late wedding gift because I loved it so much!  But I had promised it to her and had kept her updated on my progress.  She was wonderfully patient, saying she wouldn't need it until the cold weather arrived so I should take my time! She also allowed me to keep it a bit longer and enter into the FCE quilt competiton (blue ribbon winner!) I was happy to hear how much she loved the results!  I do have extra yardage and shirts and have thought about making a second one for me!... maybe!  I have so many more I want to make.

Next up was Bonnie's Cheddar Challenge summer/fall 2011.  It took me some time to run around to several quilt shops in the area and a road trip to PA and I even had a friend pick some up for me on her road trip to find just the right cheddar to satisfy me.  By the time I got all the fabric together it was October and we were flying to CA to visit my sick uncle.  So, this became a take-along hand-sewing project.  I take it wherever I go and stitch on it a bit at a time.  Mine is much more planned than Bonnie's, and I'm only 1/4 done, but I love the progress I have made so far.

UPDATE:  7-16-2013  This project got put on hold when Easy Street came along.  

Next the 2011 mystery arrived....Orca Bay.  But once again I was very busy with family stuff last year at this time and didn't think about starting until mid January.  I changed the colors to purple and gold  (TN Tech colors) because both my girls were attending classes at the time.  They both dropped out by Spring and with no push to stay on task, I kept getting distracted with other stuff and have ended up relegating this project to Leader/Ender status. I'm about 1/4 way through step 4... the aqua string blocks.

August 2011 found me attending the Quiltmakers Block Party in Williamsburg, VA and taking all three of Bonnie's day-long classes!  These were fun-filled busy days and I have completed many parts and just a few blocks for each of these patterns. 

Winston Ways

Talkin' Turkey

Midnight Flight

 And as if I didn't have enough UFOs, when the local FCE club I belong to decided to host a Craft Day this summer, I volunteered to teach a quilt block class using Bonnie's Floribunda!  I kitted up 20 blocks, but had only one student.  So I have pieced all the four-patches and HSTs for 20 blocks and will put this quilt together soon.

Floribunda

And now, the 2012 Mystery... Easy Street has begun and I am working very hard to stay on target with these steps so as not to have yet another UFO.  With Step 1 complete and Step 2 well underway, I should be ready for Step 3 on Friday.

Step1four patches

Step 2.. flying geese

Sunday humor, Easy Street Progress

A little church humor sent to me by a friend:

Sunday after church, a Mom asked her very young daughter what   the lesson was about.  The daughter answered, "Don't be scared, you'll get your quilt."

Needless to say, the Mom was perplexed. Later in the day, the pastor  stopped by for tea and the Mom asked him what that morning's Sunday school lesson was about.

He said "Be not afraid, thy comforter is coming."

I have spent some time this afternoon working more on Easy Street.  Step 2 is almost complete.  I had a little trouble when my machine decided to eat my geese.  It took me a bit to realize the problem.... there was a small "tail" on my bobbin that was just long enough to get caught in the stitching and bog things down.  Once discovered and snipped, no more problem!  But I do have to cut some replacement geese and wings to finish this step tomorrow.

Easy Street Progress

Yesterday Part 2 of Bonnie's new mystery, Easy Street, was posted.  But I had customer work to finish and errands to run and Friday night is league bowling with my son. 

Matthew really loves to bowl so I paired up with him and we joined the league three years ago.  The first year, we bowled with Ken and Lynn and I think we ranked somewhere around 18th of 26 teams.   Matthew's average hovered near 90.  I hadn't bowled in 10 years and my average ended at 130. Last year we paired up with Trish and Richard and with slight improvements in our averages (95 and 132) and ranked 20 of 24 teams.  This year we have new bowlers Susan and Terry and we are hanging in at 21 of 24 teams (and the last team is a blind...meaning an empty team!)  My average is moving closer to 140 and Matthew is up 10 105 with almost half the season gone.  We will never be a money making team, but we always have lots of fun!

It was 9pm before I was ready to start work and first chore was to finish pressing the remaining 192 four-patches from last week's Step1.

That done, Step 2 starts with cutting 64 rectangles.... well actually, it was the last part of the step, but I decided to do it first so I don't forget after being distracted by all the flying geese!

 The first part of Step 2 is to cut 128 purple triangles using the Easy Angle Ruler and 2inch strips.  Easy-peasy, especially since Bonnie, with the help of her son Jeff, posted a video on how to use the rulers!

Next I began cutting 128 background triangles for the geese wings using the Companion Angle. 

I didn't get them all done last night, I quit around 11pm for some much needed sleep.  I got up early this morning and finished the cutting; here they all are stacked nice and neat and ready to sew. 

I stitched together 30 geese so far but with the arrival of my daughter and grandson we are heading out for some Christmas shopping.  I'll be back to finish these geese later.

Mystery Time!

Right around Halloween, Bonnie issued the fabric requirements for this year's mystery, Easy Street.

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2012/10/find-yourself-on-easy-street.html

 I didn't have enough in my scrap or yardage stash but I do have enough of these Civil War fabrics and decided to use them instead... no buying of fabric needed! So the wait began... and I have kept busy with customer quilts and working on other UFOs... like Orca Bay (last year's mystery that I'm making as a Leader/Ender!)  The clues for the mystery began on Black Friday!.... the idea being it is better to be inside sewing than out there in the crowds!

But life always gets in the way... last year it was my Uncle Tom.  This year... the passing of my husband's Uncle Hen had us driving north on Tuesday for his funeral.  This 91 year old single man has been helping or caring for family and friends since... forever!  I missed the Mason's honor ceremony at the viewing the night before, but he also had a military honor ceremony at the grave site and the church set out a lovely lunchoen for us. He will be dearly missed! For dinner we stopped at a local restaurant to crack open and eat some Maryland Crab in his honor!

Since we were already there, and there wasn't enough time to rush home and prepare our turkey, we stayed for Thanksgiving dinner hosted by hubby's brother, Walt!.  It has been a number of years since most of the family was together and it was good seeing everyone.

I missed the early morning start on Clue 1 on Friday, but with a giant mall across the street from our hotel... and me not sleeping and being up at the crack of dawn... I wandered over and participated in the madness buying 4 tops for me and 6 pants for hard to find sized hubby!

We made it home safely over the weekend and I made a dinner for #1 daughter, boyfriend and grandson on Sunday.  I have last week's customer work to catch up on so I  decided to burn the candle at both ends and got up early this morning to work a couple hours on Easy Street before getting back to customer work.

I cut 18 strips of the constant (pink) and 6 strips each of the background fabrics

I sewed 1 strip of pink to 1 of each background fabric then sub-cut into 2" twosies

Using my Orca Bay as a Leader/Ender I'm sewing the twosies together to make four-patches

29 four-patches done!  163 to go!

Miss Fabulous

This awesome young lady is Madison Hill.  She is a high school senior who loves to compete in the different pageants offered in the area.  Two years ago she looked around and realized that girls with disabilities did not have the opportunity to experience the thrill of pageantry and decided to do something about it.  Last year she organized and held the "Miss Fabulous Pageant"  for ladies, young and old.   Cosmetology students helped with hair and makeup.  Students dug into the back of their closets and donated dresses they would no longer wear and dresses were donated from local shops so that everyone who wanted could participate.  I missed it last year, but that's not surprising....I have a son.

Well, this year the pageant expanded to include gentlemen escorts! That pinged my radar!

CBT the local tuxedo rental shop donated the use of tux's for the event and the guys looked very handsome!
Mary Kay representative Donna Sherrill helped with the girls make-up.  First National Bank representatives (sorry I didn't get their names) took pictures and printed pictures of every contestant to take home a memory.  Many individuals donated time and energy  and numerous business donated various items for gift bags.    Awesome Eagle... the Tennessee Tech mascot joined the festivities also!

Blake being escorted across the stage by Awesome Eagle

There were some 40-50 contestants... male and female... and for several hours on a Saturday afternoon got a chance at their "15 minutes of fame"....  Channel 2 news Nashville sent a cameraman to film the event and interview Madison.

A local church was hosting a youth retreat and came with signs and cheering voices to fill the auditorium.

I don't have time to edit all the pictures now as I'm getting ready for Santa's Workshop next weekend and it's crunch time getting customer's Christmas quilts done.  But go on over to my facebook page and if you tilt your head one way or another you can see lots special  beautiful people with happy faces.

Matthew needed no help from Awesome Eagle to dance his way across the stage!

Easy Street

Bonnie Hunter, scrappy quilt designer estraordinaire,  has announced the beginning of her next mystery quilt, Easy Street.  Check out her blog for more information. 

 http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2012/10/find-yourself-on-easy-street.html

She has listed required amounts fabric in her color choices for this project; colors which I do not have....apple green...turquoise...purples.... gray.... white with black.
But, since this is my quilt, I am allowed to choose my own colors... she gives everyone "permission" to personalize the quilt to suit our own needs.

My scrap stash doesn't come close to matching the size of hers so I have decided to dig into my Civil War fabric collection for yardage ....green, blue, purple... pink instead of gray and cream with black instead of white with black.

While Bonnie was on QuiltCam last night I sent her an email with a picture of my fabrics to ask if they would be suitable and was pleasantly surprise to hear her say they would be perfect!

Wooo! Woo!  Thanks Bonne, you made my day!

Now I work on customer quilts and other projects (like last years mystery, Orca Bay) and wait until November 23 and the release of the first mystery clue.