Orca Bay Show and Tell

Yes, I have shown this picture before.  Or at least one very much like it.  But I wanted to participate in the final Mystery Monday Link Up at Bonnie Hunter's blog.  This was a terrific mystery quilt. A ton of scrappy sewing with great directions.  It was so much fun to see everyone's progress along with all the different color selections.
My top has not made it past the flimsy stage. But it will.  This is the next top I plan to quilt. So hopefully I will quit procrastinating and get her done.
I'm sure like many others in internet/blogland I will patiently await the next mystery Bonnie shares with her faithful followers.

Happy sewing,

Julie

Variety

I have been playing with the bonus red and white 1/2 square blocks.  They will finish at 2" each.  These have been my leaders/enders for my last two projects. And every once in a while I just sew through a stack of them so there are more of them to play with.
Here are a few of the different layouts I've tried.  And goodness knows there are a lot more block possibilities than this.

Aren't they great. I just love how red those reds are.  This just may lead me to start a red/white sampler quilt. But first I have to get done with what is roaming around in my head.

Happy sewing.

Julie

Bonus Triangles

While I was making my Orca Bay top I was using these red and white and the blue and white bonus triangles as my leader/enders.  They measure 2 1/2" after being trimmed down.  There are 102 of the red and about as many of the blue.

The entire time I was sewing them I just kept thinking about doing more flying geese.  Then I laid a few out in the pinwheel design and now I think that is the way I am going to have to go.  There aren't enough to make much of anything. But the lucky thing is I still have over 3 yards of the background fabric.

These bonus triangles are from this quilt.

I made this top several years ago.  I had to flip through several of my notebooks to find the pattern I used.  What surprised me is that it is a Bonnie Hunter pattern called Fourth of July .  You can find the pattern for free on her blog.  This was made long before I was a daily follower of Bonnie's blog.  I remember searching for scrap quilts using red/white/blue and this is what I came up with.  I never would have guessed that a few years later I would have made so many of her patterns.  Someday when I learn to do something besides straight line and meandering this will get quilted.   It needs something a little more special in the white areas. So in the mean time it has stayed folded up on my quilt rack.  I had to move 4 other tops before I got down to this one.  Guess I better learn how to quilt.

Happy Sewing

Julie

Here are my five inch blocks with what was to be their sashing.  Yes, WAS is the word I used.  After getting off of here I am going to tear this all out and hope that the blocks survive the process.  I absolutely love the look of it.  It couldn't be scrappier.  But it couldn't be more of a disaster.

When seen up close it is apparent that I needed to spend more time making sure that I was getting an accurate seam allowance.  Can you see the puckers?  I can.  And hopefully, I will learn a very valuable and time consuming lesson to take more time and pay attention.

 I thought I could stretch, tug or pull this into submission.  Nope it's not going to work.  This can't be pressed out.  Trust me, I tried.  So this evening when I should be working on the border I will be ripping ALL of this out.

Does anyone need a few hundred 1/2 square blocks that are ALMOST 1" each?

Julie 

Orca Bay Happy Dance

Click on the picture to see a larger picture.

It's done.  The top that is.  This is my version of Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt Orca Bay.  Another great mystery from Bonnie. It was a fun pattern from start to finish. Of course she included more string blocks.  But this time I was ready to make them. After all this wasn't my first Bonnie mystery quilt. Here is my version of Roll Roll Cotton Bole which was my first effort at string blocks.

Anyway, this is it.  A back has been chosen for it.  So now it's down to the quilting.

Happy sewing.

Julie

Block of the Month

Here is what I have been working on this afternoon.  It is the December block of the month for the spiky/peaky Kansas colors blocks from Quilting on the Square in Holton.

And here are all that are done to date.  These are actually going to end up looking quite nice. Could not have proved that by me when we first started making them.  That might be because the yellow one on the lower left was the first and it is very plain.  These blocks are on a dark blue and not black background.  I am still not imagining any settings for them.  But there are still five to go so plenty of time.

 Well off to work on my Orca Bay borders. One done. Three to go.

Happy Sewing

Julie

On The Wall

Well, I'm still working on Orca Bay and it looks done from this angle but it still needs the border put on. There will be time for that this week.  I love the way the yellow/orange turned out with the blue.  Not too much of any one color to overwhelm the other.  However, I must say that I love the red versions too. This may be one time that I might be a little disappointed that I veered from the original version that used red.

                                    Here is a close up of a couple of the blocks. 

I plan to have the top done by this coming Saturday. I hope to take it to show and tell at the LQS in Holton. This is another one of Bonnie's quilts with a big "Wow Factor" so I do expect a few ohhh's and ahhh's.

There was no sewing for me on Sunday.  We had a birthday party for my mother. She turns 81 today. Not everyone was able to make it but we turned it into a great day of food and card games anyway.  Happy Birthday Mom!

In the midst of her presents I was given one of my own.  I had asked for a mailbox for Christmas and was given a terrific white one.  I know, it's a weird present to ask for. But it beats a toaster every time.  Unless, of course you need a toaster. Anyway, back to the mailbox.  My white box turned into a work of art.  DS Jesse and DIL Victoria decided to take pictures of quilts and put them on the box.  Then it occurred to them to use pictures of quilts I have given to them and put them on the box.  So here are pictures of each side of my new mailbox.

This is the side that will show the most. 
Starting from the top left:
Bugs in a Snowball - 2008
Pinwheel Daisies - 2008?
Angels for Grace - 2008
Pinwheel Daisies alternate block.
Bottom row:
Churn Dash - maker unknown
Christmas Trees 2011
Pinwheel - maker unknown
Blue Sampler - 2007?

This side will be next to another mailbox so it won't be very visible.    Top row: 
First three blocks - maker unknown
Blue Sampler - 2007
Angels for Grace - 2008
Christmas Trees alternate block - 2011
Blue Sampler - 2007
Random block - maker unknown.

Thanks to whoever made all of those random blocks. They helped turn my new mailbox in to one of the most unique mailboxes in town.  And a huge thank you to Jesse and Victoria for making such a fun project.

Be sure to visit all of the great design walls at Patchwork Times and to see the Orca Bay updates at Quiltville .

Have a great day.

Julie