Monday, December 9, 2013

Celtic Solstice part 2

In the middle of working on the Celtic Solstice mystery quilt, I got 2 special orders.  One is rare enough, but 2? Surprise!!

One is for a Pirate Shirt, going to Canada, and the other is for a Greek Flag quilt, going to Wisconsin.  I need to get both done before I can cut out the pieces for part 2, all 400 squares and 200 rectangles, but I did take a few moments to print out the directions, press the fabrics, and found the GO! cutter 2" square multiples die, to hopefully make cutting the squares faster.  I'll sneak in some cutting soon, or if the power goes out again.  We're in the middle of a few ice/snow storms.  We did lose power for about 10 minutes today, which is why I decided, when the power came back, to iron the fabrics.

I did finish sewing all of Part 1.  I'm happy about that!

A preview of the shirt.


Watch for the shirt and flag in a post soon.  Here's the link to the rest of the Celtic Solstice participants.

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2013/12/celtic-solstice-mystery-monday-link-up.html

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Celtic Solstice Mystery

I'm doing it!  I have watched the Bonnie Hunter mysteries for a few years, but haven't done one yet.  I started collecting some extra FQ's and decided I would actually cut them and use them.

Each week another clue will be given on Bonnie's blog, and on Mondays, there's a linky party to show what you've accomplished so far.

Well, I've been sharing about rehabbing my recently acquired Singer 15-91, and decided I would use it for the mystery.  You know, since Bonnie collects and repairs vintage machines.  I also crocheted a little spool pin doily to help.  Since every vintage machine needs a spool pin doily.  Right??

So, this week's clue was to make a bazillion 188 Tri Recs triangle patches.  Roughly half in orange, and half with background creams, all with blue sides.  I have most cut (need some more blues) and have pieced 40 orange sets, and 10 cream sets, as of this writing  I decided I wanted to do most of the cutting/piecing upstairs, in the dining room.  Most of my sewing happens down in the basement, in my studio.  My Viking Sapphire is currently set for quilting, and I'm in the middle of that (see the last post about thread, if you want more info), so I can actually spend about 15 minutes at a time working on the mystery, in between other things.  That's good!  I feel like I can accomplish this, just a bit each day.  I already had a cutting mat, spare ruler and cutter in the dining room, since I often cut out on the patio.



Here's the machine in the rare Trapezoid shaped cabinet, with the fancy spool pin doily, and some of the patches.  I still haven't had a chance to finish the "flip out" cover.  It got cold in PA.  My garage serves as the workshop area, and it's not heated.  It is under the dining room, so if I use chemicals, the whole house smells.  I prefer to be able to work with the garage door open, and hope it's warm enough to just get the final coat on the top this week.  The snow we had over the last few days is almost gone, and Monday is supposed to hit close to 40.

You are not seeing things, the cabinet is NOT a rectangle.  It's narrower in the front and has angled sides.  I AM using the knee pedal.  When the top flips, it forms an angle on the side, and the leg pushes out to support the top.  Hopefully I'll be able to show the whole thing next week.  I'm thrilled with the stitches on this machine, and I'm really proud of that shiny finish!  See some of my previous posts to discover the "before."

Thanks for visiting!  138 more patches to go....

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2013/12/celtic-solstice-mystery-monday-link-up-1.html