On Ringo Lake Finish

A few years ago, when Bonnie Hunter announced her On Ringo Lake Mystery, I caved to temptation. I'm not brave enough to stray from her color pallet when it's a mystery quilt and these colors were out of my comfort zone, but I was intrigued by the combination. I began by digging through my stash and admittedly, I made a few purchases in order to add a little more variety, but future quilts will be better for it. :) And between the digging and shopping, I came up with these:

                            

I wasn't able to keep up with the clues as they were posted, but I didn't worry about it - I just enjoyed stitching as time allowed and eventually, the blocks came together.

                                         

After the layout was revealed, I stumbled upon this image on Pinterest and I set off in a new direction. All I was able to find was the image and it said it was pieced by Forest Jacobsen, but there was no link.

                                       

 It required some un-stitching of units and some deconstruction of the image in order to bring it all to fruition. It also required a restructuring of the setting triangles - the top one is the original design and the bottom is the new one:

                                     

  I also ended up adding a brown piano key border and brown binding because I had leftover pieces that were already the perfect size and thought it might ground or tone down some of the coral and turquoise. I also just really like brown:

                                 

But the top sat for a good long time before it was quilted:

                                

 I bought yards and yards of this print years ago for $2.00/yd and it finally found it's home on the back of this quilt:

Jackie used a turquoise thread and her quilting brought such great movement to Bonnie's clever design:

My version finishes at 86 x 100 and I take my hat off to Bonnie and her mad designing skills. I'm not generally one to dive into mystery quilts, but I always learn something new and it gives me a whole new appreciation for pattern design.

DH had just finished his feed run and pulled up as I was perched atop the ladder, clipping the quilt to the side of the barn. Skeet was wore out, but he jumped out of the feed truck and plopped down without any persuasion on my part. He's a lot like DH in that respect - neither will pose for a picture.

As you can tell, we're still waiting on rain...the ground is bare. Nary a green sprig to be seen, but the wind wasn't howling and that makes it a good day:

Under the Needle

As busy as things are around here right now, I've managed to move a few projects forward in my sewing room these past 2 weeks. On Ringo Lake is pieced and now officially a top:

I love the brown scrappy border. It'll be a while before I get it quilted, but our little peach bush (yes, it is just a bush - the tree died, but it is coming up in another spot ) is in bloom and I wanted to catch a photo of it before the winds strip it of it's pretty flowers:

The wasps were out in full force

After the winds get done, there won't be any blooms left and once again we will be left peachless.

I also made all 168 HSTs for Sequoia and trimmed them up

Making a copy of the photo in the book was incredibly helpful in keeping things in order and it kept me from turning blocks around. I didn't have to bring the stitch ripper out even one time with this method:

                                              

As I pieced the blocks into rows

                           

and then into a top

                                          

I am looking for something for the back.

I also needed a baby quilt and bought this fabric (the dot is from my stash) when I made my trip to Texas a few weeks ago:

                                   

This pattern, called Petal Power, caught my eye

                        

It didn't take long to piece the blocks

                                         

I hope to get it to Jackie today, but I neglected to get a shot of the full top before heading out this morning.

 And the binding on this little quilt ought to be finished this week

Under the Needle - March

I made a trip to spend some time with my mom so that explains my lack of posts lately. Plus, the days are just moving much faster than I am these days.

I worked on getting a binding on while I was there, but I've still got one side to go. I actually started binding this when the Olympics began, but it's a big quilt and I didn't get as much time to to watch as I had planned:

I've been making some progress in my mystery sewing for On Ringo Lake. I managed to get all the blocks made

as well as the sashing, but I wasn't crazy about it. Then this variation popped up in my Pinterest feed one day:

I loved it. There is only a photo. It doesn't lead anywhere and I cannot find the original source. It only mentions that it was pieced by Forest Jacobsen. This seems to be an EQ variation so I tried to discern what changes were made. I knew I needed 6 extra 9-patches so I made those and I pieced the original sashing pieces into blocks for the borders - which required I spend some quality time with my stitch ripper since I already had them pieced to use as sashing. These run along the top and bottom:

And these are for the side borders:

Then I figured out what shape I needed in order to complete the setting triangles and I cut and pieced those. I'm sure there was a simpler way to go about this, but this was what worked for me:

                                  

The top is the original setting triangle and the bottom is the new setting triangle

Then I finally settled on a scrappy brown border because I had a pile of 3 1/2" strips left. I added to these and cur them for a 5" border:

                             

And  I pulled this blue from my stash for the backing. I bought the rest of the bolt years ago for $3 a yard and it finally found where it belongs. Plus, there was just enough!

                                        

There was no sewing last week, but I'm close to finishing this one:

I really wanted to get started on the quilt for our girl, but I knew if I didn't get this top together, it would linger in some forgotten corner and I was hoping to avoid that.

I worked on Monday, fed the crew breakfast and dinner on Tuesday and tended to a big pile of mail and paperwork, but today I can focus on getting blocks pieced for the Sequoia quilt:

January Stitching

OK...I THINK I am going to get to do a little stitching today.

A few years back, well actually, 2012 is more than a few years back... I participated in a Christmas through the year program through Darlene's blog, A Quilting Daze . Darlene doesn't blog anymore. I hope all is well in your neck of the woods, Darlene...you are missed. Each month we were to make 1 gift for Christmas and her cheerleading meant I had a box filled with handmade gifts come December. It was the BEST and I haven't done it since. I was visiting with a friend on the phone the other day and this subject came up. She too is a maker of beautiful things and she was stitching away on Christmas Eve. In an attempt to avoid the crunch this next December, I'm going to give this another go. This month I am going to finish stitching up lined drawstring bags that I didn't finish before Christmas:

Everyone loves the simplicity these add to gift wrapping, especially the men! I know many of you are DONE with all things Christmas, but I promise that this is worth investing in if you love to give hand made gifts come December.

I am also hoping to work on Bonnie Hunter's On Ringo Lake. I'm on step 2, buy hey, it's all about the journey and I'm just going to enjoy it and not worry about rushing through it.

Then there's a new project I'm starting with my Quilt Squad girls. I only made 2 meetings last year, but I hope to step that up this year. We're going to be making blocks from Sew Emma's pattern called Blessings

using 30's prints and Kona Snow for the background. Each of us will make 12 identical blocks and we'll exchange them this summer and set them however we choose.

That ought to keep me busy and out of trouble for this month. On the book front, I'm currently listening to Cold Sassy Tree

on Audible and I'm loving it, so that's an added incentive for spending more time  behind my sewing machine. How is it I've not read this before?

December Sewing

As busy as everyone is in December, I have found some time to work on a few things. I pieced a toddler quilt and quilted it at a friend's home on Wednesday. She bought a quilting machine earlier this year and offered to let me give it a test run to see what it was like. It was FUN, but I still think I'll wait until Jackie retires before I consider buying one. I didn't LOVE it, but I liked it and I think the reason that it was fun was due to the fact that I got to spend the day with my sweet friend.

And ya'll think I live out in the sticks...this gal, who is also a ranch wife and my co-worker, lives twice as far from town as I do and her driveway (aka: dirt road) is 23 miles long.

I made one more block for a scrappy 'NEXT' Christmas quilt and I plan on making this my leader ender project in the New Year/ Hmmm...I think this is the same block I shared previously, but suffice it to say, I DID make one more:

 I made lots of these lined drawstring bags to replenish my dwindling supply:

Well, truth be told, I'm still making them and the above photo is from a few years ago. I love these things and I've made so many that I think I need to laminate my pattern

You can find the pattern HERE and although Jenny offers one size free, it was highly worth purchasing the pattern for the other sizes.

I made another set of potholders for the wife at North Camp:

And I surprised myself by jumping in on Bonnie Hunter's On Ringo Lake Mystery and actually making some progress:

Clue one is finished and clue 2 and three are cut out:

Haven't touched clue 4 and clue 5 will be posted tomorrow...yeh, not a chance. We tuned in to the NFR each night and I spent that time drawing diagonal lines on the endless 2" squares called for in the 2nd and 3rd clue:

And yes, I have a very attentive line drawing assistant.

Today's the 21st...it's 10:30 here and ya'll know that's at least 2 hours past my bedtime, but I haven't been on the computer in 3 days and this was the only way I was ever going to get a post in. Doesn't everyone try to get a quilt trimmed and bound 4 days before Christmas when presents are still unwrapped and baking still needs to happen?