Monday Mystery with Poinsettias

The big news this week in quilt land is Bonnie Hunter's newest mystery, "Easy Street."  This is my first year playinig along, and so far I am right on track.  Of course, we're only at Step 1!

I'm quite pleased that I got all my first step completed and still kept up with quilting and binding for 30 Quilts in 60 Days.

Here they are, 192 four-patch units of grey and black-and-white:

Go here to see other mystery quilters progress.

"Easy Street" is not the only mystery chez Aunt Marti.  These past two years I've made a little book of the photos of all 52 quilts I've made that year.  This year when I got my book back from Snapfish, I realize I don't remember to whom I gave several of the quilts.  So the second mystery is, who got these quilts?

Quilt #1 is "Yellow Brick Road."  Every quilter's favorite "I need a quilt to give away TOMORROW" quilt, this was a "brown bag surprise" at Ruth's Stitchery.

Quilt #2 was another mystery.  Written by Deb Caffrey, I started this one at Quilt Colorado 2010:

A third "brown bag surprise" at Ruth's Stitchery, "Framed Squares."

"Over and Under" was the green monochrome quilt in 2011 from Patchwork Times:

Another monochrome quilt from 2011, I called this one "Mellow Yellow."

Actually, when I consider I've given away 42 quilts in the past two years -- it's not bad that I can't remember five of them!

DH abandoned the Broncos game to go to Dutch Heritage Gardens and look at the poinsettias with me yesterday.  Who knew there were that many colors of poinsettias?  Here are two of their newest varieties.  The first one is "Tinkerbell,"  just for you, Michelle  (who blogs at Just for the Piece of It):

I love the serrated leaves and bloom.

I can't remember the name of this one (really must remember to write these things down!), but it has the brightest red bloom: and mottled leaves:

I hope YOU remember to go here to complete my solid-fabric survey and comment to enter the giveaway.  The giveaway ends this Friday, November 30th (thanks, Jeannie!) at noon MST.  

From the desk of your

Saturday Stash -- Ornament Exchange

First off, I have to apologize for being a bad blogger.  Well not exactly a bad blogger, but an unprofessional photographer.  I should have had someone recording the names of the the ornament makers, because they are all so beautiful!  (The ornaments, too!)

Last Saturday the Front Range Modern Quilt Guild hosted our holiday get-together and ornament exchange. Sooooo many cute ornaments, too many to share here.  Here are some of my favorites.  OK, I confess, these are the photos that are the best.  Turns out, it's really hard to get a good photo of the ornament and the person holding it!

This clever Angel is made from a toilet paper roll!  She needs a halo -- some suggestions were a gold or silver pipe cleaner, or an Easter egg dipper. She is also a play on words, because the recipient was Angela!

There were several of these adorable lilttle house ornaments.  I love the house numbers and the view through the windows.

I wish I had taken a close-up of this gorgeous banner.  There are dozens and dozens of beads hand-sewn to the flowers.

Friend Mary received this lovely "bookish" ornament:

Look at the hand cross-stiched Santa Peg received!

And she made this gorgeous tatted ornament.  Tatting!  Now there is a skill I do not possess, isn't it lovely?

Amy of Stitchery Dickory Dock made Amy Butler's little turtle.  Hey, I have that pattern!  I should make it for GD1, she loves turtles . . . .

Look at these adorable felted mittens.  The hand entering the photo at left is trying to move the ornaments so you can see all of both of them . . . .

Marta received these two "Lizzy House" ornaments made by Jessica (she has a better photo on her own blog, From Marta with Love):

And for Jessica, Marta made this dear little deer.  I think it would make a darling door-hanger:

Several crafters made these hexagonal balls.  They swear they are easy, but they sure look difficult!

Here's another ornament ball, made from folded fabric.  Again, the maker claims ease.  Not to say they lie, exactly, but maybe misspeak?

Prez Mellie received a lovely hand-embroidered ornament.  And prize for the best photography subject!

Here is the complete collection -- pretty talented bunch, wouldn't you say?  If you're in the neighborhood (Colorado Front Range, from Ft. Collins to  Canon City), come join us on December 15 for our all-sew, all-day gathering.

And remember to go here to take my solid-fabrics survey and enter the giveaway for a fabulous bundle of fat quarters!


From the desk of your

A Few Friday Finishes

Woo hoo!  I'm making progress toward my 30 quilts in 60 days!

I've got a pretty good system going:  QPC.  That stands for Quilt Piece Clean.  I set the kitchen timer for 23 minutes, Quilt (or load the long arm) for 23 minutes; Piece for 23 minutes (today it's Easy Street, Bonnie Hunter's newest mystery); then Clean for 23 minutes.  I'm decluttering the basement -- such fun.

Two of the three quilts I've quilted and bound this week are somewhat larger than the eight previous ones.  I'm trying to take advantage of a week with no commitments!

Since I had the time, I tried some more detailed quilting on this Schnibbles quilt, "Leap Year."  

The pattern called for 2" squares, but I used 2 1/2" from my Scrap Therapy collection.

I added this one to my "ready to hand off quilts" shelf.

I liked the look of the "back and forth" quilting in the borders so much, I decided to use it on "Flurry" by Kate Spain.  This lovely is going on my quilt rack for the holiday season:

Oops, it is too big for my quilt holder to handle!  I ventured into quilting poinsettias, since the fabric has a perfect flower to copy:

I joined the flowers with loop-de-loops and quilted the sashing with red thread in Angela Walter's "back and forth" design:

Then a real challenge, a UFO from 2011, "Night Stars."  This was a "Thangles" BOM project from Ruth's Stitchery several years ago.  It went in the UFO pile when I decided I hate using Thangles to make half-square triangles.

Chocolate Mousse' helped DH hold the quilt over the edge of the deck so I could photograph it! 

I love this fun backing!  I'm thinking I'll send this one to Ohio for my niece, whose bed is the only one in the house without an Aunt Marti quilt.

Linking up to "Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday" at Quilting by Moonlight.

And "Finish it Up Friday" at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Be sure to go to this post to take the survey on solid fabrics and enter my Blogiversary celebration giveaway!












From the desk of your

Blogiversary -- A Survey and a Giveaway!

It's hard for me to believe I've been blogging for one year today!  Thank you to everyone who follows my blog, to those who comment and play along with my giveaways, and especially to My Little Sailor for designing and maintaining the blog.

And now, for something completely different . . . 

The buyer at my Local Quilt Shop asked me to question my friends and fellow quilters about solid-color fabrics.  What line of fabric should they stock in the shop?

So I designed a survey (gotta love those PhD classes in Quantitative Research Methods, I knew they would come in handy some day!).  The survey is completely private, no one, including me, will know what you answer.

However:  If you want to enter the giveaway, you must comment on this blog post and tell me what is your favorite line of solid fabric (not the color, the manufacturer!)

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Thanks for playing along!  The survey will remain available until November 30 at noon MST, when the Random Number Generator will choose one follower to win a bundle of solid-color fat quarters.

From the desk of your

Saturday Stash: On Easy Street!

Each year, Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville blog designs and hosts a new mystery quilt.

This year, she decided to give her followers a break and make the mystery a little easier than those of the past two years.  This year, we'll all be on

I distracted myself from My Little Sailor leaving by collecting the fabrics for this mystery.

I had enough apple green:

 And (mostly) enough teal/turquoise:

 But I was short on purple:

And I'd used up most of my black on white fabric for the Fall "Block a Day" challenge:

I had a grey for the background, but decided it wasn't quite the right color.

So to cheer myself up, I made a quick trip to Ruth's Stitchery to fill out the fabric requirements for Easy Street!

Now I have all my fabrics stored in this (apple green!) plastic bin, ready for the mystery launch next Friday.  Who wants to shop Black Friday when there is a mystery quilt to begin?

Go here to read the details on Bonnie's newest mystery.  Start collecting your fabrics, only one week 'til we're all visiting Easy Street!

From the desk of your

It's Finished Friday: 8/30

Can you believe I'm still on track to quilt and bind 30 quilts in 60 days?  My friend asked how I've stayed up to speed with My Little Sailor at home.  Umm -- I mostly quilted small quilts!

Here are my two latest:

Jelly Filled is from 2011,  made with a "Me and My Sister Designs" jelly roll, "Happy."

Couldn't resist the "Lady Diana" shot!

This one doesn't have a home as yet.  My plan is to fill a shelf with "ready to hand off" quilts, and this is the first one on the shelf!

Our kitten, Domino, loves to sit on DH's lap while he is watching news shows on TV.  She won't sit on bare legs, so I quilted and bound "Square Foot Gardening" for her.  All my cats have "food names," e.g. "Marmalade," "Chutney," and "Chocolate Mousse."  When we got Domino, I asked the neighbor girls what food name we could use for a black and white kitty that wasn't "Oreo."  Alyssa suggested "Domino," because dominos are black and white, and Dominos is our favorite pizza!

You can see the "philodendron leaves" quilting design I used.  "Square Foot Gardening" is my original design for Sunday is for Scraps.

Notice the blue suede shoes?  I put the label on the right side of this quilt, because DH was the first one to notice the typo on my labels:

Tomorrow is Front Range Modern Quilt Guild -- I'll be back next week with photos of our ornament exchange!

From the desk of your

WIP Wednesday: 30 Quilts in 60 Days

I'm still on track!  Today is the 14th of November, and I've quilted 7 quilts and bound 6.

Here are the next two of my 30 quilts in 60 days.

First, "Cherish Nature," the largest quilt I have quilted.  I quilted an all-over loops and swirls design using a teal "Omni" thread from Superior Threads:

It took both guys to hold this one over the edge of the deck so I could photograph it!

The next "finish" is hanging in my kitchen.  "Dimestore" is a Schnibbles pattern by Carrie Nelson.  My Little Sailor held up his Kindle so you can judge the size of this quilt.  I quilted it on my Juki (Zippy) using white Omni thread at 1/4" away from each seam.

Not a quilt, but displayed in my kitchen next to "Dimestore," I just think these plates are funny.  Misplaced apostrophes make me crazy!

I bought them here.  It's a little hard to read the bottom plate -- the rule is, "it's" means "it is."  "Its" means "belongs to."  Don't you cringe every time you read a blog post with grammar mistakes?

Linking up to "WIP Wednesday" at Freshly Pieced:

From the desk of your