Orca Bay Mystery quilt

So far I am loving this quilt, another great mystery I'm sure. I am way behind on step 1, I have all the strips cut; a stack of triangles cut and a few made just to make sure the size is right.

I am using black as my neutral just to see how it works.
I have also started step 2...I love string blocks and these little guys are soooo cute.

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Maybe I can get caught up before step 3 on Friday

My 1st quilt

Bonnie Hunter has done a post about your first quilt and has invited others to share (using her new "linky" thing) I love that she calls it the "linky thing".
Anyway my first quilt is not a thing of beauty but was a long time in the making. I think I started it when I was 10 or 11. My Dad had made me a hope chest for Christmas where you stored things for your own first home and I decided to make a quilt. My mom had always sewn all our clothes so there were lots of scraps to use including velvet and poly/cotton. I cut squares and sewed them together and then after a few rows it got put away for a few years. I then cut new squares and sewed some more rows apparently in a different size but added the rows anyways. It was going to be twin size and when I get engaged I decided it should be queen size.
In the spring of 1977 before I got married my mom helped me pin it to a quilting frame made by laying 2 x 4's on sawhorses in the basement and my fiancee(still my fantastic husband) helped to hand quilt it. We used an ice cream pail lid as the template to draw half circles ; what a memory. Now I have to go find a picture to post here :). Here is the link to the other first quilts on Bonnie's page http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2011/11/first-quilts.htmle

And here we are a day later....................

Quilt 1 done; Quilt 2 almost-great weekend

So among other weekend activities which included making 3 pots of applesauce (=13 jars) I finally completed my dark string quilt with rail fence type sashing and nine patch cornerstones. I added smaller string blocks as the border-will have to take a picture when I get my camera back. It is 92 x 102 and I also got the back made. It is sort of like a large nine patch using up a number of pieces of fabric that have been aging for a long time as well as a couple of newer pieces. I had a great cat print that I hadn't decided what I wanted to use it for. I didn't want to cut it too small and lose the cats so now I have used the whole piece as a portion on the back of quilt that is going on our bed, I thought that was a good solution.
I also have completed my RRCB top; just need to stay stitch around the outside edge and complete the back. Wow it feels great to have that done and I love how it turned out with the pieced border. I will complete that tomorrow night so i can send both of these quilts back to Alberta with my sister-in-law for my niece to quilt as they are too big too fit on my quilting frame. Now I can pre-wash my fabrics and start Orca Bay sometime this week........................can't wait.

Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.  ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

New Mystery Quilt

So............................I couldn't resist. Bonnie Hunter started a new mystery quilt today. Everyone has been talking about it for weeks and I keep thinking no,no,no. I'm just finishing last falls mystery RRCB and I have a number of quilts under way including 2 new Bonnie ones I just started at my retreat a month ago.
I have done 3 of her mystery quilts so far and they turned out fabulous so here I go again. I've been wanting to do a brite quilt on a black background so I am going to use orange, turquoise and purple on black( I think) for Orca Bay.
My niece Cathy and possibly my SIL Betty are also doing this quilt. Check out Cathy's blog for her progress http://CathyTomm@blogspot.com.


"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best," and then he had to stop and think.  Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called.  ~A.A. Milne


I wonder if eating Honey is like quilting, there is a moment before you start when the anticipation may be the best moment........what do you think?

Finally sewing again

Since I arrived home after my quilt retreat my sewing machine has not been turned on until tonite; that's 10 days. I thought I would sew last weekend but dh decided it was time to paint the bathroom which we have been planning to do for quite awhile. He had built a wonderful new cabinet to put in there and we bought a new mirror months ago but we needed to repaint when we removed the old medicine cabinet. It turned out fabulous and I love it.
On Sunday my daughter and son-in-law came to visit with my girl's best friend who was visiting from Alberta. Hadn't seen her for awhile and they just celebrated a significant birthday 3 days apart. Her friend's husband flew her out for the weekend as a birthday present which was fantastic, thanks John.
Anyway back to sewing, after a lot of frogging(rip it rip it) of pieces I sewed together at the retreat. I discovered the center triangle was cut to large and they didn't fit together properly so I have trimmed and finally sewed some back together.

Here is 1 block - I think it will be great.

The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet.  ~James Openheim

Hi Donna I'm back

So after a long break I find out some people have missed my posts. Let me tell you a secret if you don't follow or at least comment once in awhile I do not know you are there.
It has been very busy since my last post. I have started a new full tie job back in the accounting industry. My part time at home accounting job ended suddenly the end of July so after a month and a half off (which went to fast) I'm back full-time in an office in Langford.
Summer was great with lots of camping; some sewing, some gardening and lots of sunshine.
Attended the Prairie Hens Quilt Retreat which I host in Sylvan Lake last weekend. This was our 10th retreat with 49 great women in attendance. It was great fun with lots of sewing, lots of talking & lots of eating although we missed Charlotte who was to sick to attend. Hope you are getting better Charlotte and we will see you next year.
Hopefully in the next couple of days I will download some pictures to share.

Also back to my happy thought for the day....hope it makes you smile.

Happiness is never stopping to think if you are.  ~Palmer Sondreal

Guess What??

This is not a quilting UFO and I'm having fun playing with pictures. I always wonder where people find the cute pictures on their blogs.....Duh! look on the internet.

Anyway I have been madly working on UFO's; after sorting them in February and neatly filing them away I realized although they were all sorted with matching backings etc they were still not any closer to being complete.

As I am temporarily unemployed I thought I should take advantage of my time; I have said for years "If I only had a couple of weeks that were not holiday but just me time I could get a lot of things completed" and so I began last week.

I have quilted 3 wall quilts and 2 tablerunners and have binding on one tablerunner. Tomorrow is binding day and then I will post some pictures.

Happy thought for the day:

Remember that happiness is a way of travel - not a destination.

Roy M. Goodman